April Blog Angel - And I was not bored!

So this time I have been the worst Blog Angel out there.... and it is such a shame because the blog I tried to help out this month is simply awesome!!!

April Blog Angels half-way post

As you know I have been participating in Rosie's Blog Angel 'program' for a while now. But what is a Blog Angel? 

If you look up the following 2 words BLOG and ANGEL you will find the following definitions:

Blog: a Web site containing the writer's or group of writers' own experiences, observations, opinions, etc.,and often having images and links to other Web sites. (http://dictionary.reference.com)

Angel: a person having qualities generally attributed to an angel, as beauty, purity, or kindliness. (http://dictionary.reference.com)

So if you combine the 2 words you know what being a Blog Angel is all about! It is about helping an other blogger by:

- Commenting on posts
- Button exchange
- Helping with the lay out 
- Guest posting
- Writing a post about them
- Following them on other social media platforms
- etc, anything you can think of will work!

For this month I haven't been the ultimate blog angel.... But luckily the blog I am trying to help is a blog that already has all the features and qualities of being a great blog! So I feel there is not much I can add.... But this blog does give back by inspiring me! So being a blog angel is not only about helping someone else it is also a great way to get new inspiration and to make new friends!

At the end of the month I can reveal to you which blog I am talking about, but I will try to find some way to end this edition with a special something. Not quite sure what it will be... but I am working on it.

Blog Angel Reviel post February

Are you a blogger? Do you want to help other bloggers? Do you want to share your amazing stories with other bloggers? Do you want some support with your blog? 
 If your answer to all these questions is YES you are the perfect Blog Angel Candidate!!! Because this is what being a Blog Angel about!

This was the first Blog Angel round for 2013 and we had to choose our blog. So I decided to go for Anja from Cocalores. Besides being an amazing blogger she has also become my German Blog Friend which is amazing! Oh and she also loves PINK so what what's not to like?!

So what did I do to help her out:

- I started following her on Pinterest, and since I really loved a lot of her Pins I made a post about her Pinterest boards hoping she would get more Pinterest followers. You can read the post here.

- Of course I did the regular commenting, since I already was a daily reader of her blog I had hoped that this wouldn't raise too much suspicion about me being her Angel.....

- Beside being a Blog Angel I am also participating in the Craft Challenge 2013 and so is Anja! So I also wrote a post on her amazing February DIY project in which she transformed a basic Ikea dresser (I have the very same dresser) into something special. You can read about it here and here.

- We also had great email conversations about our blogs and things we read! Which is always nice.

My goals for her was to attract some new readers and followers on Pinterest, and I hope I made that happen. But besides helping her I also gained a great friend which being a Blog Angel is all about.

So what are you waiting for?!

Go over to Craftbotic, start reading about our Blog Angel Society and get in contact with Rosie so you can also be a Blog Angel the next round!

Craft Challenge 2013 - My Repurposed Crafts!

Finally I can show you my Craft Challenge for February! I decided to re-purpose a crate which was a beer gift package. Since it just simple rough wood, it was pretty simple to paint it, pimp it and turn it into a flower basket!

Let's start by showing you the before picture and what I used to transform it into something else.

1) The before:

 2) What do you need:

You will need: Glue gun, paint brushes, wooden flowers to cover the words "Limburgs Genot", and I used some plastic beads.

You will also need paint, good white paint as a base coat and some colored paint. I used Acrylic paint (the cheapest I could find). I thought I would also need nails and a hammer to fasten the plastic lining but instead I used (wood) glue. I like my glue!

 3) Start painting:

Make sure to apply enough white base paint, I had to paint the crate 3x to get it really white. Then apply some stripes if you want to, you can also add polka dots or anything you want really... When painting stripes make sure you use tape to get nice straight stripes. And wait with taking of the tape until the paint is really dry.

When painting these wooden flowers, also first apply a white paint (2x) and then when it is completely dry apply some nice colors to the flowers. 

 

 

 4) When everything is dry:

Cover the inside with some (thick) plastic to make sure it is water resistant when watering the plants/flowers.

 5) Start gluing!

Now you can start gluing the flowers to the flowers to the outside of the crate. I also added some plastic beads to the smallest flowers.

 6) Finishing touch!

Add some plants! I choose for

hyacinths because they smell so nice!

Now go over to Craftbotic and vote for your favorite Re purposed craft!

DIY dresser transformation!

If you like a challenge you should definitely join the Craft Challenge 2013 hosted by Rosie from Craftbotic.

I decided to participate because all the challenges are free for interpretation and require creativity! They do not only require creativity because you have to come up with something awesome every month, but also because the participants make the most amazing things!!! My January challenge was pretty awesome I thought... until I saw all the creations of the other participants. The same goes for this months challenge. I haven't started mine yet but the plan and materials are on site! But when I saw the below item... I am starting to doubt my idea... It is probably way too simple... But I will just go with it and maybe I will amaze myself and all my readers!

Anyway here is the item I am loving at the moment the most! It is pretty amazing and I also think it is affordable and easy to do.

So what is the challenge, what did Anja from Cocalores do with this dresser? Below you can find a short guide on how to transform your dresser into something new.

1) You need to buy these:

2) Start gluing:

3) Placement:

4) Paint it in your favourite colour and your will have this amazing transformed dresser!

Are you impressed?! I for sure am! To read the complete DIY handguide to this cool project click HERE.

Blog Angels February Part 1

Surprise Surpise... guess what I am doing this month.... Yes you guessed right I am (yet again) a Blog Angel!

If you are new to this blog please click here and here to see what being a Blog Angel is all about.

This time (again) we got to choose for which Blog we wanted to be an Angel ... my pick was pretty difficult.... But in the end I choose for a blog that I really like to visit on a regular basis and I thought it would be a good blog to put my BA (Blog Angel) skills to the test. Because this Angel requires a different strategy... she knows how to blog and how to attract readers, but I hope I can support her in getting more readers and maybe help her gain some more (social) attention.

I can't reveal my strategy but I do have a plan... it does need some fine tuning.... but in the end I hope I can make her proud!

Because it has to be a secret till the end who my BA is I like to add some secret details to the "in between" posts.... and this time it is a quote which I think describes my Blog Angel in the way I've got to know her over the past year.

If you yourself are a BA this month, good luck! If you are new to the game, stay tuned because by the end of February I will reveal who my Angels was.

Pinterst through the eyes of Coca Lores

How wonderful is the world of Pinterest?! Well today I will show you the world of Pinterest through the eyes of my fellow blogger and friend (eventhough we have never actually met in real life) Anja from Cocalores.

I will show some of my favourite items and boards of her Pinterest(ing) world.

DIY and Crafts Ideas:

Bracelet made of vintage earrings

DIY Turquoise Knot Necklace

Cute outfits:

1920s gown

Business chic

Travel Bucket list:

Autumn Tree Tunnel, Smuggler’s Notch State Park, Vermont

Central Park

Photos and prints:

Cocalores: Today's Life Lesson 10/28

Cocalores: J'adore Paris toujours

Look what I made: Projects:

Cocalores: Cute armchair makeover

Pink and blue bird appliqué pillow 

This is just a small selection of all her amazing Pin's. When you go an visit her on Pinterest make sure to check out the "Say What" board and the "My Recipes - Even I can Make that!" board.

Have fun!!!!

2013 Craft(botic) Challenge

A Challenge?! Yes that is that the title of this post is! And this challenge sound pretty awesome! If you are a regular reader you might know that I am not that good at sticking to challenges.... I once tried the photo-a-day challenge... during which you had to take a photo of an item (which was mentioned on the blog) and post it.... half way the month I forgot to take the pics... and I just stopped.... If you also remember I said I would participate with the weekly OH, How Pinteresting item... couldn't keep up with this either...

But a new year has started so it is time to make new resolutions right?! The thing about this challenge if that you only have to do 1 item per month! So you have 4 weeks and weekends to make something. And I like making things and think of making things.... to sit behind my sewing machine and see how you create something. So will I keep up... I think so!

This is what the challenge consists of:

So for January we have to make something of leftovers! And boy do I have leftovers... My first thought was to use my fabric leftovers, but of course you can use anything you like; paper, flowers, fabric, wood, food! Anything you like!

And here is the first item of the challenge: I made a Tissue Case! I did use a tutorial so I am not sure if that is cheating... so please don't Rosie from Craftbotic the host of this challenge! The tutorial I used is from Very Purple Person. And to be honest I quite like the result! It is very easy to make, useful and you don't need a lot of fabric.

Well if you want to join in on the fun, it is easy! No signing up, just crafting!

Crafts & Christmas part II

Here is the deal on the Cocalores Tutorial I "followed".

So I am going to be a bit lazy and only post pictures of the end result and for the complete tutorial I would advise you to click HERE.

My end result:

Ok... so I am pretty happy with the end result, but to be honest I think I might add some more balls because I think there is still much white of the Styrofoam peeking through..... Will do that this week!

So what did this DIY project cost me: about € 15, that is including the balls, the Styrofoam and glue gun (which I bought at a craft store). Of course this is excluding the additional balls that I need to buy to perfect this piece.

If you also have some Cute Handmade (Christmas) Gifts you can upload them HERE!

Have fun!!!!

Crafts & Christmas

Crafts and Christmas are always a good combination! And this weekend I had such a creative weekend! Pfff I can't even believe it myself.

What did I do this weekend:

1) transformed my lovely Magnolia branches from a summer piece to a Christmas piece.

Before

After

I still had a voucher of a garden center where there is a huge Christmas market each year! The deal on the voucher was that is cost € 10 but was worth € 20! So I bought some items to make my perfect Christmas piece! I also found some old items (that happened to be red and purple) and voila!

So here we go! What do you need:
- some branches, I used these Magnolia branches that I already had but pine branches would also be a good option
- a nice vase
- some silk or real flowers and Christmas ornaments.
- clip on flowers
- berry branches
- stars
-Christmas balls
- Orchids
- beaded pendulum
- small ribbons
- candle holder
- some voile or large ribbon in order to make sure there is no gab between the vase and decoration. So basically you use it as stuffing...
- and you will need some Styrofoam or floral foam to fasten everything

How to start:

1) put the foam in the vase, quantity depending on the diameter of the vase
 
2)cover the vase with voile (I laid the branches on top of the vase instead of putting them into the foam. If you want to put the branches vertical you will need to fasten them into the foam and therefore cover the vase with voile at the end)

3)wrap the beaded pendulum around the branches

 
4) fasten the flowers and berry branches


5) Once you have done this you can start adding the other ornaments and 
ribbons for the final touch! (An other nice idea is to wrap some yarn/threat around the branches, the rougher the yarn the cooler. This was also use in the "before" picture).

Well basically this is it! Most important is that you make a plan before you start and buy the ornaments based on your plan, and once you start it is pretty easy!

  2) I made this super cool Christmas ornament for which I used the tutorial from Cocalores! Below a preview, the complete post will follow later this week.

3) On Sunday I made a lovely top! The complete story will follow in another post but below an idea of the top I made.

Stay tuned for the whole deal! See you soon!