DIY – Page 3 – Can Can Dancer

DIY Burlap & Lace Bunting

Hello World,

I’ve been seeing bunting on Pinterest and Etsy lately being used for birthdays and weddings, using fun fabrics or different papers. I made some of my own, but my own spin of it and used thrifted lace trim and burlap.

I made mine say “Happy Halloween,” but I think I’ll make another set near Christmas too. Maybe even another one that just says “love” for all year round decor.

1. Gather your supplies: burlap fabric, lace trim, glue (I used Aleene’s tacky glue), scissors, a paintbrush, paint, and alphabet stencils (mine were from this Darby Smart kit).

2. Cut out as many triangles as you need from the burlap. I bought a yard, and used only a third of it for 14 triangles.

3. Place a piece of paper under your first burlap triangle, to protect your work surface. Place your first stencil letter down, and gently paint within the stencil.

4. Remove the stencil, and a fill in the stencil spaces if you want a full letter. Allow to dry, and repeat with all your other letters.

5. Line all your painted burlap triangles in a row, and apply glue to the top of each triangle. (I did two bunting strands, so HAPPY and HALLOWEEN were separate pieces in the end.) (I forgot to take a photo of this step.)

6. Leave at least a foot of lace trim free at each end, and press the lace trim onto the glued areas. Allow to dry flat overnight. (I get an F- and forgot to take a photo of this too.)

7. Hang and enjoy!

Happy Crafting!

October 18, 2014

DIY Halloween Costume #2 – Mermaid

Hello World,

In my last post, I shared a DIY Glinda costume my mom had put together. For the second costume in this series, I’m sharing her DIY mermaid costume with you today,. To switch it up, my sixteen year old sister was kind enough to model it (with her mermaid-tastic hair).

My mom bought the teal sequin dress at a thrift shop, and sewed the three panels (two skinny ones on the front, one large one on the center back) on the bottom to flare it out and make it look more fin-like.

For my sister’s makeup, I started by applying foundation to her face as a base. I then used my finger to apply light yellow and light green eyeshadow from her cheek bone area to her forehead. Next, I used a small eyeshadow brush and drew overlapping semi circles with teal eyeshadow to give the appearance of scales. Next, I drew scales with liquid black eyeliner. (I used the $1 e.l.f. eyeliner, and it worked great.) To finish off her mermaid makeup, I applied some glitter eyeliner to random areas of the scales.

To make the shell top, my mom found two large shells (try to find ones that are similar sizes, so your chest doesn’t look lopsided) and pushed them into a netted produce bag. We twisted the center of the bag, and knotted each end of the bag, trapping the shells inside. Next, we hid the knots in the back side of the shell. We looped ribbon to the center of the top (to make a halter) and to each end to make straps (similar to a string bikini top). We tied the halter portion around my sister’s neck, and knotted the other ends together in the back.

My mom actually made the base of her crown with a plastic pie-container lid! She cut an ‘X’ in the center of the lid so it would better sit on her head, and covered it with glittery gold paint. Next, she tied grocery-bag netting around it, and trapped shells, starfish, and plastic under-the-sea toys in the netting. She layered more ribbon and puka shells to fill it out. To top it off, she tied a large starfish to the front netting. We kept it secured to my sister’s head with a few large bobby pins.

To finish off the costume, my sister wore many pearl, puka shell, and beaded necklaces of varying lengths. She also wore bangles and pearl bracelets for a “look at this stuff, isn’t it neat” look. (Yes, Ariel is my favorite Disney princess.)

Happy Costuming!

October 12, 2014October 12, 2014

DIY Glitter Pumpkins

Hello World,

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays (and Christmas and Valentine’s Day). I pretty much just love decorating. (I love costumes too, and those will be the topic of upcoming blog posts.) Recently, I went to JoAnn Fabrics and came across a candy corn color-blocked pumpkin for $24.99. Instead of buying it, I made my own version with a foam pumpkin from the dollar store.

The left photo above is the pumpkin from JoAnn’s, and the right it my DIY version. I didn’t realize until the gold glitter was on the pumpkin that I had gotten my candy-corn colors in reverse. #youhadonejob but let’s just pretend it was a creative spin on it. 🙂

I already had all the supplies on hand, so this project only cost me a dollar! The glitter I bought a while back in a 12 pack from Ross for $4.99, which I have gotten so much use out of. Tutorials for two different versions of the glitter pumpkin are below:

1. Gather your supplies: a foam pumpkin, acrylic paints, coordinating glitters, Mod Podge, a paint brush, and something to shake your glitter over (a paper plate, a placemat, or piece of paper).

2. Cover your pumpkin with white paint as a primer. Allow to dry and do a second coat so your original pumpkin color isn’t visible. Using paint will make it so we need less glitter later. Allow to dry.

3. Now you can go about this two ways: either mix Mod Podge and glitter together and paint that on the top third of your pumpkin, or apply a coat of Mod Podge to the top third of your pumpkin, and shake glitter onto the wet Mod Podge (while holding your pumpkin over your placemat). Give your pumpkin a light shake to rid of excess glitter, and allow that section to dry. Pour excess glitter back into your glitter container.

4. Apply your second color of paint to the middle third of your pumpkin. Allow to dry.

5. Repeat step 3 with your second color.

6. Apply your third color to the bottom third of your pumpkin. Allow to dry.

7. Repeat step 3 with your third color. My pumpkin had a green stem, so I painted the stem black. Allow to dry.

8. If you are afraid of glitter fall-off, apply a thin coat of Mod Podge to your entire pumpkin to seal it.

1. Gather your supplies: a foam pumpkin, acrylic paint, coordinating glitter, Mod Podge, a paint brush, thumbtacks (mine were from the dollar store) and something to shake your glitter over (a paper plate, a placemat, or piece of paper).

2. Cover your pumpkin with paint color of your choice. Allow to dry and do a second coat so your original pumpkin color isn’t visible. Using paint will make it so we need less glitter later. Also, my pumpkin had a green stem, so I painted the stem black. Allow to dry.

3. Now you can go about this two ways: either mix Mod Podge and glitter together and paint that your pumpkin, or apply a coat of Mod Podge to your pumpkin, and shake glitter onto the wet Mod Podge (while holding your pumpkin over your placemat). Give your pumpkin a light shake to rid of excess glitter, and allow that section to dry. Pour excess glitter back into your glitter container.

4. If you are afraid of glitter fall-off, apply a thin coat of Mod Podge to your entire pumpkin to seal it. Allow to dry.

5. Push your thumbtacks into your pumpkin. I did simple vertical lines, following the curve of my pumpkin. If you are afraid of your thumbtacks falling out, you can apply glue to them prior to pushing them into the foam pumpkin.

Aren’t they just so cute! I might actually head back to the dollar store and pick up another one and make a black glitter pumpkin with thumbtacks.

Happy Crafting!

October 4, 2014October 4, 2014