Tips for hosting a successful craft party

My friends and I have started doing monthly craft nights, and they're so much fun!  We rotate who is hosting, and the host picks the craft project for the evening.  Last week was my week to play host, and I thought I'd share with you guys what I've learned from it.

DIY Ombre Headband

Welcome to the 3rd installment in the One T-Shirt, Three DIYs miniseries!

The first two projects in the miniseries were a hand-stamped headband and a beach-ready crop top, and all three of these projects can be made using a single old t-shirt.

Today's project is the quickest one in the series, with only a minute or two of hands-on crafting.  (But it does involve a couple hours of hands-off drying time; so don't forget to factor that into your schedule.)

Handmade Vacation Wardrobe

I get a huge kick out of wearing things I've made myself, don't you?

With that in mind, here are some pictures of my handmade items in action on our Hawaiian vacation.

DIY Crop Top

It's time for the 2nd installment in the One T-shirt, Three DIYs miniseries!

In case you missed it, the first project in the series was a hand stamped t-shirt headband that I've been wearing pretty much all the time since I made it.

This second project is a crop top tank top that's perfect for wearing at the beach when you start to get a little crispy and want to cover up your shoulders.  I wore it when I went stand up paddle boarding (my new favorite activity!) in California last week.

And guess what!  It took less than 5 minutes to make.

DIY No-Sew Hand-Stamped 4th of July Tank Top

Can you believe that July's finally here?  It's full-on summer now and it's fabulous.

I'm having a great time on my Hawaiian vacation, and I decided to whip up a quick tank top to wear for the festivities here on the 4th of July.  It's a fun, easy project that takes about a half hour.

Read on for directions!

DIY Stamped T-Shirt Headband

I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty excited about my latest craft project, and this headband is only one third of it!

Instead of using one t-shirt to make one DIY project, I realized that I could use one t-shirt to make three DIY projects.  So this is the first installment in the One T-Shirt, Three DIYs miniseries.  Let's do this!

DIY Foam Stamps

I made an itty bitty heart stamp today, and I liked it so much that I made a triangle stamp to go along with it.

It all started when I was browsing the stamp aisle at the craft store today (which is a totally normal activity for a Wednesday morning, right?) and I thought to myself: it's way too easy to spend way too much money in this aisle.  So I forced myself to walk away.

But then I started thinking about how simple it would be to make my own stamps, so I picked up a big sheet of foam for $2 and decided to do it myself.  Here's how I did it...

DIY Fresh Flower Crown

Remember the baby's breath hair pins I made for all the guests to wear during my best friend's bachelorette party a couple weekends ago?  Well today's post is about the baby's breath crown that I made for the bride to wear at that same party.  I figure there's no better excuse than your own bachelorette party to get to wear a pretty crown!  

I really did want this crown to be pretty and not gaudy or gross like some bachelorette party accessories can be.  As I mentioned in the post about the floral hair pins, this was a fun, lighthearted, classy party because that's the kind of girl my best friend happens to be.

An easy floral DIY with big impact

My best friend's wedding finally happened this past weekend, and it was even more awesome than I had imagined it would be.  The bride looked stunning in her dress, the champagne was free-flowing, and I danced right out of my shoes.

Before we got to the wedding, however, there was the small matter of the bachelorette party that I hosted and the slightly obscene amount of DIY projects that I got myself into because of it.

First up on that list were some cute little baby's breath hair pins that I made for all the party guests to wear to the bar.  They matched the baby's breath flower crown that I made for the bride, and I felt that they were a classier approach to the whole bachelorette scene than anything they sell down at the local party store.

While these flowers looked great at the bachelorette party, I could also envision them fitting right in at the wedding itself, and that's why I like them so much.

I actually made myself a new one to wear to an outdoor dinner with my extended family this evening, which is what you're looking at in the picture above.  And wouldn't it be perfect to pop one of these into your hair for a summer music festival or a picnic-style date in the park? These are shaping up to be my go-to hair accessories this spring/summer.

Bachelorette Party Favors (in Progress)

My best friend's wedding is finally happening this weekend!

Right now I'm focusing on the prep for the bachelorette party.  This evening I'm making some fun accessories for the guests to wear, and tomorrow I'll be making the accessories for the bride.  (I'm keeping this purposely vague because the bride reads this blog, which is just one of the millions of things I love about her.)

Isn't this ribbon fun?

DIY Confetti Party Invitations

In my head, there is absolutely nothing that screams "party" more than confetti does.

With that in mind, I decided to use some of it to amp up my best friend's bachelorette party invitations.  It turned into a super simple DIY project that I was proud to drop into the mail.  I think these cards convey the idea that the party will be fun while keeping it classy with a lot of personal (a.k.a. handmade) touches.

This is what you'll need if you want to make invitations like this:
1.  Store baught cards.  Mine are made by Greenroom and I bought them at Target.
2.  Hole puncher
3.  Colored paper
4.  Scissors
5.  Plastic sandwich bags
6.  Washi tape

Have you ever made confetti?  It's ridiculously easy and provides a type of satisfaction akin to popping bubble wrap.  Just grab a hole puncher and go to town on a piece (or three) of colored paper.  Gather up all the holes you punched and you've got confetti.

The next step is making little bags to put the confetti in.  To do this, cut 1.5 x 1.5 inch squares out of the bottom corners of a sandwich bag.

Fill each of the little plastic squares with a couple pinches of confetti.

Now position the little confetti-filled baggie on the card, making sure that the baggie is tilted so it looks like a diamond with the two open sides on the top.

Secure the baggie to the card with a horizontal strip of washi tape, carefully placed so it covers most of the opening at the top of the bag.

It's alright to leave a bit of an opening on each of the top two sides of the baggie; this will allow a few of the confetti pieces to escape from the bag while the card is in the mail, which will add extra character to the invitation.

I also added a pinch of confetti to the insides of each card as a finishing touch.

I couldn't help myself.

There are only three and a half weeks to go until it's party time!

Happy hole punching,
xoxo
Laura

Looking Forward

There are only 4 weeks left until I get to go home again!

Sure, I'll miss the ocean views (like the one above) a little bit, but I absolutely cannot wait to get back to Colorado.  I'd take the mountains over the ocean any day of the week.

I've spent the morning thinking of all the things I'm looking forward to at home, so I thought I'd share a couple of them with you.

Top 3 (crafty) things I'm  looking forward to at home:

1.  Getting to use my new sewing machine!  My parents gave it to me for my birthday right before I left for this contract, and I never even got to try it out.  I seriously can't wait for this one.  I've been dreaming of all the pretty dresses I'll sew.

2.  My yarn stash.  (Enough said.)

3.  Easily accessible natural lighting.  No, my cabin on the ship doesn't have a porthole unless you count our poster of a porthole, which obviously doesn't fix the lighting problem.

It's going to be awesome!
xoxo
Laura

5 Spring Crafting Ideas

Since spring is finally in full bloom, I thought I'd do a roundup of my five favorite springtime crafts from blog posts gone by.

I feel like spring is the perfect time to refashion old clothes so they'll be more breezy, to make cute new accessories for freshly-bared arms, and to collect as many budding flowers as possible.

1.  Bust out those scissors and make a side-tie t-shirt.  It'll look great with a new swimsuit peeking out of the sides.

2.  Create your own beaded wrap bracelets.  They can cost a fortune if you buy them in stores and only a fraction of that if you make them yourself.

3.  Reuse old bottles to make painted bottle vases.  The flowers will look beautiful inside on the mantle or outside on a picnic table, plus the Earth will thank you for upcycling your trash.

4.  Use some scissors and glue to fashion a bow-back tank top.  It's perfect for the weather that's finally warming up.

5.  Embrace the arm knitting trend and make The Triplet Shawl.  It's perfect for wrapping over a swimsuit at the beach.

However you choose to celebrate the changing of the season and the long-awaited arrival of warmer weather, I hope you're loving it.

Happy spring!
xoxo
Laura

A Sweatshirt Refashion

It's finally that time of year when people back home get to replace their coats and snow boots with sweatshirts and flip-flops (except, of course, for the days when we have random giant spring snowstorms).  It's also the time of year when I tend to pull out last year's spring wardrobe and feel a little bit uninspired by my old clothes.

So that's why I decided to do a sweatshirt redesign today that's super easy and effective.  All it took was a purple ribbon to breathe new life into an old staple.

To do this to your own sweatshirt, you'll need the following:
-  3 or 4 feet of satin ribbon
-  scissors
-  a safety pin
-  a lighter

Here I am, rocking my sweatshirt pre-ribbon...

I happen to love this sweatshirt because it's super cozy and because it was a Christmas present.  I also thought it would be the perfect canvas for this project because it's a solid color and, therefore, a blank canvas for the colorful ribbons.

That certainly doesn't mean you have to use a sweatshirt that's only one color for your version of this project, though.  The more creative you get with your color combos, the more fun you could have with this.

Here are the directions:

1.  Pull the old string out of your sweatshirt.

2.  Attach a safety pin to the end of the ribbon and insert it into the hole that you pulled the old string out of.

3.  Urge the safety pin to travel all the way through the edge of the hood until it reaches the hole on the other side.  The easiest way to do this is to scrunch up the edge of the hood (as shown above) then pinch the safety pin and un-scrunch the edge, thus moving the pin a couple of inches along the edge.  Repeat that process until it makes it all the way across the hood.

4.  Pull the ribbon out of the second hole.  You'll now officially have a ribbon where the original string used to be.

5.  Remove the safety pin from the ribbon and tie a knot where you would like each side of the ribbon to end.

6.  Cut off the excess ribbon.  Use a lighter to melt the edges of the ribbon that you just cut; it'll keep the ribbon from fraying.

Oh, and did I mention that this whole process takes less than 5 minutes and costs less than 5 dollars?  Seriously.  The only thing I had to purchase was my ribbon which cost $1 at the dollar store.  I already had the scissors and the safety pin and I borrowed the lighter from a friend. Pretty sweet, right?

Happy refashioning!
xoxo
Laura

DIY Flip Book Valentines

I was browsing the Valentine's Day candy section at Target last weekend and accidentally walked away with a crafty thing or two in my cart (in addition to the chocolate that I had actually intended to buy, of course).  One of those things was a bag of tiny heart-shaped notebooks.  I had no plan for them, they were just so cute that they ended up in my cart.

It wasn't until a few days later that the idea hit me: these notebooks are perfect for old-school flip books!

To make a flip book, all you need is a pen and a little notebook like these.  Don't have one? You can also make do with a pad of sticky notes.

Begin by deciding what you want to draw and how you want it to move as you flip the pages. I decided to make the words "you" and "me" converge on the page then frame them with a heart.

Here you can see each individual page:

Simple, eh?

Here's a video of the flip book in action:

I can't wait to give this little flip book to my boyfriend tomorrow for Valentine's Day.  I think he'll really dig the throwback to our childhoods.

Besides giving my boyfriend his Valentine, my only other special plan for the day is to eat a lot of chocolate.  I love hearts and I love chocolate so mix those two things together and I'm in heaven.  (Thank you, Target candy aisle!!)

Happy Valentine's Day!
xoxo
Laura

No-Sew DIY Bow-Back Tank Top

I love redesigning my old t-shirts for lots of reasons.  It keeps my wardrobe fresh, which keeps me from getting bored and spending money on new clothes.  Also, I like skating in edgy/cute/cut-up outfits.  Plus, imagining how to redesign a t-shirt is a fun way to spend a morning coffee break or an afternoon workout (or both).

For this particular t-shirt redesign, I wanted something with a drapey, open back, but I didn't want it to be so open that it would fall off my shoulders and bother me while I was skating. The simplest (and prettiest) answer was a bow similar to the ones I made on the sleeves of this t-shirt.

If you want to make this top too, you'll need an old V-neck t-shirt, a pair of scissors, and some glue (I used E6000).  

Make sure the shirt fits a little bit loose because creating the bow at the back will tighten it up a little bit.

Place your shirt facing down on a flat surface and follow these directions...

1.  Cut a half-circle out of the neckline that's about 4 inches deep into the back of the shirt. The lower you cut this half-circle, the lower the bow will sit on your shirt.  Next, start at the bottom of each armpit, measure 6 inches down the side seams, and make a little mark with a pencil. Cut straight across the back of the shirt between your two marks being very careful to cut close to the side seams but do not cut through them.  Those side seams will keep the horizontal slit you just made from growing and growing until the shirt isn't wearable anymore.

2.  Insert your thumb into the horizontal slip and your forefinger into the half-circle at the neckline and pinch your fingers together.  This is where your bow will be.  If you're not happy with the placement, now's the time to cut the neckline a little deeper to correct it.  Once that's all sorted out, cut a 4 inch x 2 inch strip of fabric out of the extra fabric that you cut from the neckline.

3.  Wrap the fabric strip around the spot that you pinched and glue it in place on the inside of the shirt.  To keep the glue from leaking onto the front of the shirt, place a piece of cardboard or a notebook in between the front and the back of the shirt.  Let the glue dry fully before moving on to the next steps.

4.  Turn the t-shirt over so the front is facing up.  Cut off the neckline just outside of the seam that was used to the keep the neckline on the shirt.  Leaving that seam on the finished product will help it last as long as possible.  Now cut off the sleeves, also cutting these just outside of the seam so that seam stays on the shirt for structural support.

5.  Cut two strips off of the scrap fabric that used to be the neckline.  Wrap each strip around the top of each armhole to hold the straps in place in an aesthetically pleasing way.  Glue them in place on the underside of the strap.   Let the glue dry completely before trying on your finished creation.

I put mine on and skated around a bit this afternoon.  This shirt definitely achieved the drapey look in the back without becoming too loose to skate in.  I can't wait to wear it on our warmup ice tomorrow before the shows!

If you decide to make this shirt too, I'd love to see a picture of yours too!

Happy redesigning!
xoxo
Laura

Washi Tape Christmas Countdown Chain

Now that Thanksgiving is over, it's time for Christmas decorating!  This makes me extremely happy.

I was lying in bed the other morning thinking about those old-school Christmas chains I used to make out of construction paper as a kid, and it occurred to me that a little washi tape could totally make one of those chains feel all grown up.  Washi tape can do that for just about anything, don't you think?

When I put my idea into action, I also realized that the washi tape makes the chains even easier to make than the construction-paper-only chains from my childhood because you can use the edges of the tape as a guide for cutting straight lines.

Another bonus is that this project only took about 15 minutes!

To make one of these washi tape chains, you'll need the following:
1.  Red and green construction paper (one piece of each color)
2.  A roll of washi tape with red accents and a roll with green accents.  I used striped tape because it reminds me of candy canes.
3.  Scissors

Here are the instructions:

1.  Place 13 strips of reddish washi tape across the width of a piece of red construction paper and 12 strips of greenish washi tape across the width of a piece of green construction paper. As you do this, leave an inch-long tail of washi tape hanging off of the edge of the construction paper.

2.  Cut out the strips of washi taped construction paper, using the edges of the washi tape as a guide.  You should now have a total of 25 red and green strips.

3.  Turn your first strip into a loop and use the washi tape tail to secure it.

4.  It will look extra-professional if you make the pattern on the washi tape tail match up with the pattern on the tape that you're taping over.  See how the diagonal stripes all match up with each other in the 4th picture?

5.  Now add the rest of the chain links one at a time by repeating steps 3 and 4 with each strip, making sure that you loop each new strip around the previous loop before you tape it closed.

6.  Once you've added all 25 links to you're chain, hang it up, you're finished!

I hung my chain in our cabin, and I think it compliments our porthole picture very nicely.

I'm looking forward to December 1st so I can start ripping off one of the loops every day until Christmas!

How are you counting down to Christmas this year?

xoxo
Laura

DIY Doily Pumpkins

I love Halloween crafts!  I feel like the possibilities are endless.

Last year, I created mason jar jack-o”-lanterns, and I tied myself a poofy tutu the year before that.  

This year I was so excited for Halloween crafting that I ended up making three things!  There was the Halloween party backdrop last week, today I’ll be sharing a pumpkin that I decoupaged and drilled, and I have one more project up my sleeve for next week as well.

To decorate a pumpkin like this, you’ll need the following items:

1.  A pumpkin with all the insides removed (Mine came from the “medium” bin at the grocery store.)

2.  A package of 20 paper doilies that are 10 inches wide

3.  Mod Podge glue

4.  An old toothbrush (or other brush-like tool that you’re fine with throwing away)

5.  Scissors

6.  An electric drill

Here’s how to make it:

1.  Cut the doilies in half.

2.  Cut out the solid center of the doilies so you’re left with just the pretty outside parts.

3.  Using the tooth brush, paint some mod podge onto a portion of the pumpkin.  Place a doily piece on top of the mod podge, then brush more mod podge on top of the doily.  Repeat this step over and over until the entire pumpkin is covered in doilies.

Wait a few hours for the mod podge to dry.

Once it’s completely dry, it’s time to start drilling!  Use an electric drill, to make little holes all over the pumpkin, preferably in spots that make sense with the doily pattern.

Pop a candle or two inside the pumpkin, set it on your front porch, and you’re all finished!

Happy decorating!

xoxo

Laura