30 Days of DIY: Day 23 ~ Bubble Tiled Mirror

I had a bag of these light blue opaque glass filler beads, so I decided to make a "tiled" mirror with them, since they kind of reminded me of bubbles.

You will need:

• A mirror (I got this at the dollar store)
• Glass vase filler beads
• E-6000 glue
• A crayon
• A circle to trace (I used a plastic bowl) 

Trace the circle onto the mirror using the crayon. 

Place a small dab of glue on the flat side of the bead.  The glue will really spread once you press the bead down, so only a little is needed.

Place the bead on the circle.

Repeat for the whole circle.

Fill in the rest of the space outside of the circle.

Leaving your circle mirror in the center!

Let it dry for at least a day before you hang it up.  Since it's heavy, either hang it into a stud or using a wall anchor.

In hindsight, the only thing I would change would be painting the background that is being covered with beads.  That way, the mirror will not show through in between the beads.  Otherwise, I love this, and how it resembles bubbles.

I love the reflection of my ikat shower curtain in the bubble mirror!

Doesn't it go great?  What do you think of this project?  I love it, imperfections and all!
xxooxoxo
Lia

30 Days of DIY: Day 21 ~ Tropical Shells!

As many of you know, I'm a tropical gal at heart, although I'm stuck in CO.  My living room is filled with jars and vases full of shells.  I spied a bag of these huge shells at the thrift store for $2 and wanted to make some more wall art!

All you need other than the shells at this point is a paintbrush, some newspaper, and acrylic paints.

I chose four colors that reminded me of the tropical oasis that was our beach bungalow in FL.

I applied two thick coats to each shell and let them dry overnight.

Next step is how to hang these suckers up!  If you're a loyal follower, you know I'm always making wall art out of some pretty random stuff and need to improvise on how to hang them up.  So I used my trusty floral wire, wire cutters, and E-6000.  Cut the desired length of wire and glue down the ends generously.  Let the glue dry overnight.

Here's the set of them!

And I hung them up on the little partial top ceiling thingy between the living room and kitchen.  The colors are much more vibrant than pictured here.

Bright!

And there you have it!  A little bit of the tropics here in CO.  I hope you all love this and it inspires you!

xxooxoxo

Lia

30 Days of DIY: Day 20 ~ Whimsical Wire Flowers

 

I spied these multicolored floral wires at the dollar store, and immediately thought of using them to make flowers!

One coil will make one flower's petals...

And another coil will make the center of the flower.  2 coils = 1 flower.  Here's how.

Take a wire and twist it into a figure eight, these are the petals, so make them the desired size.  Mine are about 3 inches apiece.

Keep making more figure eights along side the previous ones.

After 5 figure eights, take the end of the wire and wrap it around the center to hold it in place.

Take the ends of each petal and fold them up a little, to make the flower more 3-D.

Take another color and using pliers, begin to coil it around itself very tightly.  I only used the pliers for the initial coil and used my hands for the rest of it.

Partially done center coil.

Use the end of the coil around the edges and begin threading it through some of the petals.

It will look like this.  Then push that last part of the coil and push it closer to the center portion.  Tuck the end under.

A finished flower!

Repeat for as many flowers as you want to make.  I made a total of five.

I used some clear beading thread to hang these up with clear pushpins.

Now I *finally* have sonmething covering the hideous back of cabinets in my dining room.  I think I need to hang some white fabric there too.  Thoughts? 

xxooxoxo
Lia

30 Days of DIY: Day 19 ~ Frame Your Tiffany's Bag

Woohoooo!!  A new post!  Yes, day 19 should have been three days ago.  However, I have climbed out of my slump and am caught up :)  I give you what to do with those bags that you can't throw away because of the status symbol that they represent.  I need to find a big frame for my Burberry bag next....  But this Tiffany one, I knew would fit in an 8 x 10 inch frame perfectly!

What you'll need:  A bag, a frame.

With the bag open, pull the strings for the handles down so that the handles are not as long.

Fold the bag.  Put it in the frame.

Display it with pride!

How chic is this?  I love it.

Looks even better with the box next to it :)  My gift was the square link bracelet.  My husband bought it for me for my 30th birthday.  It was the sweetest thing he's ever done, because I had begged him for ANYTHING from Tiffany's or anything from a place other than a surf or snowboard shop, for 10 years!!  Do you guys all save things like this?  Or are you reading this thinking I am nutso? 

xxooxoxo

Lia

30 Days of DIY: Day 16 ~ Beachy Glass Wall Art

I'm on a decorating my bathroom kick right now!  I wanted something beach-inspired to hang up too, so I made a trip to my all time favorite place, Dollar Tree!

Materials:

• Wooden shadow box thing
• Glass vase filler gems
• Self-adhesive white drawer/shelf liner (or white paint)
• E-6000 glue
• Scissors 

The grid on the back of this contact paper is so helpful!  Measure out where you will need to cut and do so!  We will cover everything except the back of the box.  Peel and stick!  Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

And complete.  So much faster than painting because you do not have to do several coats nor do you have to let it dry!

Take your glass gems and decide upon a pattern.  

Pick up each gem one at a time, and put a little dab of glue on the back.

Finished result!  I only stood it up to take the pic; I'm letting it dry overnight before I hang it up so the gems don't slide.  This was truly another easy and inexpensive project, that has maximum impact and chic-ness!  I hope you love it too!

xxooxoxo
Lia