DIY Valentines Cards

One week today is Valentines Day! I have plenty of Vday crafts and recipes if you’re in need of any ideas for your special someone. You can find all my Valentines blog posts right here, VALENTINES.

Anyways, I’ve made some Valentines Cards for my west coast pals. The cards that I created are made out of all recycled paper that was lying around the house! I used red & pink construction paper, brown scotch wrapping paper, pink wrapping paper and newspaper. I also used old birthday cards for the background of my cards to prevent them from bending. I then cut out all shapes of hearts, glued them to the old birthday cards, and then I used scissors to cut a nice border around each heart card. Once each card was complete, I used black and gold sharpies to write Valentine messages on them. Super cute, super easy!

Enjoy my loves! 

Diy Quoted Signage

Recently I have made a couple new witty signs for my apartment and I’m continuing to do so. These signs are so easy to create and are a lot cheaper then purchasing them from a home and décor store.

The supplies you will need to create these lovely signs are the following:

Acrylic paint

Paintbrushes

Any piece of wood

Sponge Sander

Computer

Printer

Paper

Carbon Paper (Transfer Paper)

Varnish

Hanging Hooks

**You can purchase these supplies at Michael’s Craft Store, Staples, Home Hardware, & a Lumberyard.

Step 1: First choose a quote that you would like to paint and the piece of wood you want to paint the quote onto. Take your sponge sander and sand down all the edges of the wood to create a smooth surface to paint on.

Step 2: Once all the surfaces are smooth you can now choose your background color and do 2 to 3 coats of paint.

Step 3: Once the background color is dry, print out your quote. I usually use a font from Microsoft Word. Once you have the quote printed and lined up on your board take your transfer paper and place it underneath the piece of paper your quote is printed onto. Now take a pencil and trace over the quote, the carbon paper will allow the quote to transfer onto the piece of wood.

Step 4: Once the quote is transferred onto the board you can now paint the quote. Just use a skinny paintbrush and paint within the lines. It’s really easy, just like coloring! Do 2 to 3 coats of paint onto the quote.

Step 5: Once the quote is completely painted and dried, take a large brush and some varnish and paint the entire board covering all edges. Do 2 coats of varnish. The varnish seals the paint into the board and gives the sign a shiny look.

Step 6: Once the varnish is completely dried, your sign is completed! You can now nail in some hanging hooks to the back of your sign, and hang your lovely quote.

BONUS: Use Q-tips and water to fix any mistakes when painting within the lines of the quote.

 Enjoy Guys! 

Valentines Day Banner

I decided to decorate my condo for Valentines Day. I didn’t want it to look too cheesy, so I just made a simple heart banner. I cut out enough hearts that I was able to place heart banners in a few places. The banner looks very pretty strung across the fireplace mantel, bed headboard, windows or walkways.

The items you will need to create this cute heart banner are:

Red and pink construction paper

Brown Twinge (String)

Red Sparkles

Scissors

Glue

**These items can be purchased at Michael’s or any craft store.

Step 1: Cut as many red and pink hearts out of the construction paper as you want. You can than use the glue and sparkles and decorate the hearts as you wish. I put sparkles on every other red heart, and around the edges.

Step 2: Once all your hearts are cut out and glittered, use the scissors and string to poke holes through each heart. Then string the twinge through each hole and your valentine’s heart banner will be completed. You can now place it anywhere you’d like.

Hope this was an easy and fun Valentines Day project! 

Vintage Wood Candleholder Centerpiece

Hello all!

This week I decided to create another DIY candleholder. I was browsing on Pinterest and I came across a candleholder made out of a thick piece of wood. I then went to my grandparents in search of a similar piece. After hunting for a few minutes I was able to find the perfect piece of wood. Next, I got down to work in hopes of creating a vintage wood candleholder centerpiece! 

The supplies you’ll need to create this wood candleholder are the following:

Thick piece of wood

Drill press with a round bit.

Sander

Paint Brush

Chestnut Stain

Varnish

**Majority of these supplies can be purchased at a hardware store.

Step 1: Once you’ve found a thick or long piece of wood, take a drill press with a round bit and drill 10 or more holes depending on the size of your piece of wood. Drill the holes in a pattern onto the wood. The round bit is the same size as a tea light, so the candles will fit perfectly into the drilled holes.

Step 2: Once all the holes are drilled, I used a palm sander and sanded the piece of wood down until it felt soft.

Step 3: After the wood was sanded down I used my paintbrush and chestnut stain and painted on 3 coats of stain. I wanted my candleholder to look very shiny. Once the stain was dry I took another paintbrush and painted on 1 coat of varnish. The varnish is a final coat that leaves the piece looking sealed and shiny. Once the varnish is completely dry you can now place the candleholder anywhere you’d like. I placed mine on top of my dinning table and used it as a centerpiece. I also place it on top of my fireplace mantel.

EXTRA: I eventually carved my boyfriend’s, and my name into the piece of wood. I did this with a stencil and a electric wood carver. This is very easy to do and adds more to the piece.

Hope you guys enjoyed the Vintage Wood Candleholder Centerpiece tutorial!  

8 Point Deer Painting

This week I decided to get a little creative/different and make a painting of an 8-point deer. I wanted this painting to look a little rustic and vintage so I used some old beat up boards and varnish. This painting could look great over top of a fireplace, in your bedroom, or even in a “man cave”.

Items you’re going to need to create this painting:

7 or more beat up boards

Measuring Tape

Pencil

Saw

Hammer

Nails

Sander

Chestnut Stain

Varnish

Tracing Paper

Transfer Paper

White Acrylic Paint 

Paintbrush

Hanging Screws/Nails

**All of these tools can be purchased at any hardware of craft store.

Step 1: First find 7 or more boards and use a measuring tape to measure 5 of the boards at the same length. Measure the other 2 boards at the same length, but at a longer length then the other 5 boards. Once the 5 boards are cut, line them up and face the good side of each board on the ground. Grab the two longer boards and place them onto the 5 lined up boards. Place the 2 boards on each side of the 5 lined up boards and now take nails and nail the 2 boards into the 5 boards. The 2 boards hold the 5 boards together.

Make sure your boards end up looking like this on the back.

Step 2: Once all the boards are nailed together take out your hand sander and sand the surface and edges of the boards. Keep sanding until the surface and edges are smooth.

Step 3: Once the board is completely sanded, take your chestnut or any color stain and use your paintbrush to stain the attached boards. You’ll only need 1 coat of stain.

Step 4: Once the stain is completely dried I looked at a similar photo of a deer that I liked and then decided to draw it on the pattern paper. This took awhile to draw but I got it looking just the way I wanted my deer to look. Make sure that the deer will fill up majority of the space on the boards.

Step 5: Tape the deer drawing that’s drawn on the tracing paper and place it where you would like it to be painted on the boards. Use your transfer paper and place it underneath the deer drawing. Now use your pencil to trace the deer picture onto the boards. The transfer paper allows the image of the deer to transfer onto the boards.

Step 6: Once the deer is traced onto the boards take your white acrylic paint and paintbrush and do 3-4 coats of the deer. Use a smaller brush to paint the antlers. Once the white paint is completely dried, use your paintbrush and do one coat of varnish to make the painting look a little more rustic and shiny. After the varnish has dried, you can screw or nail hanging nails into the back of the boards and hang your deer painting anywhere you’d like.

Hope you enjoyed!