Alphabet Wall in Baby's Nursery

Well, I finally finished my alphabet wall art project for the baby's nursery!  Here's a finished look at my masterpiece:

Here's how I did it: 

I purchased most of the letters at Hobby Lobby as plain wooden or cardboard letters.  Some of them were already decorative and/or painted (like the G, I, J, & N).  On the plain ones I painted some and then mod-podged scrapbook paper on the rest (example: E is painted; Z is mod-podged with paint on sides).  

I used a cross for the letter T and even made a couple of my own letters (like the Superman S that I cut using my cricut machine).  All in all, I LOVE the finished product!  I was able to customize each letter to whatever I wanted and I'm all about customization!!

I had originally planned on putting all the letters directly onto the wall and then started to think about having 26 holes in my wall which was not very appealing (especially to my husband whom I had recruited to hang all these letters!).  So I decided to do plan B and purchase a large canvas from Michael's and then adhere all the letters to the canvas.  That way I only had to hang the canvas on the wall (which made for a much cleaner look AND a much happier husband.  Win-win!).

So now it's up in the nursery and is definitely the focal point of the room (at least until my precious baby gets here!).  Hope you enjoyed my how-to and if you feel so inclined to leave a comment, I would love to hear your thoughts!

My DIY modern glass ball bubble chandelier

I spotted a chandelier at a local lighting shop a couple years ago that I absolutely fell in love with.  Here's a picture:

I know, right?!  It's beautiful!  It's also over $3,000.00!!!  I am a frugal shopper and my budget most certainly does not include an extra three grand for a light fixture.  So I decided to be happy with the chandelier I had and just admire the beauty of this masterpiece from afar.

That worked well.  For a while.  Then my chandelier decided to go crazy.  Literally.  It started blowing bulbs every few days (these bulbs were $6 each to replace might I add!).  Then came the fuse blowing.  Eventually my husband (it could have been me but I'm blaming it on him)  lost the fuse box holder during one of our attempts to buy more fuses at our local Home Depot.  So now we have a chandelier that doesn't work.  At all.  Here it is:

 

I complained about my non-working chandelier for over two years.  Yes, TWO YEARS!! We tried everything we could to fix it.  We talked to experts at Home Depot, electric stores, lighting stores, the chandelier manufacturer, even local electricians.  It just was not meant to be for us to fix this chandelier because every route turned into a dead end.  

 

I'm not sure exactly what changed or how I convinced my husband, but I got it in my head about a month ago that I could make my dream chandelier for much less than $3,000.00.  So I did!

Shopping List for My Inspiration:

glass balls

plywood

metal flashing

fishing line

metal hooks (I ended up using paperclips)

some sort of light fixture

various craft supplies (like glue, wire cutters, etc.)

a handyman (or husband)

Here are a few photos of  the construction process:

*DISCLAIMER: It appears as though my husband is doing all of the work, but rest assured this is only an illusion.  (I was the only one who would take any photos therefore I am not in any of them.)

At this point, we have the base for the light completed and wired.  You can see the fishing line hanging through all those little holes in the metal flashing.  Now for the really fun part.  Hanging all the glass balls!

*SECOND DISCLAIMER: My husband hung two glass balls.  Literally, two.  I did the rest because "my hands were smaller".  Good thing I'm not afraid of heights.

Here's the finished product!!! (from a couple angles)  Final tally: $170.00 (plus hours upon hours of manual labor)

So my end result is a one of a kind custom chandelier designed and built by ME (with my wonderful husband's help, of course).  It was definitely inspired by the  one I found several years ago, but I LOVE mine way more than I did that fancy schmancy one for three grand.

Welcome!

I have lots of design projects and inspirations that I can't wait to share with you!  Thanks for reading!