spring pinterest challenge {gold striped votives}

i did it! i finished my pinterest challenge project just in time. i had no time to even think about it over the weekend, and still had to figure out what pin to get inspired by sunday  night. i really wanted to do one related to henry’s first birthday party, as we’re moving soon and once we do i will have so many house-related projects i don’t know when i’ll have a free moment to think of anything else….but guys, he turns one next month, and like, i have to throw a birthday party for him (which i’ve never done). i need to get on this. but i didn’t have time to go to the store for supplies, so i decided to use supplies i had at home and revamp a few votive holders that i had recently spared from the trash when their coating started peeling. the victims before:

(i had already started taking off the film, but it had started peeling on it’s own before…the green hadn’t as much, and were a pain to remove. lots of scraping.)

and the after:

here’s how i did it.

my pinspiration was a recent pin of gold and white striped cans-turned-bud vases:

{image from pinterest; original source: two delighted – super cute blog btw!}

my supplies:

cleaner, primer, gold spraypaint, frog tape, votive, cutting mat (and a rotary cutter and ruler not pictured).

first i prepped the votives. i scraped all the colored film off (starting off with ready-to-use, plain candle holders would cut the time for this project in half at the least, making it super fast) then i used the cleaner and rinsed with water and air dried.

next, i cut strips of painters tape into varying widths for my striped designs on a cutting mat with my rotary cutter and a ruler to ensure straight lines. i applied them to the votives, carefully eyeballing the spacing, and rubbed hard on the tape to help get crisp lines. because my votives were tapered, thicker tape lines creased a little on the bottom when stuck, creating a slightly less than straight line – a straight side or thin tape lines solve that.

to prevent spray paint from getting inside (it is flammable), i sprayed them upside-down and taped the bottom (because i didn’t want gold on the bottom since it might rub off) or had a bag taped in the inside.

to help the gold paint adhere i did a quick, thin coat of primer spray paint. once dried, and henry was down for his nap, i did about three light coats of the gold spray paint. a couple minutes later i carefully pulled the tape off and let dry for a bit.

i’m glad i decided not to throw these away. now i have modern and glam votive holders.

or even small bud vases.

this one is currently prettying up the bathroom.

simple and small but a big impact. i can’t seem to get enough of gold these days (though i’m sure that won’t always be the case). the paint adhered well the the glass – though i wouldn’t put it in the dishwasher and risk it – so i think i may need to add design to some other vases i have lying around.

as always, thank you to katie and sherry and their guest hosts for another pinterest challenge. it gave me the push to do something that i wouldn’t have gotten around to. who knows how long the chipped votives would have sat around for in my new house before being thrown away. now i can’t wait to find a place for them!

did you participate in the spring pinterest challenge too? let me know what you did!

{justine}

pinterest challenge {i’m baaaaaack}

hellllo!

last week another pinterest challenge was thrown down by several blogs i follow, young house love, bower power and, this time around, decor and the dog. i missed the last two challenges and i figured henry wasn’t cutting it as much of an excuse anymore, eight months later. so i was determined to do something, anything to get back in the creative saddle. and that something had to be quick, as henry’s naps are marginal and now he doesn’t stay where i put him. the nerve.

after i picked out my pinspiration, i cruised over to joann fabrics for supplies for my project and…the city of chicago doesn’t allow what i needed to be sold, which was glass etching cream. now let me go off on a tangent here for a sec, and say chicago: screw you! i knew you banned spray paint – lot of good that’s done. and now glass etching cream? is there a gang movement of etching windows that i haven’t heard about? how am i supposed to get my craft on?! i can’t wait till i move to the burbs. {end rant}

so i had to find a plan b, with little time to spare as the little monster back home (i was out of the house, alone!) needed to eat soon. and this pin was it, a super easy but pretty wood bead necklace from one of the hosts of the challenge, decor and the dog. i bought the beads (now that i’m looking back at hers, her beads were bigger. i may like the bigger beads better. can’t decide) and black ribbon (black is my go-to color), both with 40% off coupons, of course, so this project was also cheap. during henry’s short naptime i got to work, and finished!

i followed the super simple steps from decor and the dog, but complicated it by ‘dipping’ my beads in gold (because i’m a sucker for gold + black). so instead of a 5 minute project it was about 15 minutes. 15 minutes for a project i can do.

in my craft supplies i had three options for gold, shown in the image above (two acrylic paints and rub ‘n buff) – and surprise, surprise, rub ‘n buff won out. because it’s the best ever.

to ‘dip’ (and by dip i mean paint with a brush) my beads i took a piece of painters tape (ripped in half lengthwise since my beads were small enough) and placed it around the bead a little more than halfway down, rubbing the edges of the tape with a credit card to seal tightly. to create a stand to dry i nipped the tape on the bottom in four places. then i painted on the rub ‘n buff and let dry on the stand stuck to a paper plate.  (and because i used rub ‘n buff, i had to do the ‘buff’ part of the name and buffed the beads once dry. if you use paint there’s no buffing needed.)

string them on the ribbon, tie a knot, tie a bow, and done!

i do recommend lightly singeing the ends of the ribbon over a candle to seal the ribbon so it doesn’t fray. so maybe 15 minutes and 15 seconds is more accurate

one problem with the rub ‘n buff on the beads: henry wants to eat them. and that is a no. could have guessed that…

and surprise, surprise, i actually got another project done too! a super simple and quick sewing project (because as i said before, quick is the name of the game nowadays). i was going to do a two-in-one post, but the two projects are not relevant to the other, you only have so long of an attention span, and these days i need as much blog content as i can get so i will see you again soon, really. not to mention someone turned eight months yesterday (what?!), so there’s that post as well.

did you accept the pinterest challenge? maybe for the next one i’ll get my hands on glass etching cream and do my plan a. or maybe before…

my past pinterest challenges: lyrics art, heart art, moss monogram wreath

{justine}

mini heart garland {diy}

sorry for my absence. it’s cold. we’re not doing much around here. no house to move into and do things to. this week all three of us got the stomach flu. and there’s only so many photos of henry i can subject you to.

so with that, i’ve had a hankering to do a craft, and with valentine’s day creeping up,  i’ve seen lots of v-day crafts. i’m not big on decorating for smaller holidays, but i thought a little heart action couldn’t hurt.

i decided to finally replace my christmas wreath with my coffee filter wreath (remember when those diy’s were popular a few years ago? still have it and love it) and make a mini heart garland for it. not wanting to go to the store for anything, i scrounged around my craft supplies for the garland materials. i found:

-a heart paper punch (used for this pinterest inspired heart artwork)
-red cardstock
-a red and pink ombre flocked striped notecard (that i diy’d awhile ago and decided i didn’t like enough to send to anyone)
-”all you need is love” stamp (used for the hotel thank you bags for my wedding)

i punched out a bunch of red hearts…and decided they were a bit…red. i’m not much of a red person.

{note to self: love the stripes with the heart punched out. just noticed now}

so i punched hearts out of the front of the flocked note card and loved the striped, furry hearts. then i stamped “all you need is love” on the remaining parts of the note card and cut out hearts with different parts of the phrase on them.

once a bunch of hearts were punched i estimated the amount i would need for my garland, decided the order i wanted them in (mostly random though) and sewed them together. to sew them i pulled the thread so there was a few inch tail at the start and simply sewed through the hearts horizontally, gently pulling the thread about an inch between each heart, and then i left another tail at the end.

in all honestly the hardest part was getting it to lay perfectly on my wreath.

it was fast too. it would have been a naptime project, except this past week my son has decided he will take even shorter naps now, if he naps, so not quite that fast.

enjoy your day!

{justine}

handprint ornament {diy}

henry has adorable, tiny hands, like all babies. and i’m sentimental and want to remember them forever. i was thisclose to buying one of those handprint ornament kits from the store but then i heard about salt dough. seemed easy, and i had all the ingredients so i tried it out. and easy it was. the hardest part was getting henry to keep his hand spread out while not grabbing the dough.

first make your salt dough.

salt dough:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
1/2 cup water

mix together until fully incorporated. knead dough for 7-10, or until soft and smooth. roll out to your desired thickness on a floured surface, mine was about a quarter-inch. create your ornaments, poke a hole in each for hanging (with a straw or skewer) and either bake in a 200 degree oven for a couple of hours or air dry a few days until dry. once painted (or not),  spray with a couple of coats of poly to seal and help it last.

i pressed henry’s hand in the dough before cutting out – it was a bigger target for his wriggling hand. after i used a bowl to cut a circle around his handprint. then before baking i  stamped his name in the dough – one time with ink, one time without (i made two in case). after baking the ink was completely visible (which means it works), however, i didn’t like my execution of it. but you can leave all the decorations until after drying, the dough takes paints well.

after quickly sanding rough edges (i wasn’t very clean with my cutting) i spray painted the entire ornament white, then painted the stamped letters with gold rub ‘n buff.

please ignore the execution of these (they were done quickly and without much thought) but the leftover salt dough can be used for extra handprints or additional ornaments, shaped any way you please (cookie cutters would work well, of which i have none). (that’s an h for henry, i wasn’t spelling ‘oh’ or ‘ho’)

perfect for a last-minute gift for the grandparents or to hang on your own tree to remember those itty bitty hands.

what, you thought i would have a post without henry in it?

are you ready for christmas? i have just a couple small gifts to get still (ugh, i hate being this last-minute, and i don’t know when i’ll get to them) and just a couple small ones to wrap. i. am. so. excited!

{justine}

linked to: southern lovely