All that Glitters!

Even though after our latest project we had glitter on our rug, couch, dining table, hair, clothes - it was totally worth it. Who doesn’t love glitter? Throw it in the air, bottle it up or glam up old recyclable glass – glitter just makes everything better. With the help of some modge podge and a lot of glitter, we went on an adventure glamming every corner of our house with some good ol’ glitter.

Materials and tools

• Anything you want to glitter (old wine bottles, glass candle holders or even broken champagne glasses!)
• Modge Podge
• Paintbrush
• Sponge
• Gold Spray paint
• Sealer spray paint
• Small container
• Exacto knife

Process

Step 1:

We first cleaned the surface of the wine bottle. To remove the label, we ran the bottle through hot water and scrubbed off as much of the label as we could. Then using some cotton and nail polish remover, we rubbed the excess glue and any remains of the label off. After we had a clean surface to work with, we took two approaches with the bottle. Because we didn’t like the green tint of the wine bottle, we spray painted the entire bottle with gold spray. With the clear bottles, we just let them be.

Step 3:

We then carefully taped around the bottle approximately ¼ up the bottle. We then mixed about a tablespoon of modge podge with some glitter into our container. The reason for this is to ensure that there are no gaps when we stick the actual glitter on.

Step 4:

Get glammin’! Using our brush, we evenly painted the entire area we wanted to glitter. (tip: make sure there aren’t any clumps on glue and it is evenly spread across the surface). We then slowly dropped the glitter over the entire surface we added glue on.

Step 5:

Modge podge dries almost instantly, but we gave this around 15 minutes before we removed the tape off. However, we first used an exacto knife to carefully cut below the tape just to make sure that the glitter didn’t peel off with the tape.

Step 6:

After everything dryed, we sprayed the entire bottle with the sealer to make sure that the glitter didn’t fall off. And voila!

It also works for hiding cracks on old champagne bottles! We wanted an ombre effect on the glass, so we used a sponge and dipped this into the glue and dabbed it.

We went on doing this with an old candle holder as well! We just put the old candle in the fridge for 12 hours, after which the remains of the candle easily came off. We then scrape off the wick and washed it to ensure we had a smooth and clean surface to work with. But instead of the outside, we evenly glued the inside of the candle and added glitter to the bottle slowly rolling it in an outward motion. 

Dip Dying - Ombre Lamp Shades

Since our first dip dying ombre shirt project was such a success, we wanted to get a little more adventurous and try this method on a different medium - lamp shades. Yes, I said lamp shades.

Materials and Tools

• 1 8-oz bottle of Rit Dye Liquid in the color of your choice (ours is in Aquamarine). We recommend liquid dye over powder dye, as liquid dye dissolves much faster in water and doesn't leave dye marks. 
• 1 fabric lamp shade (ours is from IKEA) 
• 1 large plastic bag to cover the drying area
• Rubber gloves 
• Salt

Process

Step 1:

Depending on the size of the shade, use a tub or a sink. Fill the sink with hot water to your desired level. Add half a bottle of dye and a handful of salt, then stir until the dye is fully dissolved. 

Step 2:

Dip the shade in the sink to where you want the color to start. Add more water if needed. Make sure the shade sits evenly in the sink, and let it sit for 10 to 15 minutes. 

Step 3:

Place the shade on a large plastic bag to dry. To create the next layer of colour, reduce the water level, and add 1/4 bottle of dye. Put the lampshade back in and let it sit for 20 minutes. Repeat this step one last time with less water and more dye to create the last layer of color. 

Step 4:

Let the lampshade dry for at least 36 hours. If there are water marks on the shade, use a Tide-to-Go pen to erase the marks. 

Final Result

Before: 

After: 

String Lantern

The craziest project we have done so far - the patience, frustration, hard work and failures that went into this project probably made the end result most worth it.

Materials and Tools

The glue: 

• 1 cup corn starch
• 3 cups water
• 3 tablespoons salt
• 10 drops of essential oil (we used lavender)
• A pot

The lantern:

• 1 ball of white yarn
• 1 rubber exercise ball
• 1 large plastic container
• 1 large plastic bag to cover the working area
• Rubber gloves

Step 1:

We decided to make our own glue, just because fabric glue was quite expensive and not so easy to find. This actually was very easy (also because I think we made it 3 times - because of the number of fails we had).

Step 2:

We added the cup of corn starch to the pot (although its very easy to clean, we recommend using a old pot you don't use for cooking). And slowly added the water to this, while stirring constantly. We made sure the corn starch was completely diluted before turning the heat on.

Step 3:

We turned the heat on to low, and started stirring. Although this took a really long time, we ensured the heat was on low to prevent any lumps. We continued to stir it until the solution started to thicken. 

Step 4:

When we achieved our desired consistency (you and add more water if it gets too thick). We turned the heat off to let the glue cool down. Once it came down to room temperature, we added 10 drops of lavender oil. The purpose of the oil is as a preservative.

Step 5:

The first thing we did was pour the glue in the large plastic container and soaked the entire roll of yarn into it. Wearing our rubber gloves, we got wrapping. This definitely was not as easy as we thought it would be and we learned the hard way. Our first try, our glue was too thick and we attempted to layer it on AFTER wrapping the yarn around the ball, which ended up in a big disaster. We also cellophaned the entire ball - which just made it more slippery and did not help us at all.

Step 6:

Anyways, the second time around, we used the pre-soaked sticky yarn and slowly wrapped this around the ball. We had to make sure that the thread was really tight while we were wrapping it. Also, on the top of the ball (where the stopper is), we made sure to leave a large gap where we would eventually use to fit the lightbulb. 

Step 7:

I think we went on wrapping for 2 hours until we were sure we had all the right holes covered up and felt the lantern was thick enough. We let this rest and dry on the large plastic bowl for at least 1 week (when we felt the glue was completely dried). We were so skeptical that the glue wouldn't harden and we would have to go onto round 3 (because we don't believe in giving up) - but thankfully this wasn't the case. 

Step 8:

After the glue was completely dry, we removed the stopper on the ball to deflate it and let all the air out, with the help of an air pump, some casualties, and a lot of careful maneuvering we were able to remove the exercise ball from inside of our lantern. 

We then slowly eased the lightbulb into the gap we had left and voila!

Before:

After:

Paper Heart

Our latest inspiration, thought this would be a quick and fun project to spend an evening on!

Materials:

- Craft Paper in hot pink, gold and light pink
- Scissors, ruler, pencil and tape

Step 1:

We measured three 8" x 8" squares on the craft paper and cut these halfway to make 8 gold triangles, and 6 of each of the pink ones, to make a total of 20 equally shaped triangles.

Step 2:

We then laid the triangles out on the floor and arranged it based on the pattern and color code we wanted. We then taped all the triangles together, and done! Probably the easiest, least mess-creating and cheapest project we have done so far.

We think we did a pretty good job, Martini seems to think so too :)

Dip Dying - Ombre Shirts

To say that we love ombre is an understatement, not only do we both own matching ombre denim shirts, every time we pass by ANYTHING ombre, whether if its hair, a painting, a rug, street art, we both scream "OMG LOOK OMBRE." Nobody really understands our excitement.

So, it shouldn't come as a surprise that we decided to base our projects on this very technique - ombre dip dyed shirts! 

Materials:

• A white cotton shirt
• Rit dye in Fuschia 
• Hot water
• Salt
• Plastic Tub
• Stirring spoon

Process:

Step 1:

First thing we did was to fill our small plastic tub halfway with hot water. We then stirred in one tablespoon of the dye and added a handful of salt. (You can easily use the instructions on the packaging for this). One mistake we did make was to not stir long enough for the powder dye, just because this resulted in granules on the shirt itself as well as everywhere else! Therefore, we recommend using the liquid dye instead.

Step 2:

Get Dying, we slowly dipped the shirt inside the dye, to the length we wanted the shirt to be dyed up till. We then let the shirt sit in the dye for approximately 10 minutes. 

Step 3:

The coolest step - getting the ombre effect. So we removed the shirt from the dye, and stirred in an additional tablespoon of dye to the hot water (REMEMBER STIR WELL). We then dipped the ends of the shirt into the darker fuschia dye and again, let it sit for 10 additional minutes. If you wanted to achieve a more layered effect, you can continue these steps until you get your desired ombre style.

Step 4:

We let this hang dry for at least 24 hours and then hand washed the shirt with cold water to let all the excess color leave (a lot of the color bled, so prepare to clean up the mess). Then we just tossed our shirt into the washing machine on cold (separately of course) as well as in the dryer. After this process, the colors were completely intact and did not bleed at all!

Final Results

Before:

(next project will involve mom's white shirt and some neon dye)

After:

String heart

(posted by Tracy)

I came across this DIY project and saw it as a perfect fit for my gallery wall in my living room.

Materials

- Wooden board
- Thread
- Nails and hammer
- Black and Gold Paint

Step 1:

I painted the entire board using black acrylic paint and painted the corners of the board in gold. I then drew the shape of a heart on a piece of A4 paper. A little trick to draw an evenly shaped heart, use something circular to draw two circles next to each other. Then use a ruler and draw two lines to meet, creating the bottom tip of the heart.

Step 2:

I cut the heart shape out and used this as a stencil for where to hammer the nails on the wooden board. Taking the help from my macho man, I went around ensuring I hammered the nail, leaving about a centimeter above the board.

Step 3:

Using the thread, I went around the nails across the board very randomly. The more times you do this, the more intricate the pattern will be. And here are the final results!

My final gallery wall!

Painter's Corner

(Posted by Shruti)

While I love working on exciting DIY projects with Tracy, I resort to painting when I want some some focus and peace from all the madness around me. Painting is my form of meditation.

Although I am still an amateur, I can see progress through every art piece I create. Here are some of my most recent paintings, inspired and adapted from photographs and paintings I come across: