Lagging

I've been so busy lately that I have been lagging on the DIY projects.  I am 1/2 way done with this chair request I have been working on 1/4 the way done with a painting commission I've been working on, and my house projects have gone to the way-side.  Hoping to have NO obligations this weekend and I can relax, create, and clean this weekend.

This I'd like to do soon:

joybx
diy-skeleton-shirt-tutorial

Paper Towel Sculpture

I saw a post on Pinterest on creating 2D sculptures with cut toilet paper rolls.  Instantly inspired, I set out to do it myself!  Since only had about 4 toilet paper rolls when I began, it wasn't exactly satisfying.  However, I have asked friends and family to save their rolls for me and have been saving for about 2 months now and I am ready to get to sculpting.  I am looking to do something for the 1/2 way part on my stairs where it looks a little bare.

Inspiration to be more intricate: Click

 So... first I started with gathering paper towel rolls and toilet paper rolls... cut them down to size... and began gluing wherever they fit.  Although... if I ever did this again... I might plan it out a little better... I do like fluidity in art and allowing the piece to morph into its own shape.

Here is the start of the gluing... this is about 3-4 toilet paper rolls.  Sad... and small.

I decided to spray paint what I had and see how it looked so far...

Not satisfied... too small and the shape reminded me of a bustle of wheat... soooo not what I wanted.

So, I decided to go bigger!!!!  After saving up for months... here is more cut rolls to add...

We first started gluing together 2 pieces, some with 4 pieces, and some with 5 pieces and then set them together to see what kind of shape we could make.

We used a flat metallic spray paint after gluing it all together (the shiny surface beneath is a plastic covering we used to spray paint on and not get my garage painted).

We chose specific pieces to paint lime green and a bright blue.  This was a neat addition because when you look straight on at it, you can barely see the color, but as you move around the piece it becomes more dynamic.

And the finished piece.  Hung up, painted, and works wonderfully  in my stairwell.

INSPIRATION: Toilet paper roll wall art

Tibble Fork: Toilet paper roll wall art: Very inspiring!  I started my toilet paper roll piece... and now I'm inspired to do something a bit more intricate!

Cresent and Old Lace

Rock Mosaic

I found a cute tutorial on a rock mosaic and decided to create a heart shape out of some river rocks I had picked up for my mom. There weren't enough of either color to do a solid heart so I thought 1/2 and 1/2 would look nice.

I picked up some black and white rocks at the dollar store along with some coaster like circles to place them on.  I ended up only using the white rocks since my mother's yard has darker rocks for the landscaping and I wanted this to stand out. 

I set out the red and green rocks into the pattern I wanted and slowly started to hot glue each one to the circle.  (Careful, put something under the circle or the hot glue will bleed through.)

After I completed the mosaic piece, I made a spot for it in her yard, placed it neatly, rang my mother's door bell and ran away.  I later texted her to look in her yard just to make sure she saw it :)  The white rocks make the heart stand out nicely I think.

Windchime

 So my friend Ellie has such eclectic style that it felt more natural to create something for her birthday rather then going out and buying something for her.  Her favorite color is purple and she really digs skulls.  She's feminine but not girly.  She's also REALLY into rocks.  I happen to have these "Apache Tears" (shards of obsidian rock) from a rock outing I did with my Aunt a few years ago.  The really neat thing about these rocks is when you tap them together, they make an incredibly fragile... glass-like sound.  I decided to create a wind chime out of them for her but wanted to make it in a way that would fit into her world nicely.

First I gathered the materials I would need.  A wooden letter "E" for her name, some screw hooks to hang the "E" as well as hang each of the strands, some of the metal hooks I used for my mustache pendants [here], beads, sculpty clay skulls (already made from a mold I bought on ETSY [link here]), paint, sparkles, and E-6000 glue to hold it all together.

I painted the "E" and put a piece of scrapbook paper on it with Modpodge (I made this with watered down glue to save some money) to give it a neat texture.  While the modpodge was still drying I sprinkled some yellow/gold glitter on to give the piece some contrast.

After the "E" was finished, I drilled out the holes to screw in the screw hooks.

Next came the strands of beads... this was a trial and error processes.  I knew this could end up outside so I used some glue to make sure the strands would stay on the metal hooks as well as the strands.  I allowed the E-6000 glue to set overnight.  In between each of the bead strands I put a strand that had a skull to break up the repetitiveness of the strands and to give it a cool look.

 

This is what it looked like after drying over night.  Excited and almost done I took a day off to clean house.

 

After finishing the strands, applying the "Apache Tears", adding a skull to the "E" and allowing it all to dry again overnight... I am very satisfied with how it came out.  I may do this again for other gifts (if I do... I'll take more step-by-step pictures.)

Small Hiatus

Hey there, I had some crazy life drama for awhile and hadn't done any DIY during that time period.  I'm free from that and life is back on track.  Looking forward to creating more awesome stuff!

-Athena

Tile Coasters

From the moment I saw this DIY tutorial, I wanted to try it out for myself!!!  I did one set for me and one set for my mom for her birthday.  I think they turned out really cute!  They are pretty inexpensive, can send any message you'd like, and are quite fun to make.

366daysofpinterest

I started out by tracing the tile onto scrapbook paper and cutting the paper out.

Next, I mod-podged the paper down (putting a layer of mod-podge directly on the tile, placed the paper onto the tile, and placed mod-podge on top).  

I wanted these to be fun and full of life (like my mom) so I added sparkles in the mod-podge.

After allowing the mod-podge to dry and doing 1-2 more layers, I used some puff paint to just add some details and then used a laqure spray paint to seal them.  (2-4 coats of this stuff just to be safe)

After they dried overnight, I added the felt pieces to the bottom to prevent scratches.

While looking at scrapbook paper, I found these awesome stickers and decided to make a coaster set for myself.  I didn't want to go through the trouble of finding a background for these guys so I made them super simple.

I still had one sheet of my mustache scrapbook paper, so I decided to label what each of the mustache stickers were.  I could have done a much better job with this, but this was my first trial (before the coasters for my mom).

I labeled each one with a sharpie paint pen and then lacquered each tile 2-3 times, allowing them to completely dry over night.

Here is the set I created for my mom out of the scrapbook paper. I had to upload these last so it wouldn't spoil my mom's bday present!

Coat rack/shelf

I found this coat rack at Micheal's for $3.00 because it was missing one of the pegs.

I removed the remaining three pegs, which, not surprisingly, came out on their own without much effort.

I filled the holes with some caulk (probably should have used a wood filler, but this is what I had available and on hand).

I used a putty knife to smooth out the caulk and make the hole flush with the rest of the wood.

After the caulk dried, I painted the wood with the brown paint I used for my garage cabinets.

I found these cute hooks for about $4 a piece at Home Depot.  A little more then I wanted to spend, but I think they ended up looking really nice!

Waiting for the BF to get home before mounting the coat rack on the wall.  I want the screws to be in studs to prevent it from pulling out of the wall.

Electric Outlet Covers

I painted my kitchen wall "Neverland Teal" when I first moved in.  It felt like it needed something so I decided to spice up the electric outlet covers.  I found this DIY tutorial on Pinterest and decided to try it out for myself.

I started by removing the cover and getting my materials.  I chose this fun blue and white pattern scrapbook paper bought during Micheal's "6 sheets for $1" sale.  So worth it!  I traced the cover on the paper and cut it out (leaving the whole inside in one piece).  I traced where the holes WILL be, but left them alone for now.

 Then, I covered the front of the cover in modpodge and placed the cut out paper in position.

After placing the paper on the cover, I covered the whole thing with more modpodge.  Allow to dry and do 2-3 more coats (I did this due to it being in the kitchen so it would wipe easily).

Once it dried, I put it back into position.

I found it was easier to get the screw in if I made a small incision in the paper before hand where the screw would go.  I found that if you try cutting through the paper before it is COMPLETELY dry... the edges won't cut smoothly.

Credit: housewivesofriverton