Chevron Frame Tutorial

The chevron trend is all over lately so I decided to give it a try on an old picture frame that you may recognize from this post here. 

For this project, you need some painters tape, scissors, a craft knife, acrylic paint in a color of your choice, a paint brush (I use the super cheap spongy kind) and a frame.

Start off with your frame.  I painted this frame years ago for my old bedroom, but it doesn't match my new apartment's aesthetic so I decided to revamp it.  You can also use this same technique on a canvas, tray, table top...whatever you want! Just make sure the surface you use is clean and dry.

Now start taping.  I decided to make an "x" straight through the center to keep things even without having to measure anything.

Now keep adding stripes of tape in a criss-cross pattern across your whole surface.

Here's where it gets a little tricky.  Use your craft knife to cut away the excess tape leaving behind your chevron pattern.  Be careful not to press too hard with your blade or it will damage your surface. Use your fingers or the edge of your craft knife to peel away the excess painters tape until it looks something like this....

Once you have all the extra tape removed, sometimes you have to move around the tape on the edges or add more in certain places to make it look right.  Just use your judgement.

 Now take your paintbrush and cover the whole thing in paint. Technically you only need to paint the parts without tape, but I think it comes out better if you paint it all.

Once the paint is COMPLETELY DRY pull off the tape and there you go!

I currently have mine on display in my living room while I look for the perfect picture to put in it!

Hope you found this helpful!

Striped Glitter Frame Tutorial!

Today I'm going to teach you how to make this frame:

 

This pic-torial  should be extremely easy to follow, but if DIY just isn't your thing it's also available with a few other new items on www.etsy.com/shop/moderndaydauphine

step 1:

 

Paint your frame navy blue

step 2:

 

Once your paint is COMPLETELY dry, tape off your pattern using blue painters tape

step 3:

Take your gold glitter paint (I used Martha Stewart) and glob it on.  Use as much paint as it takes to fully cover the navy blue.

Step 4:

When the glitter is completely dry, and I mean COMPLETELY, pull off the tape.  You should have nice clean lines, and if not touch up any mistakes with a small paintbrush. 

Lastly:

Add your embellishment with e600 glue and you have a beautiful frame perfect for any room in the house.

Hope you all found that simple enough to follow, if any of you make one I'd love to see your results! Send me a link to it in the comment section!

Honored and Excited

Today I recieved the huge honor of giving a guest blog on my favorite blog www.champagnelifestyles.blogspot.com. I can honestly say I could not be more excited.  This is a great blog about diy, fashion, decorating, and living a lavish lifestyle while staying within your means; something every Modern day Dauphine strives to do.  Go check out her blog and my tutorial on how to make this amazing tufted headboard!

Time to Get Serious

Unfortunately it's been a while since I blogged but since then a lot has changed and I finally feel like I'm ready to put in the work to make a name for myself in the handmade world.  Two very exciting things have taken place recently.  First of all I MADE MY FIRST ETSY SALE!! Now if you've read my previous bogs you're probably thinking 'yeah....you already made two' but those were to family and friends.  I finally made my first sale to a complete stranger and let me tell you it felt AWESOME.

About two weeks ago I was in Seattle sharing a hotel room with my parents visiting family.  I was fast asleep when my phone made a noise that sounded like a cash register.  When my parents asked what it was I sleepily replied "The x-ray machine."  I'm still not exactly sure what I was dreaming that prompted that response from me, but when I groggily wiped my eyes and checked my phone I saw the alert from my etsy app telling me that I made a sale.  Instantly I was wide awake and over joyed.  As soon as I told my parents that the noise was not an x-ray machine but an etsy sale they were equally ecstatic.  The three of us had a little celebration, I immediately updated my facebook status to share the good news and eventually went back to sleep.

In other news, one of my absolute favorite blogs, Champagne lifestyles on a beer budget is letting me do a guest post!! Check it out next week for my tutorial on how to make a tufted headboard like these:

Obsessed with this look? I am too! So make sure you check out Champagne lifestyles next week for my tutorial.  And check back here for what I hope will be daily updates!