DIY Archives - Page 6 of 10

Thanksgiving Table Setting Inspiration

November 8, 2016/2 Comments/in DIY, entertain /by Mila

We host Thanksgiving every year and we love doing it.

Before kids, we used to host 20-30 people in our home. It was a big party for all of our single and “orphans” friends in LA, meaning our friends who had no family to spend Thanksgiving with. We cooked, drank, and ate all day. It was fun, so much fun.

Now that we are real life adults (see my passport), things have changed. Thanksgiving has become a lot more professional. Stakes are high. Food is gourmet. Decoration is important.

In recent years, we have been roasting a pig in the backyard and smoking the turkey (have you tried smoked turkey? It is the BEST way of cooking a turkey – Seriously). Everybody brings something really good to eat. We are talking about our version of epicurean food: crafted drinks, fancy appetizers, tasty side dishes, and wonderful desserts.

As always, I am in charge of decorating the table. I take my job VERY seriously. With months of anticipation I come up with ideas that I try out before the big day. I posted about our last year’s table decoration here.

For this Thanksgiving, I want to have an eclectic mix of vintage dishes. I like the mismatched look of dinnerware, so I have been going to the thrift store often to search for possibilities. To nail a good mismatched setting, you need to choose a “theme” for your plates. You can’t just buy random dishware and expect it to look good. I decided to go with off-white, pastels, and gold plates. Once you choose your “theme,” it is easier to focus and find the right pieces, but it takes time and a lot of trips to the thrift store.

This last weekend, I did a run through of our table decoration to look at colors and decide on the final setting. Here are some photos if you wish to see.

I went for a vintage and golden look. My main goal was not to spend too much money buying table decorations (aside from the plates which you can buy for cheap at the thrift store). I used décor from around the house and bought a couple of flowers at the farmers market. Here is the result:

These are teddy bear sunflowers. So cute! Using eucalyptus is an easy way of decorating and bringing neutral colors to the table.

I have been collecting serving plates for a while, so it is easy for me to find cute pieces for the table. The same goes for flower vases. I am vase hoarder.

OK, so that is the general idea. What do you think?

Also, a post about a vintage inspired brunch, and what we did for Thanksgiving last year. Thanks for stopping by!

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Balloon Birthday DIY

November 1, 2016/2 Comments/in DIY, entertain /by Mila

For his 3rd birthday, Max wanted his birthday to be about two things: 1) Blaze and the Monster Machines (yes, he is into monsters and machines (so very unpredictable for a two year old)), and, 2) balloons.

I took care of Blaze by placing Max’s Blaze toys on top of the cake. I must say it looked really cute, not sure I have a photo though. Regarding the balloons, I decided to make a number three with balloons to use as a backdrop for photos.

The idea came to mind after seeing the beautiful balloon arches from the house that Lars built. Aren’t they gorgeous?

Well, I set out to make a number three with balloons. It was 6 feet tall. I used yellow and red balloons because they are the colors of Blaze (remember the monster machines?). I wanted to use a glue gun, not tape, because tape wouldn’t be sturdy enough to stand the breeze outside. Using a glue gun is easy and the result was well built. The issue is that you don’t want to put glue on your wall, so I used Plywood (the 4’x 8’ sheathing plywood from Home Depot is only $14.75) and painted it white – I had extra paint from decorating my kids’ room.

I was so dubious about using a glue gun. I thought the balloons would pop with the heat, but the low temperature setting is perfect and they didn’t!

Here are the instructions in case you care to do the same decoration (he higher numbers of time and cost are for the optional materials and step).

Difficulty (1-5): 3 Time: 2 – 4 hours Cost: $20 – $40

Materials:

120 Balloons. 12” and 5“
Glue Gun with a low temperature option
Pencil

(Optional)

Sheathing Plywood 4ft x 8ft
Flat White paint
Roller
Electrical balloon pump – True, this is optional, but oh man is worth it. Believe me.

STEP 1

(Optional) If you want to use glue on the plywood, paint white the sheathing plywood with a roller. Takes 2 minutes. Let it dry.

STEP 2

Draw your number on the plywood. Draw it close to the ground if you want to use it as backdrop. Look for ideas on the Internet if you want to get inspiration for number shapes.

STEP 3

Start gluing the balloons. You will need different balloon sizes. You can also make smaller balloons with the big ones by blowing less air, but they won’t have a round shape, which is not a big deal, really.

You can start gluing the bigger balloons and then fill out the spaces in between with smaller ones. Don’t be afraid of gluing balloons on top of others. They won’t burst.

Here is the final result:

Hope you like it! I know the kids did!

And I hope you had a great Halloween!

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Colorful Calaveras – Another Cute Halloween DIY

October 24, 2016/4 Comments/in DIY /by Mila

Here is another Halloween DIY project we did last week. I have been trying to find decorations inspired by the Día de los Muertos, so adding calaveras was a MUST. I came out with the idea of painting these calaveras for the front yard.

They were easy to do, but you have to wait for the paint to dry to be able to paint the details, and that takes a little bit of time. The trick to paint these calaveras is to make both sides of the face kind of symmetrical (doesn’t have to be perfect). To do this, you need to measure and mark all your face details with pencil before starting to paint. That part was a little time consuming.

Here are the instructions on how to make these beautiful calaveras. The look SOOOOO pretty in the front yard.

COLORFUL CALAVERAS

Difficulty (1-5): 3 Time: At least 1/2 day because you need to wait for paint to dry Cost: $15 per calavera

Materials:

Plywood panels- I bought 2’ x 3’
Small Roller, if you have one. Otherwise, a brush will do.
Black latex paint – sample size.
Color latex paint – whatever color you want for your calavera.
Small brush, to paint the black lines for the calavera.
Measuring tape
Pencil

STEP 1

Have your kids help painting the whole panel black with the roller. It is no necessary to paint the whole panel black, but kids love doing it and why not giving them a little bit of love.

If you don’t have kids, or want to do this project all by yourself (totally understandable. Been there, done that.) Just go to Step 2 and, after outlining your calavera, fill up the empty spaces with black paint and your brush.

IMPORTANT TIP: Paint the back of your panel, too, otherwise the wood will start to warp.

STEP 2

Outline the calavera with a pencil. It is important that the right and left sides of the calavera are somehow symmetrical. Mark your main points so you know where to draw the lines. Here is a photo of the main points I marked. I made sure they were at a similar distance from the sides, bottom, and top. Paint the calavera.
STEP 3

Draw the features of your calavera with your pencil. To do this, you need careful measuring to achieve that symmetry calaveras need. Take a look:

For the teeth, for example, I marked how wide (2 inches) and long (3 inches) each tooth had to be. I made sure the line in the middle was straight and then draw the rest of lines with a pencil. It looked like this:
For the eyes, I just marked a middle point and then eight points 4 inches away from that middle point at different sides. Then I made lines between these points and made a big circle. I used these eight points as reference to create the outside petals for the eyes in the orange calavera.

See here: Step 4

Paint the black lines with your thin brush and black paint. It is easier than it sounds. If you go slowly and with patient, it is not difficult to achieve. You will need 2 coats of black paint for the details. Wait until it dries.

Here are more photos and thanks for stopping by.

Also, a post about a ghost family for your front yard, a ghost wall decoration, and how to make a Halloween wreath.

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A Halloween DIY Decoration You Can Do With Your Kids

October 18, 2016/4 Comments/in DIY /by Mila

I have small children (3 and 5 year old), therefore I need to choose craft projects wisely.

Like any other kid, my sons want to participate in everything I make, but not all Halloween DIYs are good for kids, not only because children don’t have the skills for major craft projects, but because some materials can be dangerous. A glue gun, for example, is better on the hands of adults only, but, how do you explain that to a 3 year old in a convincing way that guarantees him not touching it? Well, if you have a trick on how to do that, please, let me know. I would love to hear (PS- Saying “don’t do that” is not enough).

Victor has been excited about doing ghosts because the are SO easy to make, so I decided to do a “wall” of ghosts for Halloween. This year, I am finding inspiration from the Day of the Death celebrations for all our Halloween decorations, so I decided to add purple, orange, and yellow ghosts to the mix.

Here is what we did:

GHOST WALL

Difficulty (1-5): 2 Time: 2 hours Cost: $20

Materials:

White Tissue Paper. I bought two sizes of white paper: 20×30 and 20×26. If you buy one size only, I would go for the bigger size.
Package of Tissue Paper in different colors. Remember that color fades when exposed to sun. Ghosts will last only 10 days looking good. Have this in mind before choosing to buy colored tissue paper. If you want your wall to last longer than 10 days, make only white ghosts.
1 roll of White Select-A-Size Paper Towel. (BTW, newspaper won’t do because it shows through the tissue paper and the ghosts don’t look like one solid color.)
Fishing string
Scissors
Rope – to hang ghosts.
White string to tight ghosts’ necks. If you want to be a perfectionist, you will need colored string that matches the color of your colored ghosts, BUT, there is no need to be a perfectionist regarding Halloween decorations.
COFFEE! Believe me, you will need it.

STEP 1

Have your child or children tear the smallest size of paper towel. Have them roll the paper into a ball. You will use this as the head of the ghost.

STEP 2

Place the paper towel ball in the middle of an open tissue paper. This will create your ghost head and shape.

STEP 3

Cut a short piece of string- Use it to tie the tissue around the neck.

STEP 4

Tie a rope on top of the place where you want to create your wall. Horizontally.

STEP 5

Tie the fishing string to the string on the neck of the ghosts. Cut the fishing string at different lengths. Start hanging the ghosts to the rope one by one. Don’t place them too close to each other. Try to leave ½-1 inch between ghosts so the wall doesn’t look stuffy. Once you are done, look at the wall and make sure there are no big empty spaces.

Hanging the ghosts can be a little bit tedious, so get some coffee and take your time.

With the wind, the ghosts look like they are flying. It is pretty cute to see. Also, I have had neighbors coming to tell us how cute the little wall looks. That is sweet.

For added spookiness, ask your kids to make spiders with black cardboard. You can hang them in between the ghosts.

Also, you can find a post on how to make a ghost family for your front yard, how to make a cheap and easy Halloween wreath, and other beautiful Halloween inspiration.

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How To Make A Halloween Wreath

October 14, 2016/3 Comments/in DIY /by Mila

Creating a Halloween wreath is VERY easy. Do not be discouraged or overwhelmed. If you have done a wreath before, you know how easy they are to make, if you haven’t, try it and you will see what a beginner’s project this is. You don’t need a lot of experience doing anything DIY to be able to tackle this.

The first time I created a wreath, I was surprised at how undemanding the project was. Anything I did, any piece I added, looked so good. I was flabbergaster and so proud of myself. I thought I was a DIY queen.

Then I realized that it wasn’t only me, but all my friends that were in the workshop had the same experience. All of them were able to create gorgeous wreaths effortlessly.

Since then, I have found myself doing more and more wreaths because they are a beautiful way of decorating the house, plus, I have all the materials left over from the wreath making party I hosted last year. I find that I can collect almost any greenery from my yard and add to it, then, after 30 minutes of work, I have a beautiful wreath for my home.

My favorite to do was the lavender wreath I created for Easter. My home smelled like lavender for weeks to come – so good and calming. Although, doing that wreath wasn’t as easy because lavender is small and delicate. The larger the leaves and greenery you use for the wreath, the easier it is to make.

Wreaths are very forgiving and take no time. This Halloween wreath took me 45 minutes, the amount of time my husband took to go to the grocery store and do our weekly shopping.

Because I didn’t want to spend a bunch of money on this project, I collected Magnolia leaves from the tree in my front yard. They were the perfect choice because Magnolia leaves are big and have a brownish back-side. My idea was to spray the wreath with glossy black, leaving some of the original color untouched. I didn’t want the whole wreath to be 100% black. A brown undertone gives it a creepy look. As you see, Magnolia leaves were the one and only choice – cheap, spooky, and available in my front yard. SCORE!

Okay, let’s get to it. These are the steps I took to create this wreath. For more details on how to create a wreath, go here – that post explains very well how to make a wreath, too.

Difficulty (1-5): 2 Time: 45 mins Cost: $10

Materials:

Magnolia branches
24” Wire Wreath
Floral Wire – I used 22 gauge.
Wire cutter
Pruning scissors
Black Spray. I bought black gloss Rustoleum.
Rugs – You will need something to put under the wreath when you are spraying it.

STEP 1:

Attach the wire floral wire to the wire wreath. A simple double loop will do.

STEP 2:

Clean your leaves and branches before starting the project. Prune the branches and add them to the wreath, attaching them with floral wire. For more details on how to do this, go here.

STEP 3:

Go around the floral wire until it is covered with greenery. Make sure your wreath is balanced, meaning that all sides have a similar amount of greenery. If not, add more branches to the “skinnier” places.

STEP 4:

Cut the wire with the wire cutter and attach the loosing end to the wire wreath. Again, a simple knot or loop will do.

STEP 5:

Place the wreath on a rug. Spray it with black spray. You will need to try and spray inside the branches. I wanted some of the natural color of the leaves to show, so I didn’t do a hardcore spray job.

TIP: If you want a wreath that is completely black, I would recommend spraying the branches before assembling the wreath. It is easier to paint all places by doing that.

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