DIY Pennant Banner

DIY Pennant Banner

Sunday, October 5, 2014

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Hello there :-)

The end of the promotional examinations signified the start of arts and craft activities for me, which makes me incredibly happy because doing DIYs transport me back to the times where I could embark on craft projects so care-freely and when school lessons consisted of "Arts" lessons, which I personally believe I excelled in; to be honest, I used to think I was really talented at art until I came to secondary school and thereafter stopped doing art competitively. 

Now, art to me is more therapeutic than anything - and while I do less of the drawing and more of the craft aspect, it's so much simpler and more relaxing this way. The entire process in doing these projects makes me very happy, from buying materials (sourcing for cheap ones!) to getting down to making it and anticipating the outcome, it truly is a wonderful feeling. 

Unlike my previous two DIYs, which were slightly more complex, this pennant banner is extremely simple and in my opinion needs no explanation or instructions at all; in fact it's very common and it can be found almost everywhere - in retail stores, online, in designs, in parties, everywhere really (though my mum thinks I'm going through the blue car syndrome). Posting this up is really more of a "hi-there-if-you-are-reading-this-and-are-bored-and-free-you-can-try-doing-this" kind of thing, and I encourage anyone who would like to jazz up their room in a cheap (everything cost me less than $8, a lot cheaper than pre-made ones currently sold at Typo) and simple (yet fun!) way to do this simple DIY that only requires two materials you might not have already. 

What You Need: 

1. Twine

2. Scrapbook Paper 

3. Scissors 

4. Ruler

Note of advice: Get your scrapbook paper from Popular rather than shops like Paper Market or Spotlight - it's a lot cheaper at Popular and contrary to popular belief (HAHA get it), the designs available at Popular are really nice too, and in fact are possibly nicer than some at high end scrapbooking stores. The brands of the paper are the same for some too. 

Although no one really needs any instructions, here's how to make it, just for the fun of it!

1. Cut your scrapbook paper into equal sized triangle pieces - to do this, I didn't use a template or anything, I just measured 10cm intervals on top and marked them out before marking 5cm intervals at the bottom and connecting the three dots together before cutting it out. To be honest, your cutting doesn't need to be extremely neat because once it's hung up, everything's less obvious 

2. Use a pencil to poke holes - refrain from using hole punchers because the holes might be too large for your liking - and I didn't measure for this, I just eyeballed it and all the holes are different for each triangle piece but it turned out looking okay. 

3. Thread through the holes with your twine and that's it!

Hang it up wherever you prefer - it was around 11.30pm when I was making this and I ended up climbing a ladder in the middle of the night and I felt like I was going to fall down anytime because I was really tired by then but thank goodness I didn't, and in fact I was really pleased with how the pennant banner looked - it added a bit of a party feel to my room, but not being too over-the-top or gaudy. 

Can't deny how pretty it looks, I think the scrapbook paper design is really what sets it apart from others so choose wisely my friends :-)

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DIY Polaroid Frame

DIY Polaroid Frame

Sunday, August 10, 2014

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Hello there :-) 

So this is the second post on several of the DIY projects I've been embarking on since last year, the first of which was the Acrylic Painting Clock, which you can find under the "DIYs" tab of this blog. I haven't really had time to start on a major project with school and academic work and all so from now onwards, the intensity of my DIYs won't be like that of the clock's, which took me months but they will be comparable to the one I'll writing about now, which took me only two days (a school weekend) and will be fun ways to spice up your room a little in no time at all. 

I think the thing about Polaroid walls is that people always stick to the typical kinds with twine and wooden pegs as seen on tumblr but to be honest, I don't think that's practical at all because the twine usually sags down and it's difficult to maintain. Plus it makes cleaning a pain because it's not a permanent structure and to me, there's just a lot of cons to something like that. In my previous room, I used to hang up a fence-like structure that Louisa gave me and when I was redecorating everything, I decided to take it down because after two years up, a lot of the things that she stuck on the fence was peeling. Thus, I had an idea to give it a new lease of life, by converting it into a Polaroid Frame - but of course I kept all the lovely notes and quotes that came with it :-) 

Here's how you can make your own Polaroid Frame! 

What You Need: 

1. A wooden fence like structure  (while I don't know exactly where Louisa got this exact one, I've seen similar ones in craft shops and Daiso actually sells wooden fences in their gardening section as well. Just make sure that the one that you get isn't very thick) 

2. Polaroid instant photos 

3. Mini wooden pegs - I had wanted to stay true to the wooden peg vibe of traditional polaroid walls (I got a packet from Daiso for only $2) 

4. Acrylic paint of your choice (I chose gold for mine, but if your wood is pretty dark like mine, you'll need to have a white basecoat for your actual colour to stand out) 

Yup that's really all and here's how to make it! :-)

1. Paint a white base coat if necessary - usually it's better if you do, so don't be lazy! 

2. Let the white dry thoroughly and give it a few more coats if necessary - be patient my friend. 

3. Once the white has dried, paint it with your desired colour - you can even go crazy with it by using different colours but for me I just wanted to keep it simple, especially since many of my Polaroids have colourful designs on them already and the people in my Polaroids are really the main attraction. 

4. Let the gold dry and add at least two more coats so it that the colours really pop. 

5. And here comes the fun part - position your Polaroid photos and attach them with the wooden pegs! I positioned mine in chronological order but also making sure I spaced out the Polaroids with designs so that it'll look even. 

To be honest, my pegs were a little too small for the thickness of my wooden frame so I had to force them a little bit and several of them broke (partly because I got them from Daiso as well, probably). I don't suggest getting the pegs in a larger size though - they have those too - because it wouldn't look that dainty and intricate so my suggestion is to get a thinner wooden frame or just force them open like I did. 

6. The last step - to hang the frame onto the wall! I got my dad to drill two holes on the top of my bed and attach a nail to each one and I basically hooked my frame onto it and concealed the nails with the Polaroid photos.

And I hung mine on top of my bed and my fairy lantern lights because I want to have sweet dreams about the people featured in the photos, who mean so much to me. This was really quite fun to make and while I don't think it's the most aesthetically pleasing things I've made in my life, it's pretty decent and I'm satisfied with it overall. 

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DIY Acrylic Painting Clock

DIY Acrylic Painting Clock

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

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(sorry I'm not dressed very presentably - it was a lazy day at home!)

Hello there :-)

Ever since secondary school ended for me last year, I've actually been embarking on several original Do-It-Yourself projects to redesign my room (well actually I have an even bigger project behind everything but yes these are just glimpses of what I'm doing) at the same time and I finally finished one yesterday after a lot of procrastination. I actually took around 2 months to finish it when it could just have taken at most 2 weeks because I procrastinated so much and was really lazy to continue it sometimes. At first I wanted to paint my own painting but decided I should make it even cooler but having it double as a clock as well! 

I'm really really glad at how it turned out in the end though and am so very proud of it - even my mum who is not very generous with her praises most of the time saw the end product and this was how our conversation went down:

Mum: Very nice

Me: Ya, actually not bad right

Mum: No, it's very nice

So yes I'm super happy with it and she was the one who actually discouraged me and had no faith in me at all when I told her I was going to paint my own acrylic painting and turn it into a clock as well. I remember how painting and art in general used to be my "talent" and interest until I was crushed when I entered RGS and didn't really take art seriously anymore so it's actually been a refreshing experience to embark on aesthetic projects again and it's been amazing so far. It's honestly such an escape from the things that are happening around - painting's such a slow and chill activity. 

And because my post on Instagram garnered so many comments (thank you guys hehe), I wanted to let people know that it's actually really really really easy to make your own acrylic painting clock - when I first started I thought it was impossible and I didn't even know if one could pierce through canvas properly but you actually can and you don't really need any artistic talent to make this - just patience and the right tools. So here's how you can make your own!

What You Need: 

(I got everything from Art Friend and to be honest, it wasn't cheap - I think it costs around $60 in total but I really wanted something unique and original and something I could really call my own and be proud of so yup and it's actually a lot cheaper compared to buying a designer clock! Plus you can really personalize this one and actually have fun in the process) 

1. Quartz Clock movement 

2. Clock hands (Optional because the Quartz clock movement itself comes with clock hands too but I wanted prettier ones)

3. Self adhesive numerals (Optional as well - you can simply paint the numbers on or not put any numbers at all)

4. Acrylic paint of your choice (I tried to use as few colours as possible because I'm not very neat nor patient when it comes to colourful paintings) 

5. Paintbrushes 

5. Stretched canvas (any size, any type - it can just be one but I chose to do a three part painting) 

The ones I got were two 7x9 inch and one 18x18 inch! 

6. Inspiration (if you are untalented like me I got mine from Pinterest - feel free to base everything from your own creativity though) 

7. Pencil to sketch 

Yup that's all and here's how to make it! :-) 

1. Sketch your design very bravely on your canvas - I know canvas is a little intimidating because it seems like such a professional medium to use but always remember that your paint will be able to go over any pencil strokes and there's no need to erase your pencil sketch if you happen to make a mistake - just go over it! 

2. Fun part - paint and go crazy! 

At the start you might feel like everything's going wrong because the layers aren't very thick and you can still see all the mistakes you make but no worries - patience will solve it all eventually. 

Just let loose and have fun :-) 

And always paint one layer by one layer only after the previous layer has dried thoroughly (I let them rest at least overnight because from experience, impatience does nothing to help) 

Cute blob of white paint - white can't cover much though unless it's a really thick layer! 

This was after about three layers of paint (yes i.e. at least three days) 

And this is after at least 10 layers of paint (yes patience is my virtue)! Especially because white gets dirty really easily and I really wanted to get my lines neat and it wasn't very easy with just a paintbrush.

3. Measure where you'd want to place your clock dial - I wanted mine in the middle of the largest piece of canvas so I had to be quite accurate with this. I initially wanted the dial coming out from the whale's eye but it didn't look good. 

4. Read your clock mechanism package very carefully and make sure you know how to assemble everything because it can actually get quite tricky - really fun though! 

5. Use a penknife to cut a hole for your clock movement - I know it feels really scary to do it but do it anyway! I actually took many photos of the painting first before I pierced through it in case I ruined it forever because I had the worry that the stretched canvas will somehow "deflate", if you know what I mean. 

6. Stick your clock mechanism through your painting and make sure it fits well but isn't too tight. 

7. Assemble everything (oh my goodness I love the clock hands they're so pretty) 

8. Place your self adhesive numerals around the clock, any way you like - accurately of course! Though I just eye-balled everything. 

Did the four corners first 

Yay not too bad for random placements! 

And that's really it :-) 

I really hope people try this out because it's really fun to do, it's actually quite easy (just needs patience!) and the outcome really does outweigh any inconveniences or difficulties. I haven't hung it up yet nor put a battery into it to actually get it working but I'm really excited to! 

Also, I didn't realize the idiom this entire painting reflected until Ragini mentioned it - Whale of a Time! It's such a witty and cute pun and I can't believe I didn't do it intentionally because it's honestly weird that I even decided to paint a whale in the first place but it really gives a whole new meaning to it and having a whale of a time has such a positive and fun vibe to it :') 

Anyway yes I'm working on several other DIY projects and I fear that I'll neglect them once JC starts for real (which is really really really soon) but if any of you would like me do share more DIY stuff, let me know! 

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