Tag: diy

Crafty Earring DIY Round 2

Hi, friends! Summer always puts me in a crafty mood. I’m currently trying to figure out how I can rearrange my spare bedroom by myself while Paul’s at work. Though it won’t really matter when he gets home because his leg is broken. I’ve got some brainstorming to do…

Back to the real crafting. I am such an accessories girl. Give me all the earrings, bracelets, necklaces, and rings. You name it, and I likely want it. I usually do an annual purge of my jewelry, and in my last one I decided to keep this pair of earrings even though I wasn’t wearing them.

Continue reading “Crafty Earring DIY Round 2”

DIY Lemon Sugar Scrub

Y’all know I love a good DIY. And you know I love a good DIY that includes pantry staples. And y’all know I like to use safer beauty products. So, it should come as no surprise to you today to see DIY in the title of this blog post or that it includes items in your cupboard or that it’s comprised of safer ingredients. Continue reading “DIY Lemon Sugar Scrub”

DIY Abstract Painting

Remember that time I painted that canvas navy blue? 

Well, I just kept thinking it was too much blue in one corner. So, I painted it again…

Except I had two square canvases and decided to paint them as opposites. (This turned out to be an all out disaster, and I ended up with two paintings that looked like a 2 year old did it. Instead, I did two similar paintings.) Continue reading “DIY Abstract Painting”

Painting DIY Fail

I have been getting really tired with my blank walls. And with summer break a mere five days away, I’ve been planning some ways to spruce up my home.

I always start with Pinterest when I’m looking for inspiration for home decor, and this time was no different. I have been wanting to put something on the walls in the dining area of the apartment. 

I searched for something that would “go” if I decided to do a piece on each wall. Something that would match but wouldn’t be too matchy matchy. I didn’t have much luck searching for something like that, but I did find one piece I like.

I tend to gravitate toward abstract art, so while searching Pinterest I found this one. 

Well it just so happens that I already own two square canvases that I got when Paul and I got married. They were one of those mass-produced canvases that came from Bed Bath and Beyond. Well, when we were living in our house in Louisiana, I decided I didn’t like them anymore, and I decided to paint over them. I decided to not use them as a set so I painted different things on each one.  I was a little obsessed with the dalmatian print that I was seeing all over Pinterest. I saw it as art, bedding, and lots of fabrics. I still see things upholstered in that print all the time. It’s quite beautiful and maybe even better in blue and also in pink. 🙂 So, this was one. And the other one……….

Yeah….so….if you’ll let me, I’ll tell you the story behind this. When Paul and I got married, his brother, Ben, wrote us a song. Composed the music and wrote the lyrics-the whole 9. I love it, and it is so special and personal and the coolest thing to have your very own song! But y’all, this was a terrible idea to think that I could free hand anything pretty onto something that would hang on wall, especially not the lyrics to our song. I should never have done it, and it’s definitely the one that got used for this current paint fail. Maybe it’s the canvas. Not the girl who has ZERO experience in painting. Ha!

I mentioned here that I was working on a painting project that I had hoped to share with you before Mother’s Day. But, of course, other things got in the way and the canvas sat half-way painted on this table for (shamefully) weeks. Once I set my mind to it, though, I finished it. Here’s the end result.

Womp womp.

Before I rip it to shreds I’ll say this: I like the way the blue turned out. I like the way it’s darker in some places than others. (Is that what artists call dimension? Or depth? Or just that I need to add another coat?) But I feel like it needs something. Paul said I need to put a word in it, but we see how that turned out in the picture of the song lyrics. Nope.

Another thing I liked about the one I found on Pinterest was the gold frame. I decided instead of a frame I would just paint the sides of the canvas gold. I really like this part, but I wish you could see the gold more head on.

Another thing I’m not sure that I like is the amount of blue in this space. Blue is definitely one of my favorite colors. Probably my most favorite color if I had to choose, but perhaps there really can be too much of a good thing.

I’m living with it for now to see if it grows on me or if I’m inspired by what I’d like to add to it.

I guess it’s not a total fail. It is a completed project, after all. I’m not sure what I’ll add to the other wall of this little nook. I originally wanted to do two similar abstracts, but now I’m not so sure.

If you’re like me and like to try your hand at new things, I hope this is encouraging in some weird way. Even if you mess up a little or fail miserably, don’t give up! I may not be satisfied with what I’ve turned out, but I did it, and I can fix it. And let’s face it, if I can’t fix it, there are always local artists or Etsy shops or my current favorite store, At Home, that can come to the rescue.

So, of course, I want to know what you think. What should I add? Is it fine as it is? Let me know in the comments. Have a great week, everyone!

 

 

Crafty Earring DIY

I follow quite a bit of fashion and beauty bloggers and YouTubers, and lately, I’ve been seeing these earrings pop up in a few places.

I instantly fell in love with them, sourced them out, and went to place my order. I found they were at one of my favorite jewelry websites, Baublebar, but they had to be pre-ordered and they were $38. In the grand scheme of things $38 isn’t really that much money, but if you follow me on Instagram, you know that I love myself a good Walmart clearance deal. I’ve also linked several more budget friendly jewelry retailers in a previous post. See, I’ve always been told I have champagne taste on a beer budget. And right now my budget is not willing to pay for much more than Natural Light. So, to me $38 made me initially go, “Aw man.” As I did the back and forth of “do I really need these?”, “but they are so cute”, “no one is going to have these”, “but they are nearly $40-especially after taxes and shipping”, “they are definitely an indulgence”, etc…I realized that they were made of thread. And then I thought, I’m kind of crafty. I used to cross stitch when I was a kid, so I know my way around a needle and thread. I can absolutely MAKE these! Luckily, I had a similarly shaped pair of earrings (that I got on clearance at Walmart), but I hadn’t been wearing them lately, so I decided they were getting up-cycled.

My Granny has recently passed away, and she was a bit of a “collector”-of lots of things. One of these things being thread. *Thank you, Granny!* My mom also has a rather large collection because she likes to sew and used to do her fair share of cross stitching too. I asked to peruse her collection, but she brought over two large containers from my Granny that just so happened to have the perfect colors and plenty of each one.

I started out with the black and white pattern around the earrings.

I got a little carried away and cut the thread early on after I had tied knots, but I underestimated how much I had to handle the earrings, and they promptly fell apart. So, back to square one. Live and learn, right?

I decided to leave long strands to tighten again if needed. Once I had it completely wrapped, I made sure the knots were tight, cut the excess string, and Superglued the ends down to the back. I tried to make it as nice looking as possible, but since the backs don’t really show, I wasn’t too worried about it.

You know when you set out to do a task, especially a DIY, and you think that it’ll take like an hour, maybe two? Yeah, I thought this too, but it took me all dang day and then the next afternoon to complete these things. So, when I got one completely done in black and white, I was super excited.

My Aunt Rena told me that it was fairly simple to make a tassel. I followed her instructions of wrapping the thread around something (my two fingers), cutting the bottom to open up the loop, pulling up the top a bit and wrapping a sting of the same color around to make the tassel. It really was simple. But then as I looked back at the original earrings, I saw how many I had to make. Holy cow!

I made them according to the picture but ended up not needing them all. I made up my pattern of tassels and laid them out to see if I liked it. I did. Then I had to decide how to attach the tassels to the base. This is when I went to bed. My brain had had enough.

When I got back to work, I thought I might need some jewelry wire, but turns out I could thread the tassels together using white or black thread (I chose white). I then wrapped the extra around the part of the earring that was already wrapped in white and Superglued it to make it secure.

I also added a little Superglue along the bottom of the base so that the tops of the tassels would lay flush to it.

I think they turned out cute. I have enjoyed wearing them, and though they don’t look exactly like the originals, I think they are pretty darn close. I also love the fact that I didn’t have to pay a dime (except maybe $2.00 for the actual earrings when I originally bought them).

If you’re still reading by now, I want to say that I wrote this post to show that just because you may have expensive taste without the budget to go along with it, you don’t have to go without. Sure, these earrings might not be of the same quality as Baublebar, but with a little imagination and creativity I was able to recreate something that I might never have bought for myself because it seemed a little indulgent. Also, I know that I appreciate them more because I put the time and effort in to making them with my own hands.

I challenge you to get crafty this month. It’s spring! It’s time to do something fun. Make a pretty wreath for your door, sew some cloth napkins or place mats, arrange a pretty spring bouquet for your table, or perhaps you want to make some earrings. 🙂 Happy Crafting, everyone!