DormStyler does DIY Paint Chip Art

This week has been a complete whirlwind

Now that papers have been signed and secured (and I have no chance of jinxing anything…I think) I am excited to say that the BF and I finally found ourselves the perfect apartment in Boston! And since you are all such loyal readers, you know what this means…thousands of posts about Boston to come… but more so, this means that the reality of graduation has become ever more evident. Totally bittersweet. But instead of crying my senior year of college away, I’ve decided to spend an absurd amount of time on arts & crafts… AND since I posted about paint-chip art last week, it was only natural for me to actually MAKE the art.

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I hit a couple of bumps throughout the project. For starters, after meticulously cutting out each triangle and placing them in a perfect pattern (PICTURE 1)–I decided to glue them down to poster board with good ole Elmer’s Glue. Let me tell you, those bad boys wouldn’t stay stuck for a single second and ended up popping up like it was their job (PICTURES 2&3). I cannot even TELL you how frustrating that was. I thought Elmer’s glue was the best–and it’s not like I had an abundance of paint chips lying around… so I had to go BACK to home depot for the paint chips and then the kind sales people introduced me to Gorilla Glue— After re-cutting and reorganizing the paint chips I finally took a chance with this primate glue stuff and boy did it work (PICTURE 4). this stuff is made from heaven. I will never go back to Elmer’s, sorry childhood.

PICTURE 5 is a sample of what’s to come. Martha Stewart Paints have really good looking brochures so I snagged a bunch to try and create some sort of new art. Still have yet to glue this one.

MORAL OF THE STORY

1. Elmer’s glue is no longer my go-to glue

2. Paint Chip art can be frustrating without the right tools

3. I hope the BF is okay with me filling the new apartment with weird free art that I make on creative whims

4. It’s only free art until you realize you will have to get custom framing for this 18×18 work’o’art

DIY: Paint Chip Art–Who Knew?

Sorry I’ve neglected you, blog.

This past week has been absolutely insane. I’ve been spending all my time looking for a job and an apartment. It’s crazy to think that this DormStyler will soon become a non-dorm resident. How in the world will I make that transition from dormstyling to apartmentstyling… and WHAT will I call my blog? It seems insincere to keep at as dormstyler, don’t you think?

Anyway, in addition to everything else going on, I’ve been spending an obscene amount of time on Pinterest. Gosh, it is so incredibly addicting. While searching the do-it-yourself section I found this tutorial using those stacks of paint chips found at any home improvement store. How brilliant, right? It made me wonder how many amazing DIY art projects are out there with paint chips. I cannot wait to do ALL of these… especially the skyline one. I love that infinite inspiration can always be at my fingertips!

You can click on any of the pictures to get directed to the original sites to get the full tutorials. Gosh, how will I ever contain myself from making all of these? I have a feeling I will need a really strong vacuum to get the thousands of paint chip pieces that fall on my dorm room floor. WHOOPS.

And So it Begins… The Series of “Last” Posts

Two months from tomorrow I will graduate from college. Isn’t that just ridiculous. What in the world will I do with my little blog once I’m in the real world? So far I’ve had suggestions to change my blog to “ApartmentStyler” or “Boston&theBF” neither of which roll of the tongue quite as nice as DormStyler… so everyone keep brainstorming

In the meantime, we had our last all college Gala this weekend. I could not be more upset. It was definitely, hands down the best Gala of all four years. I had the most fun in the world dancing the night away to swing music. the BF will not be so happy that there are photos of him in this post, but since they’re all in groups you will just have to choose for yourself which of these handsome boys is mine. Here are pictures from this years Gala as well as Galas from years past. Gosh, I want to just cry!

DormStyler does Bahamas part II

Going back to school is always so bittersweet. There is nothing I love more than seeing my friends in Commons again after time apart to catch up… but then I’m always faced with a heap of work I neglected during break. This week in Maine has been particularly cold (thanks winter for teasing us with warm weather) and am wishing more than ever that I was back in the sandy beaches of Nassau rather than midland Maine.

Here are Part II of the Bahamas Pictures

the BF captured these photos of me “gambling”… I don’t understand how people sit at slot machines all day. I lost two dollars and called it quits. It was too nerve-wrecking

We attended an art auction on the boat the last day. We went for the free champagne but stayed for the refills. The art itself was hideous. I took a picture of the worst of the worst. Nobody bid on those puzzle masterpieces even though the starting bid was $1100 don’t these people know anything about art?

New Found Blog: Honestly… WTF

As much as I love blogging myself, I love reading other peoples blogs even more. I’m constantly in awe of how creative an innovative people can be. I recently stumbled upon this blog “Honesty…WTF” that has an entire DIY section. I mean, does life get any better? Here are some of my favorites that I’m just dying to make. If only there were more hours in each day I could get everything I ever imagined done…

I can’t decide what I’m most anxious to make, the Miu Miu Jeweled Heels or the Elbow Patch Sweater… Or the Gold-Dipped Glassware…

The Nautical Life

It’s hard to remember that only a few short months ago I was wearing shorts and tank tops instead of fleece-lined pants and hats. Winter came a little late this year, but has certainly hit us full force–making apparent once again that I did not know what I bargained for when signing myself over to Maine for four years.

As a Mid-Atlantic-er I have very little appreciation for the winter. I often associate Maine with -20 degree weather, icy mornings, and blizzards that bring feet of snow– but know that this association is tragically misleading. One of my sorority sistas and suitemate, Erika is from a seacoast town in Maine called Camden. It’ s really pathetic that I have never been up to her home because I can only imagine how much I would love Camden. I’m going to add that to my second semester check list right now. When I think of Maine I think of snow–when she thinks of Maine she thinks of her beautiful hometown and the seacoast that she grew up on.

Remember when I posted on bringing your home with you wherever you go–and adding tidbits of home when you move to college? Well, Erika does just that. I snagged some pics from her room this afternoon to share how artistically and creatively she incorporates Camden in her room. It just makes me want to spend all day collecting sea glass.

My favorite are the open frames with fragments of seashells and sea glass glued on. I’m totes copying her. And speaking of copying her, I have already started filling little mason jars with champagne and wine corks (as seen in the top picture). It’s such a simple way to add character!

Also–Did you spot the Hunger Games in the photo? It’s safe to say that Suite 343 is obsessed

DIY: Modern Office Folder Art

My mom is pretty intense about Hanukkah. We have  set-in-stone schedule of what happens on each night. The first night we always, ALWAYS receive a book. This was obviously the worst night of Hanukkah growing up, because lets face it, what cool kid wants a book as a present? Well as we’ve gotten older we’ve received fewer chapter books and more interesting ones. This year my mom bought me The Big-Ass Book of Home Decor, a book full of do-it-yourself home decor projects. Well OBVIOUSLY I couldn’t wait to get my creative juices flowing with one of these projects and finally came around to doing one as soon as I finished all the Harry Potter books.

Last night while watching the Biggest Loser season premiere (so exciting!) I made “modern office folder art”–which really should have been called modern binder divider art… but I won’t get into that. Basically the project  consisted of drawing funny shapes on  white card-stock, cutting out Staples plastic dividers, and adding a bit of good ole Elmer’s glue.

I just love how they turned out!

I went to AC Moore today and bought some cheap black frames to put them in.

Christmas at KME

If you’ve read my blog, you’ve probably gathered a few things

1. I love Boston

2. I talk about the BF a lot

3. I’m a KME sorority sister for life

Since Thanksgiving, our suite has become a little christmas fairy tale or something. We have the cutest little tree with the cutest multi-colored lights. Oh, I just love it! My mom is coming this weekend for my choir concert (singing Handel’s Messiah!) and with her should be a bunch of Hanukkah decorations to even out this holiday playing field.

Ode to Harvest Dinner

My college has one of the best traditions ever: Harvest Dinner. The Wednesday before Thanksgiving, the dining hall hosts a gigantic themed feast. This year the theme was MAINE, oh how original. Harvest Dinner goes as follows:

1. arrive to commons at 4:15 and wait in line for the doors to open at 4:30

2. Enter your name into the raffle

3. Pick a table that will fit all your friends and throw jackets on all the chairs so that they’re not stolen by other, less cool friend groups

4. Eat, eat, eat and eat more until 6:30 when…

5. You go to the gym for deserts and the “Trashion” Fashion Show

6. A Capella Concert at 9:30

It’s simply the best. Plus there is always live music

Here are my pictures from this joyous event. Gosh, I cannot believe that this is my last last last Harvest Dinner ever. Maybe I can become a super senior and come back next year. It’s worth an extra year of tuition… right? The Trashion show is ALWAYS my favorite but I will admit this year it was quite a scandal. In my personal, dormstyler opinion, the winner was wrongfully, oh so wrongfully crowned. Who cares if you have used water bottles all over you? UGH. It was very frustrating being in the audience that night–Details to come once I have more pictures. In the mean time enjoy these. Can you spy my Vegan Thanksgiving dinner? So good!

Speaking of A Capella… The ACapella groups are currently in our suite having a “party”– let me tell you, you have never heard such a harmonized version of Party in the USA. I still don’t know how I feel about it. Oh gosh, someone just yelled “I love A Capella”

Updates from a Dormstyler

I feel like the past two weeks have been so incredibly jammed packed; my blog as well as my inbox have been getting very little love and I’m feeling pretty guilty. I’ve been so busy and yet so much has happened! Last week the BF and I ventured out to a new diner. If you know me you know that I absolutely LOVE diners–and the more “mom and pop” the better. Although my all time favorite is still Becky’s we went to the cutest little hole in the wall diner “Uncle Moe’s” last weekend and it was quite a treat. They even had homemade biscuits! You would truly be shocked to find out how many diners DON’T have biscuits. Maybe we should move down south.

But it gets better. On the paper placemats at Uncle Moe’s they had an advertisement for an indoor Flea Market/Antique Warehouse in Oxford, Maine. I had already dragged the BF out to breakfast and knew that antiquing was totally out of the question (um how can anyone hate antiquing?!) so I trekked out to Oxford by myself. It was one of the greatest flea markets I’ve ever been to. I can’t decide whether I’ll be the person with the neatly organized, chachski-filled home or the extreme hoarder. Time can only tell. I’ve included some shots from the flea marketing including the deer head I spent ten minutes petting. Deer fur is really not as soft as you would imagine.

This weekend my parents flew in from Washington, DC to visit. It’s always nice to have your parents visit. My mom brought me the most wonderful magazines ever called Artful Blogging. I’ve already read them front to back twice–what a productive day. We had such a great time during their visit and went out to eat at so many good restaurants including this new restaurant in Freeport called Linda Beans. It has “authentic Maine” cuisine including lots of sea food, lots of mashed potatoes and various Maine burgers. For all of you lobstah-salad lovers out there, let it be known that Linda Beans lobster rolls are 95 parts lobster, 4 part mayonaise and 1 part seasoning. None of that drenched stuff.

For some reason, my parents are obsessed with American Idol (or were obsessed) after Simon and Paula left the magic of the show really went away–probably due to the lack of british accents and exposed chest hair. This weekend one of my BFFs and a KME sister competed in our college’s American Idol. It’s events like this that make me miss college so much already. Plus this week I had to submit my intention to graduate. UGH. On a happier note: these are the pictures from the past 8 days.