Year in Review // 2013 Most Popular Posts

Why hello there! How was your week? I feel like I was in some sort of time warp and can't account for the last several days. It was Christmas, I blinked, and now we're 2 days into 2014. Whooosh! Crazy how that happens.

Whether you're working or taking time off, I hope that the past week has been a good one. We enjoyed some much needed down time at our place in San Diego. It was nice to unplug for a bit and reflect upon the year gone by.

I always like reading "year in review" posts, so here's ours.

bliss bloom blog's top posts of 2013

#1 milk jug votives

I guess you guys like upcycle/recycle projects? This was a fun one and I'm now dreaming up earth day projects for 2014.

Click "Read more" for the full post

[Make] Instagram Photo Heart

Do you Instagram?  I signed up last February and have been instagramming ever since. Something about those little square photographs with their rainbow array of special effects just speaks to me.

After about a year, I decided to do something with all the fun little photos that have been hanging out on my phone's Instagram app**. It's time to display them!

**If you're wondering, I'm a little slow to warm up to social networking (lets just call it... paranoia. that and having one more thing to keep up with), so my account is currently private. In fact, after 3 years of hemming & hawing, I just started a facebook page for this site... but more on that later.  If I decide to make my Instagram account public, you'll be the first to know!  :)

Click "Read more" for the how-to

Rasterized Wall Art Tutorial



As promised, here's the step-by-step guide for creating your own Rasterized Wall Art.  It's really a pretty simple project.  For me, the hardest part was finding the right photo... and then finding the time to hang the artwork up.  But really, it's pretty simple and a huge bang for the buck!

Step 1

Find a photo that you love.
An image with decent contrast probably makes the biggest impact. And if you're going big, make sure your photo is high resolution.

Here's my original photo:

as you can tell, I photoshopped it a bit to give it a pop-art feel

Step 2 

Rasterize the image using The Rasterbator website.
There are two options-- online or download (I chose the online version).

Step 3

Get past the name "rasterbator" ;)

Step 4 

Using Rasterbator, crop or size your image (I found size to be easier);

Choose paper size & paper direction (I used US Letter in horizontal);

Choose Dot size (I chose 7mm) and Color mode (I chose Multi-color). 

That's it!  Let Rasterbator do the rest.

Step 5

Save the PDF file to your computer and print.

Step 6

There will be a border around each print.  Cut out each print... I know, I know...
(I cut mine out as I was mindlessly watching American Idol).

Step 7

Arrange your artwork and label the back with a pencil 
(it's easy to confuse the sheets when they're in rasterized form)

I used letters (A,B,C,D) for each row and numbers for each column (1-5)

Step 8

 Protect the art.
I chose to use these Self-Adhesive Laminating Sheets.  If you have access to a laminating machine, even better.  Modified page protectors, shop ticket holders , cheap frames (Ikea), and overhead transparencies will also work.

Step 9 

Measure and mask your wall with painter's tape.

This probably was the most "intricate" part of the project for me.

In your measurements, you'll also want to include the spacing between each sheet of paper.

If you have "crooked eyes" like moi, you may want to use a level before tacking things up.

Step 10

Using the masked-off rectangle as a guide, temporarily hang up your art using painters tape. 

(sorry for the poor quality of the photos.  Smarty Pants has black-out shades, so the lighting is all or nothing).

I did the bottom row first...

Followed by the left column...

Until all the sheets were tacked up...

there's a 1-inch space between each sheet

Step 11

Secure the art to the wall. 

To (hopefully) protect the paint, I used Command Poster Strips (Home Depot sells the value pack, 12 strips, for under $2).  If you use command strips, make sure to follow the instructions for easy application & removal.

Step 12

Remove painter's tape and "wah-lah", you're done!

I already had the self-laminating sheets, but the total cost for this project... $31

laminating sheets ($17) + 7 packs of command poster strips ($14) = $31

Not bad!

Here are some other Rasterized Wall Art displays that inspire:

via apartment therapy

black & white is so dramatic with the right contrast

 via apartment therapy
love the "window panes" effect.
apparently there's another site called blockposters that does the same thing (much more tame, but not as memorable of a name)

via apartment therapy

what fisherman wouldn't love this?

via design scouting

i'm thinking of doing something similar for Happy Vee's "around the world" room.

Happy Rasterbating!  :)

linked to:
all things inspired
sew much ado
someday crafts
paisley passions
somewhat simple
the shabby nest
just a girl

Car-inspired Room - Wall Art

I mentioned earlier how we accidentally "grounded" ourselves and missed out on our much anticipated dinner and a movie pre-valentine's date.  Very bummed since I was really looking forward to seeing "The King's Speech" and a nice, calm dinner would've been just what our frazzled minds needed.  But since it wasn't to be, I decided to be productive.  After months of planning, here's Smarty Pant's new Car Wall Art--

to give some perspective, it measures just over 5 feet wide and is 3 feet tall

and i spent less than $20



Since Smarty Pants is just 4 years old (going on 14), I decided to keep it young by keeping the colorful car lamp and the car frame that I made last year.  The Backyardigans add a nice punch of color too! If you're interested in making your own pixelated art, stop by later this week when I share the full tutorial.

linked to:

coastal charm

Oh Martha Monday - Photo Votives

As most of you probably know, the Martha Stewart website has a vast amount of wonderful ideas and projects.  And if you've been on the site, you've probably figured out that if you don't somehow save/ bookmark that pretty, smart and awesome idea... you will NEVER find it again.  Back into the abyss it goes.

So I thought I'd start posting some of the Martha inspiration that I've been "saving" as future reference.  And what better day to do it than Monday... the best day of the week... Okay, not really, but Martha and Monday sound good together, no?

˙·٠•●♥Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ♥●•٠·

Anyhow, how pretty are these Photo Votives?  This would be perfect for a birthday or anniversary party~

photo centerpieces how-to