Fourth of July Star Jars These transformed mason jars are a fun way to both decorate an outdoor table for a 4th of July celebration or a safe way to entertain the kids during fireworks. Red spray paint Mason Jars Star stickers Newspaper Scatter star stickers onto the mason jar, make sure they’re stuck on very tight Screw on the mason jar lid and cap and place on top of a table covered in newspaper in a well ventilated area Spray with the paint from a nice distance around the entire jar until it’s coated well but without drips. Wait at least a couple hours for the jar to dry and carefully peel off the star stickers Place 2-3 battery operated votive candles in each jar and enjoy your festive 4th of July evening! DIY Art with Acrylic Paint and Letters | * View Along the Way * This is a fact: there is something magical about craft stores. Like, fairy dust magical. I know this because the minute I step inside one, suddenly I believe I’m capable of completing all kinds of art projects I have no business touching, and suddenly I’m buying the necessary supplies to knit a designer dress (yes, out of yarn) or bake a cake shaped like a rocketship or something. It’s like I’m invincible, craft-wise. Welp, they got me again. I saw this art on Pinterest: It’s a pricey little piece you can pick up here for £195. I knew I could recreate the look with a few chipboard letters on a solid-painted canvas – and a few other bloggers have done just that. Suddenly I was PICASSO! I picked up some paints, a pack of chipboard letters and a canvas and headed home, all inspired and high off their secret craft-store air. I decided to use words from this Bible verse: “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
Draw Simple Patterns On Painted Bottles Here's a super simple way to turn painted wine bottle vases (namely the ones I wrote about here) into something a little more bold and decorative. With just a permanent black marker, we had fun applying designs and illustrations to our painted bottles. And the results really are so much fun, and perfect for a casual summer party, or even something more sophisticated if you spend the time to draw with precision. Have a favorite geometric pattern that you'd like to see in your home? Apply it to a bottle and enjoy! So much easier than covering a wall with something that you may just tire of sooner rather than later! And it's always a great creative exercise to get kids (and yourself) to draw on something three-dimensional! Tubular Friendship Bracelets My line-up of DIY projects was put on hold last week when a friend’s grandfather passed away. She asked if I could make her and her family a series of red, tubular embroidery thread bracelets to wear during the mourning period. And so back into the friendship-making mindset I went! Given that this woman not only threw me a whale of a baby shower, sewed the cover for the girls’ loveseat, knit Sunny the most adorable sock monkey stuffed animal, and hemmed fabric for a project I will unveil in the coming weeks, I dove right in. While certainly a sad reason to engage in this project, I am happy that a little tutorial could come from it. To learn how to tie a sliding knot, refer to this video tutorial. Photos: Courtesy of Ashley Weeks Cart
Painted Bottle Vases Crafting is near and dear to my heart and I realize that it is shamefully under represented here at The Apple Crate. So today I bring you a project that has long been in the making, recycled jars and bottles as vases! I have Martha Stewart to thank for the idea. She has a great tutorial on her website that I followed to make these. Lots of people are out there doing something similar, with either spray paint or acrylic paint. I started out by collecting old bottles and jars; things I went through in the kitchen and saved rather than recycled. The hardest part of this was actually cleaning all of the labels and sticky residue off! The tutorial was a little vague on what kind of paint to use. And here are my lovely jars and bottles! I was so excited to finally put some fresh flowers in and see how they looked. My smallest bottle makes a sweet bud vase in the windowsill. One of the great things about this project is how economical it is.
lor Me Katie: Marshmallows Is there anything more fun than marshmallows? Why yes, marshmallows with food colored faces! And is there anything more fun than marshmallows with faces? marshmallows with stylish icing hairdos! They're super easy and fun to make. A Mason of One’s Own - Beyond Beyond | Beyond Beyond One thing that we get a lot of envy of over in the Land Beyond Beyond, are the beautiful little mason jars. These beauties are ubiquitous when it comes to the expectations that we have of weddings Americana style. But, well the closest that we come to here are the Robinson’s marmalade jars – which really don’t do it for us – we love the look and feel of the lovely Mason’s. They have this chunky solid feel that we just love. So, of course you could colour us happy when we happened upon the Pure and Noble blog (check it out there are a whole load of lovely finds up in there). The photographic glory goes to: Brooke of Pure and Noble About the author I'm the big kahuna with the whole shebang.
Halo Chandelier "I love this chandelier! It is really unique and I love the exposed bulbs. Although it definitely has a very industrial aesthetic, you can dress it up however you want to achieve the look you desire. That's what drew me to this fixture, I knew I would have lots of fun decorating it for different occasions, hanging things on it, weaving fabric around it, whatever strikes my fancy!
Hand-Crafted Etched Glass Bottles - Home for the Holidays Some glass bottles are just too pretty and colorful to toss into the recycling bin. Instead of discarding them, I "etch" them for my own use and to give away as gifts. They're beautiful with flower stems tucked inside, and they make handy containers for bath salts and infused oils or vinegars. Materials: Contact paper—clear or light color Glass bottles or jars, washed, rinsed and completely dried Sharpie-type marker Craft knife such as X-acto Knife with new blade Wooden spoon Soft bristle brush Goggles or safety glasses An old long-sleeved shirt Rubber gloves or medical gloves "Armour Etch" Glass Etching Cream (Jo-Ann, Michaels and most other arts and crafts stores) Instructions: 1. 2. 3. perfection. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. —By Teresa Blackburn
Ruffled Black and White Drum Shade Holiday weekend greetings everyone! I apologize for the delay in posting this project, last week just slipped through my fingers, time wise. So, finally, here is the project I previewed last time, a new gorgeous drum shade! Created from hundreds of black and white ‘rosettes’ glued to the trusty Ikea Lobbo shade, can anyone guess what the material is? So, any guesses? Originally I was thinking of trying to do a light that looked more similar to my original pendant, with lots of small strips and pieces of plastic, like a shag carpet. Essentially I cut the bags into long strips, rolled them loosely into rosette sort of shapes, and then glued them to the shade. I really love how this shade turned out with the black and white color palette, but I’m also equally excited about the future possibilities, both in size and in color! One caveat is that the bags I had were of a slightly thicker and sturdier plastic than traditional supermarket bags. P.S. Like this: Like Loading...
Potion Bottles These are some of the potion bottles I use to decorate for Halloween. I made them from glass containers decorated with polymer clay, paint, flat glass marbles, corks, rubber stamps, egg shells, twine, beads, paper, and candle wax. Many of the original plastic or screw-on lids were easily be replaced with corks. Corks can be purchased in a hardware store in the bulk bins. These bottle are several years old and I'm afraid I never documented their creation with photos. Round Gold Bottle The base is a clear class Christmas ornament which I covered in gold polymer clay by carefully pressing pieces of clay all over the surface and smoothing out the clay as I worked. A twisted rope of clay formed into a circle allows it to stand up. Potentially Explosive! Purple Knotwork Jar The purple jar is an eight-sided spice jar covered in a thick layer of polymer clay. The neck was wrapped in twine and the twine ends finished with beads.