Apr 28, 2013

DIY love!

I have a love/hate relationship with Pinterest, not gonna lie.

I mean, we all know it's awesome. It has the best ideas, the prettiest projects, the yummiest recipes, the cutest outfits.

But it also makes me want everything
Well, almost everything. Sometimes people pin stuff and I'm like wtf?! No.

But let's be real. I have like 37 different ways I want my closet in my future home to look. And like 62 different wedding dresses and engagement ring styles. Not realistic. I know this. But it's still a fun, guilty pleasure. 

I think the main thing I actually use Pinterest for is recipes. Because sometimes they're actually fairly easy (and that's my main goal when cooking...quick and easy!) And usually pretty yummy, too! I've found some of my go-to meals on there that I make time and time again.

But one of my absolute favorite things about Pinterest is all of the amazing DIY's on there. I get so excited every time I find something I want to make and I'm all like omgIhavetogetstartedonthisrightnow!! But let's be honest...I've made like maybe 2 or 3 things so far. Not a great record. One day when I actually have both time and money, I will get to more (I hope!)

So here are the things I've actually tried so far:

The letter photo art for my main squeeze. I saw this pin a long time ago and wanted to make it, but I just couldn't decide for who. I had the idea to do it for my boyfriend, but I knew there was no way he would like just a regular black and white, architecture themed one. But once I found some pictures of letters using nautical/water themes, I knew that touch would make him love it!


You can find the tutorial I used for the letter photo art here.

The photo canvas and bottle makeover. The next two things I tried were also presents for my boyfriend. When he moved into his new place, he desperately needed some items to put on the built-ins, and he had zero pictures in his house. These were both things I wanted to do for myself, but I realized that trying any of my crafts out on him first is a great idea! (As long as I can make it male-appropriate and not at all girly ha.) I am a perfectionist, but if I practice the projects for him first, he will never ever notice if I make mistakes (or if I decide there are things I would change when I do it for myself...) 

His mom recently got remarried, and all the brothers (one of whom is also his roommate) were in the wedding. So I got a copy of one of the pictures they had taken after the wedding and made the photo canvas for him to put on his shelf in the living room. The second thing I made for him was a repurposed bottle. I used to bartend, and I collected a lot of our more unique liquor bottles to do something with. I redid a Bulleit bourbon bottle for him, and I used a combo of the tutorials listed below to do the bottle.

These are both projects I want to do again...but I'm glad I tried them on him first, because I definitely learned some things to do different the next time!


You can find the main tutorial I used for the photo canvas here and the two for the bottle are here and here.

Sorry for the crappy photos of the finished products...since all of the gifts were for him, I don't have any of them at home to take better, more blog-worthy photos of!

These are just the few projects I have attempted so far, but my DIY board is constantly growing, and I am trying to decide just what my next craft will be!

Have you been crafty with any of your DIY pins? What are some of your favorite DIY ideas that you want to try? 



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