This post could also be titled "Another reason why Dollarama is awesome." Or, "feeding craft addictions since 1992."
Several weeks ago while trolling through my usual list of blogs, and came across this wonderful cardboard box decor tutorial from How Joyful.
Joy's boxes are custom jobs with some pretty fabulous wrapping paper she found. Love the labels too!
Last week I was wandering through Dollarama ad found some "duct tape" in a Zebra ish pattern. I use the quotes since I'm relatively certain it's not real duct tape from the brand. And I say Zebra ish since it's stripey but not quite like a Zebra. Whatever. I bought a roll of it and decided to spruce up my winter accessories box in the coat closet.
Our very utilitarian front hall coat closet. Yep. The jean machine bag is holding my roommate's two gerbil balls that try to escape frequently.
Step 1: Find some awesome tape at Dollarama and a box that needs a make over.
Step 2: Start taping. Depending on your design, you can line it up to continue the pattern. I did the front and both sides and left the back uncovered. I figured the other three sides were more likely to be seen in the long run.
Step 3: Run out of tape as you get to the last row that needs to be done. My previous self saw this coming since the roll was pretty thin, but for some reason, did not buy a second roll.
Step 4: After returning to Dollarama to discover that they have run out of the design you're using and won't be getting more for another two weeks, pick up one of the two neon rolls that are left. Using this as a complimentary colour (like you had planned all along), do the top roll of the box. The neon is a bit see-through, and even with two layers you can still see thick black lettering through it. No matter, since that will be on the sides. Also, use your previous gift wrapping job experience to make the corner fold nicely to look flat and neat.
SHABAM! Leopard and Neon winter accessories box.
If you look closely you can see where the tape meets, but I don't think it affects the overall pattern.
Looks nice eh? It's something a little fabulous in the closet.
I actually received this package in the mail last week, but it needed a post all its own.
One day, while trolling the web, I heard my mail arrive through the door. I wandered over to throw out the pile of ads and credit card offers, and was surprised by this.
Oooo, a blurrily addressed envelope, perhaps for me?
That's right. An awesome thank you from Aunt Peaches for a Valentines card I sent her.
It's amazing what you can do with hot glue and a lot of confetti. Her original tutorial is posted here on the Elizabeth Banks website, and her redux to create confetti cake toppers is posted here on her website.
And clearly I did not take any pictures of the cards I made for the swap. That would have been far too easy.
First of all, the floral crown! It's finished! And here are the crappy photos of the build and finished product!
Step 1:
Try to clean your room, and then get board and insist on going for a walk to Dollarama to get some fresh air and some exercise. While there, be inspired and gather your materials.
-6 pack of plastic head bands (multi-coloured no less, black, brown and "blond"),
-Green ribbon, and
-Pack of stick-on paper flowers.
-Have a glue gun and sticks already.
Step 2:
Using your glue gun (badly in my case), wrap your ribbon around the head band. You can either glue and secure as you go along the entire head band, or just mega glue the bottom ends like I do. I found that if you wrap the ribbon tightly, it didn't shift or move once finished.
Pro-tip--> Keep a lighter handy, and burn the edges of cut ribbon to seal them and stop fraying. Burn carefully, they will melt a bit.
Step 3:
Start hot gluing those puppies on! I recommend picking a "front" of the head band, and face the flowers towards that direction. Try to get them fairly close together, or not. Whichever you'd prefer for your crown. There were some instances when the flower became detached from the foam sticky base it was on, so I just added more hot glue. It got a little messy back there, but this will be fixed momentarily.
Step 4: Time to cover up that mess in the back. Hot glue ribbon over the foam sticky pads of the flowers. This will cover the mess and further strengthen the flowers on the head band. I used smaller pieces of ribbon with slits cut in the bottom half to fold over themselves. This, in theory, creates a curve in the ribbon and will allow it to sit a little flatter. I'm sure you can attempt to do this with one piece of ribbon instead of many.
Step 5:
Wear it. Try to fiddle around with strange backgrounds, like an art poster purchase from the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts almost 4 years ago. Also, attempt to actually wear outside the apartment.
There are several floral crown tutorials out there, I know. Lana Del Ray bringing the trend back, along with the summer festival season last year has cemented the floral crown in the young'uns' wardrobe. To add to the repertoire of links to check out, may I recommend,
Threadbanger's DIY Frida inspired floral crown tutorial (They're back!!! Soooo excited) (one could argue that my crown's construction is very much based on this tutorial),
and of course, the lovely and wonderful, Aunt Peaches's tutorial for a coffee filter fascinator. Yep.
As some of you may remember, I mentioned that I was going to New York City soon. Well, that was last weekend, and it was awesome. It was great to see some of my old classmates, and we got some amazing tours of the New York Public Library's collection of photographs, and the Museum of Modern Art's preservation facility. I also only took two pictures the entire time I was there. Quite pathetic in comparison to the first time I went to New York really, but what can you do? Here they are, by the way.
