All posts in DIY

DIY: Hilariously Cute Dachshund Mugs

by readmakedo on February 6, 2013 in DIY with No comments

DauchsundMug

Looking for a cute DIY gift for your Valentine? Check out this pair of mugs I made, based on this tutorial from Design Sponge. 

 

You could totally also do a Corgi, if that’s your long-dog of choice.

All you need are some blank mugs (these ones I scored at World Market for about $3.50 each), and a porcelain pen. I drew the dachshund on a piece of paper, traced it, and transferred the tracing onto the mug. If you mess up with your drawing, you can let it dry and scratch it off before baking your piece to set the ink.

Got another idea that would be cute? Let me know in the comments!

To Paint, or Not to Paint?

by readmakedo on October 9, 2012 in DIY, Painting with 1 Comment

Spray paint is your friend. Well, unless you’re under 18, then back away.

But for those of us who are over the age of 18, and don’t mind feeling like they’re a criminal when they have to be escorted to the front of the hardware store for checkout, spray paint is your friend. So why is it I’m having such a hard time coming to terms with whether or not I should paint these:

Let me explain where this is coming from. Recently I was going through my garage, continuing the year long process of unpacking some mystery boxes. When lo-and behold, I was greeted by some old friends.

No, not the WoW box. Please, if I re-installed that I would never get anything done.

The doves were a purchase from eBay around 2006, and I purchased them for about $20. The deer horns were a birthday gift from Urban Outfitters, gifted to me in the year 2007, when decking your home out like some sort of urban hunting lodge was totally the hip new thang.

Neither of the antlers nor the doves have seen the light of day since I moved out of my college apartment in early 2008. All of my good intentions to hang them in my last house never came to fruition, yet somehow they survived the great pre-moving purge of 2011 (to give you an idea of how long these sat in a box gathering dust). Something in my heart must have told me they were worth keeping.

Which brings me to a set of very serious questions:

1. Do I paint the deer antlers? If so, where am I going to hang them? Are they worth keeping? Do you want them?

2. Do I paint the brass doves? If so, where am I going to hang them?

Obviously they are worth keeping, solely because every time I look at them I hear JUST LIKE THE WHITE WINGED DOVVEE OOOoooo baby ooooooh say ooooooh. And I picture myself like this:


Ok that’s Stevie Nicks with a Cockatoo, but still. Pretty much the same thing.

So why am I having such a moral dilemma about painting the doves? Is it because of my emotional attachment to them? Have I known them for too long and now I feel like I can’t paint them?  I can’t think of the last time I’ve had something brass in my house and thought “Hey! I’m really glad that’s brass, that totally doesn’t look like the 1980s [sarcasm sarcasm sarcasm].” And if I paint the doves white, maybe then they’ll look more LIKE THE WHITE WINGED DOVE SINGS A SONG SOUNDS LIKE SHE’S SINGINNNNN (ok I’ll stop).

The deer horns I don’t really care about. Partially because I know they were cheap/new/trendy, and partially because I have a real deer head hanging in my garage (long story, not mine, no I didn’t kill it, no I don’t support hunting, it came with the house) and I don’t really want to hang him anywhere either. My biggest fear is if I hang up too many antlers around the house all the sudden it will feel like I’m hanging with Gaston.

Yup, that’s a deer head. In my garage. And I’m a vegetarian. Glad we got that cleared up.

So I decided to ease my fears by looking around at what other’s had done. I found a LOT of projects online about painting brass lamps, and brass door hardware. Nothing specifically about painting brass figurines, but hey, brass is brass.

 

The best was a project I had found using something called “Chalk Paint”? Ok what is that? I know what Chalkboard paint is (obviously), but I’ve never heard of chalk paint. Here was the result of that project:


That looks pretty dang awesome. That started out as a piece of brass, and now looks like stone/chalk/soap/something that isn’t brass. So I suppose my options for the brass doves are:

a) Spray Paint them (glossy finish)

b) Paint them with chalk paint (matte finish)

c) Don’t paint them

With the antlers, I’m still not sure what I want to do. What do you think? Any ideas? Advice please! <3

 

 

 

DIY: Pinwheel Party!

by readmakedo on October 2, 2012 in DIY, wedding with 10 Comments

A few weeks ago, I had the honor to attend the wedding of two of my favorite people: Marissa and Chris. While every wedding is special in it’s own way, theirs was especially fun. On a perfect late-summer day in Northern California underneath a giant magnolia tree, a group of people celebrated the love of two especially awesome, fun-loving people. And what perfectly simple and adorable way to convey their happiness than pinwheels? Srsly.

There were pinwheels EVERYWHERE at this wedding. The cake topper, on the boutonnieres, in the bridesmaids’ bouquets. Tons of pinwheels, everywhere you looked, just silently spinning in the summer air. It was awesome. And the most impressive part? The bride Marissa and our good friend, graphic designer [and overall boss at life] Stephanie Laursen MADE all of them by hand.

And the best part? Marissa and Stephanie agreed to show me how they made them. Yup, even after making several hundred thousand pinwheels, they were still down to make more. So here’s how you can DIY some pinwheels, so you too can have a pinwheel party!

 What You’ll Need

 For the Pinwheels

  • Assorted Paper Construction paper at least, but I’d opt for some nice craft paper, possibly with a pattern and bit of texture to it)
  • Teensy tiny glass beads 
  • Decorative Pins The ones shown here are pearl-tipped
  • Wooden Dowels or get creative with some of those old Panda Express Chopsticks I know you’ve been hoarding.
For Assembly
  • Hot Glue Gun
  • Wire Cutters
  • Scissors and optionally, a paper trimmer
  • Ruler
  • 1 Thumbtack
  • Pencil

Make it

First start by using your wire-cutters to trim the sharp points off the end of your decorative pins. Don’t want anyone putting an eye out now.

Then, use your blunt pin (or a thumbtack) to depress a hole into your wooden dowel.

After that’s done, set your dowel aside and get out your paper. You need to trim your paper into a square. The square can be any size, depending on how big you want your pinwheel to be. Marissa made 12×12 pinwheels, 8×8, 4×4, etc. Follow your heart, make the pinwheel you want.

After that’s done, draw diagonally across your paper from corner to corner–this is going to mark where you’re going to make your cuts.

Now using your marked lines as a guide, cut partially (BUT NOT ALL THE WAY TO THE CENTER) into your pinwheel paper. See the picture below for about how far you should go:

Cool!

After that’s done, cut some little teensy squares out of a different paper. I like how Marissa’s pinwheels had contrast, so I’d say mix it up use a different paper than your pinwheel body.

Go big and use a glitter paper, if you’re feeling fancy, but remember:

That’s some real-talk, Boromir. That stuff gets everywhere.

Anyways, use your thumb-tack to push a hole through the center of your tiny paper squares. They are going to be the front piece of your pinwheel (you’ll see what I mean).

Then on your large pinwheel paper, poke holes carefully in 1 of the flaps on each of the triangles, always on the same side. Basically, you want to alternate as you go around your square, you want to poke a hole, then skip one, poke a hole, then skip one. One point of your triangle will be attached to the center of the pin, and the other will be pointing outwards, to create the “spokes” of your pinwheel.

Remember that decorative pin and dowel from way-back when? Now you’re gonna need it.

First, put your little tiny paper square (aka Boromir’s Bane) onto the pin first. Then, start gently folding (but not creasing!) each of the paper spokes inward, and thread them onto the pin.

Oh wow, I just got it: There’s a pin in the center of this wheel. PIN. WHEEL. PINWHEEL. Seriously guys, I just got that. Don’t hate.

Anyways, keep going until all of the the spokes are threaded onto the pin, and then gently push the pin through the back of the paper, like so:

Then, place a single little bead onto the pin. That’s the very thing that will make the pinwheel spin! It’s so so teeny in this pic, but I swear it’s there!

Then apply a bit of hot glue gun to the pin, and (before it dries!) quickly push the pin into the dowel.

Let it dry for a bit, and voila!! Pinwheels!

I love these ladies. Awesome work Steph and Marissa!!! Thank you so much for sharing such an awesome project.

P.S. If you’re wondering why I’m not in any of the photos, it’s because I was too busy taking pictures of cats.

 

Picture Perfect

by readmakedo on September 11, 2012 in Decor, DIY, Kitchen with 13 Comments

All this for under 100 bones? Yep.

Let me explain: Our kitchen wall has needed some love. It’s been bare-bones empty for a few months, but I’ve been having a hard time thinking of something great to hang on it + wall art is typically not cheap.

Really, the only changes it has seen since we’ve lived here are the addition of a dog door (the dog door seriously deserves a post all its own, it’s so cool), and it was our paint-swatch area for a few weeks while we decided on an interior paint color:

(I still can’t believe how far we’ve come, geez!). After the wall was painted, it just kind of sat there for a few months.

Yes, me and my blank wall were perfectly fine with one another. That is, until I was shopping at Ellington & French in Berkeley and stumbled upon this calendar.

Words. Cannot. Express.

My feelings for this calendar : Everyone’s Feelings for Ryan Gosling :: SRSLY THIS CALENDAR : THE RYAN GOSLING OF CALENDARS. (That’s how analogies work, right? It’s been a long time since I took the SAT…)

I fell in love with this calendar from the moment I saw it. I’d been to FIVE of the twelve featured cities! Four of them I’d been to TWICE.

But now you’re thinking uhh Kate, you can’t just hang that one calendar in the middle of your wall and expect it to fill up the whole space, right? 

Of course not. Also, since the world is ending in 2012, I figure I need to use this calendar before 2013, doi.

That is why I went to IKEA and bought some white frames + pre-cut mats for $10 each.

See where I’m going with this?

Luckily, these cutie prints fit pretty much perfectly in the pre-cut IKEA mats. Dope.

All I had to do was take a straightedge ruler, x-acto knife, and trim the prints down, then (using acid-free tape) tape them into place. Easy peasy.

I took measurements of the wall, frames, roughly how much space I wanted them to take up, and then sketched out where I wanted everything to go.

Then, I made my measurements on the wall and taped the paper from inside the frames to the wall.

I used the pieces of paper as guides, and would hammer in nails over them, as guides. Cakewalk.

So here’s how the price broke down:

  • $26 for the calendar
  • $10 per frame ($60 for 6 frames)

For a grand total of $86. Not bad at all, considering most framed wall art can easily go for that much PER picture. And the result?

Now I guess Jason and I will have to go to Rio, since that’s the only city on the wall I’ve never been to!

I’m super happy with the way this turned out, it’s just enough to visually hold up against the big wall, but not too busy. Plus it’s nice that the artwork has some personal meaning to me, and to Jason too (since we went to Paris and London on our honeymoon). Hooray!!

 

A Dog Doormat…for People

by readmakedo on August 16, 2012 in Decor, Design, DIY with 2 Comments

Added to my short list of obsessions, after Cake, Smores and Tom Hanks, are our beloved dogs. They are often times a little evil, and have toots that smell like god knows what, but they are a part of our family and really make our house feel like a home. Which is precisely why I wanted to spruce up our almost done please don’t jinx it back patio with their likeliness!

We’ve got this awesome brick back step now off our back door (such an improvement from the super shady piece of plywood that we have been using for the past 6-8 months), and I was pumped to show it off.

First step was easy, I bought this plain, blank doormat.

Next, I drew a picture of one of my dogs. I chose Skipper, because he’s got a really cute silhouette. I like how he stands with his feet pointed out and his tail in the air.

I had him model for me, of course. Nice work, Skip!

Next, I transferred the drawing using tracing paper onto some tag-board, and then cut out a stencil from it. In order to make the transfer, I traced the original image on one side, then flipped it over and traced the reverse to add a layer of graphite, then flipped the image over a third time, placed the drawing over the desired area on my tag-board, and re-traced the original side. That creates a positive image of the transfer. A simple trick, but I remember when I found that out in high school (I was maybe a little late to the game) I was pretty amazed.

After cutting out my stencil with an X-Acto Knife, I placed my stencil on the area I wanted to spray paint. I picked a kind of off-left look, because I like asymmetry. Plus I didn’t want people standing on poor Skipper’s face all the time, he deserves better.

I blocked off the areas I didn’t want to get any overspray on (classy technique, using garbage bags!)…

…gave it a good spray…..

How come you didn’t use my picture, mommy? – Leo
Oh Leo, it’s because you’re too beautiful, it’s like staring into the sun.

And voila! Doormat!

I might still make one in the future that has both doggies, but I liked keeping it simple for now and not overwhelming the patio decor too much. Plus, I didn’t want to seem like the dog-equivalent of a crazy cat lady.

What would you put on your dream doormat? Dogs? Or am I the only one?

The Hot Seat!

by readmakedo on July 17, 2012 in Before and After, DIY, Home, Uncategorized with 4 Comments

Last week, I shared with you my dream for revamping our wrought iron furniture on a budget. I wanted to reclaim my chairs from spider habitat to something actually useable and not terrifying to sit on.

I was able to fix up two of the chairs and I am so stoked on them. Take a look!

Yes, you are only seeing one chair. The other was actually drying: it needed one more coat of paint so I decided to let it sit and rest while this one glorious chair got the spotlight.

It was really easy and only took less than an hour really, but with big breaks in between. I went to Michael’s and picked up this amazing spray paint by Montana Gold called “Poison”….eegh I don’t know about that color name, but the pigment itself was gorgeous!

So here’s what the chairs looked like originally:

Sad. Nasty. Gross.

I already had some sandpaper, Rustoleum Primer for metal surfaces, and clear Rustoleum Enamel coat, to prevent the furniture from rusting more over time.

I sanded off as much of the existing rust and loose paint from the chairs as I could. Then, I cleaned them with some Comet and let let them dry.

Already looking more fresh!

Next, I sprayed them all over (underneath too, the seats were really rusty!) with the primer to prevent any further rusting, and nay more from forming. After I let them dry for about an hour, I went back out with my green spray paint and put my first coat on.

The key with spray painting is you have to have light strokes, always keeping your can of paint moving. If you keep painting in a single area for too long, the paint piles up and can drip. Sad :(

One more green coat + some drying later, I was able then to seal them with a clear Rustoleum Enamel coat. This is especially important for the paint I purchased, which is not necessarily an “outdoor paint” but is an artist’s acrylic. I won’t worry too much about that over time though. Acrylic paint is plastic based, so it is extremely durable in many different applications.

That’s about it! A really easy + inexpensive project, for really major results. I can’t wait to use them! Now if you’ll excuse me, that magazine & grapefruit soda pictured have my name on them.

Wrought Iron REVAMP

by readmakedo on July 12, 2012 in Decor, Design, DIY, Home, Uncategorized with No comments

So our patio is almost done, and that has me itching to figure out what we’re going to do in terms of furnishings. Lucky for me, World Market is having an insane sale (everything shown here is under $50 bones!!). Unlucky for me, I don’t have endless funds. You’ve seen our pool, it isn’t filled with money all Scrooge McDuck style, it’s filled with nasty questionably chlorinated water!

Nevertheless, check out this spread I’ve come up with for furnishing our backyard on the cheapie:

See those two wrought iron pieces that are owned? Well they don’t look so cute right now.

I give you, “The Boneyard”.

This is where apparently vintage wrought iron goes to die. I’ve somehow amassed waaay more wrought iron furniture than is necessary for any one human to own, and I’m finally coming to terms with the fact that I’m going to need to let some of it go. It’s not very comfortable (who would have thought that bent metal isn’t comfortable!), and due to it’s lack of comfort it gets ignored and becomes basically the craziest spider habitat you’ve ever seen.

So, time to pick out the good pieces and see what we’ve got to work with:

We’ve got several great table options (I pulled this side-table out, the bigger one might be more appropriate for our final space, but it was definitely home to some freaky spiders. Only one kind of freaky spider is worth it to me, and those ones ain’t it.)

So that whole “tattered rusty” thing is not a good look. So first things first, I’m going to need to sand these bad boys down, prime them, then spray paint the bejeezus out of them. But what color to pick?

I love the idea of a real teal-y blue, like think maybe Tiffany Blue, or maybe carry my lime green theme through to the outdoors. Also, who doesn’t love a nice sunny yellow?

Dang, check out how funkarella that side table would look with a new coat of paint. Double dang, I think I just invented a new word.

All in all, I’m excited about the possibilities. I love working with things that we already have and sprucing them up. Got any other awesome backyard finds for me? Other great paint color ideas? Holla at me in the comments! <3

Chocolate Chip + Potato Chip Cookies

by readmakedo on July 3, 2012 in Cooking, DIY, Recipes with No comments

Best. Recipe. Ever.

Just in time for Fourth of July, I wanted to share my famous Chocolate Chip + Potato Chip cookie recipe. What could be more American than adding Potato Chips to something that is already bad for you?? NOTHING could be more American. It brings a tear to my eye.

I came up with this concept based on Momofuku’s famous Compost Cookie. EWWWW, Compost Cookie! you say. Relax, it’s not what you think. Really, it should be renamed “Snack Cookie” or “Everything I impulse bought when I was hungry and now don’t know what to do with” Cookie. The concept is, it’s basically a chocolate chip cookie, but you just put a little bit of whatever sounds good to you. I’ve put pretzels and rolos in them before, coffee grinds, heck I think I even put Doritos in there once and it wasn’t bad.

But, sometimes you gotta go big or go home–and that’s why I like to take it to the limit with potato chips. The chips make the cookie perfectly crunchy and salted–if you didn’t tell people they were in there, you might never know.

So don your best red, white and blue apron and get crack-a-lackin’, this is the perfect thing to bring to that BBQ tomorrow!

Smoosh those chippies.

Ingredients

  • 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
  • 1/2 – 3/4 cup crushed Lays Potato Chips
  • 2 tablespoons light corn syrup

Directions

  1. Pre-heat your oven to 375 ° F.
  2. Crush up those potato chips in a ziploc bag. Make sure that your final crushed amount is 1/2 cup or around 3/4 cup, if you really like your chippies.
  3. In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt.
  4. In a separate bowl (preferably with a hand mixer or Kitchen-Aid if you’re fancy), beat the butter, granulated white sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla until everything is smooth.
  5. Add the eggs one by one, making sure everything is well combined.
  6. Gradually add the flour mixture until combined. Take it slow, or else it will fly up EVERYWHERE.
  7. Now the fun part. Add the chocolate chips and potato chips, and the corn syrup. Yum.
  8. Drop dough with rounded tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 9-11 minutes.

Yields about a million cookies.  And by a million I mean 60. Dang.

These freeze great too, so throw half that million in the fridge and save them for your next BBQ (or late-night snack. I won’t tell).

TOTES! A Post about Totes.

by readmakedo on June 26, 2012 in Design, DIY with 1 Comment

We’re ’bout to delve down into some next level meta-thinking here. I’m totes about to talk to you about totes.

Translation: We’re totally going to talk about tote-bags.

About 2 or 3 years ago, the word “Totes” crept into my vernacular. It was one of those things that I couldn’t help, it was just natural to use it in day-to-day speech. Eventually, it totes became my calling card.

Fast forward to a few months ago, when I had the idea to make some tote bags for my bridesmaids’ gifts. I went on Zazzle.com and uploaded a design I had made, a heart that said “Totes Love” in the center.

They came out pretty cute, but the only problem was the yellow was REALLY hard to read on the natural canvas. If you’re totes going to be out sporting your tote, you totes need to be able to read what is written on there. Totes, right?

Okay, I’ll calm down.

I’ve been tinkering with setting up screen printing in my garage…but given the state of my garage (which makes our backyard look downright pulled together), I decided to make a spray-paint stencil. Check it:

Here’s how to do it.

I designed and printed my image onto some bristol board. Then, I gingerly cut it out with my good friend Mr. X-acto knife and Ms. Cutting Mat.

Cute! Then, I stenciled out the heart on a larger, slightly thicker piece of paper.

Took it outside, covered up the areas that weren’t meant to be sprayed, and weighed down the stencil with some, uh, kind of hoopty rocks. Work with whatchu got.

For this next part, I could have taken the individual letters I had previously cut out from the first stencil, but that would involve re-setting each letter and keeping them all straight. That would be a nightmare.

So, I used my old trusty friend from my Screen Printing days, contact paper! I took the contact paper, drew onto it with the letterforms from the stencil, and then did a little bit more X-acto-ing.

Next, back out to my “spray booth”.

Make sure you cover up your areas you don’t want sprayed. I used plastic bags, and magazines featuring Kristen Stewart. SORRY VANITY FAIR, NOT READING IT <3

I had to spray the white paint using Primer, because for some reason regular white spray paint would not adhere to the teal spray paint underneath. Bummer.

Anyways, after I sprayed it and waited a bit, I removed the stencil and voila!

What’s in a Name…Card?

by readmakedo on April 24, 2012 in Design, DIY, wedding with 3 Comments

I’m gonna get real with you right out the gate here: I’m a vegetarian. Not only that, I’m lactose intolerant (I’m sorry lactose, I try to be tolerant of everyone but I’ve had it up to HERE with you), which makes me ostensibly vegan. Whenever I attended other people’s weddings I never really gave any thought to my name card. They were always different than everyone else’s: sometimes it had a ribbon on it, or was a different color, but I always just thought this was because I’m special. Like when you get a Roy Rodgers’, and the bartender puts two cherries in it.

It turns out, I haven’t been living a blissful life of preferential treatment, but instead I’ve been singled out because caterers need a way to know who is eating what meal. It still doesn’t explain the two cherries in my Roy Rodgers’, so I still feel pretty special. Now that I’ve also burst your bubbles, fellow vegetarians / food allergy sufferers, it’s time to share with you what I’ve come up with for the name cards at Jason and I’s upcoming wedding.

Originally I drew this picture for our Save the Date, and the dahlia’s and spider mum drawings have been a theme throughout the wedding paper goods we’ve sent out.

I considered printing out little folding cards with these same peonies and mums and then writing everyone’s name on them, but I didn’t want to scare my guests with my terrifying handwriting. Seriously, I’ve had people receive letters in the mail from me and not want to open them because my handwriting is so spooky.

So I knew I wanted people’s names typed out (to not terrify my guests), and instead of doing the yellow maybe doing something a little bit more fancy. So my awesome friend Stephanie gave me the killer idea of using my new obsession:  STAMPS.

Step 1: Print out Place Cards

Stephanie and I bought these super easy to use place-cards from Paper Source. They come with a template, either for Word or InDesign (I used InDesign so I could get fancypants with the ligatures on people’s names…so even though I didn’t write people’s names, they still were lovingly crafted by me). You just run them through the printer, unfold them (WARNING: I got about 200 paper cuts while folding these, but I think that’s because I was distracted because Jason and I were watching Troll 2 while we did this).

 Step 2: Get some fancy colored stamp pads.

We bought a really pretty metallic gold, and a mossy green. The green is for the vegetarians (interestingly enough, the Trolls in Troll 2 are vegetarians…hmmm), and the gold is for everyone else. We also picked up these super gorgeous stamps, also from Paper Source, which look really similar to the Dahlias and Spider mums that I originally drew for the Save the Date.

Step 3: STAMP STAMP STAMP.

Yup. Pretty easy. It’s fun to kind of get zen with it, and try different stamp combos. Everyone’s name takes up a different amount of white space, so when I was stamping I’d try to balance everything out accordingly. That way, each card is unique, like a snowflake. And each guest is therefore, a snowflake. Brilliant.

So that’s it! Pretty easy peasy! For the vegetarians, we’re just using the different colored stamp pads. We might even add a ribbon, just so our vegetarian guests (which I will be one of) feel a little bit more special…and so the caterers are totally clear not to put some chicken in front of our veggie friends.

Check out these other awesome ideas for place cards & escort cards! There are so many awesome ideas for place cards out there, even though some of them aren’t super practical (Skeleton keys for every guest? Where are you going to find more than 3 of those? If my knowledge from Adventure Games serves me correctly, those are pretty impossible to get). What are some of your favorites you’ve seen? I love these pinwheels, flippin cute.

 

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