Clipboard Wall Art and Framed Thread Rack

I've arranged and rearranged the furniture in my office/studio/sewing room space about 15 times in the last year and a half.  I don't know anything about feng shui, but something just wasn't working for me.  I finally think I have it just the way I want it, so of course I needed to dress up the walls.

My first wall art project is a clipboard art collage.

These 6 inexpensive clipboards are from Amazon. I designed some printables with my favorite quotes and subway signs from my favorite cities to display on the clipboards.  I love the way they look, and what's best is that I can update it is often as I want with new printables, photos, etc.

My next wall art project was super simple. I framed my thread rack!

My mother-in-law was giving away an old framed print of a bouquet of flowers.  The glass had broken ages ago, and the print was warped and scratched, but the frame still looked great!

I snatched it up right away, ditched the old print and painted it Annie Sloan Provence. It now hangs around my bare thread rack.

Here's a peek into my sewing corner. The folding table on the left will be replaced at some point, and the wooden chair will be painted...eventually. But for now, this space suits me!

Follower Features

Us Aqua Gals sure love our followers! Their support means a ton and their talent is inspiring.Here are a few projects from some of our fab followers!
Wall decor project from Champagne Taste Beer Budget
DIY kid's room canvas from Room with a View
Fall inspired shelves by Less Than Perfect Life of BlissPS- be sure to check out the close up on the book covers - brilliant!  Thank you, ladies, for sharing these ideas. They are truly smart and inspiring! Follow or "Like" our blog? Email us your projects so we can feature you too! If you have been featured, feel free to pick up a button from our Button Up page!

Skateboard Wall Art

My sweet boys. They love to create art and I just don't give them enough opportunities to explore their creativity - especially when it comes to decorating!
These little guys have big design ideas for their room and in the past I have been known to brush them under the rug.  But this project was just too good to pass up. 
My husband ordered 10 blank, white skateboard decks from Amazon.com and we let the boys go wild with spray paint, stencils and the letters of their names.




They were so excited to hang the finished product in their room!


How did that cutie slip in there?!
I have to admit...letting go of my control of how I want their room to look was refreshing! The project is personal and creative and it makes me so happy to walk in their room and see one-of-a-kind artwork!  

Four Fun Features!

Even though we had a slow week here at Aqua Seventy6, we are humbled to have been featured on four great sites!

Yvette's Embroidery Hoop Wall Art showed up on three blogs this week! 
Thanks to Ginger Snap Crafts,  Crayon Freckles and Clean & Scentsible for showing us love. 

Yvette's DIY Placemat Clutch was featured over at The 36th Avenue, We even got Desirée's Sooo Clever Sticker !

Take a minute today to stop by these great sites!

Embroidery Hoop Wall Art

Sorry for the late post this evening!  I have two sick kiddos at home.  Isn't it just the luck that they are perfectly fine on Saturday morning as they are getting their school physicals and immunizations, and an hour after we get home they are stuffed up and have sore throats?!  Boo.

Here's a little project that is kind of a work in progress.  You saw my hand painted sign in my powder room. Well, the adjacent wall needed a little bling-- but on a budget. Using some remnant fabrics and embroidery hoops, I made a little collage of sorts and I just love the way it came out!

I found a few of the hoops at a local thrift shop for 25 cents apiece.  The others are from Hobby Lobby and Joann's.  Most of the fabrics are remnant pieces that I've found for 50% off around town.

I just stretched the fabric in each hoop and cut off the excess.  Super easy!

I'm going to keep searching for hoops at thrift stores as well as remnant fabric pieces or thrifted curtains/tablecloths/pillowcases/etc. within this color pallet that I can upcycle into additional pieces for this collection.

Do you love it, or do you love it?? :)

Scroll down to see where this and our other fab projects are linked! 

Signs of Inspiration

My latest obsession - well one of them-  is vintage wooden signs.
I have always been drawn to typography and so these old signs just make my heart happy.

I have been searching around the blog universe to find some good tutorials for making a custom sign with that vintage feel. Something to display in my home. Here are the ones I will be drawing inspiration and instructions from. Once I get around to making one (or 10) I'll post some pictures!

lil blue boo

Mrs. Adventure

They make it look so easy! Now...what will my sign(s) say? 

Two Gifts and Preview

I love a good parade. On Saturday, the rodeo parade came right in front of our house! (Would have been nice if I took a picture.) It was the perfect way to kick-off my weekend. The weather was dreary all weekend, which was the perfect excuse to catch-up on some gifts and an order.


I had an image of this wall hanging in my mind for a while. As you know, my Aqua Seventy6 partner in crime, Yvette, has a daughter who is preparing to decorate her new bedroom. I wanted to make her something special because "J" is one remarkable young lady! I chose the latin "Alis Volat Propiis" which means, "She flies with her own wings." Perfect for this amazing gal!



This week is the last day of school for my boys. I needed some gifts for their teacher - and one that would not break the bank. I decided to shrink down the pattern for my camera case and make a little lipstick pouch. Of course, I bought a few cute glosses to toss inside  - cause girlfriend likes a good shellacked kisser! I hope they enjoy!

I love making things for other people. I truly do think of them the whole time I am working and try my hardest to send the love! My dear friend, Heather, contacted me with an order and somehow when it was all said and done I had talked her into buying 4 items!

This is what she originally wanted: a summer bag that could travel to the pool, the beach, folk dance festivals and dock watch. That brown fabric on the sides are some serious deep pockets! And as you can see, this bag is so big it can even fit a T-Rex quite comfortably!

Heather couldn't resist the Fun Floral Apron and added that to her order as well. I just couldn't let her get that apron without letting me whip up two adorable coordinating mini-aprons for her two little minis! Her daughters are going to look so cute in these!



Truth be told, both of the girls' aprons are different but I had to leave something to the imagination. SO Heather, you will just have to hold your horses and wait to see what the other apron looks like upon arrival!

PS- Big shout out to my little Easton for modeling! My boy can rock a floral print.

DIY Art Fail?

I found a project in the newest edition of Do it Yourself Magazine that I thought my 8-year-old daughter and I could absolutely tackle.  The project was a DIY wall art project using gel medium, a photo printed on a transparency sheet and a blank canvas.

The basic idea was to spread a thin amount of gel medium onto a canvas, then place a printed transparency sheet ink down onto the canvas.  We were supposed to rub the back of the sheet with a spoon and voila, the photo would transfer onto the canvas with an "artsy, gritty quality", which looked oh-so-cool in the magazine.

I decided to buy my daughter the supplies as an Easter gift.  I picked up some canvases ($8) and gel medium ($15) at Michael's.  I didn't have time to get the transparencies for Easter, so she and I went to Staples today.  Lo and behold, those suckers were EX-PEN-SIVE!  $60 for 50 sheets!  If I hadn't already promised her that we'd do this, I would have stopped right there.

We browsed the 'net searching for some cool owl images (note: we just did the old 'right-click and save' to make some sample canvases. AquaSeventy6 always recommends that you get permission before using online images!)

After ruining our first canvas by using way too much gel medium, we ended up with these three sample canvases.  We still haven't decided if we like them or not, especially since the materials were not cheap.  Maybe they would turn out better if we used photos instead of clip art.  We'd like to hear what you think.  Was this a DIY fail or is it DIY fab?