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Sunday, July 29, 2012

DIY Record Bowls- Bachelorette Weekend!

This weekend I had the pleasure of hosting a Bachelorette Party for my cousin, who is getting married next weekend! We had such a great time and made quite a few things in the 24 hour period we were together.

We went to a local pottery shop and painted some pottery, we made washer bracelets, headbands with fabric flowers (we followed a tutorial from Shabby Chic Chicks), and record bowls! Here are a few shots of what we made....keep scrolling for a tutorial on how to make your own record bowls!






DIY RECORD BOWLS...

What you need...
  • Records- these can be purchased at most thrift stores or antique malls for less than a dollar!
  • Oven- preheat to 245 degrees
  • Cookie sheet and a glass bowl
How to make them...

1. Place your glass bowl face down on the cookie sheet and place one record on top of the bowl and place it in the oven...


2. Watch the record closely and pull it out when it has melted some and begins to fall around the bowl...

3. As SOON as you pull it out, you will want to start shaping your bowl! It is will cool and harden quickly so you have to move fast! Warning---they will be hot to the touch...so we pinched and shaped quickly with out holding it too long (gloves would be ideal here!)


4. Keep reshaping and holding it until it completely cools...

5. OPTIONAL- Spray paint the outside of the bowl! TIP- Make sure you tape over the hole so that the paint doesn't reach the inside of the bowl! We painted ours blue!

I am using mine to hold our remotes on our coffee table!

A special thanks to Vanessa for teaching us how to make these awesome bowls

Saturday, July 21, 2012

DIY Washer Bracelets

You may remember the guest post from earlier this year...where two of my friends made washer bracelets. Last night my friend, Emily, and I tried our hand at making them as well.

We followed an awesome tutorial from Nestled, which made it SO easy! They are still a little complicated to get the hang of but once you do, you can make a bunch in no time!

We bought some ribbon and washers....


And followed the tutorial here...


Here are our finished bracelets...



I also wanted to share my latest find with you! My friend, Sarah, and I went to the flea market this morning and I spotted this coca-cola rolling cart with storage inside. I thought it was cute and will be even cuter once it is cleaned up a little bit! We are not sure about where it is going but it may be used on the patio or in the garage!


Hope you have a great Saturday!! We are having a relaxing afternoon in and then we are off to a cook off!

Thursday, July 19, 2012

DIY Personalized Mugs- July Craft Night

Tonight was our July Craft Night! Sarah led our craft this month and she got us each a set of white mugs (our local thrift store had plenty for 50 cents a pair!!) and we decorated them with Sharpies....to personalize them. Once we finished decorating, we baked them in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Sarah found this tutorial from multiple sources on Pinterest, so we are hoping that it really is permanent!
7/22 UPDATE: After washing a mug by hand it turns out that this is not a permanent solution to customizing your mug! We are so bummed...we will be looking for other ways to make this more permanent! I will update again when we find a way!

Here are our mugs...
 
Allie couldn't make it, so I made these for her...

Erin's stache and lips mugs...I LOVE these!!!

Kait's awesome initial and wedding date mugs!

Kara's icecream mugs :)

My nick name mugs...

Mica's mugs for a wedding gift! So cute!

Sarah's initial and wedding date mugs! 


While our mugs baked, we made a date night craft. We used Popsicle sticks and wrote date night ideas on them. We are planning to use these date night ideas to keep our marriages spicy and fun! I am excited to use them in hopes that we will go on more spontaneous dates and change up our routine!


Monday, July 16, 2012

File Cabinet Revamp- Classroom DIY


My sister in law, Blair, is a middle school teacher and has been working had to prep her classroom for the coming school year. She is back to share with us some of her most recent DIY classroom ideas! Enjoy!
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It’s such a privilege to have Katie ask me to write a guest entry again. Since she is the Queen of Crafting in our family, it’s always nice to have a thumbs up from her after a DIY project. Today I have 2 crafts to share with you that are great for the workplace.  This year will be my 3rd year teaching and my 2nd year teaching the same subject at the same school. Last year my teacher workdays before the start of the school year consisted of planning with my partner 6th grade teacher and putting up posters/organizing my room. Now that I have a full year of teaching the same subject under my belt I’ve really been looking up ideas on Pinterest to make my classroom more “Me”.

The first DIY I have to show you was a file cabinet revamp. I really wanted to work on documentation this school year. Any teacher will tell you the three rules of teaching are “document, document, document”. 

For this project you will need:
File cabinet revamp
Materials:
File cabinet
Krylon Spray paint
Scrapbook paper
Mod Podge
Paint brush to brush on the Mod Podge
Clear Acrylic Sealer

I wanted a file cabinet but knew I would hate how ugly they are so I decided to paint it with Krylon for metals. I picked out a fun purple and went to town. The best advice I can give with spray paint is hold it 7 inches away from your object and paint many layers. Don’t try to cover it in one spray. Also, start spraying off of the object and continue in a straight line, not stopping the spray until AFTER you have passed the object. This will help eliminate any shiny spots or uneven places.

I had wanted to paint a chevron pattern on it like Katie’s buffet table but after taping and painting, I removed the painters tape and watched the spray paint come up with it. I was not excited. So I moved on to plan #2. I decided to try my hand at Mod Podge. I’ve only done it one other time so I was anxious to see how well this would do. Basically you just put a thin layer of Mod Podge on the top of the cabinet and gently lay down your paper, smoothing as you go. If there are bubbles don’t worry too much now. Once I covered the entire top with scrapbook paper I waited. I’m not patient so this was excruciating. Once dry I covered the entire top with another THIN layer of Mod Podge. WARNING: THIS WILL MAKE BUBBLES BUT IT’S OK! We’ll fix it later. Once this is completely dry (10 minutes) I sprayed the clear acrylic sealer on top. This will make it water proof and stop it from ever rising up.

Once the sealer was dry, I began pushing on the bubbles and they immediately flattened out. Don’t rub them, just push down and it will stick. I used leftover scapbook paper to make the little labels. I think it turned out really well and I can’t wait to put it in my room.

Before

After





The second craft I created wast a Post-It picture frame I found on Pinterest. It’s very self explanatory and here’s what you’ll need:

Materials:
Clear picture frame ($1.00 at walmart)
Super Sticky Post-it ($1.00 for fun colors at walmart)
Ribbon ($3.00 for 5 yards)
Scrapbook paper (.50 for one page)
Pen Pal ($2.88 for 3 at Walmart
Glue gun

Start with your clear frame. I removed the piece of paper that they put in the frame and used it as my template. I cut 2 pieces of scrapbook paper for each frame because I wanted the pattern on both the front and the back since you can see it from either side. Next I tied my ribbon and put a dab of hot glue behind the knot in the bow just to ensure that it wouldn’t move. Then I peeled the back off of the Post-It notes and the Pen Pal and stuck them where I wanted them and VIOLA! I will definitely be making these for teacher gifts in the future! They took 10 minutes to make 3 and they only cost me about $3 each!




Sunday, July 15, 2012

Green and Blue Baby Shower

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of co-hosting a baby shower for two friends that are 6 weeks apart in their pregnancies....they are both having boys....and both boys will be named with the letter "G". Now that I have set the stage...check out the shower pics!

We set up a station for decorating/signing burp cloths for each baby!


The shower was at 10 AM, which called for a "brunch" menu. We had a yogurt bar with two yogurt types, fruits, and granola...

We had two different types of muffins....notice the "G"s!




We made mini omelettes in muffin tins! They were yummy!

We set up a gift station by the door for the guests to drop their diapers and cards!

Here are the lovely mothers with the whole food set up!


Decorating burp cloths...


We also played with the Art Bellies app for iPads and iPhones...you start by taking a picture of the mother-to-be in a profile view so you can capture her belly....and then you use the app to trace the belly and turn it into your own piece of art. We enjoyed seeing the masterpieces that were created!

We had such a great time celebrating the arrival of the boys! Can't wait to meet them!!!