Accessories Are So Hot Right Now | Oh how I love accessories! They can make any dull outfit brighter, cuter, and more interesting. Here are some of my favorites I’ve come across this season. Beautiful handmade headbands from Taza (found via SeeSaw Designs). I’m also a fan of her coat that’s seen in all her photos and awesome red lipstick! These are creations from Ink and Button, a new store on etsy that’s had instant success. I’ve been following Rachel from Heart of Light for a while, so when she opened an etsy store in September, I was thrilled! I found this great tutorial on how to make your own large fabric flower on My Mama Made It. Finally, I just had to share this amazing tutorial on how to make fancy velvet headbands from A Field Journal. So that was a few of my favs.
Ruffles, Ruffles, Ruffles | I’m really into ruffles lately. And apparently everyone else is too! Take a look at these great tutorials and ruffly creations from around the web. From left to right: Jersey Ruffle Refashion // Ruffle Necklace // DIY Ruffly Belt // Ruffle top by Lirola DIY Confetti Earrings | I’ve been asked a few times where I get my ideas from. While creative ideas can be sometimes be elusive, sometimes they hit me instantly. The other night I was actually working on another project involving a hole puncher – the kind that has a little reservoir to catch the punched paper. When I opened the plastic hatch and dumped out the dots, they formed a really fantastic linear shape – random, but still linear. Can you believe it’s just paper? It’s like a party on your ears! All you need is a hole punch, some pretty paper (the thicker the better, as long as your hole punch will go through it), hot glue, really thin wire (I used 32 gauge) and some earring hooks. Step 1: Punch out your circles. Step 2: Using just tiny dabs of hot glue, start arranging and glueing your dots together in a random, but linear fashion. Step 3: Clip a small piece of wire and hot glue onto your bottom circle. Step 4: Hot glue the final dot to the other end of the wire. That’s it!
Art From: Plastic Bags + Wood | It’s been a while since I’ve done an AFEO (Art From Everyday Objects) post. It’s not been for lack of ideas. It’s been for lack of time. Indeed, this particular idea took up most of my spare night minutes for two weeks. I had this idea to make chains from cut up plastic bags. I think I used about 7 grocery bags for the one you see above. The size of the strips don’t have to be exact, just ballpark it. So, there you go friends! Amazing Art Made With Milk | I did an art/science project with my 2 year old today and I just had to share. You probably already have the ingredients in your kitchen right now to do it yourself. We were completely mesmerized by this – I heard lots of “wows” from my son. I love it when art and science collide. Here is all you need: Vitamin D milk, food coloring and dish soap. What to do: Pour in a little milk into the bottom of a shallow dish With food coloring, put in drops of different colors in the milk Then take dish soap and put a small drop in the middle of the food coloring. You should immediately see the milk react and begin to disperse the food coloring in a colorful display. Originally I came across the idea via Household Hacker. Food coloring is less dense than the milk itself – so it remains suspended within the fat molecules of the milk the soap breaks up the fat and lets it spread across the surface of the milk. I don’t know who had more fun, me or my toddler! So beautiful and intriguing how it all works.
home_diy It’s been DIY free on Petit Elefant for far too long, so I’m here to show you a ‘DIY make a custom welcome mat’, alternately titled ‘I’m late to the bandwagon but I love geometric neon shapes for home decor in spite of my 80′s childhood’. Let’s get our DIY on, shall we? This is my front door, and if you look closely yes that IS a snowflake painted sisal welcome mat. I’m pretty sure I got it two years ago for Christmas. Yes, it has been gracing my front doorway all season long, every season since then. Which means maybe I should’ve just left it until the snow starts falling this year. Or. OR it’s time to spiff things up and do some DIY damage with spray paint. Supplies for DIY make a custom welcome mat: construction grade / color spray paintScotchBlue™ Painter’s Tape(not pictured) grey primer spray paint(not pictured) lawn sized garbage bag(not pictured) acrylic top coat spray paint to finish Step one: Once you’ve got your favorite worn … >> find out more… Allison Well, hello there! You guys.
how to: votive candle holder. Not too long ago I read an article in Better Homes and Gardens or Martha Stewart, I forget which, about how to make your own votive candle holder. I loved the idea for the 4th of July, so I made this one with coordinating holiday colors. Two months ago. Hey, it’s been a busy summer. At any rate, this super easy project could be transferred to fall colors, Christmas holiday colors, Valentine’s Day, you name it. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Sit back and have a cool drink and pat yourself on the back. Allison Well, hello there!
Ball Jar Lights I’ve been wanting to do this for a year. It’s one of those things I’ve just been putting off. I love ball canning jars, especially the blue ones. The first thing you have to do to make the Ball jar lights, is take out the glass seal. So I took the hammer and busted up the seal to get it out. Make sure to do this on a hard surface. Once the seal was out, I marked the center of the lid. And used the drill bit and a hammer to poke a hole where the mark was. Then we started drilling. It only took a few seconds since the lid is so thin. I bought 2 recessed light converters years ago from Lowe’s (I think). This is what the shade originally looked like. I thought these little round bulbs would look the best with the ball jar lights. Then I just screwed the jar onto the lid. I love how it looks. I made one for over the sink too. I know these have been done all over the place, but it’s something I’ve been wanting to do forever and I’m glad I finally did.
A Beautiful Mess: DIY PROJECTS This past January we were finally able to move our "offices" out of Elsie's home and into a studio house. While at Elsie's, our team was four full-time individuals (including Elsie and I). We all worked at Elsie's dining room table. This setup worked well for us and allowed us to save up enough to move to a "real" office finally! As we planned to move, our team was also beginning to grow. I thought this desk could easily be a very budget-friendly project if we made it ourselves, and we could more easily have all the features we needed. Supplies: This was my first time working with OSB board. Total cost: $98 This is only the cost of supplies we purchased specifically for this project. Before we jump into how we made this table I'd like to make a quick note about my dad. Step One: Build the table body. Cut the 1 1/2" x 3 1/2" boards to become the inside of your table. Now, if needed, flip the table so the bottom is facing up. Step Two: Make your own legs. Step Five: Add holes for cords.