Stay At Home Nation...: DIY

Showing posts with label DIY. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Simplify Life ~ How to Detangle Doll Hair

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Oh how beautiful Barbie's hair is when you first take her out of the box......

and before you can say to your daughter,"Pick up all of those little Barbie pieces,

shoes, combs...etc", you notice the massive mop atop Barbie's head. Looks like she had a rough night

of partying or something. Sydney has brought me numerous dolls, asking me to help get the knots out, but

if you have ever combed/brushed synthetic hair, you know it is nothing like human hair.

So I started asking around & one of my friends told me about this nifty little trick that works

AmAzInGly!! Thanks Jenn!

Grab your dollies & lets help Barbie bring her sexy back.

(haha I can't believe I just wrote that! lol)

You Will Need

spray bottle

wide toothed comb (or really any comb or brush should do)

fabric softener-liquid

(which I grabbed a bottle at the dollar store, because if it didn't work, then I was only out $1)

doll(s) with tangled, messy hair

OK this is super simple trust me, it's a no brainer.

Put some liquid fabric softener into a small spray bottle, I grabbed the one I use with water when giving haircuts to the fam. I added a little water(like I turned the faucet on then immediately back off), so it was really just a splash. Honestly, I think you can skip this step, I just didn't know, so I was experimenting. It worked perfectly, so there was no need to try anything different. So you hold the spray bottle about 5 inches away from the doll & lightly spritz. You do not need to saturate the hair, just dampen it. Then comb through. I combed the same way I do my daughters(& my) hair, by starting at the bottom & brush to the ends, then go up a little from when I started before & comb to the ends, and continue this until you are at the top of the head & can brush through all the way to the ends without a snag. If the comb skips or snags(sorry don't know the correct term) then give it a spritz of the liquid fabric softener. Now you can style as desired & let air dry.

How simple is that?!?

I love this for the dolls because now they can have nice, smooth hair again.

Please feel free to pin this, & comment below if you try this~ I'd love to hear how you like it!

Thanks for reading!

Much Love

~Iffy~

Side note=*I know the above doll is a Bratz not a Barbie, but they all have the same type of knot-prone, synthetic hair, don't they?

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Happy Father's Day!! Cute & Easy Last Minute Card for Dad

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Happy Father's Day to the awesome father's out there! Especially to my husband,

my dad, my brother, my "Papa"& my father-in-law.

Look at this cute & easy card for Dad, Grandpa, or any father you know & love.

I was inspired by one I saw on Kiboomu

I made some of these for my 20month old, Michaela, & my 2 yr old nephew to give

the "fathers in their lives".

It's great for little ones who can't write yet since it gives such a personal touch.

First trace a hand onto construction paper(or craft paper)

Fold it over and cut out.

Now you have 2 hands.(I did this 3 times so grandfathers get one too)

Cut a long strip of paper and write your message of "I love you this much!!"

Glue the back of the end(right side) to one of your cut out paper hands

then accordion fold it and when you get to the end of the left side,

glue that to the other hand.

I used white elmer's glue.

Hold them to dry for a minute and then open them to dry the rest of the way.

I made the mistake of keeping them closed to dry and when I opened them they were stuck....

I had to tear them some to open all the way. (Learn from my mistake)

Write your message on the front & the inside of your hands however you like.

I like to put the year on my cards, so on these I put it on the back.

So simple, & so cute. Now go make some with your kiddies to give to dad =D

I'm off to make a coconut cake for my husband so he can enjoy it after dinner.

Much love

~Iffy~

Thursday, June 16, 2011

DIY Tile Coasters & My Favorite Things Link Party~ #3

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So Father's Day is Sunday, have you made something for the "fathers" in your life yet?
If not, here is a simple yet useful ~~craft~~ gift that you still have time to make.

DIY Tile Coasters-great idea right?
Perfect for even the hardest man to give to.
I came across this idea over at living with lindsay
she has a really great blog you should check out if you haven't already.

I didn't take pictures through the process because,
well I made them before I started blogging so
check out lindsay's tutorial here for more details & great tips!

Basically,
Paint your tiles with a layer of ModPodge
then lay your craft paper(which is cut slightly smaller than your tiles) ontop,
smooth down & let dry.
Then apply your ModPodge top coats(personal preference as to how many).
Stick felt pads to corners of underside &
you're done!
A fabulous gift your dad, husband, or any other father you know will sure to love.

Please come link up to My Favorite Things Party #3

Rules to my Party:

1-Show off your favorites(crafts, recipes, DIY, anything you have posted on your blog that you love.

& Link up (2 entries allowed)

2- Paste my button (located above or at the top of my sidebar) into your entry post(Mandatory)

3-Follow Me if you like my blog-not required but it would be nice =D

Post a comment letting me know & I will follow you back!

4-Leave me a quick comment just to say hi so I know who's partying with me this week

5-Check out at least 1 other entry & comment on their post & let them know you saw them at my party.

Entries will list in reverse order-giving everyone a chance to shine at #1.

And don't forget to enter my Giveaway from Sprinwood Soaps

(you have until Sunday 6/26/11 at midnight est to enter)
Join my weekly link party starting Fridays!!

Linking Up With

Sunday Scoop

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Lovely House Rules on A Canvas ~ My Favorite Things Link PARTY

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Here is my latest creation

This was so simple to do and I absolutely adore how it turned out.
I know I'm a little late jumping on the subway art bandwagon,
but that's OK because I do things on my own time.
More so when I want to, not because everyone else is doing it. I had ordered a picture on canvas about 2 years ago, but when I received it, there was a bunched up area of protective coating. They replaced it with a perfect photo canvas & told me to keep the messed up one.
Since I knew I was not going to use the image that was on it, as I had a replacement & since this one was damaged.

I held onto it thinking maybe one day I could do something with it.

So today was that day.

First I carefully peeled the protective coating off of the canvas. This in turn lifted the photo along with the coating.

I then painted the whole canvas with 2 coats of white acrylic craft
paint,

letting it dry 3 hours between coats for good measure.

While the paint was drying, I typed up our house rules using different fonts and sizes for each.

I even put a few words in different colors to make them stand out.

I was inspired to do a subway art "rules" canvas by Stephanie over at Full of Great Ideas .
I printed my house rules directly onto
tissue paper(thanks Stephanie!).

I cut the tissue paper just shy of a piece
of 8.5" x 11" printer paper so it wouldn't
jam in the printer.
I folded the tissue paper over & taped it to
the back with a piece of
clear packing tape.

I then cut out my rules and paired them up as to
how I wanted them to read.

Next I arranged them on the canvas to get an idea of where
I wanted them placed.

I poured some Mod Podge into a small bowl and with a foam brush,

I painted a light layer of it onto my canvas working a section at a time.

Little by little I painted a row of Mod Podge, then (while still wet) I laid the first row of rules down.

I continued this until my canvas was covered in rules.
(Be sure to smooth the tissue paper down as you go)

I let this dry for about 20 minutes and then painted the canvas with

two top layers of Mod Podge
(letting it dry 30 minutes between each).

This helps protect your canvas from peeling up.

Be careful not to brush over the tissue paper too much, as it is delicate

and could tear & smear.....like mine.

Which I'm totally fine with as it adds a distressed look.

After the canvas was dry, I decided to add some ribbon around the edges.

I really love this sweet, romantic print on the ribbon.

I started at the bottom of the canvas, and glued the ribbon around the trim with my hot glue gun.

I glued a little at a time and laid the ribbon down then gently rubbed the ribbon to smooth it out.

I continued this until I made it back around to where I started.

Then I cut the ribbon and glued that down too.

I wanted to add a little something to the front of my canvas as it felt a little boring to me.

So, I cut some ribbon the width of my canvas, & added a bow to that.

I had never made a bow before so I just improvised (please don't critique my bow as I just made it on the spot & had no idea what I was doing)

It's not perfect but I like how it turned out, so I'm happy.

You can check out my tutorial on how I made the bow here..

So I then glued the bow to my ribbon with
hot glue and

then hot glued the ribbon across
the front of the canvas.

You could do this step first(before the ribbon along the trim)
to avoid the edges from being frayed.

Isn't it a nice little touch?

I also had some small white artificial flowers that have been sitting in my craft drawer,
so I cut off 3

& then hot glued them down onto my canvas.

I found that the closer you cut them to the base of the flower, the flatter they sit....I know common sense right? I thought I had cut them short enough until I stuck the first flower into the hot glue. See the one on the left is a little tipped?

I think the flowers add even more of a feminine feel to it.

With all the little imperfections from the wrinkles in the tissue paper,
to the fray of the ribbon,
I love it because it's one of a kind just like my family.

Just lovely, isn't it?

So now it's your turn, link up to My Favorite Things Party

Grab my button code below:

<a <span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">href</span> ="http://<span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">stayathomenation</span>.<span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">blogspot</span>.com/"   target="_blank"><<span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">br</span> /> <<span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">img</span> <span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">src</span>="https://lh5.<span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">googleusercontent</span>.com/_s6_<span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">yhANkOsU</span>/<span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">TdlASWLyXEI</span>/<span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">AAAAAAAAAyA</span>/<span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">dIViXRVEoGg</span>/button.<span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">jpg</span>" alt="Stay at Home   Nation"/><<span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: yellow; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; ">br</span> /> </a>

How to Join My Party:
1-Grab the code to my button above & paste it into your entry post
2-Show off your favorite things(crafts, recipes, DIY, anything you have posted on your blog-But
Keep It Clean!)
& Link up below (2 entries allowed)
3-Follow Me if you like my blog-not required but it would be nice =D
4-Leave me a quick comment just to say hi so I know who's partying with me this week
5-Check out at least 1 other entry & comment on their post & let them know you saw them at my party.
Entries will list in reverse order-
giving everyone a chance to shine at the #1 spot.

My party will be open all week, so tell your friends~
because the more the merrier!
Please help me spread the word about my blog as I will have some really great giveaways once a month, beginning in June, so be sure to check back often!
Thanks for stopping by!

~Iffy~

Partying with