DIY Coasters

Hello! If you actively use Pintrest, or browse DIY blogs, its likely that you've seen sharpie crafts. YAY SHARPIES! But really, they're a lot of fun and versatile. The most common sharpie craft you'll find are sharpie mugs and plates...but one day as I was browsing my local craft store, I found these ceramic tiles. DING! A light bulb went off...sharpie coasters! What! This is a really easy craft that is fun and creates something chic, and useful.

First off, all you need are a few select supplies. Ceramic coasters, felt guards (like for the bottom of furniture), rubbing alcohol, and sharpie paint markers. 

These paint markers must be oil based, this goes for any ceramic sharpie project. If it is water based, it will wipe right off and all your hard work will be gone. 

Before you begin your master doodling, soak a cotton ball, or paper towel, in the rubbing alcohol and wipe the coasters clean to remove any excess dirt. While the alcohol is drying do some practice doodles to decide what you want to do on your coasters. Do you like my monster fish? Next step is really simple...draw on your coasters! My gold was a little runny so I had to give it a few good shakes, and press the tip a couple times. Its a good idea to press on scrap paper to get the paint flowing.

While your coasters are drying cut up some felt guards for the base of your coasters.You can use pre-cut ones as well, or anything else that will prevent the coasters from making the awful "nails on chalkboard sound" or scratch your furniture. Make sure they are completely dry before flipping over the coasters; add a felt guard sticker to each corner. 

TA-DA! My beautiful coasters laid out. You can do anything you want! Names of people, names of drinks, hearts, smiley faces, stick figures...what ever you want. Make it your own. I just used the twine from the original packaging to wrap it up. These would make a cute gift for a basket! But I will be keeping these for myself...tee-hee.

Wonderful Canvas Quotes

When Garret and I first moved into our apartment (our first apartment together, and both our first time moving out from home) it was barren. Scary barren. Being an apartment we aren't able to paint the walls so the only solution would be to use some awesome decor. Now, Garret and I are both in our early 20's and work retail, and like most of America we are on a not so fun budget. Buying decor can result in totals upwards of 100, 200 or 500 dollars - depending on your taste. Luckily, I am always bored and looking for new things to do to keep busy, and what is better than creating my own canvas quotes? Spoiler alert, I am about to sappy. Garret and I have this thing where we say "I love you," "I love you more," and "I love you most." Being the nostalgic sap I am, I thought "I love you most" would go great on a canvas. So here is my tutorial for a wonderful canvas quote!

What you'll need:

Canvas (any size - I used 18 in x 24 in)

3 craft paints 

1 top paint (preferably something neutral)

Sticker letters

Paint brushes

For the canvas I used Artist's Loft Back Stapled Canvas that was $14.99; for the sticker letters I used Mambisticks Black Alphabet & Numbers Uppercase that were $7.99.

For my 3 craft paints I used craft smart brand, colors Coral Reef, Robins Egg Blue, and Pink, each were only $0.69; for the top coat I used Devine Color brand Lightening paint, the 8 oz. was $4.99. Keep in mind that this paint, and these letters, can be used again (well the letters left after this project). 

First cover the canvas in the 3 paint colors. I did multiple layers of each color to ensure they all showed through the letters. I didn't paint all the way to the edges because I like how it looked almost like the words were fading out.

Wait for the paint to dry to the touch, when you put the letters on you don't want them to stick to peel the paint off later. Now, the important part, pick what you want to your canvas art to say. After this one I made another canvas with the quote from E. E. Cummings, "Lovers alone wear sunlight," and I used tones of yellow and orange instead of the pink and blue. Decide where you want your font centered, I did mine to the right, but you could do it any way you want! 

So, silly me, I forgot to take a picture of the next step! Your're going to cover the canvas with your top paint. I blotted mine, and used a sponge brush to spread it around. This created a translucent effect so behind the top coat you can still see tones of the colors. I let the paint dry for about 30 minutes to an hour then started the peeling process. If you wait until the paint is completely dry you risk peeling more paint off than intended and that could ruin the effect of the art. You will get a little paint on your hands, but it won't be too bad. To avoid leaving big ol' thumb prints on my canvas I used my nail to nick up a corner of each letter then proceeded to pull the whole letter away. 

This is my end result...

First Post!

Hello hello to anyone and everyone who has stumbled their way here! This is my millionth time starting a blog, but this time I am going to see it through! I am pretty excited to start this. Prior to this I always wanted to start a blog about EVERYTHING. But...I would start one and forget about it, or stop trying because I felt like I just could do it. This time around I almost didn't start a blog again, but I warred over it in my head for a week and did my research and now it is happening! I want to share all my little projects with the world. I love to do little DIY projects that can either be used for the home, or given as a gift; and in-between I like to make some food (who doesn't?) I  hope you enjoy what is to come!


And to add a little piece of my life, here is to adventure!

This is me and Garrets fur baby, Lana. This was taken when we first got her, she was only 9 weeks. She is 16 weeks old now, and a little bigger...but I love this photo! It is so stinking adorable.