24Jan
With Valentine’s Day around the corner, I’ve been seeing some fun DIY’s that I wanted to share that seemed easy and fun. I especially want to try the tea bags – so cute!
Wouldn’t it also be fun to have a Valentine’s Day party? Who does that? I don’t think many do and it’d be fun to have one where you just eat delicious treats and celebrate love!
Here are the DIY links: heart paper garland (perfect for a V-day party…just sayin’), felt envelope, and heart tea bags.
14Dec
Today I’d like to show you my very own first DIY!
It was super fun to make and so I thought that I should show you all. So here we go, my first DIY: Yarn Snowflakes!
Ok, I have to admit, I did not come up with this idea out of thin air. One afternoon, I was shopping at West Elm and they had a display of something similar. And I thought, wow, this is something that I can actually make myself. So I did.
Here are the materials needed:
1. Yarn. One package is plenty, but it depends how many snowflakes you make. I used an off-white alpaca yarn that is super-fuzzy for that ‘rustic’ ‘crafty’ look. I was really close to getting metallic yarn though which would also look super snazzy.
2. Dowel rods. I used 12″ long ones that came in a pack from ACMoore. I cut some down to make smaller sizes as well. You need three rods to make one snowflake.
3. Glue. Elmer’s glue specifically. I just used the spray glue for reinforcement but it’s not necessary.
4. Scissors. And fishing line and thumbtacks (to hang).
Step 1:
Take three dowel rods of the same size and lie them in a snowflake pattern as above.
Step 2:
Without cutting the yarn, start wrapping the yarn around the center of the dowel rods in a “over” “under” “over” “under” pattern until the dowel rods are loosely holding together. Then reinforce it by looping the yarn around one time on a rod then move to the next rod and loop the yarn around it. Basically you just need to get the rods to not slip out of their “snowflake” shape.
Step 3:
You should get to this point where it’s secure but that the dowel rods may shift back and forth for adjusting (just keep them all even).
Step 4:
Now start wrapping the yarn up around one dowel rod — make sure the wrapping has some spacing in between (you’ll fill those in on the way down)
Step 5:
Once the yarn reaches the top of the dowel rod, add a tab of glue at the top and cover the glued area with yarn. Hold glued area with your finger so the yarn sticks and holds as you start to wrap back down. I found that after you cover the glued area, it’s easier to also hold the yarn about quarter of an inch down the rod and wrap the yarn around the top part.
Step 6:
Now wrap the yarn back down, filling in the gaps along the way.
Step 7:
Now the yarn should be back at the center where you can continue onto the next rod and repeat steps 4-6 until each rod has been “yarned” (yep, just made that up).
Step 8:
Ta-da! Once all rods have been “yarned”, your yarn string will back at the center where you can cut it off and tuck it in at the center to hide the end. No need to knot or anything, just tucking it in with the yarn at the center will be fine.
Now I made various sizes of snowflakes but it’s up to you! Now you can hang them or just have them arranged in a vignette around your home.
To hang them, you’ll use fishing line and thumbtacks. This is what you’ll need to do:
Step 9:
Loop fishing line under a strand of yarn near the top of one snowflake point. Then double knot the fishing line (double knot seems to be the trick for fishing line) and take a thumbtack (I have white ones — for my white ceiling) with the other end of the fishing line, fasten together and tack it up on the ceiling. Yes, you’ll have tiny holes then in your ceiling. However, thumbtacks are much tinier than a nail hole or anything else. I bet a strong tape would work as well.
I used varying heights and location of my snowflakes to create some depth. I apologize, my dining room gets no natural light (it’s also the room where we haven’t done anything to it. looks pretty sparse.) so it was tricky to show you guys a good photo…but here are they are hanging:
Voila! There you have it. Lots you can do with them. And, if you get tired of them, you just unwind the yarn and reuse it!
I’d love to hear if anyone tries this out! (And if there are any gaps in my instructions… it’s my first DIY… so let me know if you need more details.)
14Nov
One of these clutches is going on my Christmas wish list… now I just need to decide which one.
I typically lug around a giant bag all the time so sometimes I just want to dump a few things in one of these and go. Nothin’ too fancy. I love the foldover ones too for that extra space. And the waxed canvas ones look really fun too — kinda gives it that leather “feel”.
{ images from the top: 1. Foldover clutch in waxed canvas 2. Leather and kimono clutch — yes, from an old kimono! 3. Utility bag with waxed canvas 4. Scavenger pouch with blue leopord }
10Nov
Holy cow these are amazing. I want them in my house…wouldn’t they make an amazing wall display? Yes please.
Created by artist Sabeena…check out the rest of the letters here (she only went to “S” though..)
28Oct
It’s going to be a cold Halloween weekend here in DC — they’re thinking snow?! Now that’s scary.
Have a fun and spooky weekend!
Oh and if you need a craft or decoration to do this weekend for Halloween, I highly suggest…glitter pumpkins! You can’t go wrong.
{ Image: Muslin, organic halloween gift bags. I’m such a sucker for muslin bags. }
26Oct
While in Portland last week, I stumbled upon a great little museum, Museum of Contemporary Craft. If you’re in the area, go visit! Especially because right now there is thee first exhibition of artist, Nikki McClure.
Pacific Northwest artist McClure creates amazing paper cut pieces using just an Xacto knife of scenes based on her everyday life.
We weren’t allowed to take photos of the exhibit unfortunately but I wish I could show you how her pieces were so intricate and had this ‘shadow’ effect when the lights from the museum hit them perfectly.
I just love the perspective she uses and how she takes a simple scene into something else. She also has a few children’s books, notecards and calendars as well which would make perfect gifts.
{ photos from Nikki McClure website }
Aren’t these ceramic appetizer plates so fun? Handmade by 
