fri-diy – Sew Bake Decorate

Fri-DIY: Pumpkin Spice Season

Published on September 4, 2015April 12, 2016 by juliavalley2 Comments

NOTE: I AM NOT TRYING TO RUSH YOU OUT OF SUMMER MODE.

But pumpkin spiced things are on their way and I am a-okay with that!

Instead of rushing out in the cold to your nearest Starbucks, why not try making a batch of latte’s for you and your friends in front of the fire? Mmmmm okay, I’m getting excited about the Fall now.

Whether it’s brewing up a hot pot of tea or a fireside apple cider cocktail, warm beverages with big cozy sweaters after a day raking up leaves really fills me with Autumn joy. Inspired Taste has come up with this homemade pumpkin spiced latte recipe, and I’m thinking it’s going to have to be on my to do list this season. Or y’all can try it out first and let me know how it goes!

But don’t worry, I still plan to eat as much watermelon and sit by the pool as many times as possible before it starts to cool off. Lucky for me it’s basically Summer all year long here in Texas!

Fri-DIY: A Marble-ous Obsession

Published on August 14, 2015January 24, 2017 by juliavalleyLeave a comment

Photo Credit: A Beautiful Mess Blog (abeautifulmess.com)

I can’t get over it. It’s taken over my life – from kitchens to, now, necklaces! No matter how much carrera marble you throw at me, I find that I will love it even more than I had before.

Elegant, bright, and beautifully natural, this stone has taken over the design markets. But not without a cost. So when I spotted this marble necklace tutorial from A Beautiful Mess I was thrilled to find it was made from cheap clay! Buy some clay, swirl it together, and throw it on a chain; you’ll look like a million bucks. My kind of Fri-DIY. Have a great weekend sporting this chic accessory!

Fri-DIY: Lace Love

Published on August 7, 2015April 12, 2016 by juliavalley1 Comment

I am beyond obsessed with quality DIY sewing blogs. Women who make fashionable pieces by hand, especially awesome, simple items, are my constant inspiration. I’ve been following Geneva from A Pair and A Spare for a while now, and she puts together detailed tutorials for beautiful clothes I always want to make!

While scrolling through her projects, I stumbled across this lace pencil skirt and instantly put it on my sewing to-do list. Simple, sexy, and surprisingly versatile, I am pumped to try this project out. Let me know if you try this project or any of the other’s on her site this weekend! WARNING: You will be sucked in by the amazing projects you will find on this site… Happy weekend bunnies!

Fri-DIY: Prickly Pin Cusion

Published on July 17, 2015January 24, 2017 by juliavalley1 Comment

Photo Credit: A Beautiful Mess - Laura Gummerman — Photo Credit: A Beautiful Mess – Laura Gummerman

So I stumbled upon this DIY just yesterday and could not believe how adorable it was. Pins + Pin Cushions = Cacti looking object… how has no one put them together before? Well, they hadn’t, and thank goodness A Beautiful Mess made it happen.

By just using some small pots and felt, you can make the least threatening cacti plants you’ve ever seen. Truly, I already own a pin cushion for sewing that I love, but I would make these planters just for decoration. They remind me of something I would find in Chinatown with my friends with little googly eyes and a cheery grin that has no purpose other than to be cute. So I think this project could go either way: decorative or useful.

Try this one out this weekend and let me know how it goes! Thanks again to A Beautiful Mess for the inspiring post.

Fri- DIY: Modern Triangle Shelving

Published on July 10, 2015January 24, 2017 by juliavalley1 Comment

This week I found a simple DIY brought to us by the Whimsy Darling blog. These triangular shelves double as beautiful artwork and storage space for, well, more artwork! I love that you can hide little trinkets inside, or stack books and plants on top of these versatile shelves. Because they are meant to be sort of an art piece themselves, you can make as many or as few as you would like and then rearrange them time and time again to get a cool, new look. Snap a photo and let me know how this DIY goes for you!

Thank you to Whimsy Darling for posting this lovely DIY! All photos and ideas were taken from their site.

Fri-DIY: Modern Furniture on the Cheap

Published on June 26, 2015January 24, 2017 by juliavalley6 Comments

I’m not sure if you know this about me or not, but I am truly obsessed with mid-century modern furniture. If it has tapered legs, warm toned wood, and a sleek shape I am sure to love it. Over time, Megan and I have worked on furnishing our apartment with new, solid pieces of furniture to replace anything we had acquired back in college, with the exception of the coffee table. Ridiculously enough, it was probably the piece of furniture in the worst shape. Staring at the wood composite slathered in black “stain” that was peeling and bubbling over most of the top, I was driven to figure out something to do about it.

Nicely enough, my parents were doing some Spring cleaning, and they offered to ship me a beautiful modern table my dad had made and designed years ago! I love the new look in our space, and it’s really awesome to have something that was made by my dad. He’s made many of the beautiful tables in my parent’s house, and it’s really a blessing to have gotten to inherit one already!

Before this generous gift was bestowed upon me, I had worked on figuring out a mid-century modern fix for our sad coffee table. I found this incredibly simple coffee table design by A Pair of Pears and would have jumped right into building if not for the gorgeous alternative coming into my life.

This coffee table is not only stylish and simple, it’s inexpensive to make too! What’s even better is that it’s almost fail-proof for a new furniture maker (like me and pretty much everyone else I know in their 20’s). With a piece of wood, four tapered legs, some hardware, and stain, you will be revamping your living room in no time!

Thanks again to A Pair of Pears for sharing this post and for the incredible idea!

Fri-DIY: Cupcake Bouquet

Published on June 19, 2015April 12, 2016 by juliavalley6 Comments

Every birthday deserves cake. And if you’re like me, I think every birthday deserves flowers too. There’s something really luxurious about having a fresh bouquet on the dining table, livening up the whole room. Well, this Fri-DIY might not include a scent, but 52 Kitchen Adventures shows you how to make a cupcake bouquet that is perfect for a sweet birthday girl!

It’s such a simple idea, which makes it the best kind of DIY in my opinion. By using the Frosting Tips tutorial I put up last year to make the rose cupcakes, all you have to do is stick toothpicks into a foam mold and arrange your “flowers” into shape. If someone was to give me this as a birthday present, I think it would go down in the books as one of the cutest gifts ever received. It would also be personal because I love cupcakes and flowers… but really, who doesn’t? What a thoughtful gift for anyone!

If you have a birthday coming up, grab some supplies and get going!

Fri-DIY: Drinking Liquid Gold

Published on June 12, 2015January 24, 2017 by juliavalley9 Comments

Though I’m not one to say that tea is not equivalent to gold, because I think it is, I’m not talking about tea in this instance. This post is about these simply chic gold mugs you could use for your godly tea that I found on Garland of Grace. Ever since I saw these beauties pop up on my Pinterest feed I’ve been wanting to ditch all of my assorted mugs and swap them out for some shiny new white ones so I could complete this DIY. Since that’s seriously ridiculous, I have not, but that doesn’t make me love this project any less.

Perfect for a gift or just as a pretty addition to breakfast time in your house, these gold painted mugs are stylish and beautiful. Make note that they are not dishwasher safe, so either come up with some ingenious idea to make them safe (and tell me!) or hand wash to keep them shiny and gilded!

P.S. I promise I have other ideas to share that aren’t just for transforming your mugs… but these last two Fri-DIY projects have been pretty gorgeous, don’t you think?

Thanks again to Garland of Grace for sharing this lovely DIY and so many others like it!