i was going to but i didn't.

i was going to do something sorta like this--

or this--

in white, tan, and mushroom.

then changed my mind because all the wood that used to be so very very present (i.e. the giant dark and looming built-ins and the dark and dingy trim) got painted white and suddenly there was no more.

so i liked this left alone in it's woodsy state.

i still liked the thought of the graphic flag somewhere, so i made this--

(my english uncle is going to be so happy!)

with paper from hobby lobby and a vintage brass frame.

i even used this to help make sure my jack was anatomically correct.

the mat is a dark brown that came with the frame, and i was either going to replace or spray it white but i think i like it the way it is.

my new fave color combo is gray/black with brown.

i have more to share on that in a bit.

i guess you can call this my november art.

darn. i fell off the wagon again.

but i have already made something else and have a bajillion other plans for more. i have to fill that wall. it looks lopsided as is. so i guess it's going to keep going in 2012.

love.

JILL

{top images from sheridan french and design*sponge}

you can find jan, feb, march, april, may, june, july, and august here. then i stopped.

stick em up.

so ever since i read my recent elle decor and saw this little lady:

i've been obsessed. obsessed with her art and her creativity.

i have to admit... i admired her work so much, i tried to mimic her. it's not even 1/10th as cool as hers but i tried. and i very much like the way it came out!!

her name is payton turner and she's only 25. her wallpaper is gorgeous, no?

as you can see.... it's not printed wallpaper....

it's stickers!!

 did you all see her in elle decor? i couldn't stop staring. genius genius genius.

so. much. fun.

it would kill it on the walls of a child's room. jenny at little green notebook, said yesterday she is going to try this out in her daughters' room and i can't wait to see her results!

i didn't have the amount of stickers necessary, the patience, or the willingness to stick all these to our walls... so i made a much smaller piece, like payton did here:

i had a billion stickers from when i was a kid (so glad i hoard random art supplies!), and just went to hobby lobby to beef up my collection. the quirkier and the more odd your stickers are, the better in my opinion... and my opinion came straight from payton's example.

i got frogs, snowmen, bananas, trees, spiderwebs, dogs, candy, fish, balloons, prescription bottles, horses, birthday cakes, etc. and just started sticking.

i took horrible phone photos as i worked last night:

and for a little of my own spin, i placed our last name and my husband and i's first names hidden in there, too.

finished!!

up close shots of the final:

it really didn't take as long as i thought it would. and i totally winged it in terms of straight lines and being in the center of the page, etc. about an hour and a half later, she was framed and ready to hang in one of my vintage brass frames!

last night around 11. 

loving it more in the better light this morning :)

so there you have it. my august art!!

read more about my monthly thing here. and see january, february, march, april, may, june, and july.

i'm actually going to hang it in the bathroom we're remodeling, behind the commode.

don't you think it's kinda cheeky? pun not intended.

plus its a little something extra for the boys to look at while taking care of business :)

JILL

july art

now that it is august 1st...

i should share with you my july art.

find my art for january, february, march, april, may and june there.

right now i have it on the mantle next to my april art.

and speaking of-- do you notice the crack on said piece of art?

the week after i photographed it for you all, it was still laying on the floor waiting to be hung when the tragedy happened. i have a chocolate lab and she likes tennis balls. she likes them even better when you throw them. so i threw it and it ricocheted off a doorway and straight into my glass frame. crack.

i just need to get a new piece of glass for it, and i will. just haven't yet.

it's an 8x10" frame/small shadow box, with a 5x7" matted opening. i decided to use a light turquoise piece of cardstock as the backing and glue some teensy tiny little shells that i've collected over the years from all over.

in fact, some of them are from spring break our freshman year in college when elle and i, with a bunch of other girls piled into a suburban and drove from kansas city all the way down to west palm beach, fl. so fun, but so were the itty bitty shells we found. i brought them back and added it to a collection i had started and still add to.

picked out the cutest, most perfect little guys and glued them down.

slapped them in a frame and voila!

aren't they cute?

in other unrelated news, my hibiscus plant in the front yard is going gangbusters.

she's so lovely i thought i'd share :)

happy first day of august.

summer goes by way too quickly.

JILL

april, may and june.

i'm the girl that tells you she's going to do something every month (buy/make some art for my house once a month for a year... more here) and share it all right here on our blog...

and i do it. but i don't tell you about it.
that's not cool.

well. i have april, part of may!, and june's art for you today:

i had this old frame from the 80's maybe, it was large and brass and therefor right up my alley, but nothing to go in it.

so i bought a piece of marbleized paper (i got mine here) and framed it. its a few colors i'm trying to throw together in my family room. some coral, some orange, a little turquoise, lots of gray and gold and a little black. perfect. they're all found right inside there.

i really like how it turned out. in this photo, you can also see my gray painted walls (more on that here), and ALL the trim i painted white. up in the corner is a window where you can see what the original color of the woodwork was. i left the sashes of the windows and sliding doors natural. i also like how that turned out, plus it will be less messy to deal with when opening said doors and windows in the years to come.

next i have may... but i don't have may. i only have the inspiration photo i used to create it. i'm not finished quite yet. but i will share that when i do!

i liked the organic lines. and it's going to rest above my fireplace (that also got a white face lift).

but my favorite is june.

as i've said before, i like to buy things for my home while away so that one day i will get to look around and be reminded of all the fun places we've visited. sooo.... while in austin, i stopped in at heaven uncommon objects and bought this:

an industrial sign letter, B. for our last name. and it rocks.

here it is in our front room with navy walls. i decided that is where it's going to live because it is gray and so are the walls in the other room, and it just doesn't get to shine as much in there as it does against the navy!

i took this one really quickly this morning so you could see the scale. not huge but not small, either. just right. (oh, and you can see where my march art lives! it looked better against the navy, too. with dan, my white lacquered moose head.)

what do you think?
JILL

you can read more about january, february, and march here.

happy wednesday.


oh, one more thing. i couldn't resist. look at this picture we took while in austin! boots everywhere :)

i've got my head in the clouds...

...because i think they are one of the wonders of this world we live in.

and i'm particularly thrilled because i just made this painting mine:

it's an oil from paintingwell, painted by a cancer survivor and all her proceeds go to charity. win win.

{i'm on the ball this month with my resolution. you can read more about that here, here and here if you'd like.}

but honestly, there were almost too many beauties to choose from. i particularly like the ones where there is more sky than land. here are some others that caught my eye.

ashleywhitejacobsen

astralarts


carolonedge


carolschiffstudio

jfoxstudio

jshears

another from paintingwell

peterdustrudstudios

stefaniesilverman

studio155

sueswatercolor

valentinestudiosart

winterblues

my favorite is getting the window seat on a particularly beautiful flight, especially when it's the fatty kind of clouds. it's bright and i may or may not have been the girl who put her sunglasses on so she can stare out once, or twice. just sayin.

there are so many other lovely lovely options in every price point. you should stop on by and take a gander if you're interested.

happy monday :)

JILL

my february art

it's the last day of feb and i just placed my order for the newest member of my art fam (for my sad bare walls).

it's a way to have my wedding bouquet live forever without screaming "i'm a wedding picture."

i took one of my wedding photos (below) and zoomed in on my flowers and then rotated it in photoshop. i obviously love these colors... how many times have you seen me use them just on this blog alone, honestly?

as soon as it gets here, i think i want an ornate-ish gold frame for it with a white mat.

i thought it was a sweet idea. whatcha think?

JILL

{ps-- i am super giddy because today is monday and that means one thing: the bachelor is on tonight!! elle declared her guilty pleasure for idol on friday, and well, consider this my "i'm-embarrassed-to-admit-but-i-really-love-the-bachelor" guilty pleasure. yay for mondays and yay for team emily}