Make It: Lipstick Holder

Hello! It's been quite the last couple weeks, you guys. I've graduated college, had a wonderful weekend full of good food, drinks, and family, coordinated a move, continue to work on a blog redesign, and now I'm knee deep in boxes as I pack up my apartment. Where did the weekend go? I need to be out of my apartment by 11am tomorrow! Fingers crossed I make it happen. I'll take any moving tips/advice you've got. I've moved six times in the last four years and it's still a nightmare every time. So as all of this last minute craziness was happening, naturally, I decided to tackle a DIY instead of packing. Luckily, the lipstick holder DIY was a breeze and turned out better than expected! Read on for the full tutorial.

Make It: Mother's Day Vase

As a kid, I made most of my gifts for holidays. You could say I was born with the DIY gene. I remember one year I made a little "coaster"

Make It: Designer Inspired Zebra Dish

Hello from Milwaukee! I'm on a super quick school trip to Milwaukee today visiting the Kohl's headquarters. I was up at 4am to catch our 6am flight and heading back home later this evening. My marketing class had a competition with Kohl's and my group was selected as the winner, so we are presenting to Kohl's executives and touring the place. Wish us luck! 

Remember that failed DIY that went horribly wrong no matter how I tried to fix it? Well, you're looking at it!  I had a brilliant idea of recreating the Jonathan Adler Zebra dish I love for  a cheaper DIY version. Last week when working on this project, everything that could go wrong, did. I set the dumb thing aside and whipped up the flower necklace DIY so I had something to post last week. The rest of the week I was thinking about how I could salvage the zebra dish because I had already spent so much time on it and I was too stubborn to throw the whole thing out. I stopped obsessing over it and analyzing my every last mistake, and a few days later when I came back to it, it didn't actually look half bad!

While it took me way to many hours than I want to admit to complete this zebra dish, I learned my lesson so I can prevent you from making the same ones. Keep reading for the full tutorial.

Supplies:

Air-dry clay, $10 Hobby Lobby

White and turquoise acrylic paint, $1 Hobby Lobby

Paint brush

Gold spray paint

Knife

Rolling pin if you have one

Cutting board

Total $11 

Step 1

I followed the instructions on the package of clay which said to moisten the clay with water and knead until it was easy to work with. My clay was already pretty workable, so I just dampened my fingers with water and kneaded the clay for a few minutes. 

Step 2

Roll out the clay on your cutting board into an even sheet, about a half inch thick. I would use a rolling pin for this step if you have one so you can get an even layer. My kitchen is far from well-stocked (I only have one pan!) so I used the palms of my hands to flatten out the clay into an even sheet.

Step 3

Next, cut out your desired shape! I used a knife while looking at a picture of the Jonathan Adler zebra dish shape online. If you mess up it's not a big deal because you can always add or take away clay. 

Step 4

Once you cut out your shape, you want to smooth any edges and even out the layer as much as possible, but be careful to not make it too thin. Now it's time to start giving your zebra a little shape. I just worked with my hands to create "edges" along the side so the zebra isn't completely flat. I continually dipped my fingers in water when working with the clay because it made the clay more pliable and also helped smooth out finger prints and other indentations. 

Step 5

After you have smoothed out the zebra and are happy with your shape, it's time to let it dry! I let mine dry for a good 24 hours before touching it. When my zebra dried it also "raised" so only the feet touch the surface. Weird, but ended up working out nicely! 

Step 6

If there is any unevenness or edges you'd like to file down, do that after your zebra is completely dry. I used a glass nail file and it worked well. This step is totally optional! My zebra had some areas I wanted to file down and it worked pretty well, but didn't make it perfect.

Step 7

Spray paint the zebra gold. I just painted the top side, but that's up to you if you want to do the bottom as well. Once that dries, paint the outside edges of your zebra with acrylic paint to clean up the look. Now it's time to paint the stripes! I just looked at a picture and free-hand painted the stripes with a brush. I'm sure a paint pen would work great as well. I did about three coats of white paint in the stripes to make sure it was well-covered.

*Editor's note: I thought I was saving time by cutting out a stripe template in paper to then lay on top of the zebra while I spray painted it gold, creating stripes. The template took FOREVER to cut out and it ended up not working at all, so I just spray painted the whole zebra gold. 

This DIY takes a little bit of patience, but if you don't make my mistakes you should have it finished in a couple hours. Overall I'm happy with the result! $32 is not a lot of money for the real thing, but DIYs are all about customizing it to your own liking, right? You can paint it how ever your heart desires! Plus there is leftover clay to make at least 3 more. 

Do you have any fun plans this weekend? My sister who got engaged recently is trying on a few dresses this Saturday and I'm so excited!! One of the dresses I actually spotted online :)

Shelf Styling Tips

A couple weeks ago I asked on Instagram if you are interested in seeing some shelf styling tips on the blog. I got great feedback and you all couldn't have been more excited about the idea, so I'm sharing my tips and tricks that I use when arranging my shelves and bookcases. Thank you for your input and enthusiasm! It's so exciting knowing how eager y'all are to learn.

When I moved into my apartment in August, I kind of just threw everything on my bookcase without much thought. It was the last of my worries at that point, so I figured I would come back to it and do some actual styling. While I did go back and arrange my shelves a little, I wasn't completely happy with the result, but I had other things to worry about so I just left it as is. Well, over the last several months I managed to accumulate more things, and while I'm happy to have some new jewelry, cute bowls, and clutches, my tiny apartment just doesn't have room to store everything. My bookcase became the catchall for a lot of trinkets and things and it started to get a little crowded.

Here is the before picture. There is clearly too much stuff and a lot of color going on, without any real organization or thought behind it.

Here's the after! While it might not look that different, in person it looks way more thought out and organized, so I'm happy. I kept most of the items I had before, but removed some extras and exchanged a few for items I had laying around my apartment. One thing to remember when styling is that it takes time! I did not whip this up in ten minutes. Honestly it probably took me over an hour. You have to be patient and play with it for a while before finding the "right" design you like. I arranged and rearranged many times before deciding on this.

The two bins are full of DIY craft supplies, so I placed them on top so you can't see the messy stuff inside. If I really want to be picky, I would have painted the pink storage bin white, but I decided not to bother and save time. Also, try grouping similar items. I stacked all of my white books together and kept my jewelry together for the most part. Paying attention to the little details goes a long way. I stuck to only magazines with white binding for a clean look. Just like anything else, as you experiment and practice you'll keep getting better and better.

Were these tips helpful? Do you have any other tips you use when styling? Questions?

Now go test your styling skills and tag me @amandarisius on social media so I can see your awesome job!

Make It: Flower Necklace

Have you ever had something turn out completely different than you anticipated? I dreamed up (what I thought was) an awesome DIY and started working on it on Monday. Everything was going great and I was pleased with the results so far. Apparently it decided to take a turn for the worst and as I was working on it on Tuesday. Everything went horribly wrong. It was taking much longer than I hoped, the painted stripes looked awful, and anything I did to salvage the project ended up making it worse. And all I could think about was the DIY post I wanted to share with you guys today and all of a sudden I didn't have one at all. *Sigh* Oh, the challenges of a blogger….

So I pulled myself together and decided to test my skills at flower necklaces. At 7pm last night. Luckily this one turned out better than the last and I have a post to share with you! It's a win win. I have a shoot today and wanted a cute, unique necklace. Last week, Erin gave us a glimpse of a pretty flower necklace she made, and once I saw this flower necklace DIY, I decided to make my own! Keep on reading for the full tutorial :)

Inspired by Green Wedding Shoes tutorial with a few modifications.

Supplies:
Flowers, $7 at Hobby Lobby (They always have 50% off sales, so buy flowers when they're on sale!)
Gauge 26 Floral wire, $3 at Hobby Lobby
Yarn or twine
Felt
Scissors or pliers (I used a scissors but recommend a pilers if you have one on hand)
_____________
Total: $10

Step 1
Cut your yarn or twine to your desired length of necklace. Make it longer because you can always trim it. I wanted to tie mine in the back so I can adjust the size accordingly.

Step 2
Cut wire and wrap it around the yarn to secure it, creating a crescent shape. This adds structure so the flowers hold their form. I used a thicker wire than suggested because that's what I had on hand, and it was much more difficult to work with.

Step 3
Add another piece of wire for added structure. It's okay if it looks messy because it will get covered up by the flowers. Ideally, I would have put several more vertical wires from yarn to wire, but the wire was difficult to secure tight enough so I made due with just one.

Step 4
Start by arranging your filler flowers. I used faux flowers so I could keep my necklace for a while and just trimmed pieces to fit. How you arrange it is up to you, but I wanted some filler to stick out the edges and create shape, so I had them extend from the outside of the crescent. After you arrange your filler, secure it to the wire by cutting a short piece of yarn and using that to tie around the filler and the wire.

Step 5
Now is the fun part! Start arranging your flowers until you come up with a design you like. I removed the flower from the stem by simply pulling on the flower head until it came loose. Once you decide on an arrangement, it's time to secure them in place. Cut a short piece of yarn and wrap it around the green plastic "stem" of a flower. Then, tie the yarn ends around a piece of wire or filler piece to secure it. In the other tutorial they used wire to secure the flowers in place, but my wire was too thick so I used yarn and found it to work much easier.

You can cut a piece of felt to cover the back of the necklace, but I decided not to.

Once I got the hang of the wire and improvised a little, the project went fairly quick and I was done in about an hour. The original tutorial was made for bridesmaids, and the necklace would also be cute for a fun party or celebration! I'm seriously loving this DIY because it's so cute and easy.

Did you like this DIY? Where would you wear your flower necklace?

First photo by Chelsea Photographie 

Make It: Marble Tray

Go ahead and file this DIY under "smallest effort, biggest impact." For all DIY novices out there, this one is for you. Break out your gluing skills from elementary school because that's all this little wonder takes! Despite the fact that this DIY is foolproof, it's seriously a favorite because 1) it's marble 2) I love trays. Basically every room in your house should have a tray! They keep things looking neat and organized by keeping items "in place." Like, say, on your coffee table. Your stack of books, trinkets, TV remote, coasters, and other things are scattered across your coffee table looking a little messy. Just by arranging those items in a tray, your coffee table looks put together and intentional. 

If you want to see how I did it, read on for the full tutorial.

Supplies:
Kitchen knobs of your choosing - Home Depot, $16 for two
Marble tile - Home Depot, $4
Gorilla glue - Home Depot
Gold spray paint - Home Depot, $4
Total $24

Home Depot had a couple different options for marble tiles. I originally saw the Carrara Marble which was a little thinner slab and shaped as a rectangle instead of a square. The tile I chose is Calacatta Marble. Calacatta is known for having more dramatic veining, and when using just one slab, I wanted the marbling to be more noticeable. If you want to get technical and read up on the differences between Carrara and Calaccatta, Houzz did an entire article. It doesn't matter which you choose, just go with the one you like best!

Step 1
Spray paint your knobs! Gold makes me happy, and gold combined with marble makes me even happier. In store, Home Depot's knob selection was a little sparse. There were few knobs that were big enough for the size of tile I was using, and the gold options were even slimmer. I decided on the modern knobs because they were substantial enough to work with the thick marble tile. They were spendy, but definitely achieved the look I was going for. I gave my knobs 3 coats of paint, letting them completely dry in between coats. Always use thin layers of paint to avoid drips.

Step 2
Measure the placement for the knobs. I took an old fashioned ruler and measured the knobs so they were placed in the center of the tile. Mark the spot with a pencil.

Step 3
Glue your knobs in place. Drop enough glue to cover the bottom of the knob and press on the tile. Use your ruler to double check your placement is even.

Not too bad, right? I would also suggest gluing felt to the bottom of your tile so you don't scratch your furniture. After coming home from the craft store I realized I didn't have the felt on hand like I thought I did. That's the way the cookie crumbles.

Also, the newest issue of La Petite Fashionista Magazine came out yesterday and I love the story on a fun bridal shower and a cute lemonade bar with delicious recipes! You can read my article on how to build your dream closet (while doing a little spring cleaning) here. I hope you like it!

Make It: Tree Stamp Pillow

I am pretty surprised with how well this DIY turned out and how easy it was to actually make. I have definitely had those projects that turn out different than expected or end up being way more work than anticipated, but I was pleasantly surprised with this one. For all DIY novices out there, this is not as challenging as it looks!

It all started when I saw this photo on Pinterest. I loved the natural element and simplicity of the evergreens. I didn't however, love the price. As a true DIYer, I instantly thought to myself, I can make that. 

Let's get started…

Supplies:

1 large potato, $1
fabric paint, $1
paint brush
pillowcase, set of 2 for $9 at Target
knife
pencil
scrap cardboard/magazines
__________
Total  $11


Step 1
Cut the edge of your potato, creating a flat surface. Next, draw your shape onto the flat side of the potato. I found a pencil worked best because I was able to lightly carve out the shape; a pen didn't show up.

Step 2
Now it's time to cut out our your shape. Start by tracing the shape with a knife, cutting about 1/4 inch into the potato. In order to create a stamp, you want to cut out around your shape. I did one branch at a time, cutting around the edge of the shape and cutting 1/4 into the potato until the extra popped out. Keep doing this around the whole shape. Don't worry if you cut away a part of your shape you don't want to, just glue some potato and let dry. Then recut to form your stamp. I cut away too much of the bottom branch and a little Gorilla Glue worked great.

Step 3
Test your shape! After you cut out your stamp, grab a scratch sheet of paper or cardboard (or scrap fabric if you have it) and apply a generous amount of paint onto your potato stamp and spread evenly with a brush. Press your stamp firmly onto your scratch material for about five second. Check out your shape and see if you need to make any changes.

Step 4
Now it's time to stamp your pillowcase. Insert cardboard or magazines inside your pillowcase to prevent paint bleeding through on the other side. Apply a generous amount of paint and evenly brush it across the stamp. Firmly press your stamp onto the pillowcase but be careful not to move it while pressing. Repeat until you have covered your pillowcase with lovely trees! Don't worry if your tree stamp is bare or has some empty spots; you can touch it up with your brush. It doesn't have to be perfect, that's part of what it makes it special!