Friday, April 6, 2012

DIY Scrabble Tile Decoupage


You will need:
*Scrabble tiles that spell a word of your choice
*scrapbook paper
*scrapbooking stickers
*mod podge
*tacky glue
*jewels (optional)
*scrabble tile holder (optional)

1. Pick out the word you want to spell and find the tiles. Pick out some scrapbook paper and stickers that you want to use, you can do a pattern or random.

2. Trace a tile onto the scrapbook paper, make one for each letter. Cut the paper squares out and form your pattern on the tiles. Glue the paper squares onto the back of the tiles using tacky glue. 

3. Add the stickers and embellishments on top of the paper. Mod podge over the whole back and edges to seal the paper. Don't do too many coats on the ones with jewels because it will reduce the shine.

There you go! You have a chic scrabble word and if you get bored of that, flip them over for a cute design!
Give New Life to An Old Chair


I received this unique old chair from my neighbors before they moved and I was too afraid to paint it because I didn't want to wreck the vintage feel
You will need: 
-An old chair
-A cute print of contact paper (I found mine at the dollar store!)
-Scissors

1. Clean the part of the chair that you want to cover.

2. Cut out a rough square about the size of the chair.

3. Keep cutting off paper little by little until it fits the chair perfectly. Or you could probably trace the shape and cut it out or something but I like to eyeball things.

4. Stick down firmly, rubbing out all air bubbles as you go.
And that's it! And now you have an adorable chair and if you ever want to change it, you can just peel it off and start over.  

DIY Glass Painted Bottle

This bottle started as a sparkling cider bottle or something and I saved it because it was so cool and now I finally found a use! This is basically the easiest tutorial ever. Really ever.

You will need:
~An old glass jar of any shape or size (you can even use jam jars, olive jars, anything you have)
~Paint, any color you choose
~Ribbon (optional)
1. Pour the paint into the bottle, close the lid and roll it around until the entire thing is covered.
2. Open the cap and let it sit. The next morning you will want to check it and roll it around a little more because some glass will be exposed. This will happen for a few days, just keep covering those trouble spots.
3. When it's finished tie a ribbon onto it. Easiest tutorial ever! These would be so cute in an arrangement of several different colors and shapes.
DIY Cute Display Dream Jar
(or something like that)
I saw something like this at a craft fair and fell in love with the idea so here's my re-creation

You will need:
 Any old jar (I found mine for 99 cents at the goodwill with a hideous design on it)
 Printer
 Hot glue gun
 Button, old earring, cork (something for the stopper)
 Beads or something to put inside
 Any other embellishments you want (glitter, jewels, ect.)
 Tacky glue or rubber cement

1. Clean the jar, WD40 off or scrape off any horrible markings. Choose the what word you want to go on the jar and type it in a pretty font. I chose dream because these were made for nightstands. Print this out, which may take several tries to get it just the right size. If you want any images print those as well.

2. Cut out the word and the image, then glue them onto the jar using rubber cement or tacky glue.

3. Now for the semi-tricky part: the ribbon. Glue the end of the ribbon onto the neck of the jar, make sure to start on the back. Then pull it out in sort of a loop and glue down again. Keep doing this all the way around until you get to the end.
4. Now add the last touches and embellishments. I put pearls in mine and the one I made for my mom I put glass beads. I also added glitter to the words, jewels on the four corners, and a jewel in the center of the fleur de lis. As my stopper I used an old earring. This is where the creativity comes in, you can do whatever you want to it to make it your style. And have fun!

DIY Elegant Jewelry Tree


So...you can either buy the jewelry tree on the right from Urban Outfitters for just $32! Or you can make one for about $1.

You will need:
*tree branch
*small piece of board (any size you want)
*white paint  (or a color of your choice)
*a drill with a large enough drill bit to make the hole
*garden clippers

1. Find a branch that you want. I just went in my yard and cut one from an aspen tree. If you live in an area where there's really cool branches then you're lucky! I don't.

2. Cut the piece of wood down to size and sand the edges a little.

3. Drill a hole the size of your branch then put a few drops of wood glue in the hole and stick it in.

4. My branch was huge when I started so I had to cut off a LOT. Cut back the branches until you get the desired look. Which is whatever you want really.

5. Paint the whole thing white or whatever you color you choose. I wish I would have done a light sea blue but oh well! White is good too. One coat is good for coverage although the second makes the small branches stronger so you choose.

6. Hang your jewelry on it! The tree makes a great display for your favorite pieces. This also makes a really simple (and cheap!) gift. 



Friday, March 9, 2012

DIY Shabby Chic Frame/Collage

You will need: (most all of this is optional, this is just what I used)
 An antique or shabby chic frame
 Mod Podge
 Computer printed images
 Scrabble tiles
 Scrapbook paper
 Ribbon
 Wooden letter
 Antique buttons
 Lace or fabric
 Small pearls
 Foam pop-ups
 Skeleton key
 Lighter
 Hot glue gun

1. Just remember this is all whatever you want to do, you can design it any way you like :)       First I painted my letter white and glued a ribbon down the side of my paper. Next I inserted the paper into the frame just to make sure I didn't glue anything outside the lines. 

3. I searched some images on google and printed them. I cut them out roundly, they don't have to be perfect. Next you burn the edges with a lighter, be very careful! I lit several of them on fire before I got the perfect burned edges effect. Mod podge over the images to secure them.

4. Gather all your materials and lay them out on the paper the way you want them to look. Glue everything down with the hot glue. That's it! You have a beautiful shabby chic frame designed by you!
DIY St. Patrick's Day Chalkboard Frame
(Interchangeable holiday frame)

You will need:
Green paper
Paper clips or mini binder clips
Tacky craft glue
One sheet of white printer paper
Chalkboard frame from the valentine's project
Chalk

1.Trace the size of the frame backing on white printer paper. Cut it out.

2. Cut four strips about a quarter inch out of the green paper. Fold three of them into V's.

3. Twist the ends into swirls using a pen, paintbrush end, something not textured. (a pencil will leave marks) They should look like heart when you're finished.

4. Glue the three hearts together, adding in a stem between two of them. I put my stem between the two with the blue clip then just bent the paper so it was going straight down. (see picture, everywhere with a clip is glued)

5. Glue the shamrock onto the pre-cut white paper. Write a St. Patrick's Day message on the frame in chalk and you're done!