So my Mum bought me this cute little calculator for Christmas as something to deco, how could I say no to a challenge like that XD
The parts I used are mostly from The Sticker Monsterwho is beyond awesome! People always ask me where I get deco parts from and I always give the following answers:
Full Moon Deco (mention I sent you and sometimes you’ll get an extra surprise)
Ebay
All of those places ship internationally and all of them are full of awesome stuff so no more questions about that XD
First thing I did was put together a basic design by laying out the main pieces on the calculator…
I transfered the flowers to the side while keeping the design in tact so I could see what needed to go where. Then one by one I glued them in place.
Now let’s talk about glue. Again another question I get at least once a week is about the glue that I use. Glue which can be used for deco:
99% of the time I use epoxy glue. It comes in 2 parts which are mixed together. This stuff is hard as nails and once you glue things with it they aren’t coming off so make sure you’re sure before you glue.
E9000. I haven’t used this but many other people recommend it.
Clear nail polish/super glue. Only useful on false nail. They don’t hold very well so if you use them on a phone or whatever it’s not going to last.
Hot glue. No. This is not good for deco. Not only is it not durable enough but you will probably burn yourself and also it doesn’t stick well to flat smooth surfaces.
Jewels that come with sticky backs. Meh they are ok but eventually the sticky loses it’s stick and they either peel off or you will lose the jewel. Generally I peel the sticky off first then epoxy them down or just use them on things that won’t get knocked around like this calculator.
So after gluing down the flowers I started adding larger jewels around the edges of the buttons…
Then smaller jewels, stars etc…
And I just really kept going until I felt there was enough. Done!
This is the kind of deco that only takes a few minutes especially if you’re using sticky back jewels ^_^
Of course you probably shouldn’t let your boyfriend take the before/after shots -_-‘
I haven’t decided if this is finished yet, I might continue the deco around the other other side but I’m more focused on my next big project… my laptop. I’ve finally settled on a new design for it so I just need to get off my butt and get some parts now 😀
I thought I’d show you how to make a deco USB stick with your initial today.
I’m still going through all the entries to my give away tonight so please be patient for another day while I pick the top 3 for you to vote on. There are so many awesome entries and I’m having a tough time picking ^_^
In the mean time I’m thinking about deco a lot lately! I just did my new camera today and I can’t wait to show you all photos of it 😀
Firstly pick a USB stick in a cute colour.
This one is pretty cool because you can fold it in on itself.
Now lay your red jewels in the shape of your initial. I made this one for James’ Mum so I used a “P”. It’s important to lay the jewels out so you can get the shaped exactly right and make sure the jewels line up exactly right.
Stick the red jewels in place using epoxy glue.
Now start filling in the gaps. As you can see from the photo below I am using a very basic grid pattern for the jewels, this means that the go in completely straight rows both vertically and horizontally. Because of the curve in the “P” I had to compensate with other jewels around it.
Continue the pattern on the bottom as well. Once it’s dry keep going onto the other side. Once you are finished you have something like this:
Very simple and quick but it really personalizes your USB beautifully! Let me know if you make your own deco USB stick!
So I promised a tutorial on cutening up a plain old umbrella and here it is, deco umbrella time ^_^
There are so many different things you can do with an umbrella and so I decided to do a few versions of this.
How you can decorate your umbrella will depend on what you’re actually going to use it for. For example if you want it to be a parasol and protect you from just the sun then you can do pretty much anything at all with it… but if you need it to protect you from the rain then you shouldn’t sew anything into the top section of it because the hole you poke with your needle and thread are just going to let water in!!
The key things I want my umbrella to do are keep me dry and fit in my handbag so I didn’t want to add anything too bulky or put any holes in the top. I decided to start off small and just add lace around the edge of the bottom of it.
What you need:
Umbrella
Lace
Needle and thread
What you need to do is open the umbrella up completely. Thread your needle and start sewing lace on.
It’s quite self explanatory really ^_^ When you get to the corners you should pleat the lace so it sits flat then start up the next side. I took this photo after it had been crushed in my bag for a week so you’ll have to use your imagination >_<
Keep going until you reach the end and tie it all off ^_^
Done! This is a way of just adding a little bit of something cute to a plain old umbrella. Nothing will be left un-cute by the time I’m finished ^_^
Though after looking at it for a few months I think it’s still a little plain so I decided to add some more details to it. I haven’t finished yet so you’ll have to wait until next time to see it all completed. I’m going to add small bows to each of the points and deco the bottom of the handle 😀
So I’ll show you it properly finished by the end of next week! Hope you like the deco umbrella ^_^
Before we get into the sparkly bangle tutorial I just wanted to let everyone who was waiting for me to reply to comments know that it’s all done!
Every comment (other than ones that were posted this morning) have been replied to so if you were waiting for an answer please go have a look ^_^ Next step is catching up on all my emails! I am trying really hard to get back on top of things so please have patience with me!
I am a big lover of deco in pretty much every form and I’ve been making lots of accessories lately. I’ve always liked over the top jewelery but lately I’ve found myself liking big bangles too 😀
So today I’m going to show you how to make your own deco’d chunky bangle like this:
So gather your materials…This is what you need:
Jewels (I’m using 2 sizes and 2 different colours)
Epoxy glue
Felt pen marker in the same colour as your jewels
Felt in a matching colour
Base to put it on (more on this in a second)
Now the base! You can use anything that is roughly the right shape. Going from left to right there is a bangle I bought on sale for $1 at a discount store, a wooden base bangle I bought at Spotlight that’s specifically made for this purpose and lastly the cardboard roll out of the center of a ball of crochet yarn.
Any of these work just as well and range in price from free (if you’ve already got the yarn) or $5.95 for the purpose made base.
After you pick your base (I chose the Spotlight one) colour the whole thing in with the felt pen so it looks similar to our jewels ^_^ This is so that when you add the jewels you can’t see light wood through the gaps.
Lay out your jewels and prepare your epoxy glue.
With the bangle flat on the table you should start by gluing one ring of jewels around the top edge. Make sure this ring is completely straight because it’s going to set the tone for the rest of the bracelet. Wait for it to dry then repeat on the other side ^_^
Now decide on the pattern you’re going to do. I chose to do alternating large and small jewels with a row of small right around the edges. Lay down one line of glue from top to bottom and position your first line of jewels. Again it’s important to get the first row right because it will effect the rest of the bracelet.
Start going around adding more and more rows 😀 I decided to change it up and do a couple of different patterns! I did straight small jewels and red as well.
Lastly you should cut a piece of felt and glue it around the inside so the wood doesn’t have to touch your arm ^_^
Aaaand there you have it ^_^
Taaadaaa ^_^
It’s so shiny when you get it out in the sun! Let me know if any of you give the sparkly bangle tutorial a go!
Almost 3 weeks ago Jolene at The Sticker Monster sent me a package of fun things to review for your guys and seeing as I have such a sweet spot for deco I just couldn’t say no to making a decoden tutorial 😀
This is a super long post but stay with me because I’m going to show you how to make a whole bunch of really cool things!
Now onwards to the review!
This was the package that arrived on my doorstep… I couldn’t believe how much was packed into it! The delicate items were very well protected and nothing was damaged at all. It took around 1 week to arrive from Malaysia. Shipping- 5/5I had to giggle at the adorable business card!
So what was inside?
Several packs of Swarovski crystals in many colours and sizes. I’ve never used Swarovskibefore so I was really excited to try them out.
Lots of yummy plastic cabochon, pretzels, flowers, whipped cream and chocolates! This was my favorite part of the package, mwahaha more sweets to add to my collection!
10 fimo fruit canes in some really fun designs.
Pre-glued jewels on sheets in cute designs
Pre-glued pearls, big jewels and mini boullions in gold and silver.
Of course there was a whole host of their trademarked stickers! Glow in the dark, glittery and little hearts, totally adorable!
Prestuck felt sheet and furry leopard fabric sheet.
Jolene was also lovely enough to include 2 sheets of special deco protection paper. Basically the idea is that you glue your deco design to the sticker and then put it on your expensive items (laptop/cellphone/whatever) and then if you don’t like the design/want to sell your laptop you can remove it with no damage!
So I think the questions you’re all asking by now is “What on earth did you do with all of these supplies??”…
Well I was a little overwhelmed with all the design ideas so it took me a while to decide what to do first XD
First thing I did was decorate my make up brushes!
So you need:
Make up brushes
Preglued jewel stripes
Scissors
It’s really easy to do… just measure how many rows of jewels you need while they are still on the plastic, remove the plastic, stick them down and press down for a minute to make sure the glue sticks.
I chose to add the jewels at the top of the metal band because it won’t interfere when I need to wash them.
I had some jewels left over so I added a stripe to each of the ends ^_^
Very easy to do and very pretty no? Over the last 3 weeks I’ve used my brushes every day and washed them as per usual with no damage at all. The only tip I have is don’t submerge the pre-stuck jewels in water, if you do by accident just pat it dry with a paper towel.
I liked it so much that I did my Magical Pick deco tool as well! My lovely friend Jinsent this to me and as soon as I can get the proper internet back I’m going to tell you all about it!
Now onto some real nail art 😀
Have you guys ever used fimo canes? They are so much fun! I’ve actually got pretty much a lifetime supply of them now because the delightful Jacie sent me a bunch of them which are going to be featured in another tutorial too ^_^
So I’ll cover the basics here… they are made of fimo or sculpy and they come in sticks with pretty much any design you can think of.
Using a *very* sharp knife you cut them into small slices. This can be really tricky because they like to roll around. I got around this by taping the cane to the cutting board so I could have more control with my hands.
You want the slices to be *really* thin because it makes them more flexible to shape around your nails when you stick them on.
Apparently you can get over 100 slices from one cane sometimes! I got sore hands after cutting for a while so I made James finish them off XD I cut them all up at once so I never have to do it again!
Keeping on the topic of nailart… these are the nails that I’ve been wearing for the last two weeks. Over two weeks I managed to move house with these babies on so they were super durable!
I used the little silver boullions to fill in spaces between the diamantes, it gives it lots of extra punch!
Heehee typically I managed to lose my first nail like 20min before James was ready to take the photos yesterday *_* You can spot one of the little fimo cane bows from Jacie in there too ^_^
I decided to experiment by using a big fabric bow this time too. It was very durable and went well and by using hand sanitiser a lot I was able to keep it nice and hygienic. Cute but I probably wouldn’t do it again because I fiddled with it too much! You can see the nails survived the move by my skin didn’t, time for a hand treatment!
Next it’s sticker time!
I’ve been looking at ways to deco my laptop for a while, I deco’d the entire front section twice but didn’t like either design. The second I saw these little heart shaped stickers I knew I wanted to stick them to my keyboard!
It’s fairly self explanatory… I just stuck them on randomly ^_^
I also used some matching yummy macaron/sweets stickers that the lovely Trashtastikagave me and went crazy with them!
LOVE the finished product and it’s a great starting point to inspire the rest of my laptop’s design. I’m going to use the deco protection sheets on the back of my laptop and start again with an even better design!
This next project was probably my biggest overall… I was very inspired by the leopard print fabric and the pre-glued deco sheets to finally decorate my little handy camera and it’s case 😀
First thing I did was add some of the little black rose stickers to all of the buttons on the back of the camera. They were the perfect size! The flash from the camera makes them look kind of shiny but in natural light you can’t see the sticker part you only see the black roses with silver outlines.
Nice and classy unlike the rest of my design which pretty much slaps you in the face with the pink 😉
I used the prestuck jewels and the sticky leopard print for the case.
Again this was one of the easiest project I’ve ever done… I stuck the sheet of jewels on the front of the case, it fit perfectly!
And I stuck leopard print on the rest of the case. I added a stripe of lace to cover the line… and that’s it!
I keep it in my purse all the time and it’s been really great, none of the jewels have come off the sheet which surprised me as I’ve always assumed they aren’t very durable. Very happily surprised!
Now on to the actual camera! I wanted this to be sweets themed but I didn’t want it to be completely crazy. It also needed to fit back in the case which was a bit of a tight fit to begin with *_*
I played around with the design a bit and decided that this would be perfect to try out using Swarovski‘s for the first time!
I used a lot of the cabachons, the prestuck pearls (which I removed the stick backs from and glued down) and several colours of crystals. This is what I ended up with after around an hour!
Totally cute but not too crazy!
Like?
I got a request a little while ago from a reader asking for cute ideas to store nail art supplies and nails there is another tutorial coming on this as well but here’s a quick and easy idea for you!
This is one of the boxes I keep my supplies in…
It took me about 2 minutes to cut out the sticky backed felt and cover the box! SUPER EASY.
It needed a little something extra so I added some of the other cute stickers in the pack ^_^
This is completely random but this is the rest of the sheet the stickers came on… all the cutest ones like the little bears weren’t actually cut out as stickers XD I just cut them out and stuck them on anyway!
Last but not least I used some of the other Swarovskicrystals to jazz up a little heart photo thingy that I got aaaages ago. I put in some purikura of James, Susie and I and deco’d around the edges.
Sorry Susie parts of you got covered in jewels ;_;
I really loved using the Swarovski‘s, they certainly do shine a hell of a lot more than acrylics! They are much heavier but I think they are going to be so much more durable too. Love durability!
So now you’ve seen all the fun things I got to make here’s my final review on The Sticker Monster!
Communication-
Every email I sent was replied to very very promptly, in fact I don’t think I ever waited more than about 12hrs for a response about anything. If you live in Malaysia Jolene also has her mobile number online for inquiries and even arranged meet ups if you want to buy a certain number of products. To top that off she is super polite, very friendly and really knows a whole lot about her products. She actually collects and uses them herself so if you have questions about anything she has proper first hand knowledge.
Prices-
All of the prices are in Malaysian currency (RM). When converting to Australia Dollars the prices are really cheap! Things like the sticky fabric sheets and pre-stuck jewel sheets were around half the price of what I’ve seen them for in shops here in Aus. Even when you factor in shipping it’s still much more cost effective.
Quality-
I didn’t find one single piece in the selection I got that I wasn’t happy with the quality. A lot of the things like the jewel sheets and the Swarovski‘s far exceeded my expectations. Even little things like comparing the silver/gold boullions to ones that I had previously ordered from a nailart site in bulk, the Sticker Monster boullions were slightly larger, shinier and more uniform in size than the bulk ones. Couldn’t be more pleased with everything.
Overall-
Considering the prices, exchange rate, ridiculous number of products actually available on the site and the super friendly service… I’m already putting together a mental order list 😀 DO WANT!!!
Let me know if you have suggestions for another decoden tutorial!
Morning everyone today I have an odd one, an earring hanger tutorial!
A lot of you have written saying you have lots of earrings but no way to store them all. I like to display my earrings because they’re pretty so this is what I’ve come up with ^_^
Continuing my theme of sweets related storage solutions it’s a gigantic hanging heart made of whipped cream 😀 It can hold as many earrings as you want and it doesn’t matter what type of backs the earring have because they can all just poke through the tulle.
So let’s get crafting!
What you need for this whipped cream earring hanger tutorial:
An old wire coat hanger
Pliers
Tulle in whatever colour you want
Artists Modelling Paste
Piping bag and tip
Ribbon
Glue gun
Needle and thread
Tray to do it all in so you don’t make a mess
Firstly you should take your coat and use the pliers to undo the top twisty bit.
Use the pliers to shape it into a heart. Use the twisty ends to secure it together. You can make the heart as big or as small as you need, it just depends on how many earrings you want to hang at the end ^_^
Cut out a piece of tulle which is big enough to cover your heart with a few inches either side for hems.
Thread your needle with the same colour as your tulle. Fold the tulle over the sides of the wire and sew in place. You might want to pin it all before you start sewing. You should make sure to sew it quite tightly, if it doesn’t have tension it won’t be able to hold up earrings.
You should stitch like this:
Keep going around to the other side:
Make sure to pay extra attention to the pointy bit at the top of the heart. You might need to cut the tulle a bit to make it fit.
Cut off all the extra tulle around the edges.
Now time for some whipped cream 😀 Put your heart onto the tray. At this point you should make sure the heart sits flat on the floor, if it’s not flat it won’t sit against the wall. You might want to put some cling wrap down on the tray to make it easy to remove later.
Get your modelling paste and icing bag ready. You can buy modelling paste from most art stores.
I got the idea to use modelling paste rather than silicone etc from Hikaria who is the master of making sweets! Modeling paste will be more durable for a wall hanging, keep it’s shape well and doesn’t have the safety issues that silicone does.
Use a spoon to fill your piping bag with the paste.
Eventually we are going to make 3 rows of little icing swirls but we want the top ones to be much higher than the sides so we need to make an icing platform for it to sit on! Use your piping bag to make a line around the edge of the heart, you should put it directly on top of the wire.
It doesn’t matter if it looks terrible or is broken up because we’re going to cover the whole thing up with more icing later 😀
Put a bit of extra icing at both of the points of the heart.
Put it outside to dry for a while. Depending on how hot it is in your part of the world, drying might take some time.
After it’s dry to the touch bring it back in. Use your piping bag to make a bunch of icing swirls on either side of the first line you made.
You should now pipe the top line of icing swirls on top of the first line you made. It should form a nice little dome ^_^ I forgot to take a photo of that step sorry! Make sure the icing covers all of the wires.
Now let the whole thing dry! It was quite cold when I did mine so I left it for a day then I turned it over and let the back dry for another day.
This is the back:
Once you are completely sure it’s dry gather the rest of your materials.
Cut a length of ribbon for it to hang on.
And hot glue it to the back of the heart. Make sure you do it in a way that’s not visible from the front.
And there you have it! It’s a gigantic whipped cream heart ^_^
To attach earrings just hook/pin them through the holes in the tulle. I made the ribbon hanger longer to make it easy to access the back of studs.
Here’s a close up of all the cream. Because it’s made from modelling paste it should be very hard, be careful because the tips of the cream are pointy!
And so the cycle of sweets themed storage continues XD My next sweets storage is going to be candy cane themed, any guesses to what it is? 😛
Hope you enjoyed the earring hanger tutorial, let me know if you try it!
Illustrator. Strong tea, knitting, watercolours, and making a video game called Moonlight in Garland. Living with her adorable husband Jimmy, fluffy puppy Miss Lottie and Bergamot Bunny in Melbourne, Australia.
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