Easy DIY Polaroid Magnets

So I just recently found The Sorry Girls and I can't believe I haven't seen them before. They are incredibly talented and so original. I've gotten a lot of inspiration from their YouTube channel lately, and this post is one of them.

I love the look of polaroid photos, but I am too indecisive to be locked down to one picture; it usually takes me at least 10 tries to get a picture I like. 

I downloaded the Poladroid app for my computer, and popped a couple of photos into it. The app is super cute and makes sound effects so it sounds like a camera. You can take any picture and it turns it into a Polaroid.

I find a lot of coupon codes for free 8x10 photos from Walgreens, so I picked 4 photos, used PicMonkey to make a collage and sent it to be printed, all fo free. Muahahah

When I picked the photo up I used my paper cutter to slice them up and glued them to a leftover piece of foam board.

I started to use a utility knife to try to cut through the foam board, but I found that scissors are easier to control and make for less ripping. I then used some old random magnets to hot glue to the back. This is perfect for those random magnets you have but don't really want or need. 

That's it! Send me your pictures on Instagram with the #LittleBitsofLacey. I want to start featuring your photos on my Instagram page! 

xoxo,
L

DIY Marble Dollar Tree Pots for Succulents

I'm pleased to announce that I have completed another round of finals without dying. This means I am halfway there to my Bachelors Degree. (AHH)

I've been easing into summer, trying to recover and I did my first summer DIY the other day!
I picked up these succulents and a package of three mini terra-cotta pots from the Dollar Tree. I see this kind of stuff in stores, envision something adorable, do a scary evil laugh and toss them in my basket. Muahahahah

Okay but really, I just popped the succulents out of the cheapy plastic pots and gave the terra-cotta ones a quick coat of white spray paint.

I could tell you I tried what worked right away, but I feel it's my job to allow anyone and everyone to laugh at me and to also keep you from trying it these ways too. All I knew was that I wanted to marble them. (that's good grammar, right?)

I used the plastic pots the succulents originally came in to practice first, which was smart so I didn't ruin the other pots, but it also probably would have worked differently with plastic than with terra-cotta anyway. Oh well.

Initially I tried the tub of water thing. I've only ever seen it done that way with nail polish, but I figured I would try it anyway with the small samples of paint I have leftover from my craft shelf boxes.

FAIL

Then I found the one bottle of turquoisey-teal nail polish I had and tried that. 

Nope

I remembered seeing a tutorial for marbling nail polish with a plastic bag. They dotted a few drops of the leftover wall paint paint on the nail and used the plastic baggie to mix the colors.

I used the wall paint I orignally tried and painted a few spots randomly around the pot.

Then I used a piece of saran wrap (affiliate link) to mix the paint into a "marble" effect.

And I don't have a picture of this step, because I was covered in paint and didn't really feel like painting my camera.

But this is how they came out!

That's all! Show me pics of yours! #LittleBitsofLacey and I might just repost them :)

xoxo,
L

DIY Pillow from Sweater || Valentines Day Pillow

I got this sweater a year or two ago from the Target clearance rack, but I didn't have the intention of wearing it. It fit weird. But I LOVE LOVE LOVE the pattern. I picked up a plain pillow case and pillow and did exactly what any lazy, non-talented sewers like myself would do. :)

I traced around it on the sweater and cut it out. Then I hot glued the edges right around the back of the pillow.

Isn't it precious? I was thinking this would be Valentine's Day decor but now I'm convinced it will stick around all year long!

Show me yours! #LittleBitsofLacey 

xoxo, L

DIY Gel Nails at Home!

So I've mentioned on a million different occasions that I'm a poor college student. I work at a movie theatre and spend a lot more money than I should on stupid things and then wonder where it all went once the tuition bill shows up. 

I couldn't part with $40+ a month just to get my nails done, but I was also sick of looking at gross chipped nails. I also HATED spending so long to paint them only to have them chip off within hours.

So for my birthday last September I may have suggested to begged Eric to get me a lamp to do gel nails at home. And I have never once regretted that decision.

He bought me the Sensationail Starter Kit. (affiliate link)

It comes with everything you need, and doing them is a lot simpler than I thought.

1. First you prep your nails like usual, filing and whatnot.
2. Next, you use the primer to prep your nails and let that air dry.
3. Paint a base coat and cure under the lamp. I usually do the two thumbs together, then the four fingers from each side, because that's how I found it fits best under the lamp. The lamp turns on and off automatically.

4. Paint as many coats as you find necessary, curing between each coat. I've found that colors that are more sheer need 2 or more coats, but darker colors are usually okay after just the one. The key here is to "cap" the top. After painting your nails like usual, swipe the end of your nail to seal the whole nail, if that makes sense.
5. Finish off with the top coat and cure under the lamp.
6. The last step is to use rubbing alcohol on a lint free pad to remove the sticky residue from the top. It seems really weird but you're nails are immediately dry. I LOVE that part. Because before when painting your nails I wasn't comfortable for at least 6 hours. 

The last step is to flaunt your nails to everyone and drop their jaws when you tell them you did it yourself. (Hair flip)

(excuse my chunky fingers. I also never noticed I had chunky fingers until right now.)

This is two weeks out. You can see where my nails have started to grow out. Looks pretty great huh? (actually the pic doesn't show it very well, but they do, I promise.

My thumb from my notebook project: courtesy of manicurist me. (More hair flips) 
So you should try it out! It will save you a ton of moolah to spend on your tuition or mortgage...or more gel nail polish or something, I won't judge. ;)

Show me your manicures! #LittleBitsofLacey I might even repost them on Instagram :) :)

xoxoxo,
L

Pretty Craft Shelf: Craft Supplies Organization

Okay so here it is. Almost a year later but here is my craft organization!

I started by mapping out everything I had to store, and planned how I was going to store it. I made a big order from Ikea and ordered a million Kassett boxes. You can find them on Amazon here
 if you don't want to pay for Ikea's shipping. (affiliate link) I also got 6 sample size containers of paint in ombre-ish shades of turquoisey blue and coraly pink. Those were all real words, right?

I even planned how to disperse the colors and then I laid everything on the floor of my living room and painted until I wanted to throw them all away. They all took something like 4 coats.

I also made some Kate Spade inspired boxes for the shelf. 

Adding them to the shelves was the best part and I filled them with everything and added labels.

These pictures are also from many different times of the past year. I found it really hard to photograph this shelf for some reason, and that's why it took me so long to write this post. Oh well though, you get the point.

I've also recently moved the vinyl from being out in the open to my closet because I doubled the amount of vinyl I had and it wasn't as pretty as the rest of the shelf.

What do you think? Any questions? Let me see yours! #LittleBitsofLacey

Happy November guys!

xoxo, L

DIY Dollar Tree Mirrored Box

Sooo heyyy.

Dollar Tree sells these little square mirrors which are for candles and are also super cute for wedding decor, but I had something else in mind. I bought 6 of them.

Then using my trusty E6000
 I glued them together into a cute little box!

I think this is such a cute little jewelry box!

Bob's a fan!

Or hungry..it's hard to tell.


Super simple and a cute decoration for shelves that double as storage!

Hope you have a great weekend!
xoxo,
L

Simple & Classy Fall Decor on a Budget

So like just about everyone else, fall is my favorite season. And winter. Basically September through December is the best. Anywho, I wanted to share the simple touches I added to my room. I really tried to keep things blending in with my decor I already had.

This is the top of my dresser. Far left we have Juan, my plant who just celebrated his 1st birthday. I've never kept a plant alive this long so congratulations Juan. Next I picked up this cute little crate/tray from the Target dollar spot for $3 and put the two Dollar Tree bottles I already had in it. My alarm clock and my lamp are from Walmart. The Boo sign is also from the Target dollar spot and the gold pumpkin was a Dollar Tree find last year that I just gave a quick coat of gold spray paint.

This is the ladder shelf I have in the corner of my room. On top I have a paper mache letter "L" spray painted gold, and an Ikea plant and pot. 

Second shelf down houses the orange glitter pumpkin was snagged after season last year from Kmart for something like $0.96 :o and the silver is from the Target Dollar Spot. 

Next is a little apothecary jar I got from Goodwill filled with gold acorns also from the Dollar Spot. Beside that are two little elephants I spray painted silver and gold too. The "All you need is love and a cat" candle thing was a gift.

Next down I have my DIY coffee table books and a candle holder and candle.

On the bottom shelf I have a DIY mirrored box (DIY to come) and a cloche with some fake flowers sitting on a book.

So there are my simple touches for now. I may end up adding more but I like how it's turned out so far!

I'd love to see yours so tag me on Instagram! @LittleBitsofLacey #LittleBitsofLacey

xoxo, L

Baby Shower Gift || Aunticipation

Today is my sisters baby shower!

I am the youngest in my family so I've honestly never really gotten to be around babies. So I guess you could say the AUNT-icipation (see what I did there) is killing me!

I wanted to buy a million things for my nephew but I restrained because I have a lot of time to spoil him :) (This post contains affiliate links)

Here are the things I picked up and made for my sister's baby shower gift!

I started with making some of these little sleeping babies. I got the cute idea from Adeline at Frugal Fanatic here.

All I did was secure a rolled up diaper with a rubber band and tuck some baby socks on each end. I rolled the top one up to look like a little hat and made the bottom one look like a little swaddle! I added some eyes with Sharpie and tucked a few in a little basket. So sweet!

I also DIY-ed some ADORABLE onesies. I used iron on vinyl with my Silhouette and made some precious personalized clothes for the little one. I made one to say I love my Auntie Lacey. (dats me) and one with a football on the front and their last name and due date number on the back. Not to be braggy but these are CUTE.

For the rest of her gift I made a couple of goodie bags with:

-the rest of the diapers
-wipes
-teething toy (early I know)
-stuffed caterpillar
-Ikea rattles
-Infant Advil
-Extra socks
-Mini baby essentials

How did I do? :)

I'll be sharing all about the baby shower later this week. Now I need to go finish decorating!

xoxo, L