Summer Archives - Page 2 of 3 - Pretty Handy Girl

decor, Decorating, dining room, DIY, fabric, Gift Ideas, Home Decor, July 4th, party, Sewing, Summer, tablescape, Tutorial

DIY Oilcloth Drink Coasters

Tutorial for making these DIY oilcloth, water resistant drink coasters for Summer!

DIY Oilcloth Drink Coasters

Hi there! I’m so thrilled to be back today with this super quick and easy project. The weather in Seattle has been totally amazing lately and it’s got me thinking about summer. And, summer entertaining is on the brain! This project will look great on your patios and outdoor spaces. Bonus, it’s totally water resistant too. Let’s take a mini-break and learn how to make these adorable DIY oilcloth drink coasters for gifting or entertaining.

What in the world is Oilcloth?

Oilcloth is a type of fabric. It has vinyl on one side and kind of a soft mesh of cotton on the other side. Vinyl has a slippery and plastic-like feel to it. The best part about vinyl is you can wipe it clean and it’s water resistant! This makes oilcloth a perfect fabric choice for outdoor items like tablecloths, COASTERS, beach bags etc.

The other great thing about oilcloth is that it just happens to be made in a multitude of funky patterns and bright colors. This fabric was made for Summer! When you get a minute – run a google search for ‘oilcloth fabric’ and you’ll see what I mean. Such pretty patterns!

So this is the perfect little accessory for all those Summer fiestas and BBQ’ s you have in the works. Or even for gifting away as little favors. Tie a cute burlap string around them and presto! You have a lovely handmade housewarming gift.

Perhaps you own a pool or live near the beach? Or know someone who does? These coasters make a fantastic DIY gift idea for them.

Here’s the best part: these stylish oilcloth coasters took me 10 minutes to make – start to finish.

Materials:

(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.)

Oilcloth Fabric – I chose these hot pink stripes from Fabric.com
Sewing Machine
Pinking Shears – these are simply scissors with a serrated edge. They are used to cut a zig zag pattern in fabric to prevent fraying.
Tape Measure (for measuring your coasters to a perfect square)

Instructions:

Start by folding your oilcloth in half. We need two exact squares to make one coaster (both front and back will be the vinyl, water-resistant side).

Step 1: Measure out a perfect square on your oilcloth fabric.

I measured approximately a 4 inch square coaster. (It’s totally up to you on sizing. Most drink coasters are between 3-5 inches square. For fun you can also cut circles instead of squares. Use a bowl or circle template to make a perfect circle.)

Step 2 : Use your pinking shears to cut out your measured square.

Since your fabric is folded in half – you can pretty much cut two squares at once. You can also use regular scissors here and even them with pinking shears after sewing.

Step 3: Line up your two squares and sew them together vinyl sides out.

Use use small binder clips (another little sewing trick I use a TON) to hold your two pieces of fabric together while sewing. I wouldn’t suggest using pins because the holes will be visible even after removing them.

A straight stitch is fine, but feel free to try something fun like a zig zag stitch.

Tips for sewing and working with oilcloth fabric :

Because oilcloth is vinyl and kind of plastic feeling, it will stick under your presser foot. To combat this, use two hands to feed the coaster through.
An alternative is to purchase a Teflon presser foot – they are fairly inexpensive and won’t stick to the vinyl fabric as easily.
DO NOT IRON OILCLOTH. It will melt and the mess won’t be pretty. If your oil cloth is wrinkled, lay it out and throw some heavy books on top for a few days. This usually presses the wrinkles out. Oilcloth also “releases” more wrinkles when warmed up a bit. Therefore you can try laying it by a sunny window. Don’t microwave your oilcoth. 🙂

Step 4: Use your pinking shears to clean up the edges of your coasters

Simply snip along the edge without cutting through the seam to straighten and clean up the ends.

Guess what? All done! See how fast it was making these DIY oilcloth drink coasters?

These coasters look so cute and are perfect for Summer! Pin this image to share with a friend:

I don’t know about you, but I may need to mix up a batch of margaritas tonight. I hope you guys enjoyed this tutorial!

If you enjoyed this tutorial, you might want to check out my tutorial on DIY frayed napkins. They also make a nice gift and pretty setting for your tables. And for even more inspiration – be sure to check out Brittany’s amazing backyard and patio reveal, what a beautiful space!

You may also like this tutorial for making mosaic tile coasters…

…or DIY personalized wood slice coasters.

I’ll be back here next month and I’m looking forward to connecting with you all again soon.

~ See More of Karen’s Tutorials ~

Hello! I’m Karen, the creator of the Home Decor and DIY Blog: Decor Hint . I’m a Native of the East Coast, but I currently live in beautiful Seattle with my hubby, our two wonderful children and our spunky wheaten terrier.

You can usually find me with some sort of craft in one hand and a coffee in the other. And I’m always rearranging furniture or moving lamps from room to room. I have a passion (read: obsession) for decorating, DIY, and gardening. In short, I love making my house into a home.

Like many, I’m inspired by what I see in home decor magazines, but I’m not so inspired by the price tags. Consequently, I love finding and creating beautiful budget-friendly home decor items. In a head to head competition, I bet you’d never know the difference between the designer items and my DIY creations! Many of my DIY projects focus on sewing, crafting, upcycling and organizing. Some of my favorite projects have been making pretty wreaths , sewing my own tassel hand towels, and crafting these trendy wood bead garlands . I can’t wait to inspire you and spark your creativity through my DIY projects.

You can always connect with me on Pinterest , Twitter or Instagram.

April 17, 2019/2 Comments/by Karen Decor Hint

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

DIY Modern Hoop Wreath for Spring

Hello! I’m so excited to be here to show you how to bring a little Spring into your home. I’m betting we all need a little Spring at this point in the year. After two back-to-back snowstorms and weeks of frigid temps here in Seattle — I’m so ready for it! A great way to bring beautiful spring vibes into your home is with this DIY modern hoop wreath.

I love creating modern hoop wreaths because they are so fun to create and one of my favorite DIY projects ever! Not only do they look beautiful – they are easy on your wallet since you don’t need much to assemble one. Hoop wreaths can be made for any season or holiday, so let your imagination run wild with ideas!

Today I’m going to show you how to make a floral version of a modern hoop wreath —perfect for Spring. Let’s get started!

Materials :

(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.)

Hoop Ring or Embroidery Hoop
Scissors
Floral Wire
Wire Cutters
Jute Twine
Faux Greenery and Flowers – I used tulips, ferns and Queen Anne’s lace (Michael’s, Target, Joann Fabrics, Amazon and Afloral.com are good sources)

How to Choose Your Faux Greens and Flowers:

Before we begin, here are a few tips for choosing greens and flowers for the wreath. Hoop wreaths are particularly beautiful if either one main floral/greenery is used or when a collection of three different flowers are used together.

For this wreath, I used the rule of threes.

Assembling Hoop Wreaths:

First add greenery as a base on the hoop. Then add a secondary green or floral. Finally add your main florals on top for the true showstoppers. For example, this is the order we’ll assemble the Modern Spring Hoop Wreath:

A base of greenery – ferns
Secondary accent of greens or flowers: Queen Anne’s Lace
Main Florals – Pink and White Tulips

I find Michael’s and Afloral.com have the best selection and most realistic looking faux flowers and greenery. However, Target is also stepping up their game lately. These faux ferns and Queen Anne’s Lace were from Target’s Hearth and Hand collection and are very pretty and semi-realistic looking. (I tend to be super picky about my faux flowers!)

Instructions :

Step 1: Cut the leaves and flowers from your faux plants (if needed).

Snip off a few pieces of fern while leaving a little stem to attach to your hoop. It’s usually easier to snip off the individual leaves which will give you the most flexibility when designing your wreath.

Step 2: Arrange your greens on the hoop until you like the layout.

Step 3: Snip off a piece of wire and use floral wire to attach your fern/greenery to the hoop.

Bend and train the greenery as you wrap it with wire. Luckily the wire is thin and can be easily hidden with the greens and/or flowers. But, you will need to wrap it fairly tight to keep the greenery from moving when the wreath is hung up.

Step 4: Repeat Steps 2-3 again, using the secondary flowers or greenery.

Tuck the Queen Anne’s lace around and on top of the ferns. It’s really coming together now!

Step 5: Add the main florals – these beautiful spring tulips!

Use your floral wire to attach the stems to the hoop wreath, and then use the greenery you attached earlier to hide the wires. It works perfectly every time. You may have to play with it a bit until the wires are hidden, but no one will notice once you do.

Step 6: Tie a little bow of jute twine around the center for a sweet rustic finishing touch.

The jute bow helped hide more of the floral wire and gives the wreath some extra holding power.

That’s all there is to it!

Tips for Hanging and Displaying your New Wreath :

Modern hoop wreaths can be hung with the flowers on the side or at the bottom. You can use a wreath hanger or a Command light clip. The light clips hold these hoops perfectly and are clear, so you can’t see them. You can also use a suction cup hook or a magnetic hook if you have a metal door. Or tie a pretty ribbon to these wreaths and hang them from the ribbon. I purchased a clear wreath hanger from Amazon that hooks over the door. These wreaths look beautiful not only on your front door but also on your interior walls, closet doors, hutches, over mirrors etc.

Feel free to get creative with placement and add some spring to all parts of your home!

When you are ready for a change, simply snip off the wire and reuse your greenery and florals for another project. These modern hook wreaths end up being a very cost effective decor project.

I hope you all enjoyed this tutorial. I’m looking forward to connecting with you again next month!

In the meantime, check out these beautiful spring decor projects on Pretty Handy Girl.

~ See More of Karen’s Tutorials ~

Hello! I’m Karen, the creator of the Home Decor and DIY Blog: Decor Hint . I’m a Native of the East Coast, but I currently live in beautiful Seattle with my hubby, our two wonderful children and our spunky wheaten terrier.

You can usually find me with some sort of craft in one hand and a coffee in the other. And I’m always rearranging furniture or moving lamps from room to room. I have a passion (read: obsession) for decorating, DIY, and gardening. In short, I love making my house into a home.

Like many, I’m inspired by what I see in home decor magazines, but I’m not so inspired by the price tags. Consequently, I love finding and creating beautiful budget-friendly home decor items. In a head to head competition, I bet you’d never know the difference between the designer items and my DIY creations! Many of my DIY projects focus on sewing, crafting, upcycling and organizing. Some of my favorite projects have been making pretty wreaths , sewing my own tassel hand towels, and crafting these trendy wood bead garlands . I can’t wait to inspire you and spark your creativity through my DIY projects.

You can always connect with me on Pinterest , Twitter or Instagram.

March 27, 2019/0 Comments/by Karen Decor Hint

recipe, Summer

Crab Pinwheels

Hi everyone! This is Lindi, visiting again from Love Create Celebrate! I’m happy to be here again, this time sharing a quick and easy summer recipe. These Crab Pinwheels are one of my favourite summer appetizers. You will not be disappointed if you make them!

The recipes I share are always two things 1) delicious and 2) easy! This recipe fits right in! If you are a gardener, I know that you are ready to use those fresh herbs that you’ve been growing all summer long. This recipe is the perfect way to use some of that green onion and parsley!

This is the perfect appetizer for all of those summer celebrations, from family reunions, to backyard BBQs, to potlucks. But potlucks don’t end when school starts! I honestly make this appetizer all year long when I have guests over. You will not be disappointed – even my toddler cannot stop eating them (and may have been stealing them off of the tray while I tried to photograph these ones!)

Ingredients:

250 ml cream cheese package (at room temperature)
3/4 cup red peppers, finely chopped
2 green onions, finely chopped
3 tbsp parsley, finely chopped
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
cayenne pepper, to taste
1 can crab, drained
5-8 large soft tortillas

Instructions:

Mix your cream cheese, red pepper, green onion, parsley, cheddar cheese, cayenne pepper, and crab together until mixed well.
Spread your mixture on the tortillas and then roll them up. Cut slices of tortilla about 3/4″ thick
Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes. Serve while warm.

You can serve them cool, but I definitely prefer them baked! This recipe makes at least 40 pinwheels.

It only takes 20 minutes to prepare and cook these lovely appetizers, and your guests will thank you for making them!

If you need a drink to go with them, I shared my favourite Summer drink a couple of weeks ago: The Adult Tropical Slushie!

Enjoy!

~Read more of Lindi’s Posts~

Pin for later!

August 24, 2016/2 Comments/by Love Create Celebrate

arts and craft, Beach, clamps, Contributor, decor, Do It Yourself, Home Decor, stencil, Summer

DIY Painted Pool Sign

Hey everyone! Katie again from Addicted 2 DIY. It’s hard to believe, but it’s been two months now since we finished building our dream pool. If you’ve ever wondered what you can learn (and save) by contracting your pool out yourself, I’ve got all of the handy details on my blog. Now that we have our own pool to make fun family memories in, I thought a fun sign would be a great addition. I designed this sign based off of one we had by our pool when I was a kid. According to my mom, this one looks way nicer. She wouldn’t lie to me, right?

To help you make your own sign, I’m also including the free SVG file I created for you to download. Please use it for personal use only.

Here’s what you’ll need for your own sign:

1×2 plywood project board (2’x4′)
3 – 3/4″ x 3′ square poplar dowels
1 1/2″ brad nails
brad nailer
wood glue
220 grit sandpaper
orbital sander
24″ clamps
wood filler
paint colors of your choice
paint roller and/or paintbrush
adhesive vinyl
transfer paper
electronic cutting machine (I have a Silhouette CAMEO)
Welcome to Our OOL SVG file

Start by cutting your plywood down to 12″ x 20″. If you don’t have the ability to do this, you can always ask the helpful employees at the home improvement store. Cut the square dowels on a 45 degree angle to frame the plywood. The inside measurements should be 12″ and 20″.

Frame the plywood with the dowels using wood glue.

Clamp the edges…

…and nail them to the plywood with your brad nailer.

Since the plywood is only 1/2″ thick, you’ll have to be careful not to nail the trim too high. I had one nail go astray, but I was able to get it out with needle-nose pliers. It’s nothing a little wood filler can’t fix later on.

When your entire piece is assembled, sand it with 220 grit sandpaper to get rid of any rough spots. Paint the entire sign, front and back, with your base color. I love using sample size jars of paint for projects like this.

Cut your message out on an electronic cutting machine. Weed out the vinyl design and cover it with transfer tape.

Peel the backing off of the vinyl and carefully center it over the plywood face. Smooth it with a scraping tool (or credit card.) Carefully peel off the transfer paper.

Grab your second paint color and stencil the design with a paint brush or roller. You can mask off the frame of the sign with painter’s tape or paper to protect it from any paint mishaps. I opted to go slow and carefully paint inside the frame.

Once your design is completely stenciled, carefully peel the vinyl off of the face of the sign.

You can leave your sign as it, or distress it a bit. Whatever you like! I love distressing things, but I decided that I really liked a cleaner look for this sign.

I’m so happy with how it turned out! I’m no graphic designer, so I spent several hours coming up with a design that was just right, but it was well worth it. My kids think it’s hilarious! Let’s just hope everyone that comes and visits us will follow the rules! I’m thinking it will look great somewhere near our grotto/water slide. Once we get that area landscaped, I’ll give it a more permanent location. Now that this sign is done, I kind of want to make another one for the waterfall that says “Mt. Wannahockaloogie” from Finding Nemo. We have a “Nemo” mosaic inside the grotto, so it would tie in perfectly. I may be the only one that gets it, but that’s okay.

~learn more about Katie~

Pin for later!

May 27, 2015/7 Comments/by Addicted 2 DIY

accessories, art, arts and craft, Crafts, decor, garden flag, Gardening, gifts, kids art, Landscaping & Gardening, Plants, pliers, Summer, Trash to Treasure, Tutorial

Dragonfly Garden Decor using a Wire Whisk + Skewer

Dragonfly Garden Decor using a Dollar Store Whisk and Skewer | Pretty Handy Girl

Summertime is coming and I’m enjoying spending more time in our garden. I’m always looking for cute craft ideas that I can do with the kids while school is out. When I saw this great idea for making a wire whisk dragonfly on Morena’s Corner, I knew I had to try it. I altered Morena’s plans slightly using plastic beads and used a skewer for the plant stake. The cost and materials are minimal to make this Dragonfly Garden Decor using a Dollar Store Wire Whisk and Skewer. This craft can be done with the kids, but you’ll need to be the one to cut and bend the wires and watch out for the pokey edges with real little kids.

Dragonfly Garden Decor Materials:

Wire whisk
Wire skewer
Beads
Needle-nosed pliers

Dragonfly Garden Decor Instructions:

Begin by bending the first wire loop out to the side to create a wing.

Repeat with three more loops (2 on each side).

Use the needle-nosed pliers to cut one wire loop into two short pieces as shown below. (You might need to twist the pliers back and forth to cut the wires.) Read more

May 25, 2015/8 Comments/by Brittany Bailey