DIY: New Years Top Hats!

My sister and I look forward to New Year's because of the awesome hats we get to wear. Last year we decided to try different sets of hats every year. When I stopped by Party City yesterday, they were nearly cleaned out and none seemed to stick out to me. Then, I stopped by Ahhs! and saw the cutest top hats covered in glitter. However, I decided that I didn't want to pay $2.99 just to get glitter all over my hair, face and hands. As comedian Demitri Martin says, "Glitter is the herpes of arts and crafts!" (LOL!)

I also realized that I could make these top hats myself! It's so simple!

All you'll need is:

plastic cups, scissors, hot glue, piece of cardboard, black permanent marker, and anything you would want to decorate your hats with (i.e. feathers, sequins, glitter

Directions:
1. Trace the mouth of the cup on the piece of cardboard for the rim of the hat.

2. Cut the bottom half of the cup.


3. Take your permanent marker and color the cardboard circle and cup. Put them aside for a couple of minutes to dry.
4. Take the top half and glue it to cardboard circle.


5. For the best part: Decorate your hat!



6. Finally, take some string and tape it to the bottom of the hat.
Now you have your hat for New Years! See you all in 2011! Cheers!

Holiday Blues

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I can’t help but be a bit sad that Christmas is over. Perhaps this is because I know that lurking in the shadows is the end of another year, decorations must be taken down, and that I soon have to go back to school. Boo!

It’s unbelievable how fast time flies! Can’t believe 2010 is almost over. My family and usually just watch a bunch of movies on TV and then a few minutes before, change to Dick Clark’s Rockin’ New Years Eve to watch ball drop. My sister and I usually buy some cute New Years Eve hats and throw some confetti into the air. lol.
There is a lot of things awaiting next year and a lot to be grateful for this past year.

What do you all have planned for New Years?

12 Days 'till Christmas

Free People Sweater, Forever 21 skirt, ALDO wedge heels

An outfit I put together a while back I felt that it was more appropriate for a holiday season post. I also finished with finals and I don't think I have written constantly for the entire exam like I did last night. Let the festivities begin!!

How about you all...have you taken part in any holiday parties?

Don't think I have it in me...

Forever21 leather jacket, flannel, and jeans; Ecote ankle boots

Instead of studying for finals I thought I'd make a post at 2:36 in the morning. It's not really the most inspired outfit...

I've been getting so frustrated about how distracted I've been and can't seem to bring myself to really sit down for long periods of time and study! Arg... If someone can spare some concentration and brain power, it would be much appreciated!

Here's to another week. Cheers!

P.S. Totally realized that my entire outfit is nearly all from Forever21... never happened before. Gotta love that store!

Back To the Basics.

vintage black cardigan, target long-sleeve, h&m jeans, Ebay altered boots

Fell in love with these boots on Ebay. Originally they were a bit too fierce for me with a bunch of leather straps and studs wrapped around it. After snipping them off, they were perfect! Perfect height too! *sigh* You can never have enough black shoes!

DIY: Paper Evergreen Christmas Trees!

I was having a conversation with the bf and we realized that we seem to miss the holiday season because by the time we get home for our winter break, there is about a week left before Christmas. Since everyone is studying for finals, you wouldn't even get a hint of the holiday season walking down the street here. On top of that, the Christmas lights I ended up putting up around the windows, ended up not working!! (Mind you, they worked last year.) In light of all of this, I've grown even more determined to decorate more and have gone on a rampage trying to find money saving ways to decorate my apartment to put me in the holiday season before I go home. *Sigh*

Anyway, I came across a great idea on Martha Stewart's website. Gotta love Martha! The pictures above are how my paper trees turned out. They are really simple to make. For directions click HERE.

Some other TIPS:

1. If you don't have skewers, I used some chopsticks I had lying around from past Chinese take-out delivery.

2. You can use green origami paper instead of construction paper and if you run out of construction paper, just paint some green like I did.

3. For the base of the Christmas trees, I used soda bottle caps. Just attach with some hot glue and for some stability stick some wrapping tissue paper around the stick.

4. Also, I added made some snow by chopping up some white wrapping tissue paper. ;)

5. Oh, and the golden tips of the trees can be made from some gum wrappers or gold origami paper. You can also just paint some paper and paint gold. Or buy some gold beads.

18 more days 'till Christmas!

DIY: Knit Headband

Perfect solution to keep your hair down when it's windy out and your ears warm during those chilly days!

Materials: knit beanie (Forever21 sells some great beanies for a great price), scissors, needle and thread, some ribbon or left over scraps of fabric, one safety pin

Directions:

1. cut horizontally at the top and bottom of beanie (save the scraps)

2. cut the circular strip and measure what is a comfortable size for your head

3. hem the bottom and top of beanie

4. sew up the two ends to make the long strip into a circular

Decorating your beanie:

There a number of ways you can decorate your beanie depending on your mood. All you need is those left over scraps of fabric.

Here are some ideas...

NOTE: To make a rounded flower just take a small strip of fabric and twist it in a circle. After you are done making your decorations, just put attach them with a safety pin so they can be easily removed!

Here are a few other ways you can wear your NEW knit headband!

From upper left corner: with your hair down, in a bun, with a ponytail, as a turban (to do this pinch the headband and pin it with a safety pin), with a white bow, white flower, knit bow

side view shots

I spy- MY- diy!

photo courtesy: Jenni (of I SPY DIY)

Uber excited because I just recently found out that Jenni of I SPY DIY mentioned me in her most recent diy roundup post! :) Check it HERE. Thanks Jenni!

I hope you are all having a great Veteran's Day. To all the Veteran's and soldiers out there fighting for our country--THANK YOU!

DIY: Magazine Bowl

Here is a cool piece that can be used either for loose change, jewelry, or anything miscellaneous! I came across this DIY on a website for a magazine about "crafts and green living ideas" called Esprit Cabane. There are several cool projects from this website that I want to do. For directions click HERE.

All you need is: an old magazine, a bowl to be your mold, parchment (to placed over the bowl), and...

NOTE: I used the ruler to make it easier to measure out the strips. To do this, just wrap a page of a magazine around the ruler.

I didn't have parchment so I used some paper towels. lol.

TIP: You might want to mix some of the glue with water to create paper mache and glaze the bottoms and inner parts of the bowl to make it sturdier.

I hope you are all enjoying your Sunday and keeping dry. It's raining really hard here where I'm at.

Cold Wars

The weather up here in the Bay Area has been so unpredictable. During the week we will have 70-80 degree weather then all weekend it will rain cats and dogs. I hope you are all enjoying more consistent Fall weather.

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