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DIY Fall Mason Jar Project

October 14, 2016 by admin Leave a Comment


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I love fall, and I love fall décor even more! This project is easy and very budget friendly, which is just what I was looking for when I was looking for a craft last weekend. My good friend came over and we did this together, which of course made it even more fun. Friends who craft together, stay together!

You will need:

-Mason jars
-Acrylic paint
-Paint brushes
-Water in a cup
-Burlap ribbon
-Twine
-Fall flowers/foliage
-Letters
-Scissors
-Hot glue gun

We started with a paint station for our jars:

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We just used regular acrylic paint, which is super easy to use and also really cheap (yay!):

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And we got all of the other supplies ready, too:

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Then we started painting! Here’s what the jar looked like with one coat:

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It took 3 coats to get the opaque look we wanted, but here they are (with ribbon hot glued and jute tied around the necks):

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Lastly, I painted the letters gold (although white would have been cute, too) and hot glued those on, and then added my flowers!

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Love how it turned out – it’s on my kitchen island and is making me excited for apple cider and colder weather – although it’ll still be awhile here in AZ.

We also set up a little paint station for our girls, and they loved it!

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Hope you have fun making this too! 🙂

Painted Globe Tutorial

September 5, 2016 by admin Leave a Comment

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From the first time I saw a painted globe I’ve wanted to try making one. I’m pretty happy with the way mine turned out, and it wasn’t too hard!

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Ready to make one? Let’s go!

I got my globe secondhand from someone who was getting rid of it, so I think I paid around $10 for it, which is a steal! There were some pretty scuffed up parts, so I’m happy I could upcycle it so that it didn’t get tossed!

I started by cleaning it off and painting it a solid blue color to start. Be really careful around the top and bottom. I just used a wet paper towel to wipe off any excess paint I got on the plastic parts.

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Next, I took a pencil and wrote out the phrase I wanted, which was, “Let’s be adventurers, darling.” My husband and I met while working for the same airline, so travel is in our blood. I like incorporating airplanes and travel-related dĂ©cor in our house, so a globe fits in perfectly!

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If you don’t like your handwriting, fear not! I don’t have the best writing either, but after looking up how to hand letter (Check out Dawn Nicole and her tutorials) I got a pretty good idea on how to write the script. (If you have a Silhouette or other cutting machine, you could also use vinyl – I just like the hand painted look.)

Next, I used some gold paint to go over the penciled part.

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You can tell that I didn’t go over the pencil perfectly, but that’s ok. I just erased it later.




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Also, sometimes after erasing the pencil it left a mark. I just went back over those parts with the blue paint again and it was fine!

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Next I painted the flowers, and outlined them in the same gold paint. Don’t worry if your flowers aren’t perfect, the gold outline is what really pulls it all together. And if you don’t like it or make a mistake – cover it with blue again and start over! No need to stress about perfection.

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That’s pretty much it! I think it came out gorgeous, and now I want to make another one with different colors.

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Hope you enjoyed that tutorial, and I would love to see what you make! Head over to my Facebook page and follow me on Instagram for more projects and ideas. See you there!




Gorgeous DIY “Shell” Chandelier

September 3, 2016 by admin Leave a Comment

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I remember years ago when I was pregnant with my daughter and planning her nursery, I came across pictures of beautiful shell chandeliers. I knew I had to have one, but they were super pricy, ranging anywhere from $100-$300!

Thankfully, Pinterest came to the rescue, and I was able to get ideas on how to make my own beautiful chandelier. The best part is that it cost less than $20!!  I took pictures along the way so that you can make one, too. Ready to add a gorgeous light fixture to your room? Let’s go!

Keep in mind that this is a very easy, simple project. If you can sew in a straight line, you’re good! The only hard part is that it’s definitely time consuming. But you can also do it while watching a show or listening to music, which helps!

What you’ll need:

A sewing machine

Wax paper (2-3 rolls)

An iron and ironing board

A 1.5″ circle punch

A lampshade of your choice

Scissors

Hot glue gun and glue sticks

A muffin pan

I ended up purchasing my lampshade at Goodwill for $4! You can pick whatever kind you like, I happened to like the scalloped edge on the one I found, and also that it had 2 “levels” that would make my chandelier look more full. Remember that it will be hanging upside down.

Step 1: Cut any fabric off of the lampshade to get to the bare structure of the shade.

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Once you have this done, you’ll need to hang it somewhere to drape the strings of “shells” over it. I used a drum cymbal stand and clamps. Obviously those aren’t common household items, so you can hold off on this until you have all your strings sewed and have someone hold it for you, I found it easier to have it hanging to see my progress, though.

Now let’s start on the “shells”! These are made of wax paper melted together in strips of 3. They look awesome once they’re finished, and it makes for a very lightweight chandelier! First, pull three long strips of wax paper out of the container, and lay them together on your ironing board. (Try to pull out roughly the same amount each time to avoid wasting too much.) Once you have them on top of each other, line them up as best as you can, and iron them together. (I don’t think it matters which sides are facing which.)

I don’t remember what setting I had my iron on, but I’m pretty sure it was the highest.

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Once you start ironing, keep the iron moving! Remember that we are working with wax paper, and wax melts fast. Don’t let your iron stick too long in once place. When you notice the paper has all melted together and is holding together well, you’re done with that sheet.

The sheets also cool quickly, so you can start the next part right away. Cut off the ends and any parts that aren’t made up of all 3 sheets melted together.

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I should have lined these up better so that I didn’t waste so much – learn from me!

Here it is once I cut it:

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Next, we’re going to punch out our circles! Fold your wax paper into strips, and start punching them out with the 1.5″ circle punch. Once you start doing it, you’ll get a feel for how you like to punch them out, and also how many times you can get away with folding your sheet without making your punch stick.

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Once I had one strip cut, I folded the other end and punched out that side.

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Then I cut off the ends, and folded what was left of the middle to punch that out.

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You can see where I missed some, and where some got a little bit caught – don’t worry about those, just toss them. You’ll learn how to punch them out better and better the more you do it. When you have about 25-30 circles punched out, take them to the sewing machine; we’re going to determine how long your strings need to be.




Make sure the needle is threaded and start slow. All you have to do is feed the wax circles in one by one, and you can leave a little (like 1/4″) space in between if you like. They don’t have to be right on top of each other. Just don’t leave them too spaced apart or you’ll have holes in the chandelier.

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These are pretty close together, I started spacing them out a little more after.

When you have about 25 sewn together, take the string up to your lamp and see where it falls. How’s the length? If you need to add more or even double the amount, try that next. (You can also add more to this string, just feed more circles into your sewing machine, starting at the last circle.) Everyone’s lampshade will be different, that’s why I don’t have a set number. You might also like the look of a longer or shorter chandelier, so it’s up to you!

It is important, however, that you lay the string over the lampshade so that it hangs even on both sides. So every time you hang a string, it should be hanging in half with each end now hanging down.

Once you figure out how many circles you need for each string, write that number somewhere. That is the amount of circles you will now put into your muffin pan. It made it so much easier for me to count them out and put them into their own compartment. Then I knew exactly how many to sew and when to stop.

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Now comes the time-consuming part; making enough circles and sewing them together to fill up that lampshade! Like I said earlier, put on your favorite show or listen to some music and punch away!

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Making progress…

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Once you have filled up the lampshade with all your strings, space them apart to where you like them, and add more strings if needed.  Once they are perfectly where you want them, it’s time to hot glue them into place.

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Once that’s done, check the evenness on the bottom, and trim your strings. You might have to snip off a circle or two to get it looking just right.
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Here’s how the nursery turned out:

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I LOVED how it turned out, it went perfectly with her room! (We hung it using small hooks screwed into the ceiling.)

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We ended up moving from that house, and now I have it hanging in my craft room, where I love it just as much!

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So lovely!

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I hope you liked that tutorial, and I would love to see what you make! Head over to my Facebook page to get more project inspiration and to see featured projects. You can also follow me on Instagram – @littlemscraftypants. See you there!

“Let’s Go” Airplane String Art Tutorial

August 23, 2016 by admin Leave a Comment

 

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Hey there, everyone! Today I’m going to show you how I created this super cute airplane string art.

Here’s what you’ll need to get started.

Materials:

16×24 wood board (I made this board out of cutting a 1″x6″x8ft. into pieces and nailing them together in back using some small scrap pieces of wood.)

Nails (I used 1.5″ galvanized framing nails)

Printouts: (Yay for free downloads!) Tip: Print on regular paper, not cardstock like me. You will thank yourself later. Also, print 2 copies of each.

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go

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String – You can use whatever you like, I chose crochet thread because it was cheap and came with a lot.

Hammer

Hot Glue (optional)

Lots of patience 🙂

Once you have your materials, let’s get started! Start with your board, here’s what mine looked like all fresh and ready to be attacked:

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Cut the paper out and place it on the board where you like it. Then put a couple nails through the “let’s” part. You don’t have to tape the paper, but you can if you want to. It’ll stay once you start nailing.

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When you get to areas that are in the cracks, just move the nail to one side or the other, or you could split the wood. I kept my nails at about a 1/2 inch distance. It doesn’t have to be perfect! This is the part that takes the longest, so put on a show or play some music – but the hammering can also get pretty loud. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

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Once you have the design nailed down, start ripping that paper off! Yay! (Don’t worry, I’m not bleeding, that’s just wood stain!)

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If you’re like me, when you finally get all the paper off, it’s going to look like just a big jumble of nails. This is why we made 2 copies! Use the other copy as a guide for where to place the string.




Start by tying a knot on one of the nails, and start stringing! Here’s the string I used:

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If you mess up, don’t worry. Just unwind the string and change it a little. When the letter ends, knot the string again. You can also use hot glue to keep the knot from coming undone. As you can see below, my airplane came out a little different from the picture. I could have re-strung it, but I didn’t hate it, so there it is!

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Once you are finished, you will have this beautiful piece of art to put somewhere in your home!

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So cute!

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If you have any questions, let me know in the comments. Have fun!

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Recent Posts

  • DIY Fall Mason Jar Project
  • Painted Globe Tutorial
  • Gorgeous DIY “Shell” Chandelier
  • “Let’s Go” Airplane String Art Tutorial

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