DIY Moroccan-style lanterns

Recently my friend Deb shared on Facebook a link to DIY Moroccan lanterns. They looked so pretty! I immediately followed the link and pinned it to my Craft board.

Then I went looking for some jars so I could give it a try straight away. I found one that wasn’t too big, gave it a good wash, and got out the other things I would need.

I used Aquadhere, a white glue that dries clear

Blue food colour (was the one I found first in the pantry!)

Various Relief Paints for glass painting. I already had these, but you should find them in a large craft store.

In a separate bowl I mixed roughly equal amounts of water and glue, then added a few drops of food colouring. Mix it thoroughly, then tip it into your glass jar and swirl it around until the inside is completely coated. If you use a brush it will leave streaks, so just swirl.

Tip the excess glue mix into another jar if you want to do another, or onto some newspaper. Leave the jar upside down on the newspaper until all the excess has drained out, then turn your jar back up the right way. I wiped out the bowl I mixed it all up in with paper towel. You don’t really want glue going down the sink.

Leave it to dry. At this stage it is opaque, but as the glue dries clear, you should be left with a lovely jewel-coloured glass…

The glue I used was quite old, and had lots of little lumps in it. These lumps caused all the little spots you can see above. It seems I also left the jar upside down for too long before I turned it back, as the glue dried leaving those big drips. I shared this on Instagram as a fail 😦

Even though it looks pretty bad, I decided to decorate it anyway. Perhaps that would hide the mess that was inside… I made the design up as I went along, adding bits where I thought they might look good.

I really wasn’t going to bother doing this again, but then I found another bottle of glue (same type) that didn’t seem to have lumpy bits in it. And I had another spare jar…

This time I poured the glue, water and colour all straight into the jar, instead of mixing it up in another bowl. Less to clean up 😉 There were definitely less blobs(good!), but the colour was very faint (bad!). So a couple of days later I gave it another coat. This time I just used glue and food colouring, no water.

I tried to remember to turn the jar back up the right way sooner than last time, but again I didn’t time it right. Not using water meant it dried even faster…But the colour is better!

Still wouldn’t say this was a success! But I’d come this far, so I continued decorating. A much simpler design this time:

 

And you know what? I think they are a success after all! They are not perfect, but they do look lovely on the table.

What do you think? Got any spare jars that need a bit of prettying up?

* Find more of my craft projects here

* Linking up with Pin-n-Tell, Pin Junkie, Made From Pinterest, and A Tray of Bliss

 

Pink and Sparkles for Valentine’s Day Nails 2015

Browsing my Pinterest Nails board for inspiration, and Valentine’s manicures in general, I started on my own nails….’coz a girl’s gotta have her nails specially done, doesn’t she? lol

These are the polishes I used:

They are (left to right):

Sally Hansen – Super strong micro-fibre base coat

L’Oreal – Fleur de Lis 330

NYC – Fuschia (one of my favourite colours!)

NYC – confetti ( a purple glitter)

Sally Hansen – Diamond Shine base and top coat.

I used the white base coat because I think it makes a pale colour look ‘brighter’.

I did two coats of Fuschia on all except ring fingers. Ring fingers have Fleur de Lis.

Then I dropped two small blobs of fuschia on the ring fingers, and teased them into a heart shape, using the tool shown above. You need a steady hand, and all the gods on your side 😉

I’m pretty partial to some glitter, but I chose to be a bit restrained and used a purple glitter rather than silver. I like it!

The top coat protects the lot 🙂

How are your nails looking?

Happy Valentine’s Day for tomorrow, Saturday xx

* You can find all my manicures here

* Linking up with:

Mimi’s Five Star Frugal, Domesblissity – Thriving on Thursdays,

Valentine’s Day 2015

It’s Valentine’s Day on Saturday!

We don’t really do gifts on this day, but we do a special meal or something like that. This year we are going to a local restaurant for dinner – all three of us 🙂 (You’ll see who the ‘three of us’ are below)

I came across a quote which I pinned to my Words of Wisdom Pinterest board, which I thought would be nice for the occasion.

We rarely have all 3 of us in one photo, but I remembered some professional shots we had done several years ago by Michael Chetham Photography. The photographer would be appalled at what I did….

I photographed the original photo, then used editing software Picmonkey to add the quote. I have to say that the quality of the original photo is so far superior to this copy it is laughable, however it will do the job. And I love the photo, even if none of us look like this anymore lol

Here’s the finished product:

Not sure if it will just be a card, or if I’ll print it up a bit bigger and hang it on the wall. I’m leaning towards hanging it 🙂

I wish you all a day filled with happiness on Saturday xx

There are plenty of Valentine’s crafts and ideas out there – have you made something yourself this year?

* Linking up with Mimi’s Five Star Frugal