Crafting with Brittany: DIY Leprachaun Figurine

Hi Everyone!

I hope you are enjoyed St. Patrick's Day this year! First, I just wanted to apologize for not having this post up yesterday. I got really sick last weekend and was not able to do very much. Today, I am feeling a bit better than I have all week so I figured I would try and get this post done so I could publish it and get it out to you all! Like the title suggests, I am bringing you a St. Patrick's Day DIY. I saw this little guy on Pinterest and thought he was so cute! It can definitely be done on a budget but it is a bit of a time-consuming project so make sure you set some time aside to do it. With that being said, let's get started!

Things You Need:

- green felt (adhesive felt and regular felt)

- long-hair fur material

- glue gun

- glue sticks

-scissors

- ribbon

-gold sparkle washi tape

- pop bottle (I used a glass pop bottle)

Step 1:

Take the adhesive felt and attach it to the pop bottle. I made the felt go all the way up the bottle but you do not have to do this. The hat covers the neck of the bottle so it only needs to go to where the neck of the bottle starts.

Step 2:

This is the part that is tedious. First you want to cut a rectangular piece of felt large enough to fit over the neck of the bottle so that it goes over the entire neck of the bottle. Sew the two shorter ends together. 

Step 3:

Next, cut out a circle a little bigger than the circle that the cylinder you made above is. Then, sew the edge of the circle to the edge of one end of the cylinder. This creates the top of the hat. 

Step 4:

Finally, cut out a bigger circle. I used the bottle of the bottle as a guide. Cut it out and then cut a smaller circle inside the circle (you create a green donut... hahaha). I made the inside circle an inch in from the outer circle. This makes the rim of the hat. Put the cylinder inside the smaller circle, line up the edges and then sew the edge of the rim to the bottom edge of the cylinder. Flip it right side out and you have a hat for your leprechaun. 

Step 5:

Plug your glue gun in and wait for it to warm up. While you are doing that take your fur fabric and determine how long/short you want the leprechaun's beard to be... and where you want it to start on either side. (NOTE: Be sure to put the hat on your leprechaun so that you can make sure the hat covers the sides). When the glue gun is ready, glue the fur fabric where you want it. 

Step 6 (Optional): 

If you have one, you can glue a peach coloured pom-pom to the top of the fur fabric, right under the hat, so that your leprechaun has a nose. I didn't want to buy a big package of pom-poms just for this project so I opted not to put a nose. 

Step 7: 

The last step is to glue the ribbon and the little gold buckle to the hat. First, put a dot of hot glue in the middle if the ribbon and press down to the front and centre base of the hat. Do be careful not to burn yourself. Next take one end and wrap around to the back centre of the hat. Place a dot of glue and press the ribbon down onto the hat. Do the same for the ribbon on the other side. Next take a tiny bit of glue and glue the gold square down to the front and centre of the hat on top of the black ribbon. This is your gold buckle. 

Step 8 (Optional): 

If you want to, you can glue a 4-leaf clover into the ribbon on one side of the hat, like I did. Just put some glue on the back of the clover and place where you want it on the hat. 

So that is everything! I hope you all enjoy making this as much as I did. I thought it turned out so cute! He looked so adorable sitting amongst all my other St. Patrick's Day decor. I hope you had a great St. Patty's Day! Thanks so much for stopping by and until next time, Happy Crafting! xo

Crafting with Brittany: Sweetheart Tree DIY

Hi Everyone!

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend. So with this being the month of love, I felt inspired to do a Valentine's Day DIY, but nothing that was incredibly sappy. I was looking for something that could stay up in my home year round, should I wish it to. So after perusing Pinterest for awhile, I came across a canvas art project... it was some birch trees with a neutral background and on one of the trees was an painted etched-heart with two initials in it. I thought this was so sweet and could easily be left up year round, so I decided to attempt it. It has the potential to be on the pricier side of things, but if you use coupons and stuff you already own, you could definitely make it budget-friendly. Let's get into it, shall we?

Things You Need:

- Paintbrush
- Paint (neutral colour or stain if using a wood canvas, white and black)
- Canvas or Wood (I used a coupon at Michaels for a 20X20 inch wrapped canvas)


Step 1:
Paint your canvas with the background colour of your choice. I used the colour zinc grey as my house is pretty much grey in every room. Let this dry. You may need to do a second coat.

Step 2:
Paint on the birch trees or whatever type of tree you are planning on painting. Let this dry.

Step 3:
Take the black paint and use tiny amounts to make the heart shape etching in the tree. Then use a smaller brush, if needed, to make the initial carvings inside the heart. Let this dry.

Step 4: (Optional)
Take a sealant spray and spray the entire canvas evenly. Let this dry. Once dry, you can hang it wherever you like.

So that is it! I hope you all enjoyed this tutorial on how to do this. Be sure to let me know in the comments below if you attempt this DIY - I love seeing people's different takes on things. Thank you so much for stopping by and until next time, Happy Crafting! xo

Crafting with Brittany: DIY Christmas Key Chain

Hello Everyone!

I hope you all have been having a fabulous week. Here in Ontario we had some pretty crazy weather at the beginning of the week. Hence, why today when I am writing this, I am curled up on my bed, in track pants and a sweater with some candles lit. I'm real exciting, aren't I? Anyway, as the title suggests, in this post, I am telling you how I made a keychain. This keychain was time consuming, but only because I had so much stuff included and it took me a bit to figure out how to attach some of the stuff. I wouldn't exactly call it budget-friendly either. You will be looking at spending some money - especially if you don't have any of the supplies already. All of the stuff is sold at Michaels, however, you may be able to find it in places such as Dollar Tree, Dollarama and independent craft stores.

Things You Need:
-key chain ring
-link rings
-pliers (if you have ones specifically for jewelry making, USE THEM!!!)
-beads
-various charm embellishments (bells, monogram letter, snowflakes, word plates etc)
-wire pieces (to thread the beads onto to create little bead charms - I'm not sure what these are actually called - but you can buy them at Michaels)

Step 1:
Take your key chain ring and your link rings and attach them together. Keep adding link rings until you have the length you desire.

Step 2:
Next, I took my embellishments and roughly placed them out where I wanted them to go. Play around with this until you are absolutely satisfied. Once you are satisfied, you can start adding them on using the link rings. Once you have finished putting on all the embellishments, put the keychain to one side to work on making the bead embellishments.

Step 3:
Take your beads, your wire pieces for the beads and your pliers and start making your little bead embellishments. For mine, I just stuck a large green bead on the wire and then stuck a small red one on top. I, then, took my pliers and bent the wire and twisted it around itself on top of the red bead. Repeat this step until you have as many as you would like on your key chain.

Step 4:
Once you have made all your bead embellishments, cut off any excess wire using little wire cutters (nail clippers also works - you will have to bend the wire while holding it with the nail clippers).

Step 5:
Finally, add these bead embellishments on the key ring links wherever you would like. Be sure to close the links up tight so they don't come off.

And there you have it! You're very own key chain. I love how well this turned out, despite it being the first time I am making a keychain. I hope you all liked reading about this DIY. If you attempt to do this DIY and you document it on Youtube or on your blog, be sure to let me know, so I can check yours out. Be sure to follow this blog as I will be posting every other week. Also check out my Youtube Channel where I will occasionally be posting DIYs there as well. Thank you so much for stopping by and until next time, Happy Crafting! xo

Crafting with Brittany: DIY Dishwasher Sign

Hi Everyone!

Hope you all are having a wonderful start to 2018! Our year started off kinda rough but things are looking up now. So as the title says, today I am showing you how I made a little sign for our dishwasher to update the one I made years ago. It was super easy and budget friendly, but a bit time-consuming. This is definitely a way to streamline your life so that you always know if your dishes are clean or dirty in your dishwasher. So let's get started!

Things You Will Need:
- scrabble tiles
- piece of cardboard
- scissors
- cement glue
- magnets

Step 1:
Glue the scrabble tiles using the cement glue to the small piece of cardboard. Be sure to arrange them so that when you flip it either way it is readable. Let it dry for at least a few hours

Step 2:
Cut any excess cardboard off and throw it away. Take a couple magnets and glue them on the back using the cement glue. Let this dry for awhile.

Step 3:
Put it on your dishwasher door and enjoy!

So that is it! I hope you enjoyed reading this post. If you make this little DIY, be sure to let me know in the comments below, linking to your video or blog post. I would love to see how you put your own twist on this. Thank you so much for stopping by and until next time, Happy Crafting! xo