Magnetic Make Up Board

I hate spending a lot of time getting ready before I have to go somewhere, and have always been annoyed by how unorganized my make up is. I used to spend so much time rummaging through a bag trying to find the right color and the right brush, and I don't even have that much make up! So since I moved to a new house, I decided to try to be more organized and try to do a couple of those organizational things I've been seeing on Pinterest that make me happy, and decided to start by making a magnetic make up board.

I found a magnetic board at Craft Warehouse and chose the size that was closest to the size of scrapbook paper, so I didn't have to do any cutting. I used matte mod podge on the metal and then went over the front with mod podge. Glue magnets to the back of my make up, and voila! It was so easy, it really cheers up our bathroom, and makes me feel less stressed when I'm getting ready. I think at some point I want to add a frame to finish up the look, but for now I'm happy with the result. The best part is, it cost me less than 12 bucks to make.

To organize my brushes, I had a little flower pot that came with an orchid that I killed shortly after receiving it as a gift from a former student. I filled it up with rice and stuck them in, brush side up. Now they are super easy to see and get to. My make up has never been as organized, and it takes up almost no counter space.

P.S. If you make your way to Bath & Body Works or my bathroom, try the Candy Cane Bliss hand soap. I'm obsessed.

DIY Custom Ornaments Tutorial

On Sunday, we went and got my Christmas tree! I am a little obsessed with Christmas and love decorating for it. Yesterday we went and got another tree, so we have one upstairs and one downstairs, and I am in heaven! It smells amazing in here.

This is the first year I've had a full grown Christmas tree as an adult, which means I don't have a very large ornament collection. I bought a couple boxes the other day, but they're nothing exciting, and I really enjoy an eclectic array of random ornaments. I love matching, stylish trees too, but random is more my style.

So I thought this would be a good opportunity to make some of my own ornaments and here's a little tutorial of some that I made the other day.

They're super easy, and the best part is you can customize them however you want. I got the ornaments at Craft Warehouse. They are skinny, almost flat ornaments. Only cost less 6 bucks for a set of 4. You only see 3 here because I dropped one, so my narwhal never made it to the tree *sad face*.

Choose an image you want. I used this website for these ones. I copied the image, re-sized them in a word document and printed them out. Then I went in search for something round and the perfect size to trace a circle with. A jar lid worked perfectly.

Trace and cut along the line. I used mod podge and put glue on the back side of the ornament. Carefully place the picture where you want it. I noticed that if you moved the paper around too much, the ink would start to smear, so try to be deliberate in where you put it. Though after the glue dries, it isn't very noticeable. Once the paper is in place, apply more glue to the back of the paper. I had to go around the edges with my fingers to make sure that all the paper was sticking to the glass.

Take a wet rag and clean up any excess glue while it is still wet. I wasn't able to get it all, but once it dried I was able to scrape the little glue spots that still remained.


I love this technique because there are so many ways you can customize them. You can make any kind of ornament if you can find a picture of it. I'm happy with how they turned out.

Crochet Inspiration

We had a Craft Club a couple weeks ago and I brought along my crochet bag that I haven't touched in well over a year. I was very fortunate to be surrounded by knowledgeable crocheters/knitters so they could remind me how to do it. I just recently finished crocheting these.

I think Miso likes them. I'm pretty proud of how these turned out, crochet wise. This is some of the best crochet I've ever done, though I'm not sure I like how they fit, probably due to my improvising on the pattern I used (because I still don't really understand how to read patterns, or finish it off, so I do my best).

Now that I finally finished this project and just inherited a ton of knitting needles, I'm itching to start something new, and fantasizing about the future when I'm super awesome and can crochet and knit anything I want (a girl can dream, right?) Here are a few off my list of "Someday Projects":

    

 

I better get busy!

Patio table revamp

I recently moved into a huge house, with my boyfriend, Muj, and his roommate, Lisa. Muj has two adorable dogs, and I have my awesome kitty. As with most dogs, when we eat meals, they are very interested in stealing your food. Surprisingly, between the three of us, we didn't have a dining room table. Dining tables are a must when you have sneaky, cute, little dogs that stop at nothing to eat your food. Moving is expensive, and we didn't really have the money to buy a new table. Luckily, my parents had an extra glass top patio table that has been in our family for years (my dad even remembers eating dinners at this table as a teenager) that they were willing to part with.

I wasn't a big fan of the fabric on the chairs, and as you can see, it was in desperate need of a coat of paint. But other than that, I knew it would work perfect as a dining table for us, and it wouldn't cost us anything. So I spent some time looking at Spoonflower and noticed that one of my favorite artists, Valentina Ramos, had a Spoonflower shop. She has so many amazing designs. After much debate, I decided to go with the Reverie fabric. I ordered the heavy cotton twill, so it would be sturdy enough to upholster.

Once the fabric arrived, I picked up some purple spray paint and got to work. I ordered more than enough fabric, so we used more than we needed and many staples from the staple gun to cover the old fabric. (Don't  look at the bottom of the chairs, its not pretty).

After many 6 cans of spray paint, and a sore pointer finger (I had no idea it would take so many!) I finally finished. I'm pretty happy with the results.

Thankfully my parents are okay with having purple grass for a while! Here's a picture of the table right after I finished it.

And here's what the table looks like today in our house. During the move there were some chips in the paint I still need to touch up. I might need to look into something like a top coat to avoid chipping in the future. Do you know of any ideas?