Make-shift corner shelves

I'm back! I know it's way later than I said I would be, but I've been a busy bee lately. I do however have a cheap treat for you poor, broke (or just plane ol' stingy) bastards out there. Easy corner shelves for empty wallets! :) 

7 great Halloween tutorials

I am doing some personal life maintenance, and I will be back wednesday (if not sooner), with something quite cool for you guys :)

Halloween is coming up, and personally I can't wait to dig into some really bad, old classics. Freddy, IT, Nightmare Before Christmas (NOT to be counted as a bad one, their songs simply make me happy!).

I searched the net for some fun Halloween tutorials. I tried to gather something budget-friendly, and I found some really great ones!

 

 

DIY Mummy Luminary

 

 

I love any excuse for special and fun decor, but unfortunately I can't afford to this year.

Do you transform your house for Halloween? What will you be watching whilst ignoring those pesky little beggars? ;)

 

Paper-bow necklace

 

While working on a crochet-pattern, I took a break and continued the cardboard/magazine necklaces. I also found these cute origami bows, and thought they'd make really cute glittery necklaces. If you want to learn how to make the bow, you can find the tutorial here.

 

 Don't worry, I haven't complicated anything, it's still just hairspray as glue and gloss ;)

 

 

 

 

Glitter moustache!

Planning to tidy makes me very productive! ...with other things. So I didn't tidy the craftroom like I planned, but I made some jewelry, which I haven't done in years. It was fun :) I found this great tutorial of how to make glittery jewelry with stuff you already have in the house (assuming you have mod podge (or simple Elmers glue) and glitter). And it was so easy and fun. I haven't had time to be supercreative with shapes, so I kept it to a moustache for Jian's sister, and a heart (for moi). I like the results, but I'm concerned about how longlasting it is. We'll see.

 

 

I really didn't like the moustache-trend before, but it's really started to grow on me! I always start liking things when it's on its way out of fashion.. typical.

 

Jewelry Coathanger

I have been wanting to do this project for ages now, and I started it two weeks ago, but it proved to be

more than a 10-min project so it went to the bottom of my priorities. But today seemed like a great day to complete an old project.

 

Another one for my to do-list

I just found this, and I thought it was so beautiful that I had to put it straight on here. This is definitely one I will try (once that damn lottery announces me as a winner), and while it looks complex and gorgeous, I think it's something even I can accomplish :)

 

 

Bird's Nest Mess Wire Wrapped Marble

 

 

Additional tip from the maker of this pendant: "If you are going to fracture (fry) marbles per the instructions I provided, you'll need to find marbles that are made up of transparent glass (whether clear or tinted). That way you can see the facets. If they are opaque (where light doesn't go through them), they don't work. Good luck with your project. "

 

 



Happy Birthday Jian!!

26! You're an OLD OLD man!! Soon you'll be saying things like "damn kids, get off my lawn! I will beat you with my walking stick!" (Violence-jokes aren't funny.) :)

 <3 you

 

 

So this again, will just be a quicky. I will take proper pictures of Jian modelling it later, but for now I know you're all dying to see what I made him for his birthday. Right?

 

In the mood for a quicky?

Just a quick little post today, as I am crazy busy finishing birthday-gifts, and whatnot, today, tomorrow and what seems to be forever and always. This is not a tutorial, it's more of a creative kick in the butt, but it's a really good one.

 

I found it at my favorite site Cut Out + Keep. If you haven't been then you should check it out, as it has just about everything you need to occupy you for the rest of your life. Once in a while you'll just go "how did you think of that?", and this idea is one of those, as it is genius, and it looks gorgeous :)

 

Refashioned Jacket

 

Birdcage lamp

Despite not actually doing much on this, I am so proud of it, probably because I actually opened some wires and managed to successfully put them back together again (and I didn't steal the idea from someone else ;) I really like the look of it on my shelf as well, with the bare lightbulbs and white flowers inside. The birdcage was a gift from Jian  on Valentines Day (because he rocks, and listens when I rant about what I want in shops), and it looked awesome on its own. But we needed a lamp, and I had spare wires, so I present the result.

 

Skeleton Leaf Fairylights!

 

 

This is one of the longest projects! Because it was a long project, this will be a bit of a long post as well.

In honor of...

 

...horrible cramps!

I finally came up with an idea for what to do for Jian's birthday, and I am just so relieved! You know, when you're broke and you kind of just give in and say "I'll just have to give him something great next year", but you're still so sad that your special someone has to have a birthday without a gift. He's male as well, so it's not like I can just make something cute to hang jewelry on, add some flowers and wrap it pretty! So I've been working on that all day. It's small, but very timeconsuming, especially since I want it to be something he'll actually use, so it has to look professional (no pressure for my mediocre hands). Am I the only one who finds it extra hard to come up with ideas for a homemade gift for men?

 

Back to the cramps; I can't show you what it is until the 3rd of October, so I thought I'd share with you a project I can't wait to do tomorrow morning. Making my own heating pads. I think this will be in a lot of people's gifts from now on. ;) ..don't think I'll make mine red though.

 

Anyhooo - there's a full tutorial, but this is not really something you can fail with. And how cozy do they look? Quick and easy, but with a great feeling of accomplishment (the best way to craft)!

 

 

I think I'll make one specifically for shoulders as well. That'll be nice for the coming winter.

 What are you making for the coming winter? Is anyone else starting to mini-panic about christmas gifts?

 

Applique tablecloths

Today has been a very productive day. No housework, but I've crossed out two very tedious tasks from my list; making the skeleton leaves, and finishing the set of my applique tablecloths.

 

 

 

Craftroom organizing

Today I have continued my...I don't know what to call it really. Not too long ago we rescued a shelf, a baby changing table, a shoe rack and an old wardrobe from being taken to the dump. They all fit our house perfectly, with only small flaws on each one. Now, the wardrobe fell down and broke in pieces, but I managed to save 4 of the boards, with no idea what to do with it. But surprise! With some of these things, I turned our old laundry room into a craft-room/office. It won't be an office until we get a better desk, as Jian is quite tall, and the wardrobe-boards that I flipped upside down and used as a desk, is a bit too low for his comfort. For me it works ok as a temporary solution. It's better than sewing and whatnot in the livingroom, as my crafting had a tendency to spread all over the place.

As always, I digress. Now, the last board from the wardrobe, I turned into this.

 

Vanity Mirror on a budget!

Despite me being sick, and not having a job, I still can't fully rest as there are lots of birthdays coming up! Now, my boyfriends family is pretty silly - they all have birthdays from August to December, and quite frankly it just pisses me off! I mean, space it out for a poor, broke couple! And Christmas is right afterwards, by which time we are more than broke, but I still want to have a Christmas-dinner I can't afford. Now, they don't celebrate Christmas, but I just love it, so it's all up to me.

 

Anyways, I digress. Last month Jian's sister (that's my boyfriend) had her birthday, and we made her this homemade vanity mirror for her room that was missing both a mirror and light. Did anyone say perfect? We were quite pleased with the results, but unfortunately the picture isn't very good.