DIY Decorative Diwali Candle/Tealight/Diya Floor Stand with supplies at home!

Diwali is just around the corner, and I wanted to make some new fun stuff for decorations around the home. It is our first Diwali, in our first home! This one has to be special, but I wanted to make something versatile, rather than one that would be tucked away for the rest of the year. That's when I came up with the idea of this Floor Diya Stand. It is quick and gorgeous, and will also liven any decor! Once Diwali is gone, it can be used as a cupcake stand for parties!!

Also, this project took me a total of 1 hour 15 minutes, and the end result is SO worth it!

Supplies needed:

• Recycled Cardboard sheets - I used empty carton boxes which I had lying around from when we were painting. 

• Thick Cardboard rolls - You could use toilet paper rolls, paper towel rolls, or even wrapping paper rolls
• Decorative paper - You could use scrapbook paper, origami paper, recycled cardboard sheets, whatever you have at hand
• Laces 
• Glue
• Glue Gun
• Pencil
• Ruler
• Tea lights for decoration
• Rhinestones, or any other items for decoration

Directions:

You can go with any other shape - triangle, circle or a flower for the "levels", but I thought squares would be quickest to make, and I was right. If you have time, you could tweak this tutorial to make any other shape. 

Also, I wanted height, so I made four "levels", you can add or remove to suit your space and liking.

1. I started with cutting out pieces of cardboard. These would make the base and the "levels".
I used the following measurements:

- 10 cm x 10 cm
- 15 cm x 15 cm
- 20 cm x 20 cm
- 25 cm x 25 cm  

Here are the final cardboard pieces. (You can see the paint splatters on most of them!)

2. Then, I started wrapping the cardboard in paper on both the sides. 

 

Then covering it with glitter paper and some fun scrapbook paper. Now, you could go crazy with colors because Diwali is all about colors, but since I wanted to reuse this as a cupcake stand in the near future, I kept it subtle.

 

Here are the final cardboard pieces:

 

3. Now, I should have measure the height and all, but I just ended up using one toilet paper roll as it is, and splitting the paper towel roll exactly in half for the three pillars creating the height.

4. I had Glitter cloth lying around, so I used it to wrap the rolls. You could use some decorative paper fabric, lace, or glitter tape to cover it up.

 

5. Now the glitter shebang starts! Use the glue gun to add whatever decorative laces or tape you want to the sides of the cardboard pieces.

6.  Assemble with the help of glue gun! 

 

 7. Stick on flowers, rhinestones or pearls

And we are done.. TA-DA!

8. Decorate with tealights/diyas/candles or cupcakes! :)

Let me know if you try this. And I would love to see pics of your handmade Diwali decorations, so please do share!

Xoxo

Divya

DIY Color Swatch Art

The wall in front of my table in the craft room had been blank and drab forever. My initial plan was to add a pegboard but husband had a fit at the number of holes we would be making in the wall in the process. Check out the rest of my Craft Room/Study here.

While watching the Fixer Upper series, I noticed some Color Swatch Art in one of the styled houses and literally fell in love with the idea. I knew that this would be the perfect pop of inspiration I needed on my wall, also adding color to the space.


The same day, we were off to Spotlight to get some canvases for the purpose. I grabbed 8 of the 11"x14" ones for 2$ each. (SCORE!) Just look at the transformation!

Supplies needed: 

• 11"x14" canvas - 8
  (Technically, the number and the size of the canvas would depend on the size of the wall you would like to cover with this project)
• Acrylic Paint
  (In the colors you would like to paint, or you could mix up colors to make new ones, totally up to you!)
• Alphabet Stencils 
• Mod Podge
• Pencil
• Ruler 
• Eraser

Directions:

1. I started with creating an outline for the color swatch with a pencil and a ruler. I wanted a 1 cm border around three sides, just because I think that looked better. My measurements of the square hence, turned out to be 25.5cm x 25.5cm. I created these on all the canvases as a guide for the paint.
    
   
2. Then I decided on the color palette I wanted to paint, and started to fill in the squares with the decided colors. I decided on the following shades: Crimson Red, Cadmium Yellow, Cobalt Blue, and made some pastel and neutral shades: Jade Green, Lilac Purple, Light Pink, Steel Grey and a Bright Orange. The painting need not be perfect, so I slapped the paint on!
   
   
   
   
   
3. Once this was complete, I stenciled out the color names on the bottom of each swatch canvas with pencil. I could have spelled out the exact color, but I only wanted to replicate the look and feel of a swatch, so kept it super simple!
   
   
   
4. With black paint I filled in these words. This was the most time consuming and tiring part of the entire project since this needed to be precise. You could use other mediums to do this, but I wanted to paint.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. Once everything was dried up, I mod podged all the canvases to seal and finish them up. This gave them a professional look and removed any major inconsistencies in paint color.
   
   
   

   

Two more to finish, and that's it, all done and ready to hang... love them to pieces! We used 3M Picture strips to hang these canvases. Trying to figure out the arrangement here:

And this is what the final arrangement looks like! They add such a fun vibe to the room and lots of pops of colors - perfect accompaniment to my doodle wall!

Hope these have inspired you to make something fun and colorful for your home! 

Xoxo

Divya

Faux Copper Patina Wall - DIY

I love textured walls, they add so much character and natural depth to the room. When we decided to paint a feature wall in the living room (now renamed as the "Coffee room"), I knew I wanted a copper patina effect on the wall - more patina, less copper.

So, having a genuine copper patina “ verdigris” would be mind blowing, but that would also burn a hole in my pocket. So, the artsy way it was. Excited with a huge canvas, I decided on the following supplies list.

For this project, you’ll need this stuff:

Supplies 

• "Bluish-Green" paint to mimic patina - I used the Dublin Jack from Berger - Inspirations paint since I wanted it more on the side of green than blue
• Brown paint to mimic copper/rust - I used the Pookie Bear brown from Berger - Inspirations paint
• Some brushes for blending
• Plastic bag 
• Craft sponge (optional, but I found it to be extremely helpful)
• White wall paint - I used the Casper White Quarter from Dulux which I used to paint my entire house
• Plaster of Paris (optional)
• Spatula (if using Plaster of Paris)
• Methylated spirit (optional) - I used this one from Bunnings

Basic Technique

A basic faux copper patina research will show you that it requires a gorgeous blend of the brown and bluish-green. So, I began with my primed and painted white wall and masked off the required section.

I knew I wanted darker edges, so I went ahead and painted the edges of the walls with the Pookie Bear brown, and some random parts in the middle to finish off the leftover paint in my brush.

Next, I wanted to get some texture on the wall. For that, we mixed some Plaster of Paris (POP) in the Dublin Jack paint itself. I know it sounds insane, but trust me, it works! That gave me a little more drying time as well. With a spatula, I placed this mix on the wall. When using this technique, it is best to work with little batches at a time. Here is how it looks after the wall was covered. I know, crazy, right? Don't worry, it will all make sense in the end.

Next, to get rid of the "white" in between, I mixed about 10 parts of water to 1 part of Pookie Bear paint (in a rough estimate) and painted the entire wall. I also had some Finnabair rust paste lying around, so I added it on the edges, some spots in between to add to the texture, also to get a direction on where I was going with this.

Here's a close up.  You will notice that different layers already peeking through. We are getting there, I promise! 

Since our base is now ready, we will start to lighten the wall and add more layers. So, to the Dublin Jack, I mixed white. The more the white, the lighter the shade. I went for just about one shade lighter. Blot some light Dublin Jack onto the wall to create cloudy areas and fill in the sparse areas first.

Crumple the plastic bag to make a ball and then smooth some of that out. Remember, we don't want to hide the layers, we only want to add more. Here's how it looks after filling in the wall. Somehow, it still didn't look complete to me in terms of complexity of texture, so I went one step further.

I added some Methylated spirit to a spray bottle and sprayed all over the wall!

After this, I used a craft sponge and diluted Pookie Bear paint (almost 1:10) to distress the wall, and blend in the shades, in the process, also making it look less patchy.

You can see the shades peeking through on different parts of the wall:

I then went and finished off the edges, blending and darkening it with some Finnabair rust paste.

I also sprayed on the left over diluted Pookie Bear on the wall. Remember, there is no right or wrong here, just how darker, or lighter you want to go.

I had some Dublin Jack left on my tray, so I diluted it and sprayed it on the wall to finish the project. The key to recreate the complexity of copper patina is to make as many layers as possible.

After removing the masking tape, here's how the final wall looks like. I am in love with it!! It's almost like a piece of art :)

You could add bigger patches of shades of brown, but I am happy with how it looks. And, yes, those are my pallet wood tables.

 

Also, I wanted more patina look than copper anyway. My new favorite room in the house!

So, off to come up with a new project, let me know if you will be trying this out!

xo. Divya

Recycled Coffee Bean Sack Cushion - DIY

I purchased some coffee bean sacks from a warehouse in the middle of nowhere awhile ago. I had made some table runners for my craft stall using a few, and still had some sitting in my garage just waiting to be transformed.

Ever since my folks got us a (mind blowing!) Breville Coffee machine, I wanted to transform our formal living room to make it an informal fun place to hang out! My transformed pallet wood IKEA tables already added so much character to the place, but I knew I wanted to make some recycled coffee bean sack cushions to add to the couch (in the process also transforming some existing sad-looking cushions I had bought ages ago). Here is how they turned out.

These recycled burlap coffee bean sack cushions require only one coffee bean bag, simple stitching (but thank God mum and dad helped!) and can be made in no time!

DIY Coffee coasters in under an hour!

Coasters are super functional for sure, so why not make some fun ones for your home? Coasters of all kinds can be made with scraps you have right at home, and personalized to your liking!

I had purchased these chipboard coasters from Bunnings ages ago (which I had completely forgotten about!), so thought why not make them into some fun coasters that I can use around the house! You could use cork coasters, or tiles, or wood if you like.

DIY Powder Room Refresh!

We had been contemplating this for awhile, and there seemed to be something missing in the Powder Room even though the walls had been painted, including my faux Carrara marble design wall. Adding texture is the easiest way to create interest in a small room, and hence the idea of the marble. It has 2 coats of varnish to give it some sheen.

DIY Rug Makeover

Do you have a dingy sad-looking rug sitting somewhere in your house? Instead of tossing it or hiding it, you might try giving it a new look with the help of painter's tape and acrylic paint.

Here's what my rug looked like before the start of the project. Sad, faded, and crying out for a refresh:

Since my rug had a crisp contemporary pattern, I did not have to remake a design with the painter's tape, but instead filled in the existing design with paint. Instead of spending the money on a brand new rug, painting it was a good solution.

See the difference between the painted and the non-painted areas:

Using standard acrylic paint in cobalt blue and black, I gave the rug one coat of paint. 

It took me only a few hours to finish this project, but love the pop of color! 

And, here is how it looks in its original space. What a massive difference!

Are you going to give your rug a makeover? Let me know if you decide to give this a shot!