drink-ready

If I could marry a craft supply it would probably be spray paint–sorry, Mod Podge–and our children would probably be these coasters.  (What does that even mean?  I promise you I have hardly been drinking!)  It’s just that I have a bit of an obsession with coasters, and already have way too many in my house, and yet… I can’t seem to stop making or buying them.  Maybe someday I’ll make a tabletop out of all my coasters and eliminate the need for them altogether, but until that day I’ll just continue down this drink-ring hating path.  These are so simple it’s ridiculous, and the possibilities for variation are wide open.  Grab your spray paint and let’s go!

What you need:
wood circles (I found mine at Michael’s)
rubber bands
spray paint
spray clear coat
cork circles (optional, also available at Michael’s)

Before you begin: I wanted the natural wood to show through so I didn’t do this, but if you wanted a nice contrast effect, you could do a base coat color first, add the rubber bands, and do a different color over it!

banded like a bandit

1. Start by wrapping rubber bands around the coaster in random patterns, making sure they’re on there good and tight.

smooth operator

2. Make sure the bands are completely flat on the side you’re painting — they’ll be all twisted in the back but that’s fine.

my happy place

3. Give all of the coasters a light coat of paint–it’s best to spray straight down instead of from the side so you don’t get paint under the rubber bands. Follow the drying instructions on your paint, and then give them another coat.

painted up

4. When the paint is dry to the touch, carefully remove the rubber bands — I used a plastic bag so I wouldn’t get fingerprints on the paint.

unveiled

5. Allow to dry completely, then give the coasters a couple coats of clear coat.  Time for a snack because you’ve got to let them dry again.

glue time

6. Optional step: These aren’t a requirement, but they do make the coasters look a little more professional! Spread a thin layer of glue on the back, taking care to reach the edges.  Lay a cork round on the glue, and wipe away any excess.  Let those dry for a bit, and you’re done.  The perfect home for your Beer and Lime Cocktail!

set o' four

drink time!

sitting pretty

One consequence of being a semi-professional crafty person is that friends will occasionally give you random things and say, “Can you make a craft out of this?”  Such was the case with a plain lampshade that My Chic Life garden expert (and my sister-in-law!) Katie handed me a while back.  All it took was some pretty ribbon, glue, and tape to breathe new life into an old lampshade that might have gone into the trash or a garage sale pile under other circumstances. Here’s how I did it!

What you need:
a lampshade (preferable with straight sides)
ribbon
liquid stitch or fabric glue
permanent adhesive glue tape (such as UGlu, available at Joann’s)
sharp scissors

Before you begin: I used sheer ribbons of various widths for my lampshade — if you use regular ribbon, take into consideration that it might not let as much light shine through.

raw materials

1. Gather all the ribbons you’re going to use and measure out the lengths you’ll need — be sure to leave a little extra, it’s easy to trim off excess but frustrating to come up with too short a piece.

tapes n' tapes

2. Cut a half-inch wide piece of tape and apply it along the seam of the shade.

getting started

3. Press the ribbon about halfway across the tape, making sure it’s perpendicular to the top of the shade, and carefully start to wrap around.   The first piece you lay down is important–you don’t want part of the ribbon hanging over the edge of the shade or everything looking crooked.  Every four or five inches, drop a thin line of glue/liquid stitch down to anchor the ribbon … less is more!  You don’t want huge blobs of glue bleeding through the fabric.

wrap it up

4. When you’ve gone all the way around the shade and are back at the seam, trim the remaining ribbon so that it fits nicely onto the remaining tape without much overlap.

a tale of two ribbons

5. Repeat this process as needed, using various widths and colors of ribbon.  I found it helpful to do the first two ribbons at the top and then the two ribbons at the bottom, so that I could keep things nice and symmetrical.  Just work slowly and keep everything nice and even, making sure to use glue sparingly but strategically.

seamy side

6. Once the shade has been covered with ribbons, you’ll be left with some raw edges at the seam.  If your lamp is going into a corner, you might not care so much about that.  But if you want it to look semi-professional, just cut a length of ribbon and fix it over the seam.  Wait a bit for the glue to dry and there you go! A beautiful lampshade to replace your old one!

let there be light

hands off, Santa

Holy cow, guys, Christmas is right around the corner! Everyone is so frantic and busy with shopping lists and parties and trips to see family … if you have any time left for some crafting, it had better be either something you can gift someone or a decoration for a party.  So I’ve got you covered — a functional holiday craft in the form of not one but THREE kinds of super cute gift tags.  Believe it or not, I made all of these with stuff I had sitting around my house … but if you’re not an obsessive crafter with a crazy amount of supplies on hand like me, just get creative with what you have.  My mom has used cutouts from the previous years’ Christmas cards and they were off the charts adorable AND simple.

Message in a Bottle Tags

corked

I couldn’t find wee corks to fit my bottle so I just cut down a cork to fit.

Print out a To/From in a typewriter-style font and then cut it down to size.  The fake moss and sprig of pink peppercorn are courtesy the craft I re-used these glass bottle from, the glass bottle garland, but you could use beads, pine needles, the sugar decorations you bought for your cookies, etc.!

message in a bottle

Tie string or wire around the neck and attach to your gift! The great thing about this one is that it doubles as an ornament (assuming you didn’t put anything perishable inside, like … feta “snow” or something?)

Spice Bag Tags

I bought these spice/tea bags at a restaurant supply store, but I’ve also seen them at Cost Plus World Market. I was literally giddy with the possibilities these represent.

raw materials

One of those possibilities is a tag that can HOLD A GIFT CARD. What! You could decorate these using almost anything but here’s what I did.  Using the technique I demonstrated here, I made a quick little stamp of a Christmas tree.  (Seriously, it took less than ten minutes, and I can’t draw worth crap!)  Alternatively, you could use a stamp you already own.

O Christmas tree

It’s important to stick a bit of cardboard inside the bag to prevent bleedthrough. Brush some acrylic paint onto the stamp, press evenly onto the bag, and presto! Cute.

just add paint

All that’s left is personalization — just use a fine point sharpie and your best penmanship — but be sure to keep the cardboard inside to keep it from bleeding.

very merry

Cedar Paper Tags

Cedar grilling papers make delicious salmon, but they also make super cute gift tags … they’re expensive if you buy them regular price, but I got a package of them for around $3 at Tuesday Morning! Handle with care, because they will split if you don’t cut them carefully.  I traced circles on mine using a juice glass and lightly wrote out what I wanted to spell out in pencil.

going in circles

Then I busted out my trusty wood burning tool and went to work.

power tool

OK, so I know most people don’t have a wood burning tool just laying around the house (some day I will write a post arguing for why you should, though).  No problem, just use a pen, or keep it rustic and use pencil.  No matter what, though, you should give the tags a quick coat or two of Mod Podge so it doesn’t split in half when you tie it on a gift.

Mod Podge, my hero

no, I did not make this at camp!

Enjoy putting some love into your gift wrapping, and most of all, enjoy the holiday with your loved ones!!!

so pretty you don't want to open them, almost

ready for Christmas

I bought some red lacquer spray paint weeks ago and have been waiting patiently for Thanksgiving to be over so I could break it out on some Christmas crafts.  What’s more Christmas-y than pine cones? I’ll tell you: RED LACQUER pine cones!  There’s so much you could do with these, but I settled on a wreath — fitting, since my first craft post for My Chic Life a year ago was also a wreath.  All you need are some simple floral supplies and you’ve got yourself a lovely front door decoration.

What you need:
pine cones (2 inches long or bigger, I used 13 of them)
12″ wire wreath frame
floral wire
wire cutters or scissors you don’t care about dulling
spray paint
tarp or flattened box

Before you get started: The pine cones I purchased were cinnamon-scented, but I would describe them more as “cinnamon-drenched.”  The pine cones I’ve seen for sale have all been scented, so a word of warning–after painting them, the smell diminished quite a bit, but my eyes still watered a little after handling them for a while. I’m no expert but maybe don’t rub your eyes after you’ve been working with them?

tagging 'cones

1. Pick out more pine cones than you think you’ll need and shake them to remove any seeds. Lay them out on your cardboard or tarp and get to spray painting.

weapon of choice

2. Here’s the spray paint I used, which only required 20 minutes between coats. Spray evenly and try not to over-saturate the paint.

lots o' coats

3. Tip the cones over and spray from the under side, and make sure the sides, tops, and bottoms are adequately covered.  For me this required about four different coats, just to get everything (pine cones are all nooks and crannies!) Follow the instructions on your paint for complete drying time … I let mine dry 24 hours just to be safe.

laid out

4. Before you do any wiring, arrange your pine cones on the wire frame like a puzzle to see what fits … then lay them out so they’re all ready to wire in. I alternated mine pointing up and down, but do whatever you want!

getting wired

5. Cut lengths of wire about 7-9 inches, depending on the size of your pine cones. I didn’t have floral wire in my huge collection of craft supplies for some reason so I used a copper jewelry wire–you don’t really see the wire so it’s not a big deal. Wrap around the middle of the pine cone.

keep it tight

6. Turn over and twist tightly several times.

fixed

7. Thread through the frame and twist the ends together. Make sure not to leave any slack!

two-fer

8. Fit the next cone in as closely as possible and repeat the rest of the way around. Keep fitting them in like a puzzle to minimize empty spaces.

done!

9. When you get towards the end, place your last few cones before wiring them in just to make sure you don’t have to trade one out for a different size.  And just like that, you’re done!  Well, almost.  Turn the wreath over and secure all of the wire ends — you can do a little more twisting and tying just to make sure everything’s solid, then snip off any loose ends or just tuck them in.

upgraded

10. I wanted to keep it simple, but you can easily glam up the wreath with some floral inserts.

the accidental centerpiece

11. Bonus: With my leftover pine cones, some ornaments, and a glass vase, I made this!  Two, two, two crafts in one!

welcome!

no raking needed

I don’t know about you, but I’m completely shocked to find myself in November!  I just moved, so I’ve basically been in a mental coma for over a month now, and all of a sudden I woke up to find myself well into fall with just a few weeks to go ’till turkey day. What! Anyway, I needed to get my new place looking seasonal, so I used some fake leaves I got at Michael’s for $1 and some ribbon I had on hand to bring the fall indoors.  It’s cheap, it’s simple, and it’s a way to preserve the look of the beautiful leaves that stay on the trees for such a short time.  My favorite part about fall crafts is that you can keep them up for the entire season, so keep it in storage for next year and pop it up on September 1st!

What you’ll need:
Fake leaves
Ribbon or twine
Xacto knife
tapestry needle (optional)

slicing and dicing

1. First, measure the space where you’re going to place the garland so you have an idea of how long to make it.  Next, use the xacto knife to make two slits about the same size as the width of your ribbon, about 1/4 of an inch apart.

threaded through

3. Thread the ribbon onto a tapestry needle if you have one, or tie a knot in the end and carefully begin to thread through the slits in the leaves. Alternate colors, shapes, and sizes for a nice diverse look — and make sure to keep the ribbon from twisting in between leaves.

feeling loopy

4. Leave several inches on each end and tie a loop.

And it’s ready to hang! Put it up now and enjoy through Thanksgiving …

occupy the mantel

fireside

candy's this way!

I’m not gonna to lie to you, Halloween is not my favorite holiday–probably because there isn’t a traditional meal associated with it, and I am a fan of the traditional meal!  But I know a lot of people get really into decorating, maybe creepily so? The other day I saw a house that had not one but TWO real coffins in their yard, and that is just three coffins too many.  We should all have fewer than zero coffins in our yards!  I do love having trick-or-treaters come to my door, so at least a little bit of decoration is required … and what’s better than some luminaries to help the little kiddos get safely to their mini-Snickers?  I bought some glass-etching cream a long time ago, so I decided to try it out by etching large letters onto jars purchased at my local dollar store. But if you don’t want to take the time to etch the glass, don’t worry–you could also decorate jars with bats, ghosts or other scaries you’ve cut out of black contact paper!

What you need:
glass jars
contact paper
xacto knife
gloves
paintbrush
etching cream
image or letter to stencil

Before you begin: Etching cream requires a lot of caution — wear gloves and long sleeves, and be careful not to get any of it on your skin. Do NOT rinse the cream into a porcelain sink, because that will damage it. Read all of the instructions before doing anything!  If you want to etch letters, just print some off of your computer –for anything else you can print out clip art or draw it free hand.

stick it out

1. First, clean the surface of your jar and make sure there’s no gunk or dust on it.  Cut a piece of contact paper about the height of your glass container/jar and peel off the paper backing. Carefully press it onto the jar, making sure to push out any air bubbles.

taped

2. Tape your image or letter over the contact paper, making sure it’s centered.

slicing and dicing

3. Using an xacto knife, trace around the image. If the letter has any center pieces, do those first.

ready for business

4. Take off the paper template and look at what you’ve cut–if any parts look like they haven’t been cut through, take care of that now.  Next, pry away the contact paper you just cut out, using the edge of the exacto knife and peeling away very slowly, making sure not to peel up anything that should stay down.

let's etch

5. Repeat with remaining jars. Once everything has been cut out, make sure to wipe off any fingerprints or sticky bits – those will interfere with the etching cream.  Press down around the edges of everything to make sure the contact paper has a good seal to prevent bleed through.

etch a sketch

6. Put on your gloves and get out the paintbrush — you want to brush on a nice thick coat of etching cream inside of your cutout area, making sure to cover everything evenly.  Follow the instructions for the cream your using regarding how long to leave it on.

rinsing

7. Rinse very thoroughly.  Again, be sure not to get any of this stuff on you as you wash off.  Rinse, then remove the contact paper and rinse some more.  If anything remains, use a wet paper towel to scrub it off. Then rinse it off again! It’s some kind of crazy chemical that can transform glass, so you can’t be TOO cautious!

finished!

8. You have a lot of options now … I found jars of sparkly black rocks at the dollar store, and you could use those with either fake or real tealights.  Or, for something different, fill the jars with water and use submersible LED lights inside … add some drops of green or purple food coloring for an even spookier effect!

spooky scary

ready for a fall feast

Fall is in the air! Well, to be honest, it’s not really in the air here in Los Angeles.  The leaves haven’t fallen and the temperature is still a little too hot to pull out the sweaters and boots just yet (sorry, Midwesterners!).  But I refuse to let that stop me from jumping into the comforting, crock pot-laden arms of fall crafting.  I found a pack of neutral cloth napkins on clearance at TJ Maxx for $3, and got inspired to deck them out with some painted autumn leaves.  Instead of stenciling, I used an easy (and cheap!) block printing technique.  The end result is a set of lovely napkins I can use when I invite people over for chili or meatloaf before playing games in front of a crackling fire. I like my fall times to be idyllic, guys!  And these leafy stamps are step one.

What you need:
adhesive-backed foam sheet
scissors
xacto knife
acrylic block or glass from a small picture frame
fabric paint in various fall colors (or acrylic paint + textile medium)
paintbrushes
fabric napkins, placemats or anything else you want to stamp

Before you begin: I own one acrylic block and it was too small for the stamps I cut, so I came up with the idea to use the glass from small cheap photo frames.  Obviously these require a little more care than plastic … but you can still reuse them if you’d like to keep your stamps! If you want to keep them, just wipe them off with a damp sponge when you’re done.

leaf it to me

1. Trace your pattern onto the foam sheet.  I actually just traced around some fake leaves I purchased at Michael’s … you can print out this template I made here, OR just go grab the real thing from your backyard to use as a template! After tracing,  cut them out as neatly as possible.

cut it out!

2. Use an xacto knife to cut out details from the middle of your leaves and clean up any stray bits from the edges.

yes, I did get a new cutting mat, thanks for asking

3. Peel off the sticky backing of the foam and carefully stick it to the acrylic or glass you’re using as a base.

brush off

4. Pour a small amount of paint into a paper plate or cup, and brush lightly onto the stamp.  You want it to evenly cover the foam without any excess blobs anywhere — it’s better to err on the side of it being too light than saturating your fabric.  I’d recommend testing the stamp on a piece of paper before committing to the fabric.

stamped out

5. Press evenly onto your fabric and remove.  If there are any little blobs of paint you can quickly dab those away with a paper towel.  Sometimes the stamp will be too light on one side — if that happens, just paint again and carefully restamp!  If you want to do multiple leaves in the same color across all of your napkins/placemats/whatever, then keep working in that color.

a touch o' gold

6. You can play with layering colors … I brushed some streaks of gold and did another layer for some of my leaves, or did a layer of brown, stamped it, then did a layer of yellow over top.  Just like in nature, no two leaves have to look the same!

drying time

7. Follow the instructions on your paint regarding drying time — mine specified drying flat for 24 hours.  Follow the care instructions as well when it comes to washing.  Time to bust out that crock pot and invite some people over!

let's eat

potluck, anyone?

the stickahmakah

For this week’s DIY Not?, I’ve got something a little bit different from my usual tutorial: I’m spotlighting a craft gadget that I think is worth a buy, or maybe adding to your Christmas list … a sticker making machine!  The one I have is made by Xyron and is 5 inches across.  For a long time now, I’ve had my eye on one o’ these at my local craft store.  I don’t know what kept me from pulling the trigger on it, but thankfully my sister Jessie intervened and bought me one for my birthday.  Now that I’ve had a little time to play around with it, I can tell you that it’s fantastic.  They’re pretty popular among scrapbookers for obvious reasons, but as someone who hasn’t placed so much as a single scrap in any book, I think it’s a valuable tool for the general crafter as well!  Kids will love it too.  Be forewarned, you’ll have to stop yourself from turning everything laying around into a sticker …

Before you begin: The cartridge I have creates permanent stickers, but they also make cartridges with temporary adhesive.   If you’ve got kids, I’d recommend using the temporary kind.

Here’s a demonstration of how easy it is to use!

round abouts

1. Cut out anything you want to turn into a sticker — paper cutouts, magazine pictures, photos, etc.– and make sure it will fit into the machine. Arrange everything so that there’s as little wasted space as possible, because the refill cartridges aren’t the cheapest!

presto change-o

2. Turn the handle clockwise to apply the adhesive and rip off what comes out … aaaand you’ve got yourself some stickers. Press down around the edges of all of your cutouts to make sure the adhesive is fully applied before peeling off the paper backing.

ready to stick!

3. Once you’ve stuck the sticker on something, you will probably have some extra adhesive on the edges … you can use a white rubber eraser to remove it.  Besides just creating adorable stickers for the outsides of envelopes, you could make strips of small cutouts and custom cards and bundle them together as a gift for someone, or decorate the outside of a cute journal or notebook.  You could make personalized name stickers to put on your lunch so no one steals it out of the communal fridge at work.  I don’t want to call it life-changing, but it’s definitely a bit of crafty technology worth owning!

time to write a letter

dear diary ...

stuck on you

ring ring

Wall clings are pretty popular these days, and it’s easy to see why–they allow you to transform a wall without painting it, and to step outside of traditional framed art. The one I purchased was kind of expensive and looked great for a short time until an edge started peeling up and kept on going.  This was probably the fault of my own shoddy application, but it got me thinking about how to make a customized version for a fraction of the cost.  I used black contact paper to get a silhouette effect, but you could use any color or pattern you wish.  Since the paper comes on a roll, you can make things as tall or wide as you want, so the possibilities are wide open … I made a few items that could be used on an end table, then started thinking about how easy it would be to cut out a small end table! You can probably find contact paper at the dollar store, so the fear of making mistakes is very minimal — if you mess up, you’re only costing yourself your own precious time.  Keep it on the wall for a while, peel it off when you get sick of it, and do something else!

What you need:
contact paper
scissors
xacto knife
tape
pencil
image to trace

Before you begin: Consider carefully what image you’d like to use– something with too much detail is going to be really difficult. For example, the camera you see in these photos was easy to cut out but SUPER frustrating to stick on because of all the cut out parts. You can search for stencils to use, or better yet, find something with a solid outline to use. For the lamp I used in this tutorial, I found a photo of a lamp I liked online and used my Photoshop knockoff to adjust the threshold setting and make it into a silhouette.

cut and run

1. Print out your image and tape it to the contact paper. Use scissors to cut out anything you can, making sure to keep your paper template in place.

xactomundo

2. If there are any details to cut out, use an xacto knife to carefully remove them. Reserve any pieces that need to be added back to the completed image, because if you accidentally throw them away with other scraps, you will be sad.

pencil me in

3. Clean and dry the surface you’re going to decorate, then mark the placement you want lightly with a pencil to use as a guide when you’re doing the sticky part.

peel away

4. Using the xacto knife, pry the paper backing away from the contact paper and peel away.  This part can be a little tricky if you’ve ignored my suggestion and cut out something really complicated, so you might want to have another person around for this step if that’s the case.

smooth move

5. Starting on one end, lightly stick the contact paper to the wall, making sure it aligns with your pencil marks.  If anything is crooked, you can peel up and redo, but try not to overdo it or the paper will lose stickiness. When you’re satisfied with the placement, carefully smooth out any air bubbles and press hard to make sure everything’s sticking evenly.  Optional step: you can use something with a plastic straight edge, like a credit card, to really make sure the contact paper is good and stuck on your wall.  My walls are plaster and a bit bumpy, so I was worried that I’d end up scraping a hole into mine.

I love lamp

say cheese

they'll never die

This craft is so simple, I did it while I was on VACATION! That’s right, I’m writing this on location in beautiful Lakeside, Michigan.  Thanks to my sister Jessie–a super crafter in her own right–who provided the raw materials, the inspiration, and the adorable vases, being thousands of miles away from my own craft closet was no obstacle to bringing you a DIY Not? that’s as easy as it is elegant.  All this to say, you have no excuses not to make these, so grab some yarn and let’s go!

What you need:
yarn of your choice
fabric wrapped wire stems (available in the floral section of any craft store)
sharp fabric scissors
hot glue or tacky glue (optional)

Before you begin: If you don’t already have yarn on hand, you should get a couple of different textures/fibers (cotton, wool, polyester, etc.). The contrasts look great with your finished flowers!

let's wrap

1. Start wrapping the yarn around your fingers.  You can use two or even three different yarns together for some more unique-looking flowers — just hold the strands together and proceed as normal.  If you wanted to make an enormous pom pom, you could wrap around more fingers, but for our purposes two should be fine. Hold two fingers slightly apart and don’t wrap tight enough to cut off your circulation — there’s no need for pain with this craft!  The amount of times you wrap depends on your yarn and how fluffy you want the pom pom … I recommend making a test run to see what your yarn will do.  Less fluffy yarn will require more, fluffier less.

tied off

2. Snip the yarn when you’ve got the size you want, then cut a 6 inch piece of yarn and carefully thread it through the center of the ball where your fingers were.  Tie a tight knot.

cutting edge

3. Turn the ball over and cut through the center. You don’t have to be precise — just stick the scissors into the middle and go.

trimming

4. Fluff up the pom pom and start trimming to make it rounder and smaller.  This is totally up to your taste — how big you want it to be and how even the yarn ends … or if you want the flower to look floppier vs. fluffier.  The good news is these are so easy to make it’s really not a big deal if you mess one up.

ready for stemming

5. If you want to keep your flowers around for a while, put a dab of glue on the stem and stick into the center of the pom pom.  I didn’t use glue because I’m fickle and will probably want to change flowers at some point … they actually stay put just fine if you simply stick your wire stem right into the center of the yarn ball.  Fold the ends of the stems up to get different lengths, and they’re ready for vases and bottles!

white and blue

picture perfect