DIY: Colorblock Framed Messages

Yes. That is fake wood paneling stenciled onto particle board. Pretty awesome huh? haha. I can't take credit for it, though. I wish! This is a wall in our laundry room, and, it was begging for a pop of color and a little reminder for us to empty our pockets before running things through the wash. Which is a reminder we so desperately need, haha. So I made this color-block framed message out of an old thrifted frame I had laying around.

Here's a little DIY tutorial if you wanna make one, too:

1. Type something up in your favorite fonts, flip it horizontally, and print!
2. Use the print-out as a guide, and paint wherever you see negative space (everything but the letters themselves) I used about three coats of "antique white" craft paint, but you can use whatever you want! (note: because of the thickness of the glass, you'll want to look at the letters straight on as you paint, because the slightest change of angle when you view it, can skew the perspective of the letters.)
3. While that's drying, paint your frame! I used "golden yellow" and "roman stucco" for the short sides, and then mixed those colors with a bit of white for the long sides).

You can paint the glass all the way to the edge, but I kept the messy unfinished edges because I like the way it looked, and it fit the unfinished look of my laundry room, too. Do whatever looks best to you. I put some tea-stained graph paper and woodgrain contact paper inside the frame. You can use whatever you want, though - fabric, a photo, scrapbook paper, whatever. I think it'd look really cool painted to the edge, with a photo peeking through the letters. Hm, maybe I'll do that for a "home sweet home" sign, heehee. The possibilities are endless with this one. Below is a little sample of some signs I typed up for a 5x7 frame, and reversed. The links to download the reversed jpegs are below the picture.

right-click and "save as" to download:
home sweet home
check your pockets
home is where the art is
bless this mess

Have fun with it! :)

-Elizabeth

Organization is Hard.

Hey, I made you guys something! A month-to-month Blog & Project Planner, woot woot! I was having a hard time finding a planner that really worked for me, so I ended up making one. I realized that I need something small that only spans one month, and breaks down from an overview, to project-specific goals, down to the actual blog post. (It also takes into account the fact that I like to doodle and over-think details, heehee). I haven't tried it out yet, but in theory it seems to be a pretty solid plan. So I decided I'm going to post it up on here for download, and you guys can try it with me! I plan on having a new design ready for you right before the start of every month :) Let's see if I can keep it up, haha.

When you download this thing, there will be two folders within the main "Planner" folder called "Editable PDF" and "Printable". The Editable PDF files are for those of you who prefer to do everything on the computer. I turned those pdf files into "forms" with editable fields that you can input your information into. Sweet, huh? That way you can just keep them in a folder on the desktop and not a drop of ink will be wasted. For those of you who want to print it out, and have a tangible planner to keep with ya, then you'll want to print the files within the "Printable" folder.

This is the link that will take you to MediaFire, where you can download the planner: 
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD PLANNER.ZIP

PRINTABLE PLANNER HOW-TO:

Step 1: Print out all the pages (your printer will warn you that some clipping may occur, and that's totally okay, because it's only going to crop away white from the edges. Make sure you don't select scale to fit, or your planner will be ridiculously tiny.)

Step 2: Trim to full bleed. You can be super hardcore and use an exacto knife & a ruler, if you want.

Step 3: Assemble the different sections according to the "Assembly Directions" or you can put them in whatever order works best for you :)

Step 4: Add some adhesive tabs (I bought the post-it brand tabs used for filing) to separate your different sections and make it easier to find what you're looking for. Ease is the key to staying organized, if you ask me.

Step 5: Staple everything together! I used about 6 staples along the edge to make sure it was bound nice and tight.

Step 6: Cover the spine with washi tape, to make it look extra cute and to cover up those staples. (I didn't have any washi tape that matched the planner, so I used some ribbon and mod podge instead, haha. I guess you could do that, too.)

Oh, and here are some free matching desktop calendars for September. I made them available in 5 different screen resolutions, so I hope one of them will work for you! I've found that, in conjunction  with the desktop calendar wallpaper, keeping the editable PDF planner files in a folder on the desktop makes me more likely to actually use it.

(right-click & select "save link as" to download)

1280 x 1040
1680 x 1050
1600 x 1200
1920 x 1080
1920 x 1200

If you have any suggestions or ideas on things to add (or subtract) for next month's planner, please share them, and I'll try my best to incorporate them into the next one :)

-Elizabeth

PS: I finally added that "Google Friend Connect" widget to my sidebar, in case any of ya were wondering where it was ;) haha. It's looking pretty lonely right now, that's for sure.