Posts tagged crafts

If you ever hit a creative wall with decor, go to Ikea! I went there recently and saw this beautiful pendant lamp. It looks like the flowers ought to be made of metal but upon closer inspection, they’re are actually made of coated paper. That inspired me to make some VERY CHEAP wall art using regular computer paper! What do you think?

Supplies:

- Computer paper (don’t use thick paper like cardstock because it won’t curl well) 

- Scissors

- Hot glue gun (optional)

- Pushpins 

Steps:

1) Fold a sheet of computer paper a couple of times. 

2) Draw a flower on the folded paper like below. This is going to be your stencil. It doesn’t have to be perfect since we’re going to curl the edges. 

3) Cut out the flower stencil. Since I folded the paper twice, I got a total of 4 flowers out of each sheet of paper. I decided to make a few stencils of different sizes because I didn’t want all of the flowers to look exactly the same. Either way, follow the above steps until you’ve got enough flowers. 

4) Curl all of the petals by rolling the petals inwards and letting it go. 

5) Using the hot glue gun, glue the pushpin to the back. I didn’t want the pushpin to show so I decided to glue it to the back. Alternatively, you can choose to attach the flower to the wall using a pushpin on the front so the top of the pushpin does show and acts as the center of the flower. 

6) Push the flower pushpin into the wall by applying pressure on the pushpin itself. Do the same with other flowers.

7) Voila! You’ll have a wall full of cherry blossoms! It kind of reminds me of Mulan :) 

Happy Crafting Ya’ll! :D

After painting my bathroom, it looked better, but it needed something more. So I decided to stencil a wall with pearl paint so that you can only see the stenciling when light shines on it! And I made a DIY light fixture (below) + DIY covering for the outlets (which I might change out bc I don’t know if I like the black print). 

Supplies (Wall Stenciling)

- Martha Stewart Pearl Paint in “Mother of Pearl” ($2 x 2 bottles from Michaels)

- Stencil ($10 from Michaels)

- Stencil Adhesive Spray ($6 from Michaels)

- Foam brushes ($1 x 3 from Michaels)

- Ruler

- Level (Free if you download an app!)

- Small paintbrush (optional)

Supplies (DIY lighting)

- Japanese lantern ($5 at Michaels)

- Mini cupcake cups ($2 x 2 at Hobby Lobby)

- Glue gun 

Steps:

1) Wipe down your painted wall with a damp cloth and allow to dry. 

2) Decide on the placement of your stencils—I calculated it so that I had one line of pattern every 13 1/8 inches for a total of 7 lines of pattern. Since I didn’t have a ruler that was bigger than 12 inches, I used a scrap piece of wood, made a little mark that was 13 1/8 inches long, then used a level app to make teeny marks on the wall. Then, connect those dots to form 7 lines. 

2) Spray the back of the stencil with adhesive spray (it makes it tacky and stick to the wall) and line it up with the marks on the wall you just made. Paint away!

The kind of stencil I had had overlapping patterns, which meant I had to paint all 7 columns with stencil A, then overlap it with stencil B to create a more detailed finished design. 

3) Done! Either erase the pencil marks (if you can) or paint over them using the wall paint with a tiny little paint brush (which is what I did). I can’t get over how awesome pearl paint looks!! Do you see the gradient effect? :D :D :D

4) For the DIY lighting fixture, I simply glued mini cupcake cups to a japanese lantern and hung it onto the exposed bulb! So easy and it looks awesome! 

I LOWE MY BATHROOM NOW! :D

Hello lovelies! It’s been a while! Winter break is almost ending (nooooooooo!) so I thought I should finally update with my latest project—fixing up my bathroom at home! I LOVE LOVE LOVE home improvement. And doing it myself. Duh. What do yall think of the before and after? 

Back in 2001 when we bought our house, I picked this baby blue wallpaper for my bathroom which I quickly realized was meant for a nursery. For a little boy. Hey, I was 12, didn’t care much about design and just thought it was a pretty color. Anyways, it was time for the wallpaper to go.

Supplies:

- Wallpaper Scorer + Stripping Solution + Wallpaper Scraper ($25 at Home Depot)

- Sandpaper ($3 at Home Depot)

- Putty (optional) ($7 at Home Depot)

- Paint (FYI I got Behr Paint + Primer in “Pewter Mug” ($35 at Home Depot)

- Paint Rollers + Brushes + Pan ($10 at Home Depot)

- Painters/Masking Tape ($3)

Total: $83 (I actually only spent ~$50 bc I had a lot of things from renovating my sister’s bathroom)

Steps:

1) Score the walls with a wallpaper scorer. The scorer pokes little holes into the wallpaper so that the stripping solution can penetrate the waterproof layer. This part is boring but a great arm workout!

2) Spray wallpaper stripping solution and slowly take off wallpaper in sections. Check out my giant pile!

3. Take off the SECOND layer of paper that remains adhered to the drywall. This thing is a PAIN bc it comes off in the tiniest sections. Be careful NOT to dent the drywall (if you do, you can putty it and sand it).

In this pic, the drywall is beige colored and the second layer is darker, more yellowish in hue.  

4. Sand like crazy! Everything should be smooth bc once you paint, there is no going back to fill in dented drywall! 

5. Tape up all the sides and then paint! I REALLY recommend getting paint + primer—it is a huge time saver and looks more professional!

THAT’S IT FOR TODAY FOLKS! Stay tuned for Part 2! 

YAY FOR 100 FOLLOWERS! Thanks for all the love and support : )

Ok, now to the tutorial: I practically have no counter space in the bathroom of my current apartment, which sucks since I’m a girl and have a bit of makeup hoarding problem. So I had a ton of stuff and nowhere to put it. As I was doing the DIY Jewelry Organizer/Display, I had an Aha! moment and came up with this to clear up more space! And it uses the same thumb tacks! :D

Supplies:

- Thumb tacks ($4 from Amazon) 

- “Flexible” Plastic cups ($2 from Walmart). By “flexible” I mean it shouldn’t crack if you press on the sides and should be thin enough to poke a thumb tack through.  

Steps:

1) Pin a cup to the wall at an angle (it’s easier to take things out when it’s pinned at an angle) using 2+ thumbtacks. 

2) If you’re going to put heavier objects in the cups (like my clarisonic), pin it straight up (not at an angle). 

3) Get organized! I cannot tell you much easier life is when you can find bobby pins and hair ties when you need them! 

Tips:

Use this to organize other things! I also pinned a cup next to my calendar & prayer times display to keep dry erase markers for easy access:

The extent of my jewelry organization was keeping it in a box. It would get tangled, I’d never find what I was looking for, and I’d hardly wear anything (even though I had to buy certain pieces hehe).   

I’d seen a ton of ways to organize jewelry on Pintrest using a frame shown here, here, here, and recently saw one of my friends make it and it looked adorable! But I couldn’t find a frame that was big enough and that didn’t cost $50. So I was THRILLED to make this for under $10!! :D

Supplies:

- Gift wrap ($5 from Hallmark) 

      * I bought this gift wrap to use as shelf liners! It’s a lot prettier than commercial shelf liners

- Gold thumbtacks ($4 from Amazon)

 Steps:

1) Cut a piece of the gift wrap a little larger than what you want the finished product to be. Fold it on all sides on the wrong side.

2) Add thumbtacks to secure it to the wall. I added them along the sides for decorative effect. And it helped that the gift wrap pattern already had lines so yay for no measuring!

3) To hang jewelry, stick a pushpin into the middle of your ‘frame’, but don’t push it in all the way. 

4) Show off your bling! 

* This [obviously] will poke a lot of holes in your wall! To cover these up, simply add a little bit of putty and a coat of paint. 

I’ve neglected this blog for a while! I was being so good while I was in Chicago, but I transferred law schools so I’ve been busy! I made these blessing bags during Ramadan but never got around updating the blog…but, better late than never!

Unlike the suburb of Houston where I grew up, you can actually see homelessness in downtown Chicago. It’s sad not only because it’s a reality to hundreds of thousands of people all over the nation, but giving money is actively discouraged for fear that they will spend it on drugs/alcohol/etc. (a valid reason).

Fasting for almost 17 hours a day, with no food or water, is a very humbling experience. So it didn’t sit well with me that the solution for this is doing nothing, especially during Ramadan when you’re supposed to be giving to the needy. So while on Pintrest, I saw this great idea of making blessing bags! It’s just a baggie with essential things you can keep in your car to give out whenever you see someone in need!

It’s so easy—just gather things you want to include in your bag. Here are things that I got:

Put these in a ziplock and keep them in the car to hand out! 

I also typed out the ingredients from the food packaging in case someone was allergic to an ingredient along with a little message that basically said I was fasting for Ramadan and hoped this makes their day better.

I handed out all of the bags I made and it felt great to give something out rather than sitting in your car at a light, trying to avoid eye contact with someone you know could use your help! : ) 

I had a bleach white scarf, but I wanted a taupe colored one. I was online looking up fabric dyes when I remembered how I had turned a white ribbon more champagne colored—tea dying!

Of course I forgot to take pics of the process, but the steps are really easy!

Supplies:

Large pot

Teabags

Water

Fabric you want to dye (White turns taupe-y colored; to see what other colors would turn into, do a sample test first)

Steps:

1) Boil a big pot of water with tons of black tea bags (I used 4-5 teabags) & let it cool a bit.

2) Dunk your fabric in the tea and let it soak for 20-30 minutes.

3) Rinse with water and enjoy your tea dyed fabric!

(Source: teadyedscarf)

I get so frustrated at Draw Something (the game) when I can’t even make simple stick figures. I wanted to buy a stylus (the pen thingy for touch screen devices) but thought it would be better if I made one myself! I just googled “DIY Stylus” and this is the easiest tutorial I found using household items and it really works!! 

Supplies:

Q-Tip

Pen (This has to be a pen where you can take out the ink cartridge like a ballpoint pen)

Aluminum Foil 

Tape

Water

Steps:

Take out the ink from the pen and cut the Qtip in half diagonally (so the end is pointy). Then push the Qtip into the pen and tape it together. 

Wrap a piece of aluminum foil around the pen.

Tape the aluminum foil so it doesn’t move. (Sorry if you can’t see the tape in the pic…I guess I shouldn’t take pics of transparent tape lol)

Put 1-2 drops of water on the Qtip and your stylus is ready! Make sure you’re holding onto the aluminum foil portion when using it. If it starts having problems, just add another few drops of water. 

Ta da! I’m drawing a cashier in the pic. What’s up awesome stick figure?

(Source: DIYStylus)

It’s that time of the year again! Ramadan Mubarak everyone!! 

I’m really excited to have this month for introspection, strengthening my faith, seek forgiveness, give more to charity, and trying to be a better person all together. And it’s pretty great that millions of people are doing the same! : )

 If you’re curious about how Muslims fast, why we fast, and in general, what Ramdan is, this website explains it pretty well, and references fasting in Christianity! 

Have a good one!

To make the Chocolate Dipped Shortbread Teabag Cookies, I obviously didn’t have a teabag shaped cookie cutter (and cutting out each cookie would take forever) so, I just figured I would make my own! I tried finding things I could use and I had an Oprah “Aha!” moment—an aluminum coke can! It’s strong, holds its shape, and sharp enough to pop out perfect cookies!

Supplies:

- Aluminum Beverage Can (Coke/Sprite/Iced Tea etc.)

- Scissors

- Tape

Steps:

1) Get an empty beverage can (in my case, an iced tea can) and cut off the top.

2) Next, cut vertically from the top to the bottom so that you can then cut the bottom of the can with ease. 

3) You should be left with a sheet of aluminum.

4) Cut a strip about 2-3 inches in width (it doesn’t have to be perfect). And fold it in half. Once folded, use a bone folder or a pen to really flatten it. Tape the top part of the strip so that you don’t slice yourself.

5) Cut out a template of the desired shape (a teabag shape in my case). Now comes the slightly difficult part: place the strip of metal along the circumfrence of your template and make bends where the template bends. It really helps if your template has sharp corners rather than slight bends and turns.

PS: my fingers aren’t diseased, I’ve got henna on them :)

4) In the end if the strip overlaps, tape it and you’re done! Ta da!!

Tips:

- Please be careful and try not to slice yourself on the aluminum can

- This works best when you’re trying to create a shape that has sharp corners rather than a ton of curves (although you can still create a curvey cookie, it’ll just be harder)