wednes-diy

DIY Holiday Ornaments

November 2nd, 2011 / Posted by fp julia / Permalink

It’s November and holiday season is officially upon us – so why not get a head start on your holiday shopping and decorating? When it comes to both of these things, there’s nothing better than something handmade – it gives it that special little personal touch that can go a long way. I can’t get enough of these clear Christmas bulbs because there is so much you can do with them – and they make great decorations or little stocking stuffers for your family and friends :)

For those of you who are coming to our Cambridge Crafting Party on Saturday, we’ll have the supplies to make these cute little ornaments, but for everyone else here’s a tutorial!

IMG 0033 DIY Holiday Ornaments

What you need:

Clear Christmas bulbs – I got these at A.C. Moore but you can also order them online from Amazon!

Gather whatever other embellishments you like! I used yarn, glitter, fake feathers, fake flowers, glue and a little plastic figurine I had lying around. But the best part about these is you can literally do almost anything!

deer DIY Holiday Ornaments

I’ve had this little plastic deer sitting at my desk for a while now, and for my first ornament I knew I wanted to make him a little snow globe :) I gave him a bed of green yarn that I used fabric glue to attach to the base of the ornament. The deer fit perfectly into the ornament – I just dabbed a little bit of glue on his feet and stuck him right in! For the finishing touch I added some white glitter to give the appearance of snow when I shake it.

IMG 0039 DIY Holiday Ornaments

I would love to have a whole tree decorated with ornaments like this – with little woodland creatures and scenes living inside!

IMG 0042 DIY Holiday Ornaments

For my next ornament I filled it with some fake flowers and added some glitter for a little sparkle :) I think this would look really pretty with real flowers too – dried flowers would look so nice!

IMG 0044 DIY Holiday Ornaments

bulb DIY Holiday Ornaments

For the third ornament I used different colored fake feathers – I like how this one looks different as it turns at different angles, and almost like tie dye :)

IMG 0062 DIY Holiday Ornaments

IMG 0063 DIY Holiday Ornaments

As a finishing touch, I love the idea of hanging the ornaments with neon thread!

If you guys have any other ideas for what you can do with these clear ornaments, I’d love to hear! I’ve seen some pretty neat ones made into mini terrariums…

3 people like this post.

Leave a Reply

Wednes-DIY: Instagram Photo Wall

July 13th, 2011 / Posted by fp julia / Permalink

Today’s DIY project was inspired by this post on apartment therapy. Free People has an instagram account and I love so many of the photos that our home office girls post there – it’s like our little visual diary. I LOVE the idea of printing out our photo memories and making them into wall art!

 Wednes DIY: Instagram Photo Wall

What you need: I used white poster board and double sided tape, and printed our photos out on a regular printer.

 Wednes DIY: Instagram Photo Wall

I picked photos at random and just started lining them up in rows :)

 Wednes DIY: Instagram Photo Wall

And that’s it! I think this would look awesome framed and hung up in our office :)

frame Wednes DIY: Instagram Photo Wall

8 people like this post.

Leave a Reply

wednes-diy

June 22nd, 2011 / Posted by fp julia / Permalink

 wednes diy

a couple of weeks ago, inspired by a tutorial on honestly…wtf, one of my coworkers was inspired to bring back her love for making friendship bracelets, and created this masterpiece :) personally, i’ve only ever been able to do the straight line across or the V pattern, so i had to know how to do this.

 wednes diy

for this tutorial we’ll learn how to make a smaller scale version of the bracelet, and once you get the basic steps down you can start experimenting with more string and lots of colors!

 wednes diy

what you need: embroidery thread, scissors and tape.

click read more to see the full tutorial!

read more…

28 people like this post.

Leave a Reply

wednes-diy

May 25th, 2011 / Posted by fp julia / Permalink

i’ve got lots of great diy inspiration for you all today so lets get right to it!

240230 1995647567507 1132998821 2330080 3861021 o wednes diy

one of our readers made this bike lock inspired by our dog leash DIY! i love the fabrics she used…this is a great way to jazz up your bike lock, just wrap different scraps of fabric around it!

 wednes diy

another reader, autumn, sent this awesome project she made for her environmental perspectives class, in which they were required to create an interior or apparel item made entirely out of recycled materials.

she made an up-cycled outdoor chandelier using an old wire basket, recycled glass jars, various necklaces and chains found in her dresser, a coat hanger to hang it up and a little bit (or a lot) of creativity! she spray painted the wire basket to match the necklaces and coat hanger, used some wire to hang the jars from the necklaces, filled the jars with collected sand and seashells then topped it off with a votive candle…..perfect for an outdoor summer garden party!

 wednes diy

speaking of outdoor parties, i can’t get over these string chandeliers from the blog wednesday!

s wednes diy

everee.wednesday.collage4 wednes diy

the seem like they would be so much fun to make:

 wednes diy

check out the tutorial here.

and here’s a similar project from shannon south that uses lace doilies! beautiful.

5342915587 0e4d683cfc b wednes diy

5343449748 e85fc3bb68 b wednes diy

hmmm…which project to try first…

23 people like this post.
  • But I have a question, is Free People a free trade organization? I would to continue buying your jeans.

  • Holly Jean says:

    I love all these ideas =) I am currently creating the doily.
    But I have a question, is Free People a free trade organization? I would to continue buying your clothes =)

  • Christina says:

    I gotta try the doily chandelier! -C.C.

    refashionstatement.blogspot.com

Leave a Reply

wednes-diy

May 18th, 2011 / Posted by fp julia / Permalink

cover big boy wednes diy

a few of you have asked about the amazing rope swirl tapestries in our new store displays and you’re in luck because one of our display artists put together a tutorial on how to make them! it looks like such a fun rainy day project.

what you need: a large piece of cardboard,  black marker, scissors, rope in various sizes and colors, neon twine, pompoms.

11 wednes diy

2 wednes diy

3 wednes diy

 wednes diy

use a variety of different colors and textures to create a fun swirl – these purple and orange tassels are just another piece of string woven in with the others!

 wednes diy

4 wednes diy

 wednes diy

 wednes diy

once you’ve got it down, you can make a whole bunch in different sizes and colors, to create a whole wall tapestry just like the ones in our stores :) i can’t wait to try this!

72 people like this post.

Leave a Reply

wednes-diy: featured artist rachael rice

May 4th, 2011 / Posted by fp julia / Permalink

if you love dreamcatchers as much as i do, you must check out the work of rachael rice. she’s a very talented artist who makes dream catchers that are beyond anything i’ve ever seen. and that’s just one thing she makes – she is extremely creative and was kind enough to share some of her projects and how she makes them for our blog!

r1 wednes diy: featured artist rachael rice

r2 wednes diy: featured artist rachael rice

once you have the basic steps down for making a dreamcatcher, it becomes much easier to experiment and get a little crazy with them! here, rachael demonstrates how to make small ones using bangles and string – these would be adorable for key chains, bag charms and hanging in your car!

5678574574 f5b0e2a343 b wednes diy: featured artist rachael rice

r3 wednes diy: featured artist rachael rice

r4 wednes diy: featured artist rachael rice

r5 wednes diy: featured artist rachael rice

r12 wednes diy: featured artist rachael rice

once this part is complete, attach feathers or any other embellishments using string!

r7 wednes diy: featured artist rachael rice

rachael has also been making more conceptual dream catchers using pieces of cardboard or thick paper, vintage doilies and hand-made paper feathers!

“Doily is a funny word. What I love about them is that they’re like lace mandalas, and whenever I hold one I think that some woman’s hands probably created it. I like collecting them, and you can find them for next to nothing at yard sales and antique shops.

Pieces of cardstock, cardboard, or even stiff paper can be a home for a lost doily reincarnated as a dream catcher.  Paint or collage on your disc (I used silver) and glue your doily on top!”

5677322393 41ce8ffc9d b wednes diy: featured artist rachael rice

“To make the feathers, start with some heavy paper and use crayon or oil pastel to create designs.  Add any collage elements you’d like (you can use FP catalogs!) - be random, don’t think too much.  Paint over those designs with watercolors, or thinned out acrylics or tempera paints. Let dry.  You can also do the back!  Cut feather shapes out of the paper: I made a stencil and just traced it with pencil.  Use markers to make feather designs, or just doodle – you can’t do it wrong  :) Attach the feathers to your dream catcher with some embroidery floss,  simply hang them where you like!”

r8 wednes diy: featured artist rachael rice

5677886144 748a08dc1c b wednes diy: featured artist rachael rice

r9 wednes diy: featured artist rachael rice

amazing! on the right is an example of another one she made called “dark star.”

and last but not least – i think these are my favorite – lace quartz pendants!

5677875256 c7661768d8 b wednes diy: featured artist rachael rice

“Vintage lace and doilies find new life when cut up and glued onto the tops of quartz crystals. That way we can wear pretty rocks without having to drill holes in them!  Simply cut a strip of lace or doily and use a glue gun or regular Elmer’s to attach it to the top of a pendant.  A little jump ring or piece of wire run through the holes makes it ready to hang from a piece of leather cord, or a chain.”

5677315151 48635fae9f b wednes diy: featured artist rachael rice

5677317769 5929fddc42 b wednes diy: featured artist rachael rice

r13 wednes diy: featured artist rachael rice

be sure to check out more of her amazing work on her website. thank you so much rachael!!!

32 people like this post.

Leave a Reply