DIY Kid’s Bathroom Decor

It’s time for another DIY tutorial! A few weeks ago my daughter turned one year, so we had a little party and after the party we had left the decoration. We made an Uglydoll party, since she really likes one of their characters. I really thought it was going to be a waste if we just threw it away, given that we only had it on the walls for a few hours. After thinking a little about what to do I decided that the guest bathroom, which is now being used by her, should be really her bathroom and therefore it would be nice to change it a little bit. It is an old house and the bathroom furniture hasn’t been updated in years I’m sure, so they are just plain, white doors. Here is the before and after:

What you’ll need:

- Mod Podge

- Foam Brush

- Scissors

- Decor napkins, plastic tablecloth, etc. (whatever you have available)

- Polyurethane (optional for durability)

First, clean the surface you are going to work on. In my case it was the door of the bathroom furniture. You can sand it a little bit if you are planning to change the color, but in my case I just let it the ivory/white color it has. So just clean and let dry. Choose the items you want to attach to your door.

Next step is to cut the figures that you want to use. I used some carton figurines and plastic wall decor. You can see in the picture how it looked and then I just cut the pieces that I was going to use.

 

Go to your working surface and lay them out as you want your finished piece. Then with the foam brush gently apply the Mod Podge on your first decor item and place it where you want it to stay. Press it well to get all bubbles out. Do the same with all the rest of figurines.

Let dry for a few minutes and then brush Mod Podge on top of your decor. Make sure you cover them completely, including all the edges. Don’t worry it will dry completely clear. Let dry for a few minutes and then apply another thin coat.

At this point you could add two coats of Polyurethane (let dry between coats) so it lasts longer. I chose not to cover it since it will be easy to remove if I decide to change the decor in a few months, but it’s up to you.

It takes no time and no money and it’s a very fun project that you could do together with your children if they are a bit older. You can use this process with hundreds of items. I used the napkins to cover my daughter’s toy box and am planning to also change an old coffee table into a kid’s table. So ideas are endless.

Anyone else has repurposed anything?

Have a great week!

Sandra.

DIY Makeup Bag

I think a great gift idea for any woman or just for you is a makeup bag, and even better if it’s made by yourself!  This gives an extra value to your gift.

So, I’m going to share with you some DIY makeup bags ideas that I found on the web, and also an extra DIY makeup brush holder, that can be the perfect complement for your makeup bag. You can access the link to the site where you can see the tutorials.

Lined and Zippered

This is one of the easiest to make, it is simple but beautiful. If you are a beginner, you can start with this one.

Envelope Style

The envelope style is quick and easy to make.  It’s so cute! It has no zipper, closes with a strip of velcro and has a decorative button.  

Mini Boxy Makeup Bag

This is one of my favorites, a beautiful boxy mini makeup bag that has the perfect size to use it as your stylish purse or for a party and special event.

Wedge Shaped 

A makeup bag with wedge shape looks great too. As you can see in the second picture, you can attach a decorative flower, this will make your makeup bag look gorgeous! Click on the picture to see the tutorial.

Pleated 

Then we have a pleated makeup bag. It has squared off bottom corners which provides a good amount of inside volume and a nice shape.

Makeup Brush Holder

Finally, here is the extra DIY makeup brush holder as a complement of your cosmetic bag, easy and cute!

They’re all stylish and easy to make, definitely I will try to make mine! Now, all you have to do is select your favorite style, the fabric of your choice and hands on! :)

Selene

The Man Cave

Since we found out that we were having a baby many things have changed at home and as part of it we decided to also move some furniture out of the house and into the garage, since we actually never use it, except as storage. So, after some furniture moving my husband decided that it was time to get all his music stuff out of his office and into the garage as well, so that he could play the guitar there, or listen to music without having the "noise" in the house. And that's how we converted the garage into his cool Man Cave. All his records, guitars and other music equipment are in the garage now, together with some nice sofas and even a breakfast table for when he invites some friends. I would share some pictures with you, but he's not a big fan of being on my blog, so you will have to use your imagination. It looks great by the way.

Anyways, I got him a little gift and bought this awesome sign that says "Sure I can multi-task... I can drink beer, fart and listen to music" I just love it!!! It was a surprise for him and he immediately put it on the wall. This is the sign I got (just asked the seller to modify the wording a little bit) plus below are other cool things I found for a Man Cave.

Handmade Man Cave Sign available here

 Hand printed Whiskey Glasses here

 Wall mounted Bottle opener here

 Vintage Star Wars original Record Watch here

 Handmade Man Cave sign here

 Beer Brewing Mix Kit here

So many cool things for your man! So if your boyfriend, husband, partner, etc. has a Man Cave, you know where to go and find great gifts for them. Enjoy!!!

 

Flower Headband or Clip DIY Tutorial

As I had mentioned to my Facebook Fans I recently learned how to do these gorgeous Flower Hair Accessories and just got addicted to it. The are great for Newborns, Brides, Bridesmaids, or just the every day outfit! I made a bunch for me and my little baby that will be born in a few weeks, but I just made way too many, so I decided to 1. Show you how to make yours and 2. Have a fun giveaway with some of the flowers I already finished, plus jewelry and cufflinks:

I'll start with the tutorial and will write about the Giveaway in another post, since it's not only the flowers that I'm giving away, but also some of my jewelry pieces and cufflinks in celebration of getting to 2,000 Facebook Fans! Yayyy!!! So make sure to check out the Giveaway post here.

Back to the Flower Accessories. This is how your finished Flower will look like:

In the tutorial I will show you how to attach the flowers to an elastic headband, but you can attach them also to Bobby Pins, Hair Clips, Belts, etc. Just use your imagination and the options are endless. They are also great for all ages and occasions. So here is what you will need:
- Scissors
- Fabric Flowers
- Heat Gun
- Felt
- Rhinestone or Button if you want to decorate the center
- Headband, Pin, Clip, or whatever you want to attach it to

You can get all of these items at a regular Craft Store, like Michael's or Jo-Anns. They also a have a large selection of flowers and normally will have a few on discount. Another option is to go to the Dollar Store, however the selection is probably a little smaller. Start by cutting two small circles from the felt. They should be the same size, but don't need to be exact. Set them aside.

Next cut the elastic for your headband. You can buy the headbands ready or you can make your own. I opted to get the elastic since I wanted to make the headbands in different sizes, for me and my girl. The suggested sizes are as follow:
Newborn - 13"
3 Mo to 6 Mo - 14"
6 Mo to 12 Mo - 16"
12 Mo to Teen - 17.5"
Adult - 18"
Those are the finished sizes, so if you are making your own headband you will want to cut your elastic a little more than that. Once you cut your elastic you need to sew them together. Don't worry on how it looks since it will be covered by the felt. Just make sure it's sewn correctly so it won't rip.

Set the headband aside and connect your heat gun so it starts warming up, then continue onto the flowers. Take one flower completely apart, depending on how filled you want them you can use more than one. I like them with a lot of petals so I usually use at least two flowers. If you plan to use a rhinestone or button in the center you can throw away everything except for the petals. Or you can leave aside the center of the flower and re-use on yours.

Now that you have the petals only arrange them in the way you want to have them. You can mix different flowers, colors or just put them together as they were originally. I like to separate them by size first and then start to put them together until it looks like I want them. Once you've arranged them turn them around to have the largest petals on the top and the smallest on the bottom. Take your first petal (largest) and add some of the glue with heat gun on it. Now take the next petal and press firmly over the first one. Keep doing that with the rest of your petals until you're finished.

Now it's the time to embellish your flower. You can use rhinestones, pearls, buttons or the original center of the flower. You can get a mixed package of colors and sizes of rhinestone in the bead section of your craft store or you can use the self-adhesive ones from the scrapbooking area. Just apply the glue with the heat gun onto the center of the flower and press your embellishment on it. If you don't want to add anything, just leave it as is and it will look nice anyway.

You've finished your flower now and are almost ready. Take on of the felt circles and apply glue all over it. Also apply some glue on the back of your flower (the largest petal) and press both of them together. This is to hide any imperfection that might be on it. Now take your headband and apply glue on the part that is going to be glued onto the felt, make sure you are hiding the sewed part. Press it onto the flower and then apply glue on the inner side of the headband and of the two felt pieces. Glue them together and let dry.

That's it! You have finished your Flower Headband! So easy, right? And it will take you only a few minutes to make them. You can make it as fancy or as simple as you want and I love that it's great for any age and any occasion. Remember that I do not sell these flowers in my shop, just made them for fun and will be giving a few away (together with jewelry and cufflinks) on my 2,000 Facebook Fan celebration here!

If you're not the crafty kind of person but liked these flowers and did not win one at my giveaway, you can find plenty of fancy options for sale from other Handmade Artists. Here are a few that I found:
 

For the Bride

Handmade Bridal Flower Clip here

Shoe Clip

 Handmade Peacock Shoe Clip here

For the Bridesmaid

  Handmade Flower clip here 

For the Baby

Handmade Newborn Headband here

Flower Sash

Handmade Flower Sash here 

Have Fun creating or shopping and don't forget to check out the 2,000 Facebook Fan Giveaway!

Great Day - Yellow Findings

Great Day Print here

Today I was doing my usual browsing, looking for nice things to feature and I stumbled upon this nice print. Today is going to be a great day! What a nice way to start a day, don't you think? It immediately brought a smile to my face. It's not only that I like yellow and it's a perfect summer color, but it just made me happy. There is nothing special going on right now and I really don't expect anything extraordinary to happen, but today I'm going to start my day with a big smile and I hope it lasts throughout the day.

Well, since I liked the color so much I decided that today I would feature only yellow items. Look at these gorgeous handmade findings I have for you guys today:

  Handmade Flower Shoe Clips here

 Sexy Summer skirt here

 Love birds here

 Handmade Yellow Clutch here

Yellow and Purple Cookies here

Handmade Daisies Soap here

And last but not least a friendly reminder to all of you:

Handmade You Look Pretty Towel here

 Have a great day everyone!

Romantic Pearls - June Birthstone

Who doesn't love Pearls? They are very classic and romantic and go just with everything. At least that's my opinion. So for June, the Birthstone is the Pearl. I'm not going to talk about all the history and those kind of things, since you can find that on the Wikipedia and plenty of other sites, but what I did like the most is that the Greek believed that pearls were the hardened tears of joy that the goddess of love shook from her eyes as she was born from the sea. Sounds cool right?

Picture of Pearl in Shell here

Well nowadays there are a lot of different uses for the pearls, not only jewelry and they can be as cheap or as expensive as you want. There are plenty of faux pearls in different colors, which are very affordable, or you can get some unique natural ones for hundreds of dollars. Here are some of my findings of handmade items that incorporate pearls:

Handmade Bridal Pearl Bouquet here

Handmade Pearl Clutches here 

Handmade Pearl Garter here

Handmade Pearl Hair Comb here 

Handmade Pearl Frame here

Handmade Pearl Hanger here

Handmade Pearl Earrings here

Hope you like my findings!

Father's Day Giveaway

I had some requests for a special promotion for Father's Day so I asked on my Facebook Fan Page if there was more interest in a Cufflink Giveaway and guess what?? In less than 30 minutes I had already 15 people liking my post. Wow, that means that a lot are waiting for this, so here it is, a Cufflink Giveaway :)

You know it's mostly all about the ladies, but this time I'm going to spoil the men. If you haven't bought something for your Husband, Dad, Father in Law or whoever special man you want to give a father's day gift, then you are still on time in getting something for him. And wouldn't it be nice to get it for free? Just look at this great options you can win:

#1 Dad Handmade Cufflinks available at Estylo Cufflinks

 Baby Feet Cufflinks available at Estylo Cufflinks

Greatest Dad Cufflinks available at Estylo Cufflinks

 Funny Homer Simpson and Peter Griffin Cufflinks available at Estylo Cufflinks

Formal Clear Swarovski Cufflinks available at Estylo Cufflinks

Jack Nicholson The Shining Movie Cufflinks available at Estylo Cufflinks

San Francisco Giants Sports Team Cufflinks available at Estylo Cufflinks

 No matter if you want a special Father's day theme, something funny, something formal, his favorite movie or sports team, there is something for every taste and the winner will get Any One Cufflink from my Shop for Free! Here are the details for the Giveaway:

How to Enter:

There is One Mandatory Entry and Six other Optional for you to increase your chances of winning. (All entries must be made as a comment on this blog post ....please make sure to do separate comments for each entry)

Mandatory Entry:

- "Like" my Facebook Fan Page and then come back and comment on my blog that you did. If you are a fan already you still have to comment that on my blog.

Optional Entries:

- Leave a Comment here on my blog telling me which Cufflinks from my Shop you would choose if you win. 

- Follow my blog and leave a comment that you do so.

- Share this blog post on Facebook and comment on my blog that you did.

- Stumble this blog post and leave a comment on my blog that you did.

- Tweet about this blog post and comment on my blog that you did. My Twitter is @estylojewelry

- Suggest my Facebook Page to your friends and leave a comment on my blog that you did.

You have a total of Seven Chances to Enter, so take advantage of them!

Rules:

The Giveaway starts on June 09, 2011 and ends on June 16, 2011 at midnight PST. Winner will be chosen via Random.org and will be announced on my Blog and Facebook Fan Page the following day. It is open Worldwide for anyone 18 years or older. The prize will be sent out via USPS First Class. Please note that I can't be responsible for Post Office mistakes or non-deliverable. Winner will have 3 days to contact me for the prize or a new winner will be chosen.

Good Luck Everyone!!! 

Update - Winner has been chosen!
The winner has been selected using Random.org and is comment #98: Amanda G.
If I don't hear back from her within 3 days another winner will be chosen.


Congratulations Amanda!!!

  

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