DIY Sea Urchin Decor

I have been drooling over these gorgeous Sea Urchin accessories since I first saw them at High Point last Spring. 

Check out these gorgeous Sea Urchin chandeliers I spotted while at High Point! 

{Sea Urchins}

{Sea Urchins}

Although I could have dropped about $100 to purchase one or two, I decided to make my own. I've seen a few tutorials out there involving a small styrofoam ball for the base, but I didn't like the thought of spray painting the styrofoam. 

Then I found a great tutorial from The Hunted Interior. She found her original tutorial here.

It involves using oven-bake clay for the base instead of styrofoam. 

I picked up my oven-bake clay from Walmart for around $5 and then purchased one pack of long Kabob sticks and one pack of shorter kabob sticks from my grocery store. They run about $2-$3 each. 

{Walmart}

I cut the longer rods in half so that I would have a medium sized Sea Urchin, and used the shorter rods for a smaller Sea Urchin. 

Following the same technique as shown on the Hunted Interior, I started by rolling a ball of clay and sticking the rods in a straight line in one direction. 

Then I started breaking up the circle into pie slices to make sure the rods where evenly distributed all over the ball. 

I kept breaking down the size of the pie pieces until I was satisfied with the coverage of the rods over the clay ball. 

Then I simply followed the baking instructions on the back of the clay package. I baked mine for a long time since the clay ball was so thick. Around 45 minutes, checking it periodically. I wasn't worried about the wooden rods in the oven since they are meant for Kabobs.  I knew they could handle the high temperature. 

After the baking, I let them cool and then gave them 2-3 coats of gold spray paint. Some of the rods  where very loose after baking. I used super glue to reattach the rods that where loose back into the clay. 

(One tip I would suggest if you decide to try out this DIY is to make sure that the your clay ball starting out is large enough. The first one I made, the ball was not big enough to handle all the rods it had in it and started to crack when it was baking.)

Project Breakdown

-Oven-Bake Clay:$5

-Kabob rods, 2 packs of different sizes:$5

-Gold Spray Paint: $4

Total: $14 + 2hrs of work

I still have enough supplies to make one or two more, so I would say this project was money and time well spent! 

November Prints!!

I was feeling extra festive last month and decided to add some fun October printables to my kitchen. I simply pulled some Pintrest Printables that I've had pinned for a while and printed them out. (Boy do I love alliteration!)  I recently purchased two clear display frames from Micheal's in hopes of using them for the ever so popular Lucite Trays, but wasn't feeling them as trays.  

(Sorry for the horrid iphone pics. Currently doing my research and saving up for a DSLR camera.) 

So here are a few Prints that I whipped up for November to fill my frames, and I wanted to share them with you! 

Normally, I hate anything deer or antler related due to an intense fear of the animal, but the trend is so hot in design right now I decided to give it a chance! 

Feel free to copy and paste them for personal use if you'd like!  

Chevron Pumpkin

So Easy! 

All you need is a pumpkin and duct tape!

For my project, I chose a white pumpkin and gold duck tape which I purchased at Hobby Lobby, but Walmart carries gold duct tape as well. 

{Gold Duct Tape}

Simply cut stripes of equal length and start at the top of your pumpkin by making the chevron pattern and work your way down. I chose to do 3 rows of chevron since my pumpkin was not very large. 

You could do this with any pattern duck tape, or any size or color pumpkin! I think this is a lot easier than painting chevron stripes. All you do is, cut peel and stick! 

DIY Rope Mirror

As we've been slowly settling into our new  home, I have been working on a couple of projects all at once, so I am in the process of getting them all on the blog! Here is a recent one that I just finished!

As my taste and design is evolving and changing, I'm realizing that textures are what gives a room dimension and personality.  I'm trying to add unique textures wherever I can.  I came across some really neat mirrors on Pintrest that a lot of other DIY'ers out that have tackled, so I figured I'd give it a shot! 

I first found a round mirror at Big Lots that was on sale from $50 to $30. I would have loved to found a thrifted mirror, but I have no clue where the good thrift shops are around here since we just moved! 

I picked up two roles of twisted Sisal Rope from WalMart. About $4 per roll. 

Hot glue is what I used to attach the rope to the mirror. I used A LOT of hot glue for this project! 

I started on the inside of the mirror and used dots of hot glue to attach the rope. 

Then I just started circling around the mirror with the rope and hot glue. 

I couldn't do it all in one sitting. It took me a few days to complete. 

Almost there! 

 Finally finished!  Just a swipe of Windex on the mirror and it was done! 

I decided to hang it in my entry way, which I just finished painting. I wanted to use a grey blue to go with my kitchen colors. The first color I chose was Ben Moore, Palladium Blue, which is a color I've used before and loved, but it turned out to be an awful sky blue in my room. I then chose Forevermore, an Olympic color but I used Valspar Paint. Love love love Valspar from Lowe's! It covers so nicely, even on my textured walls.

Much better! 

{Link}

Love the way the Rope mirror looks against the this blue color! 

Contact Paper Wall

Since we moved into our new house, I have slowly been decorating and painting. I've been wanting to do striped walls for two years now. I knew that I could paint them, but since this home is still only a rental, I didn't want to spend all that time painting them, only to have to paint over them when we move. The other issue is that we have textured walls. A lot more goes into painting stripes with textured walls. 

(Here is a tutorial on painting stripes on textured walls.)

So for all you renters out there, or textured wall folks, or people who just aren't up to the task of painting stripes, I give you The Contact Paper Stripe. 

Supplies you will need:

-Contact Paper

(I purchased mine from Walmart but you can find any color or design online. Check out DYW or Amazon) 

-Xacto Knife

-Pencil 

-Scissors 

-Dowel Rod (Optional)
-Painters Tape (Optional)

First pick out your Contact Paper. 

I chose crisp white

18"x24'

I purchased 3 rolls for around $5 each. 

Choose the height of your contact paper. They come in varying heights. This will determine how tall each stripe is and how many you will place on your wall. 

Measure the length of your wall as well. This will determine how many rolls you need. This also depends on how many stripes you will do. I used 3 rolls of contact paper. 

Next measure the height of your wall. Then divide the height of your wall by the height your contact paper. 

I chose to do 5 stripes on my wall with 3 of them being the contact paper. 

 Next use the height of your roll of contact paper to measure and mark on the wall with a pencil where the stripes will be. 

Next just place a piece of painters tape on the wall where you want the contact paper stripe to go. This is just so you don't get confused as to what stripe is the wall and what stripe is contact paper. 

For the next step, simply peel the backing away from the contact paper and stick it to the wall. 

As you roll the contact paper down the wall continue to pull the backing away slowly. 

(Important: Measure as you go! You don't want to have to rip it down because of crooked lines!)

As you come across "obstacles" such as outlets and light switches, simply roll right over them, then go back with the Xacto knife and cut around them.

When you come to doorways or the end of a wall simply use the molding to create a straight line as you cut the Contact Paper with the Xacto knife.

As I added stripes higher up the wall, I found it hard to keep the stripes straight as I pulled the backing away from the contact paper. I used a small curtain rod (or you could use a dowel rod) to use as a stabilizer to hold the roll up as you go along the wall. 

The third and highest stripe was certainly the hardest. My husband kindly assisted me with this last stripe. Being that he is 6'2, he was very helpful. If you plan on doing stripes high up on your wall, I would suggest finding a tall friend to help you.  

I had to go over three doorways. I rolled over the doorway with the contact paper, and went back with scissors and an Xacto knife to cut the excess paper. 

Trim it up, again using the molding as a guide.

Smooth out any wrinkles in your paper. You  may need to pull the paper back in certain areas to get rid of all the air bubbles. 

Last step, because my walls are so textured, I did need to place a few staples in my wall to prevent the paper from peeling off the wall. The contact paper itself is not that sticky so it needed a few staples to make sure it was securely fastened to the wall. You really can't see them, but white out, or a sharpie could probably hide them well.

(You may or may not need to to do this step depending on your walls and how sticky your contact paper is)


The finished product!

Total cost of this project: Under $20
Time: I did this project over a few days but depending on the size of the wall, it could take a few hours with a helper!

I love the statement it makes on an otherwise, pretty long boring wall. So happy I decided to do it!