Easy DIY embellished dinosaurs!!

 

 

 

Hiya guys!!  I hope you are all doing great!

 

First of all, before I start with this week’s post I want to apologise for not getting a post uploaded last week!!  I was super busy with work and things and I didn’t have a chance to get a wee crafty project done to post about! It totally sucks, if I’m being totally honest, as I hate missing deadlines I set for myself! L

 

So, as this has been happening a wee bit too much recently where I’m finding it hard to upload a post every Sunday, I’m thinking it might be a good idea to change my blog day to every second Monday.

 

The most gutting thing is that I’ve managed to make the weekly blogging schedule work for a while, but with my new job and more working hours etc. I have been finding it quite difficult to do a crafty project every week.  So by changing my posting time to every two weeks, hopefully that will give me a chance to upload better and more detailed posts!

 

Again, I apologise but you will catch me posting on here every two weeks from now on!

 

 

 

 

Okey dokies…so let’s get on with this week’s post!!

 

 

 

 

For a while, on Instagram and Pinterest etc. I have been seeing people update random items like glass jars and toys by painting/spray painting them gold to give them a new look!  It’s amazing how a bit of gold paint can make something random and ordinary look quite elegant and funky.  Love this idea!

 

 

As I was looking through these pictures I noticed that one person had used little farm animal toys, painted them and then stuck them to jar lids to create funky embellished jars!

 

 

So, like all other inspirational ideas, I stored this crafty idea in my wee brain…and totally forgot all about it until I was walking through a pound shop and found tiny little dinosaur toys that would be great for this DIY.  Obviously I had to buy them!  Four little dinosaurs for £1!  How could I resist a wee bargain like that?

 

 

Instead of going to buy gold spray paint, I decided I would use up some nearly empty bottles of old just-about-gloopy nail polish.  This worked quite well, because since it is nail polish it dried fast – which is fab!

 

 

 

 

What I used:

 

 

·         Toy dinosaurs

 

 

 

·         Three nail polishes

 

 

·         Opaque gold polish

·         Light thin metallic gold polish

·         White polish for a base coat

 

 

·         Bottle lids 

 

 

 

 

 

 

      ·         All-purpose adhesive glue

 

 

 

 

 

Steps for Dino #1

 

 

 

 

 

1.     For the first dinosaur, I had to use a white base coat as the gold polish didn’t show up very well.

 

 

2.     Once the base coat was dry, I put a couple layers of the gold polish on top.

 

 

3.     As a little extra, and to make the dinosaur more detailed, I decided to add a little of the opaque polish just on the top part to give it an ombre look.

 

 

4.     Lastly I stuck the dinosaur onto the lid using an all-purpose adhesive glue.

 

 

 

 

 

Steps for Dino #2

 

 

 

1.     For the second dinosaur, I didn’t need a base coat as I used the opaque gold polish which went on quite thick in only one coat!  

 

2.     Next, I just touched up the little spaces missed.

 

3.     And lastly, like the first dinosaur, I used the all-purpose adhesive glue to stick it onto the lid.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So this is what they ended up looking like!

 

 

 

 

 

These are funky things that can be left as they are.  Or, you could stick it to a little side plate/saucer to create a little desk tidy or jewellery holder?  You could even add a little weight to the underside of the lid to create little paper weights?  So many ideas!! 

 

 

Anyway guys, thank you SO SO much for reading!  I really hope you enjoyed this post J and I’ll see you back here in two weeks’ time!

 

 

As always, take care and see you next time!

 

Lin xxx

DIY idea: what you can do with leftover bits 'n' bobs!

 

Hiya guys!  Happy Sunday!

 

I thought for this week that I would do another post on leftover bits ’n’ bobs!  Like my post on ‘What you can do with leftover loombands’, it will be using mainly pieces of broken jewellery, random keys etc.

 

I originally thought of doing this when I was sorting through my jewellery box to see what I haven’t worn in ages, and found that quite a few pieces were broken and/or missing jewels.  I thought it would be a cool idea to try and do a wee DIY using those items.

 

 

 

 

 

Well, I decided I would make a wind chime/wall hanging piece!  I just used what I had in my craft supply box so I didn’t spend anything for this DIY.  Yaldi!  

 

So, I made three different wind chime/wall hangings using different materials and things.  The thing that all three have in common is that I used this technique called macramé - which is basically a type of decorative knotting, like in friendship bracelets!  You create the designs and patterns by tying knots in the string.  It’s really quite fun to do!   

 

I really just used basic macramé knots – the square knot and the horizontal double half stitch.  The links to the videos I looked at to do these knots are at the end of my post.   

 

Anyway, I created three designs which I will show you now…

 

 

 

Wind chime/wall hanging #1

 

 

 



What I used

 

-          One fat jumbo straw

-          Jute string

-          An elephant earring (that lost its other half)

-          Beads (off two broken necklaces)

 

 

Steps

 

1)     Firstly, I cut five pieces the string to the length I wanted for the piece.

 

2)     I started off putting strings onto the straw, and then used the horizontal double half stitch to create the top of the design (video source 2).

 

 

 

 

3)     I then used the simple square knot to put more design on the string (video source 1).

 

 

 

 

4)     I attached the elephant on the two middle strings.  I did this to make it the centre piece of the wind chime/wall hanging.

 

 

 

 

5)     Next, I used the circular beads and tied them onto the rest of the hanging strings.

  

 

 

Wind chime/wall hanging #2

 

 

 

 

 

What I used

 

-          One plastic tumbler rim (the rest wasn’t needed)

-          Fluorescent green string

-          Jute string

-          Beige thread

-          Embroidery thread (a red colour and a pink colour)

-          A feathery earring (that lost its other half)

-          A triangular earring (that lost its other half)

-          A set of round earrings (tarnishedL)

-          One ring for hanging the design

 

 

Steps

 

1)     Firstly, I cut the rim off the plastic tumbler, so I had a ring shape.

 

 

 

 

 

2)     I used the fluorescent green string and wound it around the ring to cover the plastic.  I then used super glue to attach the end string and cut off the excess when it was completely dry.

 

 

 

 

3)     Next, I used the jute string and cut 12 identical pieces to the length I needed.

 

4)     I attached the 12 pieces of jute string using a basic knot, making sure to space them out evenly around the ring.

 

 

 

 

5)     As the embroidery thread, when you buy it, comes in a set of six threads I had 12 pieces of thread in total.  I split the thread into pairs – three pairs of red and three pairs of pink – and cut them the same length as the jute string.  I then tied each pair on to the ring, evenly spaced around the ring, keeping them as close to the jute string as I could.  I really just wanted them in the design to give the jute string a little bit of colour.

 

6)     I then used the square knot again (video source 1), to get the detail in the string.  I made quite a few knots in this one that it ended up looking like a basketball net because of the circular top.

 

 

 

 

7)     Where the last knots I made were, I added a few more square knots on the same pieces of string (like friendship bracelets), just to have a difference in the design.

 

8)     After I finished the knots, I began putting on the details to the string – the feathers and the gold leaf designs.

 

9)     On three extra strings, I tied one earring to each and then joined the three strings together at the top.

 

10) Lastly, I finished the top detail of the wind chime/wall hanging (the bit that is attached to the ring used for hanging) by using the square knot as well.  And then using the detail in step 9, I attached it to the ring with some beige thread - I put this on the inside of the whole design so it would clink together amongst the feather and string outer detail.

 

 

 

 

  

 

Wind chime/wall hanging #3

 

 

 

 

What I used

 

-          One plastic tumbler rim (the rest wasn’t needed)

-          Jute string

-          Random keys

-          Beads (from a broken necklace)

 

 

Steps

 

1)     Like the second wind chime/wall hanging, I cut the rim off the plastic tumbler, so I had a ring shape.

 

2)     I used the jute string and cut 10 identical pieces to the length I needed.

 

3)     I attached the pieces of jute string to the ring shape, keeping them close together at the bottom.

 

 

 

 

4)     I then used the square knot again (video source 1) to get the detail in the string.  This time I created a triangular design onto the string.

 

5)     After I finished knotting the string, I then attached the details.  I didn’t have enough keys for each string, so to the free strings I added eight little wooden beads.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That was all that really went into the making of the wind chimes/wall hangings!  It’s pretty simple, fun and creative to do…AND you can use anything you like really.

 

Well I hope you enjoyed this post!  Thanks for reading!! J

 

Have a fab week and take care! Xxx

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

YouTube video sources:

 

DIY Macrame: Square knot (left-facing) by Chatelaine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_9uwJRhIBc

 

DIY Macrame: Horizontal double half hitch by Chatelaine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3GCiZQT7Vs