DIY: Paper-Clips Turned Bookmarks

In case you haven't realized, I absolutely love the dollar section at Target. There are so many wonderful things hidden there for only a dollar! Back in December, I snatched quite a few cute things from there and among them were these adorable tab-makers. You know, the kind you use to save your page in a book, textbook, or Bible. I added them to my basket because I thought they would look adorable in my new planner, bur last night I had an idea.

I love using things like this to hold my place in my Bible or other book I'm reading at the time, but after a while of use two things happen: one, the paper looses it's stickiness (yes, that's totally a word) and, two, the papers start to get all crumpled and not very pretty looking. To fix the loss of stickiness, I decided to use a paperclip and to combat the impending ugliness, I came up with this:

Tape.

Clear, packing tape to be exact. So, basically I faux-laminated these little guys and turned them into "bookmarks" that will last much longer than your average sticky note. Plus, I think they're pretty stinkin' cute, too.

What I used:

- Page Flags from Target

- Packing Tape (I'm not sure what Brand it is, but any tape that's heavy-duty and clear would be perfect!)

- Paperclips

- Scissors

How I did it:

First, I laid a long piece of tape sticky-side up on my desk and placed the little flags on top. The only thing you want to make sure when putting these little guys on the tape is that the tape doesn't wrinkle. Otherwise, it'll make a funny little bump. Other than that, it's pretty easy!

 

Second, I put a second piece of tape over the top. Don't worry if the tape lines up perfectly on the edges or not because you're just going to cut the edges off anyways. Just watch out for those pesky wrinkles (;

Third, I cut out the flags so that there was the tiniest border of tape left around them, but you can do whatever you think looks best.

 

Fourth, I cut off just a thin piece of the packing tape and slide it into the paperclip. Basically, what you're doing here is making the paperclip able to attach to the flag, but still be able to open and hold your page. So, make sure that you don't just lay the tape over the top, or else the paperclip would not be able to open.

Fifth, attach the paperclip to the flag. I put mine almost all of the way down to the side without the detail cut-out. The farther towards the middle you place the paperclip, the less of your bookmark will show when you use it.

That's it!


Now you have cute little pager markers that will stick around longer than a sticky-note. (Pun totally intended.)

DIY: Glitter Reindeer Silhouette

This project has been floating the internet (ahem...Pinterest) for a while and I finally got around to doing it. It stuck with me one, because I have an increasing love for deer (which sounds strange out-loud) and, two, I. Love. Glitter. But kind of in a secret glittered-toenails-in-the-winter and glitter-pillows-on-my-bed rather than the every-top-i-wear-is-shiney kind of way. Actually, I don't think I own any clothes that glitter at all. Anyways, back to what we're really here for: 

 Most, if not all, of the versions that I've seen have done it with glue and sprinkled glitter on top. Which, I think looks super great. However, I was at Target the other day browsing their dollar section (which I absolutely love!) and I found a bottle of silver glitter glue for, you guessed it, a dollar. So, I decided to do the project with glitter glue. It definitely looks a little different, but I like it. Also, it only cost me a dollar, which is rather nice for this college student (: 

 What I used:

:  

- Paper (A heavy, card stock kind or, in my case, a piece of old sketchbook paper) 

- Reindeer silhouette (I googled it, printed off one I liked, and cut it out so that I had the outline.) 

- Glitter glue

- Pencil & eraser 

- Scissors (for cutting out the silhouette to trace) 

- Strong coffee. This is optional, obviously, but gosh coffee makes things that much more wonderful.

 How I did it:

   

First, I traced an outline around the picture I had cut out in pencil. Do this lightly, or else it might end up showing through the glitter. Then make sure you erase any pencil marks outside of the lines that you don't want to show in the final project. It's a lot easier to do before the glitter is added, trust me on this one (:

Then, I just applied the glitter glue in a pretty thick layer (think: the amount of frosting you'd like on a cookie, rather than the amount of paint you put on a wall). After that I just let it dry for the rest of the day and it was all done!

Heads up, the glitter glue takes longer than you think it would to dry because we're applying it on so thickly. So, give it plenty of time to dry out and try not to poke at it too much (I'm totally guilty of this!) because it leaves funny little marks all over it once it's done.

   

And that's it! It seriously is that simple, but it's such a cute little piece! I think it'd be really fun to do a saying in glitter, or maybe some other silhouettes in different colors. You can really take this project anywhere. The sky is the limit. 

 Yay!

DIY: Pretty Circle Cutout Garland

 

Currently, I live in the biggest room of a house shared with two other roommates. We affectionately call it "The Cutest House In GV". I've lived here for a little bit over a year and I'm still slowly making the house "cute". Sure, we've lived here for a while and all of the basic things are in place, but a lot of the things that make it look lived in and welcoming are still being added.

If I think about all of the things I want to do in the house at once (baskets here, new floors here, shelves here, etc), then I become incredibly overwhelmed. However, if I think it about it in sections, then suddenly I'm superwoman and I can do anything. This month my section is the corner in my bedroom that houses my keyboard and guitar and this project is the first thing I've done to make it look a little more delightful and a little less sterile.

I made a garland, or banner, because it was something that I already had everything I needed to make it, and because it's something that's easily changeable/removable. So, without further-ado, here's how I did it:

What I used:

- Paper doilies

- Tissue paper in white with sparkles and silver

- Pages from an old theology book

- Large hole punch (mine has scalloped edges and is about an inch across)

- "Rubber cement" because I find that it dries faster and holds better than normal liquid glue

- Scissors

- Tape

- Mini hole punch (which I actually didn't end up using)

How I Did It:

First, I punched out a ton of holes from each of the papers that I had picked. The amount that you make depends on how long your garland is and how far apart you space them. I wanted mine spaced pretty closely, but my garland isn't all that long. So, I ended up do way more than I needed to, but I just put the rest in a plastic baggie for another future project.

From there, I cut the twine in the length that I wanted (you could also totally use clear fishers line or floss if you don't want your "line" to show up!) and started rubber-cementing (gosh, that sounds silly) the circles to one side of the line. I did mine so that the "heights" alternated, like this:

After that, I put the same type of dots directly over the backs of these so that my twine wasn't showing through. Then, I hung it up where I wanted it on the wall with some tape (until I find some thumb-tacs!).

Super simple! 

(I also made the doily one while doing this, but it was so simple that I figured a "tutorial" wouldn't really be worth it. All I did was cut another piece of twine to the length I wanted it, folded four doilies in half and placed them on the twine once I hung it on the wall. Easy peasy.)

Slowly, but surely, this little corner in my room is becoming a whole lot cuter. Hallelujah.

Pumpkin Spice Coffee Syrup

Fall is finally here! The weather is cooling down (thank goodness!), boots are being warn, and knit scarves are being taken out of their storage boxes in the basement. Along with the cooler weather comes something that I know that I also associate with fall: pumpkin. Pumpkin in coffee, pumpkin bread, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin candles, pumpkin everything. 

One of my favorite things about fall is the pumpkin spice latte that comes out at all of the local coffee places. However, as a college student, paying at least four dollars a latte starts to put quite the dent in my wallet (particularly a college student who’s basement just flooded). So, I found a way that you can make it at home which is good for two reasons: one, I’m going to be saving a lot of money and, two, I now can stay in my pj’s and drink pumpkin spice. Hallelujah.

Pumpkin Spice Coffee Syrup

Adapted from The Messy Baker Blog

Makes a pint.

The Stuff:

1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup brown sugar

1 1/4 cup white granulated sugar

2 tsp. cinnamon 

(or more! the more cinnamon the better, in my opinion)
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. of cloves
1/2 cup pumpkin puree 

(I probably used closer to 3/4 cup, but what can I say, I love pumpkin!)
1 tsp. vanilla extract

The Process:

In a medium saucepan combine white sugar and brown sugar with the water. Simmer the mixture on medium heat until all of the sugar dissolves. Mine took about 10 minutes.

Once sugar has dissolved, add cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and pumpkin puree. Then, whisk until the mixture is smooth and heat for another 10-12 minutes, but don’t allow the mixture to boil.

After heated through, it is suggested that you strain the mixture through a fine mesh strainer, however, I do not own one (college student life, yay!) and ended up not straining it at all. So, I ended up with a thicker, darker syrup. You could do it either way, depending on your preference.

Once strained, allow the syrup to come to room temperature and then add the vanilla. Keep your syrup in an air tight container in the fridge. I put mine in an old kombucha bottle.

When making a pumpkin spice “latte”, I add about two spoonfuls of this to my mug, and a splash of milk. It gives such a great fall touch to my morning, afternoon, all of the time coffee.