Tag: do it yourself

Knitting, Crochet, Crafting, Art & More

DIY Adventure | Plant Stand

bookishluna14 Comments

DIY12:17

Hello and welcome to me sharing a recent DIY I made! I am by no means a professional builder nor is this post a tutorial or building instructions. This is just for entertainment and to share what I made. I recently realized I needed more room for my plants by my window sill. My current method was using my TBR cart. Well, with 10 plants, it isn’t really doable anymore. I searched for months and I could not find a stand or bench that fit my needs so I then searched for a DIY and I came across Shabby Grace Blog’s $10 DIY Plant Stand and it was just what I was looking for. The size I would be able to adjust and the paint pallet as well.

So, I will say I came across a few issues with this DIY, the main issue being the size of the screws. I needed a max of 2 1/2 inches, for some reason this DIY called for 4. inches. If I did that with 2×4 like she used I would have gone right through the top. I also did not have a table saw so cutting a 2×4 along the length was not possible so it stayed the same width. But, I think it was a great guide and jumping point for me.

Here is a picture where I already started attaching the legs to the top of the table. I have to say that this design I found to be really stable. It has the three 2×4 screwed together by the base holding the legs on. Then the legs are supported by another piece of wood, which you will see in the next picture.

In this picture you can see I stained the top a dark gray color, you can also see the support against the back collecting the two legs as well. As I said, this is a pretty stable table, I think it will be more than perfect for my plants. Following the stain I sealed it and the next step was to paint the legs white for a it of a contrast. I will admit I am not the best when it comes to being neat and painting or staining so I had a bit of a clean up to do before painting the legs.

Lastly, here is a picture of the finished product! The legs are a very bright white and the top is just dark enough of a gray stain to be a contrast, but not too dark for this room. I decided to place my giant green jug underneath to add a bit of a decoration, at least for the time being. On top you can see my pilea plant, my ZZ plant I just propagated, that was an experience! Next to that is my snake plant and my mother ZZ plant.

I am really in love with how this came out and to believe I made it with my own two hands! It is empowering to be able to make something like this for yourself. Especially when you have been looking for month and months and nothing you found in the store was quite right. Well, thank-you for reading about my adventure.

What is the last thing you made?

Have you ever made furniture before?

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DIY | Enamil Pin Display

bookishluna8 Comments

DIY12:17So, I recently realized I have a ton of enamel pins, but they are all sitting in the bottom of a drawer or in a cup of some sort. I love pins and have since I was young. I started my collection when I was in 3rd grade…. so it has been a LONG time. I personally really enjoy collecting them because they are small and compact since I don’t have a ton of space. But, at this point I hide them away. I would prefer to display them and have the ability to look at them.

The main reason I would love to look at them is because I only buy them when I am visiting a new place or on a special occasion. I would love to be able to walk into my space and look at the happy memories. So, I went to google and typed in “Enamel Pin Display” and found the following inspiration.

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This turns out to be from the Etsy shop PinnyslugDesign. So, if this DIY does not workout for me, I will be buying them. But, I am hoping it does work out because I can actually say I have everything I need think I need to make these myself! How often does that actually happen?

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Materials needed

  • Embroidery Hoop
  • Fabric
  • Exacto knife

Optional

  • super glue
  • needle
  • thread

Progression Images

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I am so happy with how these come out. I ended up leaving the ends raw until I fill them up until I am satisfied. When I have all the pins I want on them I am going to sew the edges in with some embroidery floss that I have laying around as well as put some glue around the edges so they don’t shift to much when I sew them.

I love how simple and cute these are and how I can easily add different sized hoops as my collection grows. I also don’t have to worry about finding the exact same frame or whatever. Raw hoops are always around and don’t really ever change.

How do you think I did recreating this DIY?

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DIY Tested | Sprayed Edges, Can You Guess the Book?

bookishluna6 Comments

DIY12:17

It has been a little bit of time since I have shared a DIY with you all, but I have been seeing sprayed edges all over the place the last few weeks. I have been seeing it pop up in my youtube feed quite a lot. Some of these videos were talking about how they liked it, some talking about how they hate it, and some of them are DIYs on how to create this book on your own books. I finally got to a point where I needed to try and do this to one of my books.

I ended up seeing two types of methods being used. The first is using acrylic paint from a tube and painting it onto the book with a sponge or paint brush. I really liked the details that can be made with this option. Then I saw another method where you can use spray paint and acrylic paint. I think a  year ago I saw Little Book Owl try this with Nevernight, you can see the video here: PAINTED PAGE EDGES | Defacing Nevernight.  While I really like this idea I wanted to start off simple. So, when I came across the following video I wanted to give it a try.

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So, for this DIY I needed a few things, some I did not have and did not want to spend a lot of money on. I didn’t have an airbrush, but my Boyfriend does. So I asked him to help me out with this DIY. I did like how in the video he talks about how you can just use a spray can, but I thought it would be fun to try my boyfriends airbrush. I also needed paint, tape, and a book. My BF supplied the thinner needed for the paint, the airbrush, and a bunch of effort!

The most difficult part of this entire process was getting the airbrush to work, but it turned out the one by BF went to use first was actually broken. Thankfully he was gifted another one and on day two… yes day two we were able to complete the DIY. We did not finish the first day because we were trying to use the first airbrush and we ended up using all of the daylight trying to fix the broken one.

Also, just like in the video using less stick tape so you don’t damage the book is great, but sometimes it did not want to stick at all. That was a little aggravating at times, but well worth the effort so random parts of your book aren’t painted. I am glad this video gave you a few tips to help with it and gave me a few idea how to cover the book without using a TON of tape.

If you can guess what book I spray painted please write it in the comments I am curious to see if anyone can figure it out. I will give you a hint, it has been released in 2019.

Anyway, I really loved doing this DIY and I plan to do it again in the future now that we have a working airbrush. It was pretty straight forward and I was very worried about over saturating the pages and cause them to ripple, I didn’t have that problem at all. The pages are still unaffected and sit as intended, with the added bonus of being personalized a bit. It was also great fun with the BF to sit and do this together. It is wonderful when your hobbies overlap!

Do you like sprayed edges?

Would you do this to your books?

Do you know what book I painted?

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DIY Tested| Hollowed Out Book

bookishluna5 Comments

DIY12:17

So, I have seen this around the internet for some time and I thought testing some DIYs would be really fun. I have always loved crafting and making stuff with my own hands so I thought to myself, “why not?” I will only be making ones I really an interested in and not just doing DIYs for the sake of doing them though. So I am starting off with one I have been wanting to do for some time.

Since I was young I wanted to have a box made out of a book. I don’t know why, but I always thought it was the coolest thing. Over the years I have seen them in the store, but they always looked so fake and I never really liked what the outside looked like. So, many years later I am finally deciding to make my own.

Here is the DIY video I am following/testing:

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Supplies

  • Hardback book, at least 1½” thick
  • Mod Podge Gloss
  • Craft paintbrush
  • Craft knife
  • Ruler
  • Pencil 

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Overall this video really helped me a lot. It is very straight forward and simple. One thing I think I would change about this DIY is that if you have a larger book I would separate it into sections like I ended up doing. That way if you don’t have a very long or large craft knife you wont run into so many problems in the corner and the opening stays the same size instead of developing an angle.

DividerI hoped your enjoyed me testing out a DIY.

Which ones should I try next?

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DIY | Bookstagram Background

bookishluna2 Comments

diy

Supplies:

  • wood
  • wood glue
  • Saw (optional)
  • pencil
  • tape measure
  • something heavy or vice grip
  • stain (optional)

Instructions:

Step One: Lay Everything Out and Plan

Now that you have all of your supplies it is time to get to work. Now I picked up a pack of  wood flooring so my wood snapped together for added structure. Using regular wood is also great, I just love things being very sturdy.

 

 

 

In this step is it very important to plan how you want your background to look. You have a few options you can have your wood planks all the same size like a picnic table or you can stagger them like flooring. In this picture you can see I lined up all of my wood and marked with a pencil where I want to cut my wood. Now I wanted the planks to be staggered so not only did I mark my planks to be cut  the same size, I also marked the random cuts I needed to make. Either way is great, just make sure you measure and plan because once the wood is cut you wont be able to change it.

Step 2: Cut, Be Careful!

While cutting you can either have it done at a local hardware store if you know your dimensions or you can do it at home. You can use a hand saw or a power saw (use at your own risk), but I *highly advise you to ask someone who knows what they are doing* with these tools. They can be very dangerous. If you are younger ask an older family member to help you. Below you can see all my planks of wood cut up.

Step 3: Place the Wood Back Together


At this point place your planks back in the right order. If you cut your wood so it is staggered you can make this step easier by numbering your pieces of wood. This way they are easy to keep track of and you will not waste time trying to find the right pieces to put back together.

Step 4: Securing


To secure the pieces of wood together by cutting another piece of wood to run the length across both the top and bottom of the backside of your backdrop. To see a visual of this you can look at the picture below. You can either secure this by using nails, screws, or wood glue. I used wood glue. If you use wood glue as well make sure you follow the directions on the bottle.

Step 5: (Optional) Let it Dry

If you are using wood glue it is essential that you make sure the wood does not shift while it is drying. I used a vice grip and a very heavy bucket to ensure this. You do not need fancy tools for this, anything heavy will do. Once it is completely dry you are ready to take beautiful pictures on a brand new background.

Final Product

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