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Category Archives: DIY
Skirting the Issue: DIY Tree Skirts
Andy and I have had really bad luck with tree skirts for as long as we’ve lived together. I think I probably has something to do with our combined households leading to having six cats under one roof. We’ve tried pretty much everything, and even though we don’t put out the tree skirt until Christmas Eve, it is always destroyed before we can safely pack it away for the next year. The last couple of years, to make the impending loss less financially daunting, I’ve made our tree skirt out of supplies I already had in my craft closet. This year I’ve narrowed it down to one of these:
Ruffled Tree Skirt – HGTV
DIY Moroccan Wedding Blanket Tree Skirt – Design Sponge
No Sew Blossom Tree Skirt – Live Love DIY
3 No Sew Tree Skirts – A Beautiful Mess
Faux Fur Skirt
Scalloped Edge Skirt
Pompom Skirt
My mom and I made the first one year before last. It took a while to glue down all those ruffles, and there were a few glue gun burns, but we had fun and it turned out really well. Since she is coming in on Sunday I am going to try to talk her into helping me decide which one to make this year, and lend a helping hand when it is DIY time of course.
Pretty Pumpkin Round Up
I know everyone went Halloween crazy weeks ago, but I am just now getting around to kicking off the holiday season. Currently, there are 6 tiny gourds (3 orange and 3 white) sitting on my dining room table awaiting their harvest themed spruce. There will be a traditional jack-o-lantern later on, but with the highs still in the 80’s and 90’s there is no way it would make it to Halloween if I carved it now. But back to the sprucing. There are a ridiculous number of “carving free” pumpkin decorating ideas out there, seriously, go to Pinterest type in “pumpkin” and see what happens, it’s insane. A bit of a DIY overload, but I sifted through pages and pages and settled on these six tutorials to draw inspiration from and put together a little round-up for those of you who are as behind as I am. Enjoy!
Sequin Polka Dot Pumpkins
Tiny Message Pumpkins
Glitter & Floral Pumpkins
Foliage Decoupage Pumpkins
Pretty Painted Pumpkins
Gilded Harvest Pumpkins
I am looking forward to spending an evening binge watching some tbd show with my crafting supplies spread around me and a warm mug of tea at hand, but no where near my brush cup. I have accidentally “washed” my brushes in my beverage cup more times then I care to admit.
I Want to Make It, and Make It Bigger!
This DIY Cat Rope Coil Basket (full tutorial here) by Henry Happened is so damn cute. Perfect for a crazy cat lady like myself. But in true crazy cat lady fashion I can’t just make the basket, I have to make it better, and by better I mean bigger. I need to make a rope coil tote bag! Sure it will be heavy, sure it’ll be unwieldy, but it would be ADORABLE! I could even make one for my mom!
That is pretty much my mental dialog while I was reading through the tutorial. The tote bag idea came from the size of the basket I’d need to make to put one of my cats in it. They’re cute, but in no way dainty.
Images from Henry Happened.
I’ve Got the Blues
The bangs in your face, thick eyeliner angsty indigo blues. The life is pain, nobody understands me, what does it all mean blues. I swear it’s like I’m 14 again listening to Alanis Morissette thinking about how unfair the world is.
Whilst wallowing in my funk, I started pinning indigo images to my “Blue” board (it’s just sad, I know), and I found some images of a dyeing technique called Shibori. A couple of the crafting blogs I read (Honestly…WTF & Design Sponge) have recently had posts about this process and I really think I’d like to give it a try. Now all I need is a moderately cool day and a decent excuse to give my boss when I come to work with blue hands. This part isn’t self deprecating: I just have an uncanny knack of getting whatever I am working with down the inside of my gloves, happens every time I dye my hair. I’m good like that.
Images from Blue, Honestly…WTF & Design Sponge
Headache Balm
Most days I love living in Tallahassee, but spring time can be a bit rough. Along with all of the beautiful flowers and foliage comes a crap-ton of pollen, the entire city is covered in a green-ish yellow layer of itchiness and irritation. Andy and I both have a really rough time dealing with the headaches and sinus congestion that are a constant for this time of year. Heck we buy Claratin in bulk, so I was very intrigued when I saw a post on Henry Happened about creating your own herb infused balms to battle headaches. I’ve tried “misting” lavender extract mixed with distilled water, with okay-ish results, so I am interested to see if this option works better.
Herb-Infused Headache Balm
Ingredients
- Dried herbs (peppermint, lavender)
- Carrier oil (olive, almond, jojoba, etc)
- Beeswax (2 tablespoons for each ¼ cup of oil)
- Lidded containers
- Essential oils
Instructions
- Infuse oils for 2-3 weeks in a tightly sealed container. If you see mold growing, you need to toss it and start again.
- Strain out the herbs
- Combine oil and beeswax in saucepan or double broiler over low heat
- When melted pour into clean containers and add essential oils if desired
- Let salve cool and harden
- Store in lidded container in cool, dry place.
You can see the full post and additional used for herb infused balms by clicking here.
All photos and recipes are from Henry Happened.