Going about the business of saving money has helped bring more clarity into my life lately. Crisp and vibrant compositions jump out at me on daily walks around my hood. Here’s a few captures from one of these recent jaunts. Extraordinary ordinary.

-Sarah from the west coast 

Lamp Remodel - I had this brown lamp with a busted shade. Instead of trying to replace the shade, I decided to save some money and give the lamp a remodel. 

Here’s how:

1. Painted the lamp base a fun yellow with acrylic paint. Let dry.

2. Cut up one large brown paper bag into 1inch - 1.5inch pieces for the overall shade and 2-3inch pieces for the rim of shade. (note*** I did not use the bottom of the bag with the creases)

3. Coated the lamp shade with a matte medium.

4. Starting applying the paper bag pieces to the shade with a paint brush. Coating again with the matte medium.

5. Allow longer pieces for the rim of the shade to be tucked up underneath. The rim pieces are tricky if they aren’t cut long enough and will pop-up. I used paper clips to hold my shorter pieces down until they dried. 

6. Apply a coat of watered down wood glue and gloss medium to entire shade. Let dry.

7. Apply a coat of gloss medium. Let Dry.

8. Attach shade to lamp, add bulb and you have a new lamp. Pennies spent and pennies saved.

Hope you enjoyed this little project as much as I did. Please note that the shade ages well just like leather:)

xo,

Valerie from the east coast.

DIY Artful Note Cards -  I love absolutely love stationery and really enjoy making my own. For this project I was inspired by the USPS Abstract Expressionists stamps I purchased this summer featuring Hans Hofmann, Mark Rothko, Robert Motherwell, Jackson Pollack, Joan Mitchell, Adolph Gottlieb, Arshile Gorky, William de Kooning, Clyfford Still and Barnett Newman.

The abstract expressionists revolutionized art and moved the US to the center of the art scene during the 1940’s and 50’s. This group of artists were primarily based in New York City and had radically different styles that created a new visual language based on color, motion and expression. Some say that “they transformed the act of painting into a means of self-discovery, which was both uniquely American and utterly new.”

Abstract expressionist paintings are among my favorites from art history because I believe that the paintings are still current and relevant today. I recently found an old newspaper article where I said this…”The 1930’s through the 1950’s happen to be my favorites because the lack of art supplies and world politics forced the great artists of the time to be resourceful and creative. Also, the world at the time needed to be inspired and distracted from the world affairs. The artists at the time became the voices of the people which throughout today, have become consistent.” So, when I saw these stamps I was more than excited.

These little pieces of art manufactured into stamps was a brilliant idea.  However, I was feeling it would be wasteful to have these tiny beauties end up in a mail recipients trash can somewhere. Though I couldn’t control their fate completely, I did have an opportunity to use them on my wedding rsvp envelopes so I knew those would be returned and safe from the garbage pail.

When they came back to me I loved them even more with their additional ink marks from being processed. I wanted to do something cool with them and thought they would be perfect on thank you cards. 

Here is how it happened:

1. I purchased very inexpensive white cards and envelopes at my local craft store that I found in the dollar bin.

2. Hand tore each stamp from the envelope to create an interesting edge

3. Used a glue stick to adhere them to the white cards.

4. You have yourself an amazing little piece of mail art!

My idea was that maybe someone would like the card enough to keep it from the fate of the landfill. If not, at least I did what I wanted to accomplish with this project - by creating something entirely new and my own, something that was cool and affordable, and paying homage to artist that I admire greatly. It’s always great to be reminded just how simple it is to create something fabulous for mere pennies.

Xo,

Valerie from the east coast

“The function of the artist is to express reality as felt.” - Robert Motherwell