Tag Archive for diy

The Grown Up Bow, a DIY

January 26, 2012 Michelle Accessories, giveaway, I Made It

Remember last week’s wedding wear inspiration?  The wedding has come and gone. And of course, leave it to me to STILL not have pictures on the blog for it…the What I Wore post is coming soon….But in preparation for the wedding, I made an accessory to go with my dress. A bow.  Yes, a bow. 

This isn’t your daughters bow.

It’s the grown up bow.

No, ruffles, no buttons, no frills. Simple and sophisticated. 

I was inspired by this picture from pinterest.  I love how loose, flowy, and sexy her hair is but its still dressy with the bow.  I didn’t have time to traipse all over God’s green earth to find a bow. So, I made one.

I ran to hobby lobby to buy flat alligator hair clips, and 1 1/2″ thick black satin ribbon. (total cost was around $4, my ribbon was 50% off) I also used a glue gun.

  • First, I cut one long strand of ribbon.  I guesstimate about 12 inches.
  • From here,form the ribbon into a loop.  Adjust the loop smaller or bigger, depending on how far you want it too stick out on the sides of your head. Then hot glue the ends of your loop together.
  • Find the middle of your loop and pinch this together with the ends.  You now have a “bow” form.   Glue this together.
  • Cut another piece of ribbon about 3″ long.  Center your “bow” in the middle of the 3″ ribbon.  Fold the sides of the 3″ section over and glue.  Voila! you have made the bow!
  • Center your bow on the alligator clip and hot glue. DONE!

Your end result will look like above!  I have no source for this tutorial since I just looked at the other picture and free-handed crafted it.

Here’s what it looked like when I was all fixed up. It had JUST the effect I wanted! Sophisticated, but sexy.  and yes, I took a picture of the picture on my camera…..

Good news for you…

I’ve decided to give 3 of these beautiful bows AWAY!!

Just leave a comment below, on my facebook page, or on twitter telling me how you would wear it.  There will be one winner from each.  Giveaway ends January 31st! GOOD LUCK!

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Love My Links: Web Randomness

November 15, 2011 Michelle beauty, fashion, inspiration, love my links

There is no rhyme or reason to this edition of Love my Links. Just fun!

Love Maegan transformed regular black pumps into adorable houndstooth heels! (not for the DIY faint of heart.)

Katy Rose of Modly Chic paired her leopard shirt with flares and red, inspiring a few new outfits for myself!

I found my way back to this awesome scarf dress diy from The Glamourai.  Seems easy enough with a gorgeous result.  Might be a new spring project!

Dash’s Cat Eye Closeup is such a pretty glance at my favorite new makeup trend.  The cat eye!  If only I were brave enough to get that close to my face with my camera.

That’s a few fun links to get you through your day! Hope you enjoyed them as much as I did! Have a lovely Tuesday!

*all pictures are from the linked articles!*

 

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DIY Love Print

September 29, 2011 Michelle I Made It, personal, Project ReDo

Guys, I’ll admit this..I haven’t felt much inspiration lately.  It is that awkward time in the Texas “fall” when the calander says October/FALL.  But the temp gauge says 90 degrees and up.  My desire to wear jeans, cords, long sleeves and tights is going hard. But I can’t.  I would suffocate in this heat.. I’m in a funny state of mid season…I’ll get over it, but bear with me, PLEASE!   Until then, we’ll focus on some other stuff.  Including this DIY that I’ve been meaning to share FOREVER!!!

As you know, this whole year I’ve been redoing our apartment to fit “our” style, budget, and karma.  This has included both bathrooms.  Our master bath got a new color scheme of Black, Light Turquoise and Red.  (it needed to flow with our master bedroom which is black, white, and bright blue).

I had this great Ikea UNG DRILL frame and knew I wanted to use it on a small wall for maximum effect.  Previously, I found an frame/wall decor at Target that would have been PERFECT, thinking I could recreate it, I took a cell picture of it.  When I finally got around to remaking it, the picture was GONE! I was heartbroken, but decided to wing it!

Supplies:

  • White Poster board
  • Scissors
  • Exacto knife
  • Elmer’s Glue Stick
  • 4 Sheets of Scrapbook paper
  • Red Craft Paint
  • “LOVE” sparkly sticker

I took the backing off the frame and traced it onto the poster board.  Then cut out the oval.  I laid out my scrapbook paper.  I had to use 4 sheets all lined up.  I glued them all to the poster board then turned it over and set shoe boxes on it to make sure it stuck.   After about 30 minutes, I used an exacto knife to cut off the excess paper on the side of the oval. The seams of the paper are extremely unnoticeable.

I didn’t want it to look too perfect, so I finger painted a heart on the middle.

After it dried, I stuck the “Love” sticker directly in the middle of the heart and put it all back in the frame! This is now the pretty print that hangs in our bathroom!  It was an easy DIY that cost about $8 vs $25 for that first target print I saw.

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The Nail File: How to Water Marble A Pattern on your Nails

July 5, 2011 Michelle beauty, The Nail File

I’ve wanted to try water marbling since I saw this picture on Pinterest!

image via pinterest

I’d never seen anything like it and knew I wanted to try.  There are lots of tutorials and videos out there!  Now I’m going to add mine!   But I’m gonna be honest.   At first, this was HARD!  It took a good while to figure out the right process and end up with these nails!  I’ll give you my tips though!

 I did well and took pictures at the beginning, then gave up. Sorry! It was a long project!  After a little twitter advice from Suze, I tweaked a little bit of the process/needs to make it easier.

 What You’ll Need:

At least 2 thick** nail polishes

Shot glass/Disposable small cup filled 90% with water

Toothpicks

Clear Adhesive Tape (like Scotch Tape)

 

(Essie in Mint Candy Apple, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Fuschia Flare)

 Also Recommended:

A small cup/bowl with Nail Polish Remover

Q-tips (specifically those pointy makeup ones!)

Paper towels

 Steps:

  1. Apply clear tape around all sides of your fingers.  This is the most time consuming part but it is worth it when you are finished.  Get as close as you can to every edge of the nail.  It’ll be less to remove later.
  2. Pull your water cup in front of you. Carefully drop nail polish into the water.  It will disperse but still be opaque!** Drip in your next colors.  It’ll create a bull’s-eye effect.
  3. With a toothpick, working quickly~~, pull through the polish to create the marble effect.
  4. Place your nail face down into the water where you want the design to appear.  Dip and pull your finger out.  Only a second or two, just make it long enough to cover the entire nail.  It will dry quickly, so don’t worry.
  5. With your toothpick, clear away the excess polish from the water. It should all stick to the toothpick after a few seconds.
  6. Repeat the process with all of your nails! Remove the tape, and apply topcoat as usual.  After your top coat has dried, use a q- tip to remove the excess polish on your skin.  The pointy ones are super handy, here!

 Left hand

Right Hand

**Use thick polish!  You know, that only take one coat normally! If your polish isNOT thick enough, it will drip and then become clear.   You’ll notice it immediately!  This is where I messed up the worst.  I didn’t realize my mistake for a good 10 tries.  I went through a lot of tape!

~~The polish dries quickly in the water.  If you take too long between drips, it will all congeal on your nail.

 No matter what, it is all easy to fix.  So if you do mess up, who cares, try again!  Hopefully you can learn through my mistakes and enjoy your pretty new nails!  I LOVE mine!

What do you think of water marbled nails? Have you tried this?

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Gilty Reflection

May 16, 2011 Michelle I Made It, projects

In my last post I told you I was going to share a little bit of our home with you, Welcome!

I’ve been working on some projects around our house to finish up rooms and class up the place if you will.  My latest project has been a clothespin mirror! Huh?! What?!

A Clothespin Mirror.  Here was the inspiration:

Photo via Country Living

I originally saw this a few months ago on another blog but managed to track down the original source/directions.  I fell in love with it instantly, even knowing I had the perfect mirror for it!! II’ve had an ugly old hand me down oval mirror with a four section wood frame. I’ve lugged it through two different moves and tried to paint it black to make look better. Didn’t work, so I shoved it away in the closet for a future project.  It has been in the back of my mind waiting for the right moment and with all the little projects I’ve been doing lately, it was time!

Of course, I only took a simple cell phone picture of my before plan:

That’s the unfinished frame and unfinished clothespins, of course the blue is painters tape covering the mirror itself.

I went to my local craft store and picked up a 100 pack of clothespins and some craft paint.  I wanted to make a statement with my new mirror so I chose Americana paint in Aztec Gold.  I have to say I surprised myself with this color choice.  I used to be anti-gold anything but decided to challenge myself.  I figured the Aztec Gold would be a little more shiny/yellowy that just regular gold.

I put about 6 or 7 coats on the frame. (black is hard to cover!) Then I painted two coats to the front, sides, top, and bottom on all of the clothespins.  After this I realized, I’d painted the spring portion of the clothespins. It looked bad, so I spent a few hours hand/toothpick scraping the paint out of approximately 75 springs.  Then I layed out the clothespins and pulled out my glue gun.

The final product!

Upclose Detail

In the Hallway

What do you think?  I’m absolutely in LOVE with it! It turned out better than I could have ever imagined!  The gilded gold color is gorgeous and the whole thing just made the hallway shine. I think it might be one of the best projects I’ve ever done.  Best thing: it cost about 5 dollars!  All I had to buy was the paint and clothespins!

My original inspiration with directions: http://www.countryliving.com/crafts/projects/crafts-with-clothespins

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