Do It Yourself Deco - Mason Jar Plants

This one is pretty self explanatory. Picked up some old mason jars from my moms, bought some ivy, and planted away. The glass is great as well because you get to watch them grow in all directions. Very pretty for my windows.

Do It Yourself - The Winter Turban!

For materials start knitting three rectangles of whatever colour you like. Then knit the big one together into a tube. Add the bow bit, and then sew the smaller one around the middle.

For a bouncy bow keep it hanging, and for a more turban-like headband sew it down.

Ta-da!

Do It Yourself - The Knot Bracelet

My favourite blogger, The Man Repeller, calls them arm parties and I've been really into them this summer. They include loads of colourful bracelets running up your arms and they're also easy to create. If you haven't seen the other diy bracelets on this site click here for the bolt bracelet and click here for the friendship bracelet. For the knot bracelet, I was inspired by a bracelet sold on the forever 21 website. All you have to do is get coloured string and use as many colours as you like. I personally like thinner bracelets but if you enjoy the chunkier ones just add more string. Then tie loads of knots with them and then add a clasp. Voila!

Do It Yourself - The Friendship Bracelet

As a follow up to another favourite diy of mine - the bolt bracelet - I present the friendship bracelet. Very popular during my childhood and quickly picking up speed again, these bracelet are super easy to make. Pick up some colourful string at the dollarstore and start knotting away. I saw a really good step by step guide on Honestly WTF, you can check it out by clicking here.

.... and what my arms will look like by next week.

...and if you're feeling a bit lazy you can pick one up at H&M like I did. After seeing the tutorial though my hands are gonna be busy knotting from now on. Enjoy!

[photo credit - jak and jil, Honesty WTF]

Do It Yourself - Turbans!

After seeing some awesome turbans at Urban Outfitters I decided to try making my own. All you need is a big scarf and nimble fingers, note-mine are not so nimble so ignore the scruff. Anyway, here is a mini tutorial on how to make your own turban!

Scruffy but awesome results!

do it yourself - the bolt bracelet

I saw this bracelet on NeedSupply and got instantly inspired. Went over to the hardware store and bought me some bolts. They're so cheap, I spent about 4 dollars on 18 of them. Then I cut up an old shirt into strips to make the string, braided the bolts into the string and voila! Awesome bracelet.

DIY Couture

DIYcouture has made an unusual clothing collection: rather than purchasing a garment, the DIYcouture customer purchases a book containing a set of simple, visual instructions, which help them to make that garment themselves.

To check out their website click here. DIY Couture will be featured in the next issue of The Fashion Press which comes out March 31st, get excited.

do it yourself - the jimi hendrix jacket

step 1: you'll need a black tux jacket, gold rope, gold buttons, gold ribbon and fur trim

step 2: pop the collar of the tux jacket so that it's a strait edge down the front, cut as necessary

step 3: gold collar - sew lines of ribbon to the collar of the jacket

step 4: arm bands - sew lines of ribbon on the arms of the jacket

step 5: the band tassels - sew lines of gold rope onto the jacket in lines with two hoops on the sides. do this step by hand.

step 6: sew the buttons onto the tassels where the hoops meet

step 7: sew in fur trim by hand and voila!

note: this took about 2 full days so do it over time or during a long weekend

diy- the triangle stamp shirt

step 1: get a white plain t-shirt and put hard plastic or cardboard up the middle ( so it won't leak to the other side)

step 2: get a sponge and cut it into a triangle shape

step 3: get black fabric or permanent paint dip the sponge in it and place on shirt.

step 4: repeat pattern till done, wait a day till it's dry, then wash!

do it yourself - the graffiti top

step 1: get a white shirt

step 2: tape a design on the shirt

step 3: spray paint the shirt

step 4: take the tape of the shirt and voila! 

do it yourself - the circle scarf

step 1: cut up loads of white squares/rectangles.  I used old shirts

step 2: sew them so they line up into one long line

step 3: sew up the side into a tube formation

step 4: turn the whole thing inside out so that the seems don't show

step 5: sew up the end

step 6: tied elastics all over it and then pour dye on top. ta da! circle scarf.

Do It Yourself - the acid wash jeans

These jeans were easily made by bleaching an old pair.

Step 1: Take a pair of jeans and soak them in a bathtub.

Step 2: Ring out the jeans and then lay them back in the empty tub.

Step 3: Put on plastic gloves and pour bleach over the jeans. Not over the whole thing just wobbly over parts.

Step 4: Wait about 10 minutes and then place the jeans in the dryer.

Wash and then wear!

do it yourself - the woven belt

Everyone has woven belts now-a-days so I decided to make one for cheap. I cut up an old white soccer shirt into long strips and then tied all the strips together and started to cork it. Corking is so easy and takes absolutely no skill and almost no time. Any youtube tutorial will do just fine in showing you how to do it. If you don't have a corker just get 2 toilet paper rolls and put one inside the other for extra strength and then cut little tabs at the top like the rook of a castle in chess. Wrap around the material and then wrap around again and lift the bottom line above the second line and continue to do that. This scan shows the belt half done but once it's done it'll look pretty kick-ass. 

do it yourself - the ballet flat

Last year while my sister and I were out looking for Christmas presents we found a pair of flats, 2 for $14. They were both some bronzy ugly colour but 7 dollar shoes seemed worth it at the time. A year later, not so much. So I took these old bronzy shoes and decided to make them useful. After looking at Susie Bubble's shoes I took my old ones, some black shoe polish, and covered the shoes in black. Black shoe polish dyes the shoes so that none of the bronze shows through. Then I poked holes in the side of the shoes and wove black ribbon through them. Now I've got some cool kicks. 

do it yourself - the chain scarf

After seeing Susie Bubble in her United Colours of Benetton red chain scarf more than a couple of times I realized that I really wanted a cool chain scarf of my own. I used superhero colours instead of red but it has much of the same effect. I had some old shrunken american apparel shirts so what I did was cut them up and sew them into tubes. then i stuffed the tubes with cotton balls and sewed the ends together so they ended up in circles. After attaching all the circles in a chain the project was finished and I had a wicked colourful scarf for the cold Canadian Winter and Spring. 

do it yourself - the blood shoe

Inspired by the infamous Susie Bubble I decided to try out her d-i-y for myself. By taking an old pair of grey shoes and adding nail paint I made them wearable again. Just take a bright colour of nailpolish and pour it up the front. Wait for the nailpolish to dry and then turn the shoes over and pour the nail polish down the heel of the shoe. This makes for a defying gravity effect. The shoe made for a quick, cheap, and I must say smelly and I probably lost a few brain cells, yet cool result. 

Do It Yourself - tie dye your pantyhose

Step 1: get some white or light coloured pantyhose

Step 2.: tie elastic bands around random areas of the pantyhose

Step 3: dip the pantyhose into dye ( or food colouring, not so irritating on the skin)

Step 4: let it dry for a day or two and then take the elastics out.