Tuesday, May 10, 2011

I Spy: DIY

I've been feeling crafty lately. I don't know what it is, but I am feeling nostalgic for the friendship bracelets of my elementary school days. Short of buying the craft store out of every color embroidery floss, I decided there has to be grown up versions out there somewhere.

Here are a few styles that I'm digging. I plan on making a trip to the hardware store this evening for the essentials. (Husband nearly died of shock when I told him I had DIY's that required s-hooks, hex nuts and ropes, but gladly agreed to accompany me.)

Etsy Sailor's knot bracelet DIY

Honestly WTF Hex nut bracelet

Honestly WTF S-hook rope bracelet
And, if all else fails, I'll just buy my weight in embroidery floss. There's just something about brightly colored rope/twine bracelets that scream carefree summers to me.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Why I shouldn't be left to my own devices

I've been searching for a pink case for my phone for quite some time now. Turns out, a hard case in the right shade of pink is hard to find. The other day I was walking around Michael's, I happened to pass by the acrylic paints and thought "I should just paint my case I have now!" (it was a translucent purple color). So I did. This color (Pink Peony) was named perfectly to my liking, and was the vision of pink I had in my head.

I'm not going to insult your intelligence by doing a step-by-step DIY, but essentially, I scuffed up the plastic with sandpaper, painted many many coats of the pink acrylic paint (letting it dry between each coat) and then covered it with gloss-finish Modge Podge (my crafty lover). Now, since doing this, and perhaps because I busted out the Modge Podge, I was thinking you could always stick a picture/stickers/perhaps even some lace, in between the last paint coat (applying while still tacky) and the Modge Podge. A bit of a decoupage, if you will. (I may have spent an entire summer doing this with magazines and small cardboard pencil boxes from my then employer, gifting them to friends before we all took off to college).

I did this while my husband was out, and when he came home he seemed a bit scared of my doings...however, I have to say, it's been 4 days now, and it hasn't chipped at all. I also haven't dropped it yet, so things may change if when that happens.