Decoupaging our own Christmas tree topper star

This year marked our 1st year spending Christmas on our own, without plans to be with our families across the country.  We decided to get to a tree.  Surprisingly, tree toppers are hard to buy around here.  Well, maybe that and we procrastinated our tree shopping until a week prior to the holiday.

Therefore, we’re making our own tree top!

Budget:

• $7.50 for cardboard star
• $3 for red tissue paper
• $0.99 for 2 glitter pens
• $0 mod podge – already owned
• $0 exacto knife

Step 1: use exacto knife to cut one hole where the top of tree will go into.  See the circle in picture.

Step 2: take a whole sheet of tissue paper, fold it multiple times to roughly the size of 2 star sides.  Cut tissue paper to a little bigger than a side triangle.

Step 3: brush on the thin all-purpose glue (mod-podge), then affix the cut triangle papers onto all sides of star.

if you’re an accomplished decoupage-r, this will be very easy for you.  My 1st project didn’t work out as well.  Hopefully, 2nd time will be the charm for me.

Step 4:  slowly apply all paper pieces onto the star.  Go around the whole star for 2 layers.  After both layers dried, apply mod podge all over the star to create a shiny exterior.

Step 5:  apply drops of glitter pen (which is basically glue in a tube with glitter)

The glitter drops will take a while to dry.  Be patient.  Don’t move the star around too much.

Step 6:  Position the star on top of the tree and enjoy

shower curtain rings turned Mini Wreath by Katie Brown

A little holiday elf dropped this tutorial by the lovely Katie Brown at Smile Like You Mean It blog this morning.  It is so cute and simple, and I had all the materials needed.  I just HAD to make it.  Right Now.

Full tutorial link here:  http://www.smilelikeyoumeanit.net/2011/11/ornament-1-mini-wreath-tutorial.html

Here is my attempt:

Materials:

• old shower curtain rings
• glue gun
• yarn of various colors

Okay, I know there’ll be a bunch of trial & error there, since I wasn’t sure about my patterns, color combinations, or length of yarn I needed.

Attempt #1:  wrapping yarn on my finger before looping it onto a ring.

Verdict:  not exactly as efficient of a strategy as I hoped for.  Next!

Attempt #2:  stick with the basic approach – one loop at a time.

Verdict:  it actually wasn’t too bad.

Ta-da!  Look at what I made.

I decided to string a bunch of them together and hang them in front of my closet door.

If my ceiling wasn’t 10 ft. tall, I would string them across my ceiling too.

anywhere else you can think of putting them?

diana’s home-made earrings – the blue series

Whenever I pull out my jewelry-making box, I can’t make just one.

First up, this is a pair of “beads” (the big blue with gold dots part) I found a Alameda Antique Market that I’ve been wanting to make earrings out of.  I finally did!  I imagine they’ll go well with a vintage dress.  What do you think?

Then, I have something a bit more modern.  I’m noticing a ‘Blue & Gold’ theme here.  Hmm…  I might need to come up with something “Cardinal & Gold” to balance it out?  hmm…

Lastly, I made a necklace.  There’s something about combing a circular object and tear drop shape that appealed to me.  So this doesn’t fit within the “blue” theme.  Oh well.

DIY shower curtain fix for small stall

Our Boston apartment is small but we love it anyway.  However, bathroom is one place that we try to spend as little time in as possible.  Not only it’s so small that it doesn’t fit a tub, the shower is a stand-alone stall so tiny that we can’t even find any pre-made shower curtains that fits.  Everything’s too wide and too long.

Having shower curtain too wide for it is not that big of a deal.  Its being too long means the bottom of the curtain is stuck inside the shower stall floor and stays wet for extended period of time.

Budget:

• $15 for shower (stall-size) curtain from Bed Bath and Beyond.
• $0 for rocks
• $0 for thread & needle.

Step 1:  Measure the extra length to be cut off

Step 2:  Cut off the Extra length & sew

My plan is not only to cut off the extra length, but also to add some weight at the bottom to keep the curtain inside of the stall to prevent water spill.

Step 3:  load rocks

You can see that sewing isn’t my strength, but it gets the job done.  Every few inches, I’d put the rock inside and sew around the rock.

Step 4:  hang the curtain back.  Ta da!

corkboard jewelry display / organizer

Smaller apartment means new set of challenge on how I can store & organize my jewelry.  Continuing with my previous theme of “needing to see everything to remember wearing everything”, I decided to make something else for my new bedroom.

Budget:

• $o for old cork board
• $0 for old acrylic paint, paint brush
• $0 for old fabric head band that I no longer use
• $0 for little screw hooks I already used for old hanging jewelry boxes.

Step 1:  mix colors & paint the boarder of the board.  I wanted a deep grey to mimic other metallic frames in the room.

Step 2:  cut head band to pieces & take out the screw hooks.

Step 3:  position the fabric strips with thumb nails.  Insert the screw hooks. 

A word of advice – take an inventory of what you have and how you’d want to organize them first before you start putting things on the board.  Otherwise, you might find yourself pulling and re-inserting.

  

Step 4:  hang your beautiful necklaces, earrings, bracelets, etc.

Thanksgiving table decoration with DIY moss balls in tin cans

Budget:

• $4 for 6 moss balls
• $2.5 for raffia ribbon wrap
• $4 for floral wires
• $1.95 x 6 for tiny tin cans (not pictured)
• $2 for a square floral sponge

My plan was going for a rustic look with natural elements.  I picked up a bunch of materials from Michael’s Stores to test out my creativity.  I placed red loose moss strands at the bottom of the vases and on the table as base.  Candles are placed inside the vases, and real small pumpkins and squashes, on top of the moss.

Lastly, I created my DIY project.  Each moss ball was attached to the floral wire, which happened to be green.  Then I insert each ball-on-wire piece into each tin.  There is pieces of floral sponge that’s inserted inside of the tiny tins.  Lastly, I cut pieces of ribbons and wrapped them around the moss balls.

DIY art-moss ball

This is what the finished look right before dinner time.

Thanksgiving table decoration

self-adhesive DIY lampshade

Budget:

• $6 for lampshade template with self adhesive surface
• $3.5 for polka dot paper

Time:

• about 30 minutes

Step 1: lining up the raw materials.

 

self-adhesive lampshade

 

Step 2: trace the green template on the back of the paper I wanted to use on my lampshade.

add an inch on all side of the template for wrapping.

Step 3:  cut out the traced paper pattern.  Start carefully lining the paper on the self-adhesive surface

Step 4:  Wrap the extra margin to the inside of the shade.  Make cuts along the side to the paper bends smoother.  Tape down the margin of the paper that’s now inside of the shade.

Done.

harmonizing bedroom dressers and night stands

Part of the fun/charm of moving in with a partner for the first time is the combing of your worldly possessions that, often, don’t match.  Between the 2 of us, we managed to have 2 night stands and 2 dressers.  Every one of them had its own style & color.  I’ve wanted to do something about it for a long while now.

Finally, I decided to pickup 2 shades of blue paint in the same family so they will look cohesive, without being overly matchy.

Budget:

• $24 for paint
• $3 for sand paper
• $0 for old dressers and night stands
  

Time:

• small night stands took about 1.5-2 hours EACH!  sanding really took a while.
• dressers took about 2-4 hours each with all the sanding, prepping, and painting.

-room before-

-night stands: before-

-night stands: after-

-Night stand #1 & #2 + Dresser #1 & #2-

Home-made Glühwein (German mulled wine) packets

Mulled wine, variations of which are popular around the world, is wine, usually red, combined with spices and typically served warm. (quoted from Wikipedia)

I was first introduced to glühwein when studying abroad in Germany in a fall.  As the holiday season approached, I started going to craft/gift fairs and many were held outdoor.  The aroma of cinnamon, orange, wine, and the warmth of a hot drink in hand was a great companion to browse through the stands in the cold.

This holiday season, I wanted to introduce some of my L.A. friends to this drink.

Budget:

• $4 for 60 tea packets
• $10 for all spices purchased
• $0 for twine, business card papers already had.

Time:

• about 2 hours for 15 packets.  Faster once mastered the work flow

Step 1: lining up the raw materials.

The packets were sold originally to contain loose tea leaves so that drinkers can make their own tea bags without having to deal with the mess of loose leaves in the mug.

The spices I wanted to include were: whole cloves, cinnamon sticks, cardamom, and dried orange peels.

Step 2:  I used AVERY Business Cards 8376 that I would print instructions on.

I found this really cute printable tag from Ez of Creature Comfort blog.  I used one side for the gift recipient and the other for the instructions on how to use this packet.

Then I cut out each tag to shape and drilled a hole on top to tied one end of the twine.  I then attached another end to the packet.

Step 3:  Stuff all spices into the packets.

To use it, you basically will steep this packet in inexpensive red wine, water, and sugar on low heat for a while.  For extra flavor, add fresh orange slices+juice, and splash or brandy.

Step 4: I gathered few packets into 1 colored mesh bag to be given away as presents.

Toilet Paper Rolls turned wall art

I saw this post on Design *Sponge of this quick project from Tali and thought I can use some home made art to decorate my wall space

Budget:

• $0 for toilet paper rolls.  This wasn’t hard but just time consuming to gather all the rolls

• $0 for scissors, pen, ruler, paint, glue, staple that I already had

Time:

• 2 hour

Step 1: Collect your rolls and take off the remaining toilet paper pieces

Step 2:  cut each roll to roughly 5 equal parts

Step 3:  arrange the pieces in different patterns.

I wasn’t sure where I was going to put it, so I just started to play around.

Step 4:  painting the rolls with different colors.

I glued some of the mini rolls together first before I started painting.  That wasn’t too smart.  I would’ve been better off with my paint job if I had painted the rolls first, cut them, then arrange into the pattern I want, then glue them.

Step 5:  After glue and paint had dried, I used thumb tags to arrange the rolls on the wall.

A month later…