Tuesday 3 December 2013

DIY: Snowman Mason Jar


Hello everyone, hope you all are doing well. I have been down with the flu, as a welcome present of winter arrival.
So, have you all started preparing for Christmas season yet? If you are looking for ideas to get into the festive mood, you will love this cute snowman jar! It was so easy to make and looks amazing. This will surely brighten your mantel and look great next to the Christmas tree! Happy Decorating!


Things needed for this project are:


-Mason Jars
-White Spray paint
-Glue
-Colored crepe paper
-Permanent black marker
-Colored chart paper
-Paint Brush
-Poster Paints
 
First I spray painted the jar white. For the snowman body.



Then I began drawing the face, trying to imitate the stone smile and eyes as much as possible.


Then I took a piece of orange colored chart paper and twisted it to a cone shape for a carrot nose!





Now my snowman was missing a cute snuggle winter cap. So I drafted one out of pink chart paper! Mind you with all the shenanigans (pom pom)











This is what Mr. Snowman looked like. Then I thought of giving a festive wardrobe to him. He is going to rock in green polka dots ;)


And of course we had to have arms, so I took Popsicle sticks and painted them a brown resembling that of tree bark.




With the winter approaching, Mr Snowman was also given a bright red scarf to complete his Christmas look!










Happy Holidays and Happy Creating Folks, do see my DIY: Christmas Gift/Cookie/Candy Jar

xoxo
Eva


Wednesday 20 November 2013

DIY: Christmas Gift/Cookie/Candy Jar!


Good day everyone! Today I will be sharing a very easy and affordable holiday DIY! It can make a great gift with some candy, trail mix or cookies! Or you can just admire it placed on your beautiful mantle. Everything about it spells C-H-R-I-S-T-M-A-S!!!

It looks so festive, really got me into the holiday decorating/creating mood!



First start with taping the jar, (it looks great when you can see the goodies inside)




I did not want symetric stripes, so went with broad and narrow ones. Then began the spray painting.

You will need to coat twice so the white is evenly painted. After thoroughly dry, begin to take off the tape carefully.




 I was a bit hasty thus explaining the staining at the back, need to keep patient and my hand steady!

Then I made my roses and leaves using colored crepe paper. First cut out about 2-3 inches and then begin rolling away.


 Keep the glue handy as the flower may just decide to undo itself, and you will need it to stick perfectly

Don't worry if you don't get it perfect the first time, practice will give finesse to the flowers!

 Voila! My beautiful rose!



 Cut out the leaves to go with the roses.


After you are happy with the flower and leave arrangement, begin gluing it together.


I also covered the lid, so the color and texture would match.


 Then I assembled my flowers and this is how it turned out. Really happy with the final look. All festive and calls out for celebration time!

 No holiday is complete without sweets, so fill in your favorite goodies.


So get crafty and make this great jar, gift it to your loved ones who will LOVE the effort and Christmas spirit or keep it for yourself. In any case this holiday DIY craft will be admired by all!

Happy Creating Everyone!

xoxo
Eva

Monday 18 November 2013

DIY: Coat Rack for Children's Room



DIY: A Fun Coat Rack for Children


I’ve never been one for boring, but was assigned to work on a coat rack to hang miscellaneous items in my 6 year old niece’s room.  So I decided to take the DIY route, and make one.  As always, I’m most inspired by natural materials, and found the branches for this coat rack in my neighborhood. I always found such elements interesting and fairytale like!

And yes we chopped off an old drawer cabinet we had lying around at home. My niece and I decided on the design and colors together. Boy, did she feel like little red riding hood, getting all adventurous, then we finally agreed upon something she liked and I could manage beautifully too. Mosy of the materials we had at home.  A couple hours of delightful family crafting later voila – a coat rack!


Materials Needed: 
 
  • Base wood Branches 
  • Leather Scraps 
  • Paint 
  • Colorful paper 
  • Modge Podge 
  • Foam Brush 
  • Hammer 
  • Screws 
  • Power drill
  • Exacto knife 
  • Wooden backboard (you may use something lying at home, like I did) 
  • Sandpaper 
  • Hand saw
 
 How To:

 
Sand your wooden backboard first. 
TIP: Always sand with the grain until all edges are smooth.  You don’t want anyone getting a splinter.

 
Cut out your colorful paper into the shape you’d like using a ruler, pencil and scissors.  We went to Blicks to get this special waxed, dried flower paper.
 
 

 
Apply the Modge Podge evenly to the back of your paper with the foam brush.  Apply paper to the wooden backboard.  Smooth out any wrinkles.


Apply Modge Podge over the paper, at least an inch beyond the edge of the paper onto the wood.  This will secure the paper to the wood with an overcoat preventing tears, and allowing you to wipe the item with a damp cloth to clean it.  Follow the bottles instructions for drying, many times you have to let it dry overnight.


Here is the interesting bit, where we went out to the ‘woods’ to gather the most artistic branches we could find! I cut the branches off the larger branch in such a way that they can be nailed to the backboard and provide the protruding branch to hang things off of.


Cut your leather to size using an exacto knife.  We continued with the triangle theme. Leather added a very nice texture and contributed to the overall look I was wanting to achieve.


Hammer short nails into the edges of the leather to keep it in place.



Make a stencil to paint over.  Use cardboard, or in this case an old poster.  Grab your exacto knife again and after drawing your design use the knife to cut it out.


Place your stencil in the area you’d like the design.  Use a paint brush to paint over the stencil.  The most important thing is to hold the edges of the stencil down when you’re painting over it to ensure the paint doesn’t get underneath the stencil smearing your design.



The designs are done, now it’s time to hammer in the branches!  Mark the backboard with a pencil where you would like the branches.  Secure the branches at 2 points – one at the top, and one at the bottom with nails.  Hammer slow and steady so as not to crack the wood.  Finish both branches, and you’re done….almost!






Now it’s power tool time! We’re going to secure the rack to the wall.  Use a power drill to drill holes in the rack and the wall.  Then insert screws into the rack with the power drill.  Finish them into the wall through the holes you drilled.  First make sure to ensure your rack isn’t crooked with a level.  The bubble should be in the middle of the two lines in the middle.
 




Enjoy!  Note, I made sure to mount the rack high enough so there are no potential injuries to children in our household.



 
If you enjoyed this you will surely love my Decoupage Coffee Table :)
Happy creating folks!