More Holiday Spirit!

I'm trying to fit in more Christmas posts before the actual holiday because once it's gone, it's gone! I'll have to focus on the New Year as a theme after Thursday. I wanted to share more easy decoration ideas for your home. This mistletoe is the perfect small addition to a room (& apparently a good excuse as to why someone should kiss you). This was found in Michael's with my boyfriend for only $6!

 I made some paper ornaments (DIY link posted at the bottom) and added glitter to the front edge, as well as some curled ribbon at the top. 

Here they are hung up!

For being made of construction paper, cheap plastic ribbon, and craft glitter, these turned out pretty nice! 

And here's another poinsettia I made the other night! I realized that these look so beautiful that they could even be mounted in a formation on the wall as a decoration.

DIY for paper ornaments: 

http://www.curbly.com/users/chrisjob/posts/9452-how-to-make-modern-paper-ornaments 

Christmas Present Toppers DIY

I am about 80% done with my Christmas shopping. My next step is wrapping all of my goodies up and making them look beautiful. Today I spent some quality time crafting and creating cute little knicknacks as present toppers. This DIY isn't a product of my mind, rather it's a fun project I pulled from the internet. I'll provide the sources below as well as the pdf link for the gift tags!

This is a finished product from my craft- a poinsetta for presents instead of a bow! Admittedly it took some time and patience, but altogether creating it was simple. 

I found these printable gift tags and made myself a few sheets because they were far too adorable. To the right are my petal stencils and a measurement for the base. If you zoom up close enough you can see the measurements. Cut out the shapes and use them to trace the petals unto cardstock, construction paper, or even a pretty wrapping paper.

I decided to use wrapping paper. On its own it would be rather flimsy so applied glue to the inside and folded it in half. This allowed for it to be more sturdy and double sided. Here is a photo of how I traced the pieces out. The center circles are of a heavier stock paper. 

I used fun patterned scissors and a hole punch to put the finishing touches to the print out tags!

Here are some of my finished products! I think my packages might be too pretty that people won't want to rip them open ^.^ When I finish decorating one of my presents I'll post a picture of it with all of the toppings for you to see!

Site for the tags:

http://studio.heylook.fi/freebies/handmadetags.pdf

Site for the DIY directions:

http://www.olderandwisor.com/2012/12/pimp-yo-presents-tip-1-diy-paper.html

First Post! & DIY Lace Cat Ears for Halloween ✌

I've recently come to the conclusion that one creative way to endure my (typically) droll life is to blog. Since Tumblr serves as a virtual inspiration board for me, I sought a more structured/ mature medium in which to share my projects, product reviews, and personal tidbits. Admittedly, I am a person who probably cares far too much about the aesthetics of my environment; as a result I spend a lot of money on needless things as well as a lot of time on little crafty upcycling projects. Now I've established a place to exhibit the 'fruits of my labor' without clogging up Facebook feeds or annoying my Tumblr followers that only want to see reblogged photos from fashion magazine editorials. So that's that and here's me, uninhibited and uncensored.

All Hallow's Eve is right around the corner and I chose to get hot glue on my fingernails and clippings all over the table rather than purchase pre-made accessories. That's a partial lie considering I did buy an American Apparel bodysuit as part of my costume, however I did create my ears from scratch. I snapped some quick photos throughout the process in case anyone wanted to try their hand at lace cat ears as well :o) They turned out rather spectacular!

DIY Lace Cat Ears

I needed some ears for Saturday night and I saw these on ASOS (so precious, I know), but due to their seemingly simplistic structure I felt more inclined to make them myself.

Here's what you'll need:

~ thin black ribbon  (at least 3 ft for one set)

~ black plastic headband

~ black duct tape (highly suggest the 3/4 in. width)

~ florist wire
~ 1/8th of a yard of black lace

~ hot glue gun (not pictured)

~ black sharpie (not pictured)

Step 1:

 Create the shape of the ear that you want with the wire- it can be any size you'd like. Cut two pieces of wire equal in length based on the ear shape you've created (I have four shown here because I was making two pairs of ears). but be sure to leave an extra inch and a half of wire on either end (my ears had a perimeter of about  5 1/2 inches with 1 1/2 inches at either end for a total length of 8 1/2 in). 

Step 2: 

Cover the outstretched pieces of wire with a strip of duct tape to thicken them and to provide support for the ear shape. Leave the the 1 1/2 in tails on either end uncovered. This was a bit tricky but I figured out that pinching the tape around the wire continuously allowed for a tighter and more even wrap.

Step 3:

Get your gluing station ready! First, reshape your cat ears and bend the uncovered wire ends at 90 degree angles as if to create upstanding prongs. Also, cut out small squares of lace for each ear.

Step 4:

Put a dab of glue at the peak of the ear as well as the bottom two corners at the junction of the covered wire and uncovered prongs. Press the shape down onto a square of lace. Once it dries, cut around the wire leaving a centimeter margin of lace at the sides and a 5 centimeter margin at the bottom. I don't show the next step, but place hot glue around the back of the wire and fold over the excess centimeter of lace to completely cover the exposed wire ear shape. 

Step 5:

To give you a more clear representation of how to attach the ears to the band, I took a photo of the shape without the lace or tape covering it. The prongs were left so you could use them to wrap around the band and connect the ears to them. Make sure both ears are placed an equidistance away from the top center of the band (I counted the little inner teeth from the bottom of each side to ensure congruence). I covered the exposed wire that was wrapped around the band with pieces of duct tape. Don't want any rough edges rubbin on your head!

Step 6: 

Once the ears are attached, pull the extra 5 centimeters of lace at the bottom of the ear down and over the inside part of the headband so the lace within the wire frame is taut. Apply hot glue over the material that is pressed against the plastic and snip the excess so that no lace is showing past the inner rim of the band. Next, take your black satin ribbon and tape the end of it to one bottom side of the headband. Wrap it around all of the exposed plastic and over the pieces of duct tape that are covering the wrapped metal prongs of the ears.

Note: I had to wrap for three separate incidents- for the bottom left (snipped the ribbon off at the intersection of the band and ear and glued the ribbon down), for the space between the ears (hot glued the edges of the wrapped ribbon), and then for the bottom right (hot glued at this intersection too and then taped at the very end to complete the ears!). 

Tip: Use the black sharpie to color in any apparent white edges from the duct tape!

Now you're done!

The supplies amounted to a total of about $15 and I had enough material to make five pairs of ears! The one set from ASOS costed over $18 not including shipping. So you will save money but more importantly you will have fun making them yourself!

Enjoy :D