Wednesday 24 April 2013

DIY Tribal Outlet Cover

Happy hump day!
So I know I said I would be making a post on how to make your own Tissues Paper Pansies, but I'm having some issues making the template for the petals, so that will have to wait till next week!
Instead, today I present you with my DIY Tribal Outlet Covers
Last week I had a few days before my last exam, so I came home to procrastinate
I was going through our garage, looking for something to do, and I found a whole box of outlet covers (don't know when we'll never need 30 outlet covers...)! So I slapped on my thinking cap and this is what I came up with
What you'll need:
 An outlet cover- you can just steal one off the wall
You don't need to turn off the power, just make sure you don't stick your screw driver in the wires!
♥ Colourful Sharpies- Or any other permanent marker... try to find as many colours and thicknesses you can find

Optional:
♥ A tiny ruler- Strongly recommended, to help you draw a straight line.. obviously... if you don't have a small ruler, use a old gift card or whatever (that's what I did!)
♥ Screw Driver- To put your outlet cover back on the wall
♥ Nail Polish Remover- In case you make a mistake you can just wipe it away
♥ Sand Paper- So that the colour sticks on better... I actually wouldn't really recommend this because if you make a mistake, it is a lot harder to wipe away (as described above). But if you are really confident that you wont make any mistakes, then go ahead!
♥ Tissues- Tissues, paper towel, a piece of paper, etc. Whatever you can clean your sharpies off on
 Mod Podge- To seal in your design
Alright, ready?
Use your ruler (or London Drugs gift card, in my case) to start drawing some straight lines
Make sure you angle the pen so that it isn't pressing right up against the ruler as you draw. I found that if it did, then the colour seeps in under the ruler and makes a mess on your outlet cover. If this has happened to you, no worries! Just use some nail polish remover to wipe it away
Add in some nice details
It might be daunting at first, but just look at different the colour combinations that you think look good together, and start drawing
The best part of this DIY is that you can just sit, relax, and get creative
If you aren't feeling particularly artistic today, feel free to just copy my design :)
Sometimes when you use a light colour beside a dark colour, some of the darker ink will get on your lighter sharpie, and the next time you go to use it, you get a bit of a mess. To prevent this, every time I used a pen, I just wipe it off on a paper towel
Once your done, seal it in with some Mod Podge
Do NOT use clear nail polish. I tried this and it just smudged everything and made a big ol' mess
If you are adamant on using nail polish, test it out first on the back of your outlet cover
Mod Podge shouldn't smudge the sharpie
And there ya have it!
Hope you all enjoyed this little tutorial
I'm going to get back to tanning in the sun... it's a beautiful day today!
See you all tomorrow for my featured Nail Polish of the Week!

♥ Olivia


6 comments:

  1. OMG super beautiful design! I will try to do it. many thanks for sharing <3

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  2. oh wow this is so smart! it makes me want to decorate all my outlet covers at home :o thanks for the follow/visit/comment!

    followed back because your diys are too cute!!
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  3. That's such an awesome idea, looks so good!!


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  4. It's amazing!!!)))
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  5. How creative.

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  6. Lovely blog :)!
    Much love,
    Wengie
    http://www.wengie.com

    ReplyDelete