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    Food & DIY

    DIY Floral Coasters

    October 1, 2014

     

    Today I’m excited to bring you this floral coasters DIY tutorial. I have to admit that the reason that I decided to make these, is because I figured that if I’m going to spend money on DIY projects, I might as well make things that I already need. I’ve been meaning to make coasters for a while, but I just didn’t know what materials I wanted to use. Luckily for me, I found these metal and cork squares that were exactly the same size, on my last trip to Michaels. I decided to paint a floral design on them using acrylic paints and permanent marker, and I’m super happy with the way that they turned out. The best part is that they only took about 20 minutes to make. Keep on reading if you want to learn how to make your own!
     
    MATERIALS:
    Metal Coasters
    Cork Coasters
    Tacky Glue
    Acrylic Paints
    Paint Brushes
    Sharpie Permanent Marker
    Optional: Clear Varnish
     
    STEP 1: Use tacky glue to adhere the metal plate and the cork square together. After you do this, place the glued pieces under a heavy book for about an hour or two, in order to put some weight and pressure on the coasters. This will ensure that the two pieces don’t become unglued later on.

    STEP 2: Draw flowers on opposite corners of the metallic side of your coaster. Don’t worry about having to  be very artistic to draw this floral design–As you can see, I basically just drew a couple of squiggly shapes on each side.

     

    STEP 3: Fill in your design using acrylic paint. I would suggest adding white or black to whatever color your using, in order to make the paint more opaque. If you use certain colors, such as yellow or red, they tend to be very translucent; adding white gives these types of colors a more “matte” effect. Make sure not to layer too much paint over your design, so that you can still see the outline of the permanent marker.

     

    STEP 4: Lastly, once the acrylic paint has dried, once again trace over your original design with permanent marker. Acrylic paint and marker don’t come off very easily if you just use a wipe to clean your coasters. However, you may want to consider also adding a layer of clear varnish to make sure that your design doesn’t wash off over time.

     

     

    That’s it for this tutorial! I really hope that you enjoyed reading it, and will be inspired to create your own project.  Please let me know if you do decide to make this project by leaving me a comment, or tagging me on Instagram @sweethelengrace.  I would love to see what you come up with!
    xoxo,
    Helen Grace

     

    Outfit

    Colorado Street Bridge

    September 29, 2014
    Photos by Sarah Veyna
    Outfit Details:
    Forever 21 Sunglasses
    Necklace (Borrowed from my sister)
    H&M Crop Top
    Old Navy Boyfriend Jeans
    Madewell Loafers (Similar)
    Bag (Handmade by my Grandma)
    MAC Lipstick in Twig
    I totally wore these jeans in one of my most recent outfit posts, but I love them so much that I just couldn’t wait a couple of more weeks to feature them again. I guess that I should just tell you know that they’ll probably pop up pretty often in most of my fall and winter outfit posts. After all, a good pair of jeans is hard to find, and these are super comfortable and they also fit me well.

     

    My sister Sarah and I headed to the Colorado Street Bridge to take these outfit photos. It’s one of my favorite landmarks in my beautiful hometown of Pasadena. Unfortunately, I hardly ever have any reason to walk across it, because it’s kind of in the middle of nowhere.  My sister Sarah and I decided to stop there on Saturday, on our way to Eagle Rock. While we were there, I had to also snap some pictures of Sarah. She is so beautiful and smiley, and has such a wonderful style. I can’t wait until she finally lets me get behind the lens to take some of her outfit photos.
    This weekend was also wonderful because I had the opportunity to catch up with my friend Carly, who was in town. We had a fun time on Saturday morning hopping around from one coffee shop to another. If you keep up with my blog, you probably already know that most of my friends have been slowly moving away to other parts of the country. Therefore, it’s always a treat for me when they are back in town.
    As always, thanks for stopping by. I hope you have an awesome week!
    xoxo,
    Helen Grace
    Beauty, Food & DIY

    French Braided Side-Chignon

    September 24, 2014
    Photos By Sarah Veyna
    I’m super excited to present you with my first ever hair tutorial! I must admit that I’m no expert when it comes to hair and beauty, but I really do enjoy learning and trying out different hairstyles. I’ve actually only recently started experimenting with putting up my hair, because I’ve found that it’s the easiest remedy for a bad hair day when you’re in a rush. This french braided side-chignon is one of my go-to hairstyles, because it only takes about 5 minutes to do and it looks really elegant. Keep on reading, if you want to learn how to achieve this look.
    Start off by creating a side part on your hair.
    Next, you’re going to section off a piece of hair on the side of your head opposite of your part. You want to make sure that you section off a piece on the side opposite of your part, so that your hairstyle doesn’t look too pulled back on your face.

     

    Using this section of hair, start braiding your hair in a diagonal french braid across your head. This is just like a regular french braid, except that you’ll be weaving in strands from the top and bottom of your head, instead of from the sides. Once you’ve braided in all of your hair, use a hair tie to secure it into a low ponytail.

     

    Take the hair hanging from your low ponytail, and wrap it around your hair tie to create a chignon, and secure it with a couple of bobby pins. Finally, pull out a couple of strands in the front, in order to frame your face.
    You can also add fresh flowers or a fascinator to your hair if you want, in order to liven or dress up your hairstyle.
    Putting together this blog post was so much fun, and I hope that you all found it very helpful. I had actually never thought of putting together any beauty posts until a friend asked me if I had any hair tutorials on my blog. If you see any hairstyles or makeup on my blog that you want me to do a tutorial for, please let me know! I’d love to put together more of these types of posts.
    xoxo,
    Helen Grace