DIY: Multifunctional Picture Frame

Art, General | 03 October 2011

My inspiration:

I’m always on the lookout for cool interior design ideas, so when I stumbled upon Emmas Designblogg and saw this totally cute (and easy)Try this at home! Project, well, I just had to “try it at home” for myself.

I added a few creative twists of my own, so feel free to embrace the nature of the DIY and get adventurous with your design choices. I love the key hanger/potted plant idea, but I already have a chalkboard/key holder thingamajig by my door, so I turned my project into a fancy schmancy jewelry organizer, because nobody likes to untangle necklaces when you’re rushing out the door!

What you’ll need:

- Picture Frame (they have the perfect, unfinished wood frames at Michael’s)

- Wood Moulding (for the panes; and a saw to cut to size)

- Chalkboard Paint (and newspaper or something underneath to keep the mess at bay)

- Hooks (Screw-in, so yeah, you’ll need a drill too)

- Wood Glue

- And Chalk!

And here we go!

1. First things first, cut the wood moulding to fit inside the frame. You want it to be centered and criss-crossed for a window pane look. Glue into place with the wood glue and let dry.

2. Spray two coats of the chalkboard paint all over. Let dry.

3. Grab your electric drill and drill evenly spaced holes across the top and center pane, or wherever you’d like your hooks to go.

4. Then screw the hooks into place, and, done!

Just hang it up or lean it against the wall on your dresser and let your lovely jewels bring it to life!

That’s it! How easy was that??? And you can do it all for less than $20.00!

DIY: Wrapping with Fabric

Art | 21 September 2011

by Allie Paxton

Getting sick of the same way of wrapping presents? Here is a fun technique that is a great alternative to wrapping paper: wrapping with fabric! The art of furoshiki gift wrapping is an ancient Japanese tradition that has dated back to the Nara period. It’s a wonderful way to re-use fabric originally intended for other purposes like a scarf, head piece, or even a tablecloth. Your friends will be blown away with this awesome technique!

It is really quite simple to wrap this way:

1. Go to a fabric store and buy about a yard of fabric.

2. Place the cloth on a table at a diagonal, with the print facing down on the table.

3. Put the gift in the center of the cloth.

4. Take one corner of the fabric and wrap it over the gift. Repeat on the other side.

5. Take the two remaining corners and tuck them in a little bit so that you have nice gathers.

6. Pull each side up towards each other so that they are at the center of the gift.

7. Finally, tie the ends together using a square knot.

Here is a video tutorial to give you a visual of what I am talking about:

Enjoy wrapping!

(photos courtesy of pinterest.com)

DIY: Things to do with Old Wine Corks

Art | 13 September 2011

by Allie Paxton

Ever wonder what to do with all of those wine corks? Being a wine enthusiast myself, I thought there had to be a better way than just tossing the old corks out. I did a little research and found out a bunch of awesome things we could all do with them! Corks are derived from the Cork Oak Tree. Corks can be reused for so many projects, so why waste them?

Wreath:

Supplies

-Corks

-18” wreath

-Hot glue gun

-Florist’s wire
-Fabric for a bow

Instructions

*Glue corks to wreath, staggering them as you go. Continue all the way around wreath. Tie a bow around the florist’s wire and attach to the wreath.

Arrangement:

Supplies

-Empty vase

-Glass candle holder

-Candle for center

Instructions

*Clean your empty vase well.

*Place candle into your glass candle holder.

*Place candle in the center of the vase.

*Proceed to fill corks in all the way around, leaving some space at the top.

Cork Curtains:

Supplies

-Heavy string

-Needle

-Beads

-Small wooden beam

-Hammer

-Nails

Instructions

*Use the needle to string the corks. Alternate between beads and corks for a beautiful arrangement.

*Hammer nails into wooden beam 1/2 inch apart, leaving nail head sticking out halfway.

*Wrap excess string at end of bead chain around the protruding nail and tie off.

*Hammer the nail the rest of the way in.

*Repeat until finished!

Bulletin Board:

Supplies

-Any kind of base board (matte, foam board, etc.)

-Hot glue

-Push pins

Instructions

*Simply hot glue the corks onto whatever base you choose.

*Let dry before hanging on wall.

*Use push pins to hang up little notes!

Place Card Holder:

Supplies

-Razor blade

-Sandpaper

Instructions

*Flatten one edge of the cork by sanding it down

*Use a razor blade to cut an even and thin notch through the rounded side of the cork

*Add a name tag and you’re done!

Cork Ornaments:

Supplies

-Paper clip

-Ornament holder

Instructions

*Cut a paper clip in half and shove both ends into the cork

*Use an ornament holder to hang on tree

Coasters:

Supplies

-Hot glue

-Ribbon

Instructions

*Arrange corks however you see fit

*Glue together as you place them next to each other

*Put a decorative bow around arrangement and glue, securing ribbon.

Jewelry:

Supplies

-Long necklace

-Jewels or gemstones
-Small rings

Instructions

*Cut cork into think slices

*Paint the corks, glue on jewels, it is up to you!

*Fasten corks by drilling a small hole in each end of the cork. Bring together with rings

*Break the old necklace in half and attach each end to the small loops

Check out this AWESOME cork window display I saw in an Anthropologie window that inspired this blog:

Enjoy!

(photos courtesy of pinterest and nikki in stiches)

DIY: Paper Flower Key Holder

Art | 02 September 2011

by Laurie Hartt

If you’re anything like me, you lose your keys. Every. Single. Day. No matter how hard I try, they always go missing just seconds before I am running out the door, already five minutes late. In fact, I even have a spare backup key stashed in my makeup drawer for when they’re really MIA.

Finally,

after many tears,

enough was enough.

It was time to make a permanent resting place for my keys.

Hence, the

Paper Flower Key Holder!

What You Need:

Scissors

Cardboard

Wire Coathanger

Hot Glue Gun

Nail

Stapler

Book or Magazine Pages

Krylon Clear Coat (or any other kind of clear spray paint)

Needle nose pliers

Wire cutters

How You Make It:

* Cut out a small circle of cardboard, about an inch around. You can vary the size of the cardboard circle depending on how big you want your flower to be.

* Cut a piece of coat hanger about 10″ long with the wirecutters. If you use one end that’s already bent, that will save you a lot of trouble rebending the wire, but whatever is easier for you.

* Using the picture above for reference, shape the piece of wire to have two loops at each end: a rounded section for the key hook, and a twisted section to glue onto the cardboard circle.

* Glue the twisted section onto the cardboard circle. (You can feel free to use a ton of glue if need be. Nobody is going to see this part, so be as messy as you want – just make it stick!)

* Next, cut out six big flower shapes from your book or magazine. Consider cool pictures from a travel magazine, or pages from your favorite poet. If you don’t want to ruin a good book or your favorite new magazine, hunt down old books at thrift stores or pretty ads from the pages of your mom’s old Marie Claire magazines – be creative! I used a combination of ads from Glamor and Cosmo magazines I had lying around my apartment because I wanted something colorful and inexpensive.

* Stack all six layers on top of each other and rotate them so the petals stand out at different angles.

* Staple them all together in the center with an “X” shape. By stapling one over another, it makes them stronger and prevents the petals from coming detached from the others.

* Pull up all the layers so they stand up in a 3D shape.

* With another page or scraps of a page you’ve already used, make another smaller “flower” shape with thinner strips for the center of the flower. Hot glue it in the middle to cover the staples and create a full center.

* Before gluing the flower onto the cardboard, coat the flower with a layer of clear spray paint and let it dry.

* Add a few more coats of clear spray paint until the whole flower is crisp and strong. (Note: I used the glossy kind of spraypaint, and it turned out with a really neat finish. Consider experimenting with different finishes for unique looks.)

* Glue the whole flower to the cardboard circle. Because I happened to have glitter glue, I also decorated the “petals” with some squirts of silver glitter just for fun.

* Once the glue is dry, hang the key holder on the wall.

Ta-da! Enjoy no longer hunting for your keys (for a day or two anyway – lets be realistic). Not only is this a great way to store your keys, it’s also a wonderful homemade present. It’s quick, cute, and quirky, and the fact that it’s homemade is even cooler.

I got the original idea for trying this out from fiskars.com, so check out their own tutorial for more tips and pics!

Site to See: Instructables

General | 22 July 2011

by Sienna

What do hosting your own cheese party, how to survive being stranded, and making musical underwear all have in common?

These little tasks are just a few of the thousands and thousands of things you can learn to do on Instructables.com!

You can start by making an Ice Cream Sundae Plush! Or go crazy and submit your own idea to the gigantic cache of useful and quirky projects. The last time I looked, you could learn to make your own prescription swimming goggles, a steampunk toy set, or cake sushi, just from the front page!