We Don’t Need Earth Day

Posted by on Apr 18, 2012 in Blog, Everything Green | 1 comment Earth day is coming up this weekend and I actually couldn’t care less about it. Do we really need a theme or a specific day to celebrate earth? Common sense please! While on the one hand, it’s nice to raise some awareness to stop malicious destruction of our planet. Because it seems like the majority hasn’t heard how we (the ones on top of the food chain) kill our own and only...
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How to Save Money on Art Equipment

Posted by on Mar 28, 2012 in Blog, Everything Green, Upcycling & DIY | 2 comments Some of you know that all my artwork is painted on all kinds of recycled materials and I am proving that it is not necessary to buy all this expensive equipment to make high quality art. Who says that you have to use artist linen from the art store? Who says that frames have to be built professionally and how does that look like? I paint with oil and I paint on anything I find. All I need to know...
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About Suburbia, My Undies & Saving Money

Posted by on Feb 29, 2012 in Blog, Everything Green, Living & Design | 11 comments It’s this season again and my laundry can’t wait to smell the fresh spring air! If there’s one thing I really like about Texas, then it’s the short winters and the free clothes’ dryer. Even though we live in suburbia (which I can’t stand, I think I’ve said it before?! Counting the days to leave…) and there’s a homeowners’ association...
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How to Prepare For A Garage Sale

Posted by on Jan 28, 2012 in Blog, Living & Design, Upcycling & DIY | 6 comments Today, I had my very first garage sale and here I am giving you tips how to prepare one! It was a great success, so I guess I must have done something right and why not pass on my suggestions? 1– First you have to check if you need a permit for your area (or if you are allowed to have one). 2– Set a date, preferably on a weekend (I read somewhere that the beginning of a month is...
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Stylish Winter Decoration On A Budget

Posted by on Nov 14, 2011 in Blog, Upcycling & DIY | 6 comments When it comes to decorating the house, I am always in favor of change! I usually change the decoration every couple of weeks, rearrange furniture, artwork and just love to move things around. And sometimes, I do a little too much and the house looks a little cluttered with all the pretty things I like to put on display. Then I know it’s time to get started again and clean up, remove some...
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Upcycling Project: Upholstering a Garage Sale Find

Posted by on Nov 11, 2011 in Blog, Upcycling & DIY | 14 comments My latest garage sale find: a new chair for my studio. Well, not new but used -kind of new for me. My friend Elisabeth had a garage sale and while I decided to come by and give her some support, I immediately fell in love with this chair. I tried it on (sat in it) and it was so comfy that I had to have it. The office chair I have been using almost fell apart and I needed three pillows to not hit...
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How To Stretch Artists’ Canvas

Posted by on Jul 3, 2011 in Art, Blog, Everything Green, Upcycling & DIY | 4 comments Before you start stretching canvas on a frame, you have to have a frame of course! Here’s a link to how I build my own frames. I usually use recycled wood from construction sites or other places (wherever I find leftovers..). The fabric I use is also recycled, any fabric I can find. The art supply industry makes us believe that only their expensive canvas should be used for oil paintings....
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How to Make Your Guest Room Inviting

Posted by on Jun 28, 2011 in Blog, Living & Design | 17 comments After I have renovated our bedroom, it was time to have a look at our guest room. It’s quite a dark place because it has only one window to the North, so when I painted it first, I used a bright yellow to lighten it up a bit. The furniture I used in there ranged from dark to light wood. And above all, I mostly used it to store stuff that I don’t use much or not at all -ok, I threw my...
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How To Choose Artwork For A Bedroom

Posted by on Jun 24, 2011 in Blog, Living & Design | 10 comments Last week, I decided to give our bedroom a make-over. Here are some pictures how it looks like now: My husband chose the wall color long time before I moved in and even though I like brighter colors better, I thought it was a calming and nice choice for a bedroom. So, I decided to keep it and not repaint it. I chose to put only few artwork into the room because it’s the place where I get...
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How to Ship Large Stretched Paintings

Posted by on May 4, 2011 in Art, Blog, Upcycling & DIY | 3 comments Things you’ll need: - thin fiberboard (you can get those at home improvement stores) - table saw - plastic film - bubble wrap - package tape - large cardboard box (I keep the ones that I get from shipped items or I ask places like World Market if I can take some of their boxes they throw away anyways) - razor blade knife - patience and time! 1 ) Measure length, width and depth of painting,...
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My Latest Paintings Made From Pigments

Posted by on Apr 11, 2011 in Art, Blog | 4 comments So I started experimenting with color pigments and making my own oil paint. Here are two paintings from my newly mixed colors (pigments and linseed oil) and I am quite satisfied with the results. I was able to make some thick paint but also make it runny -notice the splashes. The colors are easy to use and mix. What I discovered though is that you should not keep the paint longer than 5 days....
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How To Make Oil Paint From Pigments

Posted by on Apr 3, 2011 in Blog, Everything Green, Upcycling & DIY | 2 comments I use natural pigments from EarthPigments. Their variety is really nice and all pigments are non-toxic. On their website, they offer a lot of recipes for making artists’ paint, colored cement and any other paint for your home projects. For making oil paint you’ll need: 1. linseed oil 2. pigments 1. To start with, use very little of the pigment powder and make a well...
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How & Why To Use Pigments For Any Paint Project

Posted by on Mar 28, 2011 in Art, Blog, Everything Green, Upcycling & DIY | 2 comments Today, I did my oil paint inventory and decided to order my color online. While I always love to support my local art store here in the Dallas area, I decided to study a little more about pigments which my store does not carry. You don’t have to be an artist to use paint, every one of us has used paint for inside and out house projects, walls, furniture, etc. But do you know the...
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Marketing: Design Your Business Card

Posted by on Mar 7, 2011 in Art Marketing, Blog | 2 comments Having business cards for your business is vital. Most people aren’t even aware that you can use them as a part of your marketing strategy. It should deliver a message of what your business represents, what you do and most importantly that people still remember who you are when they come across your business card months later. I have made many mistakes when I went out there networking but...
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How To Custom-Build Your Own Frames

Posted by on Feb 27, 2011 in Blog, Everything Green, Upcycling & DIY | 0 comments Have you ever thought of building your own frames and stretch your own canvas? There are several reasons why I think custom-build frames are better and more convenient than the store-bought ones (or if you have someone who builds them for you even better!). Here is why: - you can decide the size of the frame, large/small/very large - you can build frames that you won’t get at the store:...
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How To Custom-Make Free Office Organizers

Posted by on Jan 4, 2011 in Blog, Everything Green, Living & Design, Upcycling & DIY | 2 comments Every time I wanted to get my office organized, I stopped half-way because I did not have the right tools and equipment to finish the job properly. So I had an excuse to drop the work and headed to my favorite store: The Container Store! I can easily spend 2-3 hours in there without actually deciding what I want, I love all their ideas. Then I decided to visit IKEA, another favorite store where I...
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Recycable And Creative Gift-Wrapping

Posted by on Dec 17, 2010 in Blog, Everything Green, Upcycling & DIY | 0 comments Don’t throw it away, use it to wrap gifts! Every time I walk up to the trash can with something to throw away, I double check first if I am be able to reuse it in some way. And yes, most of the paper gets recycled in our household. But besides old paper here’s a list of items you can use to wrap your gifts: - the easiest way is to reuse old wrapping paper from last year, just make...
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Thoughtful, Last-Minute Festive Christmas Gifts

Posted by on Dec 16, 2010 in Blog, Food, Ideas & Inspiration | 0 comments While everyone is busy running around getting gifts for their family members and friends, most forget to really enjoy the season. Forget about all those enormous gifts and make something yourself that everyone likes, is not in the way and can be used up or re-gifted. Make your own christmas cookies. While in some countries, like Germany, it is a seasonal habit to make “Plätzchen” or...
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How To Recycle Turkey Leftovers

Posted by on Nov 25, 2010 in Blog, Food | 0 comments All you have to do is: take the leftover meat from the bones and keep them in your fridge or freezer to eat them later with a salad or on a sandwich. Now don’t throw the bones away! After you’ve removed all the meat, cut the bones into smaller pieces and transfer them to a large pot, cover with water and season with salt. If you still have onions, garlic, carrots and/or garlic in your...
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5 Ways To Save Money

Posted by on Nov 22, 2010 in Blog, Everything Green | 0 comments While there are a lot of options how to save money (like air-drying laundry -saves you $40/month- or get a water filter system..), I wanted to list a few things that you probably haven’t thought of: Don’t speed, always drive the exact speed limit. That will save you quite a few bucks over the months, those 5 miles more might not seem much but they actually make a difference. It...
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Which Water Filter System Is The Best?

Posted by on Nov 9, 2010 in Blog, Everything Green | 0 comments Why should you have a water filter system? a lot cheaper than bottled water reduces plastic in landfills reduces use of gas for transportation safer than bottled water more convenient Bottled Vs. Filtered: water takes on traces of pthylate (plastic) through bottle (check for BPA -bisphenol exposure from polycarbonate bottles, imprinted numbers 1, 2 and 4 are safer, BPA-free even...
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How To Preserve Herbs

Posted by on Nov 7, 2010 in Blog, Food | 0 comments Do you have an herb garden? If you would like to know what you can do with a variety of herbs, how to store and preserve them, you´re at the right place. This post will show how you can keep herbs longer before they wilt in your fridge and how you can keep them preserved for up to six months. Mint – don´t remove leaves from stems, wash the mint, tie a string around and hang it...
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How To Save $100 On Your Water Bill

Posted by on Oct 24, 2010 in Blog, Everything Green | 36 comments How much water and money are you wasting every time you use the toilet flush? Toilets manufactured before 1994 are at 3.5 gallons and newer ones at 1.6 gallons per flush. That means with a family of 4 you are flushing between 9,000 and 15,000 gallons of water down the drain per year. With a dual flush button, you can save thousands of gallons of water and between $100 and $200 per year. Over the...
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