DIY Puzzle Guest Book

Hello My Fellow Crafty People! 

I hope you are all doing well on this sunny Wednesday afternoon. I'm sorry I haven't been blogging regularly on here, but I have been crazy busy doing all kinds of things!!! I am hoping to make it a more regular thing, but it has been difficult even finding the time to do the DIY projects, let alone write them for you guys... But I am determined to do so. I want to pursue this writing a blog thing... its a dream of mine. 

Anyway, today's DIY is for the wedding oriented or if you are in the market for making puzzles. It is a DIY Guest Book Puzzle. This is something I created for my wedding after seeing something similar on Pinterest. It's pretty easy and takes approximately an afternoon, depending on how fast you work. Let's get started!!!!

Things you need:
- Bristol Board (needs to be thin enough to be able to frame after the wedding)
-sharpie marker
-ruler
-pencil
-markers for colour coating pieces (optional depending on the size of your puzzle)
-a guide for your puzzle (optional depending on the size of the puzzle - needed if you have a puzzle with a lot of pieces like mine so you can put it back together. 

Step 1:
You will need to cut the bristol board to the size you will need or you can leave it the size it is. I left mine. You also need to take into consideration how many guests will be attending. Make sure you will have extra pieces. 

Step 2:
Take your ruler and pencil and draw lines in every direction making a lot of irregular shapes. Once you are happy with it, take the Sharpie and trace over the pencil lines to give it a cleaner look. Use the ruler if you have difficulty with drawing straight lines freehand. (NOTE** Don't worry about having really small pieces as long as you have enough for your guests. You can colour those in black or draw little hearts (or something else wedding related) on them). 

Step 3:
If your puzzle is large, you may want to consider making a replica of the puzzle using white computer paper so that you are able to put it back together after the wedding. Just get a piece of white paper large enough, or tape several pieces of white paper together until it is the size you need. Place overtop of the puzzle and trace all the pieces. 

Step 4:
I had a ton of pieces, so I colour coded, numbered and assigned a letter to each piece. I wrote it on one side of the actual puzzle piece and then wrote it on the corresponding piece on the paper. 

Step 5:
Next, carefully cut out all the pieces and put them in a ziplock bag. Mine all fit in a regular sandwich baggie. 

When it comes time for your wedding, put the blank ones in a bowl and have some pens or markers handy. Have another bowl or a box for pieces with messages on them to go in. 

That's all there is to it. Just put it together and frame it after the honeymoon if you go on one right away. It's a fun way to have a guest book that is a little easier than making actual puzzle pieces. (Trust me! I tried! It is so hard to make it yourself so it looks nice and not bent or anything... I was so frustrated!) Hope you enjoy! Happy Crafting!!! 

Autumn in a Bowl - DIY Centerpiece

Hello, my crafty friends!

I hope you are all wonderful on this blustery Monday night. It has been a pretty crazy day here, weather-wise, in Ottawa. It poured off and on for a good portion of the day, around 6pm the sun made an appearance and then around 9pm, it was so window that when I walked out of Starbucks, the door flew open so hard, I was sure it was going to rip off. It was kinda a nice walk home for how windy it was. The colored leaves were everywhere, falling on the ground. Anyway, today's DIY project is the fastest, easiest centrepiece I've ever made. Let's get started!

Things you will need:
-clear glass bowl (your choice. I got mine from Dollarama for $3, I think)
-material leaves (or real ones if you wish)
-plastic pumpkins and gourds (I got a little bag that included a couple of pinecones for $2 at Dollarama)
-pinecones (2-3 depending on the size of the bowl)

Step 1:
Clean the bowl if necessary. Also, if there is a price sticker on it, carefully take that off too.

Step 2:
Take the material leaves and pumpkins/gourds out of the plastic. Choose which ones you want to use in your bowl. Because my bowl is on the smaller side, I only used the small pumpkins, pinecones and gourds. The baggie of pumpkins, gourds and pinecones did come with bigger pumpkins and pinecones, but I used them in other decorating (see my other blog, The Brittany Report). I also had a few other plastic pumpkins that I bought a few years ago which I added to the bowl.

Step 3:
Finally, I took some of the material leaves and sprinkled them into the bowl. I re-arranged them according to how I wanted it to look. I think I used like 5-6 leaves. If you are using real leaves, you can get them in all different sizes.

And that is how it's done! So simple, and so easy. I think it took me ten minutes to put together. Put it on your mantle or on your coffee or kitchen table and ENJOY!

NOTE: It could also be done where you do a different centrepiece for each season. For example, flowers in the spring with water and fake snow and a little village in the winter... or cranberries and pine tree and some glass ball ornaments!!! Get CREATIVE!! Have FUN!!!

HAPPY CRAFTING!!!

DIY Wedding Card Box

Good Evening, my fellow DIYers!!! Hope you all are having a wonderful Saturday evening. It is chilly here in Ottawa. Think I may light some candles and grab some hot apple cider after I finish this blog post. So today, I'm gonna show you something you can do yourself for your wedding. It's a card box and it was fairly simple to do. I would suggest doing it on a weekend as it can be a bit time consuming. Let's get started, shall we?

Okay, first things first, the things you will need.
-cardboard boxes that can be painted (I bought mine at Michael's. It came in a set of three for about $20).
-paint (in the colour of your choice)
-an exacto knife
-ribbon (in your choice of colour)
-tissue paper (in your colour choice)
-glue gun and glue sticks
-string
-glossy sealing spray
-stick on rhinestone strips (bought at Dollarama)
-ruler
-cardstock
-scissors
-black Sharpie (or preferred colour)
-pencil


Step 1
Take the boxes out of their packaging (if any) and separate the three boxes. Decide how many tiers you want it to be. I decided I only wanted two, but you can have it be one or three tiers if you wish.

Step 2
Take the box you want the cad slot to go in and measure the width and length of the box. Once you have gotten the measurements, you will want to figure out how big you want the card slot. I just did a slit in the top of my second tier box. You will want to make sure that there is an inch on either side the length of the box (see picture for clarification). Also, make sure it is centred if that is what you want. Once, you have cut the slot out, you may need to tidy it up a bit. I used a pair of small scissors to trim it up.

Step 3
Next you will want to cut a hole in the bottom of the box you just cut the slot into. This is so cards can fall into the bigger box. You will also need to cut a hole in the lid of the bigger box that is slightly smaller than the bottom of the top box. (Note: You may have to do this multiple times depending on how many boxes you have in your tier. See pictures for details!)

Step 4
Paint the boxes the colour of your choice. Once they have dried, glue the top tiers to the bottom one. Make sure to line up the holes so that it is centred. Wait for the glue to dry. After this, put the lid on the top tier. Then take the boxes outside and use a glossy sealer spray ( I used Krylon Glossy Sealer) to give it a glossy sheen and to seal the paint just in case.

Step 5
Once the sealer is dry, take the preferred ribbon of choice and wrap it around the middle of each box. Make sure it is in the middle of the box. Glue the ribbons down on each tier.

Step 6
On one of the boxes, there will be a little card that says "Cards". To do this, you will need to measure the length and width of the box (do not include the part where the lid sits in your measurements). I switched to millimetres to do this part. I made it so that the top and bottom of the card was a half millimetre from the top and bottom of the box. The sides I made to be approximately 1.5 - 2 millimetres away. You want the sign to be in the middle and to cover up where the two ends of your ribbon meet. I used card stock for this and outlined the paper in black. Then I used pencil to draw the letters first and then went over it in black Sharpie. I then put stick on rhinestones around the border (I felt like it was missing something). Glue this in the centre of the box with the slot in it.

Step 7
For the flower on the bottom box, you will need 2-3 pieces of tissue paper. Unfold the tissue paper and place one on top of the other. Make sure they line up. Cut it into 6 rectangles. Place them on top of one another and make sure they are lined up. Once they are, start folding them line you would if you were making a paper fan. Once finished, tie a string around the center of the folded tissue paper. Slowly start peeling apart the layers you have created until all layers are fluffed out. Make sure it is flat on one side so you can glue it to the bottom box. Also, be sure to hide the string. Glue the flower where the two ends of your ribbon meet.

Step 8
For some added bling, if you are like me and love a little bling, use some of the stick-on rhinestones to make a border around the slot for the cards to go into.

Hope you enjoy making this. I had a lot of fun creating this and making it my own by adjusting some of the things. HAPPY CRAFTING!!! xoxo

DIY Autumn Canvas

HAPPY OCTOBER CRAFTERS!!!

I hope you all are having a great beginning to October. I have been super busy! However, I am hoping that I will have some time this weekend to post some blogs. I have a few that are ready to be posted. Anyway, this one is super simple. It took me a couple days to do but this is only because I am busy. 
Let's get started!!!!

Things you will need: 
- stretch canvas (I got mine from Dollarama)
-gold spray paint (or another autumn like colour)
-foam letters (again, these I got at Dollarama)
- felt pre-cut leaves (from Dollar Tree)

Step 1: 
Using the foam letters, spell out the word "autumn" or "fall" on your canvas. Stick these onto the canvas. Mine were stickers that had a peel-off back. Super easy!!! To make sure they stay on, put a book on top of them so that it really presses them down. 

Step 2:
Take the canvas and the gold spray paint outside. (Note: Unless you are spraying on the grass, which will be cut eventually, I encouraged putting something underneath the canvas so you don't spray paint flower pots or the picnic table!!! I've done this to the picnic table before! Oops!)Let the canvas dry. In the sun, it doesn't take a whole lot of time. You might need to do a couple of coats. 

Step 3:
Figure out how you want to put your pre-cut felt leaves on the canvas. Once you have done this, use white glue or a glue gun to glue the felt leaves to the canvas. Let the glue dry. Then hang it up and enjoy!!!

Happy Crafting!!!