DIY Firefly Jar

 

Remember my DIY fairy lanterns from last week's post?  

Well I didn't stop there, I went ahead and made up a firefly jar too!  I loved collecting fireflies as a child, there is something so magical about having your very own jar of light.  I wanted to recreate that nostalgia (minus the bugs) and then add the jar to my summer decor.

Check it out:

********

Disclosure - This post may contain affiliate links.  If a purchase is made through an affiliate link then (at no additional cost to you) I will receive a commission.  You can read more about affiliate links here.

For this project I used a cleaned out candle jar, a set of LED battery operated string lights and some faux grass from my craft supply.

The LED lights I found at Dollar Tree and I really like them.  

Not only are they waterproof, but the strand is wired allowing easy shaping.

(You can click here to browse Dollar Tree's online selection of candle supplies)

After removing a few clumps of grass from my artificial turf, I began hot gluing them to the bottom of the jar.  Some of the clumps had faux roots attached and I used those around the perimeter of the jar to help hide the glue.  I found it easiest to start on one side of the jar and work towards the other side, as opposed to beginning in the middle.  If you jar isn't large enough to allow your hand inside, use a pair of long tweezers to place your grass.

Once my grass was in place, I wound the LED lights in and out among the blades.  Turn your lights on before this step and then tuck the unit housing inside of the grass.  You may have to readjust your wire a bit each time you turn the lights on and off, but don't stress.  Even though the wire clearly shows in the lighted room, it becomes nearly invisible once the lights go out!

And there you have it, an adorable little jar of 'fireflies' to light your summer nights!

**********

I hope you liked this how-to post, thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

© Studio 27 by Jennifer Adams 2020

**********

This post was added to the following link parties:

Tuesdays With a Twist

All About Home

Wonderful Wednesday (Oh My Heartsie Girl)

Wonderful Wednesday (Penny's Passion)

Thursday Favorite Things

Friday Favorites

You're The Star

The Really Crafty Link Party

DIY Fairy Lantern

 

School might be starting up soon for us, but summer isn't over yet.  I couldn't resist adding to my summer decor this week and put together a few fairy lanterns, check them out:

********

Disclosure - This post may contain affiliate links.  If a purchase is made through an affiliate link then (at no additional cost to you) I will receive a commission.  You can read more about affiliate links here.

I started with these plastic craft bottles from Dollar Tree.  

I like that they are lightweight, not as breakable as glass (and only a dollar of course), but the labels are a pain!  Completely glued down, the paper had to be soaked in hot water before it would begin to come off.  Not such a big problem, but I do prefer the easy peel kind of label 😉

Tip:  Make sure that your bottles have completely dried out before painting or decorating.

(You can click here to browse Dollar Tree's online selection of art supplies)

While waiting for my bottles to dry, I used my Cricut Maker to cut out a few fairy silhouettes from black card stock.  I left them on the mat in this photo so you can get an idea of the size I went with for the Dollar Tree craft bottles, about 1x2 inches.  You could use black paper if you wanted, though you will need to use extra care in removing the cutouts from the sticky mat.

Using a glue stick (I have good luck with the Dollar Tree Jot brand) I coated one side of the silhouette and pressed it against the inside of the bottle.  Then with the back of a spoon, I was able to add more pressure and get the card stock to conform to the bottle's rounded shape.

Here are my bottles with the fairies in place.  Aren't they cute?

The next step was to apply acrylic paint on the outside of the bottles (I used Apple Barrel Antique White).  By squirting a small dab of paint onto a crumpled paper towel and then blotting, I was able to add a light coat of mottled paint without hiding the silhouette inside.

I also spray painted the lids gold 😊

I kept all of my bottles white, but wouldn't it be pretty to do a few in pastels or maybe even with some glitter paint?  Let me know if you do, I would love to see the pictures!

And here they are lit up at night. 

Because real candles wouldn't be safe, I used battery tea lights from Dollar Tree to light them up.

And there you have it, easy to make fairy lanterns!

**********

I hope you liked this how-to post, thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

© Studio 27 by Jennifer Adams 2020

**********

This post was added to the following link parties:

Inspire Me Tuesday

Tuesdays With A Twist

All About Home

Wonderful Wednesday (Oh My Heartsie Girl)

Wonderful Wednesday (Penny's Passion)

Your Whims Wednesday

Creative Crafts Linky Party

Thursday Favorite Things

Friday Favorites

You're The Star

The Really Crafty Link Party

Meraki Link Party

File Cabinet Turned Bedside Table - A Thrifted Furniture Makeover

You may remember me mentioning that we had planned on buying a home, and moving out of our rental this summer.  But first came Covid, then my Husband's furlough during our state's lock down and then some changes about how earnings are calculated for mortgage approval.  Essentially, the current guidelines take into consideration earnings for 2020 only, and if you were out of work because of a pandemic, then that's not so much to go off of....sigh.

But I'm not going to waste time while I'm waiting!  I have been actively completing every project that I can think of including coming up with a 'new home need list' for my treasure hunting excursions.  I've thought carefully about every single room that we will eventually have and written out a massive shopping list.  Once I find the item, then I take it home, clean it up and get it ready for it's intended space.  My dining room is now full of storage, my time is busy and I am having a blast! 

This week I scoped out the thrift store and found a $7.99 file cabinet that with a little love, would make a great bedside storage table for my son's bedroom, check it out:

********

Disclosure - This post may contain affiliate links.  If a purchase is made through an affiliate link then (at no additional cost to you) I will receive a commission.  You can read more about affiliate links here.

Here is the file cabinet as I found it at the thrift store, a little beat up and in a natural wood color.

My son wants his room to be mostly black and chrome, so I decided to repaint this piece accordingly.

After cleaning, sanding and cleaning again, I removed the hardware with help from one of my nieces 😍

 I used spray paint in black for the body of the cabinet and silver for the hardware.  When it was time to put everything back together I added a small rectangle of scrapbook paper in bright blue to add a pop of color.

I spent around $10 for the cans of paint, but also used them on a coordinating lamp and bulletin board, and still have lots left over.

And there you have it - what was once a boring file cabinet is now the perfect bedside table with a great amount of storage!

I may not be able to move any time soon, but I sure am having fun planning and preparing 😎

**********

I hope you liked this how-to post, thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

© Studio 27 by Jennifer Adams 2020

Creating Designs For Your HTV Scraps

I've been experimenting with my iron-on vinyl scraps recently and I figured out how to piece various sections together to create multi-color designs, like this Fire Flower from Super Mario.
Read on to see how easy it is to do:

********

Disclosure - This post may contain affiliate links.  If a purchase is made through an affiliate link then (at no additional cost to you) I will receive a commission.  You can read more about affiliate links here.

Whenever I cut vinyl I tend to work in batches, preparing a whole bunch of shirts at once.  I have a bin where I keep all of my htv and I try to use up colors that I already have as opposed to buying more for each project.  I have become quite efficient at keeping my vinyl stash limited to one drawer ... I pretend to be smugly proud of that, but really it's how I keep myself in check from overbuying supplies 😂 

I also have another small bin where I keep my scraps.

(You can click here to read more about my Cricut cart)

So anyway, I had my supplies out and my scraps spread all over the floor to see if anything could be used for the designs I was cutting.  I had pretty much used up everything I could for the day when I got to thinking...why not create something for my scraps?  Meaning, why not design the cutting around my scraps versus having a design and seeing if any of my scraps fit it, make sense?

(You can click here to read a post where I talk more about scraps)

I had been wanting to cut a Fire Flower for awhile and after looking at the scrap colors available, I decided to use up yellow, orange and green to make it happen.

I'll admit, it was a bit tricky.  First you have to choose a design and send it to your cutting mat in Design Space.  Once there you can look to see what parts of your design hit which measurements on the cutting mat, and fit your scraps accordingly.  If it's easier to adjust your design's size so that certain parts hit certain measurements, go for it!

The best cutting tip I can give is to make sure that each scrap has perfectly straight lines with square angles.  This allows you to butt the pieces together and prevents gaps in the design.

After you are done cutting, weed the pieces and set aside.  When you set them down, have them flipped over and ready to go in their proper order, this makes transferring them to your fabric much easier.  Another tip is to preheat your surface.  Cricut recommends this anyway to prep the fabric and remove wrinkles.  Another bonus is the heat helps to hold the scraps in place together as you get ready to press.  After you have them in place, press according to the heat and time instructions for the brand of vinyl that you are using.

And there you go, a multi color Fire Flower!
If you look closely, you can see a bit of a gap between a couple of the green pieces.  This happened during the pressing, you want to be very careful to lift you press directly up and down.  Any moving of the press can shift the vinyl before it's fixed into place.  I accidentally shifted a bit of my design, but overall I'm happy!

**********

I hope you liked this how-to post, thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

© Studio 27 by Jennifer Adams 2020

**********

This post was added to the following link parties:

Tuesdays With a Twist

All About Home

Wonderful Wednesday (Oh My Heartsie Girl)

Wonderful Wednesday (Penny's Passion)

Thursday Favorite Things

Friday Favorites

You're The Star

The Really Crafty Link Party

Meraki Link Party