Simple DIY Halloween Drink Stirrers for Party

3 Simple DIY Halloween Drink Stirrers

Amelia DIY Drink Stirrers, Halloween, Party

I love the sense of occasion a fun, colourful stirrer can add to a drink . As halloween is coming up I thought I’d come up with a few simple ideas that would be quick and easy to make especially for the celebration. I created three (reasonably spooky) designs here that all take pretty much less than a few minutes to make. All the craft supplies used are also things you’ll probably already have laying about the house too!

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DIY Pressed and Dried Flower Confetti

Amelia DIY Confetti, Flowers, Party, Spring, Wedding

It’s been years since I’ve pressed and dried flowers but since our garden is completely covered with them this Spring, I thought it was about time I gave it a go again. These little blue forget-me-nots are particularly prevalent and I’ve always thought that they make the garden look like it’s covered in confetti – so I thought it would be a fun idea to try and actually make some!

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Daisy and Polka Dot iPhone Desktop

Amelia DIY, Printables and Desktops

The daisies are so pretty in our garden at the moment and with the starting of spring, I thought I’d create a new phone desktop for myself to celebrate. I know a lot of you are heading into Autumn now but I thought you might like to be brought a bit of spring cheer anyway.

I saved the file in 4 sizes – for iPhone 4, 5, and both 6s but they would be easy to resize for any other phone.

Click the links below to view images:

iPhone 4 | iPhone 5 | iPhone 6 | iPhone 6 Plus

To install onto iPhone: Open this page on your phone and click on the size you ‘d like. Hold down on the image and click ‘Save Image’. Open your photo library, click on the share option and select use image as wallpaper – then set as lock screen. Another way to do this is to save the image to your computer then email it to yourself or use something like dropbox to get it onto your phone too.

Hope you like this one. Have you been enjoying the new change of season so far?

Linking up with: Let it Shine

DIY Glittered Resin Cabochons

Amelia DIY

I love resin flower cabochons about as much as I love glitter and sequins (which is a lot) so I thought I’d have a go putting the two together.

All I did was put a little bit of glue around the edges and sprinkle on a tiny amount of glitter. I then filled the centre with some more glue to stick on the sequin. Too easy!

I tried out a few different designs – some with a lot of glitter and more colour but I ended up liking the minimal ones best.

These are going to be earrings. If you’d like to learn how to make these into earrings too, check out either of my past tutorials – How to Make Basic Post Earrings or DIY Resin Flower Earrings.

You can get resin cabochons from Ebay, Amazon or Etsy. The particular ones I used here were the 2cm diameter Dahlia ones.

Hope you enjoyed these. If you end up making some make sure to share your pics with me by either tagging me at instagram (@bitsquare), twitter (@bit_square), google + (+ameliamadeleine) or posting them to my facebook page. I’d love to see them. :)

Have a great week :)

Origami Butterfly Teabags

Amelia DIY, Entertaining

I saw these gorgeous butterfly teabags a while back on Pinterest and ever since have been meaning to make some. I had in mind I’d cut them out from some coloured card or draw them myself, but when I discovered this butterfly origami tutorial during the week I knew it would be a perfect match.

These butterflies are so easy to make, once you start you’ll want to keep making them!

How I made them:

I started by cutting down some small patterned sheets of scrapbooking paper to a 7.5 x 7.5cm square (3in x 3in)

The instructions for the origami butterfly I made can be found here – or there are quite a few other variations you can find on google.

I then tucked the teabag cord into the underside of the butterfly and put some double sided tape there as well (so they would be able to sit up on a mug).

I found the butterflies kept together and held their shape well, but if you do find they come undone it would be easy to glue them too.

This would be so pretty for a tea-party or boxed up for a gift.

Click here to see the butterfly tutorial I followed (at The Things She Makes Blog).

Hope you enjoy these. Do you like making things from origami too?

Linking up with: My Girlish Whims, Kitchen Fun with My 3 Sons,

Help to Fix and Prevent Scratched Rhinestones in Jewelry

Amelia Refashions

I bought these lovely earring from Lovisa the other week (they were only $3 too!) but was somewhat disappointed to discover that one of the sparkly crystals had a noticeable scratch in the silver backing. Normally I just ignore chips as much as possible and do my best to prevent them by being extra careful with my jewellery but then I had the thought – that in perhaps painting the back with silver nail polish it might not only be able to mask the hole but also prevent it from further damage too.

You will need:

1. Silver Nail Polish to coat small scratches

2. Clear Nail Polish, Mod Podge, jeweller’s resin or jeweller’s glue to Protect other Crystals

Here you can see I filled the chipped crystal but dotting in a small amount of silver nail polish.

I then painted all the remaining holes with clear nail polish and let it dry.

(I think something like Mod Podge would work well here too, also jeweller’s epoxy resin)

This is the finished earring. Although the silver doesn’t blend in perfectly with the stone, I think it does look noticeably better than before.

Tip: Make sure to match the colour of the nail polish with the crystal backing rather than crystal colour. Most gems in cheap jewellery like this use silver backing, even ones with coloured gemstones.

I also tried doing a few of my other pieces with a silver leafing pen, it looked alright, but I think the nail polish looked better.

I’m not sure how great this would work with patching larger holes (they might be beyond saving) but could be worth a shot.

I think the idea of preventing scratches in the first place is a really good one though, and I think clear nail polish is a really great option (I can’t imagine it would do any harm or discolour the jewellery, if you’re worried, use resin).

Anyway that’s what I’ve done and it seems to work well.

Have you ever fixed scratches in your crystal jewellery? How did you go about it? I’d really love to hear if you have some different ideas or suggestions. :)

Linking up with: Whims Wednesday,