diy stamped leather tie clip

11.29.12

Hey hey, holiday lovelies, we’re back with another installment of our Make and Give series, this time for the dudes! Mr. Lovely has recently introduced me to the wonderful world of tie clips, and I was kind of stoked to try making one. Apparently all the classy fellas wear ‘em.

If you want to make one of these beauts for your man friend, you’ll need:

a tiny bit of thick leather (I used my scraps from this project)
craft knife
a blank tie clip (you should be able to find them for about $1 at your craft store
strong glue
a letter and number punch set like this one
a hammer

Start by cutting your leather to the size and shape of your tie clip. Next, choose a word or phrase to stamp on your leather and stamp it in using the metal punch set and a hammer. We experimented with a few choice words.

Finally, glue the leather piece onto the tie clip, ensuring that it’ll be right-side-up when the tie clip is attached to the right side of the tie.

Make it, give it, and watch your dude be stoked. Be sure to come back next week if you like this project — we’re doing an enamel version! xoxo

DIY Holiday Photo Backdrop

11.28.12

Lots of you lovelies have been asking for the low-down on how Mr. Lovely and I put together the holiday backdrop for our Christmas cards! So today we dish the dirt, and you’re going to love how simple it is. Basically, it’s just about running around your house and gathering anything festive or any props that are in the color palette that you’d like. Things that we used:

pre-lit mini Christmas trees
blankets (gray and green)
rugs (white
tissue paper
scissors
clear thread or fishing line
fun props (suspenders, hats, scarves, Christmas decorations)

I should also say that Mr. Lovely just built me a crazy-awesome photo backdrop stand out of PVC, so that’s what we used to hang the blanket behind us. (We’ll do a full tutorial on that project soon!) But you can just as easily hang a blanket on a wall or suspend it from something up high (ceiling, tree, very tall cousin). After the back blanket was hung, we laid one out on the floor, set up our trees, and covered their bases with rugs and crumpled tissue paper. See the photo below for the what’s-what.

Really, the only “DIY” part of this was the tissue paper. We crumpled balls of it and hung them from the ceiling with fishing line to look like clouds. We also cut up a few sheets into tiny squares to throw around like snow. We then spent hours vacuuming said snow out of every crevice of our apartment. Worth it? Duh. Yes.

After you’ve got your backdrop all set up, you’ll need either a photographer or a camera with a tripod and timer/remote shutter. We took every one of these photos with a timer, which was a little tedious, but also made us laugh hysterically. So there ya go. We put the photos on our Christmas cards, but we’re also known for having photobooths at our holiday parties, which is where you could make this project pull double duty. If you set one up, send me a photo! And for more of our photos and some outtakes, check out Lovely Indeed’s Facebook page. xoxo

make and give // diy leather bow belt

11.27.12

I’m so stoked today, because it’s the first installment of a super-fabulous holiday series that I’ve got for you, stuffed with DIY gift tutorials for everyone on your list: Make and Give!

If you’re like me and haven’t started shopping yet (or would prefer to give something handmade anyway), boy did you ever come to the right place. Check back often over the next few weeks, because you don’t want to miss any of these gems. And to top it all off, you know I love a low-cost DIY, so they’re all pretty easy on the pocketbook. (Today’s cost me $2.)

So we’re starting with something that would be perfect for your sister or best friend (or a kiddo, if you want to make it in a mini size!). We’re getting all kinds of fancy and making a leather belt. Boom. You’ll need:

leather strip 30″ long and 1/2″ wide
leather scrap 6″ long and 1/2″ wide
leather scrap 2 1/2″ long and 1/4″ wide
scissors
leather punch
screw-back button stud
strong thread & needle (and thimble, if you wish)

FYI, definitely see if you have a leather store nearby and check in their scrap section. They gave me my leather for free and I bought the hardware, which was my only cost. I had the leather punch and sewing materials at home.

Start by trimming your leather to the specified sizes. Keep in mind that these measurements are the ones I used for myself — I wear a size 8 (Gasp! I told you!) and a small top, and this belt fits comfortably around my waist. You may need to alter the length, but no other measurements will need to change.

Once your long piece is trimmed, punch a hole on one end large enough for the button stud to fit through. On the other end, punch a small hole and attach the button stud.

Sew the 6″ piece into a bow by folding both ends in toward the center and securing. Sew the remaining piece into a loop.

Insert the bow and the belt through the small loop and arrange the bow so that it hides the button stud when it’s fastened. The small loop should keep the bow taut in place.

Make it and give it! Merry Christmas! xoxo

diy copper bud vases on poppytalk

11.14.12

Are you guys ready for my next Poppytalk DIY? I have to say, it’s a little bit brilliant. Mostly because it’s the easiest thing you’ll do all week. I think there are literally three instructions, and BOOM! You’re done. And you’ll look awesome. And so will your new copper bud vase. Head over to Poppytalk for more photos and the full tutorial. xoxo

let’s neighbor

11.8.12

I’m so excited to be able to share with you some awesome news! I’ve been working on a new project recently, contributing to an awesome new blog called The Neighborhood. It’s all about connecting with neighbors and taking things back to a simpler time when neighborhoods functioned as friends and even family, taking care of each other and participating in each other’s lives. I really love the whole idea, and I’m so excited to be a contributor!

You can look to see a good number of posts from me there, and today we’re starting with my first, which is a free printable! It’s all about bringing back the old school calling card, in a new and awesome way. I’m super stoked on this one, so head over to read the whole post and get the scoop. Thanks so much for being supportive of this new endeavor — I’m really, really excited about it. xoxo

diy fabric pompom garland

11.6.12

Our new bathroom needed just one more touch to finish it off, and if you ask me, a garland is almost always the answer. I decided to use a technique that you might remember — I made these same pompoms for our moms’ corsages at our wedding! Today though, they’re getting strung up in front of our mirror so it looks like double the poms for half the work. Brilliant, no?

Gather your materials:

fabric
scissors
strong thread
needle

To make a pompom, cut five or six circles of fabric, about 2-3 inches in diameter.

Thread your needle. Take one circle, fold it in half, then in half again. Insert the needle into the folded point of the circle. Repeat this with all six circles.

After all circles are strung onto the thread, re-insert the needle into the original circle at the same point. Pull taught, knot your thread, and snip. Ruffle all of the fabric to make the pompom even.

Repeat that process until you have as many pompoms as you’d like! Then, string them onto a long piece of thread by inserting the needle through the center of each.

Hang your garland somewhere fun! There’s something about a pompom that just makes you wanna smile. xoxo

diy chalkboard quote

10.30.12

Those of you who are hardcore Lovely Indeed readers might remember our engagement shots from waaaay back in the day! Well, the bathroom in our new apartment needed a little something on the walls, so I dug out the chalkboard that we used in our photos and put something new on it.

I dug through my Pinterest board of quotes, searching for something cool that might be inspiring to look at every morning. Now, I’m neither an artist nor a calligrapher, but I decided to excuse myself for my inadequacies and just let it happen! I wanted really saturated colors for the board, so instead of plain chalk I used soft pastel sticks. And the awesome thing about it was that they’re really forgiving and erase easily (and I definitely did a lot of erasing).

The only tip I have for a DIY like this one is to sketch lightly first and have a slightly damp rag ready to correct any mistakes. Once you’re happy with the design, go over it with a heavier hand to darken it up.

I kind of love how it turned out! And it’s a pretty good reminder to look at while I’m brushing my teeth every morning. xoxo