Let's rock

If you’re like me*, you’re in the habit of picking up cool-looking stones every time you go to a beach because your father is a geologist and you’ve been doing it since you were a wee child. Except … I recently found out that not everyone’s dad is a geologist, and most people don’t do this.  Crazy!  But I propose you break away from looking for boring old shells and try something new next time you’re at the shore–then follow a couple of easy steps to make a lovely memento of vacations past.  Stones that looked beautiful at the edge of the waves look a little lackluster when they’re dry, but spraying on a quick clear coat will make them look polished and pretty again!

(*Are you like me? Let’s form a club!)

What you’ll need:
glass containers of various shapes/sizes
pretty beach rocks
spray acrylic or polyurethane, glossy
dust mask (optional)
printable mailing labels (optional)
price tags (also optional)

Before you begin:

You can find all kinds of interesting glass containers at your local thrift store … spice jars, old juice glasses, candle holders, mason jars, etc.  Think creatively! I found a really cool-looking old porch light for $2 that works perfectly for this craft.  You can also find a variety of small jars and bottles at an art or kitchen supply store.

the collection

1. Wash the stones to remove dirt or salt and let dry completely.  Place the stones on a flat piece of cardboard in a well-ventilated area — consider using a mask, because even outside the fumes were a bit strong!  If the rocks are flat, they can be close together, but if they’re chunky spread them apart so you can spray all sides.

Try not to overspray!

2. Spray gloss evenly across the rocks, being careful not to overspray or you’ll end up with some goopy business (official crafting term) around some of the stones. Let dry completely — mine took less than 15 minutes.

waiting to dry

3. Flip over and spray the other side — let dry again.  Once dry, examine each stone to see if you missed any spots and take care of those.

beach in a jar

5. Place in your glass containers and display!  If you’d like, you can add labels … I used a typewriter font on some regular mailing labels, then cut out and attached to some sale tags I picked up at the office supply store.  Attach with string or thin wire.  You could also use those metal-rimmed circular tags that I’m sure have a proper name and just write on them.  Or, if you don’t have small children, you can place some of your prettiest specimens right on your side table, sans container.  However you choose to display them, it’s a nice way to turn a memory into part of your decor!

Easter time!

This isn’t so much a craft as a technique you can use for SO many things.  You need some decorations for Easter? Consider it done. You have an empty space on a wall that could use some prettying up? Don’t give it another thought.  You’re going to blow your own mind once you see how easy it is to transfer an image onto wood using your printer and a sheet of plastic, and after you recover you’re going to want to keep coming up with projects to do (coasters? printing on canvas? one large panel with multiple images? Anything goes!!) because it’s super easy and fun.

What you’ll need:
transparency film or printable plastic sheets
inkjet printer
wood panel or pieces (check wood projects section at your craft store)
rubber brayer (aka small solid rubber roller, also available in craft stores)
clear coat spray

Before you get started: You can use transparency film for overhead projectors, but in stores near me those cost $15-$20 a pack … so instead I used these plastic sheets which were much cheaper. You can reuse the sheets so you just need a few.

image prep

1. The first thing you need is an image that’s as high resolution as you can get.  I happen to have a CD-ROM of high res vintage labels and ads which works perfectly, but there are also a ton of resources online.  I  love the huge variety of vintage files they have at vintagerio.com, but some of them are scans of greeting cards and are pretty low resolution … which is fine, so long as you print it out small! For the Easter images you see here, I used this pack I bought for $1. There are some classic super weird cards included (looking at you, illustration of a baby chick with two long braids of blonde hair) but there were enough cute ones to make it worthwhile. The best thing to do is print out tests on plain paper (use black and white on a draft setting so you don’t burn through your color ink!) and figure out what size looks good without being blurry.

Important: Use Photoshop or other photo editing software to reverse the image before you print onto your plastic, otherwise the text will be backwards when you transfer it and you will say lots of cuss words.

2. If your wood panel is larger than your image, use one of your test print outs as a guide to make small pencil marks to help you with placement.

3. Print out your image on the plastic film, making sure to print on the shiny side, and use whatever setting will give you the nicest quality but QUICKEST printout.  The first time around I chose a super high quality setting and it took so long to print that the ink was practically dry when it was finished.  The key is a quick printout so you have plenty of ink to transfer.

Quickly and carefully position onto your wood surface and hold tightly in place — don’t let it slip– and use the rubber brayer to smooth over the entire image.  Be very thorough and press down evenly.

4. When you think you’ve gotten all the ink you can onto the wood, carefully remove the plastic and give the transfer time to dry.

Pro tip: You can use a damp paper towel to wipe away any remaining ink on the plastic sheet so you can reuse it!

5. Once transferred, the ink will not be waterproof, so spray a few layers of clear coat over it to protect it.  Let that dry and it’s ready to hang!  I found those adhesive velcro hangers to be perfect for the job.

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