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Showing posts with label DIY. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DIY. Show all posts

As a follow up to my DIY designer button necklace post, I've included a similarly simple DIY for earrings to complete the look. As before, I purchased old buttons from Etsy (see the necklace post for information on the Etsy stores I used for the buttons), and also found the stainless steel earring posts on Etsy. After that, all you need are glue dots and pliers or something to help remove the hooks off of the backs of the buttons. Keep reading to see how I made these impossibly easy earrings!


Using pliers, gently twist to pry off the hooks on the back of the button. This way, you'll have a flat surface to work with


Using the glue dots, stick on the post to the button


Voilà!

DIY designer button earrings

Monday, July 15, 2019


Ok, yes, 1) Ramadan 2019 is over, and 2) this card I made is now officially from two Ramadans ago. However, I couldn't not post about my experience using the Wacom Intuos Pro Paper tablet to create a digital image that I then printed onto a set of standard cards. The process was basically seamless, and the hardest part of it was trying to figure out what design to draw. Generally, I drew out the design with pencil first, and then went over it on a paper (which was clipped on the tablet) using the pen the tablet came with. As a I drew, the tablet rendered the design onto my laptop in live time. When complete, I saved the design as a photo file (.PNG or .JPEG) on my laptop. From there, it was just a matter of figuring out how to print the design on the card (and inserting the card into the printer correctly). No need to take the design to any card printing service- I printed from home!


The design consisted of "Ramadan Mubarak" text with a crescent and "Ramadan Kareem" written in Arabic. Since I only had one pen and it did not allow for varying thickness, I added my own shadows to the lettering for a darker and more prominent look.



After printing the cards, I included some more personalized messages inside, and the cards were mailed off! Unfortunately, though I had planned for it (and gone so far as to draw out the design), I wasn't able to make cards for Ramadan 2019. Here's to hopefully next Ramadan!

DIY ramadan card 2018

Friday, June 14, 2019



With Ramadan roughly 1 month away (yikes, definitely not ready), I wanted to share this DIY banner I made last year. Making it was a fun way to hang out with friends and pass the time while fasting, as well as a nice way to spruce up the apartment for iftaars. While I still have some time to work on one for this year, I wanted to post more about how I made this one.


I used colorful construction paper (patterned scrapbook paper would be a fun plus), a cut-out shape that I used to trace onto the paper, a calligraphy marker, yarn, scissors, and washi tape. To help with lettering inspiration, I used one of my favorite calligraphy how-to books. We hung the final product using washi tape right about our living room couch.



Stay tuned for this year's banner!

DIY ramadan banner

Friday, April 5, 2019


A structured bag juxtaposed with a playful, acrylic or resin chain caught my eye towards the end of last year, and is something I think will be around for 2019 (a drool-worthy splurge seen here). Getting a bag just for the chain seems a bit nonsensical, and that's because it is. Fortunately, whipping up a quick DIY resin handbag chain is so simple and much more reasonable than getting the whole bag. There's a million different directions you could go with creating one, and could even buy just a chain if making one yourself seems too time consuming. 


You'll of course want a bag that has a loop where you can attach a chain. Next, depending on the color of the bag, you'll want to pick the chain color. I had a silver bag and went with a tortoiseshell patterned chain. Although I bought all my materials from Michaels and Amazon, Etsy has a lot of great options.


Use plier to hook on a jump ring on each end of the chain. You'll then attach a lobster clasp to each of the jump rings before closing the rings. That's literally it.



Hook your DIY resin handbag chain onto your bag and you're donezo!

DIY acrylic handbag chain

Thursday, March 28, 2019




DIYing pendant necklaces is so incredibly easy and inexpensive, I feel like I could kick myself for not exploring this avenue earlier. Online platforms like Etsy make is even easier to purchase specific materials to your liking (differing chain lengths, bezel sizes, etc.), that the options are almost endless. While purchasing investment jewelry has been something I've had my eye on, even the prices for consigned pieces are way out of my price and comfort range- I just cannot justify spending so much on something that is not made of the best materials (read: "gold toned"), and the price of which is arguably jacked up because of the name. I've seen some creative takes on this dilemma, most common of which has lately been the designer button necklace. Harvested from presumably old and damaged clothes and bags (though who can really say for sure where all these buttons come from),  the process of taking a button and securing it into a bezel pendant is just about as easy and simple as it sounds.


I ordered the chain, bezel setting, and button from Etsy. My favorite stores for buttons include Vintage Paris Luxe and Fashion Button. You'll want to order your bezel setting after you order the button so that you order the appropriate sized bezel depending on the diameter of the button. I originally purchased E6000 glue to use on the necklace, but the warnings about skin irritation scared me, so I opted for really strong glue dots instead, which worked just fine. Literally less than 5 minutes later, you're done!

 Using the wire cutters, I removed the button hook so that the back of the button was now a smooth surface. This made to possible to stick the button onto the bezel setting. 

 Using a glue dot, I stuck the button onto the pendant

DIY designer button necklace

Monday, March 11, 2019


If I were to tell you how hard it is to make these mismatched stone bead earrings, you wouldn't believe me. Fortunately for you, I'm detailing the incredibly difficult and long instructions and materials list below. It's really just very complicated, so this may not be a DIY for the faint of heart. 
For the earrings, you'll need 2 stone beads/pendants (preferably mismatched, but if that's too much for you, by all means, match. Also, I couldn't find the exact ones I got, but these would be fun) + hoops. Loop the stones through the hoop, and you're done. Bonus cool points if you wear multiple mismatched ones at the same time.




DIY mismatched stone earrings

Wednesday, February 20, 2019


I created this sketch of some of my favorite designer shoes towards the end of last year using one of my most loved illustration pens. The process made me realize how difficult it is to not only sketch out the shape of stilettos, but how precise you need to be in order to achieve the iconic silhouette of many of these designer shoes. It was a practice in detail, perfection, but most of all, patients. Lots of pencilwork and erasing was involved, but I was very pleased with the final product!

If you're interested in keeping a print for yourself to frame, visit my Etsy shop to purchase and immediately download a file of the sketch (sans watermark, of course).

shoes illustration

Friday, January 11, 2019



After struggling to find a way to organize my delicate necklaces without having them get tied together and spending forever undoing the knots, I came up with this super simple DIY necklace hanger. It's an easy way to keep your jewelry untangled and serves as a eye-catching display (and yes, I have not one, but two serotonin molecule necklaces).

Materials:
- Wooden plank (I bought mine from Michael's for about $3)
- Nails (as many as you think you'll need; 1 per necklace and an extra to hang the product)
- Hammer
- Acrylic paint(s) of your choice (I also used a paint pen for the cheetah spots)
- Mod podge to use as a gloss
- Twine or yarn



I started with painting a base on the wood. After it dried, I went back over it and painted ombre cheetah spots for an eye-catching design. Although I painted the spots after I hammered in the nails, I would recommend finishing painting completely before you proceed with the nails. I hammered the nails a bit haphazardly and randomly for some variation. Lastly, I went back and outlined the cheetah spots with a black paint pen to make the design pop out more. To create a glossly look, I recommend going over the final product with Mod Podge (but only after the acrylic paint has completely dried so you don't smear it!)


I hammered a nail on the top back of the wood and used twine to create a loop so that all I would need would be a push pin to hang the final product. After everything dries, your necklaces will be ready to store and display without getting tangled!

DIY necklace hanger

Friday, November 16, 2018

Inspired by the pearl takeover that started last year (slides, sweaters, jeans, and bags) and feels like it's still going strong, this DIY pearl headband is super easy to make and harkens back to statement headbands a la Blair Waldorf circa 2009. Nearly 10 years later, headbands are my jam again, and the more blingy, the better. Lele Sadoughi offers a beautiful pearl headband, but if $150 isn't something that you can justify for a product that you could make yourself, you've come to the right place!

DIY pearl headband

Sunday, October 14, 2018


We have been fortunate enough to have a rather large balcony that came with our apartment. Unfortunately, however, it has come accompanied with an in-your-face view of the parking garage. To find a way to make use of the space in a way that invited more green and distracted from the concrete eyesore across a patch of grass, I've placed a variety of plants on the balcony (21 plants to be exact). While I've spent most of the summer learning which plants can stand Dallas summer days with highs of 107 degrees, there is one plant in particular I've found very suitable for a beginning gardener: the tropical Mandevilla. Keep reading to see how I created a very simple DIY trellis to make even more room for this beautiful plant's voracious vining.

DIY garden trellis

Monday, August 27, 2018


thank you card + sushi stickers

Wednesday, December 20, 2017


These DIY clay macaron photo holders are a fun way to display photos (or in the above case, postcards) that add a pop of color to your display. Although fair warning- it may lead to you going out to get actual macarons.  

DIY clay macaron photo holder

Monday, October 9, 2017



H refers to this project as the "art installation" in our apartment. While I feel it's a stretch to call it such, it is a bit of something I've never done before. I've seen flower walls on Instagram with what I presume to be real, fresh flowers and dried flowers. While using either of the two for a flower wall makes for beautiful decor, the idea of staining the walls of our rental apartment quickly nipped that idea in the bud (pun intended). Instead, I created this DIY flower wall in our guest/study room using artificial flowers and washi tape. The result was better than I had hoped, and I'm so glad I finally got around to getting rid of atleast some of the negative space in that room.

DIY flower wall

Sunday, September 24, 2017


Taking a break from the calligraphied and florally inspired handmade cards to bring you this DIY sequined and stamped card that I made for my sister-in-law's birthday. While calligraphied cards are elegant and beautiful, they to take a bit of time and preparation. Chances are you'll mess up a few times and have to start over (I recommend practicing on separate paper first to warm up- I've wasted way too many cards), you need to prepare the ink, the nib and pen, find a card where the ink won't feather or bleed through, and the list goes on. This DIY sequined and stamped card is less messy, quicker, doesn't require practice (or talent, unless you count gluing and stamping as talents), and probably slightly cheaper. 

Continue reading the rest of the post to find out how to make this quick and cute card!

DIY sequined card

Saturday, September 16, 2017




This is one of those "wow, I can't believe that actually worked" DIYs. The steps to creating beautiful DIY marbled paper are insanely easy. My favorite part of this DIY, of course, is that it's inexpensive (and you may even be able to find most of these materials from around your house). It's too easy to find DIY projects that end up being more expensive than just going out and buying a similar product. This simple technique is a fun way to spruce up snail mail, or any handmade card, and gives expensive-looking results for next to nothing in cost.


I used washi tape on the backs of my envelopes/cards that I would be dipping into the shaving cream/food coloring mixture. The tape prevents the food coloring from bleeding onto areas of the paper that you don't want color, resulting in a clean product. The washi tape provides that protective barrier, and is easily removes from the paper without ripping it. For cards and envelopes, I used my favorite Strathmore blank cards and envelopes. For bigger sized paper, I used watercolor paper out of my Montval watercolor pad, as used in this DIY watercolor galaxy project.


My first set of cards involved purple and red swirls, and then I very quickly got carried away and used every color I had. I used Neon gel food coloring, which was a fun change from the usual red, orange, green, and blue.




Once the shaving cream + food coloring mix is prepared, just dip, remove, let sit for 30 seconds, and scrape off the shaving cream. That's it! Use your newly marbled cards and envelopes as greeting cards, invitation cards, place settings, or bookmarks. You could also gather a few different sized marbled papers and unique frames, and create a collection of 3 or 4 frames to hang in your home for some wall decor.


DIY marbled paper

Sunday, July 23, 2017



From mid-February to about mid-March, I worked in the Psychiatric ER. Working an entire month of almost exclusively night shifts (mostly 7pm to 7am) meant completely shifting my schedule to a nocturnal one if I wanted to survive the rotation. This included the days that I wasn't scheduled to work. I was initially apprehensive about working through the entire night, and found myself wondering what I would do on the nights I'm off at home and have the whole night to kill. After all, there's only so much Netflix one can watch. So what did I do long after H retired to bed and I was left all by myself? Work on art projects that I almost never get time for anymore!

DIY watercolor galaxy

Wednesday, March 29, 2017

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