Comic Book Wall Art DIY

I was going through old pictures and I found pictures of a present I made for my step sister a year or so. While looking at them I thought, "This was pretty cool, I should share on the blog!" My step sister loves all things geeky ESPECIALLY superheroes. It's kind of cute how obsessed she is with it. Her main man is Thor. I went to the comic book shop and bought a Thor comic book for a $1 each! Then I went to Hobby Lobby and bought a canvas for $2! This wall art has a 3D punch to it too!

What you need:

-Comic Book

-Canvas

-Mod Podge

-Paint Brushes

-A Piece of Paper

1. Cut out comic book strips.

2. Mod Podge onto the canvas

3. Put more Mod Podge on top to make sure it stays nice and sturdy!

4. Cut out your favorite sayings/pictures.

5. Mod Podge #4 to a piece of paper.

6. Cut out those saying/pictures.

7. Cut a couple of little pieces of cardboard.

8. Mod Podge the cardboard to the canvas.

9. Mod Podge the sayings/pictures to the cardboard.

10. Cut the cover of the comic book and Mod Podge on the sides of the canvas.

VOILA! You have made a fast, cheap, awesome present.

Comic Book: $1
Canvas: $2
Paint Brushes: $2
The rest of the items I already had!
Total: $5
(But don't tell my step sister that..)

She ended up loving it and practically hyperventilating.

Happy Crafting!
Miss you Always
Clarissa

Late Easter Craft

 My friends and I dont really have any family out here in LA.  So I decided to create a new family tradition where we have a big feast for Easter. (Very out of the ordinary because all of us rarely cook...ever) I originally wanted to do an easter egg hunt but since I spent so much money on the food I decided against it.

Then I came up with the idea of a tiny Easter basket that still had surprises in them. So I pulled out some extra cupcake liners and some ribbon and just tapped ribbon to the cupcake holder. I bought some plastic Easter grass and some really cheap plastic eggs. Then I filled the eggs with candy and tossed in some jelly beans for decoration. Tada! cheap new Easter tradition that I love!

They looked so cute!

They also worked great on out table! I hope you enjoyed! Also here's an awesome picture of Tara and Clarissa at LAs modern art museum:

Hope Everyone is well!

Miss you always 

xoxoxo

Shanna

Reupholstering basics!

Hello Everyone!


 This post is to shed some light on a craft that I found really intriguing but nervous to pursue. Reupholstering! I had always been so nervous to take on reupholstering because of all the elements it required but once I broke it down it wasn't as intimidating as I thought!

Things you will need:

Fabric of your choosing to cover chair in question
Upholstery stapler (with staples)
Screw gun
Extra screws (these might not be needed but in my case they were)
I also needed spray paint for the legs of my chair, also optional
Fabric foam to be the padding inside your chair


Let's Begin!

This was the set of chairs I started on. I figured their shape was pretty simple and I only paid $20 for all four and a table. So first thing I did was disconnect the seat from the chair. 

You can see how gross the wood is on the bottom of the chair so I went out and bought some mdf to cut out new bottoms. I jigsawed them out using the old bottom as a stencil. After I took off the old fabric and foam, I used that as a guideline of how much I would need of my own material.

Layla decided to help

I sadly don't have very many photos of the rest of the process but I'll break down the directions:

*After using the old fabric and foam for guidelines for my new supplies (adding an extra two or three inches) I got ready to staple the foam to the bottom of the chair.

* When stapling the foam make sure you bring it to the edge of the chair and staple it in a way that the crease the staple is causing is minimal. The reason for that is because when you put fabric over it, you dont want to have a bunch of bumps that make everything look funky. You can space out the staples a couple inches apart. 

*After you've stapled your foam all the way around, its time for fabric! When you staple your fabric you bring it all the way around to the bottom of the seat instead of to the edge like we did with the foam. You need to pull it really taught so once again, there is no gathering. It's a trial by error process. 

*After you finish putting the fabric on the bottom you repeat the same process for the rest of your chair.  And viola! You've just reupholstered like a pro! 

I don't have a finished product shot of what I did with the table unfortunately but I had to sew the tops of the chairs to get a proper fit. Which is a whole other obstacle I won't get into on here! Here's what mine looked like in the end:

Well goodluck with each of your projects and if you have any other upholstery pointers I would love to hear them!

Miss you always,

Shanna

xo

Clothes, clothes, clothes!

Posting once a week makes me realize how fast the week goes by...

Well lets get to it my pretties!

Alright so, as of lately my fashion has turned a bit punkish? Shall we say. I've been in love with the pink sweaters with skulls on them and anything that has a girlish/rough combination going for it. For example:

*my apologies for the rough iphone pictures

The shirt is from forever 21, its on the verge of being a shirt dress you'd sleep in but I think that was what attracted me to it! The skirt is from the sale rack of the lovely urban outfitters maybe a year or so ago. Here's a better picture of the shirt (I bought it a couple weeks ago)

These knee socks are actually forever 21 also...go figure haha. The sheer black tights are from urban outfitters, which I actually had a hard time finding. The boots (another obsession) are from some random store in arizona. I really love boots. It's starting to become an issue...I have six pairs. Who honestly needs six pairs of boots?!?! 

I'm really bad at taking pictures of myself so...my apologies for that too.

Tux, my youngest cat snuck in the background

My other clothing obsession is currently this dress:

Here's a close up of the front (hence why I fell in love)

I confess that I spent wayyy too much money on this dress BUT it looks really amazing with my new red hair...woops!

I got it at urban outfitters and plan to wear it at some point on the Mediterranean cruise I'm going on in april. Until then..its going to hang out in my closet and make friends with the rest of my summer clothes I can't wear due to the fact that its very chilly in LA at the moment. Here's a better picture of the dress:

Also, to help you get through the rest of the week: you should listen to this song. Because its wonderful. And I love it. Yay!

Miss You Always,

Shanna

February 14th in Paris

This St. Valentine's Day I will find myself going on quite a romantic date.  My date and I have grown quite fond of each other over the past five months.  But surprise!  It won't be with a real person.

This Thursday I will be going on a date with the city of Paris.

Because I, unfortunately, find myself without a Valentine this year.  And that's okay.  I like to believe St. Valentine's Day is (apart from being the day of the Saint) not only about celebrating the romantic love you may have in your life, but also about celebrating the love that you see around you all the time.  Just take a walk down the street.  You'll see young couples and old couples and families holding hands and being happy that they have each other.  Go call your mom, or your dad.  Your sister or your brother.  Your best friend (or best friends!), and tell them that you love them so much.

Sure, St. Valentine's Day has been marketed as this giant holiday defined by expensive bouquets of roses and a box of chocolates and generic teddy bears, but I think it's really so much more than that.

I think it's safe to say I was lucky beyond belief at finding a passionate, mad love when I first arrived in Paris, and this time I'm taking about a real actual person.  Due to circumstances far beyond our reach (distance, blegh!), we have parted ways but I will still walk the streets of Paris on this St. Valentine's Day and be thankful and know I was so very fortunate to have found a love like that and in such a beautiful city like Paris.

So here's to you Paris! See you this Thursday and be sure to dress up nice, as I'm sure you will.

Miss you always,

Afsy