Showing posts with label craft. Show all posts
Showing posts with label craft. Show all posts

Monday, October 8, 2012

Windowscape DIY

We Live Upstairs Make Your Own Windowscape DIY

A once co-worker of mine brought an old window she'd had lying around to work one day, to see if anyone wanted it. Since I seem to collect things that "I'll use for a project someday..." like it's my job, I, of course, took it off her hands. I've since made a nightlight/cabin in the woods scene out of it, and would like to share how it's done.

We Live Upstairs Make Your Own Windowscape DIY

You will need:
-- an old window frame of whichever size you prefer
-- a string of Christmas lights
-- sticks (don't buy, collect from ground)
-- a wreath
-- one decorative bag of moss (found at your local craft store)

Things you'll need that I forgot to picture:
-- scissors
-- a hot glue gun (with plenty of glue sticks)
-- cardboard
-- a clear sealant spray
-- some form of decorative scrapbook paper for stars (I chose black glittered)
-- thumbtacks to hold string of lights onto frame
-- sticky tack or heavy-duty tape

We Live Upstairs Make Your Own Windowscape DIY

1. Take one of your sticks and put it against your window frame, to see how wide you'd like your cabin.

We Live Upstairs Make Your Own Windowscape DIY

2. Cut the majority of your sticks to the length you measured. Your sticks should be more twig-ish than log-ish if you'd like to stick with scissors. Otherwise, you'll probably need a hand saw. Don't forget to save three sticks for your trees (you can choose the sizes).

We Live Upstairs Make Your Own Windowscape DIY

3. Once you get the wall of the cabin all set, you can take some of your leftover sticks and play around with the roof. I chose an A-frame roof with vertical sticks inside, but you can decide what works for you.

We Live Upstairs Make Your Own Windowscape DIY

4. After leaving one of your more solid sticks at the bottom, take about 2/3 of your wall sticks and cut a piece out of the center of each of them to create a cabin door. Leave the sticks between the top of the door and the roof solid.

We Live Upstairs Make Your Own Windowscape DIY

5. Glue the wall pieces together.

We Live Upstairs Make Your Own Windowscape DIY

6. Then the roof pieces.

We Live Upstairs Make Your Own Windowscape DIY

7. Attach the two sections.

We Live Upstairs Make Your Own Windowscape DIY

8. Take your wreath, and cut small sections of the wire for your tree branches.

We Live Upstairs Make Your Own Windowscape DIY

9. Glue them to the tree trunks in a diagonal-down formation.

We Live Upstairs Make Your Own Windowscape DIY

10. For your moss-covered ground, measure the width of your window frame and cut a piece of cardboard to suit. How deep your moss goes (or the width of the cardboard) depends on how wide your frame is, and how much moss you have. Adjust accordingly.

We Live Upstairs Make Your Own Windowscape DIY

11. Glue moss onto cardboard.

We Live Upstairs Make Your Own Windowscape DIY

12. Seal moss with clear sealant spray. Let dry. 

We Live Upstairs Make Your Own Windowscape DIY
We Live Upstairs Make Your Own Windowscape DIY

13. Draw stars on reverse side of scrapbook paper and cut them out.

We Live Upstairs Make Your Own Windowscape DIY

14. String lights across back of frame and attach everything to front of window using sticky tack or tape.

We Live Upstairs Make Your Own Windowscape DIY
We Live Upstairs Make Your Own Windowscape DIY

This is so pretty to use as soft lighting during evening hours. I hope you enjoyed this!

Monday, October 1, 2012

Embellished Sweatshirt DIY

We Live Upstairs Embellished Sweatshirt DIY

For the past week or so, I've been patiently waiting for the spare moment when I'd get to make my own version of this clever creation from Refinery29:

Description of Photo

The day it was posted on the site, I immediately pinned it, then headed to my local craft store on my lunch break. And, lucky for me, a day or two later, I found the perfect gray sweatshirt while perusing the racks at Goodwill (thanks, Joe Boxer).

Since R29 already did such an excellent job writing instructions, I'll just show my process through photos. But, heed a warning: This is not a I-have-some-spare-time-before-I-meet-my-friend-for-coffee DIY. This is a commitment. Worth it in the end, but you've been warned.

We Live Upstairs Embellished Sweatshirt DIY

We Live Upstairs Embellished Sweatshirt DIY

We Live Upstairs Embellished Sweatshirt DIY

We Live Upstairs Embellished Sweatshirt DIY

We Live Upstairs Embellished Sweatshirt DIY

We Live Upstairs Embellished Sweatshirt DIY

We Live Upstairs Embellished Sweatshirt DIY

We Live Upstairs Embellished Sweatshirt DIY

We Live Upstairs Embellished Sweatshirt DIY

We Live Upstairs Embellished Sweatshirt DIY

We Live Upstairs Embellished Sweatshirt DIY

I chose clear stones because I thought they might be more versatile within my particular wardrobe, but I love the idea of this with other neutral sweatshirts and other fun colors of jewels. This recently acquired, secondhand leather skirt was the first thing that came to mind, but I'm already thinking up a million other pairings for it. I hope you enjoy my take! See y'all tomorrow!

P.S.- Happy 100th post to me! : )

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Lookin' Like Candy

We Live Upstairs I Look like Candy Outfit

We Live Upstairs I Look like Candy Outfit

We Live Upstairs I Look like Candy Outfit

We Live Upstairs I Look like Candy Outfit

We Live Upstairs I Look like Candy Outfit

We Live Upstairs I Look like Candy Outfit
Shirt: Thrifted; Shorts: Audrey; Shoes: UO; Collar Necklace: Made it Myself!; Hat: Maurices 3-4 years ago?

Everything about what I'm wearing reminds me of a starburst or popsicle. Which, in this heat, sounds just magnificent. 
This pair of shorts is one of the items I picked up on my mini shopping trip last weekend. They were quite the steal, but the deal was that the zipper was completely broken. I snagged them anyway and sewed snaps on instead! Now they're perfect : ) I will say, all this time to myself lately has turned me into quite the crafty bee. Not complaining!

And I whipped up this collar necklace using the DIY from Refinery 29. I made some variations, of course, but I think it turned out pretty well; especially considering I used the leather from an old handbag that bit the dust! I can't wait to make more in all sorts of colors and fabrics! I'm planning on doing a few posts about all the goodies I've made the past couple of weeks, but I'm waiting on the return of my camera boy ; )

Well, I'm off to enjoy a weekend visit from my friend Daniel! There'll be reminiscing and laughter a-plenty. Do y'all have anything neat planned?

Thursday, April 5, 2012

It is a Proven Fact...

Description of Photo Description of Photo

Description of Photo

Description of Photo
Top: Thrifted
Dress: Vintage
Shoes: UO

...that I always pick the worst days to wear skirts + dresses. Seemingly perfect as I step out the door in the morning always turns into me clutching onto hems for dear life and hiding behind anything stationary and larger than me. That last part may not be true, but the wind gets pretty intense.

Anyway, this blouse is one of the articles that followed me home from The Wardrobe, and I'm in love with the color. I plan on paring it with some reds and (more) purples in the future. And if you follow me on Instagram (leahjgee), you know that I love this dress and wear it way too often. It's something I picked up a couple of months ago during one of many trips to Maude Vintage. Sometimes I feel like I'm there all the time. Not complaining.
The shoes are Kimchi Blue from UO- I think I got them in '09? They used to be T-Strapped, but I cut the vertical strap off long ago.

And since you're dying to know- - that thing above my head in the first two photos is Matt + I's attempt at this. Clearly, it worked really well for us. It'll be coming down before the next outfit post, as I have enough to worry about besides a decaying-yarn-glue mess hanging above my head for all eternity.

It's Thursday! Get excited about the weekend!
See y'all around!
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