diy

DIY hand painted journal

December 18, 2015 by Angela

Two big things happened recently that I’m excited to share: 1) I thought of a name for the journaling community I’ll be starting up in the new year. But more on that later! and 2) I decided on a journal. I searched on Etsy, at Barnes and Noble (they have a huge selection of beautiful, thick journals, but none were for me), and even headed to the mall. Finally, I found the perfect journal. I wanted there to be a creative element because like I mentioned before, I like being able to mix media and add a craft element when I write too. This cover was the perfect canvas for some painting… [Read more…] about DIY hand painted journal

DIY holiday gift wrap

December 9, 2015 by Angela

We got started on the holidays a little late this year, but with this DIY holiday gift wrap, they are officially here. After being in Seattle all of October and having lots to catch up on when I got back, November was a blur. On Saturday I woke up knowing we had to do something, so we drove back up to our old neighborhood, grabbed breakfast, and went to a tree lot to get the cutest, tiniest tree (photos to come!). I have mixed emotions about our apartment right now. We’ve had a love/hate relationship with it ever since moving in, for various reasons. With everything going on in the summer and fall, I didn’t finish decorating. So now that we put holiday decor up, it feels a bit cozier, though there isn’t that reading chair or bookshelf in the corner like I’d planned by now. [Read more…] about DIY holiday gift wrap

DIY felt craft room banner

May 1, 2015 by Angela

Happy May! Can you believe it? If you’re up for a little crafting this weekend, why not try a quick DIY?

Now that I have a little creative studio separate from the rest of my apartment, I can finally think of decor. It’s a small nook with doorways on two walls and windows on the other two, and I want the one large wall to be blank for shooting, so I have to be very intentional about decor. I have room for this little DIY and one or two more. Here’s the how-to and results…

You’ll need:

Felt (including one stiff felt for the banner itself)
Scissors
Hot glue + gun
Stick or twig for hanging
String

DIY Felt Banner

1. Cut out your banner from the sheet of stiff felt.
2. Cut out all letters first, arrange to see how you’d like them to sit, and adhere with hot glue.
3. Line your stick with glue and attach to the top of banner.
4. Tie or glue on string for hanging.

My letters are quite crafty to say the least. Take a peek at Charity’s banner to see an example of someone who can cut letters straight without tracing (it’s an art, really).

DIY dreamcatcher

January 2, 2015 by Angela

This dreamcatcher DIY is something I’ve been wanting to do for months, maybe years. I have a small collection of vintage ribbons and ricrac and lace, that I’ve waited ever so patiently for the right project to come along to use. I think I’ve had this collection for five years now. Recently I realized the dreamcatcher would be the right project, so I started collecting other things, like dyed yarn bundles from MW Fiber Arts and scraps of wool from crochet.

Finding the perfect size ring was difficult so I went with an embroidery hoop and designed the lace to hide the clasp. I used this tutorial to learn how to tie the string into a net. You loop it around and then continue to tie little knots in each piece.

Then all that was left was to tie the strings, as I didn’t want to cover up the light wood of the ring. I took green floral wire and added a few feathers here and there.

Tip: Go over the strings (quickly) with a flat iron if they’re kinky or coily from the packages.

Our bed is in a very inconvenient spot right now, sideways near our window (so I can have an “office”), so the dreamcatcher is off to the side.

I’m excited to try my hand at more of these this year!