Showing posts with label crafting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label crafting. Show all posts

22 December 2011

Old = New :: Crafting with Wine Corks

If you are a Pinterest addict like myself I'm sure you've seen some great uses for used wine corks floating about... there are a few perks to crafting with corks:

3. If adds a fun textural element to your decor & it's something different
2. You are recycling and that makes Mom Nature pretty happy
1. You get to drink a LOT of wine!!!!!!....

... really that's enough of a reason for me but just in case you needed more encouragement to get your cork crafting on, there are those other two up there.

Now, these diy items should be used SPARINGLY in your home. You should not go crazy with the corks around the house, just do a few projects that you love. Here are my faves & don't worry I included some ideas not for the home in case you really do want to go cork crazy. You're welcome.





{Cork Place Card Holder}

{New meaning to 'cork board'}

Cheers! 





14 December 2011

{Quickie}: DIY Yarn Garland

Couldn't resist sharing this adorbes DIY yarn garland. It would be the perfect addition to your winter & holiday decor!


Get the how-to here.



I mean, seriously?! Drool.

Get more yarn & other presh details in photos of this winter wedding via Green Wedding Shoes.

12 December 2011

Found it on Pinterest, Vol. 1 :: DIY Mercury Glass, Part 1

So, how many things do you pin on Pinterest and say to yourself "I could do that", and then how many have you actually done?? Well, I have vowed to myself I will try at least one new crafty task a month... so this month... mercury glass.

My good friend, Nicole is getting married in May 2012 and I am styling her wedding. Her overall look is  'vintage glam' with lots of metallic elements so naturally we have envisioned lots and lots of mercury glass. Well of course, thanks to Pinterest, we decided it would be less expensive to make our own. We've learned two lessons:

1) Everything looks easy on the Internet
2) This is not less expensive than buying your own (at least this particular method, jury is still out on the concept in general, so stand by for other methods in Part 2 of this post).

So I'm going to briefly take you through our journey. We used the technique from this lovely blog. Let me just start out by saying ours look nothing like hers. If they did, we would not have labelled this attempt as a giant FAIL. I blame it on impatience. However, we are not giving up! We are trying a new technique next weekend. Until then, here is our journey via not-so-great photos from my Palm (hence why they are so small... sorry).

We started out with clear glass, variety of textures & shapes from Hobby Lobby:



We used these materials, a spray bottle of water, looking glass spray paint, and gold & black craft paint applied by Q-tips:

The first coat while drying looks a bit like this:



The curvy one turned out 'okay' although fairly opaque and not very antiqued looking. But the pieces with textured glass were a disaster:


These little votives looked so good - and then we put a candle in them and lit them and then they totally looked like an after school craft project :(


 Until next weekend...

Has anyone else tried this? Any helpful hints you can add??