Paper.... who'd a thunk!

Found a piece of furniture with great bones but in desperate need of some TLC?   Why not add a pop of pizzazz with paper.  Comic books, maps, wrapping paper, napkins, all are great for decoupage and will add a unique and personal touch to any piece of furniture in your home.  

A Refreshing Change

From hgtv.com

From Apartment Therapy

From Crazy Wonderful

From etcetorize.blogspot.com

Next time grab that package of napkins, don't pass on that adorable wrapping paper.... come on in to The Chirping Frog and find you a piece of furniture that needs some love, possibilities abound.

10 Mosaic Projects Using a Variety of Ordinary Everyday Items

I'm a big fan of mosaic tile work and am always on the lookout for furniture pieces that will work for my purposes.  A quick Pinterest search revealed many more applications.  Take a look at ten fabulous projects I found that use a variety of base materials.

1.  Wood furniture pieces are ideal and top my list of things to look for.  You could mosaic the top, drawer fronts or go for the gusto and cover the whole piece.  A great way to update a piece of furniture and give it new life.

countryliving.com

12 Creative Crafts that Take Broken China from Trash to Treasure

2.  I love beautiful metal trays and have bought quite a few over the years but never thought to mosaic them.  What a cute project. 

From Reclaimed Designs on Etsy

3.  Chairs make wonderful mosaic projects.  I've seen them covered in marbles, buttons, paper mosaic and the like.  All are fabulous.  

from mosaicodelsole

  Check out her site, lots of great glass mosaic project ideas.

4.  Wood is a wonderful base.  Look for trays, boxes, lengths of any kind.  Love how they added hooks to these.  

Found on Pinterst

5.  I can't help but love these.  Always plenty of tools lying around, we break a multitude of shovels with all the projects we take on... glue them babies back together and give them a mosaic treatment. 

Don't mind me, I'm just raiding the shed for broken shovels!

from Pinterest

6.  Never would of thought to do this but I love the end result.  Such a cute piece.

Adorable Mosaic Teapot found on  Pinterest

7.  This is fabulous.  Take a wood or metal box, drawer, trough... whatever and give it a mosaic treatment with teacups added for extra storage.  What a cute idea!

 From Pinterest

8.  Doors and windows make great mediums for mosaic.  You can get as creative as you'd like and personalize a piece in a variety of ways.  Just beautiful.

Gorgeous Mosaic Window by LeAnn Christian... on Flickr

9.  I bought a guitar (a couple years ago mind you... it's a sickness) for this purpose and have yet to get started.  It's on my "someday" list.  Right next to about 100 other things that I may or may not get to "someday". 

Isn't that adorable?

From ehow.com with a tutorial

10.  Lots of glass bottles and jars are just waiting to become unique works of art... what are you waiting for? 

 From Inspiration Sandwich

Mosaic is an easy project anyone can do that'll transform simple, everyday items into unique, creative art pieces for your home.  With a quick "how to" search using google or Pinterest you'll find everything you ever wanted to know, and then some, about mosaic work.

 I've got plans for a variety of projects here at the shop.... "someday"!  Here's a peek at a couple of the things I'd like to do here at #TheFrog:

ptlincolnproject

I bought a wicker couch and chair at Goodwill years ago that I would like to turn into concrete sculpture.  Big plans, now I just need the time to work on a new project.

midwestliving.com

I'm hoping to work on the landscaping out front this fall and am planning to add a little personality and funk with the yard art.   

Have you done any mosaic work?  I have dabbled a bit and love it.  Would love to see some of your work, feel free to share.

10 Unique and Frugal Ways to Decorate Your Home for Less

I don't know about you but I am completely in love with thrift shops and antique malls.  So many bargains and such amazing variety, its unbelievable.  I thought today I'd share with you some of my favorite finds and some ideas for what you should be looking for and how you can incorporate these items into your home.

A Few Ideas to Decorate With Natural Elements

I am a huge fan of bringing the outdoors in!  Here's a few things I found on Pinterest that do just that.

This is about the coolest table I've seen in a long time.  If you follow the link there's an island that is just outstanding as well.

trendir.com

The link above also shares the top book shelf.  I really love the look of the bottom shelving.

pinterest.com

How cute is that?  An easy way to add a natural element to a room.

hative.com

These are so cute.

espritcabane.com

I just love this.  Gorgeous!

pinterest.com

This Etsy shop has all kinds of great wood slice art pieces.

ModernRusticArt on Etsy

Imagine the shadows this adorable light would create.

trusper.com

What a great coffee table.

pinterest.com

Gorgeous!

designsponge.com

I'd break this in a heartbeat but I really like the idea of it.

pinterest.com

Love these.

makezine.com

Art prints using natural elements is another way to bring a little bit of outside, in.

drivenbydecor.com

Most of these examples focus on trees but what about rocks or natural materials.  Here's just a few more great examples:

This is a great fireplace, not every home can handle something like this but how about adding rock in a less massive way....

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/233061349437070669/

Like a backsplash?

The Chirping Frog

Or a rug?

homedit.com/

Another way to bring some natural elements into your decorating is with materials.  Baskets work great.

birchlane.com

or window treatments.

blindsgalore.com

How have you brought natural elements into your home?  

Adorable Decoupaged Girls Desk

I have been playing with decoupage, a lot, lately.  I really love the technique and the finished result, definitely a learning process and not as "smooth" as I thought going in, but I really loving how things are turning out.

This little desk belonged to my grandmother.  It's in really good shape (except for a few knicks here and there) but had begun to yellow in weird ways.  I decided to give it a fresh coat of paint and add some interest with paper.

I primed it and added two coats of white paint.



 I plan to decoupage the inner portion of the drawers, leaving the outer edge white and change out the drawer pulls.

Here's the paper I chose.  I love the colors and the large floral print is gorgeous.  At first I was only going to cover the drawer fronts but then I thought, why not add a punch of color from the side as well.  Wow!  I really love the result.

I had a little help changing out the knobs, as always.  At least she let me get it done.  Usually she's tearing the tool or sandpaper right out of my hand.  I'm not allowed to work when she is present.

 New knobs, what a huge difference they make. 

Love the finished result. 

 Have you done any decoupage projects?  Would love to see what you've done.

9 Great Ways to Repurpose Tires

Sometime last week while taking our morning walk Pepper and I came across a bunch of tires somebody dumped in a ditch down the street from our house.  (Come on people, just because its in the country doesn't make it your dumping ground, geez!)  As we continued on our way all I could think of was, "Hmmm, what could I do with all those tires?"

On our way back I decided to have my son go back and get them for me.  Unfortunately, it was a school day and I didn't get a chance to talk with him till the next day.  Voila, they're gone.  Somebody else got to them first.  Probably for the best but look at all the cool things I could of done with them.

I need, I need!

 diyeverywhere.com

I think this one might be my favorite.  Incredibly creative.

diyfunideas.com

What kid wouldn't love this?  Check out Pinterest for all kinds of great kids playground ideas made with tires.

ideas2live4.com

Love this idea.  There's also plenty of examples of snowmen as well.

thewhoot.com

This could be great in a man-cave bathroom or shop.  What a great idea!

diytotry.com
Follow the link for lots more ideas.

Great bench!

The Top 10 of Anything and Everything

So cute for a little boys room.  Great way to display a collection.

hative.com

This looks like retaining walls (which is also a great idea) but its actually a solar home.  Wow!

ultimatesolarhomes.com

Cute planters.

moveiscarraro

Have you done anything interesting with used tires?  If you do a Pinterest search for repurposed tires you'll be shocked at how many cute things you can do.  I really must have one of the ruffled planters.  So cute!