Faux Coiled Tribal Basket DIY

 

I have started collecting coiled baskets. One day I will have enough to make my dream gallery wall of them. I discovered that they are kinda hard to find and often expensive when you do. As with most things I decided to make my own version. Super easy and chic.

Modern Home Decor Projects

If you've ever thought about adding a few little stylish touches to a room or, heaven forbid, decide to overhaul the design completely, you know how expensive those little details can be. Rugs can cost you nearly a thousand dollars! Napkins ten bucks apiece! It's just crazy how much can be saved by going the route of DIY! And if you think handmade always equals handmade ugly, I've got a couple of projects that just might change your mind!

Delightful Doormat

Recently when walking into my house I looked down and realized I still have a Halloween themed doormat. It's July I could either just tough it out a couple more months or I could paint myself a brand spanking new one. I opted for plan B.


SUPPLIES
Plain Door Mat
Tulip Soft Fabric Paint
Paint Brush
Scanner
Computer
Printer
Tulip Fabric Marker
Ruler
Embroidered Effects: Projects and Patterns to Inspire Your Stitching (Sublime Stitching) by Jenny Hart

TRIM
I used a metal ruler to create a border around the edge of my plain beige mat. I filled in the border using Tulip Fabric Paint.

PICTURE PERFECT
I used a pattern from Embroidered Effects as my design. I loved the cute little birds and thought they would look great on my door mat. I scanned in the embroidery pattern and enlarged it to fit on my rug. I printed up three separate pictures.


TRANSFER
Unfortunately, I could not get transfer paper to work on the texture of my rug so I was forced to draw the picture. I should say my husband was forced to draw. I used a Tulip Fabric Marker to transfer my design.


PAINT
After my design was on the rug I went back in with Tulip Fabric Paint and filled in. I also decided to add a few embellishments of my own!


WIPE YOUR FEET
Now I can put away my Halloween door mat for the next two months and display my own customized cute as a button mat in the meantime. I'm hoping the fun birds will distract visitors from the holes in the screen left by my over zealous 140 lb dog and 24 lb child.

Peppermint Poodle Lamp Shade

When decorating for the holidays, no matter what holiday, don't be afraid to do a little rearranging. Those pictures are not glued to the wall, switch em' out every so often. Your kitschy trinkets are not bolted to the shelf try rotating them with some seasonal goodies. In the case of today's I Love to Create post I am further proving this point by showing you that there is no good reason why you should not swap lamp shades from time to time.



It all started when my mother recently gave me a new batch of vintage wrapping paper, which I collect and adore. This particular batch had some that was neon pink with lime green poodles and my knees about buckled. This wrapping paper needed to be displayed, adorned, worshiped and admired. What better way to showcase these pepperminty poodles than by covering a lampshade with them!



SUPPLIES
Lamp Shade
Collage Pauge Instant Decoupage Medium
Liquid Fusion Glue
Ball Fringe
Clothes Pins
Wrapping Paper
Scissors



CUTTING YOUR PAPER
Now I could have gotten all professional and measured my lampshade and cut the wrapping paper accordingly, but we all know I am not that kind of crafter. Instead I eyeballed it and cut my wrapping paper into strips a little bit longer than the length of the shade.



DECOUPAGE
I opted for Sparkle Collage Pauge, because after all everything is better with sparkle. I used a copious amount underneath and on top of my wrapping paper to adhere the paper to the lampshade. I intentionally made the paper longer than the shade so that I could fold the edges over into the inside of the shade giving myself a nice finished looking edge.

As with any time you are trying to cover something round there were a few spaces where the edges did not meet up and I had to do a bit of patchwork with the paper. Luckily the wrapping paper was such a busy pattern you can not tell.



BALL FRINGE
Using Liquid Fusion Glue I attached ball fringe to the bottom of my lamp. I used clothes pins to hold the fringe in place as it dried.



LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION
All that was left to do was to put my usual lamp shade in the attic for a winter's rest and put out my new poodlerific shade to shine. I think my new shade makes the bar look that much more inviting and a peppermint schnapps taste that much yummier!



P.S. Read more fun bloggy goodness about wrapping paper here, here and here.

Embroidery Hoop Bulletin Board

Can I just say I LOVE, love, love this idea?

This is a large embroidery hoop that is covered in fabric, but wait - there is more! It is actually a corkboard! Ditch your boring rectangle board and add an artsy touch to your office decor!

Supplies:

Large embroidery hoop
Corkboard to fit snug inside back (draw on paper to make a template and then cut cork board)
Fabric
Aleene's® Fabric Fusion™ Permanent Dry Cleanable Fabric Adhesive™
Aleene's® Tacky® Transparent Tape for Crafters™
Foam brush
Clips

Directions:

1. Open the hoop (paint it if desired).
2. Use a foam brush to apply Fabric Fusion inside both hoops.
3. Insert the fabric and replace back hoop. Pull until it is taut and apply clips all around, let sit for 30 minutes.
4. Remove clips and trim excess fabric.
5. Set the hoop right side down on table.
6. Apply Tacky Tape generously around inner areas of taut fabric inside the hoop.
7. Set the corkboard inside so it fits snug up against edge of hoop.
8. Press in place.

I Love to Create: La Tour Eiffel Decoupage Lampshade

(Click on images to view close up)

In the blink of an eye, little girls become young women. They’re more grown up and they want a more sophisticated bedroom. Total room rehab isn’t always an option but it’s not so hard to make quick and significant changes if you’re crafty. I bought this Eiffel tower lamp at Target about eight years ago, and it’s still available online! I wasn’t terribly fond of the shade that came with it, so I purchased a plain craft paper shade that I’d always intended to embellish. Flash forward eight years...

It’s perfect for my daughter’s newly revamped room! We used white tissue paper stamped with archival ink (you need to be sure your ink is waterproof or it will bleed when it gets wet.) I got a great decoupage trick from crafty diva Pattie Wack at CHA and used Aleene’s Tacky Glue® glue stick to adhere the torn pages on the shade instead of decoupage medium which can get very messy very quickly! Here are the instructions! Bon chance!

La Tour Eiffel Lampshade
Teen Craft
Margot Potter for I Love to Create

Materials
Kraft Paper lampshade
Eiffel Tower lamp base from Target
White tissue paper
Vintage or new off white buttons in various sizes
1 yard black chiffon ruffle trim (JoAnn Fabrics)
Ranger Jet Black archival ink
Hero Arts Old French Writing stamp H2365
Inkadinkado Flourish stamp 96253-P
Traci Bautista’s Collage Pauge Instant Decoupage™ in Glossy
Aleene’s Tacky Glue® glue stick
Aleene’s Fast Grab™ Tacky Glue®
Aleene’s Jewel-It®

Tools
Foam brush

1. Wipe shade off with a dry cloth to remove any dust or dirt.

2. Stamp a large sheet of white tissue paper with archival ink and the writing stamp. Add stamped flourish accents. Allow to dry.
3. Tear each stamped section leaving frayed edges.
4. Adhere paper segments to lamp using glue stick. Make sure to cover back of each sheet completely. Work from the center using your fingers to gently adhere paper to lamp and work out any wrinkles or bubbles.
5. Overlap sheets and don’t worry about any small gaps, you can go back and fill those in later with smaller paper segments.6. Spread a thin layer of decoupage medium over lamp using a foam brush. Use brush to work out wrinkles or bubbles. Don’t stress too much, texture is good! Allow to dry for several hours or overnight.7. Adhere ribbon trim to bottom and top edge of lamp using Aleene’s Fast Grab Tacky Glue. Allow to dry. 8. Adhere buttons of various sizes to shade using Jewel-It Glue. Allow to dry. C'est tres chic, n'est pas?