tall cup of cake--diy #3.

for my third project i went to the homemade mama's again and used a recipe for this weeks diy.  i attempted their steamin' hot mug of cake.  this was a fairly simple recipe and i had almost all of the ingredients in my kitchen already except believe it or not i was lacking big coffee cups. haha.


here are the ingredients needed:

 

4 tbsp. self-rising flour

4 tbsp. sugar

3 tbsp. oil

3 tbsp. milk

2 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa

3 tbsp. chocolate chips (i used milk chocolate ones)

1 Egg

a splash of vanilla

large coffee mug

to start out you mix the flour, sugar and cocoa into the mug and then add the egg.  you mix that well and then add the milk and oil and mix those together well.  you then add the chocolate chips and vanilla mix that all once more and pop it into the microwave for 2 1/2 to 3 minutes.  while cooking in the microwave they will start to come out of the cups but that's normal.

i drizzled chocolate syrup over the two that i made but i wish i would have had something like caramel.  either way it turned out awesome and tasted great.  the only complaint is there was too much for me to eat.

here's the finished cake:

enjoy!

-natalie.

Workin' My Way Up, Project Two.

for my second project i didn't want to just jump into something that was going to take a lot of materials, time and effort, especially since i work thirty hours a week and am going to be gone for the weekend but i did want to do something a little harder than the first project.  so i decided to make mod felt coasters that i found on the blog for avie designs.

here are the materials needed for this project: 

-craft felt, -cork, -a ruler, -a pencil, -fabric glue (i used liquid stitch and it worked well) and -an x-acto knife.

so this project turned out to be deceitfully difficult.  haha.  it took more effort than i thought and was rough on my fingers.  to start out i measured the cork into squares that were 4"X4" and cut them out on a cutting board. cork is not easy to cut at all and if you push too hard at once it will break apart.  i suggest doing several cuts on the same spot.

but cutting out the squares wasn't the hard part.  after i cut out six squares (well more like eight because the first two ended up breaking from my impatience) i then decided on my design and just free handed it with the x-acto knife.  you can not rush your design and geometric is pretty much your only option.  but don't be deceived, i'm very glad i did this project.  i loved the end result and how they look.  to go along with your cork squares with designs cut into them you need felt squares to adhere to the back to brighten them up and make your designs really stand out.  i used all warm colors: pink, orange & yellow. :)

here is my finished coaster set:

(the colors look a little off in the picture because i used a light orange and a more neon yellow.  but i love the pink ones)

thanks! :)

-natalie.

DIY Attempt #1 - Recycled Wall Art

to get started i chose a fairly simple project, recycled wall art.  i found this project off of Homemade Mama's  blog where you make wall art out of toilet paper and paper towel rolls.  i found this project to be very doable for many people but a little tedious.  though, i do enjoy the finished project that you get from just paper towel rolls.

here are the supplies i used:

-recycled paper towel & toilet paper rolls

-scissors

-a pencil

-a ruler

-tacky glue

-paper clips

-black spray paint

to start out you flatten out the rolls and measure evenly spaced lines.  i measured every 1/4 of an inch for mine.  cut out the strips you measured off and then lay out your pattern like i did here:

i wanted a simple pattern because that's more my style but the homemade mama's made one that was much larger and looked great as well.  then after i layed it out i glued each piece together and held the glued pieces together with a paperclip.  after it dried i then spray painted it black and hung it up in my downstairs bathroom.  because the rolls aren't a very sturdy material i'm probably going to add a few more nails to hold it up for better support.  i'm sure you won't have this problem like i did if your design isn't as simple as mine.

here is my finished product:

-natalie.

keeping a creative mind.

i have never had a blog before though there are a few that i read on a normal basis.  i've always wanted to try it out but didn't want to just blog about my life or something, i'm not that interesting. haha.  so this summer to help keep myself busy and to keep myself being creative and artistic i'm going to be doing a 14 week summer challenge to do atleast one DIY project a week.  the weeks when i have more time and easier projects i'll attempt two.  i'm really excited about it and have already been saving supplies to do some of these projects for a couple months.  hopefully i can inspire more creativity within myself and maybe inspire you to be more creative.  thanks for reading. :)


-natalie.