DIY: You make my heart jump

Do you remember our garland of origami hearts from last week? Today, we wanted to show you another great idea using the same ingredients - paper and hearts (in this case, pixelated!).

Minieco

It is a pop-up card that is very easy to make, very eye-catching and ideal for people who love design and minimalism, don't you think?

You can find more photos on the Minieco site and download the template here so that later all you need to do is cut around the right lines and ta-da!

Who says that everything to do with the 14th of February has to be tacky?

Olga

Love in motion

Valentine's day is just around the corner and little hearts are popping up everywhere...love is in the air!

Personally, I'm not really into the commercial aspect of Valentine's Day and I don't tend to buy any gifts. Having said that, and taking into account my fondness for origami that I told you about around this time last year, after seeing this idea on How about orange, I couldn't stop myself folding and folding :) 

These hearts are very easy to make. You can string them into a garland, or even add them to a small bunch of flowers, use them to decorate mirrors...let your imagination (and love) flow!

A gift made with a bit of love and care is always more special, don't you agree?

I was going to try to explain how to make the hearts using photos and I realised this would become an endless post so I decided to make this video (Vimeo) and take my first steps into the stop motion technique. I hope you like it!

What about you? Do you tend to do anything around this time of year in honour of Cupid?

Olga

How to make your gifts more special (than they already are)

I'm sure that many of you have already dusted off your Christmas decorations and made the most of your weekend to give your homes a seasonal make-over. I'm still working on it because I don't like to rush things and although I don't have a Christmas tree, I do like filling the house with special details for this time of year: fairy lights, garlands, hangings, candles, sweets...And since there's no Christmas without gifts, today we'd like to show you a selection of free printables to make your gift wrapping outshine even the lights on the tree.

Reindeer gift tags from Eat, Drink, Chic that you can download here.

To decorate your Christmas treats, download these tags from Bake it Pretty. 
Christmas doesn't just have to be about mince pies :)

Another set of my favourite tags from Haciendo el indio in a beautiful range of colours.

 These lovely designs can be found on Design* Sponge if you're looking for more of a vintage feel. You can print them on sticker paper to make excellent stickers.

And lastly, this delightful set from Fellowfellow, featuring nice wee bows that I love. 

We hope you like them and that they give you some ideas. We already talked about handmade gifts the other day - don't you think these tags would just be the cherry on top?

Olga

Sweet Paul: sweetness magazinified

The new issue of Sweet Paul, one of our favourite online magazines, came out yesterday and we've already devoured it from start to finish :). A lot of you might already have heard about the magazine but we just had to share some snapshots of the latest issue.

Excellent taste, flawless photography and the impeccable style of its creator, the Norwegian Paul Lowe, radiates from every page.

The new issue includes delicious Christmas recipes (with a special feature about biscuits and another about chocolate, yum!), tons of DIY inspiration for decorating your home during the holidays, ideas for making jewellery from fabric and even an interview about the art of millinery, which is making a big impact like we mentioned here ;).

  

Enjoy!

Olga

In stitches

For a while now, I've been noticing cross-stitch things here and there on the internet and they have fascinated me. I'm not all that good at sewing but when I was quite young I actually made some pretty nice cross-stitch pictures :). I don't know if they were in or if my mum just liked them but as we all know everything comes back into fashion, one way or another... 

As a painted mural for a nice effect

As a personalised cover for your beloved iPhone 

Even as decoration for this refurbished wardrobe

You could also make unique cards using needle and thread

But my favourite idea added to my DIY inspiration list is this canvas with a super-sized cross-stitch pattern on it. What do you think? I would probably go for other colours and a different size but I promise to show the results if I still have the same knack I did aged 12... ;-)

Canvas by Jessica Decker

Olga

Today's spotlight is on...Carol

Our post for today is very special as we’re launching a new section! Every now and again we’ve been sharing some of the things we make in our spare time like the glass magnets, the decorated plant pots, or the home-made bokeh filter. When we prepare the posts, we’re always wondering whether you will like them, if the ideas will come in useful for you or inspire you to make your own projects and we let our imagination soar…
We know a lot of you are big fans of handicrafts and DIY projects so we would love it if you shared your projects with us! It could be something you saw on PolkaDot Lighthouse that gave you an idea or any of your own projects that you fancy sharing here - we will welcome you with open arms! :-)
And we’re launching in style with an excellent project we loved by Carol, a friend and follower of PolkaDot Lighthouse.
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Hi! I am so happy that Olga and Carla have invited me to be part of PolkaDot Lighthouse with this little project I did a few weeks ago. I hope you like it too!
It all started when a friend told me she wanted to decorate one of the walls in her bedroom with many pictures, with frames of different sizes and colours. I then thought, why not decorate frames with lace? (Don’t ask me why, but my mind makes some very strange connections sometimes…) And this is what I made! 
First things first, what do we need:
• Frames. They can be old or new (like the basic ones from Ikea I used), as long as their surface is flat.
• Lace. You can buy it at any haberdashery or handicrafts shop, there are lots of colours, shapes and sizes, and it’s really cheap!
• Scissors, small brush and white glue.
• You can also add beads or adornments (I chose butterflies for one and a skull for another one I wanted to give as a present to a rocker friend).

What we have to do first is measure all four sides of the frame. You can do it with a measuring tape or, if you are brave, you can place the lace over the frame and cut directly, but don’t forget the corners have to be cut diagonally!

Move the lace you have cut and add a first coat of glue over the surface of the frame. Carefully stick the lace onto it, making sure it’s not creased and that it’s in line with the corners. I prefer to do each side separately, so I can cut the corners of the lace to make their pattern match.

When all the sides are done, add another layer of glue over the whole frame. Don’t be frightened because it’s white, you won’t see it once it dries!

If the lace is wider than the frame, you can cut it or “tuck it in”. You will be able to work better if you remove the glass and also you won’t stain it with glue, (but if you do, don’t worry, it can be easily cleaned with water).

What I like the most about this DIY is that you can combine as many colours or patterns in one frame as you wish, the possibilities are endless!
And what about you, do you have a technique for recycling old or boring frames?

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Aren't the frames great? Carol is bursting with creativity!
You can let us know what you think of this new idea to strike up a creative dialogue with you. We would love to find out what happens on the other side of the screen! The frequency of the guest posts will depend on your response but we would love to make it a monthly feature like all the others. Like we said, if you feel like sharing any project, version, photo, etc., our lighthouse is your lighthouse. All you have to do is send an email to us at polkadotlighthouse {at} gmail {dot} com.


Have a nice and creative weekend!

DIY: Create your own magnets

A couple of years ago, a few months before Carla moved away from Madrid, we intended to make some magnets inspired by this idea that I saw on Not Martha. It seemed that everyone had the same plan or something because we couldn’t find the glass pebbles anywhere so we had no other option but to keep the idea on the backburner.

 

The other day, by chance I came across these highly sought after pebbles and, since I had to dish out a few presents, I remembered the magnets. I got stuck into it and here’s how they turned out, let’s see what you think: 

Materials:

- Flat-sided glass pebbles (in theory they sell them in any decor, gift or flower shop)

- White glue (PVA, or something that dries translucent)

- Circle magnets (or if you can’t find any, use adhesive magnetic tape like I did)

- That big bundle of magazines you've been hanging on to thinking they might come in handy at some point (their time has come)

Instructions:

1. Cut out small images, letters or colours that you like from magazines. I used a coin the size of the glass as a template.

2. Using the PVA, glue the image to the flat side of the glass pebble. Don’t be frightened, once it dries, it will turn transparent and shiny ☺. Leave to dry.

3. Cut a strip of the adhesive magnetic tape and stick it to the image. You can strengthen it using the PVA if you think it hasn’t stuck enough.

Now you’re all set to show off your fridge!

Memories of a trip

Personalised

Mix up colours and motifs

Glamorous fridge

Olga

Go potty!

With Spring upon us, it’s time to sort out the garden and get planting so what better way to start than to spruce up some of your plant pots!

Winter was harsh on a few of my terracotta pots and they’re all looking a bit worse for wear. My plan is to clean off any mould and give the pots a new lease of life by following the tutorial at the end of this post. That way they’ll be ready to grow me some lovely fresh herbs and look good at the same time ;) 

A crafty friend of mine made me some really nice pots which inspired me to write this post. Using scraps of fabric and PVA glue, she made this:

 

You simply coat the outside of the pot with PVA glue and take scraps of fabric (or you can also use paper) and start to stick them on. You could also finish off the top with some varnish if you wanted to protect it a bit more. I think it looks really effective and it made a great gift, I was over the moon to receive it. If you don’t have any fabric, you could paint your pots following Design Sponge’s tutorial here to produce lovely pots like these:

 

I think these will make your garden/balcony look really fun and you can experiment with lots of different shapes and colours for a variety of styles. 

Carla