DIY Projects

DIY: Valentine's Day Garland

I have been seeing a ton of cute heart garland around, but most of the tutorials are for felt garland using your sewing machine. Well I have a sewing machine, but only my husband knows how to use it : ) So when I saw garland that could be made using a stapler, I knew it was right down my alley. Here's how to do it...

Supplies

Paper  (I used 2 hot pink poster boards) 

Scissors

Stapler and Staples

Ruler

Fishing line, yarn, or baker's string

heart beads

Pen or Pencil

Hole Puncher

Directions

We will need to get lots of strips of paper. Use your ruler and draw straight lines across your paper. Mine were 1.5 inch by 12 inches. I just used the width of the ruler as my guide. Make as many as you want. it will depend on how long you want your garland.

Then cut out all of the strips of paper using your scissors.

Fold your strip of paper in half.

Bend the two end pieces in making a heart shape.

Staple where the two pieces come together. 

One staple will hold your heart.

Now using your hole puncher. Punch one hole just above the staple so that the hole goes through both pieces.

 Then punch a hole on each outside part of the heart. Try to make them all as level as possible. It will hang on the string straighter.

Now string your beads and paper hearts onto your string. 

Continue alternating between beads and heart until you get your desired length of garland.

I loved this project because it was so easy. I am no Martha Stewart! There are also so many different ways that you could do this project. You could use patterned paper, old pages from a book, or sheets of music. I also thought it would be fun to dip the edges of the hearts into glue and then sprinkle with glitter.

 I made one garland using the fishing line and one garland using the baker's string. I thought that the baker's string looked better than the fishing line. 

My kitchen table was covered with hearts! My 2 year old daughter loved it. She kept saying, " dats lots of heartbeats"!

You could also put your hearts in a jar or vase. Just make sure not to punch holes in them. 

I would love to see the garland that you make. Tweet me your pictures to triesstuffgirl or instagram them at ashleypettit23.

DIY: Valentine's Day Workout Shirt

I thought it would be fun to make a Valentine's Day Workout Shirt. It's fun, easy and really cute! All you need is an old t-shirt and a pair of scissors.

Cut the neckline, sleeves, and bottom of your t-shirt. Make sure to save the bottom part of your t-shirt for later.

  Turn your t-shirt over and cut a deep V in the neck on the back of your shirt.

Get the bottom part of your shirt that I told you to save for later and cut it in half, preferably on the seam.

With the back part of your t-shirt still face up, gather the straps together and tie the strip of t-shirt around the top of the two straps. Tie it in a knot . Pull it extra hard so that it makes the knot smaller and not so bulky.

Now wrap the strip of your t-shirt tightly around the straps and work your way down the straps. 

Once you have wrapped the straps, tie the strip of your t-shirt in a tight knot, with the knot being on the inside of the shirt. Again, pull it really hard so that it is a small knot. Then make it a double knot and pull it really hard again.

Cut the remaining strip off, leaving just a small tail.

Tuck the knot to the inside of your shirt so that it will be toughing your back when you wear the shirt. The tighter you pull the knot the less bothersome it will be when wearing the shirt.

Fold your shirt in half and cut from front to back in a sloped direction. 

And Voila! You have a super cute workout shirt to wear to the gym on Valentine's Day!

 DIY: The Glittered Candles

I love glitter. I love things that sparkle. So you can imagine how excited I was when...

Last week, I was out and about and saw the cutest silver glitter candles at the store. The store shall remain nameless... I wanted them so badly.  I knew just the place to put them. I would replace the boring yellow candles on my beautiful white candle sticks. As I grabbed one to put in my basket, I saw the price. HOLY COW! 15 bucks a piece and I needed two. There was no way I was going to pay $30 on two stupid candles, even though they weren't stupid at all.  They were perfect and girly and splarkley and completely fabulous ! And that's when it hit me... I have glitter at home! I can make them myself! Yippee!!!

So I put the candle down and did everything I could to keep myself from running out the door. I was so excited to go home and glitter my candles. Why hadn't I thought of it before?

So here's what I did, to make the most fabulous candles ever!


1. Get all of your supplies. I was lucky enough to have everything already.

• Silver spray paint
•  Candles
•  Elmer's Glue
•  Glitter
•  Paint Brush
•  Clear Acrylic Sealer -glossy formula-don't get the matte formula. It's what I had, but it dulls the   sparkle, and no one needs their sparkle dulled! (OPTIONAL)

2. Spray paint your candles. You may need to do a couple of coats. They don't have to be sprayed perfectly because they will be covered in glitter. But you do want the candles completely painted.

 
3. After your candles have dried. Set up your workspace. You will want to put paper down. When I use glitter I put a plate under the item I am glittering. It catches the excess glitter and it can be reused.

 4. Paint the Elmer's glue on to a section of the candle. Then sprinkle the glitter over the wet glue until the glue is completely covered in glitter. Let it sit for a few seconds and then shake the candle and the excess glitter will fall off.

5. Repeat step 4 until the entire candle is covered with glitter. I also glittered the top of my candle. Let the candle dry for 15 minutes.

6. This step is optional. You can spray the acrylic sealer over the glitter. It may dull the sparkle a little. I did not spray the sealer on my candles because I only had a matte finish sealer. I am putting my candles in a place where they will not be touched or moved very often. So glitter should stay on fairly well. If you use the sealer, spay the candles and then let them dry for 15-20 minutes. Then you will have fabulous glittered candles!

I don't recommend burning your candles. I'm not sure what they would do, but it probably wouldn't be good. Here is a before and after of my candles.

Before

After

 I loved my candles so much, that I went crazy glittering things in my house. My Husband was thrilled! Here are a few things that I also glittered...

I hope that you have so much fun making your glittered candles! Comment below and let me know how your candles turned out.


********************************************************************************************
DIY: Ombre Bleach Cutoffs

Cutoffs? you ask...Winter is just starting! you say... Well I'm going to Hawaii for Christmas... poor me, I know! I wouldn't be going if it wasn't for having such great parents!

I need a super cute pair of shorts to bum around at the beach. I've really wanted to try ombre denim with bleach, so this is the perfect project. I have this pair of Guess shorts that came from the store as cutoffs, but they are below the knee cutoffs. I thought they would "comfortable". Turns out they aren't super flattering so I rarely wear them. They will make a perfect DIY victim...

There is even a glue spot on them from some other DIY project

There is more leftover glue spots on the back of them

 This is a really easy project. You only need 4 things to get started. I recommend doing this outside. I didn't want to stand out in the cold, so I worked on mine in the bathroom. I kept the door closed and the fan on so I wouldn't stink up the house too much.  The fumes probably killed a few brain cells...oh well :)

 Supplies

• Denim (shirt, shorts, pants, jacket)
• Bucket
• Rubber Gloves
• Bleach

Put a 3:2 ratio of water and bleach in your bucket. I used 12 cups of water and 8 cups of bleach. I was trying to bleach a few other things in the process, so you probably wouldn't need quite that much. If you are going to try the ombre effect, you will need to decide which end of your denim you want lighter and which you want darker. I chose to have the leg end be lighter. It makes no difference other than your style preference.  You will also have to decide how much of the denim you want bleached, I ended up bleaching more of the shorts than I had planned, but they still turned out cute! Submerge a small part of the clothing into the bucket. With your gloves on, push down a little on the denim to make sure the part that was submerged is soaking up the bleach evenly. Then lay the rest of the denim over the side of the bucket. Make sure you are very careful when touching the dry denim, if there is any bleach on your gloves, it will leave bleach dots.

 

This is a shirt I was bleaching, but its that same technique

Set the timer for 10 minutes. Make sure to watch it. There are many different kinds of denim and each will absorb the bleach differently. Every ten minutes move the denim down into the bucket a little more. This isn't an exact science and if your denim is absorbing more or less of the bleach then you will need to adjust the time accordingly. I learned that you should error on the side of less time. Too much bleach can make the fabric very brittle. After your denim has the effect you want, pull it out of the bucket and rinse it really well in cold water. Then wash it in the washing machine on a gentle cycle by itself. You can either put it in the dryer or hang dry your denim. BUT remember, this article of clothing is now fairly delicate. So be nice to it!

Here's how they turned out...

I tried them on, and they still looked dowdy. So I decided they needed to be cutoff! While they were on I eyeballed the length and made a little mark with a pencil. I took them off and cut one side, then folded them in half to line them up. Leave them folded and use the other pant leg as a guide while cutting them to ensure they are symmetrical. Don't make a blunt cut. Make an angled cut with the inner leg being slightly longer. We don't want anything hanging out! Try them on again to make sure they are the length that you like. Again, error on the side of longer. You can always cut more off. To get a frayed look, just pull at the ends. It takes awhile so be patient. Once you are all done you will have these!

TA DA!

I like to fold my cutoffs, just a little

I love the uneven effect!