DIY Pillowcases!

Hi everyone!  How are you all doing today?  As I said yesterday I have been feeling rather crafty lately and I like to grab that and run with it when it comes around so I have another installment of my DIY series for you all!  This one, DIY Pillowcases (!!!), is inspired by the amazing Hey Kayli on Youtube.  I absolutely love her and always watch all of her adorable videos and when I was watching one of her recent ones I said to myself, that is something that I can easily take on, you know, a challenge that's worth it.  With that thought, I ran to JoAnn's Fabrics and Crafts and got some fabric, liquid stitch, scissors and ribbon and got started right away!

The above sentence mentions everything that you are going to need but I will say it again: fabric, liquid stitch, scissors and ribbon.  The reason I decided to go with Liquid Stitch is because Kayli used it in her video.  Not only this, but it is way easier than sewing something.  If I wanted a real challenge I could sew it myself, but I have to be honest and tell you that it has been a while since I have sewed something, and I know I could if I really had to, but why try if I don't?  Maybe in my next batch!  This craft is absolutely adorable and super easy so lets get started!

The inside of the pillow.  The ribbons are the
open edge for the pillow to go in.

In Kayli's video, she uses napkins from target but I went to JoAnn's and got some really cool fabric.  I got a yard of each fabric cut for myself (three different fabrics- 1 yard of each).  I also bought two different spools of ribbon and they were enough to make all three different pillows.  There were a couple  of things that I learned while making the pillows and I will talk about them as I go.  

The first thing that you should do is make sure that your pillow will fit your fabric that you got from the store.  Before I went to the store, I measured my pillow to know how much fabric to get and that worked out well (obviously).  When I got home, I laid out the fabric so that the pattern was facing down and the inside of the fabric was facing up.  I cut the fabric in half so that there were two separate rectangle shapes of fabric.

The pillowcase regular way, with the ribbons
not tied yet.

At this point, take the liquid stitch and line the inside of the edges of the two pieces of fabric leaving one of the smaller edges open (to insert the pillow).  When you have given that a chance to dry, go ahead and fold the side that was left open down a little bit to ensure that the pillowcase will not be extra long.  If you like some extra length, you can leave that, but the edges look more finished and much nicer when they are folded over.  At this stage, you can glue the ribbons onto the inside edge of the open side where the pillow will be inserted.  Glue them on the inside because this will make for a seamless look and a perfected bow when tied.

Wait overnight for the pillowcase in it's entirety to dry completely.  By doing this, you will ensure that everything will be sealed into place and completely ready to be used.  You can do this with any size pillow and any different fabric/ribbon.  If you chose to recreate these please tweet me photos and leave a comment below if you have any questions!  Also be sure to check out the first, second and third installments of my DIY series!  Thanks for reading.
 Xoxo-Brit.

My favorite!  Blue and white polka dots.  I love the shape
and finish of this one!

When I left the fabric larger on the first one I made.
Love the colors!

DIY Dry erase calendar!

Hi everyone!  I hope you are having a great day.  I wanted to bring you the next installment of my DIY series!  Now I know I said originally that I was only going to have three things in my series, but I think I will be adding a couple of more things!  I really love doing this and normally I don't get that crafty so I have to grab onto that feeling when it comes!

Anyway!  Let's get cracking with the DIY tutorial.  There are several reasons why I made this calendar.  At the end of 2012, I started thinking about what I was going to do when my amazing high fashion Barbie calendar ended.  I must admit, I was really upset thinking that there was an end to it.  But like they always say, all good things come to an end.  As I started thinking about what type of calendar I was going to buy, I started also thinking about how I could make one of my own.  Now what does one do when they need inspiration to make something DIY or crafty?  Hi Pinterest, duh!  I immediately did just that but I began bumbling around and finding lots of calendars that were cute, but not what I wanted.

The fact that I couldn't find one that was exactly to my liking got me thinking, maybe I will just completely come up with my own idea!  I had always seen people making their own crafts with little paint samples that you can pick up at Home Depot.  There were name cards, organizational tools and more, so I figured why not try and use them as days for my calendar?  After thinking about that, I wanted to figure out how I can place the paint samples and make them look modern and sleek, while practical at the same time.  At this point I said to myself, I will wedge the paint samples in between two pieces of plexiglass, therefore making my calendar a dry erase calendar.   That is how my idea came about.

An overview.

The calendar is really cool because essentially it saves you money and can be used over and over again.  Because there is no paper involved (except for the paint samples) you can just keep cleaning the glass and re-writing on top with the dry erase markers.  At the end of 2013 you wont even have to get a new calendar, it's like the gift that keeps on giving.  If you get tired of the color of your paint samples,  you can always get new ones, that is why I left the edges fastened with acco clips rather than permanently.  If this bothers you, you can always use silicon or something else to seal the edges permanently and not worry about changing the colors if you don't feel you'll want to in the future.   

To make the calendar you are only going to need a couple of things: 4 acco clips, scotch tape, two pieces of glass (I will talk about why I used the glass rather than plexiglass later), tons of paint samples and dry erase markers.  

Up close and personal on the name of the month.

To get started, make sure that you lay out the pieces of paint sample that you have.  As you can see in the photo, I ended up cutting the samples that I had because they were all rather large and I didn't want my calendar to be that big.  As I laid them out, I cut it to a size that I liked and continued on.  Now as you can also see, the sizes of each day are not the same, most of them are different and they aren't perfect, I like this feel.  I think this is such a perfect way to customize your calendar, make it homey and more fun.  The look is not as structured, which is ironic because a calendar is quite the structured tool.  I love changing things up sometimes.  Once you have figured out where you want all of the pieces of your paint samples to go, simply apply tape to the back of them and tape them to one of the pieces of glass.

Now I have chosen to use glass instead of plexi for one reason only.  I thought that using plexiglass would be a great idea because its easier, safer, cheaper and everything else.  I was wrong in that the glass was actually less expensive at Home Depot.  I also chose the glass because in the long run, it will last longer.  The glass is going to be way easier to clean and keep nice for a longer amount of time.  Because of the use of glass you might be wondering if it is safe or not and the answer is yes.  What I did learn while making it is that you must be careful because I did cut myself a couple of times on my hand while holding the glass to fasten it together with the acco clips.  Make sure that you are extra careful if working with kids and glass.  Once the glass is together, you can lean it against a wall on top of a counter, or even add a fixture to the back that will allow it to hang on the wall.  This will ensure that the glass is out of the way and not in danger to the kids, you, or maybe any pets.

Acco clip perfection!

Once the paint samples are laid out and taped to the back piece of glass, get the second piece of glass and lay it over the back piece.  Fasten together the two pieces with an acco clip on each corner and you are done!  Take a marker and label the days of the week and of course don't forget to number the days. Now like I said, you are more than welcome to make this bigger or smaller than I have it here.  I can assume that families with kids may want to write soccer practices or dance recitals or something on the calendar too, but I just use it for my work schedule right now and anything else that I happen to be doing.

This is just a basic idea of how to make the calendar, you can take this idea anywhere!  Get creative and decorate yours a little more and share photos with me.  Thank you for reading and make sure to send me a tweet and let me know what you think!

Xoxo-Brit.

DIY Accessories Holder/Organizer.

Hi everyone!  How are you all doing today?  I was traveling into the city today and it gave me inspiration for a blog post that you will see in the future but today is the second installment of my DIY series!  Today I want to talk to you all about organization.  When it comes to organizing things, I usually describe myself as "organized chaos" because when you come into my room, things are almost always ALL OVER THE PLACE, but I know where each thing is if you were to ask me!  Do you know what I mean?  Anyway!  I hope you can follow me and learn how to make my DIY Accessories Holder/Organizer.

Overview of the DIY Accessories Holder/Organizer.

 There are a few things that you'll need starting with a large piece of wood that will act as the back board for your organizer.  For this, you can use the same size as you used in the nail polish racks, 2ftx2ft.  The next thing you'll need is some wire so that you can wrap it around the corners and half way down the back board as seen in the photo.  You can get both of these things at Home Depot and if you need help, the people there will help you.  Like I said, being a girl in Home Depot is a severely unique experience.  Finally you will need cork material to put in the middle of your organizer to stick you earrings on, I got mine at JoAnn's Craft Store.  Aside from these essentials, you'll need a nail gun and make sure that you are CAREFUL with it!

The left corner.

The right corner.

This is extremely easy and affordable, like the nail polish rack and thats why I love it, so let's get started.  With the back board, lay out where you are going to want to put the wire in the corners.  You don't really need a ruler for this because you can measure them to your liking and they even can be different if you want them too on each side.  Once you are done, make sure you make the wire long enough so that it wraps to the back of the board and staple it there.  Sometimes it helps to staple it once, fold over the excess on the end and staple it again to make sure it stays there.  

Once you are done with the two corners, go ahead and decide where you want to put the wire in the middle of your board for (in my case, see the photos) the headbands.  Do the same thing that you have done for the wire on the top.  Measure, fold & staple and then fold & staple once again.  Once you are done with this, you could always add more wire on the sides if you would like, but for now I kept it with two on the top and one in the middle.

Now it is time for the cork board.  Like I said, I purchased my cork board at JoAnn's and it came in roll form.  I simply unrolled the cork and measured it to the size that I wanted.  As you can see in the photo, mine is basically right in the middle, about 1.5ft.  I like this size because it is absolutely huge and a large surface area.  There is a lot of room for a ton of post and dangly earrings.  I found it to work great when you put your dangly earrings on the bottom and the post at the top (although this is probably not a surprise to you).  As you can also see in the photo there are some dangly earrings that are hanging in the top left corner because they are some of the newer ones, I tend to put the newer ones higher.

Headbands.

Also, make sure when you are stapling the cork roll to the back board that you do two layers.  This will make sure that the earrings can stick through and will not fall when you peg them into the cork.  If you only do one layer of cork, they will not stay because the portion of the earring that goes through the ear is way too long.

As you can see, I have my bows on the left and some hair barrettes on the right.  The headbands are on the bottom and the earrings are in the middle.  The best part about this is that you can see everything!  I wanted something that displayed everything that I had for when I chose outfits in the morning, that way I don't rule anything out!  Being able to see everything that you own is a great way to incorporate all of your pieces into your outfits.

Feel free to round the edges if you'd like and decorate them to your hearts content.  Another great option for this is to add a small nail on the back that will support the weight of it and a ribbon to hang it on the wall.  I feel like this would add an adorable touch and make it such a cute fixture for either a little girls room or anyones bedroom!

Earrings.

That is all I have for you guys today!  I hope you really enjoyed this second installment of my DIY series, the DIY Accessories Holder/Organizer.  I love making these pieces because they are so personal and customizable while they are also  inexpensive and practical.

If you try this out or my first DIY piece, the Nail Polish Rack, please tweet me with a picture!  Thank you for reading as always.
Xoxo-Brit.

DIY Nail Polish Rack/Storage!

Hi everyone!  I hope you are all having a great day and weekend and are excited for this first installment of my DIY series.  I hope you will find some interesting things here and try to create them on your own.  The first thing I want to tell you all about is my oldest DIY project, my nail polish organizer which is quick, really easy, and super inexpensive.  Read on and enjoy!

Up against the wall, the two nail polish racks.

The reason why I made my own is because I was tired of searching for something online and in stores that would hold all of the nail polishes that I have (and that is a ton).  I am not joking, as you can tell in the photo it really was not easy to try and find something that would work for me.  Another reason for wanting to create my own nail polish holder is that everything I was seeing in stores and online didn't have a set-up that would display them so that I could see them.  The reason why I wanted to be able to see them is because I have so many and love them all.  I wanted to make sure that I could see them all, at all times.  Maybe I am way too obsessed, I just call it in love.

My first nail polish rack.

The first thing you are going to need is a 2ftx2ft flat piece of wood, this will make the back (and base) for the entire nail polish rack/holder.  You can definitely get a smaller size if you think you don't need this much room/space, or you can get a bigger one!  After you get the back of the holder, you are going to need smaller pieces of wood to make the shelves.  I picked up as 1inx3in that was about 6ft.  By doing this, you can have the people at Home Depot cut it into 2ft sections to use as the shelves.  You can find these at your Home Depot and can get someone to help you if you need it.  Sorry for this sidebar but I just wanted you all to know if you have never been in a Home Depot alone as a girl, you're in for a really interesting experience.  Every single time I go in here, 5,000 people ask me if I need help.  

As far as building materials, the only other things you are going to need are small nails, a hammer, a pencil to draw on your measuring marks, and a ruler/measuring tape.  

Showing you how to read the measurements.

Once you have everything that you are going to need it's time to start measuring things out.  My tip to you for doing this is to get one of each different kind of nail polish that you own.  When you are laying them down on the back piece of wood you want to make sure that the shelves are spaced out enough so that you can easily take on and off the nail polishes from the shelves.  Once you figure out where you want the shelves to be, mark this with the pencil.  Another tip is that you should always make sure that you space out all of your shelves, measure them, pencil them in, and then you can put them in place by nailing them to the backboard.  My father always said, "Measure twice, cut once..."

The second nail polish rack.

Basically, you are done!  All you need to do now is set your nail polishes on the shelves.  One of the only things that I would do different is add sides to this.  Right now I have my nail polishes displayed on the shelves without sides and it is perfectly fine, but adding them would just ensure that they are locked in a little bit better.  If you are going to do this, make sure you measure to add them in before you do the shelves that hold the polish.

If you need help cutting the wood, they should be able to do it for you at your Home Depot, that's what I ended up doing.  Big props to my dad for helping me out and putting it together.  With my design and my dads assistance a wonderful nail polish rack was made!  I told you this was super simple, I absolutely love it.  The best thing about this is that you can either attach another one to it on the side, or make another one.  As you can see, I made another one and they are both permanent fixtures to my room.  Another thing about these nail displays is that they look great and quite modern in your room.  The design with wood adds a little "homey-ness," it's really interesting and something new.

Leaning against the wall.

Another great thing about the design is that the shelves are a little bit bigger than the nail polish, I designed them this way.  The reason for this is that I figured there would be space for nail files and in some cases, a second row of nail polish that is not as big as other polishes.  The fact that you are able to see all of your polishes when trying to make a decision of which you'll use is great functionality.  As you can see, my polish rack is sitting on my desk, out of the way.  In another photo, you can also see that they lean against the wall or can be pushed up against the wall.  I love how elegant and modern-ish, you can put them anywhere.  Very cool!

If you guys try this, please tweet me a picture and show me.  I would love to see everyone recreate this DIY.  I also hope that you guys enjoyed the first installment of my mini DIY series.  Tune in tomorrow for the next post dealing with organization.  Thank you for reading.

Xoxo-Brit.