DIY: Polka Dot Wooden Photo Mounts

I'm always looking for fun, creative ways to get my photos displayed around the house.  Today, I'm sharing a crafty tutorial making wooden photo mounts, perfect for 4x4 Instagram photos.

First, you'll need some supplies: wooden craft boards, a couple shades of acrylic paint, some ribbon, a brush, circle stamp (I first tried using a cork, but it didn't work very well, so I ended up using a rubber stamp) and stapler.

1. Using your foam brush, apply a light coat of acrylic paint to the wooden board.  1.  I used a very light coat so that I could still see the wood grain and some wood peeking through.  If you prefer, coat it heavily for a totally different look.  3.  I like to work in mass production, so I made 6 at once.  4. Apply a small dab of the second shade of paint to your foam brush.  5.  Using the brush as a stamp pad, press your stamp into the paint, and apply to the board.   6.  Be sure to stamp some off the edge for a less perfect look.

To finish the boards, I added a little bit of paint to the edges and outlined the front as well.  It sort of completed the look for me.

Next, cut your ribbon just by eyeballing the length you'd like to hang them at.  Finally, when they are dry, flip over and staple them to the back.  The wood is very soft, so it's easy to staple though with a nice, swift hit.

There you have it.  Cute little photo mounts perfect for displaying those phone photos.

DIY: wire photo holders [camera shaped]

It's another DIY crafty Monday post.  Today, I'm making simple photo holders from 28-gauge wire.  I'm always looking for simple and clever ways to display photos around the house.  What could be more fun than wire-twisted photo holders that look like little cameras?

Start by gathering your supplies:  wire pliers, 28-gauge wire and some of your favorite photos.

Now comes the fun part.  1. Start by twisting the wire into a tight little spiral.  This will be the "lens" of the camera.  2. Grab the wire about 1/2" away from the spiral. 3. Bend to a 90 degree angle.

4. Estimate another 1/4" or so and bend the wire to another 90 degree angle.  Repeat this for steps 5, 6 & 7.  To make the "flash", bend the wire directly above the "lens" following steps 8-11.  To finish off, bend the wire along the same angles until you get to the bottom of the camera and bend straight down following steps 12-14.  15. Finally, twist the other end of the wire into a slight circle to stabilize the bottom.

Place your camera-shaped wire into your favorite vase and insert photo.

You could also leave off the "flash" part to make a square, Instagram looking camera.  

Fill your vase with a few more twisted wires.  Vary the height by bending some wires shorter than others.

Fill with photos for a fun photo display!

I'll be sharing a few more crafty tutorials over the next few Mondays, so be sure to stop by again. :)

DIY: Napkin Flower Tutorial

I've got a little crafty series planned for this blog.  For the next three weeks, I'll be posting a new DIY tutorial on Monday.  In upcoming weeks, I have a few DIY ideas for displaying photos.  If I get on a roll, maybe there will be more!  :)

Today I'm sharing  a very simple tutorial using napkins to make flowers.  Since napkins are a bit stiffer than tissue paper, the flowers hold their shape a little better.  There are lots of other similar tutorials out there, but I didn't know that when I came up with the idea.  Great minds think alike!

Start by gathering your supplies.  

1)You'll need napkins of various colors, 28-gauge floral wire and a pair of scissors.  I used white, green and orange napkins to add some interest. (A cute vase or mason jar helps too :)

2) Open your napkin out flat.  I found these orange napkins at the dollar store, and I love them because they are white on the backside which makes for a beautiful flower.

3) Cut napkin into four equal parts.

4) Stack them on top of each other, same color facing the same direction.

5) Accordion fold your napkin.  You can see the white backside of the orange napkin here.  It's going to be pretty when we start opening it up!

6) Pinch the folded napkin together.

7) Fold the floral wire over the center of the napkin and twist a few times around itself to secure in place.

8) Cut the edges of the napkin off into a rounded shape.  Alternatively, you could cut them inwards like a "V."  This will make for a cool spikey looking flower.

9) Begin spreading apart the folds into a circular shape.  It will sort of look like a butterfly. 

10) Carefully lift each layer of napkin towards you and away from the center.  Be sure to separate 2-ply napkins into two layers.  This will make your flower fuller and and creates a two-tone look if the second layer is white.

Keep opening the layers up until you have a pretty flower.

 When you are all done, the floral wire will serve as a nice stem to fit into your vase or mason jar.

Heading into fall, this makes a great little centerpiece for the table or a fun accent for any room!

Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog space!  

It's been in the works for awhile, so, I am so happy to be able to say, "welcome!"

  You'll notice a few new things here.  There's a new "About" page which is more reflective of my photography journey, where I'm headed with it and what life is like these days.

There are also some page links at the top that are "coming soon" that I'm excited to share with you as well.  They are still in the works, but if you read through those I'm guessing you'll be able to figure out my new photography adventure. :)

All the content from the old blog is here, it's just a new blog address, a new look, and a new season!  You can follow me in a variety of ways (links on the right sidebar).  Also,  KWPix.com and KristinaWoodPhotography.com both take you right here to this blog.

Whew!  That's a lot of business.

 Since I'm welcoming you here to my new blog space, I thought I'd share a little project I made to welcome guests to my home.  My front porch is completely shaded and surrounded by large bushes (which eventually need to go!), but for now, I just wanted a little something to make the space a bit friendlier.   

I gathered some plants that do well in shaded conditions, a wooded circle and long stick from bushes I had trimmed in the backyard.

 I potted the plants in a large pot.

Then, I spray painted the wooden sign white, wrote "welcome" and doodled on it with a black sharpie.

I stuck the sign to the stick with some masking tape.  I really should have used gorilla glue, but I didn't have any on hand, and I was in a hurry.

It still looks a little plain to me, but I was in the mood to get it done rather than make it amazing.

There it is, a simple "Welcome" pot for my bushy front door.

As always, I welcome your comments. It's nice to know you stopped by and makes the blog feel more like a conversation :)  My hope is to publish new posts a few times a week.  See you soon!

repurposing a large frame: diy

I hope you had a good weekend! We took a little family outing to IKEA on Friday night. It's a fun outing for everyone. We eat a cheap, yummy meal of sweedish meatballs and chocolate cake (I'm sure it's very healthy for us!), and then David and I get a little date night while the girls play in Small Land. They're brilliant to provide dinner and childcare and fun shopping all in one location. I love IKEA.

I will share my one little tip that we learned the hard way on Friday night. You must have your kids checked into childcare ONE HOUR before the store closes. I was not aware of that little factoid. So we arrived at Small Land at 7:08, and found out the store closed at 8:00pm, and that childcare was closed. It was a very sad moment for everyone. The girls love playing there, and we were looking forward to a little browsing time with just little Z.

Anyway, we ran into an old friend while shopping with the family. And, she totally made my night telling me that she checked this blog everyday! Really? Everyday? That's encouraging. I love hearing that someone reads this blog and enjoys it! Thanks, Jackie!

On to the subject of this post. Remember when I was stuck in a rut? I'm slowly working my way out of it. I decided to keep that large frame and repurpose it. I liked the size of it, and I didn't want to start from scratch, so I decided to try to work with it. I've been wanting to get more of my photography into my living room, and love how this turned out!



I had to tear off the backside of the frame and remove a bunch of staples and large piece of cardboard. When I took the actual print out, I realized it was glued to the matte board, so I just stuck my photos on top of the print by using the oh-so-high-tech scotch tape. Yes, scotch tape. In order to figure out what sized photos would work best, I took lots of measurements, and realized that I could fit 6 rows and 6 columns of 4x6 sized photos almost perfectly. The last column on the right is very slightly overlapped underneath the column beside it.



I just used photos that I already had on hand. (I have a box full still waiting for me to do something with them!) But, now that I know I love this, I'll probably be more diligent about printing out photos I love in order to put them in this frame.



Still don't love my sconces next to the large frame, but I'm so proud of taking a baby step! I'm thinking something more modern. Maybe some W's? I'm going for the non matchy-matchy look. Any more ideas?

baby legs

Every cute baby must have a pair of baby legs. I'd been looking on etsy for awhile and had not found any that I loved for a price that I loved (i.e. I'm a little bit cheap sometimes!) But, then, I read this blog post with a link to this DIY tutorial on how to make some.



Wow, they were so easy! I found knee-high socks at Target for just $2 a pair. That is a good price for baby legs, in my opinion.

My little baby model was not so into modeling.  As soon as I lay him down for this shot, he rolled over. Again and again.


Oh well, he's off!

I experimented with an over-edge stitch on the first pair, which I do not recommend. Using a straight stitch was much more straight forward. (Pardon the pun!)



I think he likes them no matter what his daddy says!

winter centerpiece {DIY}

It's always bare and boring in January after the Christmas decorations come down. I've struggled to know what to put up after Christmas. I don't want to see red or green or gold anymore, but I'm not quite ready for Valentine's decor in January. I think I finally stumbled upon something that I like.

The idea began with a simple branch. I broke it off of some nearby shrubs--no, not my neighbor's. These were crazy-wild shrubs that grow along a nearby walking path. Trust me. No one will notice their absence. I was looking for a branch that had several off-shoots, and would look sort of tree-like.



I stuck mine in a carafe and used river rocks to support the base so that it would stand upright. At this point, David was seriously doubting my artistic abilities. What in the world are you doing bringing some dead branch into our house?! He didn't actually say those words, but we've been married 10 years, and I can tell you, that's exactly what he was thinking.



Oh, husband of little faith. Just wait. Next, I dug out some pretty little silk flowers. I really like the flowers, but didn't just love how they were arranged on the original stem. So, I pulled them off. There was a perfect little hole in the center of each flower.



They perfectly fit onto the ends of my dead branch. And now, it's not just a dead branch. It's a winter centerpiece! Totally easy, and totally free. I love that.

thankful

It's become our tradition every Thanksgiving to make "thankful links."

We've been doing this since Miss A was 15 months old and Miss M was 3.  Back then, we asked the girls to tell us something they were thankful for and we wrote it down for them.  Now, we each write our own!

I use old scrapbooking paper to cut long 1-1/2 inch strips.  This year I used Christmas colors: red, dark red, green and white.  We had the parade on in the background as we were doing this.  It was really low key.  Everyone can write as many or as few as they'd like, and take as long as they want to finish.  When everyone is done, we staple the strips together to make a long chain-link.  The girls love it, and it's become a fun tradition.

What are your favorite traditions?

getting organized

September is here. School has begun. It's time to get organized.

Some of you know I'm a Jazzercise instructor. I know it sounds so 80's-ish, but believe me, if you haven't been to Jazzercise lately, you haven't been to Jazzercise. It's an awesome workout that will kick. your. butt. Seriously. You should check it out.

Anyway, I digress. We have an amazing instructor team this Fall. There are four of us. Four. Wow. I am so excited! With four of us, trying to figure out our teaching schedule was a bit of a mental challenge.

So, I thought a little visual aid might help. I started with some circles, one color per person, and added our initial to make it more fun.



I then arranged them on a little calendar that I made. Here's the artsy shot.


And, voila! It was so much easier to see our options and trade out days to find what would work best. I'm going to make sure the circles are not affixed permanently so that we can make changes as needed.



You can use this idea too. How about a chore chart? Or a school schedule? Just change out the AM/PM for subjects or chores. Be creative!

Oh, and just in case you workout with us, this schedule is not yet finalized. We'll let you know when it is!

sisterly love.

Before little Z was born, I was a bit bored, just sitting around waiting for him to come. I decided it was time to hit the scrapping again.

This one goes back to 2008. I'm not exactly a chronological scrabooker. I'm almost finished with my 2006 album, and am concurrently working on 2007, 2008, 2009, and now 2010. At least I'm fairly organized about the process, just not chronological. I guess I stay motivated that way, working with photos that I love first, and finishing up the odds and ends later.

the nursery

It's still empty, but here it is, just waiting for a baby boy to come along. Any day now, any day! The picture frames will be much happier once they are filled with the newest little Wood's face.

home decor

Here's my latest home decorating project. I painted the girls' bathroom green with a fun scalloped edge. The finishing touch: three pink circles topped with fabric-matted frames. I love it!