DIY CHANEL INSPIRED LAMP

DIY CHANEL INSPIRED LAMP

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Hello lovelies! I never was a craft-friendly person. I am terrible at drawing and at anything that involves glue, scissors and paint. Therefore, I am not very good at DIY projects, not matter how I excited I am and willing to give them a try. With that in mind, once I found a picture of this Chanel inspired lamp on Pinterest, I instantly fell in love. It is a cute little lamp that can totally transform a plain room and add some character to it. As a fashion blogger, I love anything that is brand related; from mugs and candles to pencils and paintings. This lamp although it looks easy and simple enough to make, it was a bit of a challenge to someone who hasn’t been into DIY projects much. I only just recently started to warm up to the idea of creating bits and bobs on my own for my house.

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This lamp is quite easy to make and not demanding at all. You will need a canvas (I chose a rectangular one because I feel it is better for the design and also with some width), some black paint, a brush, a pair of scissors, some LED fairy lights (mine are a 12 pack from IKEA and they are battery-powered), a ruler and a pair of compasses.

STEP 1

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For this step you basically design your entwined Cs. Use your ruler to measure the distance of your two Cs from the sides of the canvas. You have to be very specific and careful with your measurements because the Cs must be mirroring each other. After you measure the space and decide where you would be happy with your Cs, use your pair of compasses to design them. It is much easier than what it seems, trust me!

STEP 2

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Once you have designed your Cs then you need to paint them. I used an acrylic black paint and I mixed it with some water. I didn’t mix it too much because I like the paint to be a bit on the thicker side. Gently and using a small brush paint the two Cs. It doesn’t matter much how you are going to paint them, but it will look better and less messy if the strokes have the same direction. Once you finishing painting the Chanel logo, let the canvas dry. It will dry pretty fast but I let mine for a couple of hours, just to make sure and to avoid making smudges.

STEP 3

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This step is going to be a little harder. Once your painting is completely dry, get your ruler and measure the spots where you are going to put your lights. So if you have 12 fairy lights, you need to space them out equally on the 2 Cs.  With your ruler you will measure equal spaces between every two lights. Once you mark the spots, get your scissors and start creating holes on each spot. You need the scissors as the canvas has fibers that you will have to cut. Carefully start creating the holes. I found that using the pointy tip of my pair of compasses and create many tiny holes at first, makes easier for my scissors to cut through the canvas. In order to avoid making your holes too big, try to insert the fairy light and if it barely fits, then your hole is ready. Once you finish all the holes, just push the lights through them and you are done! Last thing is to put batteries and tuck in the cables at the back of the painting so they are not in the way.

I know it is not a major DIY project but I love its simplicity. It is perfect for the bedroom and living room and it adds a touch of “couture” to every space. You can use other logos if Chanel is not your favorite brand but they have to be logos with plain letters and not full words, because in that case you would need a big canvas and more lights. Plus, it would look so cluttered in my opinion. Also you can use whatever colors you like although, no other color expresses Chanel better than black. What do you guys think of the lamp? If you guys create the lamp or something inspired, upload it on Instagram with the hashtag #mycooldiy. I would love to see what you guys have made! Also don’t forget to pop over my Instagram (@blueberrylover) and Twitter (@vickyinlalaland) to say hi!

 

Till next time take care dolls 😉 xxx

Vicky

DIY CUTE PRINTS-HOME DÉCOR

DIY CUTE PRINTS-HOME DÉCOR

A few of my favorite things :)
A few of my favorite things 🙂

I don’t know where I have been living these past years, but it must have been under a rock, as I just recently discovered the magic called Pinterest! Or should I say I “re-discovered” it. Although I have a Pinterest profile for years, I never really understood it, until recently. One day I decided to look for some home inspiration and that was it: I got hooked. One thing that caught my eye in many amazing home décor pictures, it was the beautiful paintings and prints which were hanging in bedrooms, offices and living rooms. Prints of makeup, clothes, cute pastel items as well as inspirational quotes.  I did some research and found out many of these prints on Etsy for sale. However, there was one problem: I wanted them all! But I couldn’t or didn’t’ want to buy all of them, which really made my sad. So an idea came to me: why not make my own lovely printed wall art!

You may think that it is a complicated idea but trust me – it’s not; all you need is a good printer (or at least a descent one), some paper and lots of frames! The first step is to search online and find free printables of your choice. There are so many sites where you can find amazing free prints that are very similar to those sold on Etsy. Once you find and save your prints, there are two ways to create lovely wall art:

1st way

A4 regular paper

Thick carton paper

Glue

Scissors

Frame

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Print the design of your choice on a plain A4 paper (cheap option). Get your paper and measure it based on the size of your frame. Cut what’s exessive. Put the new sized print on the thick carton paper and mark it down. Cut the carton paper in the size of the print and then glue them together. Let it sit for a few minutes with something heavy on top (like a heavy book). Then your print is ready; all you need to do is to place it in your frame and hang it on your wall. Easy peasy and at a very low-cost. Just remember that a light-colored print (like pastel), once printed on a plain A4 paper it will appear much paler, therefore, before printing it out you must enhance the color a little bit and make it about 2 tones darker. All you need is a Photoshop software. I use Photoscape which is a free one and very user-friendly. How cute are those two prints right? (pictured below)

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Ikea frames

2nd way

Glossy photo paper or inject paper

Frame

second way

Here, all you need – except the frame – is better quality paper. You can use some inject paper, which is thicker than A4, or some photo glossy paper. You don’t need the premium glossy one, just a little glossy. With that paper you will get the quality and result of the prints sold on Etsy. Just print your design on your glossy paper, after changing the settings to accommodate the new paper. Just change the paper option to photographic paper. Once your print is ready just place it in the frame and hang it on your wall.

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Tiger stores frames

Here there are some links to site with amazing free printables. I am sure you will love them like I do 🙂

I know that this is not the typical crafty handy DIY, but if you love those pretty prints you see on bloggers’ and youtubers’ channels, but you can’t afford or don’t want to buy them, then these free printables are a great way to get your hands on them. They may not be the same but I have found some similar enough. And the best thing is that they don’t really cost much. So get some paper, turn on your printer and let’s do this! I would love to see the prints you hung on your walls and how you decorated your space, so please upload a picture and hashtag #myframedprint!

 

Till next time take care dolls 😉 xxx

Vicky