crafting Archives - Darling Darleen | A Lifestyle Design Blog

DIY Tassel Pillow

Cost: $15 (includes pillow insert)

Project Time: about 1.5 hours

I’ve become obsessed with tassels and making them is so easy! So sticking with the tassel theme, I am showing how to make a DIY tassel pillow that would look good on a sofa or bed. This pillow is inspired by this Anthropologie pillow and less than half the price.

I cut out about 32 tassels, and made most of them while listening to my 1st grader read for his daily 20 minutes of reading. Multi-tasking ladies!

Materials:

embroidery thread (multiple colors). For a 20×20 pillow you will need about 16 threads

scissors

pins

sewing machine

white thread

pillow cover (I used Ikea Gurli pillow cover)

pillow insert (I used Ikea Fjadrar pillow insert)

Instructions:

Follow these instructions to make the tassels. Some modifications are that you won’t fold over the embroidery thread. You will just make one tassel on each end of the embroidery thread (so 2 tassels for 1 embroidery). I used the same thread color to tie the tassels. No need to put a jump ring on it. You will sew it instead. I cut my tassels about 2 inches.

So for a 20×20 pillow I made 32 tassels (8 tassels for each side). Once you finish making your tassels, lay out the tassels evenly along the edge of the pillow. The ikea pillow cover I bought was a flange pillow so I made a little cut between the seam and wiggled the tassel in between so it looked like it was sewn into the pillow cover. If your cover doesn’t have that, then you can just sew it on the outside and keep that side of the pillow against the sofa.

After you pin all the tassels along all 4 sides of the pillow, sew a straight stitch right along the edge. Be careful if you have a zipper that you don’t sew the opening shut! Once done, put the pillow insert in and enjoy!

diy tassel pillow, anthropologie inspired, tassel pillow, ikea hack, bohemian

Here are some options if you don’t want to make one:

Lacquer Abstract Easter Eggs

easter egg decorating table with spring flowers, easter decorating

Lacquer Abstract Easter Eggs— We are celebrating our family Easter traditions a week early this year, since our spring break falls right on Easter Sunday. We are planning to do our feast this Sunday and my kids decorated their eggs. We love decorating Easter eggs and trying out new techniques. Below are links to Easter egg decorating techniques that we have done in the past. This year we decided to use lacquer to make the eggs look like glass and acrylic paint to give it a strong color. This is a fun project for kids to explore mixing colors with adult supervision.

For this project we blew out the egg yolk and whites by poking holes on each end and blowing through one side as the insides dripped into a bowl. This helps for the eggs to dry without sticking to anything.

Pick out three to four acrylic paints that complement each other. Also, so when you allow your kids to paint the eggs the colors won’t get too messy during mixing.

Pretty, bright rich colors. Let your kids paint and get creative with a palate of paint!

Allow your eggs to dry. I used an egg carton, turned it over and put toothpicks in for the eggs to properly dry without touching anything. Once you can touch, spray two coats of Rust-oleum Lacquer spray paint over the eggs. Make sure to do it in a well-ventialated area. They will look like glass eggs!

easter eggs decorating and table with spring flowers

Style your easter table with potted spring flowers. We spray painted terra cotta pots white and modge podge white lace ribbon around each pot to dress up the pots.

Here are other Easter egg decorating techniques that we have done in years past:

Easy Easter Egg techniques –no paint dying needed to make your eggs beautiful

Beautiful and Color Egg techniques— we use these techniques. Favorites ones.

Easter Picnic in an Egg--favorite idea for lunchboxes or picnics

Irish Terrariums

irish village succulent terrarium for st. patricks day decor or leprechaun trap

You might have noticed I’m a little obsessed with live plant terrariums and holiday centerpiece terrarium/glass cloches. You can see my spring floral terrarium how to that I did last year, and I still remember it lasting quite a few weeks. Since St. Patricks day is around the corner, I am sharing an Irish terrarium, using succulents and clay to create an Irish village. My kids have declared that this is the best leprechaun trap and we are for sure going to catch him this year because leprechauns are really the size of fairies and they are going to be so fooled! HA! I’ll take it. This is a really fun project to make with kids. My kids did all the clay work and it makes it look woodland and whimsical.

For supplies gather:

succulents
soil, tiny rocks, moss and sand–most you can get at a craft store.
glass container
oven-baked polymer clay

To begin– I layered the glass starting with the sand then tiny rock pebbles, then soil. Then you add the succulents. Cover your layers with moss. Add tiny rocks for variation on the moss.

Follow the directions for the oven-baked polymer clay. We used a knife and toothpick to create little mushroom tops and fairy-like houses. Really didn’t do much detail on the houses…just made them tiny to fit in the jar. My kids did most the work, so this is a fun project for children to do and keep them busy!

After you cook the clay pieces, add to the terrarium and your village is set to fool the leprechauns! My kids now want to add a little ladder and a pot of gold.

irish terrarium for st. patricks day decoration or leprechaun trap

Irish village terrarium for St. Patricks day decoration or leprechaun trip

DIY: Ripped Jeans

Ripped Jeans are so the trend…again. I’m kind of a closet clothing hoarder and recently found a couple of 10-year-old ripped jeans that I’ve held onto. But they aren’t the cute skinny ones so I’ve been needing to update my wardrobe. If you’re like me though, I can’t splurge on a pair of ripped, torn jeans that will only last a season or two. This DIY will cost you around $20 and takes about 10 mins.

Here’s what you need:

Cheap jeans from Target, H&M or Forever 21. I got mine from Target for $20
Some kind of cardboard or wooden board that is small enough to slide in the leg of jean
Sandpaper or pumice
Exacto Knife
Chalk

1. First thing you will do it is put on your jeans and and mark with the chalk where you want to make your cuts.

2. Pull out your sandpaper or pumice and rub on the seams and where you plan to cut. This will distress the jeans and take off some of the jean color. I also rubbed the sandpaper around the zipper area and the waist seams.

6. Next take your board and put in between one of the jean legs. Take your exacto knife and start to cut. Make it as big or as small as your like. The thicker the jean fabric, the more cutting you will need to make but you can also achieve a frayed look if you don’t want an open hole.

That’s it! They are ready to wear. After some washes you will get a more frayed look with your jeans. This was such an easy cheap project. I’m going to do this with a pair of boyfriend jeans, which are going to be big trend this summer.

Black skinny jeans: Target

Floral peplume tank: Target

Mossimo Shoes: Target

Carnaby bracelet ; Bishop earrings

Crystal-Top Jewelry Box

Crystal Top Jewelry Box

Remember doing crystal-growing science projects as a kid? Well, this DIY uses the same technique but is better! For Christmas this year, I took my handmade gifting serious and grew crystals using Borax. The results are these darling faux-geode jewelry boxes that I gave away as gifts along with one of my jewelry pieces. Everyone who received one loved it, and I am eager to make more!

This crafting project is really easy, but it did take me about 2 days to grow the crystals so it does take some time. You could probably get away with 24 hours if you want the crystals to be a little smaller. The crystals are sturdy, and I glued them on with my E6000 glue and they are solid.

For a complete tutorial on this project, head over and check out Amanda Kingloff’s step-by-step tutorial and supply list.

Long Bar Necklace | Serenity Necklace

Don’t Want to Make Crystals? Here are some options

Thanksgiving Mini-Wreaths Craft

Need some Thanksgiving centerpiece ideas? I crafted simple mini wreaths over at Or So She Says that I’ll be using for our Thanksgiving table. Head over there to see the tutorial using flowers and greenery from the market. UPDATE: I have now updated this post with the full tutorial below:

The classic Thanksgiving table uses colors of orange, red, yellow and browns for centerpiece decorations. Take a new approach to your Thanksgiving table and pair modern colors with traditional table settings. See how I created a sophisticated Thanksgiving wreath centerpiece with a color palate that complements my existing decor.

I really feel that your table setting should work for you, for your style and even for your room color scheme. I have a lot of blues and grays in my dining room, so I am naturally drawn to those colors. One way to bring your color scheme in is by creating wreath centerpieces with flowers, berries and leaves. You may have seen wreath centerpiece ideas on wedding tables, but why not do it for your Thanksgiving table?

Use any remaining flowers and create tiny arrangements to mingle through your centerpiece. I made three wreaths for my table, but add more if you feel the need. Now you can get creative with these wreaths! Add a candle in the middle or a pumpkin (like I did). Or buy different sizes and stack them in a pyramid style. Place a vase or glass cylinder…just a few different ideas.

Your Thanksgiving table will be the first impression, so grab your guests’ attention with this simple but pretty craft. Another fun idea is to showcase your Thanksgiving menu by writing it on brown kraft paper. Write the name of each dish with a marker, then thread twine through the paper tube and hang on a picture hook.

Don’t forget to add your table cover or place mats, place cards and napkins. Get creative this Thanksgiving. You can see more Thanksgiving ideas over on my blog.

Repurpose Vintage Jewelry

I forgot to post over here on my blog about the post I did for How Does She last month about repurposing vintage jewelry. This was such a fun post for me because work with jewelry almost every day for my business, but never with vintage jewelry. And then taking made jewelry and re-creating it into a style that is current. Check out my DIY post. Pst…I’ve been actually wearing these restyled pieces quite a bit!

DIY Marble Gold Coffee Table

DIY marble gold coffee table. I’m finally posting a DIY project I did earlier this summer. It’s one of my favorite home decor Ikea hack/ Jonathan Adler knockoff project. And everytime I walk by it, I smile! I love Jonathan Adler’s gold accent furniture, but each piece is well above my price range. So this is my alternative, and it’s working perfectly.

I’ve done a lot of home projects with gold accenting. Check out my post over at How Does She, where I talk about my favorite gold techniques for DIY projects. This project will cost you less than $80. Not bad for some glamour.

Head yourself over to Ikea and pick up the Vittsjo nesting tables for $59. Then pick up a can of Rustoleum Metallic Gold spray paint. This is the best brand for metallic gold. Put together the nesting table then spray paint the frame gold. Only the frame.

Then head over to Amazon and buy marble contact paper. Then take the wood coffee table table, cut to size and cover with the marble contact paper. Warning…sorry for the bad pictures!