DIY Chandelier

So a little secret about myself...... I adore chandeliers. I think that they add instant posh to any room and they are so much fun compared to a regular light fixture. The only real problem that I can see with them is that they can be so expensive. I was searching other DIY chandelier ideas and they were all so great! The only issue is, finding the traditional or ideal shaped old chandelier in a thrift store is not as easy as you would hope. So with an open mind and about $20 I embarked on my journey! I hope you get inspired!

At a local STL thrift store named Value Village I found this........ possibly the ugliest wannabe chandelier I have ever seen in my life. I passed it up when I first saw it, but when I couldn't find anything better I gave it a second look. As it turns out, if you close one eye and squint, the shape wasn't half bad. I purchased it for $2.95. I took it home, ripped out the old wiring, popped out the plastic circles and cleaned it up.

I grabbed a box of old Mardi Gras beads and cut them to the appropriate length that I needed. I glued a strand in between each section of the chandelier using hot glue. Just keep reading.....I swear it will take shape soon!!!

I am obsessed with rose gold right now and I have never seen a rose gold chandelier so I picked that as the color (i used matte). The spray paint was about $4 at wally world. Make sure and be thorough, if you are anything like me finding spots later will make you mad!

In the floral department at wally world they offer boxes of gems for $3. They have several different color options and they already had holes in them. In the jewelry department I found rose gold wire. I used the wire to hang the gems in each of the spaces that the plastic circles left behind. As an added detail I found rose gold colored beads, I used the same method to attach them to the bottom of each circle.

Lastly, I used a cheap lighting kit from Home Depot to give it function. All finished! Hope you like it!

My First Project! Chic Laptop Case

So I saved and saved and then I saved some more and finally got a new macbook! With this new laptop I decided one of the things I would start doing was blogging. So it only seems fitting to start out with a DIY laptop case! I shopped around the web and different stores and didn't find anything that I liked with the function, style, and cost- effectiveness that I wanted. I needed it to be cute but to also protect my new investment. A lot of the DIY sleeves that I found online were super fun, but they didn't offer the protection that I wanted. So, I came up with this project that I think solved all my issues. It was cheap and easy. I hope You like it!

I found a plain black but really protective case at wally world. It had a hard shell outside and a super cushiony inside which was ideal for my needs. It was only $20!

 For about $10 more I got 1/2 a yard of off-white lace, 1/8 a yard of black satin, fabric fusion glue and a set of antique looking buttons. I already had scissors and hot glue at home.

The lace had a really pretty trim that I liked on the end of the fabric so I used the fabric glue to adhere the lace where I wanted it to be on the case. I then trimmed close around the edges of the case. Here is the first layer. I was liberal with the glue since I knew it would dry clear. I added extra glue on the edges so I could tuck the sides of the lace into the seams of the case that way it would look neat.

I added a second layer since I thought the edge of the fabric was so fun. I think it was a fun little detail. I know you can see the yellow case logic stamp on the case, but it didn't bother me enough to do anything. I suppose if I wanted to I could paint it black. Don't forget to trim and tuck the edges into the seams!

It took a couple hours to for the glue to dry completely. Then I used the black satin to fold a bow ( I got the info on how to make the bow on a blog called "A Beautiful Mess", which is an amazing site!), and adhered the bow to the center of the case using a hot glue gun.

For the final touch I hot glued the button right onto the center of the bow. Voila!  Now not only do I have the cute, functional and inexpensive case that I was looking for......but I also have the first post for my blog! I hope you like it! More posts to come! Any questions feel free to ask! Thank You!