DIY: Felted Heart Garland

Here is a super easy diy that will add a little Valentine's spirit to any room!

A while back I bought a faux birch tree that had little LED lights on the end of its branches to put in one of the corners in my bed room. Since then I have had fun finding ways to decorate it, especially for holidays. For christmas (I never got around to getting a real tree) so I hung my decorations on the branches of this one. I wanted to do something Valentines-y with it and I came up with this!

You will need: 

Sheets of felted wool (you can find this at Michael's) -how ever many colors you want

Gold embroidery thread

Scissors

A needle

Cut out little hearts from the felted wool sheets. I used two colors (pink and grey). Once you have enough hearts (I think I probably made fifty or sixty) thread the needle with the embroidery thread. Now assemble your garland by threading each of the hearts onto the thread. Don't worry if they bunch up - you can space them out again once you have gotten them all on the thread! Now tie off each end and ta-da you have a heart garland! 

-xxC

 

DIY: Homemade Coconut-Lavender Sugar Body Scrub

Over the past few months I have seen many different "recipes" for different homemade body scrub. Some are salt, some are sugar, and some are a mix of the two. Some have scents and some don't. A few things that all of the scrubs had in common were that they were all easy to make and most of them were made with ingredients that I already had in my pantry. After doing some research I found a website that outlined the basic necessities for a salt or sugar scrub. I decided upon a sugar scrub (since it is a bit gentler on skin) and since I only had white sugar at the time I used that. I think in the future I might try to make it with brown sugar and see how I like that. I decided to use coconut oil since it smells nice and is very gentle. I also decided to add some lavender essential oil to add a soothing floral scent.

To make it it is super easy!

You will need:
2.5 cups sugar
1 cup oil
~.5 tsp essential oil

Mix the sugar, oil, and essential oil together. Since I used coconut oil I had to warm it up a bit before adding the sugar since it is solid at room temperature. Once the ingredients are well mixed I filled a few smaller ball jars with the scrub and added a few dried lavender buds to the top for decoration.

I was a little worried that the scrub may feel really oily and not wash off all the way, but it doesn't seems that way at all. The oils help moisturize, especially at this time of the year when I notice my skin is a little on the dry side.

Happy scrubbing!
xx C

DIY: Homemade Soy and Beeswax Candles

Good Morning!


Here is a super simple DIY that I did over the weekend, for the past few years I have told myself that I was going to make most of the christmas presents for my family and friends...well I always put it off and am lucky if I find the time to make a batch of cookies for one of my uncles. This year I decided that I was actually going to make christmas presents and start early so I wasn't rushing at the last minute to finish them. Well this past weekend I realized that there was only a month until christmas and I hadn't started to make any of my presents. Whoops. I find that it is easier to make or give lots of little presents instead of just one big presents. Here is the first christmas present project that I did:

To make these candles you will need: 
Jars
Candle wicks (they come pre-cut or in a long length that you can trim down your self)
Sauce pot (to melt the wax in)
Old cup or some other vehicle to pour the wax into the jars
Essential oils (I used pine and lavender)
Wax (I found a homegoods place that sold both beeswax and soy wax for a very reasonable price, you can also find it at most craft stores but it can be a bit pricy)

To make:

Set the wicks up in the jars (I fashioned a tape "x" and poked a hole in the middle and that seemed to work pretty well.

To get the wick through the tape I dipped the end of the wick in the wax and then let it harden - this prevented the wick from fraying.

Melt the wax. Once it is melted add the essential oils (you can decided how much to add)

Pour the wax into the jars. Let sit for a few hours or until the wax is completely cooled.

*For the lavender candles I added a few lavender buds to the melted wax as a decoration.

xx-C

DIY: Radiator Shelves

Happy friday!

This week seems to have flown by especially since one of my friends from home was visiting until yesterday! I will be posting a few photos from her visit tomorrow! A few weeks ago Matt and I made these shelves, they were super easy to make and didn't take all that long either!


Since moving into my house I have realized that 1) there isn't actually that much room and 2) there isn't very much horizontal storage room either. To solve this problem I have been trying to figure out a way to add shelves and utilize space. I have also been wanting to get a few larger house plants that would add some green to my home, especially since we are entering the cold, rainy season in Portland. My house is heated using radiators and they are placed right in front of the two windows in the living and dining rooms. These windows would be the perfect place to put the plants that I have been dreaming of. Unfortunately the window sills aren't wide enough to hold plant pots and since the radiators are right in front of the windows I can't put a shelf or a table in front of the windows either. After a lot of pinteresting I found a picture of a home that had built a shelf above the radiator, in the picture it looked like a pretty simple project so Matt and I decided to give it a try!

You will need:
2 brackets per shelf (I made two shelves so I needed four)
4 3/4 inch screws per shelf
4 screws that will anchor it into the wall (since I have plaster walls I had to use special screws; usually at home improvement places that have a display that will tell you which type of screw to get for each type of wall depending on how much weight you think the screw will need to hold. I think I got screws that can hold up to 80 pounds)
Polyurethane
Foam brushes (one for each coat of polyurethane you are planning on using)
Sand paper
1 wooden board (I got one that still had some bark on the outside and it was 10 inches wide and ~50 inches long)

How to make:

1: We sanded down the boards because they were pretty rough.

2: Once they were smooth we applied our first layer of polyurethane. Then let it dry for 4 hours.

3: We then sanded the board and applied a second coat and let that dry for 4 hours. (We did a total of 3 coats.)

4: We attached the brackets to the boards first since we though it might be difficult to attach the board to the brackets after screwing the brackets to the wall by the radiators.

5: Then we brought them inside and pre drilled the holes in the walls for the brackets.

6: Finally we attached the shelves to the wall. Ta-da!

Over all the project took a few days since we had to let the polyurethane dry between each coat, but the actual hands-on time was minimal. I am super happy with the results and now I want to make a few more of these shelves for the other radiators in my house! Also now that I have my shelves its time to go plant shopping (another one of my favorite hobbies).

xx-C

DIY Glitter Leaf Garland

Happy Monday!

It's no secret that I really love glitter and fall and this project combines both. I have been looking for some way to decorate my mantle. As you can see in the following photos it is pretty big and white. During the summer I often had flowers on top of it, but since fall came around I haven't figured out how to break up the whiteness and add some color. Don't get me wrong, it's a great feature but by itself it is pretty boring (especially since there isn't actually a fire place associated with it!) To solve that problem I got a number of white candles and different holders. If I light all of the candles at once its ALMOST like a real fire, not quite but almost! Here is a pretty easy DIY that allowed me to add a pop of fall color to it!

To complete this project you will need:
          -colored leaves (you want bigger ones, the number depends on how long you want your garland to be)
          -glitter (I chose mine to match the leaves, although you could do a completely different color)
          -spray adhesive
          -string to thread the leaves on

Start by collecting your leaves, you want leaves with longer stems so you will be able to tie a knot in them to hang them. Lay them out on a surface that can get pretty sticky and glittery (I used paper bags). Spray each leaf with the adhesive and then apply glitter. Let them dry for a few hours.

To hang: I tied a loose knot in each leaf stem and threaded the string through the hole in the knot and then tightened the knot. This allows you to adjust the spacing between the leaves once they are hanging. If the stems are really long then you can trim them after you tie the knots in them. I hung the garland simply by using some washi tape that matched the paint on the mantle, although you could hang it any way you want.

Happy crafting!

xx C