DIY Coffee Filter Monogram Letters

As I may or may not have mentioned a few times before, my sister got married over Christmas break! As her maid of honor (and more importantly sister) I got to help out with a lot of dreaming and scheming to make the big day happen. One of my favorite projects was planning a bridal shower in our hometown for her. Showers are SO fun, because you get to plan crafts, food, the whole shebang! Today I'm sharing one of my favorite DIY projects from that day! I wanted something fun to hang above the food table, and created....

DIY Coffee Filter Monogram Letters

What you'll need: 

cardboard, sharpie, scissors or a boxcutter, coffee filters, coffee or tea, cake pan, hot glue

1. First, you'll need to draw the shape of your letters on the cardboard and cut it out. It's important to try and find cardboard that is thick enough to hold its shape, but not too hard to cut through. 

2. Next, start folding your coffee filters. I used about 50 for two 1.5 foot tall letters. You'll need to fold them in half, then in half again to create a triangle shape like shown below. Try not to squash them too much during the process — you'll want them to still look ruffly and keep their folds. Place your folded filters into a cake pan. 

3. Brew tea or coffee and pour it over your letters, trying to distribute them evenly. I used coffee for half of mine, and tea for the other half so that my end result would have two slightly different colored letters. Pour enough coffee to coat all of the filters, but try not to leave too much liquid sitting at the bottom. Your filters will start to flatten out at this point, but as long as you don't push down on them they'll regain their shape after they dry. 

4. Put the pan in the oven! Check on them every once in awhile, and once they are completely dry take them out. (IMPORTANT: They need to be completely dry. If they're damp at all, they'll eventually start to mold. This happened to me with my first batch... it was disgusting. Learn from my mistakes! That being said, I'm assuming they'd catch on fire or something if you left them in for too long. Lesson learned: just check them. A lot.) My filters were dry after about 15 minutes on medium heat. 

5. Hot glue the filters onto your cardboard letters in your desired pattern! 

(Excuse the poor quality photo! My phone that had all nice photos of this project finalized bit the dust recently... so I stole this from my sister's Instagram.)

And voila! An elegant party decor idea that is (literally) made of trash.

DIY Teacup (Anti)Candle

The fact that I'm not allowed to have candles burning is one of my greatest laments about dorm-life. Lately, a bunch of women on my floor have been using Scentsy's, and they smell absolutely delectable! But after seeing their steep cost, I figured this was a perfect place to save some cash and find my own way to create a Scentsy instead. 

1. Gather up some cute teacups and candles. I used a bunch of these tiny candles that I was never going to burn, but this would also be a great place to use candle nubs — those awkward little bits of candle left after you burn most of it.

2. Pull out the wicks. Usually you can do this by flipping the candle upside down and pulling on the small silver circle on the bottom, but if that's not possible you can just pick them out as the candle melts.

3. Break the candles into small chunks. Be aware that this can leave a waxy residue on the surface you break them on, so be sure to lay down something to cut on. 

4. Combine scents and flavors that seem to go together into your teacups (I created one fruity, summery scent and another warm, sugary vanilla scent!) and place them on a candle warmer until all of the wax becomes liquid. (NOTE: Don't have a candle warmer? I swear, these things are the #1 hot commodity at thrift stores! They're everywhere. My local thrift store had an entire box of them, all selling for $1.00)

Now you have a reusable "Scentsy" that is dorm-safe, kid-safe and (in my humble opinion) far prettier and daintier.

What have you been creating lately?? 

Illusions

"Memory is deceptive because it is colored by today's events." -Albert Einstein 

Hey, guess what? 

I'm alive! Though, admittedly, just barely.

Midterms can really take a toll on a person. The past few weeks have brought so many adventures, challenges and massive workloads that blogging took a much-needed little hiatus. It not only gave me the time to get above water on things outside of this space, but also gave me some time to think about the kind of content I'm sharing and where I see this blog leading me. Hopefully you'll see a shift in the content being a more honest reflection of the lady behind the screen. As a student who is far more dedicated to seeking knowledge, Jesus, a boy, the most beautiful friends, my family and exploring than I am to posting online, I've come to peace with not feeling pressured to be here constantly.

That being said, I love blogging! And today I have a project that I'm wonderfully excited to share with you all. I just finished a little trio of pieces that were auctioned off last week to raise money for women and children living in a transitional housing facility here in Orange City called The Bridge. I wrote a bit about the last piece you see here.

This work holds a very special place in my heart. I feel like as an artist it's taken me years, but I'm finally settling into work that ends up being a balance of a process I enjoy and an end aesthetic that I enjoy.

Here's a bit of what I wrote previously about the thoughts behind these pieces:

"Basically all of the art I've made in the past two years has been related to thinking about memories, and as I worked on these it came to me that they're really an extension of that. I've thought a lot about the strange way that our mind holds onto things... often subconsciously editing things to fit what we've idealized a memory to be. It blows my mind how memories can change overtime, warping what I believe to be reality into a mockery of a clean-cut rainbow-filled Hollywood film."

My Handmade Coffee Sack Backpack

Happy Sunday, dear readers! 

Today I'm here to share a project I've been working on for awhile now. One day this summer I was at a local coffee shop casually sipping on my iced americano when I saw some burlap coffee bean sacks on sale for $2 each. They all had really unique patterns and came from all over the world, and the moment I saw them I know I wanted to make something. We were destined to be together, those sacks and I.

So, I started sewing. I knew I wanted to make some sort of slouch-styled bag, so I sort of just started making a bag shape while obsessively watching episodes of Orange is the New Black  (anyone else helplessly addicted to this show?? I am not a tv person, but I may or may not have finally caved into subscribing to Netflix just for this show... oh, and Lost) and this is where it ended up! Since I didn't really plan ahead I don't exactly have a DIY to share, but I'm hoping this project can at least spur some inspiration

I found the pleather-ish material at JoAnn fabrics and thought it would be a good addition for the base and straps since it's quite a bit sturdier than the burlap. I also found the clasp there, and the tribal patterned ribbon was something I found buried in my craft box.

So far this bag has held up great, even carrying heavy things like textbooks. And the nice thing about creating things from scratch is that them totally customized to your own style and needs.

What sewing projects have you guys been working on lately?

 
// dress: thrifted // brown lacey thing: Forever 21 //

Temporary Tattoos: DIY & Inspiration

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Until a few weeks ago, the words "temporary tattoos" brought to mind my 8-year old brother's arms, covered in worn patches of once-bright ink he picked up at the Iowa State Fair. I pictured images like sports teams, D.A.R.E., and some Hot Wheels tattoos he once found in a coloring book or something that caused him to protest showers for weeks.

But you guys. Temporary tattoos can be so cool. 

After seeing this post by Kara at I Just Might Explode earlier this week, I set out on a mission to find more of these beautiful creations and learned that people have come up with some pretty unique and beautiful art. And then, a thought hit me.

I could totally make these.

And so, Amazon led me to this paper. According to reviews, Silhouette brand paper is the way to go for quality printed images that last a decent amount of time on skin once applied.

All you have to do is:

1) Come up with your design.

2) Print it on this paper from a regular inkjet printer.

3) Apply with water like any temporary tattoo!

I'm already dreaming of all of the designs I'm going to make, and I'll be sure to come back with an update. Anyone want to join me and do a tattoo swap? ;)