DIY Soap Dispenser

Hello All! Here is my second post for the evening! Tonight's DIY project is a Soap Dispenser. I was finding that where I like to shop for hand soap has been having a serious lacking of pretty and inexpensive soap dispensers, so I decided to make my own. It was fairly easy to make and only took one evening to finish!

Things you need:
- a clean jar with a lid (I used an old relish jar)
-paint
-mod podge
-masking tape
-white string
-a shell (or whatever you want to hang from the string)
-paintbrush
-a nozzle pump

Step 1:
Clean the jar. Once the jar is clean and dry, take the masking tape and make stripes with it. Make sure you have enough to reach all the way around the jar. I did two stripes. Paint your first color (I did blue because I'm going for a nautical theme). Let that dry

Step 2:
Take the masking tape off carefully and paint your second color on the stripes created by the tape. Let that dry. While it is drying you can work on attaching the nozzle pump to the lid of the relish jar. (Make sure the lid is clean too)

Step 3:
Punch holes in the top of the jar lid. I used scissors for this. Once you have a big enough hole for the pump to fit in, insert the nozzle pump. You can secure it with crazy glue if you have any. If not, you can secure it when you apply the mod podge to the outside of the lid and jar.

Step 4:
Paint the lid. You may have to do more than one coat. (I did two or three) After everything is dry, apply the mod podge to every area that has paint on it. Let it dry

Step 5:
Once the mod podge is dry, it will be sticky. You can sand it down a bit... just very lightly. After that, cut a long piece of string and wrap it several time under the lid.

Step 6:
Cut out your starfish or shell (you con improvise if using something else... be creative) and cut a hole in the top of  it, insert one end of the string through it and then tie the two ends into a bow.

Step 7:
 Fill it with your favorite hand soap and enjoy! Happy Crafting!

DIY Vase with Flowers

Good evening my fellow crafters! Hope you all are having a pleasant evening! I'm sorry I have not been posting as regularly as I should but I have been busy trying to get ready for teacher's college and completing other tasks that need to be done. Anyway, tonight's craft is fairly easy to do and would make an excellent gift for a friend or family member or even if you just need a little color in a room in your apartment or house.

Things you will need:
- wine bottle
-dried flowers
-hairspray
-scissors

Step 1:
Clean the wine bottle out. Instead of throwing them in the recycling, wash them and let them dry. There are hundreds of websites with ways to reuse old wine bottles. So next time you have a party or get-together, think about what you can do with the empties instead of throwing them out.

Step 2:
Once the bottle is dry, decide how you want to decorate the outside. I left the labels on mine because iI felt like it gave it that vintage feeling. It was also a nice bottle of wine.

Step 3:
If you are like me and love it when your boyfriend or husband gives you flowers, and you are always wanting to save them, try doing this instead. When they start to die, take them out of the vase and hang them individually or in small bunches upside down. This dries them out. Once they are dry, (it usually takes a day or two) coat them in hairspray. You may want to do two coats of hairspray, just to be safe!

Step 4:
Once the hairspray has dried, (it usually doesn't take that long) trim the stems. In mine, the stems were already different lengths so I staggered the heights. Then put them in the top of the wine bottle. Be careful as the flowers are fragile due to being dried out. I had to put mine in nearly all at once because they wouldn't fit otherwise.

Step 5:
Once that is done, give it another coat of hairspray (if you feel it needs it) and then place it where you want it to sit.

This isn't a very time consuming project but it makes for nice decor especially if you dry the flowers out before they start to wilt. It will instantly give any room a pop of color. It is also so versatile that it can be done for a child's room as well. All you have to do if spray paint a cool design on the bottle and follow the rest of the steps. Hope you enjoy this one! I certainly did seeing as I did it right before company came over! Happy Crafting!!!

Garbage Bag Wreaths

Hello my crafty friends! Hope all is well in your worlds! This is another post as promised! Tonight we are making wreaths made out of garbage bags. It is a simple project but is time consuming. I liked to work on this one while catching up on my favorite television shows.

Things you will need:
- a metal hanger
- colored garbage bags
- pliers
- card stock
- string
- tape

Step 1:
First you will need to take apart the metal hanger and use the pliers to bend it into a circle. Make sure it stays together.

Step 2:
After this, you will need to cut strips of your garbage bags. I bought mine at the dollar store. They are the small ones for the smaller garbage cans. Do not open them. Just leave it how it unrolls. Separate them at the perforated holes.

Step 3:
Once you have separated a bag from the roll, cut off the bottom of the bag. Then fold the bag in half to make two smaller rectangles. Cut on the fold. Repeat this until the strips are essentially the size of 8" long and the width of a small ruler. Cut the ends off each end of the strips.

Step 4:
Once you have a large amount of these strips, start tying them to the metal circle you made. Make sure you knot them so they do not fall off. Continue this until you have cover the whole circle.

Step 5:
Once you have completed the garbage bag part, its time to make the "welcome" sign. For this, tie one end of the yard to the metal circle. Decide how you want the string to hang within the wreath and the cut the other end leaving enough to be able to tie it up.

Step 6:
Once tied up, work on your letters. All I did for this was take a small ruler and trace around the edges on a piece of white card stock. Then, with a pencil, I drew out my letters. I then colored them in with a black permanent marker and cut them out.

Step 7:

Carefully tape them to the string (or hot glue gun) so they are even. Hang them and enjoy your new wreath. Happy Crafting, my little crafters!

Key Holder

Hello my fellow crafters!

As promised, I am posting new blogs today to catch up with the postings I've been neglecting to post. Today's craft is another fairly simple one. Its a key holder. If you are like me and are finding keys everywhere in your house or are always misplacing them, this is a good craft to do as the end result will give you a place to put all those keys.

Things you will need:
- piece of wood (square or rectangle, whichever you prefer)
- paint in the color of your choice
-mod podge

-paintbrush
-gold screw-in hooks
-two different scrapbook pieces of paper of your choice
-sandpaper
-picture hanging kit

Step 1:
First you will want to smooth any rough edges down on your piece of wood. Once you have done this, you should clean off any dust and then paint it in your chosen color. (I chose black) Let this dry.

Step 2:
Once the paint has dried, figure out how big you want the first piece of scrapbook paper to be on your piece of wood. This will be the background. After this has been figured out and cut out, attached it to the piece of wood using the mod podge.

Step 3:
Once you have secured the background piece of scrapbook paper (see pictures for reference if you are confused), make the letter of your last name in the other sheet of scrapbook paper. Once you have put it on the piece of scrapbook paper, cut it out and use the mod podge to seal it onto the background piece.

Step 4:
Once the mod podge has dried, screw in the gold hooks. I put in three because my piece of wood wasn't as big as some of the others I've seen. You can put as many has you want in but typically I think four or five is the general amount.

Step 5:
Once everything is complete, get a cheap picture hanging kit (I got mine from the dollar store) and attach a little jagged edge hanger on the back. (I'm not sure what it is actually called but it looks like a jagged tooth mouth. It has two holes on either end). Once this is complete, enjoy your new key holder. Now you can relax because you have a place to hang your keys now and the chance of losing them is a lot less now. Happy Crafting!!! :

Melted Wax Canvas

Hello All! Since I have been slacking, I have a bunch of stuff I have been making to post so I will try to get them all up before the end of this weekend. This one is fairly easy, children could definitely do this; however there is hot gluing involved so it wouldn't hurt for an adult to help with that part.

Things you will need:
- Canvas
-box of crayons (24 or 48 depending on size of canvas)
-garbage bags or newspaper to cover your workspace
-hot glue gun and glue sticks
-hair dryer

Step 1:
First pick the colors you want to include on your canvas. I bought a box of 24 crayons and chose all but the brown crayon. I was going for a rainbow type effect so I didnt think brown would look good in the scheme of things.

Step 2:
Then I lined them up how i wanted them and was careful about keeping them in that order. I plugged in my glue gun and once it was hot, I ran a strip of glue down the seam of the label for each crayon and then placed it across the top of the canvas.

Step 3:
Repeat this until all crayons are glued on the canvas. Once this is complete, put newspaper or garbage bags to cover your work space because the hair dryer will blow some of the wax right off the canvas.

Step 4:
Plug in your hair dryer and turn it to high and hot. Aim it at the middle of the crayon. If you aim it at the bottom, the wax will chunk up. This way, it melts the top and bottom. Once you are satisfied with the look, turn off the hair dryer and let the canvas dry.


After it has dried, hang it up some place and enjoy your melted wax canvas. Its super fun and fairly easy. It definitely makes a cool gift for a friend or younger family member. I have also seen them where they leave a space on one side and write something like "create" or "inspire" on it. Happy Crafting!!!

Wooden Black Shelf

Hello all my fellow DIYers! Hope you all are having a pleasant night. I am sorry for the delay of recent posts. I have been super busy getting stuff taken care of for teacher's college and around my house. Anyway, tonight's craft is just a black shelf and it's super easy to do. This would be a good thing for a dorm room or if you just need a little extra storage shelf in a room.

Things you need:
- a piece of wood (mine is approx. 10-12" long)
-black paint
-varnish
-yarn
-little silver screw in loops

Step 1:
Sand any rough edges of the piece of wood and then wipe it down. Next paint it black or whatever color you want it to be. I just used folk art paint.

Step 2:
Once the paint is dry, apply a coat of varnish to it. I put a couple coats on it just to give it an extra shine and it adds to the protection of the wood. Once this is dry, then you can add the little silver loops to each end of the front of the wood. Make sure you buy the ones that are nearly closed, not the bigger gold ones that are not closed in a loop at all. (See picture if you are confused)

Step 3: Once you have the loops place on the front of either end, place two more in the wall where you want the shelf to hang. Once this is done, string the yarn through the first loop on the wall and tie it to loop on the shelf on the same side. Repeat this for the other side. Make sure they are tight enough that the shelf stand at a 90 degree angle to the wall. Enjoy!

DIY City Maps

Hello my fabulous crafters!
Today's craft is one that is totally kid-friendly. There could be many uses for this craft. The kids could make treasure maps or scavenger hunt maps or you could even have them create their ideal city. I did this craft with three children I babysat during the summer a few years back. They really enjoyed doing this craft and being creative in designing their very own cities.

Things you will need:
-white computer paper
-markers in several colors
-tape

Step 1:
The first thing you will need to do is tape several pieces of paper together, depending on how big you want your city to be.

Step 2:
This is the fun part. This is where you create your city. Put houses, roads, stores etc. Use your imagination.

Step 3:
After the city map is complete, you can hang it up or you can give it to the child to send them on a scavenger hunt or treasure hunt. All depends on what the child is up to.

After we made the city maps, we re-drew them on the driveway in chalk so the kids could use their hot wheels cars in the city map. Kids have a lot of fun with this. Hope you enjoy! Happy Crafting!

Nifty Night-tables!

Hello my crafty crafters! I figured I should write another post considering I've been slacking a bit. Today's D.I.Y. craft is a Nifty Night Table! I decided that my current bedside table is too big for the bedroom so I designed and made this smaller one. This is a difficult craft. I had to have my boyfriend help me with the drilling. Also you will want to designate a few days to complete this project.

Things you will need:
- wood (i used wood boards from an old ikea bed frame.)
-saw
-nails (size is at your discretion. I can't remember how big the nails were that we used)
-paint (in the color you want to paint it)
-varnish to seal in the paint so it won't get ruined
-paintbrushes
-measuring tape
-sand paper

Step 1:
Figure out how tall you want the bed side table to be. I decided that 21" was a good height. So I took four pieces of the ikea bed frame and measured out 21" on it. I then drew a line across the piece of wood and had my boyfriend saw on excess wood off. I did this four times. These are the legs of the bed side table. Label them in pencil lightly.
NOTE: It is a good idea to label all pieces so you know what is what. It can get a little confusing with all the wood lying around.

Step 2:
To make the shelf and the top and bottom drawer enclosure of the bed side table, I took 6 pieces of the old ikea bed frame and sawed them in half. This is approximately 15". The side pieces of the drawer enclosure was the width of the table top. I think it was approximately 8 or 9". With the side pieces and the four pieces of wood for the top and bottom drawer enclosure, make a box shape.

Step 3:
Once you have made the box shape, attach the legs of the bed side table. We found it easier to drill holes first and then to drill the screws in. For the back of the enclosure, I found a piece of random wood that I hammered into the spot. You can glue it or drill a screw or two if you are concerned about it staying.

Step 4:
To make the shelf, you need a couple of small pieces of wood. This was just scraps we had left over. We screwed one piece to two of the legs and the other to the other two. Then we placed the last four 15" pieces of wood across the two pieces and drilled screws into them.

Step 5:
If you want to make the drawer, I used the door of an old entertainment unit. I had to saw about half an inch off the one side. This becomes the bottom of the drawer. Then I used some of the scraps to make the sides and back of the drawer. You may need to measure and cut to make it fit. Once that is complete, cut one 15" piece. This is to be the front. You will need to screw it to the sides and bottoms. My boyfriend and I used a combination of finishing nails and screws. Once the drawer is fastened securely, attached the drawer handle. The one I used was on from an old cabinet that I had taken the doors off of.

Step 6:
Once completed, sand any rough edges. You may want to do this as you are going along, because there will be rough edges from sawing. Once that is completed and you have wiped away the sawdust, start painting. I did this the next day... as putting it together took me from noonish to about 7pm. Depending on the color of the paint, you may have to do more than 1-2 coats. I did 4 coats because I chose to do it in white. Let each coat you do dry completely.

Step 7:
Once the paint is dry, you can decorate it however you want. The pattern on mine is inspired from a scrapbook paper I bought. I tweaked it a bit and added the letter b to the shelf. I used black folk art paint for this. I did two coats for this. Let this dry. I waited overnight.

Step 8:
After the design is complete and dry, you will need to varnish it so that all your hard work does not get ruin. To do this, you will need varnish. It's about 16 bucks at Canadian Tire. I got a semi gloss because the paint I used had a bit of a glossy look to it already. Semi-gloss is good if you don't want high shine on your end table. I put one coat on mine. You are supposed to put two or three coats on but when I went to apply the second coat it was going on yellow, not clear. I think one coat is okay. Each coat you do will have to dry 4-6 hours.





Once this is done, you have your very own bed side table. This is an extremely lengthy project but the outcome is worth it. I love my new bedside table. Like I said, you will need to make some time for this project... or do it when you have a lot of time. Happy DIY crafting!!!

Colorful Coffee Filter Snowflakes

Hello my fabulous crafters!

First off, I would like to say Happy Belated Canada Day to my fellow Canadians, and if there are any American readers out there, Happy 4th of July! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! For today's craft, I'm going to do something fairly easy to make. I know summer has started and so I thought this would be a great craft to do if you have kids or are babysitting. I call this craft " Colorful Coffee Filter Snowflakes", but honestly you can make whatever shape you want.... perhaps flowers?

Things you will need:
-Coffee Filters (I got mine from the Dollar store - you can get a lot for cheap)
-Scissors
-Markers (Washable works best)
-Spray bottle filled with water
-Newspaper (to lay on the table to avoid mess)

Step 1:
Lay down the newspaper. Color the Coffee Filter with all of your preferred colors. Once it is done, it will look weird but don't worry because those colors will be faded.

Step 2:
Take the spray bottle and spray the coffee filter until it is wet and the colors are bleeding into one another. Once complete, set out to dry. It might help to have a designated area of newspaper that is dry so the coffee filters can dry. You can also take a hair dryer to them if you don't want to wait.

Step 3:
Once dry, cut out desired shape and decorate if you want to. I decided to do colorful snowflakes. We cut out patterns to make the snowflakes. Then for extra bling, I glue tin foil to mine.

It is entirely up to you how to finish off the project. I hung mine in a window and when it was sunny, the tin foil would catch the light and sparkle. This craft is easy to do with kids! If you wanna get really creative, you can try making fake flowers with them. I do not have a post for this but perhaps sometime in the future. Happy Crafting!