The Girl and Her Book

Ahlan!!! Hola!!! Hello!!! 

I have to cover all of my greetings because it's been far too long. The reason I haven't posted in six months is because I have been doing way too much (which I believe is a good sign).  When I am silent online it means that I am spending all of my time in real life.  I really do love my blog though and it saddens me to realize I haven't posted since February.

I now have a month of absolute FREE time during which I will be updating with all of the new crafts and photos that I should have been posting over the past few months. 

This post is for another watercolor journal.  I have already posted the instructions in a former DIY so please look here for the steps.

My sister is an avid writer and the other day it was her birthday.  For the past few years it has been my tradition to give her a new journal.  She is an eclectic person and deserves the most unique journals.  This year I decided to make one for her (and there DEFINITELY is not another one out there like it).

The front, in Arabic, says "Al-bint wa kitaab ha" which translates to "The girl and her book." 

I used watercolors to paint the designs. Then I used mod podge to glue scraps of tissue paper over the words.

The spine reads "min kull qalbii" which means "with all my heart."

Shukran (thank you) for staying with me all of this time! I hope that you make a journal of your own and let me know how it turns out.

I'm currently getting pumped by Don Omar with his song "Hasta que Salga el Sol." You should give it a listen, it will definitely brighten your day :)

Que te vaya bien!

Crafty Blogs

 

I just added my blog to the Universal Craft Blog Directory. Woo! I feel official :)

 

Watercolored Journal DIY

It's been awhile since I posted a DIY tutorial for anything crafty and, honestly, I haven't made anything since then either. This finally changed the other day and I'm really excited to share a DIY with you!

It is my friend's birthday and she is a creative writer so I decorated a journal for her. 

Easy, quick, and beautiful!

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Materials:

• Plain journal
• Watercolor paints
• Paintbrush
• Water & paper towel for cleaning

Step 1:

      Decide how you want to decorate the journal. I sketched my ideas out on a scrap piece of paper and then I lightly sketched my final idea on the journal with a pencil.

Step 2:

      Begin to paint! For this journal, I painted the outline of a guitar that morphs into a wave.  Then I splattered the paper with watercolors and extra water then stood it upright to let the colors run down the page.

Step 3:

      Let it dry, this usually takes about 20-45 mins depending on the amount of moisture on the page.

Step 4:

      Since my friend is a writer, I painted a quote on the front that is by a very talented young writer/slam poet named Adam Gottlieb, "Poet breathe now because peace might depend on your piece."  The youtube video below is the piece where this quote came from, watch it... it is very inspiring!!

Step 5:

      This step is optional, but I decided to seal it with a few layers of polyurethane sealant, then mod podge, and then sealant again.  This will keep the decorations safe from any accidental water spills!

Now fill the journal with your thoughts and memories :)

Adam Gottlieb, "Poet Breathe Now":

Que te vaya bien!

Shells in a Vase DIY

Do you have extra seashells just lying around the house? I do and quite an abundance of them. Well, here is a pretty cool idea on how to put those shells to use!

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Usted tiene conchas marinas por la casa? Las tengo y hay muchas.  Aqui es un idea buena para usarlas!

You only need a glass jar or vase, fill it up halfway with shells, add water, and find some pretty flowers to make it beautiful :)

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Simplemente se necesita un tarro de cristal o un jarrón, se pone las conchas marinas adentro, se pone agua y flores bellas!

What I'm Listening to:

Conch Shell Tie-Back for Curtains DIY

So you know when you're on the beach looking for shells and you come across what you think is a whole conch shell? It goes something like this: "Ooh it's my lucky day! I finally found one!"  but alas, it was a fake. Instead you have a conch shell with a hole through the middle (it reminds me of an old fashioned sword handle).

It looks like this:

Well, keep it! There is an artsy use for it

and it looks like this:

 

Materials

• A "broken" conch shell / Una caracola "roto"
• Curtain / Una cortina
• Something to attach to wall, i.e. a tack / Algo para sujetar al pared, por ejemplo una tachuela

Step 1

      Enjoy yourself at the beach and go shelling, bring home a "broken" conch shell.

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      Se disfruta un día a la playa y recoja una caracola "roto".

Step 2

      Clean the shell of all sand and salt.  String the curtain through the middle and adjust to the point that you like. I used a tack in the wall to hang the shell but you can do whatever you want to keep it in place.

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      Se limpia la caracola de la arena y sal.  Se pone la cortina por el medio y se sujeta al lugar que querías.  Se pone una tachuela en la pared para colgar la caracola en la pared.

El fin!

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What I'm Listening to:

DIY Updates

So here are some of the new projects that I have done with my past DIY tutorials:

Ikea Lamp Hack

I used handmade paper instead of photo negatives for this project:

Jar Lid Magnets

A clean/dirty magnet for the dishwasher:

Easy Watercolors

For my roommate's birthday I used the watercolor/ink technique to frame her name in Arabic:

Now go make some for yourself and let me know how your project turns out!!


What I'm Listening to:

String of Shells DIY

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     The beach is a large part of me, since I am a mermaid at heart, and so one of the things that I love to do is collect sea shells.  After awhile I came to realize that I have more shells than I know what to do with! So I started coming up with projects for them. This project is how to make a string of shells :)

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      La playa es un gran parte de mi personalidad, porque estoy una sirena en mi corazón, y por eso unas de las cosas que me gustan juntar son las conchas marinas.  Después de unos años de coleccionando, se me da cuenta que tengo más conchas que yo sé para hacerlo!  Por eso, empezaba hacer proyectos con ellas. En éste proyecto, describo cómo hacer una cadena de conchas :)

See the DIY after the jump!

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Ver el DIY depués de la conexión que viene!

I've got Window Panes on my Brain.

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       There is something so unique about old window panes.  I am absolutely in love with the look of the cracked paint and wood and I am fortunate enough to have access to some windows. So here is how I used them to give my room a little bit of vintage flair!

      I had to clean them up a bit and I was ecstatic because I was able to use some power tools

:)

First I pressure washed them and then after they dried I used an orbital sander to get the rest of the junk off. 

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      I was planning on painting them some more colors but the white and brown ended up being perfect for the color scheme of my room.



The sihouette paintings that you see were done with the same watercolor technique that I described here.  It is an easy painting project that almost always turns out beautiful :)



I'm Linking up to:

Mosaic Breakfast Tray DIY

      Since I'm back, I've been posting 2 to 3 times a day.  I told you I was inspired and to be prepared because the floodgates have been opened!

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      Technically I did this project for my mom for Christmas but I did not have a chance to put the tutorial on the blog until now.  Since I've been so busy posting, I figured "why not add one more thing and post this one too?"  And so here it is :)

Una bandeja mosaico para desayuno.

See the DIY after the jump!

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Ver el DIY despues del conexion que viene!

Upcycle Prints or Paintings DIY

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I made a run to Goodwill today after being inspired by this cool wall art at A Beautiful Mess.  I will post a DIY here because I want to write it in Spanish (and show off my art too hehe).

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Hoy fui al Goodwill porque estaba inspirar de art muro a A Beautiful Mess. Voy a poner un DIY aqui porque quiero escribirlo en Espanol (y porque quiero mostrar mi art tambien).

No tengo mi computadora (necesito usar el de mi mama por ahora) y por eso no puedo usar los acentos. Lo siento!!

See the DIY after the jump!

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Ver el DIY despues del conexion que viene!

New Life for an Old Burlap DIY

Hello! I am back and full of creative ideas. Be prepared for an onslaught of new DIYs because I am bursting at the seams with them. :)

Today my friend and I found this really awesome store that was home to a bunch of old and vintage things. Most of the items were way overpriced, but we managed to find some items worth buying and so we each bought a colorful burlap sack. This is what I did with mine!

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Hoy, mi amiga y yo fuimos al una tienda que tiene muchas cosas muy viejos. El mas de las cosas son muy caro, pero hay unas cosas que compramos. Compramos un arpillera de colores muy vivos. Este es que yo hice con mi arpillera!

See the DIY after the jump!

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Ver el DIY despues del conexion que viene!

Ikea Lamp Hack DIY

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      If you are like me, then you LOVE photography.  About a year or so ago I bought a manual camera and learned all about aperture, lenses, shutter speed, etc.  During this time, I took a lot of photos (most of them are not so praise worthy) and so I also ended up with a ton of photo negatives.  I found this idea at Poopscape (love the name) and I just HAD to make it for myself.  It is an Ikea Grono lamp covered in photo negatives!  A must for every true photographer.  You can either follow the tutorial here or there, because I am going to post one as well.

See the DIY after the jump!

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Very el DIY despues del conexión que viene!

Design Your Own Mirror DIY

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      Ok so I did this project before I started blogging. I have been wanting to post it but I felt bad because I don't have any "during" pics, only the end product! Alas, today I encountered "Sugar and Spice in the Land of Balls and Sticks" where she does Throwback Thursdays in which you post projects that you did before blogging. It was just the inspiration that I needed to post this DIY  :)

See the DIY after the jump!

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Very el DIY despues del conexión que viene!

Re-do Lids DIY

The before and after of this DIY

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So the other day I was at the flea market and I found this really cute vintage spice rack! (I think my grandma had the same one at some point).
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El otro día, cuando estaba en la flea market, encontré éste especiero! (Pienso que mi abuela tuviera el mismo en un punto de su vida).

 

      I was extremely happy that it came with all of the spice bottles! Unfortunately, the lids on these bottles look pretty bad.  I'm all for vintage but rust and scratches on my spice bottles just don't fly.

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      Estaba muy muy feliz que tenía todas las botellas especias!  Desafortunadamente, las tapas son muy mal porque tienen óxido y muchos rayones.  Me gusta el clásico caja, pero no me gusta óxido y rayones en las tapas para nada!

      So I decided that something must be done to upgrade these adorable bottles.  I ended up covering the lids in fabric.  This project can be done with any kind of lid that needs a touch of love.

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      Yo decidí que algo necesita hacer con éstas botellas lindas.  En el final, las tapas están cubierto de la tela.  Creo que éste proyecto puede hacer con alguna tapa que necesite amor.

See the DIY after the jump :)
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Ver el DIY por el conexión que sigue :)

Jar Lid Magnets DIY

 

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I love magnets and I love making them, my fridge is covered in homemade magnets. Yesterday I made some out of jar lids.  I got the idea from a small store downtown that has some handmade stuff.  It's such an easy project that I felt it would be a crime if I didn't share it!

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Me gusta mucho los imánes y tambien me gusta hacerlos! Mi refrigerador está cubrir en los imánes.  Ayer, hice unas de tapas.  Yo vi unas en una tienda pequeña que está en el centro.  Este tienda vende mucho cosas que están hecho a mano.  El proyecto es tan facil, pienso que esté un delito si no compartiría contigos!

See the DIYafter the jump!

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Ver el DIY por el conexión que sigue!

Easy Watercolors DIY

      Lately I've been really into watercolors, hence the background of this blog (which has since changed).  I'm not good at making something look real, but that doesn't stop me from being creative.  I needed some inspiration for my most recent project so I made a small playlist that I can paint to.  It's amazing how music influences so much of my life

My Playlist:

1. Downtown Song by Anberlin
2. Life in Technicolor II by Coldplay
3. Rainy Day by Coldplay
4. Brightly Wound by Eisley (featured below)
5. Pin Your Wings by Copeland
6. Wouldn't It Be Nice by The Beach Boys
7. Winter Song by Ingrid Michaelson
8. Bien o Mal by Julieta Venegas
9. When You Were Young by The Killers
10. Angel de Amor by Maná
11. Beautiful Day by U2
12. Kids by MGMT
13. Everything is Alrighty by Motion City Soundtrack
14. The Outsiders by Needtobreathe
15. Coming Home by New Found Glory
16. Hallelujah  by Paramore
17. Sweet Honey by Slightly Stoopid
18. Hello Hurricane by Switchfoot

See the DIY after the jump!!
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Ver el DIY despues de la conexión que sigue!!