Posts Tagged ‘painted’

The other day, I accidentally made today’s DIY project. I was planning to make something else entirely and then a little lightbulb went off in my head and I switched gears. Don’t you love it when that happens?

So, today’s edition of Make This will take you through making these modern, painted candle votives for just about any occasion: Mother’s Day, a housewarming party, a wedding. You name it – these DIY votives can adapt to pretty much anything, which is great. But the best part about this DIY is actually the price. About $5 worth of plaster and $5 worth of tealights will make roughly 50 completed votives. That makes each votive $0.20 to make from start to finish. Does it get any better than that?

Supplies:

1. Scoop powdered plaster into a small container and mix with water according to directions.

2. Stir water and plaster mixture until you achieve desired consistency, which should be similar to pancake batter. Plaster sets very quickly, so you will want to work fast.

3. Pour mixture into square mold or gently scoop the mixture in with a spoon.

4. Wait 2-3 minutes for it to start to set up. While it’s setting up, remove the candles from the metal shell they sit in. And place one in the top of each square. Then add coins or other small heavy objects to weigh it down, so it say in place.

5. Set aside and allow the plaster to harden for at least one hour (dry time may vary).

6. Carefully remove the plaster numbers from the mold one at a time and let them finish air drying for a full 24 hours.

7. Now that your numbers are completely dry, you can seal them with matte medium (optional) and then begin painting them.

8. Wait for the votives to dry completely, add the candles back into the tealight shells and you are done.

There are so many uses for these little guys. You could give a set of votives to your mom for Mother’s Day, use them as a housewarming gift for a friend, or turn them into cool wedding favors.

Or keep them all for yourself.

Want more DIY ideas? Click here.

Concept, photography and styling by Brittni Mehlhoff for Paper & Stitch

Today, I’m channeling my inner impressionist with a painterly Easter DIY that is easy as pie. This is so much more fun than dyeing eggs…

Here’s what you’ll need: hard boiled eggs, acrylic craft paint, a paint palette, and a paint brush

To make your own brushstroke eggs: Choose a color scheme, pour out a small amount of each color, and mix paints to get the perfect colors (if you don’t want an ‘out of the tube’ color). Using a quick brushstroke, add short lines of paint (just like polka dots but in brushstroke form) over the entire egg, leaving space between the strokes to add more later. Set aside while it dries and start another egg the same way. Once the first round of paint is completely dry, add a second color of brushstrokes, wait for it to dry, and then add your third and final color.

Double the size of your brushstroke lines by painting two or three short strokes right next to each other, to make more of an abstract polka dot egg (like the eggs on the top left below).

   

Concept, photography, and styling by Brittni Mehlhoff from Paper & Stitch

Looking for more Easter DIYs to try? Click here.

Easter is coming early this year (March 31st), so I’m getting a jump start on this hip-hoppity holiday with today’s DIY. Hope you’re cool with that…

Kids have wild imaginations, but so do we adults, right? Especially us DIYers. So, I say we reclaim Easter for ourselves and make some easter eggs that we can be proud of. Grown ups only at the egg decorating table this year! Who’s with me?

If you’re game, my first recommendation is this DIY metallic egg art project. It’s really easy and soo fun to experiment with (make sure you have a lot of eggs).

Here’s how to make your own… To dye your eggs soft colors like mine, use this all-natural easter egg dyes recipe from BHG. OR if you’re lazy like me, head to your nearest Hobby Lobby, and pick up a set of pre-dyed eggs. Once your eggs have been dyed and dried (or picked up from the craft store, it’s time to start painting these bad boys with metallic paint pens. Get to it.

Need a visual? Here’s a photo step by step…

Concept, photos, and styling by Brittni Mehlhoff for Paper & Stitch

I am honored to be a part of the newest issue of A Subtle Revelry magazine, which you may know by it’s previous name, Styled. Victoria always does an amazing job with the issues and this holiday one, The Art of Holiday Merrymaking, is no exception. Such a great read. There are some really awesome projects: modern holiday placemats, paper lantern projects, garland ideas, yummy cookie recipes. Even a project from yours truly:

How to make a ‘party animal’ ornament for your tree. I was inspired by a project I did more than two years ago (this faux gold dino diy pendant necklace) that I wanted to recreate for the holidays this year. My tree is going to be stacked with these little guys.

For more photos and the step by step tutorial, check out the new issue of A Subtle Revelry (my project starts on page 49). Or you can click this link and head straight to the DIY on Victoria’s blog.

Hope the mid-week is treating you well so far!

-Brittni

I have a couple of last minute Thanksgiving-related projects I’m trying to finish up before next week and as I get them done, I’ll share ‘em here in case you want to recreate one on your own. The first of the projects will only take 5 minutes (not including drying time). So let’s start with that one…

I found these really cool salad servers at Target (from The Curiosity Shoppe – only $10 online) and immediately put them in my cart. I’m not a big salad tong kind of girl, but for some reason I felt like I had to have these. Plus, we’re having a couple of people over our house this year for Turkey Day, so why not do it up? 

I painted each arrow’s fletching (or ‘feather’) for a pop of color amongst the sea of browns and tans with turkey, potatoes, and stuffing galore on Thanksgiving. Here’s how I did it…

Supplies: paint brush, acrylic paint, acrylic sealant or matte medium, sand paper

How-To: Very lightly sand the area so your paint has something to stick to. Wipe away debris and go straight into painting. You can use a primer if you want to, but it’s not really necessary in this case. I painted three layers for each color and used a sporadic color pattern. Seal the paint with an acrylic sealer or matte medium and you are ready to use. Hand wash only.

Do you have any Thanksgiving-related projects you are working on right now? I’d love to know what you have cooking for the 22nd.

Concept, styling and photography by Brittni Mehlhoff for papernstitch.

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