DIY Sprinkle Shoes

Are you aware we are in the midst of a major shoe trend? Fancy tips!

Here's my twist for little girls, sprinkle-tipped shoes.

• I started with cheap white canvas shoes. If this project turned out to be a disaster I didn't want it to be on a $50 pair of Converse (which I plan to do in pink soon!).
• I covered all the parts of the shoe I didn't want to decorate with painter's tape and protected the rest with sandwich bags (since I plan on using spray sealer later I don't want any of the shoe to be exposed).

• Next I mixed up several colors of Martha Stewart's micro-beads until they looked like cupcake sprinkles.
• I covered the exposed part of the shoes with Martha Stewart's glitter glue (meh, it's pretty much identical to Elmer's Glue, but I did appreciate the applicator brush).
• Then sprinkled the beads all over... and waited 30 minutes.
• Next I sprayed tacky spray to get all the nooks and crannies and to get one last final layer of beads.
• I sprinkled beads all over again and waited an hour.
• Once everything seemed dry, I sprayed it one last time with a Mod Podge sealer.
• I waited another hour, removed the tape and...

Pretty dang cute if I do say so myself! I think I might just have to do this to a pair of flats for your truly...

xo Becky

DIY felt hair clips

Thank you Sarah for coming up with the idea for me to make hair accessories!

Here's a few inspired creations - easy, medium and hard.

1. Cut out a simple oblong shape and a smaller rectangular piece of felt.

2. Pinch the bow together and secure in the center with hot glue.

3. Wrap the rectangular piece around the center and secure with hot glue.

4. Glue the finished bow onto a hair clip.

Easy peasy!

1. Cut long 1 inch strips of felt.

2. Tie a knot at the end.

3. Start wrapping the felt around the knot, occasionally twisting the fabric and securing with hot glue.

4. Tuck under the end and hide with glue.

5. Cut out some felt leaves. Make them big enough to use as a base to glue all your rosettes.

6. I decided to jazz up my leaves with a little thread.

7. Glue it all to a large clip or headband.

Booya!

1. Cut small squares - mine were 1 inch and 1/2 inch squares.

2. Cut each square into a wide, flat bottomed petal.

3. Pinch the petals and secure with hot glue.

4. Glue the larger petals around the edge of a 2 1/2 inch circle of felt.

5. Repeat by filling in the gaps between those petals with the smaller ones.

6. Make little snips all the way round a 1 inch circle of felt. Fill the center of the flower with a bit of hot glue. Place it on top of the center of the flower.

7. Use a pencil or chopstick to push the center of the circle down into the flower.

8. Secure your hair clip with hot glue. I also stitched mine on since I was using a small clip.

Voila!

Not bad. I only burned myself once with the hot glue gun.

Thank you to the following for your inspiration:

Ruffles and Stuff

Emily Sparks

It's the Little Things

xo Becky

DIY instagram coasters

This weekend a project struck me like a lightning bolt and I dashed off to the hardware store. After staring down at our broken coasters I had a mission:

Decoupage coasters! So easy...

Materials used:

• Ceramic tiles (only 16 cents each, oh my!)
• Printer paper
• White glue
• Acrylic sealer
• Cork shelf paper

Tools used:

• Paper cutter
• Printer
• Ruler
• Scissors
• Glue gun
• Sponge brush

I printed my photos straight onto printer paper, thinking it would react and bond more easily than glossy photo paper. I then trimmed the images with my paper-cutter and prepared my decoupage glue. You can buy pre-made mixtures, like Modge Podge, but I used what I had on-hand and simply mixed warm water with white glue at a 1:3 ratio.

Next I used a sponge brush to lightly mount, then coat each image onto the tile. I did 2 coats total. This is what they looked like while they were drying:

After the glue dried I sealed and glossed them up with a water-based polycrylic. I'm not sure if it was the fact that I used printer paper or the wrong kind of sealer (future experiments with materials will tell), but the images started to crackle. The good thing is that I actually liked the end product:

After everything was nice and dry, I sliced and diced some cork shelving paper and glued it to the bottom of each tile. I didn't even know that cork board shelving paper existed until I approached the craftiest looking employee in Home Depot and she showed me just the thing I needed. I'm sensing this epiphany will lead to many more projects.

I L.O.V.E. this project and can't wait to make more. I'm crazy about the personal touch that has been added to my coffee table and I think future sets will make amazing gifts.

xo Becky

UPDATE: Since writing this post I've made many more sets of coasters. I've had the best results using Mod Podge decoupage glue, followed by a final gloss seal. All the photos I've used have been on printer paper, but I'd love to hear your results from using photo prints!