20x200

Have any of you ever heard of the website 20x200?  Well if not you get to hear all about it now! 

So many of us want unique, fresh art to hang on our walls but so many of us don't have the budget (that's me!).  Well, 20x200 not only gives us the opportunity to fill our walls with beautiful art it gives artists a way to connect with those of us looking for them.  20x200 features one to two pieces of art a week.  They create 200 prints of the smallest size (usually 8x11) and sell them to us for $20!  Yup, you read that right...$20!  (They also give us the option to frame the art and purchase larger sizes for a bit more money but still super reasonable.)

And I am so excited because I just purchased my first piece of art from them!  Check it out!



Lauren DiCioccio, the artist, takes pages from magazines - in this case Vogue - and turns them into art.  She assigns a color to each letter (greyscale for numbers) and creates this beautiful dot art that feels as though you could read it right off the page.  Pretty cool, right!?!?!

I also found a great video on the 20x200 website about how to frame artwork on your own and I thought it had some great tips.  Check it out here!  I love the tip about buying a basic frame but getting a custom mat.  I looked into doing that for this piece of art but it didn't work out with the frame I had chosen.  But I will use that tip in the future for sure!

I did, however, follow their rules about using a simple frame and white mat to bring all the focus onto the art.

I grabbed this simple frame from Michaels for $7.99 using a coupon.  (Have I mentioned that Michaels always has coupons for frames in the "weekly ad" on their website.  Please don't ever pay full price!)  And then I secured the art on top on the mat that came with the frame using adhesive dots, which are so handy to have around for whenever you need them!  My brand new art is now sitting on top of my cabinet turned shelf and it looks great.  I love the combination of old and new!

Now I just have to fill the rest of the shelf!  Any suggestions?

Side  Note: I was not compensated in any way by 20x200.  Not saying that I would turn down free art if they offered :)

The Truth Behind the Pillow

Another This Into That project brought to you by Mission Decorate and the letter P (sorry, my daughter is watching Seasame Street right now.)


It would have been very easy for me to give you the more attractive version of this story.  You know, the one where everything goes right and the project takes no time at all. But I do believe it is my duty to give you the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so here it is...

A few months back I read a post on Centsational Girl (a great blog that I love to read) about a no-sew cloth napkin pillow.  And as we all know I love anything that is titled "no sew" and I am in desperate need of accent pillows so I was thrilled.  Centsational Girl used beautiful and inexpensive cloth napkins from World Market and fusible web to create wonderful pillow covers.  So that is what I did!  I picked up beautiful blue cloth napkins at World Market for about $3 a piece, dug out the iron-on no-sew adhesive I used to make the curtains in my daughters room and followed her directions.  But, sadly, I did not have much success.  I found the adhesive to just not be strong enough to truly hold the edges together so needless to say I was frustrated. 

I put the project aside about a month ago but then yesterday I had some odd inspiration that there is no reason I can't do some hand sewn work...right?!?!? So I picked it up again and finished it off!.  Check out my nice new blue pillow to compliment the Pottery Barn pillow already on our couch. 

So happy it is done and I didn't waste two great napkins!  Let me break down the great tips Centsational Girl shared that made this come together!  Step one...buy two napkins.  I bought two unmatched napkins.  They matched in color and style but I thought two different pattern (front and back) would be fun. 

Next...cut one of the napkins in half.  Yup, right down the middle.  Then flip the two napkins around so the already sewn hems overlap each other about 1/2 an each.  (But don't actually measure.  that is one of the great parts of this project...there is no measuring!)  Do you see that you now have an opening in the middle of the pillow cover to insert the pillow?

OK, lay the napkins down  pattern side to pattern side.  So you will be working with them inside out. 

Because you overlapped the cut napkin you will have a little extra of the non-cut napkin peaking out of one side so just trim that off.

From here the method of securing them together is up to you.  You can pull out your sewing machine and put my hand sewing abilities to shame.  You can follow Centsational Girl from the link above and try the fusible web (and please let me know if you have better success then I did).  Or you can pull out the good old handy needle and thread, sit down in front of an episode of The Bachelor Pad (the best trash on TV right now) and sew it up by hand.

To finish up flip the pillow cover outside out (is that even a real thing) and then put a pillow insert inside and you are done!  Easy as that...minus my month long set back.  But don't the two different napkins look great?!?!

So in truth it is very simple and inexpensive!  And I will definitely do this again since there are so many amazing napkin patterns out there how could I stop at just one!