DIY Summer Beach Towels

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Before a week of no blogging, nowhere to be but the pool or the beach and no DIY projects allowed {aka vacation}, Jessica had to get in one last DIY project. With towels invincible to Bleach {we still have no idea why the color didn’t bleach}, she couldn’t make them like Studio DIY.

Plan B was to spray lemon juice on the towels, and lay them in the sun. Nope, it too, was unsuccessful.

Plan C was dependable fabric paint, and it worked just fine!

These towels make for a great gift for teachers as school’s out for summer, birthday party favors with names, as well as hostess gifts for those who live on the beach.

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Here’s how we did it.

Materials:

  • Towels
  • White fabric paint {or white acrylic paint combined with gel medium}
  • Contact paper to make stencil or stencil {we used our Silhouette America Portrait to cut the letters on contact paper}
  • Stencil Paintbrush {round, flat tip}

Directions:

Design your words with Silhouette software, and use the electronic cutting machine to cut the contact paper. Make sure the words are mirrored, so they appear correctly on the towel, and not backwards.

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Prep your painting space. Make sure to place a cardboard under your towels for paint that may bleed through.

Remove the back of the contact paper. Lay the stencils or words on the towels. We really liked the contact paper because it stuck to the towels, just enough to work as a stencil, but not too much so it was easy to remove.

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Dab the paint onto the towels.

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After about one hour, remove the stencil. Let the towel dry for 24 hours.

Have some fun in the sun.

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Good Vibes

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We believe that what you put out into the world, you get back.

If you think and radiate happiness and good thoughts, it invites goodness and positivity into your life.

When a good friend, or a stranger in line at the grocery store exudes joy and good energy a magical thing that happens – he/she lifts our spirits. Good vibes just feel good. It feels good to give them, and it feels good to be the recipient of them. Plus, good energy is contagious, so we have the power to shift the vibrations of a room. It’s an invisible force, but it is felt, and can also be brought to life by smiles, laughter and acts of kindness.

We are going to make a conscious effort to practice good energy in our own lives, and set positive intentions. We are going to be responsible for the energy we bring into a room. In fact, Jessica’s daughter is literally going to step into the room with good vibes because we made her DIY good vibes shoes. And, she is going to rock them!

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Materials:

Instructions:

Step 1: Use a pencil to draft your words or design on your shoes.

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Step 2: Color, color, color. We kept it a classic black and white shoe, but make it as colorful as you want.

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Step 3: Go spread some goodness.

Rainy Day in a Box

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Kids, just like adults, have good days and bad. At our house, we call the bad days rainy days because they are the days when you have to open the umbrella, and wait for the storm to pass. Rainy days happen, we talk about it, and then we try to turn it into something positive.

While talking to my cousin, Mary, she told us about a tradition one of her friends started with her kids. We wish we thought of this because we loved it so much. We made our own version of Rainy Day in a Box. It’s a DIY box we made, and filled with trinkets and goodies to lift our kids spirits on days when they need an extra bit of love and distraction.

Our kids know it’s not an everyday treat, but on those rough days, they can reach their hands in the box for a special treat. We find that it has become a good opportunity to talk to our children about those tough days, and find simple ways to make them smile.

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Materials:

  • Wood box
  • Small gifts that will make your kids smile
  • Acrylic paint, Plaid Crafts

Directions:

Use a pencil to draw your design on the box. We traced 1/2 a bowl for the top arch, and then free-handed the rest. As you can see, it is somewhat wavy, and that’s the look we were going for. We used a PIEBOX. It’s sturdy, pretty enough to be on a shelf and large.

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Paint the design. We choose to paint a rainbow because rainbows represent the hope after a storm, and rainbows make us happy.

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Fill the box with goodies that will cheer up your son and daughter.

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DIY Swing Shelf

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Jessica recently made a DIY Shelf inspired by the Teak Swing Shelf from one of our favorite stores, Anthropologie. It’s cute enough for her kids to want to swing on, but beautiful {and rustic} enough to hang in her home. Plus, it’s easy and affordable to make! We’re loving this Anthropologie hack.

Check out all the how-to details at Momtastic.

 

Project Funway

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We are big fans of Project Runway. It’s a show we can’t get enough. The creativity, the talent, the challenges, the designers, Tim and Heidi – we love it all! Well, Project Runway has some major competition…from the small resort town of Vail, Colorado.

Moms, dads, architects, teachers and everyday amazing people enter into Project Funway to raise money for EFEC, Education for Eagle County. The non-profit organization helps to provide funding for tools, technology and staff that supports an excellent learning environment for the kids of Eagle County.

What started as a small event has grown into a large, must-see runway show. The lights, camera and action are exciting, but the fashion is unbelievable.

The more unconventional the materials, the better. I will never look at a construction fence zone, plastic bread tags, plastic containers, bicycle tires or medical gloves the same way I did before.

Last year, Jessica’s daughter Gabriella, competed. Her theme was Summer, so she walked the runway as a watermelon. Her top was made of window screen, the skirt was constructed with plastic tablecloths and held up with a duct tape belt, she adorned a flower headpiece made from a plastic cup, and she was accessorized with a a bubblegum necklace and a purse made from a watering can.

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Turns out, inspiration is all around us – we just have to use our brains to brainstorm and our hands to mold, sew, glue or design it into a work of art, or runway piece.

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Our personal favorite was the construction fence dress. Who knew the orange fencing could be so couture?

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This year’s show is Saturady, April 9. It’s sure to be a show-stopper. Read more about the event, and how to buy tickets here.

Photography by Sherri Innis
Photo of Jessica’s daughter {and lead designer of her watermleon dress} by Meredith Moran Photography