wattlebird

May Wishlist

2013-05-22T10:28:00.001-07:00

Time for another list of things I want to buy but probably won't... This month I'm really wanting to add some things to my apartment, including plants and new kitchen items. But then I always want some new clothes too...

1/2/3/4/5/6/7 *this post contains affiliate links

What's on your wishlist this month?

DIY Light Up Carnival Sign

2013-05-21T16:50:00.000-07:00

I started making this sign for a Relay for Life event this past weekend. My team's name is "The Bookies," so I decided that I could re-use most of the letters to hang out on top of my bookshelf afterward.

What you need:

cardboard letters
spray paint
masking tape
acrylic paint
paintbrush
pen
exacto knife
battery powered LED lights

Start by spray painting all of your letters one color. Once the spray paint is dry, tape off the bottom section of each letter and also tape around the outside of the front of each letter as shown. Use your other color of paint to fill in the taped section. Once that part is dry, remove the tape and use a pen or marker to make diamond shapes emanating from the midpoint of each letter. Use your knife to cut around each of the diamond shapes.

On the back of the letters, you'll want to cut a few holes big enough so you can string your lights through. If your light strands are long enough to go through multiple letters, you'll also want to cut out small sections on the side of each letter so that they match up when put directly next to one another. You can even glue the letters together so that the sides stay flush against one another. Tape the battery packs to the backs of your letters so that the on/off switches are easily accessible. Done!

What would you make your sign say?

What I Wore

2013-05-15T10:21:00.000-07:00

Today is one of those days where I just don't have anything to say/blog about. So instead, here are some pictures of a dress that will be for sale soon if I ever actually get around to listing things in my shop (tomorrow, hopefully).

Outfit details: vintage dress and belt, Von Maur sweater, DIY shoes, JewelMint bracelet
Similar: 1/2/3/4/5 *this post contains affiliate links

DIY Fabric Wrapped Vase

2013-05-14T07:44:00.002-07:00

In my ever-present struggle to never throw anything away, I've found myself in possession of a lot of glass bottles. So I decided to try and actually use them for something. A vase was the obvious choice, but I figured I could come up with something a little better looking than a cranberry juice label.

What you need:

fabric scraps
scissors
hot glue
glass bottle

Start by cutting the fabric into 1 inch wide strips. Twist the fabric and glue the end of it toward the bottom of the bottle. Start wrapping the twisted fabric around the bottle from bottom to top, gluing pieces as you go. Make sure the fabric completely covers the label, allow the glue to dry, and you're done! Just fill your vase with flowers or whatever.

Colorful Bookcase

2013-05-13T07:36:00.000-07:00

Last week, while dealing with a case of writer's block, I decided to completely rearrange my bookcase. This led to pretty much rearranging my entire living room, but that's a different story.

I decided to arrange my books by color. That's normal, right?

Also, yes that is Arrested Development on the TV. Who else is excited for the new season??

Blue Moon Orange Smoothie

2013-05-10T07:02:00.001-07:00

Here's another drink recipe using one of my favorite beers. You probably already know that Blue Moon just isn't the same without an orange. So I just took that to the next level with this smoothie.

For this recipe, you'll need one bottle of Blue Moon, 2 scoops of orange sherbet, 1/2 cup of orange juice, and one orange slice (not pictured because I forgot to buy an orange at the grocery store and didn't want to go back just for one orange).

Mix the beer, sherbet, and orange juice in a blender. Pour into your glass, and add your orange slice to the top. Done! Enjoy your delicious summer beverage.

Cool Stuff

2013-05-09T08:38:00.002-07:00

Here's some cool stuff I've found around the internet over the last few weeks:

If Super Mario characters were hipsters...
Fab just launched a "designed by you" section of its site that lets people customize their own furniture. If I had any money I'd be all about this.
This dude created a video based on a joke that his drunk wife told about tortilla chips. Do I really need to explain why you need to watch it?
Why are women DIY entrepreneurs called hobbyists?
I really want to try plant pressing this year, so these tips could come in handy.
Tape art - some people's creativity truly amazes me.
If you've ever wondered what it would be like if a bunch of corgis had a beach party, you're in luck.
20 ways to celebrate spring.

Find anything cool online recently?

DIY Mother's Day Gifts

2013-05-08T08:39:00.001-07:00

I've posted a lot of DIY projects here over the years, so I decided to go through some of them and see which ones could make cool Mother's Day gifts. Here goes.

pom pom wall art // birds nest bowl // cardboard shadow box // lace painted candle holders // wine bottle photo lamp // cardigan clips // salt scrub // flower cardigan // photo transfer pouch

There's still a few days left. Do you plan on making your mom something this year?

What I Wore

2013-05-07T08:36:00.000-07:00

Over the course of setting up my vintage shop, I have to make some decisions about photos. But I could use some help, so that's where you come in.

I have some photos that are just on a plain white background and some where they're styled differently. I'm definitely including both types in the other image listings, but I want some consistency on the main page. I think I like a split between the two for the main image.

But there's also something to be said for simplicity. Or I could just use one image on the main page. What do you think?

Outfit details: vintage dress, Modcloth sunglasses, Gap shoes
Similar: 1/2/3 *this post contains affiliate links

DIY Feather Garland

2013-05-05T13:10:00.001-07:00

Here's a really easy DIY project that I made to add some color to my living room (like I needed that...) All you need is yarn, hot glue and a pack of colorful feathers from the craft store.

Start out by measuring the length of garland you need. Mine is about 4 feet so that I could hang a double strand over my mirror. Then choose the feathers you want to use - I chose to rotate two complementary colors, but you can use all the same color or just mix a bunch of colors together.

Take your hot glue gun and attach the yarn to the spine of each feather, leaving about six inches between each. Let the glue dry, then hang it up around your home. (told you it was easy)

I even ended up making a few different strands because I just can't stop making junk to clutter up my living room walls. Minimalism just isn't my thing, I guess.

Shop Prep

2013-05-02T07:24:00.001-07:00

I've been a tiiiiny bit sporadic with posting lately, but it's because I've been so busy getting my shop ready to go. I've taken so many pictures of dresses and shoes and purses and stuff. It was fun, but now I have to edit them, and that's not so fun. But here's a little preview:

I'll update you guys when I get around to listing everything - hopefully next week!

April Wrapup

2013-04-30T07:14:00.000-07:00

It's the last day of April and it's finally actually starting to feel like spring around here. I'm really excited for the weather to be consistently warm and for it to hopefully stop raining every single day. But other than the weird Michigan weather, which is to be expected anyway, April was pretty good. I spent a lot of it going out with friends, trying to go sort through my vintage collection, redecorating my apartment, and enjoying some delicious food (as always).

Favorite posts from April:

And some goals for May:

Take more pictures (this was a goal for April that I didn't exactly follow through with)
Make some actual meals that don't start out either frozen or as peanut butter, jelly, and bread
Spend as much time outside as possible

How was your April? Any fun plans for May?

On Community

2013-04-29T06:11:00.001-07:00

So I feel like I've been (mostly) back on my blogging game lately with fairly regular posts and new ideas and all that junk. But one area I feel is lacking a bit is the community aspect - I used to find new blogs and leave comments and talk to new people all the time - and I just haven't been able to get back into that habit recently.

It would be cool if anyone who sees this post would leave a comment just saying hi, leaving your blog link (or twitter or shop or whatever), and maybe asking questions or leaving suggestions for blog posts or topics or anything else really. You could even email me (wattlebirddesigns at gmail dot com) and we could talk about guest posting or maybe being featured here in some way (I've been thinking about bringing this back... good idea/bad idea??) Mainly, I just want to start conversations with people again, as I have always felt that was one of the coolest parts about blogging. So talk to me and let's be best friends forever.

Cherry Orange Sorbet Mimosa

2013-04-26T08:58:00.000-07:00

So I'm still not very good at the creative naming thing. But that doesn't mean that this this drink isn't delicious. It's also insanely simple.

All you need is some orange sorbet and cherry champagne. Of course, you can use regular champagne if you want a more traditional mimosa flavor, but we have a lot of great cherry flavored things here in Michigan and I've really been wanting to make a cherry flavored mimosa.

Just add two scoops of orange sorbet to your glass, then fill up the rest of it with your champagne. Add a maraschino cherry or two if you want (you do) and enjoy!

April Wishlist

2013-04-25T11:00:00.004-07:00

Time for the monthly collection of things I want to buy but probably won't:

1/2/3/4/5/6/7 *this post contains affiliate links

Outtakes

2013-04-24T11:12:00.002-07:00

Sometimes pictures of yourself are really awkward, and pretending like they aren't is silly.

juxtaposition // most days

spring? // flower tights

patterns // saying goodbye

Cool Stuff

2013-04-23T11:47:00.002-07:00

Here's some cool stuff I found around the internet over the past few weeks:

Netflix released some posters for the new season of Arrested Development. I CANNOT WAIT. I already started my seasons 1-3 re-watch.
Speaking of... here are 28 ways to live life more like Lucille Bluth. I have some serious life changes to make.
Napping is my favorite. Here's a cool infographic about it.
10 teenage heartthrobs who are still hot today.
If there's one thing I always want to learn more about, it's beer.
Did you guys go see Jurassic Park in 3D yet? It's one of my favorite movies, so I went right away. This is a really interesting post about how they made the dinosaur sounds.
I love mac and cheese. I love grilled cheese. So this is basically the greatest thing ever.
Remember Trading Spaces? Remember Hildi? Remember her "out there" room makeovers. Here's a collection of some of them that really takes me back.

What I Wore: Saying Goodbye

2013-04-22T15:50:00.001-07:00

I mentioned in my last post that I've been getting ready to open a vintage shop in the next week or so. So I've been working on photographing all of my accessories and clothes. Some of them (like this dress) I'm going to have a tough time saying goodbye to. It's also strange to have work to do again that doesn't involve sitting in front of my computer all day long.

Outfit details: vintage dress, Modcloth blazer, Old Navy shoes
Similar: 1/2/3 *this post contains affiliate links

Lately

2013-04-22T09:40:00.002-07:00

Lately I've been...

Getting together a bunch of my vintage shoes, purses and clothes to sell. I'm hoping to have a shop up and running by next week!
Enjoying the weather. It's finally (kind of) springy outside and I can finally turn my dumb heat off and leave the windows open sometimes.
Working on a new blog design. I should have it up later today or early tomorrow.
Watching Veronica Mars. It's been on my list for awhile and since there's going to be a movie I figured this was a good time to finally watch it. I made it through the whole first season in just a few days.
Re-arranging and re-decorating my living room. I promise to share some pictures soon.

What have you been up to lately?

Craft Night Part 2: Decorating Flasks

2013-04-16T11:41:00.001-07:00

In yesterday's post, I talked about the craft night I hosted over the weekend with my friends. I mentioned that we did two different projects - the first was decorating canvas shoes. The second was decorating flasks, because if you're going to carry around a flask it should at least be snazzy, right?

Everyone got really creative with this one. Here are the different ways everyone decorated theirs (from left to right):

fabric attached with mod podge, bird also cut from fabric
polka dots made with nail polish
washi tape with ric rac trim and ribbon glued on
duck cut from fabric, attached with mod podge and outlined in glitter
one layer of acrylic paint and another layer painted with a sponge
covered in washi tape

...Now if you ever find yourself in a situation where you need a decorated flask, you'll have a lot of different ideas.

Craft Night Part 1: Decorating Canvas Shoes

2013-04-15T07:38:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since my girlfriends and I had a craft night. So I hosted one this month where we had two different projects people could work on. The first was to decorate some canvas shoes. I bought this huge box of shoes from a bulk site probably two years ago with intentions of decorating and selling all of them... that didn't happen, but it was cool to see all the different ways my friends decorated them.

If you want to decorate your own shoes, here's how we made these. Clockwise from top:

mint acrylic paint on the tongue and accents, silver glitter mod-podged onto the sides
metallic fabric paint on the sides, duck cut from fabric and attached with mod podge
metallic fabric paint on the sides, matte fabric paint on the front, mint nail polish on the accents
stars and moons painted with acrylic and fabric paint
abstract design using fabric markers
acrylic paint on the accents, fabric flowers attached with mod podge
metallic paint all over, matte paint on the accents, fabric on the tongue attached with mod podge
fabric marker used to make oxford-like accents, dots made with glitter nail polish

I also have a few more that I made previously. From left to right:

zig zags made with fabric markers
saddle shoes made with fabric paint
dots made with acrylic paint, using a cutout sponge
flower pattern using acrylic paint
covered in chalkboard paint

Clearly there are so many different ways to decorate these. And I STILL have shoes left. So I guess there's a possibility of me posting more of these here in the future. Do you have any other ideas for decorating canvas shoes?

Hot Chocolate Coffee With Baileys

2013-04-12T09:53:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I'm still pretty new to this drink recipe thing, and clearly I'm struggling with the whole "coming up with cool names" part of it. So feel free to suggest better names for this in the comments. I'm also aware that this is probably not the most creative or seasonally appropriate drink option, but it's 35 degrees as I'm writing this and I will drink hot beverages all year long and you can't stop me. Also you could just chill it if you want to be like that. Anyway...

Start off with a shot of espresso. Then mix a half packet of instant hot chocolate with a half cup of milk. Add a shot of Baileys Irish Cream and top it off with some marshmallows or whipped cream or something else fancy. Boom. Done.

I promise I'll try to be more creative next time. Don't forget to leave cool names in the comments so I can get better at this game. The winner gets a prize (my adoration).

Add Some Color to Black and White Photos

2013-04-11T09:08:00.001-07:00

Upon reading the title of this post you might be thinking "why? wouldn't you just use color photos to begin with?" That's valid, and there's no real practical purpose to this tutorial, but if you're like me and you sometimes try to be a black and white photo person (you know those people who make black and white photos look really good in their homes) for just long enough to realize that you're not really a black and white photo person, you can use these tips to add some color. Follow me? No? Okay.

This first one will require you to actually have two copies of the same photo - one in black and white and one in color. Use an exacto knife or small scissors to cut out the part of the photo you want to emphasize (in this one that would be my friends). Then put the pieces together and glue them to a piece of paper in a complementary color.

You can even do this process backwards if you want all your friends to look like ghosts.

This next one is not a thing I can really take credit for, since I saw a tutorial like this awhile ago on A Beautiful Mess. But I've been really wanting to try embroidering photos, so I did and I think it turned out pretty well.

One quick tip: you should either sketch out your design on both the front and the back, or just make a quick hole with your needle from the front side before stitching through the back, so that you don't bring your needle through in the wrong spot - with thicker photos like this one, it can be a little difficult to see exactly where you're going.

So that's all. Now I think I'm a sort-of black and white photo person.

Shabby Apple Giveaway

2013-04-10T07:19:00.001-07:00

I have a great giveaway for you all today! The folks at Shabby Apple are offering up a $50 gift certificate to one lucky reader. If you're unfamiliar with Shabby Apple, then I suggest you take a look around the site at all the dresses, skirts, tops, accessories, and even swimwear. I have my eye on some of the dresses, especially these:

How to enter:

First, take a look at the vintage clothing section of the site, pick out your favorite piece, and come back to this post and leave a comment telling me what it is.
For additional entries you can follow Shabby Apple on Facebook or Twitter, or follow this blog on Bloglovin, Twitter, Tumblr, or whatever subscription service you use. Each one of these can be a separate entry, but please leave a separate comment for each.
You can also tweet, blog, or otherwise share this giveaway for extra entries. Please include a link in your comment if you do this.
Unfortunately, this giveaway is only open to US residents. I'll pick a winner randomly on Wednesday, April 17 and notify them via email (so please make sure you leave a way for me to contact you).

Good luck!

What I Wore: Patterns

2013-04-09T05:34:00.000-07:00

This is my attempt to fit as many patterns into one outfit as possible. Actually, I wasn't really trying to do that, but as I walked out my door I realized that I had four different ones going (my sunglasses are polka dot, if you can tell in the picture). I guess I'm just really drawn to patterns when picking out clothes so I don't have a lot of neutrals or plain colors to go with my patterns. That's cool, right?

Outfit details: F21 dress, target top, thrifted coat, Modcloth shoes, Charlotte Russe sunglasses
Similar: 1/2/3/4/5 *this post contains affiliate links