Along with hanging little prints and keeps sakes all over my walls, I also like to display them on my desk too. I thought this easy DIY would be a cool option to show off your cards or art rather than having everything in frames.

THE SUPPLIES
• A straight razor blade or xacto knife (I used both).
• Polymer Clay in any color, I went with translucent.
• Acrylic paints
• Paint Brush
• Painters Tape

01. First (and this is always important when working with clay) you want to condition your clay by kneading it until it is nice and soft.
02. Shape it into a square or rectangle.
03. Pop it into the freezer for 15-20 minutes.
04. Remove from the freezer and use your blade to slice off the edges so it looks like a cool geometric rock and all of the edges are flat and smooth.
05. Use the straight razor to make a slice through the middle of the shape, use a card or piece of paper to make sure it fits in the slice well. You want to cut half way through your shape.
06. Once you’re satisfied with your shape follow the instructions on the wrapper and bake!
07. After your shape is cool use the tape to mask off sections and paint away! You will probably want to paint at least two coats, and always make sure you let the paint completely dry in between coats.
08. Once the paint is all dry carefully remove the tape and your ready to decorate!

This week I thought I would share a really easy and minimalistic wreath that I made for my apartment this year. It’s perfect if you’re like me and like modern/simple decorations. Also I like this wreath because you can leave it up after the holidays are over too!

THE SUPPLIES
• Floral wire
• 16 gauge flexible wire
• Wire cutters
• Sprigs of your choice, I found this pretty bunch of eucalyptus at my local grocery store.

01. Cut a piece of the 16 gauge wire to make a ring. I cut mine a little more than 2ft.
02. Twist the ends together to close off the ring.
03. Cut pieces of the eucalyptus, but make sure not to leave too much stem on the sprigs.
04. Cut small pieces of the floral wire (no more than 3in a piece), wrap it around the sprigs and the wire ring. You may want to attach the sprigs to the ring in more than one spot.
05. As you continue to attach more sprigs to the ring make sure to overlap the sprigs a little so you don’t get any open spots without leaves.
06. Attach sprigs all the way around the ring, and hang it up!

See, super easy and like I said, I think it will look nice any time of year. Hope everyone enjoys the rest of the holiday season, I’ll be back after the New Year (yikes! This year went by so fast!).

As Christmas and the New Year quickly approaches, I thought it would be fun to design a calendar that I could share with you here!

THE SUPPLIES
• Printed calendar you can download here ( 8.5″ x 11″ version ) or here ( 13″ x 19″ version )
• Cutting mat
• 1/4″ dowel rod
• A couple rolls of your favorite washi tape ( hot pink is always a winner )
• Colorful tissue paper ( metallic paper found at Michael’s )
• Ruler
• Xacto knife
• Scissors
• Embroidery floss or bakers twine
• Colorful yarn
• Pom pom makers ( all sorts of sizes at Michael’s! )
• Double sided tape
• Scotch tape

01 Cut your dowel rod down to be about 1.5″ than the size of the calendar on both sides.

02 Use the washi tape to spice up the ends with a little color, wrap the tape around carefully a couple times and cut the end.

03 On the reverse side of the calendar put double sided tape across the top edge. Carefully wrap the paper around the dowel rod and attach. Then use the scotch tape to really seal down the edge.

04 Measure about 26″ of bakers twine and tie to the dowel rod. Cut off any extra twine

05 Cut a 3″ section of tissue paper and make sure it is still folded in half. Cut pieces about 1/4″ wide leaving about 2″ from the folded section. Continue this all the way across.

06 Unfold the tissue paper where the crease is and roll across the uncut section. Then twist the uncut section carefully and tightly trying not to let the cut pieces become tangled.

07 Fold the twisted section in half and twist together leaving a loop at the top.

08 Make some fun pom poms! I’ve tried several methods ( check the fork method out here ) but I like this method best using the handy dandy little pom pom makers.

09 Cut a 12″ section of bakers twine and tie a piece of fringe to the end, then tie your poms poms or other fringe you made, there are no rules go nuts and hang as much or as little as you want!

10 Take your decorations and tie them onto the dowel rod. Hang up and enjoy!

If you don’t have the supplies or time to make this guy but love it I’d be happy to make it for you! Check out my other design here.

Happy ( early ) New Year everyone!

Now-a-days you can’t go anywhere without seeing studs on something, but if you ask me it’s a whole lot easier to spend a couple bucks on a few hundred studs and embellish several things you already have in your closet than spend a bunch of money on just one new thing. With that in mind, I thought I would do a little round up this week to get your creative juices flowing and show you all the different ways you can spice up your wardrobe.

Images ( not including studs on their own ) can be found here : 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10

I love this shop for supplies, they have just about any shape or size you could ever want! Studs included in this post can be found here : 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5

PS I made a pair of studded loafers here earlier this year. Check it out for full instructions!

This week I thought it would be fun to show you how easy it is to make your own rubber stamps and how versatile they can be! Not only can you make fun stamps with icons on them, but you can also make larger stamps and turn them into greeting cards, wall art, business cards, markers for calenders and pretty much anything you can dream up.

THE SUPPLIES
• A linoleum block, rubber carving block or rectangular eraser (for smaller stamps). All found at Michael’s
• Speedball linoleum cutting tool
• Pencil
• Printmaking ink or a plain ink pad will work too, both can be found at Michael’s
• Roller
• Something to stamp on!

01. I drew up a bunch of fun little sayings and made a printable template that you can use for your stamps here. If you choose to, cut out one of the templates (for this DIY I chose to go with the “here and now” lock up) and use the pencil to firmly color in anywhere there’s type on the back of the template. If you would like to make your own design you can draw directly onto the linoleum block.

02. Lay the template printed side up on the block and trace around the design with the pencil, transferring the design to the block.

03. Use the cutter to carefully cut around the design. Or if you would like you can just cut the design out and have a reverse effect (like in the “you’re swell” card below).

04. Once you’ve cut out all of the negative space you’re ready to get printing! Using only a small amount of ink, take your roller and on a dinner plate or some palette paper roll the ink so that it is nice and even and that it will cover your whole stamp. Then roll the ink over the stamp and press the stamp onto your card. I always try to only press down where the design is so that any in on the negative space doesn’t transfer to the paper.

05. Make sure you let the ink dry all the way before you do anything with your print!

There are so many ways to use your stamps, and it’s an easy way to make several prints at once!