I had a blast demonstrating some fun (and cheap!) DIY ideas for a sparkling New Year’s Eve on KATU Afternoon Live on December 28. Check out the video above – and thank you so much to the Afternoon Life team for having me on the show again!
xo
Carly
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It’s officially Party Season (TM) – and that means glittery, festive, fun, loud, joyful celebrations!
I really love making my own party hats (or putting children to work making party hats 😉 ) because they’re easy, cheap, and I can make them to completely coordinate with the party theme. Plus I can make them from scraps lying around! Perhaps you’ve never tried making your own, maybe because you don’t have time or it seems like a pain. But you may find that once you get [that party] started…you can’t stop! Now, let’s all hum that tune as we head on down to the how to…
You Need:
8.5″ x 11″ cardstock // Party Hat Template (click to download the PDF) // tinsel garland (I found this star version at Michael’s) // ribbon (not pictured – I used silver curling foil wrapping ribbon) // pen // scissors // stapler // box cutter // tape (not pictured)
How To Make a DIY Shooting Stars Party Hat:
1. Trace Party Hat Template onto the back of your cardstock.
2. Cut out the template from the cardstock. Use the box cutter to slice where indicated.
3. Curl the cardstock into a cone shape, and slip the edge tab into the slit you cut. Secure with some tape on the inside.
4. Thread one end of the ribbon into one of the small slits at the base of the hat.
5. Secure with tape, and then cut to desired length. (Make sure that it’s long enough to tie under your chin!) Do the same for another piece of ribbon and the other side of the hat.
6. Now the fun part: decoration! Staple the garland to the bottom of the hat.
7. Twirl the garland around the cone hat, securing with staples if necessary. At the top, twist downwards and tuck into the hole at the top of the hat. Secure with more tape on the inside.
And that’s it! It will take you less than 5 minutes tops – with a fun and unique party hat!
Have a Happy New Year’s, everyone! I just love a glittery beginning!
xo
Carly
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No matter how beautiful real flowers are…sometimes you want something that can last forever…and can be the exact colors and style you’re looking for. I understand. We all want this.
Enter the DIY floral craft: the crepe paper peony, a pretty layered flower that can be any beautiful color scheme you wish…and will last no matter the occasion. For this tutorial I’ve teamed up with Paper Mart again to bring you a fun DIY right in time for Valentine’s Day. Here’s how to make it:
You Need:
choose your favorite colors: ivory crepe paper / rose crepe paper / pink crepe paper / hot pink crepe paper / light green cloth-wrapped floral stem wire / round ball or ornament / scissors / hot glue & glue gun
How To:
1. Tear a long strip of crepe paper (perpendiular to the grain) along the top edge of one of the colored rolls of crepe paper. Tear another similar length from the white crepe paper.
2. Start rolling up the crepe paper into a bundle, folding back on itself and crumpling the folds here and there for a more natural look.
3. Use hot glue to glue down the folds into a roll.
4. Keep adding layers of white and colored crepe paper ripped edges until you have built up a nice thick roll.
5. Use scissors to snip the top edges and distress them.
6. Cut a long piece of colored crepe paper about 2″ wide, parallel to the grain.
7. Fold the paper on itself to create a stacked accordion.
8. Cut a petal shape in the stack, with the bottom of the petal at where the folds are in the stack.
9. Separate and spread each petal pair over a round ball, stretching and shaping the paper to the ball.
10. Glue the center roll to the middle of one of the rounded petal pairs you just made.
11. Glue another petal pair onto the bottom of that, at a 90-degree angle to the previous petals, and fold the petals up around the center, cupping it.
12. Keep gluing on more petals, making more from different colors of paper, and cupping around the center as you go.
13. For a more rounded shape, overlap slightly and glue the edges of petals together.
14. Cut small notches in the edges of the large petals to look like a real peony.
15. Cut a 1.5″ wide piece from the white crepe paper (parallel to the grain) like in Step 6, accordion fold it, and cut joined leaf-like shapes from it.
16. Glue the white leaf-like shapes in an X to the bottom of the flower.
17. Stab the floral wire into the center of the X, pushing through several layers deep into the flower center. Hot glue around the hole in the bottom to secure.
And you’re done!
These flowers are kind of fiddly to make, so I recommend having something to watch on TV whilst doing it…but the results are so satisfyingly worth it!
Pretty, unique to you, and everlasting…what’s not to love?
So some of you may also be wondering…why are we using crepe paper for this when regular paper could work just fine too?åÊ Well here’s why…
Crepe paper lends itself really well to creating petals and leaves, because of its natural texture. If you look closely, although the petals of some flowers may appear smooth, many have a slightly wrinkled or puckered texture that is well-mimicked by the crinkles in crepe paper. Got a leaf or a petal with a a veiny, ribbed texture you want to recreate in a realistic floral craft? It’s very easy to duplicate using crepe paper…whereas a regular un-textured paper will look flat and unnatural compared to the real thing. The problem is that crepe paper can be too crinkly overall, so stretching the crepe paper out when making flower petals will produce a texture that is smooth, curved, and stretched out in one area, and tapering down to an area that is crinkled and puckered. This looks very realistic! (This technique works great for roses, plumeria, or peonies that have smoother petals, whereas stretching may not be necessary for daisies, cosmos, zinnias, or other varieties.) Try it sometime to see how much more realistic your fake flowers look when you use crepe paper for your floral crafts!
Happy DIY’ing!
xo
Carly
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Hi friends – today, as promised, I’m sharing the tutorial for how to create your own digital typography art.
You see it all around the internet: pinned on Pinterest, prints on Etsy, shared on Instagram…the font-based typography layout as art has taken the world by storm. There’s nothing like a motivational or inspirational quote to get your going in the morning, or inspire you to pick up when you’ve lost steam. So here’s how to make your own:
I’m using the Sobbers font from the Spring Bundle from FontBundles.net if you’d like to follow along. I’m also using Photoshop CS6 on a Mac – so replace any CMD (command) with CTRL (control) keys for PC’s.
1. Create a new file, size it square, 72dpi, RGB. Save it as a .PSD on your desktop or somewhere as your working file.
2. Hit T for the Type Tool shortcut, choose Sobbers font, and type one word on the canvas. Type the 2nd word. Type the 3rd word. You want each word to be separate (and to commit your typing, hit CMD Enter to exit the Type Tool and start another word).
3. SHIFT-select your 3 separate words (that are all on their own layers) and choose the vertical align option from the Align panel to center them all to each other. I chose not to center to the canvas but you could do that by selecting all the layers and aligning them.
4. With all 3 layers selected, press and hold SHIFT and OPTION keys, grab the lower right-hand corner of the transform control. (Make sure your “Show transform controls” option is checked when the Move tool (V) is selected. Drag it out so all the words are sized larger so they look nice on the canvas but are still aligned center to each other.
5. Now select each single layer and move closer together so the spacing between them sees comfortable.
6. I chose to resize both the words “Spring” and “Action” larger, again keeping the 3 words vertically aligned with each other.
7. Then, move the words closer together again so they “fit” well – paying attention to creating similar white space between the ascenders and descenders of the font, and creating a path of movement for the eye through the artwork.
8. Select all your word layers and choose CMD G (or CTRL G on a PC) to group them. I renamed my group “Words.” Then create a new layer (CMD SHIFT N) and hit OK.
9. Choose the Gradient tool (G…keep hitting SHIFT G to cycle through the tools until the Gradient is chosen). Double-click on the gradient image at the top left of the window to open up the Gradient editor. I chose a 5-point gradient that was gold with 2 lighter stripes in it. Hit OK.
10. In your new layer, click near the top left and drag the gradient down to the bottom right.
11. To place (“clip”) the gradient to your words, hold down the OPTION key, hover over the line in-between the gradient layer and the “Words” group, and the cursor will change to a little bent arrow next to a box. Click on the line and you will “clip” the gradient to the letters.
12. If you don’t like the placement of the gradient, select the gradient layer and just use the Move tool to move it around on your words. I had to play with it a bit, enlargening it and spinning it around until I liked it. Finally, create a new layer again and type your name, website name, or whatever you like in there. (I tend to type in black and set the Blending mode to Multiply, at 35% opacity. It’s something you have to play with to see if you like the results.)
And that’s it! It’s really simple to make with Photoshop (or GIMP, for that matter) – with spectacular results. Now you have something all your own that you can share across your channels to inspire your friends and family with quotes, ideas, funny phrases – anything!
Happy DIY’ing!
xo
Carly
*Note: this tutorial is for digital typography – if you want to create something for print you need to set up your file as CYMK 300dpi.
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Part of the wonderful anticipation that leads up the Christmas holiday is buying (or DIY’ing!) your holiday gifts, wrapping them with fun, festive paper and ribbon to conceal what’s inside, and arranging them under the tree. If you’re in a pinch and need to wrap something last minute, or want to add a little DIY touch to your wrappings as well, why not print your own gift wrap on your printer at home?
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Carly J. Cais I am a DIY’er, designer, sewist, maker, and marketer. Chic Creative Life is where I share what I do, and help others bring their unique style into their own lives.
