A Beautiful Mess

Rain Diary: Art Journal

Today Kara is going to share a beautiful art journal that captures one of the beautiful things about her hometown. Enjoy... 

I live in a rainy, rainy city (Portland, Oregon) and I wanted a way to record all these lovely (and not so lovely) rainy days. So, I created a Rain Diary. The idea is simple.... Find a piece of scrap paper, run out into the rain, and capture a few droplets. Journal a few thoughts, date it, and you are now on your way toward having a Rain Diary! Here is a tutorial on how I created the book that holds my rain collection.

Now let's put the book together! 1. I decided to use an Instax Wide picture on my cover, so I hand-cut a few rain drops from Hambly Screenprints paper and taped them to my wall before snapping a picture. The photo was a little more boring than I wanted, so I decided to draw the edges on with a pen and scribble over the white parts with a Prismacolor marker. 2. I began by collecting rain on pieces of paper. I used a random, extra notebook I had on hand. 3. I then I ripped about 10 pages out of an extra-large Moleskine cahier journal and folded them in half. 4. I then fed the papers through my sewing machine and sewed along the folded seam to create a binding. Sew back and forth on the beginning and edge like you would on fabric to "tie a knot".5. Collect the materials you would like to use in your book. I recommend choosing several different elements, but repeating them throughout your book to create a consistency. I used record covers and a floral ribbon through my book and I think it helps it feel much more unified. 6. Since the book is already wrinkly because of the rain and the type of paper I chose to use, I like to add even more texture to the mini-book! I used masking tape folded over the edges and trimmed them later. 

Here are the pages I've created so far...

Thanks so much, Kara! I'm so inspired by this. What topic would you choose for an art journal about your hometown? xo. elsie

 

Cigar Box Scrapbook

One of my childhood best friends is getting married this weekend! We've been friends since age 9, so I couldn't just give her any old card. I decided to make her a cigar box mini-book celebrating all of the crazy things we've done over the years. Here's how I made it...

1. Begin my selecting a cardboard or wooden cigar box. Most cigar stores and smoke shops sell cigar boxes for $3-8. 2. Remove any extra pieces from inside the box and choose how you want to decorate the inside. I chose to cover the bottom of my box with thick watercolor paper. I adhered it with rubber cement and then used strips of drawer liner contact paper to seal in the inside edges. I filled in the letter circles using Prismacolor markers. You could try using patterned scrapbook paper or even painting the inside of your box! 3. Next, select the paper you want to use for the inside-lid book pages part. I used thrifted record sleeves because I love the paper texture. Cut the paper 1/2 inch smaller the lid of the cigar box. 4. Now it's time to bind your book pages together. You could use washi tape, contact paper, or even masking tape to adhere the pages together. Stick one half of the long side of a strip of tape on one edge of the paper and then use the next page of paper and stick the edge of that to the other half of tape. Do this for as many pages as you would like your mini-book to be and trip the edges down once you are completely done. 
5. Then, use a thicker piece of tape to adhere the back of the book to the inside of the top lid of the cigar box (with one half of the tape on the very back page of the book and the other half of the tape on the left side of the inside-lid). 6. Use three small strips of tape to adhere the top of the mini book to the lid by sticking the tape over the edge of the lid. 7. Now, add all of your content to the mini-book pages . I typed out "Remember when?" memories and glued them to the individual pages. You could fill your mini-book with journaling or other images. 8. Now it's time to decorate the top of your box! I used the same thick watercolor paper again and doodled on the "I <3 you". 

The very last step is to fill the box with photos and mementos!

Thanks so much, Kara! This project is really inspiring. xo. elsie

 

Scalloped Cuff DIY

Hi friends! Today I am proud to introduce our newest A Beautiful Mess contributor, Kara of I Just Might Explode. Kara will be sharing ideas for our Project ReStyle section this coming season. (yes, we're revamping Project ReStyle... hooray!) Today she has cooked up a sweet addition to any sweater. These removable cuffs are so cute. Here's how she made them... 

1. You will need a sweater (I picked up mine at at thrift store!), a cute fabric, and coordinating embroidery floss. 2. Begin by tracing the half circle of a lid or other circular object onto paper to make a scallop pattern. I used a spice lid on a newsprint, but any circular object on paper works just fine! Start the new circles immediately next to the one before and keep a certain distance between the top of your circle and the edge of the paper so the scallops are even. My cuffs were 9 inches in width, but you'll have to adjust your width depending on the size of the scallops and the cuff size of the sweater. Again, the dimensions of the height of the cuffs depends on the look you're going for. Mine were 7 inches from tip of scallop to the opposite end. 3. Next, cut out the pattern and pin it to two back-facing pieces of your fabric. 4. Cut out around the pattern. 

5. Next, hand stitch a top stitch around the edges of the scallops. (You could also use Fray Check on the edges of the scallop to keep them from fraying!) 6. Then, with the front-facing pieces touching each other, fold the fabric in half. Pin the edges. 7. Using a sewing machine, sew the edge. 8. Repeats steps 3-7 for the other cuff. Now it's time to stitch onto the sweater! Slide the inside-out cuff into the sweater half-way and fold the cuff upwards to make sure it looks how you want it to. Unfold the cuff and pin the fabric to the sweater and handstitch the cuffs on. I did a quick stitch because I plan on switching out the cuffs for Fall-Winter time. Currently, the floral fabric is perfect for pretending it's Spring!

So fun! I love this look for transitional weather. I don't know about you, but in Missouri we are still slipping on sweaters in the evenings until, like, May! Thanks for the sweet idea, Kara. And T.G.I.F. to everyone! xo. elsie 

Crop Top DIY

Hi guys! My name is Kara Haupt and I blog at I Just Might Explode. I'm excited to share a super simple DIY for one of my favorite summer trends, crop tops! I love the over-sized, boxy shirts showing up in stores, but was wary about investing in more styles since they're pretty trendy. I picked up this shirt at Goodwill for $4 and decided to make my own!

 

For this DIY, you will need:
An unused and/or thrifted shirt
A crop top to trace (Mine is from H&M)
Scissors
Pins
Cute trim
Funky thread (I used some metallic thread I picked up a thriftstore!)

 

 

First, slip the top you're altering onto a hanger and then slide the crop top over it. Be sure to match seams of both shirts to each other so the shirts will fall similarly.

 

 

Then next, use fabric scissors to cut along the edge of the crop top.

 

 

Once you've cut all around your top, grab some pretty, vintage trim, fold it in half and stitch around the bottom. I pinned the trim as I went to make it easier. You could definitely hem your edges with a sewing machine before you add the trim, but I want my top to eventually fray.

 

 

Pair your new top with some patterned shorts and you have yourself a cute, trendy summer look!

 

 

Outfits Details: Top: Thrifted/DIY Shorts: Thrifted(Miley Cyrus), Boots: Thrifted, Necklace: Forever21

Photos taken by Kip Stutzman.

XOXO, Kara