Christmas DIY - Christmas Countdown

I had a fun time with this one! The best part of this DIY is you can really make however you want depending on your preference. You could change the colors, change the tree to a little house or whatever you can dream up!

What you will need:
Wood blocks 7-10 small and 2 large
Wood plaque
Acrylic paint in various colors
Small fake tree
Glue (I used E6000)
Optional - silver beads for the tree, small star for the tree topper

First, paint the plaque and blocks in whatever colors you want. I painted the plaque and large blocks white as well as the little blocks blue, pink and green.

I painted the words "til Xmas" on the small blue blocks with white paint. I added numbers to the large blocks. One block has 1,2,7,8,9,0. The other has 1-6. Don't quote me on whether this will work for all the dates but I think it will!  Lastly, I made the pink and green blocks into little presents. Once everything is dry, glue the til Xmas and tree down to the plaque. Decorate the tree with your beads or whatever you've chosen. There you have it! Easy peasy! If you decide to make your own countdown, please link back to it in the comments so I can see what you've come up with.

Have fun and happy holidays!

DIY - Magnetic Spice Rack

This isn't my invention at all. I saw this on A Beautiful Mess and it was one craft I knew would work for me. I've said this a bunch of times but my place is small and doesn't really have much in the way of storage. Everything has to be out so it also has to look nice. I wanted to display my spices more so because of my deep cupboards and forgetfulness (see my cupboard re-do from yesterday). Now I know exactly what spices I have, what I need and I can clearly see when I'm running low. It's awesome! I think I will use spices more now because they are right next to the stove and clearly visible.

On ABM, they used a magnetic board to display their spices but I decided to use my underutilized fridge. I have a stainless steel one so only the side is magnetic. The only part that is visible is between the top of the counter and the bottom of the upper cabinet. Perfect spot for spices since the fridge is right next to the stove!

Before:

You can consult the original DIY on ABM here but this is what I did. I ordered the jars online here and ordered 25 (I linked to the specific jar I bought). They were actually pretty reasonably priced and I will have extras for when I want to add more spices down the road. Then, I just picked up a basic set of circle labels and a perfect green sharpie from Staples. I ordered circle magnets online but they didn't come soon enough and I wanted to get this project done. When I was organizing my craft bins for this DIY, I found some magnets I had ordered on Etsy a long time ago. I just taped them to the back of the jars with clear tape. That was it! I might swap them for the ones that just came from Amazon or leave them as is for now.

The jars are the perfect size for the smaller spice jars you get at the store. If you buy one of the larger ones, just pour what you want in the jar and put the rest in the back of the cupboard. I think this will also be a lot easier when baking because it will be much easier to get the measuring spoon into this jar opening than the tiny one they come in! Plus, I can buy spices from markets or specialty stores now. Since they usually come in bagies, I was always hesitant to get them before. Horizons=expanded! haha

PS, I also alphabetized mine cause I'm cool like that...

DIY - Organization

Whenever I throw a party, I somehow decide to tackle a bunch of house projects right before. Do you do that? I feel like it's the push I need to get stuff done but it also makes me stressed out. I am happy that I got around to doing some organization though. In my quest to be more organized, I decided to head over to the Container Store the other day. Oh boy. I did not know what I was getting myself into. Have you ever been there? PS it's heaven. I never knew all the things I needed to organize before I walked in there. I bought so much stuff. One thing I picked up was a lazy susan. My cupboards are quite small but very deep. Since I only have 3 upper cabinets, I wanted to make better use out of at least one of them. I'm going to show you the before but don't be scared...

Notice how you can't see anything in the back? Yeah, that's a problem. I have like 5 bags of chocolate chips because I keep buying them since I don't know they are there. Enter the lazy susan (cue angelic music). 

I know it still looks kind of crowded but I can spin that lazy susan and see everything that's in there. All the stuff I don't use it way in the back and my peanut butter (Jif holla!) still has room to be front and center. You don't know how many things I pulled out from the back of the cupboard and said, "I KNEW I had ____" or "Huh, I didn't know I had _____. Could have come in handy that one time." Now everything is much more accessible and my forgetful brain is happier.

What made this possible is what I did with the spices. Stay tuned for that tomorrow!

DIY - Painted Boxes

I have to admit, this DIY isn't hard or complicated. I do really like the results though so I thought I would share with you! I needed some new containers to hold things on my bookshelf but still have them look good because they will be out. Since I only have 3 closets in my place, there is really no place to hide anything. I wanted the storage to be nice and fit in with the decor/style I already have. Plus, I didn't want them to be clear, plastic or open on top. Filling all of these criteria was harder than I thought! Then, I found these unpainted wood boxes at Michaels when I was halloween shopping and thought they would work well.

Materials: 2 colors of paint (one for the base and one for the stripes), sponge brush and wood boxes

Step 1: Paint both boxes white (or whatever you want your base color to be). I let mine dry overnight before I started the next step.

Step 2: Tape off the design that you want. I did one with a chevron pattern and one with different sized stripes. The horizontal stripes were much easier to tape FYI.

Step 3: Paint the color you want for the stripes

Step 4:

Let dry for a couple of hours or overnight, then remove the tape. Voila!

Optional Step 5: My taping wasn't perfect so I did get some bleed through. I went back with my white paint and tried to touch up some of the spots where the lines weren't perfect.

I made one box my sewing box and one for my emboidery. This is a big upgrade from all the different places I used to store all this stuff. Now it's all in one spot!

I got this plastic container from the container store for about $3 or $4 and it's been working well so far.

This little plastic box was from the dollar section at target and works great to wrangle all my thread.

Creating a Quilt

Hey all, I need some help!  I'm creating a (secret) quilt for my cousin and her little girl that's due in June. I went to my favorite fabric store last night and now I'm having a hard time deciding what to get! My plan is to make a pinwheel style quilt sort of like these.  So I'll need a couple of different fabrics.

   

For the color scheme, I'm going based on the picture of the rug in the baby's room that she sent me. Also she said they were going with golden yellow and a range of blues.

I need help narrowing it down! I like the one on the right above the best but I'll obviously make it smaller :) After the research into pinwheel quilts for this post (haha) I decided I want to do one light fabric and about 4 or 5 other fabrics in darker shades.  Should I do the yellow as the light color and do blues for the "darker" blocks? Or should I do a cream for the light color and vary the blues and yellows for the blocks? I took pictures at my favorite fabric store of a couple of fabrics that caught my eye. Let me know what you think! I need help!

  

  

If do the yellow as the lighter part of the block, I could go darker on the blues but would probably not do the yellow... so many choices!!

Thrift That Trend - Heart Sweater

Next up on Thrift That Trend, we have this beautiful sweater. More fun with fabric paint!

I've also seen lots of bloggers wearing heart sweaters so there is more variation than just this particular style. Also, lots of stores have sweaters like this so you could really go with any color combination you choose.

(click photos for links)

 How many times have your strolled through the thrift store passing up good quality sweaters because they were too boring. Well, pass up no more my friends! This was so easy and took less than about 10 minutes.  After finding all the pictures above, I decided I may need to make this again but in black and have it centered. So cute!

WHAT YOU NEED:
Flat knit sweater (will make the paint more even)
Fabric paint
A steady hand or a hand made stencil
Newspaper or paper bag
Brush

1. Put the paper bag or newspaper in between the 2 layers of the sweater. You will definitely get bleed through with this project so don't forget this step!

2. Trace the heart using your stencil or free hand a heart shape on the sweater.  My sweater is wool it made it a bit harder to drag the brush across.

3. I stippled on the paint since it was hard to just drag the brush like you normally would. I think this helped make the paint a bit more even as well.  

4. That's it! Keep filling in the shape until it is the size and color saturation that you want. I like that the paint is a bit thicker in some places than others but if you want it perfect, then keep dobbing until you get it how you want it. 

As always, if you attempt this, let me know in the comments and don't forget to link back to this post!

Thrift That Trend - Graphic Sweatshirt

Welcome to another Thrift That Trend!  I've been seeing a lot of this trend of a dressier sweatshirt paired with a collared shirt or dress.



I was thinking of just keeping the sweatshirt plain so it could go with more things but then I thought, "DIY it." I couldn't figure out what I wanted to do with it however. Do I get a stamp and put multiple images on it like the bike sweatshirt above or should I just do one big image like the sweatshirt below.  I decided to go with option 2. However, narrowing it down to what I actually wanted to do was harder than I thought it would be...

So I decided to combine it with the animal sweater trend and do a sweatshirt like the one below.  I lucked out and found a great shruken sweatshirt at the thrift store. I found it at Valu Thrift when I was there on a holiday (50% off!) so it was only $2. Perfect price for a DIY!

Animal trend by babesinthriftland featuring a hot pink long sleeve shirt

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:
Sweater or sweatshirt.
Fabric paint in the color of your choice
An image you want printed on sturdy paper
Sponge brush
Smaller brush
Newspaper or paper bag

1. Put the paper bag or newspaper in between the 2 layers of the sweatshirt so you don't get bleed through.

2. Print and cut out your image to use as a stencil.  You want to have a border around your image so it stays together when you cut it out.

3 Stipple on the paint while holding down the pattern quite firmly. You can try to tape it to the fabric but that didn't work that well for me. If you don't hold it down enough, you may get paint going where you don't want it to.

4. Remove the stencil.  Unless you are the best holder downer ever, you will have a some messy parts.

5. Taking a stiff bristled brush, smooth out the lines so they aren't all messy. I also added a couple of extra bits of antler to my stag.

6. Follow the instructions on your fabric paint. Mine said to dry flat overnight and wait 72 hours before washing.  I can't wait to wear this!

If you do try this on your own and post about it, please link back to my tutorial and be sure to send me a link in the comments. I'd love to see what you come up with!

Halloween DIY - Zombie Punch

Happy Halloween!! You can call this punch whatever you want but I went the zombie route :)

This punch was totally made up by yours truly and it tasted delicious. I'm sure there are a lot of substitutions you could make but I went with lime flavor because I had a whole bottle of vodka from my birthday party and I thought the vodka would go well with a citrus flavor.

What you'll need:
Vodka (clear rum could work too)
Limeaid
Ginger ale (sprite/club soda)
Sherbet
Plastic eyes
Punch bowl or other large container
Food coloring (optional)


This is so easy. I had a bottle of Simply Limeaid and I used the whole bottle. I added about 1/2 the bottle of vodka (I know, right?) and about 2/3 of the ginger ale.  Experiment with the proportions based on how sweet or sour you want it.  Then, take a couple scoops of sherbet and plop on top.  When it melts, it will take on the murky/swirly quality you see in the pictures.  I added the plastic eyes and green food coloring for fun. I think it makes it more spooky. Let me know if you try this!

Be careful of this! It is MUCH stronger than you would expect :)  You could also take out the alcohol and use this recipe for a kids party.

Halloween DIY - Paranormal Portraits

I wasn't going to post about this because I thought, "This is too easy to do a DIY for."  However, I got compliments at my party about them so I thought I would show you all!

It's pretty simple but here's what you need:
A couple of frames
Black spray paint (optional)
Red Christmas lights
Printer paper
Scissors or exacto knife
Tape
Electricity

I just thrifted a couple of frames and spray painted them black. If you already have black frames or want them to stay the original color then you can skip this step.

Next, I went online to find cool vintage photographs. I found it was MUCH easier to use photos where the subject is larger or the image has only 1 or 2 people. Shit was getting crazy when I tried to do a group photo. Also, use heavier weight paper when you print them so they can hold the weight of the lights.

Take the glass out and the backs off of the frames. Take the photo and poke a hole in the eyes of the person with your scissors. Arrange the photo how you want it and then place the lights. I suggest using older lights that are already stretched if possible. I had a brand new box and I had to use ever other light for my photos. It worked out though.

Tape the lights to the back of the photo.  Put the backing back on the frame and tape it down if necessary (it will be).  Try not to curse when the lights fall out of the eyes or the picture pops out of the front of the frame. It will happen but be patient!  Place the frames near an outlet either on your counter or a table. Plug in and voila!

Halloween DIY

Anyone else SUPER excited for Halloween? I am! Here is a pretty simple DIY for you to try for your own decorations.  I got the idea from some decorations I saw at Target.  They were the store decorations and not for sale so I thought I could make something similar at home.

Supplies needed:
Cardboard or some other strong material
Exacto knife
Cutting mat
Black paint and brush
Lights

Take a pen or pencil and trace a spooky scene.  I picked scraggly trees, grave stones and a house on a hill.  You can draw whatever you like! Then, cut your design with an exacto knife.  Mine got pretty dull by the end of the cutting process so you might need a refill. I took black paint and painted the scene so it looked more like silhouette. I put it up above my cupboards and lit it from the back. I love how it turned out!







If you attempt this, be sure to send me a link to the photos!