This post may contain affiliate links. I receive a small commission if you choose to purchase through the links at no additional cost to you.
So a few weeks ago my sorority had our first annual Big/Aunt Pearl Appreciation Week. Obviously, I had a lot of crafts in mind for my Big and Aunt Pearl. Here are a few of the crafts that I made… Pinterest inspired of course. Enjoy!
Being a college student, my budget was tight and for under $40 I made all of these crafts and I still have left over supplies for other DIY future crafts. So I went to my local Michael’s store and picked up a wooden frame (2 different sizes), a letter (T for my big), canvas, vinyl letters, scrapbooking paper, strings of pearls, and paint. Obviously, being crafty already, I had tons of supplies at home already (glue gun, sticker letters, flowers, paintbrushes, ribbon, scrabble letters, etc.) but all of these supplies are worth the investment!
Materials:
-Frame
-Paint (one bottle)
-Sticker Letters
-Flower Decorations
-Gems
Project time: Less than 30 minutes
1. Paint the frame (I used two coats, but you can add as many coatings as you want.)
2. I added the sticker letters to say “big” and “lil” for my sorority but you can add whatever names you prefer.
3. To add a little bling to the frame, I hot glued colored gems (evenly spaced out) around the frame.
4. To add a finishing touch, I glued a couple flowers into the opposite corners of the frame to give a finished look. The center of the flowers are bare and if you wanted you could add mini pearls, gems, or tacks in the middle for a full flowered look.
Materials:
-Frame (3 tiered one purchased at Michael’s)
-Paint (one bottle of each color)
-Ribbon
-Mod Podge
-Glitter
-Scrabble Letters
Project Time: 30-45 minutes
1. First, I individually painted each frame with a few coats. I did the middle one last because it was gold glitter. This was the first time I used Mod Podged glitter. It was so simple and easy and there was NO MESS from the glitter because it did not get everywhere.
2. To make the glitter Mod Podge mixture, I poured out a decent amount of Mod Podge (a little more than needed to paint with) and mixed in my choice of glitter. You need to use more glitter than you are thinking because it will allow you to paint a smaller number of coats (very helpful because it takes a while to dry). In between each coat you must let it dry completely and wash your paint brush in between each or you will ruin your brush. I used a blow dryer to dry it faster because I was in a rush and it helped tremendously!
3. After painting each frame, I tied a bow and hot glued ribbon onto one frame.
4. Then I hot glued scrabble letters (you can purchase these at a craft store or use actual Scrabble pieces). Make any saying you wish.
5. Lastly, I finished with three deltas for my sorority and it was Perfect! No glitter mess!
Materials:
-Initial (letter)
-String of Pearls
-Paint
-Chevron pattern (made my own using an index card)
Project Time: Less than 30 minutes
1. Although this project seems simple, it took me forever to do. To begin with I cut out a chevron pattern on an index card and traced it on the letter. I am a perfectionist, so I measured out the space in between each new pattern and made sure it lined up precisely. If I were to do this project over, I think I would try a small width painters tape to shape the chevron pattern making the entire project ten times easier.
2. Paint every other lined chevron pattern. The initial was white to begin with so I just left a section white and painted the other. This is the time consuming part because you don’t want to get paint in the white section (painters tape would avoid this problem). To a couple coats of paint so it is fully painted.
3. After the paint is dry, hot glue the pearl strand on the border of each chevron pattern. Instead of pearls, you can use gems, ribbon, or you can just leave as is.
4. TA-DA! A cute little initial! You can even make a whole word or name using different patterns!
Materials:
-Scrapbooking Paper
-Newspaper
-Vinyl Letters
-Paint
-Mod Podge
-Glue Stick
Project Time: approx. 1 hour
This was by far my favorite craft. I continually stumbled across this idea on Pinterest and figured I might as well try it out. It was so easy and fun to make!
1. To begin with grab a canvas (any size of choice will do) and lots of paper. I used scrapbooking paper, newspaper, and glitter paper. Cut/Rip the paper into several smaller pieces.
**UPDATE: Use paper that you want the words to be shown in, scrapbooking was the easiest to use because it didn’t rip like newspaper.
2. Glue the pieces in a sporadic order covering the entire canvas. (I found that putting the scrapbooking paper where I would place the letters was the smartest for the future steps).
3. Think of a phrase or set of words to put on the canvas. Using the VINYL letters, spell out the phrase on the canvas where you wish. I really liked the bottom right corner placement as it gave the finished piece a vintage look.
4. After the letters are placed on the paper covered canvas, paint the entire canvas. I used a couple coats of paint to make sure I liked the shade. Be careful near the vinyl letters as you don’t want them to come up while painting. Let the canvas dry.
5. After the canvas is dry, slowly and carefully peel off the vinyl letters. Your phrase should now be visible as shown in the picture above.
6. To finish, cover the canvas in a coating of Mod Podge. This will keep everything together as well as making it a finished and textured product.
Well that’s it for now… if you need any tips on making these crafts feel free to leave me a message. Happy DIY-ing!
xoxo,
Leanna
