Marimo Love: Housing!

Hello Lovelies!

I've decided to just make this an ongoing thing, since it's easiest to write about stuff you care about!

[If you want to read my earlier post where I went into detail about these marimos click here.]

My Marimos are being shipped to me now! I was way too excited to wait for them to be here, and made a quick trip to Michael's to get their housing situated!

I bought everything I could think of to make my own version of the cute little Marimo tanks I had seen on Etsy, YouTube, and other websites.  

Here's what I bought:

• "Stone granules", which is basically just sand only slightly thicker, in a light tan color
• Seashells
• A Wreath made of sticks
• Two spools of ribbon
• Four glass jars

 In total it was about $13, but could have been a lot less if I had used items I already have around my house.

Here is a picture of the "Stone Granules".  It came with way more than I needed.  I made four little dwellings and only used about half.

Here are the seashells and the little wreath.  To be honest I do not know what it is made of.

I bought two spools of ribbon because they were only 50 cents a piece!

My four little glass jars.

Step two, after acquiring everything, would be to wash EVERYTHING.  Something is going to be living with this stuff, so you want it clean!

Washing the glass and shells...

Step 3:  Add the sand or stone, or whatever you have for the base of your "tank".  If you don't have a base, skip this step! :]

Adding some stone granules to more of my jars...

Step 4:  Add the shells and any other decorations you may have!

I'm still not sure if this stuff is safe but I only added a bit to each tank.  I cut the twine holding it together and started to unravel it.

This is what the unraveling looked like.

This is my set up for another tank!

View from the top.

This is the first one I set up.  I LOVE how this one turned out!

This one is going to be a present for my cousin! I love the little jar it is in!

This is what my finished jar looks like, with the exception of water :]

The heart present jar!

The largest jar :]

I love the ribbon on this one....it reminds me of the bows my grandma used to tie into my pig tails when I was a little girl!

My favorite one! 

I love love love how doing these myself turned out.  I'm so excited for the little marimos to get here!

I put water in these tanks, but chose to use bottled water.  I've read that you can use tap water, but that it's a lot better to use filtered water!

♥Riley

P.S.  Show me your marimo tanks! I'd love to see them!

How-To: Engagement Ring Holder!

Once my best friend's engagement party was over and done and all there was left to do was pack away leftovers and chat, she realized that she did not know what to do with her engagement ring.  We joked about it and found a solution.

When I went home, I started working on a little holder that she could use when she wasn't wearing her ring, whether for sleep, showering, or cleaning. 

This craft is very simple and cute, and makes a great present. 

To read about her engagement part, click here!

What you will need:

• Small frame
• Flowers, buttons, pegs, etc.
• Glue
• Paper
• Scissors
• Pen

I spent under $5 on it, and it turned out adorable.  They are really easy to customize to the person's unique tastes.

 First thing you will need to do is take the paper insert out of the frame and trace it onto some pretty paper.  I chose to use blue card stock, though it looks green in this picture.

 This is the frame I used, still with the paper insert inside.

 Switch the paper insert for the piece of new paper you have traced and cut out.

 Pick what you want to add to the frame.  I chose to use one of the darkest paper roses I acquired from Michael's.

 Take the foam sticker off and glue the rose down using some sort of glue.  I chose to use E-6000 because it is the strongest stuff I had on me. 

 I think the rhinestones, bow, and flower combination make this frame super adorable.

 I was working on my sister's bed, which is why my background looks so fabulous! This is how a ring will fit on it.  It will hang down, which is fine.  I chose to use a rose that was a bit snug, so that the ring would not fall or slip off.  There are many ways to make these ring holders.  I have seen many on pinterest, but did not like them enough.  I decided to make my own.

How it looks standing up.  

It really is adorable, and Hayah loved it! :]

Happy Crafting, 

♥Riley

P.S. Do you have any engagement crafts you'd like to share? I'd love to see! :]

Valentine's Day!: Puffy Hearts ♥

Here is a very simple Valentine's Day craft!

You could make one as a Valentine for someone, or you could even make a bunch of them and hang them from a tree or around your house!

The best thing about them is that you can personalize the colors and styles.

You will need: 

• Two colors of felt, 25-33 cents each
• Embroidery floss
• Needle
• Stuffing

All together this craft should cost you less than $1!

 First thing's first! Make a stencil.  Now, we all know how to make a perfectly symmetrical heart! Think back to elementary school and fold a paper in half.  Cut a half heart out of it and unfold it. Voila! A perfectly symmetrical heart.

 Cut two larger hearts out of red if you're copying mine, or whichever other colors if you are making it different from mine!

 Sew a smaller heart onto the front of one of the larger hearts.

 Here is a zoomed up picture of the top heart.  It isn't perfect, but that's why I like it!

 Sew the two larger hearts together! I pinned them together to try and keep them straight for this step.

 Before you have finished sewing it all together, stuff it to optimal stuffiness.

Sew it shut and you're done! This is a really easy craft to do if you know how to sew or are learning how to sew.  It is very inexpensive to make and I think they are very cute!

DIY Glitter Ocean Chevron Themed Phone Cases!

DIY Glitter Ocean Chevron Themed Phone cases!

It's so much more beautiful in person, but hard to photograph!

What you will need for the Chevron Print:

• A Plain Phone Case, Plastic Preferred, $~2 on Amazon
• Glitter in a Couple Different Shades, Any Craft Store
• Mod Podge, Craft Stores/WalMart
• Electrician's Tape or Any Other Non-Sticky Adhesive
• Foam Brush or a Throw Away Brush

For the 3-D Elements you will need:

• Sea Shell and Bubble Buttons, $2-4 a Pack at Michael's, I Used Parts of 3
• Any Other Decoration
• Rope for a Bow, I Already Had Some on Hand
• E-6000, Hot Glue, or Another Strong Adhesive
• Nail Clippers

"Tiny Seashells" and "Bubbles" from Dress It Up, found at Michael's

"Seashells at the Seashore" from Dress It Up.  I chose to use plastic seashells for durability.

Here are some of my glitters I thought about using.  The teal and blue in the fat containers are the ones I ended up using, and are found in a set of 12 at Michael's.  I used a 40% off coupon and they were around $5-6 I think.  

The long skinny containers are from Walmart and were much less in price.  They are much chunkier.

The ones in the little baggies are from the Dollar Tree. 

The gunmetal glitter in the big ziploc is from Hobby Lobby.

I first tried to figure out how I wanted to use the bubbles.  When I bought the buttons I had no idea how I was going to use them.  I thought it would be cute to focus them around the top of the phone, where the camera and speaker are!

These are all of my buttons laid out.  To get them to stick to the case, you have to clip the backs of them off of the buttons.  The little semi-circles in the box are what the backs look like after they had been clipped off.  I have found that nail clippers work the best for taking these off, thanks to a suggestion from my dad!

Then I got to work on a stencil for the chevron print.  Electrician's tape isn't very sticky and leaves no residue, so I used it.  I took cardstock and drew a little chevron print.  I measured it out but I don't quite remember my measurements. I just wanted it to be very uniform.  Then I took electrician's tape and covered the card stock.  I cut the excess off, so that the points were cut. 

This is what my measurements looked like on the front. 

After I had cut out the points, I put a strip of Electrician's tape over the other tape.  This way, I could peel it off itself, and not touch the tape on the paper.  It shreds the paper if you peel it off.

Then I cut the excess black tape off and peeled it off.

I put it on the case where I wanted to protect it.  I centered it the way I wanted so that I could add Mod Podge.

This makes a pretty good stencil, but I'm sure there are other ways too! I might have made it sound complicated, but it really wasn't.  I had to replace my tape a couple times, because glitter would get stuck to it.

These are the supplies I needed for the next part.

Dab the Mod Podge on generously.  Don't drown it, but make sure it's covered well.

Add the glitter! I used a translucent kind of white shade, that I would probably describe as snow colored, for the top.  I let it dry for a minute and shook of the excess.  Then I dabbed on more Mod Podge and gave it a second coat.  This is the easiest time to give it a second coat, before all the other layers have been applied.

Decide how large you want your second stripe to be, and secure your stencil.  Then repeat dabbing on the Mod Podge and sprinkling on the glitter. 

This is how I ended up doing mine!  It's very different than what I first wanted to do, but I like it so much better!  The glitter had not fully dried for any of the layers before I would go on to the next.  I was impatient!  The only problem with this is that it's still a little squishy and easy to mess up, so be careful :]

I used E-6000 to secure the bubbles where I wanted them, around the top.  Then I used it to secure the seashells.  I started with the bottom shells, then attached the other seashells where I wanted them.

It took me a couple tries of moving them around to get them where I wanted.  I remembered I had beachy looking rope and tied a little bow with it.  I used E-6000 for this too, which surprised me.  I thought I might have to use hot glue, but the E-6000 worked great!

 These were taken very early in the morning by whatever possessed me to make this phone case so late in the night!  This craft took me a couple of hours to do, but I love the way it turned out! There is a lot of glitter fall out, but I don't mind.  If you don't want yours to do that, dab on Mod Podge over the finished piece.  It won't be as sparkly, but you won't lose much glitter.

The snapchat I sent out once I had finished it! Ignore me.

I loved doing this phone case! Please let me know if you make one like it or completely different!

♥Riley

P.S. I'm considering making phone cases for my Etsy store.  Any thoughts on price or variations of my design? Thanks! ♥