DIY Rechargeable Fairy Glow Jars

WELL... It's been a while, eh?

I really have no good excuse! Last week the internet was out in my building, and the week before that I was just out and about!

So to say I'm sorry, here is a nice flower and a sloth... just for you!

awwwwwwwwweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Alright, so lets get back on track... here is my tutorial for your very own DIY Rechargeable Fairy Glow Jars!

This is an oldie but a goodie

Before I even start with what materials you'll need, just a note about glow sticks...

Glow sticks are fun on Halloween, at raves, school dances, whatever... but they are not fun when you cut them up and splash them around a jar. I know at least a few of you thought that this tutorial would include glow sticks, but put those away and save them for another time.... why am I so against using glowsticks? Here are a few reasons:

♥ It's toxic (or at least some brands are)

♥ You know when you bend the glow stick to get it going, and you hear a crack? That's glass... you are breaking glass

that means a) You are going to be working with broken glass

and b) the glass gets stuck in the tube and makes it hard to get all the liquid out

♥ It only lasts a few hours at best

♥ It gets pretty messy

That being said, if you want to try it out with your glow sticks, go ahead! Just break it, slice it open, and splash it around the inside of your jar... but I warned you! hahaha

If you want to try it my way (the better way ;), you'll need...

♥ A Mason jar- I've seen them sold at Canadian Tire or grocery stores, but I got mine from my grandma

♥ A paint brush- or really anything with a round circular end

♥ Glow in the dark paint- I didn't know this existed until a few weeks ago! It's awesome! You can recharge it as many times as you want, they come in different colours, and it's totally cheep... about 2$ per bottle from your local craft store

A little warning though, the Americana brand paint on the left (in the picture below) worked great! But the pink Apple Barrel one barely worked; however, it may have just been my specific bottle

Okay... here we go!

Dip the end of your paint brush into your paint... the reason I use the wooden end of the brush is because it gives you perfect circles... unfortunately, although you will be painting about 1000 little dots on your mason jar, you can really tell when one looks more like a smudge than a dot... remember, these are supposed to look like little fireflies!

Paint, paint, paint, paint, paint!

This takes a white... you want a lot of dots! The more the better it looks... and in different shapes and sizes!

Charge it in the sun on under a lamp and turn out the lights!

Turn out the lights!

And there you go!

Aren't these adorable? And so easy. You could even do these with kids as a craft project, because who doesn't love glow paint!?

These are on my windowsill right now, but I'd love to make a bunch and use them as a centerpiece for those evening garden parties in the summer

So hopefully by now you guys are forgiven me for going MIA... I promise it won't happen again!

Love you guys,

♥ Olivia

DIY Chevron Print Leash

Patrollin' the beach

Winning Smile

So this is my baby girl Vatra (although not so much of a baby anymore)

Such a dope

We named her Vatra (which means "bonfire" in Ukrainian... ватра pronounced Va-Trrra) because she has always been a big fiery bundle of energy and light in our family, but lately I've been noticing the years getting to her. 

This 13 year old yellow lab is starting to get white whiskers around the face, and acts a bit less like a lunatic when we take her out on walks. SHE OLD!

 Vatra (4 years old) and I (8 years old)

 So I thought I would make her something nice to keep her looking fresh, so here is my DIY chevron dog leash!

I have been super into chevron print everything. It has become super popular lately and I hope it's here to stay! 

Materials:

♥ Cotton Webbing- you can get this from virtually any fabric store... it's like 1$ per meter... get about 2-2.5 meters and 1 inch thick

♥ Exacto Knife

♥ Clear Nail Polish- or anything that you may have to prevent fraying

♥ Needle and thread- But I recommend a sewing machine

♥ Tape- I used some sort of painters tape

♥ A leash clip thing- I just got mine from an old leash I cut up

♥ Ruler

♥ Fabric Paint- DON'T get this "multi-use" Martha Stewart paint...this stuff wont last. You want actual fabric paint (and it's cheaper too!) because I'm assuming you will be walking your dog outside in all weather conditions... about 3$ per bottle

♥ Grid cutting board- Optional but recommended! 

I know what you are thinking... what is this stuff!? I don't own cotton webbing!

But don't worry. I promise it's very easy to find, and it's totally worth it. This leash cost me about 4$ in total... whereas a store bought leash would be about 4-5 times that!

Step 1: Take a piece of tape and with your ruler and exacto knife, cut quarter inch strips of tape (this is where that grid cutting board comes in handy!)... if you mess up a bit don't worry. Differences in size won't make a big difference aesthetically! 

Step 2: Place your cotton webbing onto the grid and cut off some of your tape from your strips from step 1 (about 2 inches of it)

Stick it diagonally across the cotton from one inch the other other (like pictured)

Does yours look like this picture? Good

Now do this along the entire length of your webbing

I did mine in parts.... I would tape up the cotton webbing that was on the grid and then paint it... I recommend you do the same!

Step 3: Once you make the big "V"s, you can start on the smaller ones.

Cut out a smaller piece of tape (about 1 inch long) and stick it on the inside of the bigger V

I just eyeballed it

Step 4: Cut out another little piece, forming a smaller V with the piece from step 4

Then use your exacto knife to cut off the extra little bit of the the piece from step 4

Remove it

Can you guys see it yet?

Nice right?

This is what it should look like once you are done your taping

Step 5: Alright, now for the fun part! Get your paint

I used a bright green sparkly paint... I think it was called something like Tropical Green

I also did one in Periwinkle... turned out pretty nice too, eh?

Paint paint paint

The cotton webbing is pretty porus so you may need to give it a couple of coats

Almost done now!

Step 6: Now you get to peel it of and reveal your beautiful chevron print leash

Soooo satisfying

Step 7: Take some of your nail polish and paint the ends of your leash to prevent fraying

If you are reusing the buckle from one of your old leashes, you'll want to get that now

Step 8: Place your buckle onto your new leash, and using your sewing machine, sew it into place by looping over a piece of the webbing. So the same to create one of those hand holding places

You may want to go over this a few times, especially if you have a dog who pulls (a yellow lab for example) 

And there you are!

Ooooh pretty!

She loves it!

Or... at least I'm sure she would love it if she weren't colour blind...

I tried taking a picture on Cat the cat to show the leash's versatility (Cat is named after the English word for Cat)... but she was not having any of that

So here is just a picture of a very pissed off Cat after her failed photo shoot

Alright alright, have a great day guys

TGIF right?

See you guys on Monday! Hope you have a relaxing one

I for one am going to be spending my weekend cleaning and reorganizing my room at home because it has just been redone... whoooo! But maybe a cool craft project will come of it!

If you guys have any questions, comments, or concerns, I would love to hear them in the comment box bellow, or shoot me an e-mail at:

{withloveblog2012@gmail.com}

♥ Olivia

{Happy Valentine's Day} Valentine's Fortune Cookies

So, being the wild university student I am, I was out patrolin' Martha Stewart's website, and I came across this tutorial for Valentine's Fortune Cookies. Pretty fresh right?

So I thought I would make some for all my friends/the people I follow around, but I made some amendments to the original tutorial to make it easier and more affordable, so I thought I would share it with you here today (for the original tutorial, click here)

Materials:

♥ Something Round- I used that green roll of tape. You want it to be about 4-5 inches in diameter. I put Hershey kisses and mine and the 5 inches seemed to hold together better

♥ Felt- I used white, pink, red, and magenta... 49 cents at Michaels

♥ Scissors- For felt, you need to use really good scissors or else you're going to have a hell of a time cutting out your fortunes

♥ Paper Clips- Good 'ol Martha says to use floral wire... but I do not own floral wire, and I do not know anyone who does... pipe cleaners would also work great, especially since they would blend in with the felt

♥ Glue Gun- the original recipe calls for craft glue, but I used a glue gun because I thought that would be faster

So draw out your circles on your felt and cut them out

5 4 inch circles should fit on one sheet of felt

Unfold a paper clip and get it as straight as possible and then glue it up with your glue gun

Stick it right in the middle of your piece of felt. If your paper clip is longer than the piece of felt, than you can either cut your paper clip, or just bend it until it breaks

If you don't like the look of a paper clip in the middle of your piece of felt, you can cut out a strip of felt and glue it on top of the wire

Pop in some goodies and treats

And make sure to add in a cheesy fortune!

Pinch together the two wireless sides of your fortune cookies, and then fold down the two wired sides

And there you go!

Hope you guys had a great Valentine's day! I know I did... look at all those cute happy faces!

Love you to my friends. Love you to my family. And love you to you guys!

♥ Olivia

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{Happy Valentine's Day} muchi, muchi

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Personally, my favorite holiday

Whats not to like! Candy, flowers, and pink

So for those of you who want to get in the Valentine's Day spirit, this nail polish of the week is for you

This is muchi, muchi by essie

This colour is super cute, subtle, and girly

Ooooh so pretty

See you guys later today, more Valentine's posts to come!

♥ Olivia

Brandy Melville Style Upcycled Clothes Hangers

Are you sick of having to look at those awful wire hangers? Do your cloths keep slipping out of their place and onto the floor? Well look no further, the answer to your problems is here!

While I was patrolin' around the shops downtown the other day, I stopped by my local Brandy Melville and got totally inspired by their girly fabric clothes hangers... so here is my version!

Materials:

♥ Glue Gun

♥ Ugly old clothes hanger

♥ Pretty Fabric

 ♥ Yarn- Optional, but highly recommended... 

this is what keeps your clothes from slipping off the hanger!

First: Cut out some long strips of your material... It doesn't really matter how thick it is, mine were about 1 inch thick

Second: Using your glue gun, glue one end of your material to any point along your hanger

Wrap the aforementioned end around the wire and glue it down

like so

Next: Pinch together your material so that it folds in half

Now: Begin wrapping the fabric around the clothes hanger, making sure that you keep pinching it inhalf as you go

Folding it in half just gives the hanger some more bulk, and makes a pretty twisted pattern

When you reach the end of your fabric, just glue it down

It should look something like this

With your next piece of fabric, start it the same as the first, except glue it on top of the end of your last piece of fabric

Don't be afraid of corners! Your hanger should be looking something like this, although it doesn't have to. The funnest part of this craft is getting creative with how you wrap it, and making it beautifully imperfect

Once you get to the top of the hanger, just do your best to maneuver around the tricky parts

At the very end of your hanger (the end of the hook bit), just wrap it around a few times and give it a good gluing! Make sure this part is secure

If you have chosen to add yarn to your hanger, do that now!

I'm using my mom's nice alpaca yarn (shh don't tell... ha ha ha)

I like to wrap it around one way, and then go back over it, but angling another way, so I get a nice

criss-cross pattern

Pinching it in half isn't the only way you can wrap it. You can also try twisting the fabric, as shown in the picture above

This is what it looks like twisted... pretty sweet, but it definitely uses more fabric

And there you go! If you want to make it extra fancy, you can slap on a pretty bow like I did (I just cut out a strip of lace and tied it into a bow)

Have fun displaying your lovely retail goodies... I for one am going to bed

It's 12am and I have morning classes! Time for sleep because I'm going to stop making sense very soon

♥ Olivia

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