DIY: Valentine's Mirror

The 36th Avenue has an adorable mirror DIY that would make for the perfect home decor and / or kid's project depending on how decorative you want to get with it!

My plan was a little bit different in the beginning since I was aiming for some type of cool frame.

This is what I used. An IKEA mirror-frame that I already had,

 DecoArt Paint, glue gun and Valentine’s plastic necklaces. 

TUTORIAL

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The first thing I did was paint the frame in white.

{ TIP: I always use a garbage bag to protect my table,

then when I’m done I throw the craft mess away inside of it. }

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After a few coats of paint I added one light coat of Silver Glamour Dust from DecoArt.

I love this stuff because you get to see the white through it under the silver glitter dust.

So pretty!

While the glue gun heated up I took the time to cut a bunch of necklaces that

I found over at Big Lots. I bet the Dollar Store will have something similar.

To get the right size all I did was to put the necklaces on top

and cut it in each corner.

I ended with this…

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The last step was to glue it!

I wish the picture could show how much the silver dust actually shines…

DIY: Glittered Chain-Link Holiday Garland

HGTV has a simple, but wonderful idea for those last minute holiday decorations!  We love this easy to make and inexpensive garland idea! 

 

Materials Needed:

• 12x12 sheet of gold scrapbook paper (enough for 3 feet of chain)
• mint-green acrylic paint
• small bowl for paint
• 1" Paint Brush
• pencil or pen

• Ruler
• 1"-wide blue painter's tape
• X-Acto knife
• hot glue gun and glue sticks

Paint Back of Paper Then Mark Chain Links

Completely cover non-glitter side of gold scrapbook paper with mint acrylic paint. Once paint has fully dried, make inch marks on both edges of paper. Connect marks to create 1-inch stripes.

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Score Then Bend Paper

Using an X-Acto knife, carefully score (but don't cut) along marks. Make sure not to cut all the way through; cut the paper just enough to make it easy to tear later. Flip paper over and slightly crease at score marks to make them more visible.

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Tape Off Then Paint Strips

On paper's glittered side, place painter's tape along the center of each scored line (Image 1). Paint exposed paper with mint-green paint. Once paint has dried, carefully remove tape to reveal tone-on-tone pattern (Image 2).

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DIY: Make Bows into Pom Poms

Here is another fantastic DIY from Martha Stewart's website.  If you still haven't been on her webpage - what are you waiting for??  It is full of wonderful craft ideas for any time of year.  We are so close to the holiday, but there is definitely still time to whip up a few easy DIYs for decorations and gift wrapping!!

DIY: Santa Belt Napkin Rings

Kaboose's blog has these adorable (and crazy easy to make) Santa belt napkin rings that would be ideal for your holiday table!  Wouldn't you just love to sit down to these cuties at your table?  We think that they are very whimsical and fun!  

 

What you'll need:

• Cardboard tube
• 1 sheet each of red, white, and black felt 
• Gold chenille stem
• Scissors
• White craft glue

How to make it:

1. Cut cardboard tube into 1-1/2-inch segments.
2. Place one piece of the tube onto the red felt and cut the felt just slightly wider than the tube. Wrap the felt around the tube and trim off the excess, leaving enough for a small overlap. Glue the red felt around the cardboard tube. (See photo.)
3. Cut a strip of black felt, about 1/2-inch wide, and glue it around the red tube, lining up the seams. (See photo.)
4. Cut two strips of white felt, about 1/4-inch wide and glue them around the outside of the red felt, overlapping the edge a little.
5. Cut a 3-inch piece of gold chenille and bend it into a square for the buckle. Glue the buckle to the black felt, be sure that the seam is on the opposite side. Let everything dry completely. (See photo.)

Tips:

1. These can also be made with construction paper or craft foam.
2. Instead of gold chenille, you can use gold glitter glue, but you will need to take into account the drying time needed.
3. These will look just as good on fancy napkins as they will on rolled up paper towels!

DIY: Candy Cane Mice

Thank goodness for Martha Stewart around Christmas time!  I hope you love her crafts for the holidays as much as we do.  I think pretty much everything she has on her site is adorable and / or gorgeous.  

These are such fun little mice candy cane covers it is a touch ridiculous how much I love them.  I can't wait to give these a shot!  What do you think?  Can you see yourself making a dozen of these cuties and giving them to co-workers as a surprise on their desk for the holidays?

Click the link to get the full directions on making these!  Be sure to Pin It and Stumble It for others!

DIY: Christmas Present Topiary

That Village House has a wonderful idea for decorating either the inside of your house or outside of your house with a large topiary!  We could totally see this being made in a mini version using dowels and smaller boxes as a great center piece for a table!

pletely done, but I thought I would share it with you anyway.

I started with 3 different sized boxes...9, 12 & 14 inch cubes.

I used an ice pick to punch holes in each of them so that I could run a rebar through them. (It's easier to do the holes first, before getting them all wrapped & pretty.) For the smaller boxes, I slightly off-centered my holes, so that the boxes would tilt on each other.

Then I wrapped them and made bows for each.

Tip: Keep your wrapping paper pattern running the same direction.

Tip #2: Before you poke holes through the paper, put a little tape on it. It will help the paper from ripping.

I also made sure my seams were right down the middle of the boxes so that the ribbon would cover them up. And I used double-sided tape to hold the ribbon and bows in place. I'd love to take credit for these tidbits, but again, I straight up copied this idea!!

DIY: Glitter Trees

I Heart Nap Time's blog is kicking off the beginning of December with some excellent Glitter Trees that are amazing decor and eye candy.

Check out their page for more holiday DIY!

Here’s what you’ll need:

-3 Styrofoam trees: sizes 15×5, 12×4, and 9×4

-3 small candlesticks (you can find these at just about any thrift store for about 50 cents)

-spray adhesive

-glue: Elmer’s glue for the glitter and a stronger glue like E6000 to glue the tree to the candlestick

-glitter in your favorite 3 colors (we found these awesome colors of glitter at hobby lobby)

-white spray paint

Here’s what you’ll need to do:

- give your tree a good coating of the spray adhesive. you can use the elmers glue for this part, but the spray adhesive covers better and gives a nice smooth finish, plus it’s a lot faster. leave the bottom of the tree undone, this will get glittered at the end.

- once you have your tree coated in glue, cover it completely with glitter. when all 3 trees have been glitterized set them aside to dry.

- next take your 3 candlesticks and give them a couple quick coats of white spray paint. then let those dry completely. 

- now take your E6000 and glue the candlesticks to the trees. it’s best to let them sit overnight. (keep an eye on it though. on one of the trees the glue ate away some of the styrofoam and my tree tilted to the side. so just check on it for the first hour or so.)

-  when everything is completely dry, flip them over and cover the remaining part with glue and glitter. (we used the elmers glue for this part)

- then all you have left to do is decide where to put them!!

DIY: Pine Cone Garland

Twig & Thistle's blog has a great DIY that has a simple but elegant look.  I love the way that it has a natural look but really brings the holidays into the home.

Also, I spotted this door decoration that uses the same materials that would make a lovely companion to the garland. Instead of stringing the pine cones to the ribbon simply tie a ribbon to each hook then tie all the ribbons at the top and hang!

What You’ll Need:
Pine Cones
Ribbon
Screw Hooks
Hole Punch
Scissors

Instructions:
1. Begin by measuring your mantel or space that you’d like to hang your garland and cut your ribbon. Remember to leave extra for hanging. Once you’ve determined the length, space your pine cones out as you like on a flat surface. The pine cones I used were fairly large so I kept about 4 inches between each one. On the back of the ribbon discreetly mark where each pine cone will go, then punch a hole with a small craft punch. I used an 1/8″ round circle punch like this one.

2. Once you know how many pine cones you’ll need, screw in one screw hook into the top of each pine cone. This takes a little practice and you may need a little elbow grease but once you get the hang of it it goes pretty quickly.

3. Poke each hook through the hole you’ve made in the ribbon and hang! Easy as pie and something that will last for seasons to come!

DIY: Little Apple Yarn Favors

Need a quick and easy project for the little ones during Thanksgiving down times?  This project from Make and Take's blog is just for you!  (We are totally making these for us and we don't have kids, so that's fine, too!)

Supplies for Yarn Apples:

• craft yarn – red, green, or yellow (the cheap yarn will do, $2 a skein)
• pipe cleaners (or chenille stems) – brown and green
• piece of cardboard – 2 in x 5 in

First find a piece of cardboard to help you with the winding. I tore off a piece from a box we had lying around. If you want a smaller apple, use a piece of cardboard that is 2 inches thick. Or if you want it a little larger, go 3 inches. I also bend my piece of cardboard in half a bit, just so it’s easier to take the yarn off when it’s done being wrapped.

Take your yarn color of choice and start wrapping it around your cardboard. We did ours almost 100 times around, so keep on winding!! Although I did wrap one apple only 80 times, and it looked just as good. The more you wrap, the thicker and tighter the apple looks. When you’re done winding, then just cut your string off, letting it hang in place. It will get tucked away later.

Cut your brown piece of pipe cleaner in half and slip one through your winded up yarn. This is where the bent in half card board piece comes in handy. If your cardboard is bent, it’s easier to slip the pipe cleaner through. Then twist up the end together, forming a stem for the top of the apple.

You now put the other cut half brown pipe cleaner through again and twist it up on the opposite end of the yarn, creating the round apple and looking like the little bottom end of an apple. Twist it up a ways, then cut off the pipe cleaner with scissors fairly close to the yarn and bend that end of wire in.

You can be done here or add a little leaf to the apple. With a 2 inch piece of green pipe cleaner, slip it under the top brown stem. Then bend in each half to look like 2 little leaves.

DIY: Apple Placemats

With Thanksgiving just around the corner - we think it'd be super easy to adjust this DIY from Bloesem Kids' blog for fun Pumpkin Placemats!  

Apple Placemats by Courtney Russel from Two Straight Lines
As we celebrate the harvest season here in the US, it's nice to get the kids involved in decorating the holiday table.  These cute apple placemats are painted using a freezer paper stencil, a technique easy enough for kids.  Freezer paper can be found at many grocery stores or online, but be careful, once you start you'll be stenciling every thing in sight.

You will need:
*Burlap
*Scissors
*Printed fabric
*Fabric glue (I like Alene's Tacky Glue)
*Red and Brown Textile Paint (I use Jacquard Paint)
*Paintbrushes- 1 wide, 1 narrow
*Freezer Paper
*Iron
*Heavy Weight Paper
*Marker

Step one:
Cut your burlap to 13" x 17".
Step two:
On the heavy paper, sketch your apple, refining your drawing until you're happy.  Cut the apple out and trace around it on the paper side of the freezer paper.  Cut the apple out of your freezer paper, making sure that the area surrounding the apple is uncut-- this is your stencil.
Step three:
Place your stencil on the burlap where you would like it and iron it in place.
Step four:
Using the wide paintbrush, paint the area inside of your stencil with the red textile paint (tip: I used both foam and bristle paintbrushes and preferred the bristle).  Carefully peel your stencil away. Using the narrow paintbrush and the brown paint, paint the stem on your apple.
Step five:
Cut a leaf from your printed fabric.  Glue it next to your stem just above your apple.  If desired, use the marker to draw pretend "stitches" on the leaf.
Step six:
One at a time, pull four or five threads from each edge of the placemat to create a fringe.
Step seven:
Repeat until you have a placemat for every seat at your table.

DIY: Yarn Balls

Abernathy Crafts made such an easy yarn wrapped ball tutorial, we know this is just perfect for those left over pieces of yarn from crochet projects!  So easy, but soooo pretty.  We LOVE it.  

Check them out for more!

I didn’t know what else to call them.  They’re balls, wrapped in yarn.  Yarn balls.  I know, it’s silly.  But if you’d like to know how to make some to add some pretty silliness to your space, I’ve got a tutorial for you.

Materials needed:

• Styrofoam balls (any size will do)
• Wooden skewers
• Craft glue
• Yarn

Before I started on this project, I read on Pinterest that you can dye your skewers using food coloring.  So I tried it.  I filled a glass baking dish with water and several drops of food coloring.  Then I soaked the skewers overnight.  The next day I discovered that it didn’t work.  So then I added the entire bottle of food coloring.  That did the trick.  So apparently it does work but you just have to use a ridiculous amount of food coloring for the wood to soak up. 


So, start by shoving the skewers lovingly into the Styrofoam balls.  Pointed end in works best.

Starting at the bottom around the stick, spread some glue and begin wrapping the yarn around in a spiral.

Keep gluing and wrapping the yarn around until you get to the top.