DIY Embellished Sunnies

Guys! 
Spring has Sprung! 
The trees are blooming, the temperatures are rising, and summer is just around the corner!

Of course, the best accessory for this time of year is the perfect pair of sunglasses. 

As you may know from previous projects (Like my bejeweled phone case project) that I love to add a little extra sparkle to anything I can get my hands on. 

In this spirit, I am jumping on the band wagon of embellished sunnies, and am gonna share with you the (incredibly easy!) steps to making your own!!

Here's how to make your own pair of decked out shades!

Materials:

- Pair of Sunglasses

- Glue (I found E6000 Jewelry/Bead to be the best. - It's even waterproof after it dries!) 

- Embellishments: I used Swarovski flat backed crystals, flat back plastic flowers, and flat back gold pearls - All found at Michaels in the beading & Scrapbooking sections

How to Make Them:

Ok gang, I wasn't lying when I said it was incredibly easy.

1. Open glue and screw on fine tip point (this glue WILL drain out of the tube, and quickly, so make sure to place it on a paper plate or something.)

2. Make a thin line of glue along frame of glasses where you're going to add stuff & allow to dry for about a minute and get tacky. Do this a little bit of the section at a time

3. Apply Jewels/Flowers/What-Have You

*Tip: For bigger embellishments like the flowers or bigger jewels, add a drop of glue to the back of them as well

*Tip #2: If you get self-adhering jewels/pearls, try to peel off adhesive from the back & just stick the bare back of the gem on 

There you go! 

It's that easy! You can also use super glue or nail glue, but I've found this to work the best and not lose any skin in the process...

Grab a glass of lemonade & put on some tunes and make your own pair today!

DIY Holiday Armadillo Ornament

In our household, among our many obsessions, Friends is a pretty big deal.
We own the whole series and watch it basically on loop year round, quote it incessantly, and basically love it like woah. 
Along with the giant collection of Christmas movies we watch every year, we also have one very important tradition: The Holiday Armadillo episode of Friends.
If you're not familiar with it, I won't get into the details (kinda need to see it), but safe to say it's effing hilarious. I decided to commemorate this genius with an ornament. 

Using these instructions, you could make an ornament in any shape you find, using any image you want! Personal photos, favorite Christmas images or memories, anything! My bestie made me one years ago with a photo of fireworks from a time we went to Disneyland! Think of favorite memories or inside jokes to make your tree extra personal!

Check it out!

Materials:

- Printed Picture

- Cardboard Ornament (check Michaels)

- Glue Stick

- Scissors (not pictured)

- Pen

- Mod Podge

*Optional: Glitter!

Step One:

Save and Print the Picture:

Step Two:

Trace the shape of your ornament on the image

Step Three:

Cut out the picture to fit your ornament

*NOTE: Even though they didn't fit on the star, I cut around the ears for them to stick out, so if you have something like that make sure to not forget about it

Step Four:

Glue the cut out Image to your ornament! 

If you've kept the ears (or whatever you have sticking out) Tape them front and back with some clear masking tape to support them

Step Four:

Cover the image with Mod Podge and let dry (If you want glitter add it before it dries!)

And you're done!

Hang on your tree and be the envy of all who view it! 

OR make these for last minute gifts for people! 

Happy Ornamenting!

DIY BeJeweled Phone Case!

I love bejweling and bedazzling things. Everything's better with a little bling. 

I've spent a lot of time admiring all of the jeweled phone cases out there, and decided to make my own! This is a fun, if labor-intensive, project that will add some pizazz to your device! 

And speaking of cell phone usage- I'm also using this opportunity to utilize the fun Photo App created by the gals over at A Beautiful Mess! All the images in this post have been spiced up using their adorable app. Check it out in the iTunes store!

And now - Here's how you can bejewel your phone case to your heart's content!

Materials:

1. A cell phone case (Something slimmer would probably work better, but since I'm such a klutz I used an otter box to keep my phone protected.)

2. FLAT-BACK jewels! Try and find ones you like WITHOUT self-sticking stuff on the back.

3. Acrylic Nail Glue (Found in the manicure section of the drug store

4. Tweezers

How To Make It:

*If you buy self-sticking jewels, Your first step is to remove the foamy/sticky stuff from the back of every jewel using the tweezers (AHHH!) - This takes a long time, so seriously try and find plain-backed ones. But if you must, you must. Do this first.

1. Figure out what kind of design or look you want, and lay out the jewels across the case to make sure you know how it will look.

2. Once you know how you want it, dive right in. Start at the top and work your way down. Pour a small dot of glue onto the phone case where the jewel will go. 

3. Have your jewels near by, and quickly apply the jewel to the spot of glue with the tweezers. (Sometimes it's faster to use your fingers, but tweezers help with precision and not getting your hands stuck to everything)

4. Basically just keep doing this all the way down until your case is covered! Like I said, this can take a long time, so just be patient and put some good music on in the background. For me it was totally worth the time, I LOVE mine!

NOTES:

*Odds are the jewels will not line up perfectly. Embrace that and make it a little funky

*The smaller the jewels, the longer it takes. Keep that in mind in terms of how much time you want to spend.

*Super glue will probably also work, but I prefer nail glue

PS - Aren't these photo embellishments adorable?! Check out the app!

Valentines Fun Times

Hello Lovelies!
Well, Valentine's Day is coming up, and as you may know, I adore holidays! Last February I did a ton of different valentines themed posts, but this year I've stepped back a lot on the kinda crafty and how-to branch of things. 
However not completely! My hours spent on the internet every day is paying off with this collection of fabulous heart-day inspired links of everything from treats to make to DIY projects to quotes to date ideas! Check it all out and have the happiest of Valentines! 

Want to make something tasty and adorable? Check out this list of 44 Valentines Treats!

The 39 Best Things ever Said About Love according to Buzz Feed:

Also Check out this Yummy looking Black Forest Trifle for Two:

This selection of DIY Valentines Gifts from Mr. Kate:

And as always A Beautiful Mess has some wonderful Home Made Valentine Ideas as well:

ABM Also has a delicious looking Valentines Spiked Punch! Mmmmm:

AND this cute SUPER easy Wall Art! (Basically you should just read that blog all the time...):

Need some Last-Minute Valentine's Gifts? Buzz Feed has your back:

Not as ambitious as all that? Try these dressed up store bought desserts:

Design Love Fest's Adorable Valentines Desktop Downloads (I just made mine the hearts!):

Check out this article to buy a classy bottle of wine for a romantic evening:

And of course, never underestimate the power of the Valentine's Section on Pinterest!

And Etsy!

Man oh man, looking through all of this has certainly put me in the romantic holiday spirit! Hope it does for you too!

Xoxoxo

Lyric/Quote Photo Wall Art

My best friend Ellie is phenomenal at homemade gifts.
She always thinks of something super cool and unique that's special just for us. She makes amazing wall art and projects relating to inside jokes, and just comes up with awesome stuff.
For Christmas this year, I decided to attempt to make Ellie something along those lines.
Sparked by this idea from A Beautiful Mess, I decided to make a piece of wall art that was the lyrics to "our" song (God Only Knows by the Beach Boys) made through photos of she and I. The result was the project below!

Here's how you can do it:

Materials:
- Copies of photos (I opted for black and white)
- Canvas (whatever size you want)
- Tacky Glue
- Mod Podge
- Paint Brushes (2)
- Scissors
- Removable Vinyl Letters
- Paint

How To Make It:
1. Photocopy your pictures enough to cover your canvas. Think about how your letters will be laid out and how big or small you want the faces to be within the letters. Blow some up or shrink some down, whatever you think will look the best.
2. Cut out your pictures and arrange them on the canvas how you want them laid out, then using your tacky glue, glue them securely to the canvas and let dry.

3. Using one of your paintbrushes, paint Mod Podge across the entire canvas, coating it evenly across the whole thing. Let dry until it's bone dry - I let mine sit overnight.

4. Once it's dry, arrange your vinyl letters over the canvas to say your lyric or quote. Make sure they're pressed down pretty hard around the edges.

5. Paint over the whole canvas, over the letters (make sure to not press too hard over the letters so paint doesn't bleed under the edges). Sit to dry.

6. Once the paint has dried, peel off the vinyl letters.

Voila! Your work of art is done!

*Note:

If you want to jazz it up, you can always think about lining your letters' edges with glitter or a darker color if you want. You can also do what I did and stamp on something extra like hearts or designs. Go nuts! Find a fun frame! Add some stenciled work!

Memory Jar

Hey Gang! I mentioned in my post from yesterday that Jake and I keep what we call a memory jar throughout the year, but then ended up not elaborating on it in my post from today. Since then I've had multiple requests asking about it so I thought I'd send a little thing about it your way!

Memory Jar ~

I mentioned this idea in this post earlier in the year. Every time you have a lovely memory, you write it down and put it in your jar, then open them all on New Years. You can then put them in a book or something if you want. 
Jake and I opened ours on New Years Eve over some glasses of champagne and I LOVED it! It was SOOO fun to look back on things we had done and experienced over this year, and to remember special memories ranging from pinnacle moments (both of our 25th birthdays) to smaller moments like date nights or fun afternoons that we had forgotten about. 
The next day I pasted them all into a book especially for papers from our jars over the years.
This next year I'm A) Going to be better about consistency (I kinda petered out on writing them around Octover...) and B) Incorporate some more things like quotes or discoveries or accomplished goals. I'm excited. 

I hope you all are having fun coming up with your resolutions and ringing in the new year with joy and fun!

Xoxoxo

The Four Easiest DIY Ornaments

Tis the season to be crafty! 

Every year we make some kind of ornament, and they're usually the easiest thing imaginable. Here are my 4 easiest home-made ornaments for you to try out for you tree!

1. Laminated Photos

Materials:

- Photos (preferably wallet size or instagrams work great too)

- Clear Masking Tape or Laminate Sheets

- Ribbon

- Scissors

How To Make It:

This is Jake's favorite, and super easy. If necessary, trim your photo down to whatever size or shape you want. Then just laminate it front and back with your tape or laminate! Then tape a little ribbon circle on the back and hang!

2. Hand Painted Ball Ornaments

Materials:

- Glass or Plastic Ball Ornaments

- Sharpies and/or Acrylic Paint

How To Make It:

This is pretty self-explanatory: Just paint or draw whatever designs you want onto the ornaments! Song lyrics, inside jokes, little cartoons, snowflakes, Anything!!

3. Lace Snowflakes

Materials:

- Lace

- Mod Podge

- Wax Paper

How To Make It:
No directions I give you could be better than Aunt Peaches, where I found it.

4. Clay Cookie Cutouts

Materials:
(To Make)

- 4 Cups All-Purpose Flour
- 1 Cup Salt
- 1 1/2 Cups Warm Water

(To Decorate)
Paint, Glitter, Glue, Sequins, Anything!
And a spray paint varnish or Mod Podge to seal

How To Make It:
1. Pre-heat Oven to 375 degrees
2. Mix flour and salt well. Gradually add water, stirring with a large spoon. Finish mixing with hands. Knead until soft and pliable.

3. Roll out on floured surface about 1/8 inch thick. Cut shapes with cookie cutters. Place on cookie sheets. With a toothpick make a hole in the top of the ornament for threading string. Bake at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) until hard, about 1 hour. 
4. Then decorate with paint, glitter and jewels! Use varnish to preserve.

Annnnd From my beloved BuzzFeed:- 51 DIY Decorations!
- And Tiny DIY Stocking Stuffers!
- Annnnddd 39 DIY Gifts you might actually want!