DIY: Linen Memo Board & Neon Push Pins

Hi Made By Girl readers!! It's Jenny Bevlin on this Monday morning with a great DIY for your home. I'm in the middle of redoing my home office/craft room. One of the things that I really wanted for my space is a really great memo board. I don't know about you, but I love pinning items to memo boards to have around always to keep me inspired. 

I love Pinterest, but there is just something about having images (that I LOVE) around me to keep me inspired! As far as memo boards go, I knew I wanted something that was neutral in color to make the images I put on it to really pop! 
 

I did some searching on the internet & found this linen memo board. However, I feel like $149 is too much to spend on a memo board and I knew I could easily DIY it. For the push pins, I knew I wanted something fun. I love the neon and neutral trend, so I decided to make some neon push pins. These push pins are a great compliment to the neutral linen fabric. Don't you think??

   

Here's what you need to make this memo board:

• Cork Board
• Linen Fabric
• Staple Gun
• Staples (Make sure your staples are the appropriate length. Staples that are too long may poke through the other side of the board.)

 
Steps:
 

Lay the fabric out and place the cork board on top of it face down. Cut the fabric around the board leaving about 3 inches or so all the way around the board.

 

Before you staple the fabric to the board, make sure you iron the fabric so that it is crease free. Next, staple the fabric to the back of the board all the way around. Make sure that you are pulling the fabric tight around so that the fabric will be nice and tight on the front of the board.  

Leave the corners for last. For the corners, you will just fold them down and over as shown in the picture and then staple down. 

 

Here's what you need to make these neon push pins:

• Flat Head Push Pins
• Acrylic Paint
• Clear Nail Polish
• Foam Board (I used this to put the push pins in to dry)

Steps:
 

Dip the head of the push pin in the paint. I then poked my push pins into a piece of foam board so that they could stand upright while they dried. 

 

Once dry, paint the push pins with clear nail polish. 

 

The best thing about this whole project is that everything cost a total of $25! Now, what should I buy for my office with the $125 I saved?

- images and post by Jenny Bevlin

DIY: Back of the shoe clip

Hi! It's Jenny Bevlin bringing you a super easy and stylish DIY project to change the look of any shoe. I was thinking the other day about shoe clips and how the front of the shoe has all the fun. Enter...back of the shoe clips!

I was racking my brain the other day to come up with a way to make clips for the back of my shoes. I knew there had to be something that I could put together to make them. I stopped thinking about them for awhile, then it suddenly hit me when I was doing my hair one day...bobbie pins. I cut part of the bobbie with cutting pliers, attached a bow and back of the shoe clips were born! What you need to make these shoe clips: 

• Cutting Pliers
• Bobbie Pins
• Hot Glue Gun
• Fun Embellishments: Bows, Pom Poms or Flowers (You can make any of these yourself, or you can buy them pre-made at the craft store)

Steps: 

Use the pliers to cut off part of the front of the bobbie pin. How much you cut off depends on the length of the embellishment you are attaching. 

Glue your embellishment to the front part of the bobbie pin that is left. Slip the bobbie over the back of your shoe. 

Cute, right??

 - images and post by Jenny Bevlin

DIY: Studded Coasters

Hi again! It's Jenny Bevlin this Friday with another DIY project! When I saw the coasters in Jen's post the other day, I fell in LOVE. Stylish coasters are hard to find! I decided to DIY them and share the project. These coasters will definitely add some major style to any table. Don't you think? 

 What you need to make these coasters:

• Black Spray Paint
• Cork Coasters
• Hot Glue Gun
• Various Brads and Studded Rhinestones (You can find the brads in the scrapbook section of the craft store and the rhinestones in the t-shirt decorating section.)

Steps:  

Spray paint the coasters. You will only need to spray one side of each coaster since you will be gluing two sides of the coasters together. Once the coasters have dried, add the brads and rhinestones to the painted side of the coaster. 

You can put them in any pattern that you like. The brads on mine went all the way through to the other side of the coaster, so I pushed down the ends.  

Once you are done decorating one side of the coaster with brads and rhinestones, glue the unpainted side of another coaster to the unpainted side of the coaster you decorated.

 Lastly, add brads around the side of the coaster. 

- post and images by Jenny Bevlin

DIY: Rope Bracelet

Hi everyone! It's Jenny Bevlin bringing you another DIY post. I love accessories, but I especially love jewelry! I've noticed lately that I have been buying a lot of bracelets and even making some myself. I find that making my own accessories is very rewarding. It's fun and you will love all the compliments you receive when you say you made it yourself! What you need to make this bracelet:

• Hot Glue Gun
• Flat Nose Pliers
• Scissors
• Rope trim
• Jewelry Jump Rings
• Jewelry Lobster Clasp
• Jewelry Ribbon Endings

Steps: 

Measure the rope around your wrist leaving about an extra inch longer than your wrist. Cut the rope. Make sure you add a dot of hot glue to the end of the rope you just cut to keep it from unraveling.

Cut 3 more strands the same length as the first strand. Make sure to add a dot of hot glue to ends of the rope each time you cut it.

Lay out the rope as shown in the photo above.

Overlap the rope as shown in the photo above.

Pull the end of the top rope under and up through the bottom rope.

Pull the ends of the rope tight.

Trim the ends so that they are all the same length. Make sure to add hot glue to the ends to keep them from unraveling.

Put the rope ends into the ribbon ending and close with the pliers.

Use the pliers to add the jump rings and lobster clasp.

- post and images by Jenny Bevlin

DIY: Decorative Tray

Hi Made By Girl Readers! It's Jenny Bevlin bringing you another wonderful DIY project. I love decorative trays because there are so many uses for them. You can use them to serve food (preferably breakfast in bed!) or you can put them on your bar cart or coffee table to serve cocktails. 

You can also use them to display jewelry, perfume and nail polishes. The best part about this tray is that it is made with a picture frame. This lets you switch out the design inside the frame with your changing decor. 
 

  

What you need to make this tray:

 

• Picture Frame
• Two Drawer Pulls or Handles
• Drill and Drill Bit (The drill bit should be the same size as your screws.)
• Two Screws that are a little longer than the thickness of the frame
• Measuring Tape
• Pencil for marking
• Decorative insert (You can use decorative wrapping paper, fabric etc. I designed my insert in Photoshop and had it printed at the local print shop.)

Steps: Flip the frame over and measure the length of one of the sides.  

Mark the center with your pencil.  

Measure the bottom of one of the handles to see where the holes measure. Mine measured at 0 and 3, therefore I know that I need to drill the holes 1 1/2 inch on both sides of the center of the frame. 

Mark where the holes will need to be drilled with your pencil.  

Drill the holes for one side. Repeat by measuring, marking and drilling the holes for the other side. 

Insert the screws up through the bottom of the frame and put the handles on the front of the frame. Use your drill's screw driver to screw the screws tight into the handles.

- images by Jenny Bevlin

DIY: Sequin Holiday Ornaments...

Hi MadeByGirl readers! It's Jenny Bevlin. I'm super excited to get the opportunity to be a contributor on MadeByGirl. I can't wait to show you some great DIY projects!

I don't know about you, but when it comes to holiday decorations I love everything that glitters and sparkles. These sequin ornaments were actually a happy accident. While working on another project, some of the sequins I was using ended up getting wet from the condensation of my nearby water glass. 

The sequins stuck to the glass. Surprisingly, once the water evaporated, the sequins stayed on the glass. This got me thinking that maybe this would work on the inside of glass ornaments. I tried it and this DIY project was born! What you need to make these ornaments: 

• Clear ornaments
• Sequins
• Cold Water
• Ribbon

Steps:

1. Remove the top of the ornament.
2. Fill the ornament with cold water and then empty the water out.
3. Dry only the outside of the ornament.
4. Fill the bottom of the ornament with sequins.
5. Cover the ornament with the top.
6. Swirl the sequins around the inside of the ornament. You will notice that the sequins stick to the inside of the ornament. Continue to swirl until you have the inside covered.
7. Take the top off the ornament and dump out the extra sequins. You can also leave the extra sequins in the bottom of the ornament.
8. The water will eventually dry on the inside and the sequins will remain stuck to the inside of the ornament.
9. No need to wait for the water to dry though, you can hang your creations from your mantle or on your tree with sparkly ribbon right away!

- images by Jenny Bevlin

-post by jenny bevlin