Valentine's Day with Brittany: Glitter Heart Canvas

Hi Everyone!

So I'm back and I'm kicking off my Valentine's day segment with this really easy and really affordable DIY for your home. It's a simple way to add a touch of Valentine's Day to your home that is subtle and looks great! All you need is a few things. This is stuff that you can find around your home or that you can get at the dollar store. Let's get started!

Things You Need:
-canvas (size doesn't matter - it's up to you!)
-paintbrush
-white paint
-pencil
-glitter in the colour of your choice (I went with red)
-white glue
-newspaper (or some sort of paper to help keep the glitter in check)
-a heart shape to trace (or you can draw one freehand if you are good at drawing hearts)
-sealer spray

Step 1:
The first thing you need to do is to prep your canvas. To do this, take your white paint and paint brush and just coat the canvas in a layer of the white paint. Put the canvas aside to dry.

Step 2:
While you are waiting, you can make your heart stencil. Just take a regular piece of paper. Fold it in half and then make half a heart shape. The two points need to meet the folded edge. Cut along the line you drew and unfold your heart. You can cut it more if you need to fix it.

Step 3:
Once your canvas is dry, take your heart stencil and place it on the canvas. If you need to, lightly put some tape on the back side of the stencil so it won't move around on you. Then lightly, trace around the heart shape. Once complete, take the stencil off the canvas carefully.

Step 4:
Now, take your clean paintbrush and your glue. Put about a quarter sized amount in the middle of your heart (the amount will depend on the size of your heart). Spread it around evenly, making sure to put glue on top of your pencil lines so they won't show. Be a little generous with the glue. If you put too little on, the glitter will not stick properly.

Step 5:
Once you have all the glue spread out evenly, take your glitter and shake a generous amount in the middle of the glue. (Do not worry - you won't be wasting it. You can dump it on a paper and put the excess back in the container afterwards). Carefully, spread the glitter around making sure that all the parts with glue are covered. (The easiest way I found to do this was to beat the bottom of the canvas gently, making the glitter jump around).

Step 6:
Once all the glue area is covered, dump the rest of the glitter onto a piece of paper and tap the backside of the canvas to get any loose glitter off. Then set the canvas aside to dry (This is where you can take the piece of paper and pour the excess back into the container).

Step 7:
Once the canvas has dried, take your sealer spray and spray the front of the glitter. This will lock in the glitter so that none can fall off and get all over the place. You may have some fall off but it won't be nearly as much as it would be if you didn't spray it. Set it aside to dry.

Once it has dried, you are now ready to use it to decorate your home! I hope that you enjoyed this little tutorial. Like I said, it is quick and easy and can be personalized to the individual. You don't have to do hearts. It is totally up to you! Until next time, Happy Crafting! xoxo

Valentine's Day with Brittany: DIY gift idea for your friends!

Hi Everyone!

It's Brittany and I'm back with another Valentine's Day post for my Valentine's Day Segment. Today, I am bringing you a cheap, easy gift you can make for your friends for Valentine's Day. You may have some of these things in your house already and other stuff you can buy at places like Target and Dollar Tree. Let's get started!!!

Things You Need:
-little brown paper bags/white favour boxes
-glitter (colours of your choice)
-glue
-paintbrush
-heart template
-pencil
-scrap piece of paper
-ribbon or clothes pin (or whatever you want to close the bag with)
-gift tags (if you are giving gifts to friends)

Step 1:
Take your heart template (I made mine from a scrap piece of paper) and place it on your little brown paper bag (or white favour box). Lightly trace around the heart stencil.

Step 2:
Take your white glue and a paint brush and generously spread the glue all around the heart shape. Be sure to go over top of the pencil lines so that it gets covered with glitter and doesn't show.

Step 3:
Pour some glitter into the centre of the heart and lightly tap on the bottom of the bag to move the glitter around. I recommend doing this over a piece of scrap paper as glitter tends to get everywhere. Do this until you cannot see anymore glue. Then dump the excess onto the scrap piece of paper. You can put the excess back in the container once all your bags are decorated.

Step 4:
Put it aside to dry. Do this to the rest of your little bags (or favour boxes). Let them dry.

Step 5:
Once everything is dry, you can open them up and fill them with whatever you would like to give. I have those hair ties that don't leave kinks in your hair, a lip balm and a little packet of chocolates. I also plan on making little cakes to go in my white favour boxes.

Step 6:
Once you have everything in your little bags, fold the top over and close it shut with whatever you have chosen to close it with. I didn't get a picture of it, but I closed it with a clothes pin. I also attached a tag with each friend's name on it.

So there you have it. Simple and easy, but also really shows you care. If you want to make multiples, like for your child's classmates, you could just put the same thing in each bag and then close them with a clothes pin or sticker. That way, your child can just hand them out to each classmate and not have to worry about missing someone. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this DIY for Valentine's Day! If you try this DIY, be sure to leave me comments and pictures in the comments section below. Until next time, Happy Crafting! xo

Deck the Halls with Brittany: Holi-DIY #3!

Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to come on and do one last post.... even if it is after Christmas... and New Years! I got so caught up in festive activities that I didn't have enough time to post this one before Christmas. This DIY is pretty easy to do and allows you to recycle those old Bath and Body Works candles you have that are cleaned out and laying around. Let's get started!

Things You Will Need
-repurposed BBW candle (de-potted and cleaned)
-glass candle stick holder (I got mine at Dollar Tree)
-crazy glue
-chalk board labels

Step 1:
Make sure the bottom of the candle jar and the top of the candle stick holder are clean. Then place the jar on top to make sure you get it centred. Think of this as measuring twice and "cutting" twice.

Step 2:
Once you have found the centre, carefully place crazy glue around the rim of the glass candle stick holder. Then place the candle jar on top, making sure you have placed it where the centre is.

Step 3:
Let dry. You may have to wait a while. You can also carefully weigh it down. I did this by placing single wick candles from Bath and Body Works inside the jar. I typically wait overnight.

Step 4:
Once the glue is dry, or the next day, take the jars and place a chalkboard label on the side where you want it to be. You can leave it blank or you can write whatever you like on it.

I hope you enjoyed this post. You can do this with a bunch of different clear vases to make your own different apothecary jars, instead of spending insane amounts of money on store-bought ones. I love doing this project. It took hardly any time at all and I made a couple of amazing gifts for a couple of my cousins. Be sure to post pictures in the comments showing me your DIY apothecary jars! Until next time, Happy Crafting!

Deck the Halls with Brittany: Holi-DIY #2

Hi Everyone!

Merry Christmas Eve! I hope everyone is having a great day today, despite the dreary weather. Today, I'm coming at you with a simple little project that you can do if you are looking for a last minute gift or if you need to add a little Christmas to a corner in your house. Today, we are making a little Christmas/winter scene placed in a lantern. Let's get started!

Things You Will Need:
-glue gun
-glue gun sticks
-mini lantern (can buy at Dollarama - had mine from my Spring wedding)
-mini Christmas village figurines and trees (Dollar stores and Walmart)
-fake Christmas snow

Step 1:
Make sure you take all stickers and tags off all the things (if you needed to buy them). Make sure things are clean.

Step 2:
Open up the lantern and place your figurines and trees into the lantern to get a sense of where you want things placed. Once you have settled on placement, plug your glue gun in and wait for it to heat up.

Step 3:
Once the glue gun is ready, start gluing your figurines and trees in. I had to place mine on top of the rim for the tea light candle. Once you have everything glued into place, take your bag of fake snow and carefully sprinkle it into the lantern. If you have a little tea light holder in your lantern, be sure to put enough snow in it to completely cover that up. Once you have done that, your little craft is complete.

As you can tell, this craft is super simple. I made four of these before my Christmas party to give as an extra little gift to my girlfriends. It's also a nice little craft to make with some older kids. You may need to handle the glue gun though. If you had a bigger lantern and wanted to get more crafty with it, you could put those bigger houses in it to get it to light up and you could make a whole scene. It is entirely up to you. Anyway, I hope that you all enjoyed this quick little craft post. It's been awhile since I posted on here so I figured I would post a few little things. Until next time, Happy Crafting! xo

Deck the Halls with Brittany: Holi-DIY #1

Hi Everyone!

So today I have decided I'm going to kick off my new series of Holiday posts. It will be purely Christmas related as I live in Canada and have already celebrated Thanksgiving. If you are looking for Fall DIY's then please look at my I Love Fall series.

Today's Holi-DIY is going to be very simple and is not time consuming at all. You can even do this with kids at home or in a classroom. Let's get into it, shall we?

Things You Will Need:
-old picture frame
-Christmas themed paper
-ornament(s)
-glue gun
-glue gun sticks


Step 1:
Take your Christmas themed paper and the back of the frame and trace around the back of the frame. Cut out what you have traced. Remember to cut inside the lines to make sure that the paper will fit in the frame.

Step 2:
Once the paper is cut out, place it in the frame and put the backing back on and secure it shut. Turn the frame around so you can see the paper you just placed in there.

Step 3:
Plug in your hot glue gun. While you are waiting for it to heat up, decide which ornaments you would like to place on the paper. I decided to keep it simple and only put one ornament but you could get creative with it and do more than one. It's entirely up to you.

Step 4:
Once you have decided, take your glue gun and carefully place glue on the back of the ornaments. Remember, try not to wait too long because hot glue dries quickly. Stick the ornament onto the paper. Keep doing this step until your frame is how you like it.

Step 5:
Once you have finished gluing the ornaments onto the paper, place it somewhere in your house or apartment to add some festive cheer!

So that was a very easy DIY for Christmas decor. I found similar things on Pinterest and Youtube so you can look there for more ideas of what to do with different ornaments. I hope you have fun doing this little project. Be sure to leave me pictures in the comments section. I would love to see what you all come up with! Until next time, Happy Crafting! xoxo

Happy Halloween: DIY Halloween Wreath!

Hello my fellow crafters!

Hope you all are enjoying this chilly weekend! So as the title states, I'm bringing you another Halloween DIY! I know Halloween is now over, but I figured I would still post it so that people can make it for next year. It only takes about 20-30 minutes. It is also fairly cheap. The stuff I did have to buy I bought at the dollar store or at Michaels. Let's get into it, shall we!

Things You Need:
- a styrofoam circle wreath (I got mine at Michaels with a 50% coupon - I paid $5 instead of $9)
- a crow figurine (I got mine at Dollar Tree - It had metal wire coming out of its feet)
-black crepe paper
-a glue gun and glue gun glue sticks
-a piece of cardstock
-computer and printer

Step 1:
Unstick the end of the crepe paper and put some hot glue on the end. Stick it to the styrofoam wreath. Very carefully, start wrapping the crepe paper around the wreath covering up the green styrofoam. If you are wrapping tightly, be careful. I ripped it a couple of times. When you are completely done wrapping, put some glue on your other end and glue it down.

Step 2:
Stick the crow figurine into the styrofoam. He may not be really sturdy so you may want to think about hot gluing his feet to the wreath. Wait for it to dry.

Step 3:
In a Word document (or a word processing software similar to Word), find a font and font size you like and type out "Happy Halloween!" It can be whatever you like but i chose to go with Happy Halloween. I also made it so the background colour was orange. Print that out once you are satisfied with it.

Step 4:
Glue your sign to the wreath. I glued the front side of the sign to the backside of the wreath. Be sure to leave space for your hook or over-the-door wreath hanger. If you want, you can add a bow with some of the crepe paper. All you do is cut about 3-5 inches of crepe paper. Then you glue down the ends so they meet in the middle. Then glue and wrap a small piece of crepe paper around the middle so that the bow bunches. Next, cute a longer piece of crepe paper. Fold in half. This will be the hanging ribbon part. Cut a upside down "V" into both ends. Glue it to the bottom of the wreath. Then glue the ribbon on top of what you just glued down.

Happy Halloween: DIY Jack-o-lantern Bowl!

Hi Everyone!

So Halloween is almost here! I can't believe that October is nearly over! A lot of you will be prepping your houses for Halloween, so while you are doing that, why not add this cute little Jack-o-lantern bowl to your decor? He is super easy and cheap to make. Let's get started!

Things You Need:
-Round glass bowl
-Orange paint
-Black paint marker

Step 1:
Take your glass bowl and carefully wash it with soap and water. Rinse it out and dry it.

Step 2:
Once it is dry, you can pour some of the orange paint into the bowl. Slowly, rotate the bowl around on its side. The goal is to cover the inside with the paint. If you need to add more, feel free.

Step 3:
Once you have covered the inside, you can pour the excess back into the paint bottle or you can leave it in the to dry at the bottom of the bowl. I did the second one because there wasn't a lot of paint in my bowl left. Leave it to dry.

Step 4:
Once it is dry, take your black paint marker and draw on the eyes, nose and mouth however you would like. If you feel it is too thin and you can see orange through the black paint, very carefully go over it a second time. I found that dabbing the areas that were thin worked better than drawing over top it. Let that dry and then you are done!

So that is the little Jack-o-lantern bowl decor piece. I haven't decided where I am going to put him, but I'm sure I will find a spot for him. I hope you enjoyed this DIY Halloween project! If you do this DIY, then be sure to leave me pictures in the comments section.
I would love to see them! Happy Haunting! xo