Be Jealous.

Okay, so you probably already bought this, and you probably aren't jealous. I, on the other hand, am freaking stoked because I just picked up the new Martha Stewart multi-surface acrylic craft paints and a stencil kit! I'm super excited to start making some craftliciousness with this stuff.

Yep, it's gonna be awesome. How has everyone's week been thus far? Have you crafted anything amazing, or at least contemplated making a craft? I've been pretty low on inspiration lately, but good ole' Martha Stewart gave me a nice pick-me-up. (Not that kind of pick-me-up you weirdos!)

Spooky Books

Alright, here is just ONE of the Halloween Decor Tutorials! They are spooky books and they're super awesome. Just a forewarning, as much as I LOVE the really cutesy Halloween decorations, I like my house to look like a Haunted Mansion for Halloween time. Therefore, my decor is kinda creepy... don't worry though, my next Halloween Tutorial does include glitter. =)

Alright, your supplies need are:

-4 old books that you don't mind trashing

-black craft paint

-hot glue gun

-assorted paint colors in your choice for lettering

-sponge paint brushes

First, squirt some black craft paint in a bowl and paint it over the covers of books (if needed) and over the spines.

Set them outside in the sun to dry. Good news about craft paint is, it dries super fast.... especially if you live in the desert like myself. After they're nice and toasty, bust out your hot glue gun and write the words along the spines. I chose mine to say "Spells", "Brews", "Curses", and "Potions". Be prepared, this part can get pretty messy.

Once the hot glue has dried and hardened, go over the letters with your choice of color paint. After you've completed this step, you can be finished. I however, decided to go one step further and make them look a little more aged. All you do is dip your sponge brush in black paint, and dab most of it off with a paper towel. Then, stipple over the letters very lightly... this will make it look dirty. (Cause let's be real, witches probably didn't have clean spell books..)

As you can see, I didn't clean off every stringy hot glue piece. I was going to, but then my younger brother told me that it looks like spider webs, and I was like "oh, heck yes."

And there you go. Spooky Books a la Get Craftlicious.

Don't you love those apothecary jars?!! I mean, they're in desperate need of some candy corns and mini reese's, but they're pretty dang awesome. All I did was print off some creepy images from Janet Hopkins' Happy Haunting Printable kit, which you can purchase here.

I simply taped mine onto the jars because I don't use those for just Halloween, but if you want to make it more permanent, you could just mod podge it on there.

Didn't it turn out awesome?!!! I'm in love!

What are some of your favorite DIY Halloween Decorations? Are you more like me and love spooky decor, or are you more of a glitter and happy pumpkins girl?

This project is partying at:

The Idea Room, The Shabby Nest, Tatertots & Jello, Just a Girl, Be Different Act Normal, Serenity Now, The DIY Showoff, Craft-O-Maniac Halloween Edition, All Things Thrifty

Ombrè?

Do you guys LOVE ombrè stuff as much as I do? For reals, it's freakin' awesome... and super trendy. Here are a few examples of some ombrè sweetness and a tutorial!

Ombrè curtains from Anthropologie

Ombrè cake from Glorious Treats

Ombrè dress that Zoe Saldana wore to the 2010 Oscars

Basically, ombrè rocks my socks. So, I decided to dye some fabric ombrè style, for yet another throw pillow. I think it's safe to say I have a slight obsession with throw pillows... just putting that out there.

Disclaimer: My Plan A for this project was crap... so I had to go on to Plan B. The only good part about Plan A is that I learned from my mistakes. It's kinda like The Godfather... the second one is way better, but you can't appreciate it unless you've seen the original. 

Alright, here was Plan A. So I thought it would be super easy. I would buy my fabric dye, and place the first quarter of fabric in the solution for about 15 minutes. Then the second quarter for another 15 minutes, then so on and so forth. I figured the bottom part would have a deeper color once I washed it out. Nope, didn't happen! First off, I bought this crap:

I don't like to rag on products I don't love, but this stuff is honestly the worst. I'm only telling you because I don't want anyone to make the same mistake of buying it. Basically it didn't even work... my fabric ended up all being the same shade of yellow. My friend Hillary from it's pretty magical, bought green dye, and it turned out to be a pukey blue color. 

Another reason this product sucks is because you have to heat it up on your stove, and it smells like a bad mix of fertilizer, plastic, and poison. This smell reeked through Hillary's house... I pretty much owe her like 5 cans of Febreze. 

On to Plan B! I ran to Michael's and grabbed Rit Brand Fabric dye. I didn't want to take any chances so I bought a darker shade of yellow (Golden Yellow), and Hillary bought Tangerine. I discovered that if you get your fabric wet before you dip it in the dye, it allows the color to bleed a little more, thus making it so you don't have solid lines. So, I got the fabric wet. dipped it in the original nasty solution for 15 minutes, then dipped it in golden yellow for 15 minutes, and then in Tangerine for 15 minutes. Rinsed and BOOM, I had ombrè fabric for and ombrè pillow!

Although I was pretty ticked the first dye didn't work and I had to go to the store and get more, it was still pretty cheap. The dye is only like 2 bucks a box, and since Hillary and I split the cost of fabric it probably only cost me about $12 for 2 pillows. Not too bad, eh?

Do you guys love ombrè or what?!!!

Are there any recent trends that you just can't get enough of?

P.S. Are you stoked for Halloween?!!! I am... and I have some pretty friggin sweet Halloween projects coming up soon! 

This project is partying at:

Tatertots & Jello, Be Different Act Normal, Serenity Now, The Shabby Nest, Craft-O-Maniac

Failure and a Vest.

As I have received comments from all of my readers, you guys have made me feel super awesome. Like so awesome that I thought I was the bomb-diggity. Alas, I am not. I was in the mind set that I could tackle any project and have it be a success. Well let me tell you, I have attacked two pretty awesome projects and they ended up being... not awesome. In fact, they were complete failures. Until I turned my frown upside down and got creative!

My original project was to make a maxi dress. Yep, this was the most embarassing one of all. So I was at Jo-Ann's with my 40% off coupon, and picked up some friggin sweet polyester/rayon stretchy t-shirt fabric for like $16. I had this awesome idea for a maxi dress, and as the project continued, it looked like CRAP. Seriously, I tried it on in front of my husband, and was literally embarassed. Which is saying something, because I've done some pretty stupid stuff in front of him! Anyway, I ended up tearing apart the entire thing and made a vest out of it... Here it is!

So I looked online for any instructions on how to make a DIY scarf vest, and it pulled up all these crazy tutorials with angles, and cutting, and surgers... not exactly my cup of tea. I need something simple and something fast. Soooo, I basically modified one tutorial I found, and it's SUPER easy!

All you do is get yourself ( roughly) one square yard of stretchy fabric. Mine was a poly rayon blend.

Okay, take your square and fold it in half. Next you are going to cut slits for your arms. Along the folded side, measure about 6 inches in, and then 6 inches down. This will be where you start the top of the slit. 

(If you have broader shoulders, you can bring it out a little further. I am rather narrow, so I only did about 5 inches. )

Now, you are going to make a vertical cut about 6-7 inches. Unfold it, and BOOM, you're done. You have a totally sweet scarf vest!

Here's what to do if you want to go the extra mile and make a tie for it. All you do is try on your vest and find where on your waist you'd like the belt to sit. Fold it in half again, and measure in about 9 inches from where you've marked it. Cut two 2 inch vertical slits, or wider if you already have a waist belt you'd like to use. If not, just take a long strip of fabric and slide it though your belt loops!

Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy right?! I love it when I can take a crap project and either salvage it or make it something completely different. Isn't it the pits when you just completely fail? Have you ever had a project that you thought was going to be dreamy and ended up being awful? Were you able to redeem it and make it awesome?

Here is a sneak peek of me trying to dye some fabric ombré style! Full tutorial coming soon!