DIY Bracelet Holder

DIY Bracelet Holder

After having bracelets in baskets and laying on my counters I finally did something about it. Walking down a thrift store aisle I saw a lovely mug holder, and it looked like it was in need of a makeover. So of course I decided to help it out.

For this bracelet holder I used:

• a Wooden Mug Holder
• Paint
• Sand Paper
• a Paint Brush
• and modpdoge (or elmer's glue and water mix)

My wooden mug holder looked like this...

The first thing I did was scrub it with hot soapy water to get any dust and dirt off. Then I waited for it to dry good.

The next step is to paint it any color you want! Picking out paint is always fun. I used a light pastel coral color.

It took me four coats of paint to get the holder good and covered the way I wanted. I also let layers dry in between coats.

After letting it dry good I brought out the sand paper.

Looking at the above picture you can see where I went along the edges with sandpaper. There was really no technique to it. I just rubbed it where ever I felt it needed some wood showing. I honestly wasn't sure how it would turn out.

One thing I did notice during sanding was that as the sand paper rubbed against the paint it changed the color a bit. Some of the coral color turned to more of a yellow-orange color. I still love it though. It added some personality to it :)

The sanded spots also wanted to peel a little bit on my bracelet holder. This is where the modpodge or elmer's glue mix came into play. I used this mix to cover all of my sanded spots. It helped to hold down my paint in places where it wanted to peel.

I hope this helps you to create your own jewelry holder!

Have fun crafting!

- Crystal :)

DIY Garden Markers

DIY Garden Markers

This summer I planted a few things in a little raised bed. And when I say a little, I mean literally only 4 things. I was just curious if I could get anything to grow, you know?  Well, luckily my seeds I planted sprouted and I actually got a few really skinny carrots and some super tiny watermelon. Just enough to make my day. :)

In order to remember where I planted everything I used some stone markers. These were very simple to make and 4 months later they still look like I just wrote them out.

All I used was:

• Smooth pebbles of good size
• Sharpie Oil Paint Pens

The above picture shows a stone when the plants first started to grow...

And here my carrots are of good size, and my pebbles are still very nice looking!

It took no effort to make these. I simply cleaned off the pebbles to get the dirt off, then wrote out my names. The paint pens dried super quick, and turned out to be very weather resistant!

It's just a nice way to label a garden patch, or even flowers.

Hope this gives you some ideas. :)

-Crystal :)

DIY Nature Silhouette Painting

DIY Nature Silhouette Painting

Leaves, butterflies, and birds... I adore it all. And when I don't feel like painting individual feathers (there's no time for that!) the silhouette works perfect. Do that with a pop of color and you have a nice and easy to make piece. Not feeling up to free handing an outline? Just trace it! :)

Items I used include:

• Canvas
• Paint and brushes

What I did for my piece:

1. First off I painted the background, and I couldn't use just one color. So I limited myself to four.
2. Next I painted in my objects. Pick anything you want! The nice thing about using this technique is that when you mess up you can just change the shape or make your object a little bigger! I had to alter quite a few things along the way. Tracing a picture may be a good route to take.
3. Since I used four different colors my lines separating them weren't the prettiest. To cover this I dipped a q-tip into the black paint and added a dotted separation line. I wasn't sure what it would look like, but I like it! I don't think it took away anything from the painting. 

Mix it up and paint whatever you want! Do some words, a building, or even a favorite TV character! Use one color, or four! There are so many possibilities with this!

Have fun painting!

- Crystal :)

DIY Framed Chevron Initials

DIY Framed Chevron Initials

I had so much fun putting these pieces together! I couldn't really stop and so I ended up with a little set of them I guess you'd say...

Mixing up the colors was probably the best part of this craft, and I can't get over how neat the swirled frames are. These turned out to be neat customized pieces!

Here's what I used:

• Art Panel (the flat canvases)
• Flat wooden frames (I purchased mine on clearance at a Michaels Craft Store)
• Wooden letters if you'd like them (or you can paint letters)
• A chevron guideline to follow (trace)
• Hot glue to attach the frames
• And I also added some paper flowers in the corners of my frames

How I did it:

1. The first thing I did was measure and cut out a chevron pattern. For this I took a magazine cover (since the paper is thicker) and cut out an even chevron pattern. I lined up the straight edge on the magazine page and used that to guide my tracing onto my panel. I have also heard they now have  chevron painters tape.
2. Once I had all my lines drawn I brought out the colors!
3. It worked best to paint the light color first, and then the darker. It made it easier to cover up any messy spots. And my lines definitely did not turn out perfect :) but it helped make the pieces.
4. I painted my frame while everything dried on the panel and also painted any wooden letters that I had. And if you don't have wooden letters you can paint your own. It worked well for me.
5. The last step was the hot glue. I glued the frames on first. It helped me to center my letters. Then I added some flowers. I just couldn't help myself :)

I haven't added this on my other DIY posts, but a good way to hang these pieces is to add a tab to the back of the piece with hot glue. I like to use a soda can tab. Just pop it off the top next time you have a soda. I bend mine to about a 120 degree angle. Once glued on it will allow you to hang your piece onto a hook or nail through the tab hole! Tada!

Go have fun and make some chevron pieces! 

- Crystal :)

DIY Fabric Covered Magnetic Board

DIY Fabric Covered Magnetic Board

I love hanging stuff on my walls... not sure why... but it's fun to make stuff to display. I also love magnets and leaving notes for myself. I seem to forget stuff easily at times... This is how the magnetic board idea came into play.

For this DIY I needed:

• A metal cookie pan of any shape size (whatever you like)
• Some awesome fabric (not too thick)
• Mod podge 
• I used a mixture of Elmer's glue and water
• Hot glue
• And some rope for a border

I ended up adding the twine rope after I glued my fabric to cover my many strings. It made the project look a little neater. I doubt all fabrics unravel as bad as mine did.

I made a pair and have them hanging together :)

What I did:

1. I started off by tracing my fabric to the correct size
2. Once I had it cut correctly I coated the cookie pan with my mod podge mix.
3. Smoothing out the fabric took a little while, and also got kind of messy as the glue soaked through. But no worries! It all dries clear and didn't hurt my fabric or colors.
4. After waiting on everything to dry I heated up my hot glue gun. I went around the edges of the fabric and made sure everything was secure. 
5. Since my cut edges were messy I also took some thick twine rope and hot glued it all the way around. I think it added a nice touch to them.

After a bunch of cutting and glueing I think these two magnetic boards turned out pretty good. And the magnets still stick! 

Have fun crafting!

- Crystal :)

DIY Seashell Mirror

DIY Seashell Mirror

So... if you're anything like me, you go to the beach and return home with a gallon bag full of odd shells you picked up off the sand. It sounds crazy, but it's so much fun! I get addicted to finding certain designs and colors. It's just what I do when I hit the beach.

After picking up shells for the past four years or so I had accumulated a large amount and of course had no where to put them. With a little thrift store shopping and some Pinterest scanning, I finally figured out what to do. It was time to make a seashell bordered mirror!

All I needed was:

• A thrift store mirror (I used one with a wooden frame)
• Seashells of course
• And a hot glue gun with plenty of refills

And if you don't collect shells, I've seen plenty of nice ones in craft stores.

Below I have some pictures of how I went about creating my mirror.

 Here you can of course see my mirror (tada!). I figured one with a flat frame edge would be easiest. I also cleaned it good before starting to get any dust or dirt off.

I started off glueing the larger shells all the way around. That way I was sure to cover all of the frame. I then went in with some smaller shells that looked cute. Be sure to add plenty of glue! Some places I glued lightly and they popped off. They had to be stuck on again of course (oops! haha).

Here is my finished mirror! :) I still had tons of shells left over, but the mirror turned out great!

The final product turned out really cute! It only cost me about $4 to make which was even better! I really think this idea would look great on multiple things. I might even seashell some picture frames :) Hope this helps you put a stylish mirror together!

- Crystal :)