Tag: DIY

DIY Ariel Seashells Tutorial

KaylaLeave a comment

Learn how to make this beautiful mermaid top for less than $15!image

What you’ll need:

  • Bra or bathing suit top (preferably in nude or purple)
  • One 11×17″ piece of craft foam
  • Scissors
  • Hot Glue Gun
  • E6000 Glue
  • Rhinestones
  • Pearls
  • Purple Paint in varying shades
  • Silver Glitter paint (optional)

First trace the shape of your bra or bathing suit top on the craft foam to ensure the foam will cover the top. I added a scalloped edge to the larger side as shown below. I drew two smaller shapes as well, all with the scalloped edge. When we’re done, all three pieces will be stacked together to create the final piece. Also note the lines I drew. These were cut and layered on top of each other to create the curved structure.

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See the fully cut out and scalloped pieces below.

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Next, hot glue the slits, placing one layer over another. It should make a nice curved shape. Once all three have been glued, stack them on top of each other and glue them together. It’s important that each shell faces a different way (as shown below). Otherwise they won’t fit well on your top!

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Now it is time to paint! This is where your creativity will really come in. I painted each shell (front and back) in one shade of purple to give it a great base. I then went in with a darker purple to define the edges and the shell lines to connect the dip in the scallops. I painted a brighter, more vibrant purple on the inner part of each circular piece. Lastly, I painted silver glitter paint on the edges of each shell, the very center corner and the lines. See below.

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Home stretch! Now you want to add TONS of sparkle! I love these AB rhinestones from Walmart because they’re cheap and they have so much sparkle. I also purchased some flat backed pearls from Hobby Lobby. I tried to concentrate the embellishment toward the middle. I prefer using E6000 for rhinestone work, HOWEVER, I will caution you to only use in a well ventilated area! This stuff is STRONG and is known to cause cancer when inhaled…

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Finally, it’s time to attach the shells to the bra/bathing suit top. E6000 doesn’t dry instantly but has a strong hold. Hot glue dries quickly but can sometimes peel off. I used a mixture of the two to fix the shells to the bra top. I used E6000 toward the center of the shells and then hot glue around the outside to quickly secure the edges. I also went through with hot glue and added more pearls and rhinestones to the center of the bra top to give it a seamless look.

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And tada! You now have your very own, thrifty and beautiful Ariel inspired mermaid top. I’d love to see pictures if you made one yourself! Tag #PartyByAPrincess with your projects, email me at kayla@partybyaprincess.com or share in the comments below.

 

 

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Dance Party Sparkle Letter Tutorial

KaylaLeave a comment

We’re in LOVE with the look of these sparkle letters! They’re so thrifty and easy to make, learn how to spell out words for your party theme.

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You can purchase these letters from Hobby Lobby for $2.99 each. They are cardboard and thick enough to stand on their own. Occasionally, they even have these 50% off! But it’s rare 😉

First, lay the letters face down, so they should look backwards to you. Spray paint them in your base color, we chose black. Let them dry overnight.

Next paint Modge Podge on the unpainted side. Use a generous amount. Sprinkle on your chosen color of glitter and then shake off the remaining glitter. For added security, you can add another layer of Modge Podge over top to keep loose glitter from falling off.

And voila! You have your own set of adorable letters to add sparkle to any occasion!

DIY Tulle Ball Tutorial

Kayla1 Comment

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Tulle balls are so easy and cheap! Plus they make an adorable accent to any centerpiece or girly party themed decor.

I recycled an old spool from some half inch ribbon I recently used up. I ripped the two larger circles off to create two flat donut shaped pieces of cardboard. To make a tulle ball you simply wrap the tulle around as shown above until all of the cardboard has been covered up. The thicker the better!

Once complete, you carefully cut the edge around the outside circle, be careful not to lose the end of the tulle! Run a small bit of tulle, maybe 6 inches or so, in between the two pieces of cardboard, without completely pulling the tulle off! VERY IMPORTANT! Tie it securely and then slide the pieces of cardboard off.

Trim the tulle to ensure it’s all the same size and you’re done! Glue these to dowel rods or colored paper straws or hang from the ceiling with fishing line, tulle or ribbon. The possibilities are endless!

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The bigger the cardboard the bigger the tulle ball. I was able to make 20 out of one single roll of $3 tulle and it really only took an 30 mins. Such a quick, cute and thrifty decoration.

DIY Maternity Nurse Gifts

KaylaLeave a comment

In preparing for the delivery of our little princess, it has felt like a never ending list of to-dos! Clean this, wash that, pack this for the hospital, leave that at home. So many lists!

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One of the things I really wanted to do was make little gifts for the nursing staff. Nothing too big of course, because with a new baby we are on a budget. But still something sweet and individual for the people who would be taking care of me and my precious baby girl for the short time we’re in the hospital.

My aunt is a nurse and when I asked her opinion on the matter she said anything chocolate is a big hit and, of course, little individual gifts are so appreciated by the staff.

I decided to make little baggies with two types of chocolate, Reeses and MnM’s. I purchased the candy from Walmart for less than $10, and still had plenty leftover for those late night chocolate cravings.

I opted for Individual Portioned Baggies (these Great Value Brand bags to be specific) since I already had them in my cabinet and then designed labels to attach to them. These bags are actually the perfect width of a business card, so using them to potentially promote a business in the future may come in handy! Just staple your card to the top and go, but that’s a topic for a different blog post 😉

While I know, without a doubt, that we are having a girl, I figured some readers may be having a boy or may not know at all (kudos to those moms who can wait until birth to find out, the suspense of that would kill me!) may want other color options besides pink. I have included the FREE printables for pink, blue and yellow if you would like to recreate these for your own use.

PINK Hospital Tags
BLUE Hospital Tags
YELLOW Hospital Tags

Once printed, I cut the labels out, folded them over and stapled them to the bags. Super easy and quick! All together, I made 20 little baggies in less than 30 minutes.

DIY Ballerina Cupcake Topper Tutorial

KaylaLeave a comment

20150119_212757Nothing is more girly than a ballerina themed birthday! In this tutorial, we’ll show how we made these adorable silhouette cupcake inserts for a Prima Ballerina themed birthday party. To get started you’ll need:

  • Pink Tulle
  • Lollipop Sticks (purchased from Hobby Lobby)
  • Cricut Explore Cutting Machine (or similar product)
  • Hot Glue Gun
  • Your choice of 12×12″ Cardstcok (I chose light pink)
  • Rhinestones (optional)

I purchased cardstock from Hobby Lobby and used a svg file I created in Illustrator to cut out the ballerina silhouettes. Click here to download the PDF file I used. *Note: this is saved as PDF, if using with Cricut, you will need to save it as a svg or as a jpg in order to upload it.

Utilizing my Cricut Explore cutting machine I was able to cut out the ballerina shapes very quickly! (I am not endorsed by Cricut in any way, shape or form, I received the machine as a Christmas present and LOVE it!) After a little trial and error (the cardstock ripped on the tiara and hands the first time), I was able to successfully cut out the shapes using the “Light Cardstock” setting.

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Next I used my hot glue gun on low temperature to secure the lollipop sticks to the back of the ballerina shapes. Make sure you glue the stick at least halfway up the shape for support. You don’t want a floppy ballerina!

Once glued on, I then cut two little inch long strips of tulle. I placed a small dot of glue in the center of the figure’s waist (right where the top of the stick was). I secured each piece of tulle on the glue and then creased and folded it over until I had a tutu textured look. I overlapped the front and back piece to give it a more uniformed look. Lastly, I added another small dot of hot glue to the front for a rhinestone. After all, you can never have too much sparkle!

Your daughter can steal the show at her birthday with our Prima Ballerina themed printables (all designed to match this same silhouette design). Click here to see the listing on Etsy. Enter coupon code BALLERINABLOG to save 10% on your order!

 

DIY Disneybound Anna Tank Tutorial

KaylaLeave a comment

For my best friends bachelorette party, we took a trip to the happiest place on Earth. First day was spent at Magic Kingdom with the second day in Epcot for the Food and Wine Festival. This was the perfect opportunity to Disneybound and I knew exactly what I wanted to make.

FB_IMG_1437590970051-1My Anna inspired tank top from Disney’s hit movie Frozen, was super easy to make. Using a $3 tank from Wal-mart, I designed the adventure wear corset pattern to print on a dark t-shirt iron on transfer. I embellished the top of the tank with gold trim from Hobby Lobby with a simple stitch on my sewing machine, though I am sure fabric glue would work well too if you prefer not to sew.

10616230_10152236763405518_3299362655513915289_nThe shorts were a thrift store find (love Plato’s Closet) and I ironed the designs on using the same dark t-shirt paper. The short designs were definitely more tedious. I cut out the designs with a razor knife and the whole process took me about an hour.

I had just found out I was pregnant the week before this trip which meant I was super paranoid about riding the bigger rides. So what better to do while my group was riding the new Seven Dwarf Minetrain, meet Anna and Elsa of course! Both of which loved my outfit by the way.

shoesTo really put my outfit over the top, I tried my hand at painting some character shoes to wear. I purchased the shoes from Hobby Lobby with a 40% off coupon, so they were only about $5.

I drew out the design in pencil first and then painted using fabric paint. After the paint dried, I coated them in modge podge and clear coated them to preserve the paint. Overall, they held up pretty well, despite the rainy weather. 

If you want to download the Anna design printable, visit my Easy store: https://www.etsy.com/listing/205265210/frozen-anna-design-diy-iron-on-printable

Pin the Nose on Olaf

KaylaLeave a comment

We’ve had incredible success with this specific game at our Frozen themed parties. Many people have asked how we made our Olaf. It is really quite simple!

I used two white posterboards (purchased from the dollar store). I essentially used this template to sketch out the pieces. Then trimmed them out and played with different layouts until I was satisfied. Once happy with it, I glued the pieces together. The eyes, front circles and mouth were all colored in with a wide chisel tip sharpie. I cut out the stick arms and head piece and then laid them on a piece of wax paper to paint them brown. The carrot noses were cut from orange paper and stuck on with sticky tack (so they didn’t damage Olaf). We will need to use this again for several more parties.

Paint sticks, dowel rods or a yard stick could be used in the back for reinforcement. We simply taped it to the wall and it stayed just fine. Here is a picture of the completed project. Of course, he looks a little funny without the nose, but the whole idea is for the kids to put the nose in the correct spot! Hope this helps spark some inspiration for your Frozen themed party.

Pin the Nose on Olaf
Pin the Nose on Olaf