the DIY: MARQUEE LETTERS/ NUMBERS

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So glad I finally got around to making these letters/ numbers. We've had the supplies forever! We can't afford the beautiful metal marquee letters that shops and restaurants have so I made a budget friendly version. Here's what you will need to make your own:
- Poster board, I used about 3 sheets
- Foam board, I used 2 of these
- Pencil
- Scissors
- X-acto knife & cutting board
- Hot glue
- Spray Paint
- Strand of Christmas lights
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Start off by drawing your letters or numbers on your foam board. I just hand drew our numbers but you could print out a stencil from your computer if you'd like.
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Cut out the numbers with the X-acto knife.
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Here are ours all cut out.
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Draw lines on your poster board with 4 inches in between each line.
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Cut out the strips.
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Hot glue the middle of the strips to the sides of the foam board shapes.
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Here's a better picture of how the poster board strips have 2 inches on both sides of the foam board.
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Here is the "8" finished. This part takes patience.
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Spray paint the number and mark with a Sharpie where you want the lights to be. Our bulbs are smaller so we want to have a good amount of lights in each number.
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Use the X-acto knife to poke a hole where the Sharpie marks are and twist the knife to make the holes big enough for a light to push through.
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Push the light bulb through the hole from the back.
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It should look something like this, a.k.a. kind of messy.
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Here's what it looks like in the front...
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And all lit up!
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You could leave your letters all white if you'd like but these are going in our kitchen. Our kitchen is extremely colorful so it only seemed right for these to be colored.
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See what I mean? hah.

the DIY: 5 MINUTE NECKLACE

The name of this DIY is suiting since recently it seems like there just isn't enough time. Getting ready to move into a different house seems to come along with 10,000 new house projects and decoration ideas and I just can't find enough time to do all of them. We found this pack of flat corner irons while going through some old stuff the other day. I decided to make a quick necklace with these "V" shaped metal pieces. Also, they're super super old so you could call this a semi-vintage neckalce if you really wanted to. It literally took about 5 minutes to make this necklace.
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You will need:
- a flat corner iron, in whatever size you'd like
- chain
- 4 jump rings
- lobster clasp
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Cut the chain to the length you want.
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Attach the ends of the chain to the flat corner iron with jump rings.
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Cut the chain open in the middle back part of the necklace.
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Attach a jump ring to one end and attach a lobster claw (with a jump ring) to the other end.
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Close up the back of the necklace and you are done!
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You can make this necklace as short or as long as you'd like and you could get smaller pieces. We may try different versions of this necklace with other sizes and we may even experiment with some spray paint. We will see what happens!

the DIY: PILLOWCASE BAG

Our friend Allison told us about this wonderful idea. It was so wonderful we just had to make one! It's probably one of the greatest ideas ever... good job finding this one Allison! If you get a chance, go check out her and her husband's blog. All you need to make the bag is a pillowcase and a sewing maching or needle and thread. Pinking shears would be helpful but we didn't have any when making this bag. Now we have some so we'll probably make more of these! Here is what you do...

1. Get a cute pillowcase. You will be using this bag so you'll want a cute/cool print.
2. Sew the pillowcase shut.
3. Cut diagonally through the whole pillowcase. Use pinking shears if you have them and you won't have to worry about hemming. If you just used scissors, hem the edge where you've just cut.
4. Turn one of the triangles upside down so the ends of the pillows are together.
5. Put one of the pieces inside the other, bottoms together.
6. Sew the two pointed ends together, patterned sides facing together.
Just like that you have a nice bag/tote perfect for groceries or your study gear or whatever!