craft – Page 6 – emerald city diaries

diy lipgloss.

one of my favorite lipsticks {revlon lip butter in cotton candy} broke a few months ago & while i was able to get a new one, i was bummed that almost half a stick of lipstick would go to waste. but then i saw this easy tutorial to make your own lipgloss out of broken (or cheap) lipstick on ruelala & decided i could salvage some of my own broken lipstick.

supplies:

lipstick – i used two since my container had two parts
small container – i used a double-sided pill box i found at the drugstore
aquaphor {or vaseline}
toothpick(s)
hair dryer
knife

do you have any broken lipsticks lying around? have you ever made lipgloss out of them?

diy painted antler.

i have been seeing a few painted antlers on pinterest & i thought they were cool looking. it just so happens that my brother has a massive collection of antlers & acted as my source while we were home at christmastime. armed with two antlers {spoiler alert: i have only painted one so far} i have spent the past few months figuring out how to paint an antler. this project didn’t take me that long in total, but i spread it out over the course of almost three months due to life, i guess. also, it turns out it isn’t too hard to paint an antler.

{original pinterest link – source unknown}

supplies:

antler – i am sure you could find some on etsy or perhaps a craft fair
primer – i used bonding primer
small paintbrush
frog tape or painter’s tape
acrylic craft paint – if you want to do gold or silver, make sure the label says “metallic” so it’s super shiny
glossy protective finish – i used Minwax {pictured below} which i also used here

i started out by taping off the end of the antler and each tine as i knew i wanted these pieces to remain unpainted. in order to get a straight line, you will have to create the line with tape {if you just put a single piece of tape around any part of the antler, there will be a small v where the ends meet}. also, you will need to firmly press the tape edges to the antler to ensure you get a clean line.

you wouldn’t need to tape at first if you want the entire antler painted, or you could add more tape {like stripes}. then i primed the antler with one coat of bonding primer. {side note: as this was my first painted antler attempt, i am not sure whether regular primer would work. i typically use bonding primer on all of my projects that aren’t drywall because it generally sticks to everything.}

after the primer was dry, i started painting. you won’t need to tape off again with the first color. also, i painted from the outside of ends of the antler in {if this doesn’t make sense, you can see it from the rest of the pictures}. i started with gold & painted four coats to ensure it was a nice solid color. four coats sounds like a lot, but the areas are small so you don’t use much paint and the in-between dry time is about an hour.

i let the fourth coat of gold dry for 24 hours before i started with the next color as it required me to tape over the gold to make a clean edge. then i painted four coats of my next color – light blue.

i left the fourth coat of light blue dry before taping over it to add the last color –navy blue {not pictured}.

after my final color was on & the antler was fully painted the way i wanted it, i painted on three thin coats of minwax polycrylic which gave the antler a high gloss finish.

i am thrilled with the finished result! this is a really fun piece that is really unique – definitely a conversation piece. {though i am a bit sad that i can’t showcase my new painted antler on the coffee table as it is still an antler & sadie thinks the ends are a tasty treat.}

what do you think of painted antlers? have you been taping & painting anything interesting lately?

valentine’s day diy: sparks card & date night jar.

to wrap up my valentine’s day diy {just two days away, eek!}, i have two small projects to share.

first up is a card which is loosely based off of a card i have seen before in stores.

supplies:

short matchstick
cardstock or blank card
thin wire
marker or pen – i love the thin sharpies
construction paper/paper/envelope
washi tape – optional

i cut out a folding card from plain white cardstock. i put the fold on the top edge, but you could put it on the side edge too. then i laid down the matchstick where i wanted it on the card – a bit off-centered – & punched two tiny holes on both sides of the matchstick. then i thread a short piece of wire thru the holes, looping around the matchstick, & putting the ends thru the back of the card. i twisted the wire to secure the matchstick.

then i wrote out “sparks fly” on the outside of the card, & “when we’re together” in the inside. simple as that.

the last project i have to share is a fun valentine’s gift for aaron – a date night jar. we have been talking about the fact that two-and-a-half years into marriage that we don’t go on dates really anymore. at least not like we used to. so, i thought it would be fun to compile some ideas so that when we find ourselves looking for something fun to do, we could skip past the brainstorming & move right to the date!

there are lots of “date night jars” on pinterest so definitely search there if you want some more versions of this idea.

supplies:

short glass jar – i used a mason jar
fat popsicle sticks
acrylic paint – i used festive red & pink
sharpie or marker
felt
twine or string

i started out by brainstorming & writing out all of my date ideas. i tried to make half of them free dates & half of them pay dates. i was with some girlfriends during this process which helped the idea-flowing tremendously, but i tried to think of all of those things that we always say we want to do or only do when out-of-town guests are visiting. then i painted the ends of the sticks {both sides} – red signifying the pay dates & pink the free ones.

then i put all of the sticks in the jar, painted side up. i traced a heart out of felt & tied it onto the jar with some string.

it’s not too late to whip up a fun something for your valentine! do you craft or buy for valentine’s day?

valentine’s day diy: xo wreath.

less than a week until the big day! this second project {see my diy heart elbow patches here} is super festive & even if i don’t get to see it inside the house, it is fun to be greeted with when we get home from work.

{original pinterest link – valentine’s day decor}

there wasn’t a tutorial for this pinterest project as the original link leads back to an etsy shop. at first i considered just buying this wreath {like i ended up doing with this year’s christmas wreath} but for a $90 price tag, i figured i could give it a try myself.

supplies:

round wreath – i used a grapevine wreath
two straight bundles– i used a grapevine wreath {these are in the same section as wreaths at michael’s}
wide ribbon – i used white wired ribbon
faux berries – i found 6 foot garlands of pink & white {if you wanted red berries, you may want to get some right after christmas on sale}
hot glue gun & glue sticks
garden hand clippers & hedge lopper {for the bigger branches}
scissors

i didn’t need to do anything with the “o” wreath to prep it, so i just set it aside to work on the “x” wreath. the two long bundles were already bound together in the middle, so i just placed them in an x & secured it with very thin wire. once the x was made, i set it on top of the o to determine how much i would have to cut the ends down.

i started trimming the thin pieces with hand garden clippers, but had to break out the hedge loppers to get the big pieces cut. i tried to make the ends pretty even, but didn’t want them to be perfectly straight.

to attach the x & o together {so the x would hang above the o}, i used invisible cord that we have to hang pictures from the picture rail. we strung cord on the backside of the x thru the wire used to hold the x together & looped it to thru a small metal ring on the o wreath that was used to attach the price tag {sorry the picture below is so bad, the camera had trouble focusing on the cord}. we left just enough space between the wreaths for them to hang without hitting each other.

adding the berries was a bit more messy & different that i had anticipated, but in the end it worked out. because i couldn’t find branches that already had berries attached, i had to buy the branches & add the berries myself. i was able to find 6 foot garlands of berries with ivy at michael’s on sale for 60% off {honestly, if these were full price, i wouldn’t have likely used them}. though both of these garlands had a main color – pink & white – they also had green berries sprinkled in which added a bit of spring-y-ness to them. {also, these are foam berries which probably aren’t supposed to be used outside, but our front door is pretty protected from moisture.}

i basically dismantled these garlands, ripping off the floral tape that was holding the berry bunches & ivy leaves together. once i had just the berry bunch i wanted, i trimmed the wire end down & stuck it into the wreath. once i had arranged the bunches on the wreath {all facing the same way even around the o wreath}, i hot glued them down. i did the x in pink & then the o in white.

to add the hanging ribbon, i looped the ribbon thru the wire holding the x together {you can see the invisible cord attaching the wreaths together there} & then tied the ends in a bow at the top.

do you have any outdoor valentine’s day decorations like a front-door wreath?

valentine’s day diy: heart elbow patches.

valentine’s day holds a special place in my heart for obvious reasons {pun intended & it is my birthday}. i thought it would be fun & festive to share a few valentine’s day diy projects over the next two weeks, well 11 days.

this first project is something that i have been wanting to do for a few years. i had an old j.crew hoodie {my fav} that i literally wore the elbows thru {sad story, i know}. i wanted to put patches on the elbows but it has taken me a while to figure out what i wanted. in thinking about valentine’s day, i figured it would be fun to put heart patches on the elbows. worst case, i could take them off & try something different!

supplies:

sweater/sweatshirt/shirt with worn-out elbows {or not, the patches could be decorative}
red felt
red thread
scissors
paper or cardstock {for stencil}

i started by cutting out a heart-shaped stencil from cardstock. to keep the shape consistent on both sides, i folded the cardstock in half & drew out just one side. also, it is important for an elbow patch to bigger than the hole; this sounds obvious but the first heart stencil i cut wasn’t quite big enough. fail. after i made a stencil that was the right shape & size, i cut two hearts out of felt.

then, i pinned & sewed the hearts over the holes. the holes were a bit off center on the sleeve, so in order to avoid putting huge heart patches on the elbows {i thought that may be a bit much}, my patches are off-center.

happy elbows!

have you patched anything with hearts?

diy framed polaroids.

a while ago i posted about the polaroid project where i made “polaroids” out of pictures of parisian french doors. i really liked the way the pictures turned out, but i didn’t love that they were just stuck on the wall. the pictures came down along with everything else over thanksgiving weekend when we painted the bedroom & i finally got around to finding a new way to display the pictures {i framed them!}.

this was super easy. i picked up two fjallsta frames from ikea. i knew i wanted big picture frames & decided the square frame was what i wanted. i also picked up some poster tack & two heavy white posterboards from target.

i opened up the frame & took out the mat. i traced the outside of the mat onto the posterboard, one for each frame, & then cut. {this is what the second picture is, i know its hard to see with the white on white.}

then i measured the inside {back} of the frame to figure out how much of a margin i would need to leave between the edge of the posterboard & the edge of the pictures. i left a one inch margin on the left, right & bottom edges, and a one-and-a-quarter inch margin on the top {the extra 1/4 inch was to account for the washi tape}.

then i added a small wad of poster tack to the top corners of each picture. the washi tape was already on the tops of all the pictures.

i placed the four corner pictures first & then filled in the rest of the grid.

& then the frames went back onto our bedroom walls as a fun reminder of our trip to paris!

what kind of art are you framing & hanging on your walls?

a pinterest christmas: etched mason jar monograms & ornament cluster.

welcome to the fifth & final week of a pinterest christmas! {see the first, second, third, & fourth week posts}

i would like to share two final pinspiration projects with you before the end of the year {eeks, that is close!}.

first up, etched mason jar monograms. i adore monograms {as you can see here} & have been wanting to try glass etching for a while now. it seemed perfect to make our neighbors monogrammed mason jars for fun christmas presents.

{original pinterest link – diy etched glass}

supplies:

mason jars {i used the smooth sided ones}
armour etch
painter’s tape
sticker letters/sticker paper
paintbrush
plastic gloves
optional: hot cocoa mix, marshmallows, crushed candy canes

this was a pretty straight-forward project & the linked tutorial above is pretty good. the armour etch didn’t have a lot of instruction with it, so i followed the tutorials recommendation & left the armour etch on for 10 minutes which seemed to do the trick. my guess {though an untested one} is that the longer you leave the armour etch on, the darker the white etching will be.

the etching was difficult to photograph, but you can see it, right? i liked the two initial monogram, but also think a big letter would be cute {like in the original tutorial}.

my last pinterest christmas project is an ornament cluster. an ornament cluster you ask? well, if you don’t know what this is, i don’t blame you. i made it up because i needed a name to call this craft!

{original pinspiration – pottery barn catalog cover}

when i saw this pottery barn catalog, i knew i wanted to make a similar cluster of ornaments. i happened to have five pink ornaments {old from cost plus world market} lying around – perfect!

supplies:

ornaments
ribbon or string
optional: 3m hook for hanging

1. i cut five lengths of ribbon that were around 1 foot in length – some were a few inches longer, some a few inches shorter, some were 1 foot. then i threaded each ornament onto a length of ribbon.

2. after all of the ornaments were strung, i gathered up all of the ends of the ribbon. then i pulled the ornaments up or down depending on where i wanted them to hang {in relation to the other ornaments}.

3. then i took a length of ribbon & tied the ends of ribbon group together. then i tied the ribbon in a bow. i bent back the ends of the group of ribbons {my ribbon was wired} to hide these ends {you could also just trim them}.

4. i hung my ornament cluster using a 3m hook!

& so marks the end of another pinterest christmas. it was fun to see all of the projects these crafty gals completed during an already busy holiday season. until next year!

{thinking about taking on this project? feel free to leave questions in the comments, and i’d love for you to comment with a link to projects you make inspired by mine.}

ready for some more {p}inspiration? check out these ladies this week and throughout the month of december:

{mondays} amanda @ without a doubt – bunting tutorial

{tuesdays} sally@ chacha and mogo & kendra @ The Gilbertson Family – santa hat brownies & christmas cards

{wednesdays} – michelle @ this grey house – giant smores stuffed chocolate chip cookies

{thursdays} –maggi @ Greg, Maggi, & Rodney – yarn trees & abbi @ The Pena Family – pinterest christmas wrapup

have you been {p}inspired by any christmas projects?

a pinterest christmas: magazine bows & chalkboard art.

welcome to the fourth week of a pinterest christmas! {see the first, second, & third week posts}

even though it is the day after christmas, i wanted to share two projects with you because it is still the holiday season, right?

first up, magazine bows. every year i try to re-use as much as i can when it comes to wrapping presents. last year i wrapped all of our presents in re-used paper grocery bags & added real red ribbon for a festive touch. this year i knew i was going to wrap in paper grocery bags, but i wanted to make my own bows.

{original pinterest link – recycled bows}

supplies:

magazine/newspaper/catalog/book pages
paper cutter or scissors
double-sided tape
ruler

you start by cutting the strips of paper. for each bow you need nine strips in all: the three long strips are the original length of the magazine page; the next three strips are one inch shorter than the original length; the two strips are two inches shorter than the original length; and the shortest is three-and-a-half or four inches.

once the strips are cut, you will start looping & taping. {i started with the longest & went down in size order.} take a strip & fold it in half. open the strip back up & put a small square of tape on the middle of the fold. loop the top part of the strip & attach the end to the tape square; add another tape square on the taped end of the strip, loop the bottom part of the strip & attach the end.

repeat with all of the strips. make a circle out of the shortest strip. to assemble the bow, start with one of the biggest strip loops & add a square of tape to the middle. stack another big strip loop on top of the first one, alternating the direction. add a square of tape to the middle of the top loop & add the last big strip loop, alternating the direction. repeat with the remaining five loops being sure to alternate the direction of the loops to form a bow. finally, add a tape square & attach the paper circle to the center. ta-da!

second up is my chalkboard art i added to our chalkboarded entryway. there were lots & lots of pinspiration posts for this project. {see my christmas pinterest board here}

i knew i wanted to put a fun holiday phrase on the wall & scoured pinterest for ideas. once i figured out what phrase i wanted – may your days be merry & bright – i sketched a few ideas of fonts & form. i also decided to add color for a bit of a pop!

{my initial sketch of the letters & layout – sorry for the blue picture, my white balance was off!}

{the festive art as you walk into our house.}

{thinking about taking on this project? feel free to leave questions in the comments, and i’d love for you to comment with a link to projects you make inspired by mine.}

ready for some more {p}inspiration? check out these ladies this week and throughout the month of december:

{mondays} amanda @ without a doubt – Christmas Cards & Wrapping

{tuesdays} sally@ chacha and mogo & kendra @ The Gilbertson Family – mistle toes

{wednesdays} – michelle @ this grey house – sock vase

{thursdays} –maggi @ Greg, Maggi, & Rodney & abbi @ The Pena Family

have you been {p}inspired by any christmas projects?

merry christmas eve house tour.

this holiday season has been so fun decorating the house for christmas. i was able to use all of our old decorations {see some of last year’s décor here & here} in our new space. we don’t have a fireplace like we did in our townhouse, so it has been a bit of a challenge to decorate without a mantle. {i guess the trade-off is that instead of a four foot christmas tree we could have a nine foot one!}

nearly all of my decorations have come from two series worth of a pinterest christmas. {see the first post from last year here & the first post from this year here} i enjoy making the decorations to fit the space that we are in. even after a month of a pinterest christmas projects i am already thinking about what i can make for the house next year!

i hope you enjoy a quick tour of our house all dressed up for christmas.

is your house all dressed up for christmas? if you have a blog, please share a link in the comments!

merry christmas eve!

a pinterest christmas: paper tree forest.

welcome to the third week of a pinterest christmas! {see the first & second week posts}

this is a project that i completed over thanksgiving weekend with amanda during our crafternoon date. {see amanda’s tree forest in the blog links below}

{original pinterest link – handmade christmas trees}

the original tutorial mentions that you don’t have to buy the paper cones, you can make your own from cereal boxes {i used both} but there is really no instructions. it is pretty straight-forward, but i am a visual person & like to see pictures of the process!

{flatten out a cereal box* & cut off the sides & bottom}

{start to roll in from one corner & gently bend the cardboard}

{unfold the cardboard & add glue – i used hot glue – to the edge & fold the cardboard in}

{once you have a cone shape & the glue is dry, cut the bottom of the cone so that it will sit level}

*you don’t have to use chex cereal boxes, but they are thin enough to bend without buckling.

tinsel tree:

this tree was the easiest tree to make. you just add lines of {hot} glue around the cone & stick the tinsel to it. then trim the excess tinsel. i especially became an expert at making this tree since i had to make two {see explanation below}.

feather tree:

i followed the tutorial for this tree, but found it much harder to make than it looked. plus, be aware that there will be feathers everywhere after this project. {thanks amanda for letting me feather up your craft room!} see finished pictures below.

newspaper tree:

i followed the tutorial for this tree & found it to be pretty simple & straightforward. instead of bookpages, i used newspaper. see finished pictures below.

cloth tree:

i followed amanda’s lead on making my cloth tree as she finished her cloth tree first. i just lined up the fabric the way i wanted it to wrap around the cone & added lots of {hot} glue. then trimmed the excess fabric. be sure to double-check where the cut edge will be before you cut because amanda & i both ended cutting a bit too short! see finished pictures below.

when i first got my trees home i set them up on our entertainment stand. we didn’t have many decorations up at that point, so it was fun to have something festive up!

then we came home from work following the long thanksgiving weekend to find this:

apparently sadie didn’t like the tinsel tree which she told us by tearing it to shreds. she also started into the cloth tree but didn’t completely destroy it before we go home. the interesting thing was that these were the two trees that were made out of chex mix boxes. that dog is way too smart for her own good sometimes!

i re-made the tinsel tree & set up my paper tree forest on our sideboard to celebrate the holiday season!

{thinking about taking on this project? feel free to leave questions in the comments, and i’d love for you to comment with a link to projects you make inspired by mine.}

ready for some more {p}inspiration? check out these ladies this week and throughout the month of december:

{mondays} amanda @ without a doubt – christmas tree forest

{tuesdays} sally@ chacha and mogo – a stocking for mogo & kendra @ The Gilbertson Family – diy yarn trees

{wednesdays} – michelle @ this grey house – yarn trees!

{thursdays} –maggi @ Greg, Maggi, & Rodney – odds & ends & abbi @ The Pena Family – pinterest christmas

have you been {p}inspired by any christmas projects?