Tutorials Archives - Page 21 of 53

Chalkboard Refrigerator

March 19, 2012 By Michelle Barneck 14 Comments

My poor sweet refrigerator has been around the block. It was a hand me down from grandma and has worn the eye sore title in my kitchen for far too long. Don’t tell her, but I even went out looking for a new one. But, to my dismay found that they don’t even make those french doored beauties to fit my space. I didn’t realize how freakishly small my fridge space is. Alas, I decided that until I get the motivation to move two sets of cabinets to fit my dream fridge I may as well make the best of old Gerta and give her a makeover of sorts. Had I known how easy it would be I would have done this long ago! I present the chalkboard refrigerator.

I had seen a lot of refrigerator makeovers using epoxy or paint, etc. But, knowing that poor Gerta is on her last leg I did not want to spend hours moving her outside, doing multiple coats, and letting her dry for days. I needed something quick and this took me about 30 minutes. The secret ingredient? Vinyl.

Chalkboard Refrigerator

Here she is in her original almond colored glory.

I used the 12 inch Silhouette Chalkboard Vinyl. It was the perfect size to go on the front and wrap around the side of my refrigerator door.

1. Measure how big your vinyl pieces need to be. Cut your vinyl accordingly leaving a little wiggle room. It’s better to trim a bit than have it be too small.

2. Align the vinyl so it will reach the top and bottom, but also be flush to the door handle. Press it down by the handle first and work your way out smoothing out bubbles as you go. Wrap the vinyl around the side of the door by the hinges and trim off any excess.

At this point Gerta was a little reminiscent of Cruella, wouldn’t you say?

3. Grab a piece of patterned cardstock that will tie your two colors together. Cut it to the size of the ice panel, cover with clear contact paper to protect it and place with double sided sticky tape.

Ah, she’s already looking better!

4. Now finish it off priming the chalkboard by rubbing it all over with the side of a piece of chalk and erasing the excess. That way your first message won’t be everlasting. Now you’re ready to add your menu, message board, or whatever you want to say!

It’s amazing what you can do with 30 minutes and some vinyl!

Disclosure: Silhouette provided the vinyl for this post.

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Tshirt DIY Necklace

March 6, 2012 By Michelle Barneck 12 Comments

Are you ready for the first project in The Great De-stash Bash series? We snagged an old gray t-shirt out of the donate pile and turned it in to a fun T-shirt DIY Necklace. This is so easy even your kids could do it and the best thing is with jersey it is always so comfortable!!

T-shirt DIY Necklace Supplies:

T-shirt

Scissors

Hot Glue gun

No really, that’s it!

1. Cut off the sleeve right next to the seam. Then cut off about two inches of the widest part and pull to stretch so the jersey rolls in the raw edges. This is your necklace. Told you it was easy.

2. Make some rosettes (there are 1000 tutorials out there on this so I won’t bore you) with additional strips of the T-shirt and hot glue, off center, on to the “necklace.” I did 5 alternating big and small rosettes, but the possibilities are endless.

Total cost: $0

Duh, it’s part of the de-stash. I had everything on hand.

I wore my T-shirt DIY Necklace with a pink maxi dress last Sunday and got so many compliments. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a pic of it on. Story of my life.

I would love to see if you make your own! It would make a super easy and cheap Girls Camp Craft if you have a plug.

If you liked this T-shirt DIY Necklace, there is more to come from The Great De-Stash bash! Stay tuned.

If you like this post you may like these projects made with t-shirts:

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DIY Necklace: Quite a Spectacle

February 29, 2012 By Michelle Barneck 4 Comments

Leap day does not come often, so I wanted to share something special, that you probably won’t see often and is well, quite a spectacle. It is quirky and in true Tipsy fashion totally affordable DIY style! It’s a DIY necklace that makes quite a statement, but what else would you expect from a fun Anthro Knock off?

I shared this about a week ago on Brassy Apple as a part of her fun accessories series, but thought I would share here for anyone who missed it.

Anthropologie version: $498 (no longer available) My DIY necklace version: $7.50

That’s a 98.5% savings. 😉

DIY Necklace Supplies:6 pairs of reading glasses (dollar store)Glasses screwdriver 8-10 Jump Rings 12 mmChain
1. Gather your glasses and remove all stickers and tags. Use a tiny screwdriver to remove all the screws and remove the frames. Lay six pairs of glasses in a pattern that you like to prepare them to be put together.

2. Connect three pairs of glasses by placing the jump rings through the screw holes. Do this twice so you have two sets of three pairs of glasses.

3. Now connect the sets of glasses with three jump rings so the bottom of the necklace will be more rounded.

4. Add your chain. Use jump rings if it is just a chain. Mine was the chain to an old pocket watch so I just looped it through one side and hooked it on the other.

Now rock your new DIY necklace on and see what a spectacle you can make! And hey if you need reading glasses, you’ll never be short a pair!

If you like this necklace, you might also like our Fabric Necklace, Tshirt DIY Necklace, or Tie Dye Accessories.

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Valentine’s Day Valentines {Plane Awesome}

February 9, 2012 By Michelle Barneck 22 Comments

This is my first year making Valentine’s Day Valentines for my son to take to school. Of course we didn’t want anything too girly and they get way too much candy, so I took him to the dollar store to have a look. Luckily, we found six packs of airplanes for a dollar so we settled on a “plane” awesome theme!

Valentine’s Day Valentines: You’re just PLANE awesome!

We pretty much love them and they were so easy!

Plane awesome supplies:

Toy airplanes
Mini Glue dots
Color printer
White cardstock
Paper cutter
Glue (I used what came with the glitter)
Martha Stewart heart shaped glitter

We printed four of the following image to a page on white cardstock. That is what worked best with our size planes.

Cut out your cards and glue dot the wheels of the planes to the cards.

Draw three contrails (aka the white trails planes leave) from the back of the plane using your glue. Mix multiple colors of glitter hearts in a bowl. Pour the glitter on the glue and shake the excess glitter hearts back in to the bowl. Let the glue dry.

Voila! You have created a cool kid’s Valentine’s Day valentine that is just plane awesome and may I mention allergy safe! My sons class has gluten, nut and red dye allergies this year. Find a valentine treat that avoids all that, I dare you! Or do the easy road like me and just do a toy instead.