Interior Design: Blue, Gray & Black Woodsy Bedroom

First, if you haven't watched any episodes of ABC's "Once Upon a Time" television series, you're really missing out. I watch quite a bit of (probably too much) television, and Once Upon a Time was easily my favorite show last year. In fact, I would even say that the first season was the absolutely best season of TV I have ever seen.

Besides the intriguing rewrites of familiar fairy tales, there was superb acting, beautiful costumes, and absolutely breathtaking scenery (CGI, of course). But one of my favorite backgrounds of the show was the interior design of the mayor's office. Mayor Regina Mills (trying desperately to hide her true identity as the evil queen and stepmother of Snow White) has an absolutely gorgeous black-and-white office that features, among other things, a really interesting tree-lined wallpaper.

I wanted to incorporate that wallpaper (or something similar) in the master bedroom of my new house, on a single accent wall behind the bed. First, I looked at wallpaper, and was amazed that I was able to find the exact same wallpaper used for the Once Upon a Time set on Anthropologie. Of course I wanted the exact wallpaper, but it would end up being much more expensive than I'd ever planned to spend decorating my bedroom (even for just one wall), and on top of the expense, the instructions for installing the wallpaper seemed way too complicated to do myself (and the reviews of the product agreed with my assessment, encouraging the hiring of a professional to install it).

I decided it would be easier to paint a mural of similar looking trees on the accent wall, and I'm so glad I did. I paid about $10 for the black paint, $10 for a handy paint bucket to pour it in, used an old brush from my art studio, and maybe $5 worth of painter's tape - significantly less than if I'd purchased the wallpaper, which would have been more than $400 for supplies, not including the cost of hiring a professional. Yes, it took a lot of time (I spent several hours on it over the course of five days), but it turned out even better than I expected, and I would spend all that time to do it all over again in a heartbeat.

Okay, enough talk. Here are the pictures I know you're dying to see. :)

First, we painted the other three walls a slightly blue-tinted medium gray, and the accent wall, ceiling, and trim around the whole room a very light gray that looks almost white. Then I measured where I wanted the main tree trunks on the wall and marked them off with painter's tape.

I drew freehand where I wanted all of the branches to go but didn't bother taping off the smaller branches because I knew it would 1) take forever if I did, and 2) waste a lot of tape. I knew I'd be careful painting the smaller branches anyway, and I wanted it to look a little gestural. Plus, I had plenty of extra light gray paint to go over any mistakes at the end (even after we used the same color to paint the staircase to our basement).

And then I painted! I got a (free!) sample of the actual Once Upon a Time wallpaper from Anthropologie and looked to it for guidance on how to add the details to the trees so that they'd look surprisingly realistic from a distance but obviously painted and really interesting up close.

Here's the final result!

 

I painted the shading on the tree trunks and branches on the right because the window (which faces east) was to their left, and I wanted it to seem like the sunlight streaming in the window was hitting the left sides of the trees. :)

Finally, when all the paint was dry, we moved our furniture back into place. Then we picked out a dark blue curtain to match our bedspread (and help block some of that early morning sunshine!) and replaced the old ceiling light/fan (though I took this picture before that last change was made). Voila! A super unique room with an awesome wintery tree mural I'm really proud of that pays homage to a television show my husband and I absolutely adore. What could be better?? :)

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Shameless Plug Time: Love this mural, color combination and my decor ideas? I also paint watercolors (and occasionally acrylics)! Interested in purchasing one? Email me for more information!

Looking for custom stationery made to match these colors (or whatever other color combinations you're using for your event)? Visit Invites by Andrea to view stationery samples, download a catalogue pdf, or fill out a design request form. Or shoot me an email to ask me your questions or learn more information.

Flower Bat Mitzvah Placecard Poster and Table Markers

A couple months ago I posted a pink and green flower-themed Bat Mitzvah invitation set I designed for a client. A few weeks after I made that post, the client came back to me to ask for some table markers and a placecard poster in a similar theme for the dinner party after the ceremony.

I used the same template for the table markers as I did when I made some for my own wedding. The three-sided self-standing table marker template fits onto standard legal paper (8.5" x 14") - a size that's bigger than the usual 8.5" x 11" but still fits into my printer. :) I used the same rose design from the invitations on each side of the table marker, but changed the number to a different (serif) font since the sans-serif font I used for everything else didn't have the most recognizable number characters from a distance.

Before I sent them off to the Chicago area (where the event was to take place), I first took some photos of them in my apartment. I had a bit of fun setting them up on a chair by the window, letting the spring sunshine work as lighting. Since they're self-standing, they even easily stack on top of each other to make a tall tower!

And here is a photograph of the table markers at the actual event. I love how it works with the color of the tablecloth and centerpiece flowers! :)

I also painted and assembled a sign for the dining room to show guests where to sit. I painted a large version of the same rose design along the right side of the sign (a large tri-fold foam board I found in the science fair aisle of my local Michael's store), and painted the new Bat Mitzvah's name across the top in both English and Hebrew (just like I did on the invitations).

To make sure that I painted it as accurately as possible, I printed out a template from my computer and traced it onto the board before painting. I used acrylic paint, mixing my own pink and green to try to emulate the exact colors I used on the invitations. For the rest of the sign, I printed a list of names for each table on my computer and attached each to a piece of the same metallic "pink azalea" colored cardstock I used on the invitations.

Here are a few photographs I took in my apartment of the completed sign:

And here is the self-standing sign on a pink-clothed table at the entrance to the dining room at the Bat Mitzvah celebration:

The clients loved the table markers and sign, and a lot of the guests were talking about them too! I'm glad it was a successful event!


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Shameless plug time: Love these design? Want some of your own? Download my convenient pdf catalogue to see all of my design options, or check out my Invites by Andrea website to view some samples and get more information. I can also do custom designs! Need a sign painted in acrylic or watercolor for your event? I do paintings, too! :)

Invites by Andrea Watercolor Sign

Remember waaaay back in September when I announced I'd be a participating vendor in the upcoming Brides-to-Be show in January? Well, now it's January! :)

Just to remind you, here are the details: It's the biggest Michigan Brides-to-Be show every year, and it's at the Hyatt Regency in Dearborn, MI. I'll be there on both days - Saturday, January 7th and Sunday, January 8th, from 12 noon - 5 pm both days. Tickets are $7 in advance or $8 at the door. If you're planning a wedding, you should definitely be there - besides my own awesome booth, there will be hundreds of other vendors present, and hundreds of prizes you have a chance to win.

And if you want a sneak peak of what my table is going to feature, you're in luck! Besides two large albums literally bursting with sample invitations, reply cards, announcements, and other stationery items, I'll also be showcasing this sign that I painted for the event.

It was super fun to design and paint, and I think it's bright colors are going to be a great attention-grabber at the show. :) It also shows off what I can do with watercolor - how awesome would a banner like this be at a wedding, or any other event? Just picture the words saying "Happy Birthday" or "Congratulations, Bride & Groom" instead, and voila - instant event decor!

So how did I go about making this masterpiece? ;)

First, I designed the sign in Adobe Illustrator, importing many of my favorites out of the patterns I'd already created. I used clipping masks to cut the patterns down to the same tilted-rectangle shape, and the arranged them into the design you see above, placing my signature "Invites by Andrea" font nice and big on top. I had to make sure that the font was big enough for me to paint - the font can get pretty thin in certain flourishes, and my watercolor brushes only go so small!

Next, I printed the design out on several pieces of paper, taped them together, and transferred the design onto the watercolor paper. Usually I just tape the print out and a piece of watercolor paper to the window and use the sunlight as a vertical light table to trace the image, but this time I decided that the patterns and fonts were too small that tracing all of that vertically would be too difficult. Not to mention the fact that Michigan's sky had already become its traditional winter gray by the time I started on this sign, and the sunlight available was pretty abysmal.

So instead I colored the entire back of the print outs with graphite (pencil lead), and then placed the print out on top of the watercolor paper and traced over all of the patterns with a pen so that the graphite would transfer onto the watercolor paper.

The graphite-covered back (on the left) and pen-traced front (on the right) of the computer print outs of my design

Once the design was transferred onto the watercolor paper, I soaked it in a bathtub of cold water for fifteen minutes. Since the design for the sign was so long, I ended up having to use two long pieces of watercolor paper and attach them to each other later, once the sign was finished. Working on only one half of the sign at a time was the hardest part about creating this sign.

When the paper was fully saturated, I stapled it to my gatorboard. This "stretches" the watercolor paper, which means that the staples keep it taut and flat regardless of how many layers of water you add to it over the course of painting. If you don't stretch the watercolor paper, it gets all wrinkled when you paint it, and then you have to gently iron it out later to get it flat again.

While the paper is completely saturated and stretching on the gatorboard, I always like to put down the first wash right away. I try to keep the colors light and bright (yellows, reds, etc. rather than grays or muddy browns) and I swirl the colors around with my brush so that the painting will have a little bit of depth to it in the background. The photograph above was taken when the painting was still very wet, so the colors look darker than they ended up. Watercolor always dries lighter than it looks when it's wet (which is the opposite of acrylic paint, which dries darker than it looks when it's wet), so I always try to keep that into consideration when I paint.

On the left: working on each half of the sign simultaneously; On the right: two photos of what some rectangles looked like with masking fluid still on the patterns, protecting the lighter backgrounds

Once the first layer was dry (I gave it overnight to make sure it was really dry), it was time to start painting the individual rectangles. Sometimes I made the pattern darker than the background of the rectangle, and other times I made the pattern lighter. To preserve a lighter color for the pattern, I used masking fluid, which is pretty much the best thing ever invented for watercolor painting (besides watercolor paints, of course). ;)

In the photographs above, you can see what a difference it makes. I masked off the pattern with masking fluid (it appears yellow, on the photograph on the left), painted a couple of orangey-coppery layers on top of the masking, and then rubbed the fluid off so the light colored background was visible again (as seen on the right).

I kept doing layers of color in all of the patchwork-like rectangles in the background until I was satisfied with how the background looked. I tried to make some of the rectangles "imperfect" to prove that it was hand-painted rather than printed off a computer. It's easiest to tell in the red background squares and the blueish-red background behind the last letters of "Invites". On those rectangles, I left some watermarks to give it a more painterly feel. A watermark is created when there's not enough water for the whole painted area, and parts of the rectangle dried at a different rate than other parts.

Once I was satisfied with the background, I finally painted the letters on top. Veeeeerrrrry carefully, because if I messed up it would be very hard to fix. I saved the letters for last because I knew I wanted the letters to be dark, and if I'd painted them dark first and then painted rectangles that touched the letters, the new water I put down would fade some of that darkness away.

Finally, it was time to remove the two separate signs and merge them into the single sign they were intended to be. :) The great thing about gatorboard is that it's super easy to pull the staples out of it when you're all done with your painting. I pulled all the staples out, and then lined up the "seam" where the two parts of the sign met.

I wasn't entirely sure how to attach the signs together. The watercolor paper I used had a very rough texture (rougher than even the cold press paper I usually use), so it was hard to just glue the pieces together. I tried to sew them with clear fishing wire, but the paper was so thick that the needle made very unattractive holes. Ultimately, I used a few "Zots" - fabulous little sticky dots that are another wonderful crafting invention - to secure the paintings to each other. I was concerned that this wouldn't hold forever, though, and so I painted the seam on the back of the long banner with some white acrylic paint to help seal it a bit better. Finally, I put a couple of decorative brads in just the right spots to add a final security measure to keep the two halves of the painting together.

And since the brads looked so good and I had a few more extras from all of the samples I made for the upcoming Brides-to-Be show, I placed more scattered throughout the sign. I put each brad along a fake seam connecting the patchwork-like rectangles in the background. From a distance, they're not visible at all, but up close they add the perfect amount of three-dimensionality. They make the sign seem even more hand-made, which sets it apart from all of the other flat-printed signs that will be at the show.

So that's the sign I designed and painted! These photographs don't do it justice - so you should definitely come check out the Brides-to-Be show this weekend so you can see it in person! ;)

Shameless plug time: Love this sign? Want a sign painted for your event? Want to commission a watercolor painting? Shoot me an email with your thoughts and let me know! :)

Card Box

I had a lot of fun a couple weeks ago creating a card box for my upcoming wedding. The best part was that everything I used was just stuff I already had lying around in my boxes of art supplies - the acrylic paint was leftover from art classes I took at least two years ago, the little bit of watercolor paper I used was leftover from making reception table placemats, the ribbon was extra ribbon from the spool I intend to use to decorate my wedding cake, and the container was just the cardboard box from a package one of our wedding guests sent us from our registry! I essentially spent $0 to make the card box, and it turned out really well!

Materials used:

- Appropriately-sized cardboard box

- Newspaper (to protect the table surface from paint)

- Acrylic paint (several colors, including Liquitex (basics/student and professional brand - whatever I had lying around) in solid colors and Daniel Smith Luminescent/Iridescent to make the shinier swirls)

- Paintbrushes, palette knife (for mixing), paper bowls

- Glue, Scotch tape (to hold box while glue was drying), Duct tape

- Computer printout of sign

- Pencil

- Watercolor paper, watercolor paints (Daniel Smith brand), staple gun and staples, gator board (to stretch the watercolor paper)

- Ruler, exacto-knife, cutting mat

- Ribbon

First, I cut out the slot on top of the cardboard box where I wanted it, then I unfolded the cardboard box and put down newspaper. I mixed a big paper bowl full of green - as close to our wedding color (David's Bridal calls it "jade") as I could (white, blue, light green, green, yellow, black, iridescent blue, and iridescent gold, in various amounts). 

When mixing, I tried my best to keep in mind that acrylic paint always dries darker than it looks when initially painted/wet, so I aimed for a bit lighter than I actually wanted it to end up with. (Incidentally, watercolor works the opposite way, and looks lighter when dry than it does when wet, and since I'm more familiar with watercolor, I really had to remind myself to do things *opposite* of what I usually did). I painted one side of the box and let it dry for several hours. 

Next, I mixed a batch of coral paint (white, red, yellow, iridescent gold, iridescent russet, red-violet in various amounts) to match our other wedding color (David's Bridal calls it "guava"). Again, I let it dry for several hours.

(Note the fabric swatches from David's Bridal that I compared the color to)

I didn't really *have* to paint both sides - I mean, when it's folded back up, you can hardly see the inside of the box anyway. But I wanted the inside of the box to have a hint of coral color, so that if any guest *did* peak inside the box, she/he would be pleasantly surprised to find our other wedding color inside.

Once both sides were dry, I folded the box back up, gluing the flaps down and the sides together, and holding it closed with Scotch tape until the glue had dried.

Assembling the box back together again

In retrospect, I wouldn't have put that piece of packing tape on the bottom of the box. It was so much shinier than anything else on the box, and I ended up painting another coral strip over it later (after the box was already assembled, which was no easy feat!) just so it wouldn't be so blindingly shiny if anyone peaked inside the box.

A bit of coral paint had managed to find it's way onto the green side of the box, and a bit of newspaper had stuck to the wet paint, so there were some spots that needed touching up once I assembled the box back to its original shape. After fixing those spots, I stepped back and looked at my box. I had always intended to paint a watercolor side to glue to the side labeled "cards," but my box was looking so plain that I didn't think just a sign would be enough. The solid color was too "blah" and in a fit of desperation, I grabbed some silver duct tape (after a cursory internet check that duct tape, as many colors as it comes in, was not available in my specific wedding green or coral anywhere) and taped off the edges to give the box some definition.

I often approach arts projects like this, just going by trial and error until I find something that looks better. As usual, my first idea didn't work. The duct tape just looked tacky (although the silver contrast to the green *did* look nice from a distance), and the large stretches of green *still* looked too plain. But the duct tape did give me a couple of ideas - using ribbon at the end to highlight the edges, and incorporating some kind of contrast. 

So I painted over the duct tape with my green paint again, and this time I tried adding light green and silvery-gold swirls around the entire box. The silvery-gold swirls are really shiny, since I used a lot of the Daniel Smith iridescent paints I had, and they really gave it that extra level of "fancy" I was looking for. Before it just looked like a cardboard box painted green - not nearly sophisticated enough for my wedding. But the swirls gave it dimension, contrast, and sparkle. I was very pleased.

Adding detail to the outside of the card box

Next came the process of painting the sign for the outside of the card box. I wanted to incorporate our official wedding pattern, just as I did on the watercolor placemats I created for each reception table, and all of our stationery items. It's an old process for me - I do it with almost every watercolor I make - but to anyone not used to the steps, it's pretty complicated.

First, I printed the sign off of my computer. I suppose I could have just glued the computer printout to my card box, but that's just not me. I hand painted 27 watercolor placemats for our reception tables, for crying out loud. I just like the way things look by hand so much more than mass produced on a printer. I transferred the design from the printout to my watercolor paper by smudging the side of pencil lead along the back of the sheet and tracing it. The pressure from my pencil tracing the printout pushed the graphite on the back of the prinout onto my watercolor paper.

Then, I soaked the small piece of watercolor paper in the bathtub for ten minutes. I probably didn't need to soak it, but I wanted to add some dimension to the background of the sign by painting some coral swirls - just as I had on the watercolor reception placemats. And anytime you plan to soak your watercolor paper, you should stretch it just to make sure it stays nice and flat.

After ten minutes, I stapled it to my gator board (any wooden board would have also worked, but staples come out of gator board a lot easier) to hold it nicely taut and flat while I painted. While it was still soaked, I added the coral swirls in the background. When it was totally dry, I used a *tiny* watercolor brush (size 3/0) to paint in between the lines I'd traced earlier. Once the bands of pattern and the text ("cards") was dry, I pulled the staples out and cut the sign down to its appropriate size with my exacto knife, a metal ruler with a protective lip, and my cutting mat.

Making the sign for the side of the card box

The final steps were the easiest. I cut some ribbon to the appropriate lengths and glued them in place, and finally glued the "cards" sign I made to one side of the box.

Final product

I loved that it had so much depth and detail (the coral inside, the intricate pattern on the sign, the green and silver swirls on the box). It both looked handmade (which it was!) *and* professional and fancy (the iridescent paint and the ribbon really helped in that area), and that's exactly what I wanted. I was glad I was able to reach a happy medium. It only took a couple of mishaps to get to an end product I was satisfied with - but that's just the way things go. :)

Shameless plug time: I made this card box to match the design of my save-the-dates, invitations, RSVP cards, thank you notes, reception menus, ceremony programs, table markers, and escort cards. I also incorporated the pattern onto my wedding favors, cake, and reception placemats. I'm Invites by Andrea, and I'd love to do something similar for you and your wedding! I'd even be happy to create a card box for your wedding (in return for a materials and time-spent fee).