DIY Green Pendant Necklace, $6

July 19, 2012
DIY, Uncategorized
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If you have been having a hard time finding beautiful necklaces that are affordable, you’re not alone. This necklace only cost $6 but looks much more expensive.  And it only took ten minutes to make. Here’s the how-to:

1. Pick out your pendant, chain, closures and jump rings. These are the ones I chose:

2. Choose the length you want for the chain. Measure it on yourself to be sure you get it exactly where you want it to lay. To cut it, use use pliers to hold one end and use scissors to cut the other end. Then, use your pliers to open the jump rings and attach to one side of the chain. For the other side of the chain, attach a closure to a jump ring and then attach the jump ring to the chain.

3. Enjoy your new, expensive-looking necklace!


Price chart:

Colorful Keys

July 11, 2012
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If you own more than one key, you’ve probably had trouble one time or another telling them apart. There are options to pay a couple more dollars to make the keys unique by picking out a “skin” for the key.  But if you’re like me and want to do things the cheapest way possible, you can use things you already own. Nail polish is perfect to use to color coordinate your keys! Check it out, and remember you can keep these simple by not adding designs to your keys and just painting them one solid color:

The original keys:

The nail polish colors I chose:

Key #1:

Key #2:

Key #3:

Shadow Box

July 9, 2012
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Have you recently graduated from school or had a memorable moment that you want to capture for years to come? Kimberly Yandrofski has the perfect way to show off your milestone moments in a fun, beautiful way!
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By: Kimberly Yandrofski
Approximate cost – $45
~shadowbox – $40 (look for coupons though because I had  a 40% coupon from Michael’s)
~colored paper for background – on sale 5 for $1
~nursing decorations and graduation banner – $8
~pictures – $5 printed from Target
~hot glue gun and glue sticks – $5
~nursing lamp and patches – free from graduation ceremony

How To:
My graduation from nursing school was very important to me and quite a milestone in my life so I wanted a creative way to remember it. All I needed was a few things that meant the most to me throughout the program. I started with picking out some photographs of people who meant the most to me and were there to support me throughout school. To narrow down the options I only chose pictures from actual graduation day to include in the shadowbox and will have a separate collage for friends from other occasions throughout school. Next I chose some memorable items from graduation and from my school. I chose the patches which were on the sleeve of my scrubs I wore for clinicals, the lamp we lit on graduation day, and a piece of the program with my name in it from graduation. I also wanted to emphasize that the shadowbox was in memory of nursing school graduation so I went to a craft store and chose a big graduation banner from the scrapbooking section as well as some cute little nursing decorations also from the scrapbooking section. I recommend hot glue for attaching the paper to the backplate of the box because it was wood as well as for the patches because they were cloth material. All of the other items like the pictures and program excerpts I used a regular glue stick for. The rest is pretty much up to you! Use your imagination as far as colors and placement go for the items. I suggest laying it all out before you start gluing things down. Don’t be afraid to let things overlap or go in a diagonal direction, it will add dimension and a sense of creativity to your piece. Also handwriting some little notes about who’s in the pictures will add a sense of individuality and serve as a good memory for the shadowbox Good luck!
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About the author:

Kimberly Yandrofski loves to do homemade crafts of all kinds and thinks they’re an awesome way to remember important events and people in a personal and individual way.  She hopes to some day compose a book about all the different crafts she has conjured up over the years so that others may create their own masterpieces.

Outside of her love of crafts, Kimberly just obtained her RN license from the state of Maryland and will be working at a local hospital. She hopes to some day work on a pediatric oncology unit in a big name hospital.

Quote Board

July 6, 2012
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It’s important to always maintain positivity, which is why I made a quote board to look at throughout the day and help me through stressful situations. I kept the design simple and fun because that reflects my style, but what’s so neat about a quote board is there are plenty of ways to alter the design to make it more reflective of your personal style.

If you want an even more simplistic look, you can use colorful post-it notes instead of scrapbook paper with designs on it.

Or, you could make this design more complex by adding borders around each piece of paper. Also, you could put the quote board in a frame and hang it if you don’t have a bulletin board.

Have fun with the design and add quotes you find inspirational!

Steps to make a Quote Board:

1. Choose the paper you’d like to write the quotes on. I started with 4×6 pieces of scrapbook paper. I cut them in half because they were a bit too big for what I like.

2. Pick a large piece of scrapbook paper to glue your smaller ones on. I tried a couple different colored papers before I chose the brown.

3. Write your quotes on the small paper and glue them on your chosen background paper!

Homemade Birthday Cards

June 26, 2012
Birthday, DIY, Paper Made, Uncategorized
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I don’t know about you, but I personally love receiving homemade birthday cards. You will make the birthday person’s day just by giving them a card with your personal touch. And, they’ll keep it for years to look back at! So, in honor of Ariana Grande’s 19th birthday, I decided to make a DIY card to her from Crafter Girl. Tools used: scrapbook paper, scissors, glue, scrapbook decorations and a little TLC. Check it out:

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The Perfect Wall Accessory

June 25, 2012
DIY, Uncategorized, Wall Decor
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An outdoor fall wreath made by Crafter Girl

There are so many types of wreaths you can buy, but the best ones are homemade! And they’re not just for holidays or seasons; they can be used for just about anything. If you have a bare wall to fill, a wreath can be the perfect wall accessory.

The first step in making a wreath is deciding what type of wreath you want to make. You can make a traditional round one and use various items to embellish it, or you can make a different type of decoration that resembles a wreath by using a wood letter. It could be the first letter of your name, or, if you want to go big, you could make your entire name using wood letters!  You may want to rummage through your families’ old boxes of “junk” to see what you can find, such as old wreaths or other types of framework. Many times vintage finds can even work better!

If you don’t already have a foundation piece lying around, head over to a craft store, like Michaels. While you’re there, if you don’t already have them, pick up some inexpensive decorating objects too.

Now, take a good look at your decorating objects. Lay them out on your wood letter or bare wreath to decide how you want it to look. Nothing is worse than using all your effort gluing, twisting and tying only to find out you don’t like the way it looks afterwards!

Flower Wreath made by Crafter Girl

If you’re itching for a flower wreath, you can use any types of faux flower bouquets. Simply cut off the flowers from the bouquet – but be careful- and make sure you keep a couple inches of wire on the flowers so you can tie them to your wreath. Once you have all of your flowers, begin wrapping the wires around the wreath, and secure them tightly.  If you want, you could just do a section of the wreath using flowers and leave the rest plain. Or, you could add a bow to the plain section. Get your creative juices flowing and play around with design ideas on your wreath. If you like glitz, one cool idea is to glue gems all over a bow and then tie it onto the wreath.

ArtMinds™ White Wood Letters, Michaels

If you opt for a wood letter, you can use a variety of items to glue on it. Some suggestions include beads, gems, faux grapes, buttons and/or small faux flowers. If there’s not already a hole in the top of your wood letter, you may have to have someone who can use power tools help you make one. Once that’s done, use your favorite ribbon to loop in the hole. After you tie a bow at the top, you can easily hang it on a thumbtack or nail. Happy wreathing!

DIY Headboard for the Photographer

June 22, 2012
DIY, Headboards, Uncategorized, Wall Decor
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Want to give your bed some flare without spending your savings? It’s totally possible. There’s all kinds of DIY headboards out there, but this one is perfect if you are a picture taker to the max. If you have tons of photos of you and your friends, why not display them above your bed in a fun, quirky way?  The best part about this idea is you can alter it in so many ways to fit your personal style.

  • Find three big picture frames that are not being used. It’s okay if they’re not the same three frames or the sizes don’t match. Mixing & matching can be fun!
  • Next, get out your scrapbook materials and pick out three (or more) of your favorite patterned papers. You will have to size these papers to the frames, so it will take a little cutting and maybe some gluing. If you have large frames, you may need to glue two sheets of paper together to fit into your frame.
  • Choose your photos. You can keep your photos just the way they are or cut them out in various shapes. If you want to give your photos some extra glam, give them a boarder by using other pieces of scrapbook paper. Once all of your pictures are glued on your original patterned papers, place them in the frames.
  • The last step: Hanging your picture headboard. This step can be the most tricky because you may need some help putting the frames up. You can position the pictures however you like. You may want to place them straight across, directly next to each other or you may want to drop the middle one a little lower or higher. Play with positioning and when you’ve found the perfect positions, get them up on that wall! Voila, you have a homemade headboard that represents you!
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