Nautical Bathroom Redecorating: Compass Rose

I'm currently in the process of redecorating my bathroom. There's nothing wrong with it, I suppose, but nothing really matched too well. I wanted a green and brown sort of color scheme, so I had put brown and green things for the bathroom on my wedding registry. My mother-in-law bought us the floor mat, shower curtain, and one set of towels, and that suited us for a long time. However, I wanted to put some actual decor in the bathroom. Maybe on the walls, on the counter, on the wall behind the toilet, anywhere to make it more "homey." Anyway, nothing I could find that was green and/or brown really tickled my fancy. I tried to paint some jars brown and green, but it only brought so much to the table.

It was time for a change.

Nautical stuff is apparently trending, and for some reason I'm really into it. Lots of stores, including my lovely craft stores, carry (carried) nautical decor, but the prices were a bit out of my budget. For the most part, I just waited until they had it on clearance. If you're lucky, the store will slowly mark everything down to the point of almost free, you just have to wait a while. The "paintings" I wanted (they weren't actual paintings, just prints on canvas) were still more than I wanted to spend, so instead I decided to paint some canvas myself since I'm not too bad in the art department.

I want two paintings for my wall: one of a compass rose, and one of the ocean, maybe with some boats. Here's the inspiration picture for the first painting:

I wasn't going to paint every part of this because there's a lot of stuff, but the most important parts, obviously.

I painted the background a light-ish blue, and then used a ruler and pencil for the compass parts. I painted it at an angle for a more abstract feel. After I got done outlining everything in pencil, I proceeded to paint. Oh, and I used a canvas size 8x10 inches.

Price of the canvas: $9 x 40% off coupon/sale = $5.40

Price of paint, blue and black (if you don't have any): $2

Total: $7.40

Compare to the original price of any 8x10 canvas print at the craft store: $19.99.

Yay savings!

Origami Crane Mobile

Here's an easy, cheap, and elegant piece of decor perfect for a kid's room, your room, or any other room. You can even use paper in certain colors and patterns to match a party or wedding!

The origami crane mobile!

What you'll need:

Sticks (I used wire hanger leftovers, but you can use wooden dowels or even twigs for a rustic feel. Just make sure you treat them so they won't go bad!

Thread, fishing line, or string and a needle

Origami cranes (I used 12)

Glue gun (optional)

Start by arranging your sticks into a +

and binding the middle like so:

Set this aside.

Grab your cranes.

Find the hole in the bottom of your crane.

Thread your needle and make a good-size knot at the opposite end. Insert the needle into the hole and through the top.

For multiple cranes on the same thread/line/string, make another large knot a few inches above the previous crane and thread the needle through the crane.

Tie the top of the string near the end of the sticks and glue the string to the sticks to secure it (if you don't want to remove them ever). Use extra string to hang it up.

All done!

I tied one piece of string to either end of one stick, then I took another string, tied it to the middle of the first, then tied those ends to the other stick. This prevents any unbalance in the mobile.