Tag Archives: crafts

Oct11

Amazing DIY Tips Every Homeowner Needs To Know

Posted on October 11, 2016 by lifewithlilred

Here’s a fun little post for all of my DIY-ers, Pinterest royalty, and crafting gods! As for me? I’ll stick to my handyman! 😉

Amazing DIY Tips Every Homeowner Needs To Know:

As a homeowner, you may have considered doing the odd couple of DIY projects. Even if you aren’t a very crafty person, you may have been swayed to dabble with some DIY just because it can be a major money saver! The world is your oyster in the world of DIY. You could simply fix some old furniture that needs repairing. Or you might have bought some shelves that need putting up. Once you get super confident in your DIY skills, you may even start to make your own furniture! However you want to use DIY in your home, here are some tips that can help you do a great job every time!

Invest In Top Quality Equipment: If you want to do a really good job in all of your DIY projects and tasks, you will need excellent equipment. This means that you might have to pay a bit more to get the best tools out there in the shops. It may be slightly expensive, but it will certainly be worth it! The better quality tools and equipment will also last for a lot longer compared to cheaper ones. Not sure which tools are the best to buy? See here for great benchtop bandsaw reviews. You’ll find plenty more reviews for other tools online.

Keep Your Old CDs: You may just stream your music online these days but that isn’t an excuse to throw out all of your old CDs. In fact, you should keep them and use them in your home decorating. You can break up the CDs themselves and create cool murals with them. These funky murals can be used throughout your home but will look especially good in a room that gets a lot of attention as a great conversation starter. Got a whole load of old CDs? Repurpose them as some dumbbells to use in your workouts! 😉

Sketch Out Plans: No matter what your latest DIY project may be, you should always sketch out a brief plan. This can help you envisage the finished result or product. The sketch doesn’t have to be too detailed or artistic. Just as long as it gives you a clear idea of how you plan on using all the materials. If you are simply redecorating a room, sketching can come in handy, too. This will give you a chance to carefully consider the use of space and lighting so neither affects your design too much.

Hang At The Right Height: Do you have some photographs or paintings that you want to hang on your walls? Then you need to make sure that these are hung at the right height. Otherwise, they might look odd compared to the rest of your decor. Ideally, the center of each piece needs to be at eye level. This is usually around sixty inches above the ground. If the ceilings in a room are particularly high, you can afford to hang your artworks slightly higher.

DIY should never be too tasking. And all of these tips should make it even easier! You may never have to hire a handyman to do your household jobs again!

Where are all of my DIY fans at? What was the latest thing that you have crafted? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Featured Image Photo Provided By: Pexels

Aug5

Wanted: Fall Guest Bloggers

Posted on August 5, 2016 by lifewithlilred

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Hi everyone and TGIF! Similarly to my summer time guest bloggers series at the beginning of June, I would love to have a series to kick start the beginning of fall during September. I will be looking for seven to ten guest bloggers to create articles about anything from fall beauty and style to autumn inspired crafts, food, and drinks. If this is something that might be of interest to you, please shoot me an email at sarah.mush6794@gmail.com with your information as well as a topic that you would like to write about. I look forward to hearing from all of you soon! Much love. -Sarah

May29

DIY Summer Festival Style

Posted on May 29, 2016 by lifewithlilred

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Hello everyone and welcome to an amazing arts and crafts guest blog by my talented friend, Emma, at Randomina. My guest blogger that was originally scheduled for today bailed on me and I was getting antsy as to what I would do since I promised a guest blog for every Sunday of May to my beloved readers. Luckily, an email from Emma shined like a beacon of hope and she was able to create a simply fantastic tie-dye tutorial post.

I am so appreciative to Emma for making this post on a time crunch and am so pleased to be able to house her on lifewithlilred for the day. I encourage all of you to check her blog out – I assure you that you won’t be disappointed! Now, take a look at the post that Miss Emma created special for all of my lifewithlilred readers:

DIY Summer Festival Style

Hello everyone! My name is E from Randomina, I do make up and clothing tutorials along with designing and manufacturing my own textile works while blogging part-time. I thank Sarah of Lil Red very much for having me as her guest blogger today as she is going away on holiday. This gave me the inspiration to teach you four fabric dying styles, three from the Japanese art called Shibouri, to have a fun and creative way to a Coachella Chic wardrobe at your fingertips!

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You Need:

1 bucket/container of water
2 gloves (plastic or rubber will do)
Dye packets/tie-dye kits
Paint brushes
Elastics
A bundle of pebbles
A finished toilet paper roll
The garment you want to customize (in my case fabric samples)

Tutorial 1- Arashi/Pole Wrapping: Wrap the garment around the toilet roll and secure with elastics. Use as many bands as you please but when wrapping, scrunch as you go along to wrinkle it. Whatever dyes you are using PLEASE be careful as some dye packets can be harmful to the skin. And, of course, follow the instructions on how to make your color and how to store it. After you make your color, put a portion of it in your container (small doses makes the color pale) and mix it with your brush and then paint your color on your “pole” and leave to dry.

Tutorial 2- Kumo/Pebbles: Take the garment and the pebbles and place the pebbles in any way you like with the garment on top. Pull the pebble through and trap it in place with an elastic until the whole garment is covered in the “pebble pattern”. Get your brush and paint on the pebble silhouette and on the elastic around it. Take your time and when you’re done, leave it to dry.

Tutorial 3- Itajime/Folding: Fold your garment like an accordion until it becomes a small square or rectangle. Secure the bundle with elastics. With your container of dye you can (unless you want to have a delicate pattern) put the garment in the container and evenly coat it in dye. Take off the bands and unfold when dried.

Tutorial 4- Twisty Stripes: Hold a corner of the garment and twist tightly and secure with bands as you go. You can submerge the garment in the container or you can paint as many colors as you wish sparingly. Wait until dried.

**Note: When washing your creations, rinse after the dying with cold water until it runs clear. Once it’s dried, it will be ready to wear. Wash it individually in a normal machine 2-3 times before mixing it in with the rest of your clothes.

Thank you for tuning in today! If you liked that tutorial, I also have a few other crafts that you might enjoy on my blog. See you later! Loads of love and happy crafting!

^^^ So. Much. Fun! I loved Emma’s cool new take on tie-dye and I hope that all of you enjoyed it, too. Again, please venture to Randomina for more from the lovely Emma! What is your favorite summer craft? Who plans on following the steps that Emma provided to create their own hand dyed fabrics? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Dec30

Hi, Best Friend!

Posted on December 30, 2015 by lifewithlilred

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Hi everyone and happy Hump Day! Yesterday I had the joy of hanging out with one of my dearest friends all day and I’m simply thrilled about it. One of my best friends, Tyler, is in the Army and is stationed far away from my neck of the woods. Tyler and I met during a play that we did, Suicide in B Flat, and have been inseparable ever since and I haven’t seen him for over a year. This past day we got to reenact our classic “Middle Aged Monday” hang outs, where we day drink, craft, and watch silly movies. We had an absolute ball candle making, drinking blueberry flavored beer, and watching Vacation! Take a look:

Tyler picked me up around noon yesterday and we had our usual MAM (Middle Aged Monday, falling on a Tuesday) lunch at Chipotle. After we dined, we hit up Hobby Lobby to find a craft for us to do while we drink. We decided on candle making, which we usually have frowned upon before because all of the products were so expensive. But lucky for us, all of the supplies we needed were half off!

Tyler and I perused Hobby Lobby and found the perfect jars, fragrances, and colored waxes for us to use during our craft. We settled on a peach mango fragrance and then headed to Giant Eagle to get our day drinking alcohol of choice. Usually we always drink wine during our MAM hang outs, but we went for beer this time around because wine always makes us sleepy during early afternoon get togethers. At first I didn’t care for the blueberry flavored beer but after one bottle it was surprisingly delicious!

Once we purchased all of our gear for a middle aged themed hang out, we made the trek back to my place to get our craft and drank on. The candles ended up being hella easy to make because literally all we had to do was pour the wax, wick, and a fragrance into the jar! Talk about easy peasy lemon squeezy! Tyler and I have played around with the idea of making candles before but we had never dreamed that it would be so simple!

After our craft, which ended up being a whopping five minutes to make, we delved into our six pack of Wild Blue beer and put on Vacation. We had a complete blast watching the movie and laughed until we cried. Once our movie was done, we spent time taking some cute picks while quoting basically the entire movie. It was perfect.

I had the most amazing time with one of my dearest friends and it felt so good to see him after such a long time of being apart. When Tyler is away, we keep in touch via Skype, FaceTime, and text – but nothing is better than being face to face with each other! Middle Aged Monday (falling on a Tuesday) was a great success and I can’t wait for my best friend to come home again soon!

Yesterday I got to say Hi to my Best Friend and I couldn’t be happier. We had the best time and I can’t wait to see him again soon! Who has a best friend that lives far away from you? What do you do to keep in touch? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Oct26

Nelson Morris: For The Sake Of Art

Posted on October 26, 2015 by lifewithlilred

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Hello everyone and welcome to a very special article on lifewithlilred. I had the absolute pleasure of getting to know Nelson Morris, a teacher, an artist, and now a new friend. Nelson recently had a part of his work entitled the “1000 Faces Project” featured at the Cleveland Ingenuity Festival and it is currently being displayed at the Waterloo Sculpture Garden and let me tell you, those who can make it out are in for a treat. Learning the intricacies of Nelson’s artwork was such a joy and I know I shouldn’t be saying this but I’m going to anyways…I have never been so excited to work with someone. Take a look at the interview conducted by yours truly as well as some photos of Nelson’s creations:

Lil Red: So the first thing everyone is obviously going to want to know about is your latest creative endeavor, the “1000 Faces Project”, so tell me more.
Nelson: Of course. It started when I was a student teacher in Middlefield, Ohio. My art students never wanted to do portraits, which I think comes from the social anxiety a student can often feel from the fear of making a mistake. I fought tooth and nail with them about it and one day I set up a still life of a plaster cast and the kids drew it. Something in them clicked, similar to the light bulb moment that I had during a trip to New York City to help a fellow artist. I saw so many people and all I wanted to do was draw all of their faces. This project is about diversity and the subtle facial differences that make us unique. What makes us the same? What makes us different? I wanted to find out, so I began making casts.
LR: Approximately how many faces have you cast?
N: So far I have 165.
LR: And you think you’re going to get to 1000?
N: Yes, I really do. At the Ingenuity exhibit I was set up on stage casting audience members. I casted thirty faces there and got a great response so hopefully I can keep that momentum going.
LR: Has it been difficult finding people willing to sit for you to get their faces cast?
N: Yes! The casting part is easy, it’s finding people that’s the hardest. I can transport an 1800 pound statue on my own and it’s horrible but finding people is much harder.
LR: How have you been finding people to plaster?
N: First I started by reaching out to my friends on Facebook but then I quickly ran out. I then started adding all of the people on the “people you may know” section – I sent a friend request to anyone who looked sane! That’s how I got in touch with you!
LR: I’m glad I look sane to you! But I do the exact same thing when I want more views on my site – a friend on Facebook is a potential viewer.
N: I’ve met some great people from it, too. One time I got to cast a group of fifteen people in the basement of the Fastlane bowling alley in Barberton after it closed thanks to finding the owner on Facebook.
LR: I didn’t even know bowling alleys had basements! What are some of the most memorable moments from all of the people you’ve casted?
N: I’ve had some creepy ones, that’s for sure – but I’ve also had a lot of really fun ones too…Except for the first cast that I ever did, which was on my own face. As an artist, you always experiment on yourself first, so I was home alone at my parent’s house and I stood in front of a mirror and started to cover my face in plaster. I had straws in my nose, walrus-style, so I could breathe and after about three layers of plaster I covered my eyes and did the rest by touch. This was in June and I had hay fever at the time and the straws stuck up my nose kept on bumping and tickling me and before I knew it, I felt a huge sneeze coming on. I tried to pry the cast off but it was stuck on there pretty good and for a split second I thought to myself, “great, this is how I’m going to die – with a plaster face mask on”. But I got the cast off and I survived! However, the plaster that I used originally was very rough and gritty and when I pulled the mask off some chunks of plaster got into my eyes…I spent forty-five minutes in the shower trying to wash it all out.
LR: The things people do for their craft. Can you tell me more about the process of creating a plaster face cast?
N: Well, the process was a bit messy to start because I’ve only plastered bodies, never a face. I used to use about six layers of gauze impregnated with plaster but now I’ve got it down to only one to two layers. Like I said, making the casts is the easiest part now. All you do is dip the gauze in water, squeegee it off, and slap it on the face. I’ve got the process down from a half hour to ten or fifteen minutes flat.
LR: What do you think the finished product is going to be like once you’ve finally cast 1000 faces?
N: It changes all the time. I think very architecturally though so the idea right now is to have the faces lined up next to each other, kind of like in the old underground catacombs. When they’re lined up next to each other is when you can truly compare and contrast them. I also want to incorporate audio into the project. I take recordings of the voices of everyone who I’ve plastered and I would like to make it so if you touch one of the faces you can hear the voice of the model.
LR: Wait what? How do you plan on doing that?
N: I know it sounds crazy but stay with me! I’ve played with this idea before with a life sized terracotta statue. The sound chip was solar powered so when the sun lined up just right the statue of the woman would begin to sing. But that was just for one statue – I had no idea how I would do it with hundreds of face casts. I started to ask around for help and the head engineer of 107.9 (a Cleveland radio station) told me about a processing board that might make the idea possible. I happened to find a hobby group dedicated to working on the processing boards in Akron and I emailed a member with the subject “For The Sake Of Art”. He replied and has been helping me with creating the codes and wiring to give the plaster masks voices.
LR: I’m so excited to see the “1000 Faces Project” in all of its concrete and audio glory. So, if you could say one thing to a young Nelson before he had a beard, what would it be?
N: Everything’s gonna turn out alright.

Pretty cool, huh? Not only is Nelson an artist extraordinaire, but he also teaches pre-k through 8th grade. How he has time to breathe is beyond me! He told me a great story about how on the first day of one of his classes he presented the students with a basket of one hundred pencils and a pair of bolt cutters. He cut off the eraser to every pencil because his students don’t use erasers in his classes so that they can learn how to fix their problems on their own. This goes along hand in hand with the mantra he tells his students daily: “Making a mistake isn’t a problem when you’re creating art work. You have to learn from your mistakes and adapt from them”.

Nelson is a self funded artist who creates customized pieces and will be selling replicas of the tiles seen in the pictures featured on this post. If you are interested in any of his art work old and new or have ideas for a custom piece, you can contact him at:

His personal Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/nelsonrmorris?fref=ts
Visit his website: www.nrm.rocks
Visit his other website: www.1000faces.us
Or you can shoot him an email at: nmorri12@kent.edu

If you live in the Akron/Cleveland, Ohio area and are interested in having Nelson cast your face he now offers free house casting parties. If you can get five people to attend, he will come to you. But if you get ten or more people to come to the party, all of the guests will receive a free record of their face which will look something like this:

I want to thank Nelson so much for sitting down with me for a chat because it was seriously an honor. If you have any questions for my new friend you can reach him through any of the mediums I posted above or leave me a comment to relay to him. Would you get your face plastered for the 1000 Faces Project? What do you think Nelson’s finished product is going to end up looking like? We wanna hear from all of you, so leave us a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Sep5

Excited For Fall? Me Too!

Posted on September 5, 2015 by lifewithlilred

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Heyyy everyone and happy Saturday! Good news, my bitch ass is feeling better! Bad news, Sunday is Lil Red’s blogging day off, as you all know, so allow me to leave you with a fun post for the weekend until the Monday Update and Man Crush Monday posts commence!

With fall on the horizon, every white girl comes out of her spray tanned summer hibernation in search of all things pumpkin flavored. I promise you guys I’m not that girl…You know I would never tan! BUT, I am very excited for the upcoming autumn season, so let me tell you why!

PEACOATS!!! Honestly, this is my number one reason why I love fall. I loves me a good peacoat and I can’t wait to put my navy blue, red and blue plaid, and emerald green coat babies to work this season! #peacoatparty
Semi-cold weather AKA my favorite type of weather! Summer weather is too hot for a Lil Red, winter is too cold, and spring is too rainy but fall weather…fall weather is just right!
Fall clothing in general! This ties into both of the previously mentioned statements but it must be said. Fall. Clothing. Is. The. Best. Point blank, period. I love nothing more than sweet sweaters, cozy cardigans, booties, flannels, chunky scarves, fingerless gloves, the whole shebang. If it’s an article of clothing you can wear in the fall, you bet your sweet ass that I’m excited for it! #betyourbottomdollar #andyoursweetass
The colors!!!! Ugh, the autumn color palette makes my heart so warm. Burnt oranges, mustard yellows, deep reds – fabulous on the changing leaves of trees and on those cozy cardigans I just mentioned! Burnt orange has been my latest obsession, so I’m really excited to feed that addiction even more with a fall shopping trip soon!
One – ONLY one Pumpkin Spice Latte. Yeah, yeah, such a white girl, I know. But it’s not fall for a suburban girl without one PSL from Starbucks! I’ll be indulging in my pumpkin treat this morning for a coffee date with my dear friend, Tyler. Yum!
Halloween – it’s a given. Except I can’t decide on if being Agnes from Despicable Me is a good idea because she’s not particularly slutty…Does anyone have a naughty nurse costume I can borrow? #please??
HAUNTED HOUSES! I love them! I love them! I. Love. Them. Fun fact for ya: my first job was working as an actor at a haunted house and I had the time of my life! I also picked up smoking cigarettes there…But that’s beside the point.
Fall weather hang outs AKA the best kind of hang outs! I absolutely adore fall time activities! Hiking through the metro parks, scary movie marathons, crafting, drinking apple cider, drinking hard apple cider – it’s all so much fun! Everything increases in enjoy-ability when the air is crisp, your cheeks are flushed, and you’re with some of your favorite people.
White girl watching…it’s like people watching, but better! Fall time is the white girl’s peak season to emerge and prosper. The temperatures have dropped which means so have people’s standards! Thus, yoga pants, leggings, and Ugg boots are somehow acceptable to wear in society. May god help us all…But anyways, I always get a kick out of seeing all of the white girls in their flock of spandex pants and boots that were made out of the skin of sheep who were tortured. Bonus points if there’s a Pumpkin Spice Latte in their hands!! #UGHboots

^^^ Current blogging soundtrack, judge me for it. #whitegirl 😉

So there you have it! A few Lil Red Reasons of why I’m Excited For Fall! What is everyone most looking forward to this autumn? Who has some fall time traditions that will be taking place? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Aug21

Oh You Crafty, Huh? BFF Canvas Art

Posted on August 21, 2015 by lifewithlilred

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Hellooo everyone and TGIF! My laptop is still in the hands of the Geek Squad so this post is being prewritten at the local Cuyahoga Falls library…The things I do for lifewithlilred!! On Wednesday night my darling best friend, Lea, and I had a crafting extravaganza which resulted in the cuteness you see in my featured image photo! We had so much fun getting crafty and now I’m here to share with you guys our how to guide on how to make your own Bird Is The Word canvas art! Take a closer look at both of our creations and then let’s discuss! PS: Brownie points for whoever can guess which canvas is mine and which is Lea’s!

Like it? Love it? Want more of it? Here’s the play by play on how to recreate it:

What You Need:

Canvas board
Paint/paint brushes
Silhouette image of your choice
Old magazines and newspaper
Scissors
Glue

Step By Step Guide:

Step 1) Paint your canvas. Lea and I both liked the idea of black and white stripes so our picture collage birds would really pop – but any color choice will do!! To get our stripes as straight as possible we held a newspaper to the canvas and painted underneath it once we had our stripe width to our liking.
Step 2) Find a silhouette image that you want to make your picture collage over. As you can see, Lea and I stuck with the classic white girl staple image of birds but anything will look awesome…Maybe. 😉 If my crafting partner and I ever make a canvas similar to this one again I would like to use a bird cage silhouette!
Step 3) Acquire magazines and newspapers to cut your images for your pic collage. Lea and I recommend using fashion magazines so you have lots of fun colors and patterns to choose from. We opted for three year old issues of People magazine and it was a blast cutting Taylor Swift to pieces for the sake of getting a cool pattern! 🙂
Step 4) Once you have enough bits and pieces of magazines to cover your silhouette, begin to glue them down. Fair warning, Lea and I both thought that we had more than enough scraps multiple times but had to refer back to our mags to get more collage material – so make sure you keep your magazines handy!
Step 5) Glue your silhouette onto your canvas and pat yourself on the back for a job well done!! OH YOU CRAFTY, HUH?!!! #Ihatemyself

So there you have it, the lowdown on Oh You Crafty, Huh? BFF Canvas Art! Lea and I had the best time during our crafting night and we both want to see if anyone can guess who made which bird! Have you made a craft similar to this one? What art project are you currently working on? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Jul28

Vintage Style Hair Piece Craft

Posted on July 28, 2015 by lifewithlilred

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Helloooo everyone and happy Tuesday! Earlier this month I ordered a black beanie that had a fishnet veil attached to it off of Amazon. Unfortunately, when it came in the mail last week I discovered that the veil on the beanie was torn in two. I was so disappointed and when I emailed the vendor to request a return she was totally awesome. She gave me a refund on the product and I didn’t even have to send it back to her. Now I was stuck with a defective beanie that I had no clue what to do with. I pondered my options and came up with a solution to make something out of nothing and I am very happy with the results, as you can see from my featured image photo! Let’s discuss the simple steps that it took to make my new Vintage Style Hair Piece Craft:

Step 1) Acquire veil. In my case, all I had to do was cut the netting from the beanie. #SCORE
Step 2) Find a jewel, feather, hat, or whatever you would like to pin your veil to. The feather and jeweled piece that I used came from an old headband of mine that I wore when my hair was longer. The feathers were attached to a circular elastic band which I don’t care to wear because it makes my hair tuft up in the back. But that’s neither here nor there. #Idigress
Step 3) Pin your accessory to your netting. I used two bobby pins to secure my veil to the feathers. One to keep the items attached and one to clip in my hair when I wear it. I know it looks super janky in the pictures because you can so clearly see the bobby pins, but it’s not noticeable in the slightest when it’s in your hair. #pinkiepromise
Step 4) Wear. Wow everyone. Repeat. #number1stunner

^^^ Honestly, those directions were so unnecessary. Lol, you guys are all smart and I’m sure you could figure this craft out on your own. But maybe this post will come in handy to those who are not the craftiest, like myself. When I’m not looking a hot wreck, I’ll be sure to post some pictures of me rocking my fun new accessory! OH YOU CRAFTY HUH?!

So there you have it, the easy how to guide for a Vintage Style Hair Piece Craft. I am so pleased with the little spark of inspiration that I had to recycle old items and make them new again. I found an unexpected use for a headband that I haven’t worn in years and a defective purchase. Not bad! What is your favorite craft that you made from a recycled item? Have you made anything similar to my hair piece craft? I wanna hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Jan2

Fun & Easy Craft!!

Posted on January 2, 2015 by lifewithlilred

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I had a lovely time this evening getting crafty with my favorite little lady Miss Lea! She’s my go to crafting partner in crime and tonight we created a glitter masterpiece! Here’s the big reveal…*drum roll please*………………………..TA DAAAA! (In case you don’t know, our glitter picture is of Ohio, our home state and the heart on the picture is of our home town of Akron. #REPRESENT)

Before I give you guys the step by step on how to make this fun craft, here’s some tune-age for you to enjoy. Except you have to change the lyrics of “oh you fancy, huh?” to “oh you crafty, huh?” Instant classic.

Alright!!!! This craft is clearly pretty self explanatory, but here’s the how to guide on how to make it in case you can’t figure it out! First things first, here’s the supplies you’re going to need: (All together this craft cost about ten dollars to make)

A canvas board of your choosing. Lea and I opted for an oval shaped canvas.
Paint color of your choosing for the background.
Glitter color of your choosing for the shape you’ll be covering.
Glue
Outline of an object, animal, shape, state, continent, or whatever your heart desires to be on your canvas.
Scissors

Once all of your supplies are gathered, I’d recommend placing some newspaper down so glitter doesn’t get everywhere. You don’t want your workspace looking like Ke$ha rolled around on it.

Step 1) Paint the background of your canvas.

Step 2) Blow dry the paint to get it dry.

Step 3) Cut out the outline of whatever you’re gluing onto your canvas and glue it on.

Step 4) Cover your outlined picture with glue. For an even coat of the glue and to avoid bumpy glitter, Lea and I applied the glue with a paint brush.

Step 5) Pour the glitter color of your choosing over the freshly glued object. The glitter might not cover everything on the first try, so I would make sure that you’re glittering over a piece of paper so you can continue to pour the excess glitter from that.

Step 6) Apply a glitter heart to your glitter picture if you’d like.

And viola! You now have a super fun, quick, and easy craft. Lea and I had so much fun making this! Here’s a few pictures of us and our handy work!

If you have any fun crafting suggestions, please let me know! Lea and I would definitely love to try them out! Have you made any cool crafts or projects lately? I’d love to hear all about it, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Have a great night! -Sarah

Dec22

Christmas Craft Fun!

Posted on December 22, 2014 by lifewithlilred

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A few days ago I had one of the most fantastic times with my dear friend Kate. I’m sure you recall reading about her, as she’s the girl who I’m planning a trip to Europe with. She’s also my go to shopping partner!! A few weeks ago you might recall me posting about how Kate and I assembled a vintage Christmas tree together in her apartment. Unfortunately, we had no ornaments to decorate our tiny tree with, so we decided to make our own. During this fun filled evening we ate Taco Bell, drank our favorite Starbucks Peppermint Mochas, drank a bottle of wine, watched the live taping of Peter Pan that was released recently, and became the crafting queens. The night started with a trip to Patcatan’s which is a craft store, as you can guess. When we entered the store, we realized we didn’t exactly plan out what we needed very well. (The night that we assembled our tree, we had a Pinterest party to get some ideas for what ornaments to make.) So we made a quick verbal list of what we should get to at least get us started. We left the store with ornaments, black, silver, and pink glitter, a hot glue gun, black and yellow paint, paint brushes, and last but not least: googly eyes. After we finished up at Patcatans, we stopped at Giant Eagle so Kate could run in and get us a bottle of wine for the evening. A night with Miss Kate wouldn’t be complete without getting Taco Bell and Starbucks, so stops were made there as well and then we headed back to her apartment. If you take a look at my featured image, you’ll see our crafting table where all of the magic happened. Here’s a Pic Stitch collage of some of the ornaments that we made that night:

So I’m sure a lot of these ornaments are pretty self explanatory on what they are and how to make them, but here’s a little further detail on all of them:

Top left and bottom right Minion ornaments: If you’ve seen the movie Despicable Me, then you’ll know that these bulbs are supposed to be the Minions! Kate and I adore that movie, and when we saw this craft made on Pinterest, we knew that we had to give it a go. It’s as easy as it looks to make:

Step 1) Paint the ornament yellow
Step 2) Wait for the paint to dry and then paint a black band around the top of the ornament
Step 3) Wait for the black paint to dry and then hot glue the googly eyes on
Step 4) Complete your Minion by painting a little smile on it! 🙂

It’s up to you to decide whether your Minion ornament has one eye or two!!

Top right ornament: This was a really cool one that Kate made. She painted the outside of the ornament with a black paisley pattern and then she filled the bulb with red M&M’s. Super easy, super delicious.

Middle left and right ornament: At one point during our evening of crafting we both got quiet and were working intently on these ornaments for each other. When we both asked what the other was doing we each said something along the lines of “you can’t see it yet!” It turns out we were both making a name ornament for each other at the exact same time. If that isn’t best friend telepathy, then I don’t know what is!

I wrote Kate’s name with hot glue and then coated the glue in silver glitter. I then cut a red heart out of construction paper and put it inside the ornament. Viola!
Kate wrote my name in black paint and then put black glitter over top of it. She tore up red tissue paper and filled the inside of the bulb with it. Done.

Center candy cane reindeer: This is our beloved reindeer named Albert. Isn’t he the cutest?! Making this ornament is exactly how it looks like you would make it:

Step 1) Cut out antlers for the reindeer with brown foam paper and hot glue it onto the candy cane
Step 2) Cut out circles from the brown foam paper and hot glue googly eyes onto the circles. Then hot glue these onto the candy cane for the eyes
Step 3) Hot glue a red M&M onto the tip of the candy cane for the nose
Step 4) Wrap a ribbon around the neck of the candy cane and now you have your very own Albert!

Bottom left and center ornaments: These ornaments were made simply with paper and glitter.

On the bottom left ornament I drew the British flag, the German flag, and a tiny Eiffel Tower and then cut them out and stuck them in the inside of the ornament along with an ample amount of silver glitter. This little baby obviously symbolizes our European trip dream which will be happening in 2016!
The bottom center ornaments have the same “message in a bottle” idea as our dream ornament. They also have glitter….lots of glitter 🙂

So there you have it, some fun make shift crafts to get you in the holiday spirit!! Kate and I had such a blast making these. We also had an equally fun time drinking some delicious blackberry wine and enjoying Peter Pan Live. Here’s a little clip from it and if you haven’t seen the full movie, I can’t recommend it enough!!

Do you have any fun last minute holiday crafts to recommend? Did you make a seasonal craft that you were particularly proud of? I want to hear all about it, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Happy Monday! -Sarah

PS: My brother is home for the holidays!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HURRAY!!!!!!!!!!! Lil Red is a happy camper :))))

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