Do It Yourself Coffin Jewelry Box // Hinged Box Jewelry Holder

Hi everyone! In case you missed it (because you all know that I'm such a bad blogger!) this is my new tutorial video. It is a jewelry box. For this craft you can use any type of hinged box or box in general. It's really easy and makes a great jewelry storage solution for cheap!

Cupcake Burlap and DecoMesh Wreath

So, this is the wreath that I had made for the Spring / Summer season at work. I am usually asked to make wreaths around different seasons and I had been thinking about a cupcake concept for a while. I was somewhat worried at first, but once I drew it out, I knew how I was going to make it. Sadly, I did not take pictures of it's process, but I would like to make one for September around my boyfriend's and my birthday.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

xx 20 inch box style wreath frame

xx 5.5 inch roll of burlap ribbon

xx 1 roll of 21 inch roll of decomesh ribbon in your choice of color

xx bag of assorted pom pom balls

xx lg fuzzy metallic pom pom balls

xx glitter spiral picks, flowers, or anything else you'd like to include

xx wire ribbon to tie a bow in a corresponding color

xx wire or chinelle stems in corresponding icing colors

xx scissors and wire cutters

xx glue gun

xx first xx on a flat surface, lay out your wreath frame and your decomesh. open your chinelle stems and take a few and cut them into thirds. tie them randomly over about 1/2 of the wreath frame and start tying down about 6 inches of decomesh at a time running back and forth over the same part of the top half of the wreath you are working on.

xx second xx once half of the wreath frame is nice and full like icing and you are happy with how it looks, trim off or secure any of the excess mesh. unroll your burlap ribbon and while laying it over the wreath frame, measure off pieces of it that measure just a little longer than your frame. cut 4-5 of these sections and begin laying them down, tying them, then overlapping them. it should start looking like a plain cupcake at this point.

xx third xx plug in your hot glue gun and once it is ready to glue, get out your pom pom balls of all sizes / colors and place them randomly around your wreath. glue them down when you are happy with the placing of them. these will mimic sprinkles. do the same with any other pompoms you are using. i used a big metallic red one to mimic a cherry on top.

xx fourth xx take any wire picks (check stores around christmas time too for fun looking picks!) and tie their wires through the deco mesh and to the back of the frame. glue if unstable but that is unnecessary.

xx fifth xx take your wire ribbon and tie any kind of bow to your choosing with it around the center. i chose red to bring out the red in the 'cherry'. make sure everything is secure then your wreath is ready to hang and enjoy!

I hope that was easy to understand as I didn't have any pictures of my process this time around. If I do end up making another one, I will be sure to take pictures of do a video tutorial of it. Just study my picture and try to copy it if you need any pointers or leave me a comment! 

Knitting Knowledge Episode 1: Tools and Basic Knowledge

Hi friends. I am very excited to announce my new knitting series on YouTube! It's called Knitting Knowledge and the first episode is all about tools and other things that beginner knitters and knitter-wanna-bes should know. 

There should be a new episode out fairly soon. I'm thinking maybe around March 22 (next weekend) and it will be all about the next steps one would need to take to begin their knitting journey!

How To: How to Make Boutique Style Ribbon Bows

Hi friends, I've been super busy lately and that would explain partially, my lack of posts. The other part is that I'm really lazy. Anyway, enough about slacking and further slacking. I have a bow tutorial for you all today!

Supplies Needed:
- grosgrain ribbon that measures 1.5 inches
- smaller ribbon to wrap around the middle (I used one that measures 3/8 inch)
- a glue gun & glue sticks
- any kind of hair barrette you want (I used a long metal barrette these long barrettes.)
- a lighter

LET'S GET STARTED!

First of all measure out and cut two 8 inch segments from your larger 1.5 inch ribbon. Heat seal your ends then fold this ribbon directly in half (do for both edges on both pieces of ribbon).

Leave a small crease in the ribbon with your nail if you are able. Then fold each end of the ribbon in to meet that middle crease.

Add a thin line of glue from your flue gun and glue and secure those ends to the middle. Do this twice with the two separate pieces of ribbon. One will be for the top of the bow and one for the bottom.

Next, fold your glued ribbon in half 'hot dog style' and hold with your fingers to create a small crease, add a small dot of glue directly in the middle of your crease and hold until dry and cool.

Next, fold the top part of the ribbon you just glued back from the dried glue and glue that portion of the ribbon to the back (on top of) the glue you just allowed to dry. Repeat for the bottom. See images if this makes no sense.

Now you are going to want to make sure everything is fluffed out the way you want the bows to look and line up the ribbons so that they are stacked upon each other. Once you are satisfied glue them into place.

Place these ribbons aside to dry and measure out your 3/8 into one 4 inch segment and one segment that is long enough to cover and slightly overlap your barrette. Heat seal all of these ends. Go ahead and glue down your shorter segment of ribbon to cover your barrette and overlap and glue your edges down to the bottom of the barrette.

Once the glue has dried, line up your barrette to the back of your bow and glue the middle and ends down to the ribbon. Now you can align the other piece of 3/8 ribbon and begin to wrap and glue it around as you go. Mainly glue down the backs and sides as necessary.

And that's it! Fluff them out and slap them on your head as a last minute accessory! Play around with different ribbons and cabochons if you are feeling adventurous. My tribal / aztec bow actually has 3 eight inch segments of ribbon and a really cute cabochon glued to the front of it.

Decorating a Decoden Cabochon Compact Mirror

As you all may or may not know, Stylish Smithereens Creative Corner does have a YouTube channel. I do, from time to time post hauls, tutorials, diys and more there. Here's my most recent video which I uploaded yesterday. How to make a decoden cabochon compact mirror! Enjoy!

Halloween Deco Mesh Wreath

A promise is a promise! That and the fact that I totally knew I was going to be making this today. So go to your local craft store and gather your supplies. It's time to make another wreath!

MATERIALS NEEDED:

&&;; a large floral wire wreath ring

&&;; one large roll of deco mesh and one small roll of deco mesh in a corresponding color

&&;; chenille stems or pipe cleaners in a color that will blend in to your large deco mesh roll

&&;; scissors

&&;; fall / floral picks (I used some metallic orange pumpkins from the Fall/ Seasonal department and some green and purple curly picks from the Floral department)

First you will need to cut your chenille stems into thirds. You will need to cut about 25-30 of them depending on the size of your wreath frame.

Next you will be tying these pieces of the stems to the wire. I put about 2 per segment, but I did end up adding a few more sporadically as I tied on my deco mesh, so save a few as you go along.

Unroll your large roll of deco mesh a little bit and fold it over and into itself so that the edges and corners will be hidden and use any one of the chenille stem segments to tie the mesh to the wire wreath frame. DO NOT be afraid to stick the stem through the holes of the the mesh. It is a very forgiving material. It is soft/ yet firm at the same time which makes it really easy to use.

Once all the edges are where you want them to be, hidden yet secure, you can start tying down the rest of the mesh. I suggest pulling and puffing little bits at a time so that you can get the volume you want all the way around. Work in small segments and secure as you go along. If you need to you can also slide your chenille stem segments around the wreath so that you can make areas of the wreath look more voluminous. Again, feel free to add in more chenille stems as you need them.

Once you are done with that kind-of time consuming process, look the wreath over, puff anything out that needs it and make your minor adjustments before adding your second roll of mesh.

Unroll that second roll of mesh and secure one end of the mesh to the back side of your wreath. Loop, wrap and secure the mesh as you go along. you can puff it like you did with the first roll of mesh of you can kind of wrap and secure like I did:

If you have extra mesh from the second roll, cut it off and make a bow (that's a tutorial for another time! Shoot your browser on over to YouTube if you need to know how to do this now! I'll try to make one around Christmas time).

Once the bow is secure (use more chenille stems to secure it!) It's time to decorate. Picks are easy to use because you can weave the stick/wire piece around the wire wreath and they are usually pretty secure on their own.

Once everything is where you like it, slap a wreath holder on your door and put that bad boy up to proudly display. I may need to add a few more pumpkins to mine, but I am very happy with how it turned out!

Easy Brushed Gold Tipped Nail Tutorial

So I thought I would do a nail tutorial for you all since I haven't done anything diy / tutorial like in a while. Here is an easy up-and-coming look that anyone can do. I am seriously seeing this everywhere, but it's very easy so you won't need to take any notes.

Nail Polish/ Varnish Needed:

clear base and top coat (I used Sally Hansen's Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear)

a dark solid base color (I used ORLY's Liquid Vinyl)

a dense glittery top coat (I used Revlon's Gold Coin)

To start, paint a base coat on all of your nails and let dry and follow that up with your dark base color.

You can either clean up the edges now or wait until the completed look. Once your base coat is dry, take your glittery top coat and blot as much as you can OFF of the bush. This is used to get the 'messy' effect of the brushed-tip look.

Roll, dab and blot at the tip of your nails with the little bit of polish left on the bush at that point and do this to every nail.

To finish, bush on a clear top coat to protect your look. Now you have a really cool, edgy nail look that your friends will want to copy.

Making a Fall Burlap Wreath for Work

Recently at work I was asked to make a Fall wreath for a display at work. Now, I don't have process pictures because I made this at work and I'm not allowed to have my phone on the floor, but I will provide a list and a written process of how I made this beautiful Autumn creation. I believe you can get most of these materials at most craft retailers.

MATERIALS NEEDED:

--`// :: a grapevine wreath

--`// :: floral wire or chenille stems

--`// :: colored burlap (5 inches wide)

--`// :: assorted fall picks (I used grapevine pumpkins, fall leaves, yellow beaded sprays, and burlap sunflowers in yellow, orange and a natural color.)

--`// :: natural colored raffia

--`// :: wreath stand or hanger 

--`// :: hot glue gun

THE PROCESS:

--`// :: First of all, take your colored burlap and cut it in half. Wrap one half of the burlap around what will be the top left "corner" of your wreath. Secure the end of the burlap to what will be the back of the wreath with a small piece of floral wire or a chenille stem. Do the same to the bottom right "corner" of the wreath.

--`// :: Next arrange your floral / fall picks around your wreath in a scattered manner. I started with the leaves, then the sunflowers, the grapevine pumpkins, then finally the yellow beaded sprays. Make sure you leave the bottom right burlap covered area empty.

--`// :: Once all of your picks are where you want them to be, tie in the wire stems to secure the picks that are overlapping into the grapevine wreath and cut the backs of the sunflowers so that they are now flat and secure. Hot glue the sunflowers and anything else that seems insecure.

--`// :: Fashion a bow out of your raffia and slip a piece of floral wire into it so that you can secure it to your wreath.

--`// :: Remove all of your hot glue strings and display!

Easy DIY Necklace Storage

I finally organized my necklaces! That may sound like something small to you, but it's something exciting to me (especially as they have spent a lot of their time tangled together in a box). I had been looking at necklace trees and box hangers for months and finally decided on making something myself (surprise, surprise!) because I wasn't in love with anything else I saw. Upon wondering how I would go about doing this in an easy fashion I remembered seeing these 3M command hooks at Hobby Lobby. I bought some and wondered where I was going to use these.

I considered the inside of our bathroom sink cabinet or the linen cabinet in the hallway. Would that be a good spot for them? Then my beautiful armoire spoke to me, and, as you can see, I was already using the knobs on the front to hang things from.

When you open up these doors you can see how the wood dips in and divides. This was perfect. I could put three hooks on each side and use the area where the wood indents to align everything.

I had never used the hook products by 3M but it was really easy and had easy to follow instructions on the back of the package. When you need to remove the hooks you just pull the command strip downward and everything comes off without mess or ruining your wall or in this case armoire.

Making Ribbon Elastic Hair Ties

I have noticed that these hair elastics which are no pain, all ages friendly, and very simplistic are everywhere, and sometimes are even being worn as bracelets. I decided to find the materials to make my own.

First of all you can now find the elastic trim at Hobby Lobby. I'm sure JoAnn's, Michael's and other craft stores have them as well, but I found mine in both the sewing department and in the wearable art department at Hobby Lobby (also, they were half price at the time as they go on sale with ribbons and tulle spools). I know there are stores on Etsy that sell the material for these by the yard so there are probably many other vendors besides Etsy that sell it too.

The materials needed aside from the elastic trim are a pair of sharp scissors and either a lighter or clean nail polish to seal your ends. I went with the latter of these options.

First of all measure out around 9.5 - 10 inches of the trim and cut it at an angle.

Make sure both cuts are running the same direction when trim is folded in half.

Next, lay these out somewhere where they won't be disturbed for a few minutes and coat the ends of each cut with clear nail polish. Let them dry so that the ends can seal.

Once dry, bring both ends together to begin the knotting process.

Make a knot and pull it closer to the ends. Pull on both the end pieces and the now longer loop piece to secure the knot once it's where you want it to be.

That's it! (Don't my fingers look weird here. It was an odd angle now that I reevaluate the picture.) But now you have some fashionable hair ties that were really easy to make!

Learning A Popular Knitting Pattern

I thought it was time for some content and what better to post then what I am currently working on. So, here we go. This pattern is probably all over the web for free anyway (which is probably where I found it the first time I used it, but have since acquired a booklet with it inside.) It's very easy, great for beginners and makes for a quick, cute gift when included with some shaped soaps.

Basic Dish Cloth Pattern

YARN USED: Lily Sugar n' Cream Tie Dye Stripes # 21114

NEEDLES USED: size 6 straight needles

TIME TAKEN: roughly 3 hours

Start by casting on 4 stitches.

ROW 1: Knit

ROW 2: Knit 2 stitches, yarn over, knit to the end of the row.

Repeat row 2 until there are 50 stitches on your needles.

For the next row you will knit 1, knit 2 together, yarn over, knit 2 together, then knit to the end of the row.

Repeat this step until 4 stitches remain. Bind off and weave in tails. An alternative is to crochet a loop for the wash cloth to hang by.

TA DA! FINISHED PRODUCT!

I'd like to also say that I knitted this whole thing while watching Orange is the New Black and Arrested Development on Netflix. I always enjoy watching mindless, silly shows while knitting.