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Saturday, August 17, 2013

On my playlist volume II ft. Lorde, Lana Del Rey, and J Walk

To check out past playlist posts, click here!


Affiliate links included

If you haven't heard anything by Lorde, I absolutely recommend "Tennis Court" to start out! She's an amazing teenage singer from NZ and her songs are very unique as far as pop music go.

Lana Del Rey is no stranger to the music charts by now and her song "Blue Jeans" is my absolute favorite of hers-the music video is also really well done!

J-Walk might seem like a wild card, but if you're an avid listener of Pandora, it's possible their song "French Letter" may have come up. "The Wasp" is another one of my favorites and goes along the same lines as "French Letter".


Thanks for reading & I'd love to know what some of your hit songs at the moment are!

Sunday, August 11, 2013

DIY glitter & studs candle votives! (And how to get the glitter to stay in place!)

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I'm getting ready to head back to college soon and I wanted some pretty things to put on my window sill-I saw a couple of ideas for candle holders on Pinterest and I thought they would be perfect!

I bought little battery operated tea lights from Walmart for $2.50 for a pack of 6, and they fit perfectly in the votives I found in the candle section for $0.74 each!

HINTS & TIPS
-Wash each votive out before you do anything with it. You want to get the Walmart germs out.
-I used tacky glue, but mod podge is probably the better choice.
-Wait overnight for the glue to dry. Trust me.
-If you don't plan to light anything on fire with these, spray them with a bit of hairspray to keep the glitter in place.

"Moroccan-inspired" votive and full glitter votive

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"Moroccan Inspired"
This is my favorite of the bunch! I wanted to do something different so I whipped out a nail art kit I had from Forever21 that was all studs to put on it. Here's how to make it:

-You'll need lots of small round studs and four accent ones.
-Paint a small strip of clear nail polish where you want to place the small studs and quickly place them down. It's time consuming, but doing it this way ensures the studs will actually stick.
-Mark out four areas on the glass to put the accent studs. You can do more, but four is a good number.
-Continue working in small increments around the glass. I was able to use a regular dotting tool, and I first dipped it slightly into the clear polish to make it sticky, and then I picked up the stud and placed it on the glass.

"Full glitter"
Be warned-this makes a mess!

-Work in sections-paint a stripe of glue with a foam brush and then quickly coat it in the glitter. Try to get an even application with the glitter so there's no spots.
-When you're finished and the glue has dried overnight, go outside and spray the whole votive with hairspray. DO NOT DO THIS IF YOU PLAN TO PUT A REAL FIRE TEALIGHT IN IT. Hairspray is flammable and could catch on fire if you actually light a tea light inside. Spraying it with hairspray ensures the glitter will stay in place and not drop all over your carpet, but only do it if you plan to use battery candles inside.


"Striped" votive & candle

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To make the striped votive you can do one of two methods:
Use double sided tape to create crisp lines and then pour the glitter on
...or if you're lazy/cheap like me, use the same tacky glue to create a semi-straight line, call it good, and pour the glitter one one row at a time. Click here to see the other version of this project & how it's done.

The candle is also really easy. I don't plan to light it so I grabbed a cheap $1 column candle from Walmart. All you have to do is put masking tape wherever you want the stripe to start on the candle, cover it with tacky glue from there on down, and cover with glitter.
When you remove the tape when it dries, do it slowly because the glitter might want to remove with it!


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I'd love to know what you think of today's DIY! Don't forget to pin if you like or share on Twitter or Facebook!



Simply Swider

Sunday, August 4, 2013

DIY easy, classic bow makeup brush holders!

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I was previously using mesh pencil holders to keep my makeup brushes in, and I decided that I wanted something that would fit the vintage, classic decor of my dresser more. I was inspired by a myriad of projects on Pinterest and actually planned to use glitter on these, but I love how they look with just the bows so I keep it simple!


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Here's what you'll need
Small glass cups. I bought mine from the dollar store in the candle section. I also hand washed these prior to the project.
Tacky Glue. Hot glue might be better, but you have to be much more careful with it because the ribbon is thin.
Medium sized ribbon. I chose grosgrain ribbon because I thought it looked the nicest.
Glitter, it's optional if you want to cover the inside of the glass with it like this project here.


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The bows are pretty easy to create, but they're just time consuming. Start with two bands that will snugly fit where you want them to on your cups. Glue the ends, and leave them to dry completely.


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After that you'll need two more pieces to finish the bows: the actual bow part, which is a long strip with the ends folded into the center and glued; and a small strip to wrap around the center.

Once you've glued everything, slide a paperclip over top to help keep everything together and let it dry.

After that, you just need to slide it over the cup, and if it's sliding a bit, add a small dot of glue between the bow and the glass to keep it in place!


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And voila! Two beautiful makeup brush holders that look timeless sitting on any vanity!

Don't forget to pin & share, and let me know what you think in the comments!