Crafts Archives - Page 22 of 45

arts and craft, Crafts, decor, Decorating, Health, Holiday decorating, Home Safety

Rosemary Wreath, Juniper Garland Tutorial

DIY Rosemary Wreath & Juniper Garland | Pretty Handy Girl

Winter is upon us and with the temperatures dropping we have our windows closed and doors shut. Thus sealing in the stale air and odors. Not to mention cold and flu viruses. Ugh. But, I have a few easy and inexpensive tips to give your home beautiful natural scents and cleaner air. DIY Juniper Garland Tutorial: As I was driving through our local shopping center last week, I spotted several juniper bushes that were ripped out of the ground by the landscapers. It was obvious they were getting rid of them. I did what any resourceful ~~crazy~~ DIYer would do and filled my trunk full of the bushes. I was just about to drive away as one of the landscapers hailed me down. I totally thought I was about to be reprimanded. Gulp. But, he asked me if I knew they were dead. I laughed and said it didn’t matter because I was going to make garlands out of them. He then showed me the location of the three dumpsters full of more juniper I could have for more garlands! Score one for the crazy DIY lady! If you don’t have free landscaping waste at your disposal, you can use any trimmings from pine and evergreen type bushes. Materials:

Fresh trimmings
Floral wire
Wire cutters
Pruners
Gloves

(I’ve included affiliate links for your convenience. I earn a small percentage from a purchase using these links. There is no additional cost to you. You can read more about affiliate links here.)

Instructions: Put on your gloves. Cut your trimmings into manageable sections. Layer clumps together. Wrap a small piece of floral wire around the clump to secure them. (I should have worn gloves, I totally regretted my actions after having many tiny cuts on my hands.) Continue adding to create a garland rope. Secure the garland rope to your bannister, mailbox, mantle or wherever you want to decorate with holiday greenery. I used more floral wire to attach the garland to our banister. Then I added some pretty bows. I wish my blog had smell-o-vision because these juniper garlands have a fresh evergreen scent. Not bad for free greenery!!!

Rosemary Star Wreath Tutorial: Making a rosemary wreath is almost as easy as making a garland, but on a smaller scale. If you have a fresh rosemary bush, you can use trimmings from it for this project. If not, now’s the time of year to purchase little rosemary trees at your grocery store. Materials:

Fresh rosemary
Scissors
Floral wire
Wire cutters
Copper pipe (or a coat hanger will work)
Fishing line

Optional: Plumbing strap for hanging Instructions: Form your copper wire into a star shape. Wrap (or solder) the ends together. Use small pieces of floral wire to attach rosemary springs to the star shape. Add a plumbing strap on top and feed fishing line through the hole in the strap. Hang your rosemary star wreath and enjoy the heavenly scent of rosemary in your kitchen throughout the season. It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here!

Cleaning the Air in Your Home: Having the doors and windows closed in the winter helps keep your home warm. But, it also traps odors and makes the air in your home stale. You know who else is trapped indoors? Viruses and germs are also trapped inside! Besides frequent hand washing, you can improve your odds of staying healthy this winter by changing your air filters.Use a good quality Filtrete brand filter to trap viruses and to clean your home’s air. Be sure to check your filters and change them every 1-3 months to keep your home healthy and your HVAC system running smoothly.

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post for Filtrete. I have the honor of being an ambassador for them and have been sharing information from 3M Filtrete. I was given key messages to share, but all the words and thoughts are my own. I have been compensated for my time and for this post. I continue to work with certain companies like Filtrete that I believe in, because of their quality and because I feel they have helpful messages for my readers. I will always disclose to you if you are reading a sponsored post.

December 6, 2013/12 Comments/by Brittany Bailey

accessories, arts and craft, Crafts, decor, Decorating, Holiday decorating, Home Decor

How to Make Giant Lighted Ornament Balls

Giant Lighted Christmas Ball Tutorial | Pretty Handy Girl

A few years ago we discovered a street in our city that is lit with giant hanging lighted ornament balls. We drove down the street with our low beams on and were truly speechless. It was magical, ethereal and beautiful seeing giant orbs of light suspended in mid-air. Since then I’ve scoured store shelves to find these beautiful lighted spheres. Little did I know that they were truly a DIY project.

This year, our neighborhood decided to hold a workshop to teach anyone who was interested how to make giant lighted ornament balls. You know I was there with bells on ;-). Here’s how to create your own hanging lighted Christmas ornament balls complete with hanging suggestions!

Giant Lighted Ornament Balls Materials Cost breakdown:

Chicken Wire: 2′ x 50′ roll (yields about 12 balls) – $24
3 – 100 light strings of outdoor Christmas lights (green wire is best) – $10
Twisty tie from the light strands
Poly-braided rope or clothes line rope – $10 per 100 ft.
Extension cord: $15
Small water bottle
Gloves
Aircraft sheers for cutting wire

Cost: approximately $37 per ball with extension cords and hanging supplies (not including gloves and shears)

Optional:

Three way plug in adapter $5 (to add more balls to one cord),
Extra extension cords
Timer

Giant Lighted Ornament Balls Instructions:

Cut a section of chicken wire 46″ long (using a 24″ width roll). Shape the section into a cylinder.

Secure the ends of the chicken wire by folding the ends over and securing to the opposing side. Stop about 8″ from each end. Read more

December 5, 2013/20 Comments/by Brittany Bailey

arts and craft, Ballard Design Pears, Crafts, decor, Decorating, elmer's glue, fabric, gifts, Très Frugal, Tutorial

Hanging Ornaments Table Runner by At the Picket Fence

I have half of the dynamic duo from At the Picket Fence today and I couldn’t be more thrilled! Heather and Vanessa are the sibling duo who create and blog about their beautiful homes and share scrumptuous recipes! I’m honored to have Vanessa here today to share this brilliant Ballard Designs knock off project.

Hi there! I’m Vanessa from the blog At the Picket Fence and I’m so thrilled to be visiting here today! Brittany’s kinda my hero and is helping me find the courage to tackle more DIY projects. Come 2014 my house isn’t gonna know what hit it! At this time of the year more than ever, being frugal is the name of the game and I love to try and come up with creative gift giving ideas for friends and family. Today I’m sharing with you a so simple, no-sew project!

I just love me some Ballard Designs. Don’t you? But, their prices don’t love me back. So, I have to resort to knocking them off. That always sounds so wrong doesn’t it? Kinda has a Bonnie and Clyde ring to it. I’m just going to think of it as imitation being the sincerest form of flattery! This is my version of their hanging ornament table runner from last year and just to prove how very très frugal this really is, here’s the cost difference:

Theirs ~$79.00 …….. Mine ~ $15.00

Supplies Needed:

Drop cloth cut to size of runner you want (don’t wash the drop cloth first!)
Fabric squares or remnants in color/patterns of choice
Twine
Ribbon in coordinating color
Glitter Paint writer in color of your choice

Instructions: Read more

November 30, 2013/5 Comments/by Brittany Bailey

art, arts and craft, Crafts, decor, framing, Gift Ideas, gifts, mod podge, scrapbook paper, Très Frugal, Upcycling

Marbled Picture Frames by Sarah M. Dorsey

Today I am so excited to have the very talented Sarah joining us with a fabulous très frugal DIY gift idea. Sarah is the creative genius behind Sarah M. Dorsey Designs. I am in love with her design style in her home. The coolest thing about Sarah’s designs is that she achieves them on a super frugal budget. Today she’ll show us how to make marbled picture frames in no time for only a few bucks.

Hi PHG Friends!! This is Sarah from Sarah M. Dorsey Designs. I’m so excited and honored to be here sharing a simple DIY gift idea.

Today may be Black Friday, but instead of buying a gift, think about making a gift. Handmade gifts mean so much more (at least to me 🙂 Plus you’ll save yourself the aggravation of crowded stores. A win win!

I love the variety of marble paper – adding that to a plain picture frame truly makes them one of a kind! Here’s how I did it.

Materials:

1 sheet of marble paper (available at paper source and blick art supply)
Mod Podge
Frame (recommend straight front and sides) ** Tip: check your local thrift store for frames, I was able to these for about $1 each
Brush
Cutting supplies: scissors, cutting mat, xacto knife, metal ruler

Instructions: Read more

November 29, 2013/2 Comments/by Brittany Bailey

accessories, art, arts and craft, Crafts, decor, gifts, graphic letters and numbers, Kids Room, laundry room, mod podge, painting, Painting & Antiquing Techniques, silhouette, Très Frugal

Canvas Art with Loads of Fun Laundry Quote

Canvas Quote Art Tutorial | Pretty Handy Girl

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you get your fill of food and family time today. I need to give a big congrats to the Silhouette Portrait Giveaway winner, Kelly Crumpler Kelly! Woo Hoo, you’ll be making all your gifts with the Silhouette Portrait this year, won’t you Kelly?! Speaking of making your own gifts, I’m on a bit of a DIY art kick lately. I think creating your own art is creative, frugal and fun! Today I have a tutorial for creating this laundry quote canvas art, but frankly you can use your own favorite quote! Or create personalized name art for one of the kids on your gift list! The easiest way to create quote artwork is using a Silhouette craft cutter to cut your letters out. You can use the Silhouette for so much more than you ever imagined. I use mine a lot for cutting letters like I did for the laundry sign.

But, you can also use it for creating custom temporary tattoos, fabric and cardstock shape cut outs, flocking iron ons, stenciling on wood, glass etching, faux pen & ink etching, 3-D paper projects, printable foil labels and much much more!

Today we’ll focus on the tutorial for creating your own quote canvas art! (I’ve included affiliate links for your convenience. I earn a small percentage from a purchase using these links. There is no additional cost to you. You can read more about affiliate links here.)

Materials:

12″ x 12″ canvas (or make your own canvas)
Silhouette adhesive backed cardstock
Acrylic paints (white, yellow, golden yellow)
Paint brush
Palette knife
X-acto knife
Fine tipped permanent marker
Mod podge matte finish
Scrapbook paper

Instructions:

Type out your quote in the Silhouette studio software. Send the art to cut on adhesive backed cardstock using your Silhouette.

Separate the phrase into sections by scoring around them with an x-acto knife.

Flip the cardstock over and remove the backing on just the letters (if you can keep the rest of the backing in tact it will help with positioning.)

I had big plans to show you how to make your own DIY canvas art using scrapbook paper as the background. Everything was moving along swimmingly after I adhered the scrapbook paper to the canvas using mod podge. But, I neglected to let it dry (too impatient) and this happened. Whomp wah…craft fail!

But, I wasn’t about to be deterred. So, I created a fun painted background instead. Drizzle paint onto the canvas. Use a palette knife to spread the paint. Be careful not to overly mix the paint. Streaks in the paint give it texture, dimension and interest.

Let the painting thoroughly dry! (Must have patience.)

Carefully lay your words onto the canvas one section at a time.

Press the letters in place and gently peel up the backing.

Repeat for the rest of your quote.

Here’s the FUN part! I used my Silhouette CAMEO to cut out the word “FUN” in orange card stock and striped scrapbook paper. Then I layered the word FUN to make it stand out. Creating a layered word: 1. Apply a thin coat of mod podge to the back of the orange letters. 2. Lay them slightly offset onto the white letters.

3. Apply more mod podge on top of the yellow letters. 4. Press the striped letters into the wet mod podge, offsetting them from the orange letters. Seal all the letters by brushing mod podge over the letters.

To create a shadow, use the fine tipped permanent marker to underline the right and bottom sections of each letter.

And, that’s it! Loads & loads of FUN don’t you think?!

I created this artwork to be included in the laundry themed gift basket, but how fun would it be to create personalized art with a child’s name layered like I did with the word “FUN.”

All the Très Frugal DIY Gift Ideas can be seen here.

November 28, 2013/1 Comment/by Brittany Bailey