Follow:

Style

Travel

Home and DIY

Browsing Tag:

Tutorial

    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

     

    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
    Food & DIY

    DIY Rose Garland

    September 8, 2014
    I’ve been on a creativity kick lately, which is awesome because I keep saying that I want to make it a priority to work on different projects. If you follow me on Instagram, you probably know that I’ve been keeping myself busy by making fabric flowers. I’ve mostly been using the flowers that I have made to make fascinators and hair clips. However, this weekend I decided to make some flowers that I could incorporate into my home decor. The result was this twine and felt rose garland, which I absolutely love!
    As you can tell, I wrapped the garland around my headboard, and it instantly added a much-needed pop of color to my bedroom. But you can also use this garland as a party decoration, or to liven up any other space around your house. And, the best thing about this garland is that it only costs about $10 to make! Keep on reading to learn how to make your own.
    MATERIALS:
    8 ft of Twine
    Needle
    Thread
    10-12 sheets of felt in any color (this makes about 12 roses)
    Glue and Glue Gun
    STEP 1. To make a felt rose, first you’re going to have to cut out the center petal, 4 small petals, and 4 large petals and a oval to cover the back of the twine. I kind of eyeballed the dimensions, but I’ve included this pattern to help you out if that’s not your thing.
    STEP 2. To make the center of the rose, take the petal with the longer piece attached to it, and roll it up.
    STEP 3. Use your thread and needle to sew the center of the rose together, in order to ensure that it doesn’t fall apart once you start gluing on the other petals.
    STEP 4. Next, start hot gluing the petals around the center of the rose. Start off by using the smaller petals, and continue to do this until you’ve used all 8 petals.
    TIP: While gluing on the petals, try to place them where they fill in the gaps made by other petals. This will make your rose seem much fuller than if you just place one petal over the other.
    STEP 5. Once you’ve glued on all the petals, use your needle and thread to sew together the bottom of your rose. This will secure the rose, and keep it from falling apart much later.
    STEP 6. With the rose still upside down, place your piece of twine over the bottom. Next, glue the oval piece to the back to cover up the twine and thread, and secure the rose to the garland.  Make sure to measure 6-7 inches of twine between each rose. Attach each rose to the garland, and then you’re done!
    I had so much fun making this project, and am glad to be able to share it with you. I hope that you all enjoyed this tutorial as much as I enjoyed putting it together, and that you find a way to incorporate it into your home decor! If you do decide to make this project, make sure to use #sweethelengracediy on Instagram, so that I can see it. Have a great rest of the week!
    xoxo,
    Helen Grace