Copycat - ban.do Sequin Hearts

I've been a fan of ban.do's sequined pieces, so I thought that I'd make my own version of their red sequined hearts today!

I started off with my supplies - red felt, sequin trim, and loose sequins, as I'm going to make two versions of these hearts.

I cut hearts out of my felt by folding the rectangular piece in half and cutting an "ear" shape out.  For the shoe clips, because I wanted the same size, I put two layers of felt together before trimming.  The smaller hearts were cut from the excess pieces and two of those guys are going to become earrings!

I started with the mini hearts first - I put glue down and then dropped off sequins on top and pressed them in place to stick.  I repeated this step until the entire heart was covered.

The mini hearts are finished!

Now to really recreate the ban.do version, I used the sequin trim to match.  I started by gluing the trim right at the center of the heart and then continued to follow the edges of the heart.

I'm almost there!!

And we're done!!

The minis are going to become stud earrings, the middle sized ones will be shoe clips, and the large one will become a headband!

For the shoe clips and earrings, I used jewelry findings - a pair of flat backed earring posts and two alligator clips (or shoe clips if you have them!) - and affixed to the back.

I added some alligator claws with glue to the bottoms...

...and had my pretty pair...

...ready to be added to my leopard flats.  My version...

ban.do's version...

My earrings glistened in the sun and my headband was rocking.

Sparkly hearts overload??

Eh, not so much.  It's Valentine's Day, so it totally works.  And...it totally works post-V Day too!!  There is never a wrong time to rock hearts!  xoxo

DIY Valentine's Day Conversation Hearts Soap

I have to say that making soap could be my newest addiction.  Today's DIY is a fun, Valentine's Day themed soap post - get crafty and clean at the same time!! I worked on these with my crafty pal Sonya Nimri, and I must say that they turned out pretty fantastic.  It's an awesome crafternoon project to gather friends with and you can all split the cost of supplies to make it a completely budget friendly project!

First off, you'll need some soaps - a clear glycerine, high temperature soap as well as an opaque one which can both be snagged at your local craft store.

Next, you'll need a container to melt the soap in, preferably one that can be used solely for your soapmaking...

We started off with a few chunks of clear soap, put them in our container, and then melted them in the microwave for about a minute.  Keep your eyes peeled when you melt - depending on how much soap you use and how your microwave cooks (my micro doesn't cook anything even, so I always need to stir and reheat) the timing will vary.

With our melted soap, we poured it into the plastic top of the glass container that was used to form a thin layer.  We added some red dye (just a few drops - it works just like food coloring, so you don't need a ton)...

...and let it solidify in our container top.

Using some alphabet cookie cutters...

...we picked our letters and began to press them into the solidified red wax.  We wanted our letters to be thin, so using the shallow container top worked like a charm!

Once we pressed the metal cutters into the wax, we carefully removed the letters with a popsicle stick!

My OMG letters were ready to continue on the soap making journey!

Using a soap mold in the shape of a heart (even if this wasn't V Day themed, I'd still make soap in the shape of hearts to use daily!) we placed the letters into the mold face down and lined them up.

We used a thin layer of clear wax to coat and seal the letters in place and then let the wax harden before filling the mold with a milky yellow-ish shade of wax.  (This was opaque white wax that we dyed with yellow.)  Once the mold was filled, we let the soap marinate to fully solidify before taking it out.  Voila!!

It was a busy day of soap making...look at the rad selection we came up with!

I'm so in love with anything handmade and personalized, so these were such a blast to make!  Plus, they are easy enough for kids to get involved with too, which makes them family activity friendly!  Anyone else work with soap before?

Happy Wednesday, friends!

Tuesday Remake - Valentine's Day Edition

Little did I know that my Valentine's Day outfit would be this one when I first saw it!

I loved the florals and I loved the $2 price tag!

However, it was still feeling super 90s...

...and needed a little help to bring it away from potentially being a costume from Reality Bites...

I adjusted the length first.  The dress fell at the cankle area, and even though it's swishy and flowy, I wanted to make it a little shorter.

I pinned the hem post-trim...

...and then worked on the back.  I've seen so many cute dresses and shirts with open hearts on the backs and fronts of them like these guys...

ASOS - $32.45

Pixie Market - $65

...that I used those as my inspiration.  I drew a heart on the inside of the dress, right next to the shoulder in a silver Sharpie.

Instead of keeping the heart completely open, I'm going to add some pink lace, to make the heart sheer-ish!  I took clear nail polish and followed the heart outline.  (I did this so the cotton dress wouldn't fray when trimming.)

After the polish was down, I trimmed out the heart...

...and pinned down lace to the open heart, from the inside of the piece.

I stitched my hem...

...and stitched my heart...

...and styled the dress to make it look more like something Taylor Swift would wear (which is totally a compliment I received today!)

I belted it, added some pale pink DKNY fishnets, along with a cardigan, some boots, and had my dress complete!

I love the hidden heart on my shoulder!  It's like I have a tattoo!!  A lace, non-permanent, tattoo!

The waist cinching was key and the metal flower clasp was a cute little tie in to match the dress print...

The tights were super subtle and they did a stellar job in keeping my legs warm!

The dress worked the day to night element quite well...

I added another layer on top of the cardi to make it really work after the sun set.  I love my Valentine-y dress, and got to wear it for my favorite Valentines this year...

We made banana/chocolate dessert quesadillas that were amazing!  I just might wear this dress again on Thursday...it'll be in the 70s and I can get away without wearing a cardigan so the little lace heart it totally prominent!!