DIY

Confetti Drink Stirrers.

What’s a girl to do when she has some extra confetti lying around? Make some confetti drink stirrers, of course. I was working on a project this weekend and had a little bowl of leftover confetti that I didn’t want to go to waste, so I DIY’ed some festive little drink stirrers that were so simple to make. I pierced a tiny styrofoam ball with a wood skewer and covered the ball with glue. Then I just rolled the styrofoam in the plate of confetti until it was coated, and in any places that looked a little bald, I added on some more glue and dunked them back in for another coating. Then I just let them dry and they’re ready to adorn some tasty cocktails!

ConfettiConfetti Drink Stirrers 1 Confetti Drink Stirrers 2 Confetti Drink Stirrers 3 Confetti Drink Stirrers Confetti Drink Stirrers5

DIY

Felt Heart Garland.

Last week at my West Elm DIY event, I taught a group of crafty ladies to make a festive felt heart garland to celebrate Valentine’s Day. I thought I’d share the instructions here so you can make one at home too! First, using two pieces of felt layered on top of each other, trace and cut out two hearts. Next, using about an arms length of embroidery floss, tie off the end and begin sewing the two layers together (starting at the tip of the heart). When you get to about 3/4 of the way around the heart shape, you want to stop sewing and stuff your heart. We used pillow batting for the garlands and pins, and loose dried lavender to make sachets. Once the heart is stuffed, pinch the layers together with your hands and sew the remaining 1/4 of the open heart closed, tying off the end with a knot. Once you have your stuffed heart, you can sew on a pin to the back, add hook to make it a hanging sachet for your closet, or string multiple hearts together to make a sweet garland for your bar cart or mantle!
1WestElm63 2WestElm83 3WestElm87 4WestElm92 5WestElm89 6WestElm23All photos via the fabulous Bring To Light Photography!

 

DIY Entertaining

Homemade New Year’s Eve Party Crowns.

Yesterday I shared a quick DIY for upgrading store-bought party horns for the countdown to midnight. I had similar feelings about the poor selection of New Year’s Eve crowns at the party store and decided to whip up a few of my own. Using a store-bought crown as a template, I traced the bottom portion of the paper crown and then drew my own message for each crown. Using a sharp knife, I cut out the message from glitter scrapbook paper. Then I simple attached the cardboard cut-out piece with the two tabs I left and a few staples to the original crown headband! I can’t wait to pass these out to guests at the party!

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DIY

DIY Rustic Chalkboards.

I think is going to be my first post where I claim the ‘holiday season is upon us’ — because I officially saw them rolling out the roasting pan displays and racks of Christmas decorations at Target last night!  I did a little DIY project a few weeks back to create a custom chalkboard and I think this idea is perfect for adding a little rustic touch to your holiday decorating. It’s as simple as this: I found the tree stump slices at Michael’s and painted them freehand with black chalkboard paint, leaving a little border around the edge to show some of the wood. I think they would be just perfect for writing out your holiday dinner menu on, sharing your signature cocktail recipe (like I did below) or even a thoughtful note about what you’re thankful for at Thanksgiving.

Rustic Chalkboard1Autumn_Apples29

Photography (Image 2) by Bring to Light Photography and Florals by Little Flower Cottage

DIY

Handmade Holidays: Festive Bottle Stoppers

I’m kicking of a new series: Handmade Holidays to share some crafty ideas for making DIY presents this year.

First up, some festive bottle stoppers! I bought plain, unfinished bottle corks in the kitchen section at Target and colored in the stopper with a silver metallic Sharpie, followed by a light brush of glue and matching silver glitter. Once they dried all you need is a drop of super glue to hold an ornament in place on top of the stopper! These took under an hour to make, and cost less than $10 to make the whole set — I think they’d look great tied to a bottle of wine for a hostess gift during the holidays!

DIY

Trash to treasure.

I’m one of five bloggers sharing a “trash to treasure” DIY makeover  on Brooklyn Limestone this week; head over and see how I turned a beat up old toolbox into a jewelry armoire!

 

 

DIY

Easter eggs.

I haven’t dyed Easter eggs since I was a kid, but something made me stop in the aisle of the grocery store this week and grab a kit. Of course being the DIYer that I am, I couldn’t stop at just dunking the eggs in colored dye. I broke out some of my neon washi tapes and went to town decorating them with stripes. I’m enjoying the pop of color  seeing them in a bowl on my counter top!

DIY

Pom-Pom Presents.

I’m miraculously half-way done with my Christmas shopping already, so now comes my favorite part: the wrapping! This year I plan to forgo my usual grosgrain ribbon and try something a little more three-dimensional. Leftover baker’s twine inspired me with the festive red and white colors, so I decided to whip up some fluffy pom-poms to top my presents. Making them is easy as pie; all you need is some baker’s twine, a fork, and a pair of scissors.

To start, wrap the twine the fork until it starts to look round and full. Then, thread the end of your twine through the center of the fork and tie it around the ball of  twine. Finally, trim the loops and slide the ball of twine off the fork. After a few fluffs and puffs you have a pom-pom for the top of your gift! 

DIY

Before and After: Living Room Chair

I finally finished upholstering the arm-chair in my living room, and I really mean “finally” — I started this project in the Fall and got frustrated with it and came up with an excuse to not work on it every weekend after that. But now that it’s done I’m so happy with the final look!

Here’s what the chair looked like before, I pulled back the sun-faded navy fabric and found crazy psychedelic flowers underneath:

And here’s another look at what it looks like after some blood sweat and tears:

 

 
 
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