DIY Rope Wrapped Vase

I have had a few empty Starbucks bottles in my stash. I really liked the stream lined shape of the bottles and I always wanted to repurpose them into some sort of home decor. Here is a way to recycle any old bottle into a nautical-inspired vase.

Check out the full tutorial below:

1.  Gather your supplies: a clean bottle, rope, scissors, hot glue sticks and a hot glue gun.

2.  Peel the labels off of your bottle. (Mine came off very easily.)

3.  Remove any leftover residue with soap and a sponge, and then dry your bottle.

4.  Apply a stream of hot glue to the bottom edge of your bottle.

5.  Press rope against glue until set.

6.  Rotate bottle 90° and apply another short stream of glue and press rope down again. Continue all the way around the bottle in increments of 90°. When you reach your original starting point, guide rope over the visible tail to hide it.

7.  Continue this process all the way up and around the bottle until completely covered.

8.  Once you reach the top of the bottle, cut the rope free from your skein. Secure the tail end with hot glue. If you have hot glue strings everywhere, simply blast your vase with a blow dryer and watch them disappear!

Tada! Enjoy your new vase! Fill with flowers, twigs, ect. In my case, I used driftwood.

Happy Crafting!

DIY Keepsake Mosaic

Hello World!

Here is a post courtesy of my mom.  She created a mosaic mirror made with keepsakes and found objects. For her mirror, she chose objects that were feminine and went with a shabby-chic style. This is a great project to help show off objects that hold sentimental value for you or to put good use to all those broken necklaces, cups, ect that we all having sitting in a drawer somewhere.

For this project, you will need: plenty of small items, a vintage mirror or mirror tray (can be found at antique shops, thrift stores or yard sales), a sturdy old wooden frame, plywood cut to the same size as your frame, silicone or tile adhesive, tile grout, and paint if you want to change the color of your frame.

Above are some of the items she gathered for her mosaic. Some items include:

• Empty vintage lipstick cases,
• Broken hair accessories,
• Earrings not in a pair,
• Jewelry made by my siblings and myself when we were children,
• Faux pearl necklaces,
• Vintage buttons,
• Nail polish bottles,
• Chipped and broken tea cups and plates,
• Refrigerator magnets,
• Sea shells, starfish and beach glass,
• Christmas ornaments,
• Kinck knacks from my grandparents.

With your sturdy wooden frame, remove any flimsy paperboard backing. Staple gun or use small finishing nails to attach your cut-to-size plywood to the back of your frame. My mom's plywood is 1/4'' thick. 

To support the frame she added two screws to the back and strung heavy gauge wire in between them to carry the weight when hung up.

Glue down all of your knick-knacks with silicone or tile adhesive. Allow to dry.

Then mix your grout and apply it around your objects to lock them in place. Read your grout packaging and if appropriate use a slightly damp sponge to remove any unwanted grout. Allow to dry.

Apply newspaper to any mirrors and then use non-yellowing, grout spray-sealer. Let that dry and then use a clean, white cloth to do any final cleaning.

My mom made hers a few years ago and she hasn't had any cracks or loose grout flakes thanks to the sealant.

Happy Crafting!

DIY Ring Holder

Hello World,

Here is a new tutorial to make your very own ring holder.  I used to have my rings stored on a pretty plate, but they would always turn upside down, so I would only see the back of them. Now I have a way to display them properly.

This craft was really easy to do. Check out below for instructions:

1.   Gather your supplies: thick fabric (like cheap felt, an old towel, ect) decorative fabric, hot glue gun and sticks, scissors and a show box lid. (Or any lid you seem fitting.)

2.   Cut out strips of your thick fabric the same width as your box.

3.   Roll until they are a tad bigger than your thumb and cut at that length. 

4.   Use hot glue to secure your rolled fabric.

5.   Continue rolling and cutting your fabric until you can snuggly fit enough of them in your lid.

6.   Cut a strip of decorative fabric that is as wide as your box and three times the length (to be safe). Glue the right side of your fabric to the internal side of your box lid. 

7.   Add your first fabric roll and add a line of glue right after it.

8.   Bring your decorative fabric over the fabric roll and secure by pressing down on the hot glue line.

9.  Bring your decorative fabric back up again and add your second fabric roll. Continue adding rolls and gluing until you reach the end of your lid. 

10.  Trim any excess fabric and tuck your free edge into the box lid to hide it. Add your rings and tada!  And ribbon, rhinestones, or trim around the edges of your rolls if the free edges bother you.

I found this "classy burlap" in a remnant bin at JoAnn's.

Happy Crafting!

Pinterest Party

Hello World!

Long time, no post!  It seems like I have had little-to-no free time lately. I have just been so busy working two jobs and concentrating on school. Also, my late-2007 Macbook Pro has started to show its old age- so I have been avoiding 'stressing it out' by running intense programs like Photoshop on it. lol

In the midst of all this chaos and stress, I did host a small Pinterest Party to celebrate my 23rd birthday! I bought enough supplies for myself and four other people to complete a few crafts. Everyone invited was asked to bring a food/drink inspired by a Pinterest recipe.

The crafts I had were:
~ Fabric covered canvases + contact paper + paint to create DIY home decor
~ Light switches, to be covered with Mod Podge and glitter (sadly I have no pictures of these.)
~ Wooden signs. (This actually was an impromptu craft. I had a pile of scrap wood sitting in my craft room, and everyone loved the old, barn wood, so they made even more signs with these.)

 

I made creamsicle drinks. (Whipped Vodka, orange soda and whipped cream.)

The straws looked so cute, but they did not hold up in liquid.

I also really wanted a Barbie cake for my bday, so I spent four hours making this beauty. She was so heavy! I used 2.5 containers of frosting, 1 box of chocolate cake and 1 box of brownie mix (to make her dress taller.)

Excuse the terrible photo- my camera was hating me all night. I made Bacon Cheddar (aka Crack) dip. It was GOBBLED down so fast! Find the recipe here: Link.

One of my friends made Nutella Cupcakes. 

One of my other friends loves recipes that involve Pillsbury crescent rolls, so she made apple-pie turnovers.

She also made "Brie Kisses" with the crescent rolls and raspberry dipping sauce.

Another friend made homemade flatbread with fresh veggies, herbs and balsamic vinegar on top. 

To balance out her healthy dish, she made melting snowman cookies with cake balls as heads.

Here is my little crafting setup. I HIGHLY encourage buying a cheap tablecloth. (Mine was less than a dollar at Walmart.) It protected my table from hot glue, glitter + mod podge, and paint.

While making our signs. 

All the signs made at the party. I only ended up making one because I am such a perfectionist. lol

Here is one of my friend's signs. She is involved in horse polo and cut the silhouette out of contact paper with an exacto knife. 

Here is my sign. My dad always tells me to 'stay golden' and enjoy being young. I used sticker letters and there was some blow-out of paint under the stickers, so I glued pearl beads on those spots to cover them. :)

Happy Crafting!