Upcyle: Magazine Jar

Hello there!

I hope you are having an amazing week. On my side, I ordered some lovely plastic hairbands from Ebay and the good news is that they arrived two weeks early! As you know from experience, hairbands and bobby pins love running away. To keep them safe, I am reusing a glass jar that used to have yummy onion relish. I am quite excited to show you how I redesigned their new house!

I first washed the jar then let it soak in soap water overnight to get rid of any food smell.

Let's begin! You will need:

The jar

Lovely magazine cutouts (large enough to cover the lid, obviously :D)

Scissors

Mod Podge (I have the 'gloss' version)

A sponge or a paintbrush

A pencil or an embossing pen (I created one using an old pen and a sewing pin with a 'ball' head. Simply remove the ink tube, push the pin inside the writing side of the pen and voilà!)

Firstly, place the lid on top of the image to draw its shape with a pencil/embossing pen. I preferred the embossing pen because it is simply invisible. If you use a pencil, make sure you are only slightly marking the paper.

When you're done marking the shape of the lid, proceed to the cutting of the image LEAVING A GAP OF 2CM around the lid, the gap will later be folder inside the lid.

Stick the paper to the lid using Mod Podge and make sure that the edge of the paper is even on every side of the lid. Cut 1cm sized petals around the lid with the scissors.

Apply Mod Podge evenly on the petals and on the inside edge of the lid. Fold each petal inside.

When the lid is dry, apply a layer of Mod Podge all over the paper to protect it.

 And you're done!

 If you enjoyed this tutorial, please share!

How will you use your jar? Let me know in the comments!

Aztec Notebook

Hello guys!

I hope you had a creative week. I was trying to think of ideas I could share with you on the blog and realised that I should really note them down in a notebook. Luckily, my dad has a stash of them, so I stole one from him. Thanks dad!

As you will find, it is very 'manly'. It is just a plain silver notebook and it lacks a girly touch! For a while now, I wanted to make a paper cut out, the kind that goes back to the kindergarten days in art class. Together with the notebook, the cut out gives it a nice Aztec style. Let's get to work!

 Things that you need:

A notebook

Coloured paper

Scissors

A sharp craft knife

Craft glue

A circle compass

A ruler

A mechanical pencil

Invisible tape

A thick cardboard to cut on (I used the back of a sketch pad) or A healing mat

 Firstly, cut your piece of paper into a square.

Secondly, cut out the circle that was drawn using the circle compass.

After folding the circle in four, create a scallop edge with the scissors. Of course you have the freedom to do any design you like. I also cut out a circle for the middle of the circle.

Using invisible tape, stick the paper to the background as you will use the craft knife to cut out shapes. I honestly randomly made shapes in it, I folded the paper a few times too to cut it with scissors. Get creative!

This is what it should look like when open! At this stage, you could use the cut out for anything you like.

Apply craft glue all over the circle, making sure that you don't tear the fragile paper cut out. Don't apply too much so as to not dampen the paper.

There you go, you're all done! It brings back good ol' kindergarten memories, not that I remember much..

You could frame the cut out that you've made and display it on your wall! How will you use it? Let me know in the comments!

If you liked it, share it!

Love,

Letitia

DIY Bobby Pins

Hello!

This week, we will upcycle our average-looking bobby pins, into pretty and girly ones. Hopefully, you still have some at hand. Otherwise check under the bed or inside your handbags, where they usually like to hide.
 

[Title Font: Coconut point from here.]

You will need:
Bobby Pins!
A piece of stock paper/cardboard
Nail Polish (as many colours as you like)
Beads
Scissors
Craft Glue
Felt Scrap [A rectangle of about 2.5cm x 3cm]
A sewing needle
Black thread 


No. 1 The Nail Polish Bobby Pin

Simply place your bobby pins on the piece of paper/cardboard so as to hold the pins still and to protect your table from getting nail polish graffiti. This is the easy part, create any designs that you like, with any colour you want! The hard part is waiting for them to dry before using them. :p



No. 2 The Bead Bobby Pin

You will need:
A bobby pin
A bead
A sewing needle
Black thread
Scissors

Basic sewing skills are fine for this task. Use double thread for the bead to hold on strong on the bobby pin. The first step is to tie two knots on the pin placing them at the top of the bobby pin.

Pass the thread through the bead and make sure that you are working on the top part of the bobby pin. Tighten the bead to the pin and tie a knot on the bobby pin to secure the bead.

You now need to make sure that the bead won't move around on the bobby pin. Pass the needle through the other side of the bead, then secure with a knot. You will find that a horizontal thread has formed underneath the bead.

Secure the thread by passing the needle through it and keep making knots until you have completed the rounds. When you notice that the bead is tight, you are almost done. 

Finish off by randomly passing the needle through the knots to make sure that the thread will not get undone. Cut the thread off cleanly.

No. 3 The Felt Bow Bobby Pin

You will need:

Felt scrap

A sewing needle

Black thread

Craft glue

Scissors

Cut a thin strip off the felt scrap, which will go in the middle of the bow later. Fold the larger strip three times and sew the middle to tighten the folds to form a bow. Make sure the thread is securely attached and cut the loose threads off.

Fold the thin strip over the bow and using craft glue, close the strip off. If it is not doing the job, lightly sew the strip. Cut off any extra pieces of thread and felt.

You can choose to leave the pointy bow as it is or create a rounded bow like me. For this part, use the same technique explained for The Bead Bobby Pin tutorial to sew the bow to the bobby pin.

Do get creative and use whichever cute and decorative things you can find around the house to decorate your bobby pins. I'm sure just like me, you still keep that pretty button or that broken earring that you just cannot throw away. Why not use it on a bobby pin? I would love to hear how you went in the comments!

Thank you for your visit.

If you liked this tutorial,

Please share!

Handmade Paper Rose

Hey guys.

I hope that you had a great week. On my side, I am always in the process of updating the look of my room. I realised that my walls lacked colour and came up with the idea of a flower garland! This week, I want to show you how to make this (extremely easy) paper rose.

You will need:

1 A4 paper (choose any colour)

1 pair of scissors

1 pencil

1 craft glue

First, you will cut your A4 paper into a square.

Use your pencil to mark the decorative spiral on your paper. As you can see in the photo below, I left a small space in the middle. This part will be glued to the bottom of my flower when I'm done. Don't worry, this will make sense soon.

Start cutting the spiral with your scissors. You do not have to follow the lines exactly but make sure that you are creating your 'petals' beautifully.

As shown in the photo, I stopped cutting the paper leaving the space for it to be glued later on

Cut off the straight part of the decorative spiral.

This is what it should look like all cut up!

Starting with the outer part of the spiral, curve the paper inwards to create the bud of the flower. Hold it together using craft glue.

Depending on the flower size that you want, keep curving the 'petals' inwards, making sure that you add a dab of glue once in a while to keep the flower together. 

Add glue to the bottom of the flower and close it off.

You now have a beautiful paper rose.

The previous ones I made were used in the flower garland and I gave this one to my love. How will you use the handmade paper rose? Let me know in your comments!