The Wonderful World of D.I.Y.

Dotty Drinkware | Better Homes & Gardens

Temperature’s are going up. Might as well drink your lemonade and iced tea from something cute and DIY!

Purchase a set of glass pitchers and glasses, or use some you already own. And add your own style! Use adhesive circle stickers to create your design along the bottom of the glassware. Arrange them in a straight like or in any design you wish. You can use different shapes and sizes, and can even use a cut-out to create cute designs onto your stickers before applying them to the glass.

Using a foam pouncer, apply your paint over the stickers, moving lightly up the glass to create a faux frosted look. Be sure to keep the paint away from the top of the glass where your mouth goes. While the paint is still wet, carefully peel off the stickers so you can scratch off any paint that seeped through. 

Color Blocked Clock | Vintage Revivals

Let’s get clock blocked! But seriously, how cute are these? And did I mention oh so simple and cheap? Depending on what materials you may already have on hand, these gorgeous clocks could be made with less than $6.

You’ll need some wooden circles. You can buy them pre-cut or get them cut to your specifics at a home improvement store. Mark down the center of your shape and cover with painter’s tape. If you wish to make a little design along your painted side, be sure to tape that off as well. For these, a design was cut into the side using 4” slices.

If you’re using spray paint, it’s a good idea to cover every single inch that isn’t going to be painted (just in case!). When it’s dry, peel back your tape and admire your work!

Add words to your clock for that extra oomph. For these, time zones were displayed from parts of the world significant to the family. Use Silhouette to create and then paint over and let dry. Or freehand it! After everything is dry, install your clock hands. These are simply decorative pieces, and not fully functioning clocks, as that would require holing out a place in the back for the clock mechanisms, but if you want them to work like a clock, go ahead and route out the backs before installing the batteries. 

DIY Headboard | Better Homes & Gardens

You’d never know that this amazing headboard was DIY! Using some awesomely affordable pieces, you can easily recreate this headboard using your own creative touch and color palette. All you need for this DIY project is:

• Plywood, paint, picture frames (yes, I said picture frames!), decorative molding in any design, metal sheeting in any design, nails/glue.

Cut your plywood to your desired size. You can make it larger than your bed frame, smaller, or match it up perfectly. The kind of look you want is totally up to you. Paint your plywood and your picture frames one color. Then paint your molding and metal sheeting with your second color. 

Cut the metal sheeting (this metal sheeting was made with this awesome design on it, so find a cute design to fit your theme, or leave it plain if it suits your style), to fit inside your picture frames. Nail or glue the sheeting into the picture frames. Attach your frames to your plywood, and attach your molding to the top. Then secure the whole thing to your wall. It’s as simple as that.

For those of you who might not want to deal with cutting sheet metal (or going to have it done for you), you can easily use any material inside your picture frames. If you decide to keep the glass inside the frames, you can place some cute scrapbook paper, maps, or material swatches inside and use the glass as a dry erase board! 

Painted Umbrella | Design for Mankind

Have a plain umbrella that needs a little oomph? Well, all you need for this spruce-up is some waterproof paint, Avery label stock paper, utility knife, ruler, cutting mat, stencil sponge, and an umbrella in need of some love. 

Using your Avery label stock, create your design. Geometric shapes are always a great choice (use a straightedge for nice straight lines), or freehand something amazing. Follow along the outside of each design with your utility knife until it’s cut off. Remember to leave enough space around each design so paint doesn’t splatter onto your umbrella while painting. Then open your umbrella and rest it on its handle while you begin painting each quadrant.

Once the designs have been carefully sponged on, allow the umbrella to dry while open overnight before using. 

Studded Sneakers | Honesty…WTF

Gone are the days of hand-piercing hundreds of studs through canvas. Thanks to the extremely durable adhesive, E6000, this amazing DIY project can be done in record time. Your time is valuable, and we’d much rather you spend more time showing off your sneakers than creating them. For this project, you’ll need:

• A pair of sneakers (any will do, but how cute are these twill pastel Vans?), the E6000 adhesive, 150-200 brass cone spikes, a disposable container or popsicle stick, and toothpicks.

Squeeze a small amount of E600 into your disposable container and, using the tip of the toothpick, apply a small drop of glue onto the back of the stud (don’t put too much adhesive into your container, as it will quickly dry out). Press the stud onto your sneaker into the design you want, hold for a few seconds, and move on to the next. If there’s a space you’re unsure of, place the stud there without the glue to see how it will look. Then finish up your design and let your sweet kicks dry overnight. 

Stitched Screen Door | Via: Design Sponge

How adorable is this hand-stitched screen door? Just think of all the possibilities! You could stitch on your house number, your last name, your favorite quote, or a brightly-colored greeting. For this DIY, you’ll need: 

• A screen door (you can buy a new screen kit if yours is worse for wear, or use an existing one), 3 skeins of embroidery thread in your preferred color (neon colors tend to look amazing against the darkness of your screen), a needle, scissors, tape measure, masking tape, and your template (for the HELLO template, click here). 

Assemble your new screen if you bought a kit, or just clean your existing one. Photocopy your template and enlarge it to your preferred size (this one was 19” across, 12” high, and there was a 3/4” space in between each letter). Use a tape measure to center your template facing you, then use the tape to mark off the edges of your letters. Set the template close by for reference. 

Starting from the back, use a half cross-stitch to stitch the message onto your screen. Make sure all your stitches move in the same direction. To make your message bolder, simply use 2 or 3 rows of stitches instead of one. 

Since people can see the message from the outside AND the inside, try to keep your work nice and neat so as to avoid bulky knots or slip-ups. To avoid making knots, secure your thread by tucking it in on itself.

Continue across your screen until all letters are complete. And there you have it. The possibilities are endless, so get creative! If anyone makes this, be sure to submit a pic!

DIY Cat Nail Decals | Via: Transient Expression

These kitten nails are amazing. As a cat lady in training, I can’t say no to adding cats to anything and everything. The secret to these nails is rub-on transfer paper (you can order these online from Walgreens for less than $10). Anything you can print, you can put on your nails. Just make sure you make the mirror image of words & letters if you go that route. For this DIY, you’ll need:

• Nailpolish, a top coat, scissors, printable rub-on transfer paper, and tweezers

Using a photo editing program, select your pictures and size them accordingly (to get these pre-measured to-die-for kitten faces, click here).

Paint your nails with a few coats of polish and let dry completely. Print your pictures onto the matte-finished side of your transfer paper (print your images close to the edges to save paper so you’ll have lots left over for future awesome nail endeavors!) Follow the transfer paper instructions to make sure your images get transferred correctly.

Then trim the excess off, peel off the clear adhesive backing, place the image in the center of your nail, press it down firmly, and then peel away. This is where the tweezers come in handy! After all 10 nails are done, use your top coat polish to seal. And you’re finished! 

DIY Galaxy Envelopes | Via: Minieco

Following the still-hot trend of galaxerizing (which is totally a word) everything, simply take photos from astronomy magazines and fold into different envelope shapes and seal. Or check NASA’s Image of the Day gallery to find many spectacular scenes from space. Print them out and get to folding!

If you want to get super crafty, fold your amazing galaxy pictures into 3D shapes (templates found here) & hang your geometric garland in your home or dorm. Happy folding!