INSPIRATION NATION || CREATING YOUR OWN PRINTS! (YEP,PHOTOSHOP FOR BEGINNERS)

Ladies and Gentlemen (if any),I've been asked around a lot in real life and on the cyberspace how I create my prints in photoshop. A lot of my prints are mixed media, 1)something I've painted or 2)maybe something I've photographed orrr 3)Done straight in Photoshop drawing with the basic round brush and then manipulated in PS to create a pretty, pretty print that I occasionally give ya guys to download.

So here's the behind-the-scenes of how I made one the prints from my last free prints collection. ;)

Here's what you'll need:

1.Your PC
2.Adobe Photoshop (I recommend CS3 and above. I use CS6)
3.Your favorite pictures that we will be morphing into prints

Note: I'm showing how to do this by the route of absolute newbies, so if you know more or less of PS already, you'll find me a little slow. ;)

Let's start!

PRETTY ME UP | DIY MACARON KEYCHAINS!

I won't account for my reader's choices but I think this is probably the most adorable craft I've ever done in my creating den here! Sure, macarons are one thing. They're gorgeous. They're the symbol of charm+cute everywhere on instagram and they look just about everything look prettier.

But when macarons go sneaky and house a lip balm on a keychain dangling on your favorite tote?

Adorable. That's the only word which comes to mind. 

These DIY macarons? They'll be your girliest DIYest keychain yet. With function added, see? Go swoon!

(Not someone girly? :okay: *looks down heartbroken*)

DIY Macron Keychains

You'll need:

-Lipbalm pot(s)
-Air dry clay. I recommend white
-Acrylic paints and paintbrushes to go along, preferably in Pastel shades
-Glossy/Matte finish modpodge
-E6000 or any other heavy duty adhesive
-A keychain attachment

BEAUTY IN A NUTSHELL // 3 INGREDIENT MAKEUP SETTING SPRAY!

Break has finally ended and I'm back to college again! Add to that nil wi-fi in India plus a few chronic cold + fever days, meaning no new post here for a month. So my apologies to all you loves. :*
Meanwhile,if you've ever been to India's wedding season you're bound to face the terrible humidity that comes along with it. June- August are India's unofficial wedding marathons. Makeup meltdowns become mandatory, buuuuuut that doesn't have to be the case anymore.

BEAUTY IN A NUTSHELL // THE TRICK I USE WITH FACE CREAMS

Facials creams pass on a riot of claims, yeah?

So let's begin with a little story of how this happened. I have combination skin, meaning a super oily nose and a moderately oily T-Zone. And the rest of my face? Well, barren like a dessert. I typically use de-pigmentation face creams and the ones that claim to add a glow and hydration because dry skin does tend to flake plus lose luster quickly and the sunny weather here makes you get tanned crazy fast. A very horrible sorta tan. 

So right now, my whole jaw's perimeter is a lot darker than my face and so is most of my forehead. And now onto slathering my night cream which returned back to my skin much needed hydration but that's where it stopped. Ta-dum. No glow per se. No real brightening or dark patch reduction happening here. So one fine night I stumbled upon the secret that worked for me.

I'd just put on a thin layer of cream and smoothed it on to absorb in a hurry to wrap up some urgent work.

I came back about five minutes later remembering how scarce the amount I'd put on and just added another thin layer to massaged it in to absorb.


The next morning I woke up with an absolutely flawless face compared to how it was earlier.

And it got me wondering, what on earth is wrong with my face (of course everything in the world was right with it, a leeeetle bit too right which made it look wrong, haha, that make sense?)

And then I recollected how I'd applied the cream in two thin even layers waiting for each to dry in between.

I wanted to see if this was some whimsical coincidental mumbo-jumbo, so I skipped this magic technique that night.

The next morning, the glow had definitely subsided. Something was off. So I repeated the thin layering method again and voila, fresh-faced next morning.

MORE: DIY FACE PRIMER

MORE: DIY CONCEALER


So here's the theory:

-Slathering on one, albeit moderate layer may still be clogging up your pores; you never know which is why half the product may not be even sinking in and must settle on the topmost layer on your face degrading the cream's benefits..

-Applying two pea-sized thin layers (that's cool for the consistency of my cream, you may have to vary the amount according the the consistency of yours) with gaps (around a couple of minutes or more, again this time may vary depending on how heavy your creams is) in between to thoroughly let it absorb seems to give the skin more room to breathe and just plain soak in much better and easily.

I've been doing this for two weeks straight now and it's worked so well for me, I've been getting complements on how much brighter and glowy-ier I look! ^_^

PS: I can't say it will work for your skin. I'm just sharing what worked really, really well for me. I do wash my face with lukewarm water beforehand with a gentle face wash to open my pores up and receive any topical products better. Again the product I'd been using was from a reputed drugstore brand and had good reviews but I got rave results. This is the only routine that I ever use. Face wash. Skip toner. Cleanse with milk (and trust me, it's fab esp. for removing makeup residues) and then moisturizing. I exfoliate around three times in a week. Sometimes everyday with a very mild creamy/gel scrub.

Try and see if it works for you, with such a tiny change in routine, it's worth a try!

PS #2: I've been using this trick since a lot earlier and it has to do with clay based face masks. Whenever you put one on, they tend to dry quite quickly, so just wet them up again by gently patting on some water/milk to "reactivate" them and wash off when dry again. You'll see much better results.

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Hope you shine bright like a diamond too!
Love, Nash

THE DECORISTA CHRONICLES// SUPER PRETTY BRACELET & WATCH STORAGE

Following feature prima of my Vanity Rehab series, here's one which may remind you of one of my other quite popular DIYs. Remember this DIY Ring Box I made over here using hair curlers? The idea is the same, but this one's for all your arm candy. Yup all that stash of bracelets, cuffs, bangles and watches.
I think by far, given by supernatural prowess to hoard bangles and bracelets, I've developed quite a collection of bangles. Is that just me? Or do other people too have one specific jewelry item they buy monumnetously more compared to other jewelry? Annnyyyhowwww....

Getting ready is now more of a breeze. Just introduce that^ babe in your routine. :)

DECORISTA CHRONICLES// DIY RING HOLDER

So this quick beauty was so easy to dish out and the outcome was so fabulous that I simply couldn't resist snapping away pictures! And you probably do have an Eiffel Tower souvenir or something right, right? No? Okay, well you can use a miniature souvenir from some random famous tower of your own country or tiny lil toys stolen from your kid/sibling/unknown child across the street. I was about to use stray chess pieces spray painted gold on a faux lil chessboard first, but that idea went whoosh when I remembered this darling key chain, just hibernating in one of my drawers.

Who can resist an Eiffel Tower ring dish? Plus, it's such a good daily catch-all if you're a ring, or even an ear-rings-ish kinda person. And of course, the dish has to be overdressed, because nothing can ever be over-dressed for me when done right. In short, here's a nice way to organize your rings!

It's also literally the simplest, glamorous way to make a squeal-worthy gift for you mum/sister/daughter/friend/lalala.

Did I mention this is Part 1 of my new series called : Vanity Rehab?

Just sayin' but in case your vanity needs an update, love, you can keep coming back for some more ideas. I've done so much more jewelry organizing posts here and realized I'm good at that sort of thing + I hoard a tiny bit more every few months so I'll be posting on more ideas especially dedicated to that.

Onto the diy,

You'll need:

-Decorative beads. gems etc. Even ones from a broken bracelet.
-A tall-ish small souvenir/miniature keepsake etc. (read above if you were lazy and skipped everythin')
-A lid, circular cardboard/glass/plastic base(or maybe even a coaster. And no, it doesn't HAVE to be circular. It can be octagonal, your choice.)

Just for trivia, I used one of those small golden cardboard *things* that come underneath store-bought pastries here. Don't ask me why I kept that. (I'm a diy blogger.)
-Glue gun/super-glue
-A small mirror (smaller than than the base). Just for some added glam-factor.

How-to:

Even tho' this is pretty self explanatory, here we go.

1. I started by using a gold marker to paint around the black rim of my round mirror (which I prized out from my used compact case.)

2. Eyeball the center of the cardboard base and hot glue the mirror over.

3. Start from the diametric middle of the mirror and hot-glue your gems around going alternatively.
Meaning you stick one gem to the right of the first one.

And one gem to the left of the first one.

Just so that it gives each one good enough time to dry and they don't budge later.

4 Clean the mirror.I removed the tower from the key chain and hot-glued its legs in the center of the mirror.
If your keepsake comes in atrocious colors, just paint/spray paint it gold, silver, neon, pastel because all those things are in. Or just do whatever you like.

Ta-done. Done. Stack up the rings and stare at it everyday while you dress up!

Have fun!

Don't forget to pin this cuz' pinning is superlatively hot and subscribe to Craft A Doodle Doo to hook up with the rest of the DIYs in these series.

If you happen to feel extra-friendly right now, you can even follow me on Pinterest and Facebook!

To check out past jewelry organizing hacks, feel free to pass by my DIY gallery!

Hugs and smiles,
Nash

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INSPIRATION NATION// GRAD GIFTS ALERT!

It's all about celebrating incredible futures this month as I wrapped up the best of the best deals for you in a neat pinnable graphic. From inexpensive gifts that are worth far more than their price to moderately priced gifts they will cherish for a long time to come; these gifts range from hers, to him and gender-neutrals for those who aren't that sure what their grads may prefer!

I've also included my own DIYs as well as featured a couple of other talented bloggers because let's just put it straight, everyone's got such droolworthy ideas!

TO DIY:

For her:

1. Set of notepads/ mini journals : Can be used for pasting keepsakes or writing brilliant ideas. These are so easy to make, totally customizable and can be made in many, many numbers!
See the link for DIY Notepads here.

2. DIY Ethinic Envelpe clutch: Which girl doesn't adore a doze of high-end fashion? Get the luxe look with a homemade version now. She'll be delighted!
Get the link for DIY Envelope Clutch here.

3.DIY Botanical Pen Bouquet: Pens or Pencils, this DIY Bouquet for the creative, writeoholic grad will totally light up her workspace and home decor! 
Get the link to the tut here!

For him:

1.Gym-worthy Ipod Holder: It can't get better than this! This easy-to-sew Ipod holder by Design Fixation fits snugly on your arm while you burn those pesky calories!
See the Ipod holder tutorial here!

2.Copper-pipe pencil holder: He'll be super-impressed with this classy industrial-lookin' copper DIY pencil holder by A Fabulous Fete fit to liven up even the plainest of desktops!
See the Pencil Holder tutorial here!

3. DIY Ipad Case: Have a faux animal skin placement mat or something of the likes? It's the shortest cut to make an Ipad Cover for a bit of fashionable protection! Roughly fold in half and fold over the extra onto the initial side securing with velcro like a clutch!

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TO BUY:

For her:

1. Floral Cnavas Backpack ($ 26) : Charlotte Ruse really knows how to do summer with this beautifully feminine backpack! Great for summer time trips and effortless style!

2.Rosa Pocket Notebooks ($ 10): If there's any stationery brand that can steal a girl's heart in an instant, it's Rifle Paper Co.! These two pretty notebooks are perfect to jot down memos in style!

Assemble:
3.Neon Nailpolish in Rainbow Sherbet ($3.99) - Best-selling and oh-so-vivid
4.First Blush Eyeshadow Palette ($ 1.99)- Double them up as rosy blushes!
5. Summer Strut Heels ($29.99) -Coral is always in!

from Rue 21 and Style For Less is a pretty package to make a fabulous gift for the summery fashionista!

6. Rue 21 Gift Card : If you'd like her to decide for herself what'd set her heart racing, give her one of these!



For him:

7. Thumbs up UK Fli-Tunes Sound Amplifier. Frisbee ($16.43)  A Flying Disk and sound amplifier for your phone in one? No way! Yes way!

8.IPhone Pocket Projector ($69) This product will be so worth the price to be shelled out! Perfect for travel and has first-rate reviews so you know he'll rave about it as soon as it's put to use!

9. The Inkless Metal Pen ($ 28.00)  No sharpening, never runs out of ink and made of metal. How much more swag can this have?
                    
10.Word. Notebooks,3-pack ($9.99)  Don't guys get swanky ideas too? Let his keep track of to-dos with flair!

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Gender -Neutrals:

1. ITunes Gift Cards ($25, $50, $100) : Include your personal message and give this fanciful card to a very overjoyed recipient!

2. Mosaic Photo Book ($20) : Lets grads stow away their priceless moments and breathtaking photography in a stunning photobook straight from their...phone! Check out the ultra-cool and easy process on the homepage!

3. Treatsie Gourmet Sweet Box Subscription ($29 and above) - Caramel popcorn, Espresso cookies, chocolate truffles, Almond Chocolate Toffee. Who canNOT relish this?

4. Custom Mugs, Shutterfly (Varying Prices)  Got any favorite pics they have while they sip on their cuppa joy? These cutom mugs from Shutterfly are definitely unique. Keep favorite snapshots hand because they're about to create a one-of-a-kind mug!

5. Collage Squares Ipad case ($49.49): Shutterfly is all about versatility so whip out an Ipad case that will be the crowd's envy using your grad's awesome snapshots! They'll treasure it, no questions!

Which one's your favorite?

Let me know!

Lookin' for other DIYs? I have hoards of ideas for you in my DIY Gallery!



Heart this? Show the love and pin it!

Lots of hugs,
Nash

**PS: I'm not sponsoring any of the brands mentioned above not do I have an affiliation program with any of them. All the ideas mentioned above were based solely on personal choice. 















1. 

INSPIRATION NATION//DIY PEN BOUQUET

This is a graduation gift special! A super-fun gift to make and an even more amazing gift to receive. Of course, as always this DIY is extremely versatile so you could easily replace the clay flowers for silk of even crepe paper/fabric flowers or you could use the air dry clay recipe to make other vibrant toppers like a miniature Starbucks coffee mug or some clay high heels to go on top of your pencils/pens. The possibilities are endless!
This DIY Pen Bouquet features some big colorful blooms and since I was topping my pens with florals, I decided to make a whole bouquet of them.

When your sweet grad girl runs out of ink over time, she could just use them as beautiful decor or even discard the pens and use just the flowers as keepsakes. Probably if she is a crafty soul like you, she may even figure a way to upcycle them!

I just used a glass vase I'd modpodged with glitter to add some classy glamour and popped the pens in. For an extra realistic effect I stuffed in some leaves spilling out of the jar's rim.

Here's how you can make your own:

Materials:
-A set of pens. I used a pack of six.

-For small quantities of air dry clay:

 Cornstarch &Glue (The Elmer's school glue kind) in 1:1 ratio
 A few tesaspoons of baby oil to reduce cracking
 A microwavable container and a stirrer
 Some lotion

Stir up all the ingredients in the container and microwave it with breaks in between; keep stirring the clay so that it doesn't stick to the bottom. Keep heating up until it no longer sticks to the sides/bottom and becomes smooth. Knead it by smoothing on some lotion onto your hands till the temperature reduces back to normal and store in clingwrap because air will dry it out if you keep it out in the open. Don't store in moist places to prevent mould!


For larger quantities:
Simply buy some, or maybe you already have some on hand?

-Acrylic paints
-Green electric tape or floral tape
-A jar or a ribbon to tie up the bouquet

How-to:
1.Once you have your clay ready, simply have a sample (or a photograph) of the flower you want to simulate and mold it accordingly. I used this and this picture to inspire me throughout. I also had one of my fake flowers in front of me while I was molding just to keep track.

2 For each petal, start off with a mini ball then flatten it out into the shape of a petal. For the bud at the center, cover the pen's cap top completely and then move outwards with the petals  making the flower larger as you make the petal curl outwards. Scrape of the excess clay accumulated around the cap (at the flower's base) after finishing the rose making sure you leave behind a very thin but smoothly merged layer so that individual petals don't crack and fall off later.

3.The result? A super natural-looking rose!

5. Air dry clay takes around 12-24 hours to dry depending on the size. So leave it out for a day!

6.Paint it any color you like. I suggest using different colors of the same family and adding a hint of yellow to give a little contrast.
Try experimenting with a variety of flowers

7. Dress up the pens (and any peeking  gaps on the cap which you should be having unless your flower is enormous) with green tape .

8, Finish off with a pretty bow and a gift tag or pop it in a cute mason jar or the likes for even more fresh effects!

Enjoy! The best part of the DIY is with the exploring and painting. You can never get enough of the combinations you'll get!
Even easier to create with a bunch of friends! You'll create a bouquet in no time!

This photograph is my mum's personal favorite. No.Idea.Why.

Zooming in on the other types of flowers I made. Was so fun to fashion flowers out of clay I didn't even know the name of. And now I made myself look like an idiot on the world wide web.

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If you liked this DIY, make sure you pin it so other peeps can benefit from it too! (cuz' sharing is hot!)


Subscribe to Craft A Doodle Doo ( in the sidebar) or join me on Pinterest/Facebook for endless more wacky DIY ideas and fab eateries!

Check out all my other fantastic DIY ideas in my DIY Gallery!



Wishing all the grads a great future,
Love you all,
Nash

INSPIRATION NATION// DIY ROSES FROM EGG CRATES!

Mommy dear has quite got the hang of my crafty endeavors now which is why she gifted me an empty egg crate last week. I suppose only us craftstresses would see the opportunity there; so I turned this basic kitchen trash into treasure : DIY Roses from egg crates! It was obvious wasn't it? I'm such a rose person, and all of us are looking for new ways to make this Spring pop! Thanks, mum!

The instructions are really basic. Just cut, paint, mold, repeat. Then fashion them into just the sweetest, romantic rose using your favorite super-glue and use them any way you wish. No one's even probably going to guess these beauties were made with egg crates!

You'll need:
-An egg crate, in a light color preferably.
-Acrylic paints in different colors and large-tipped paint brushes
-Newspapers (for easy clean-up)
-Super-glue of your choice

Optional:
-Sturdy wire for steams
-Green ribbon

How-to:
1.Begin by cutting across each row of little cones from the egg tray. Then cut out each row into individual cones. Don't worry I know these will be pointy for now.
  Snip off the pointy end of the cones to make them more curvy. Like rose petals, yeah? Paint them, preferably with a large fluffy paint brush! (I used two different colors, hot pink & bright cherry red to get a more natural effect.) Make sure to get around all the nooks and crevices.

2. For the center of the rose take the smallest half cone (you find them on the extreme left and right of each row of cones) and curl it inwards. Then glue down to secure and make it look like a bud.

3. For the rest of the cones. slit with a scissors as shown in picture across the length of the cone so that you get a longish petal and then mold this to fit around the bud.

4. Keep repeating and adding more 'petals' until you have a rose in full bloom!

5. If you'd like to pop 'em in a vase like me, wrap some green ribbon onto metal wire ( I used the ones from my foam curlers in my DIY Ring Box post). and glue them down to the base of the rose. (Don't forget to hold in place for a few minutes till the glue is dry and the rose sits smug!)

You can use these as gift toppers too or for photography props! Stunning either way!

Liked the idea? Pin  it! (cuz' sharing is hot!)
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You can also follow me over @ Pinterest/Facebook/Instagram or become a subscriber for regular DIY updates and year-round freebies!

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And here's the DIY Ring Box I talked about above. The foam curlers have metals inserts in them which I used for the stems of the roses!

Check out the rest of my DIYs in my DIY gallery, you wouldn't know what you may discover. ;)

Lots of hugs,
Nash ( I think you can tell I love a lot of pink & red, lol)

BEAUTY IN A NUTSHELL//FOUNDATION MELTDOWN TRICK!

Sans primer, sans makeup setting sprays, sans milk of magnesia or whatever else you may use to get your foundation NOT to budge; this is the mother of them all.

I learnt this trick from gossmakeupartist on Youtube. If you haven't been visiting that channel to help solve some serious makeup doubts, then you aren't lookin' good enough. But here's the deal, you have oily skin, or maybe not. Maybe you're like me and maybe you just have a pesky oily nose which tends to be the only place where foundation slips within less than 30 minutes and then it shines like the next brightest chandelier in the room. You can thank me later because this right here is how to make your foundation last ALL day.

The trick sounded so outrageous, so utterly tempting for my poor nose which loves to sport humongously large pores and tremendous shine that I needed to put it to the test.

The secret ingredient is..loose powder. I know, I'm not kidding you. The whole fancy-shmancy deal lies with the timing of application: not after foundation, apply it before foundation.

According to the video, it has to be loose powder, not compact. So here's what I did, I'm more of a compact powder kinda girl, so loose powder isn't an available luxury in my crib. I used cornfour/cornstarch instead.

Guess what, it worked perfect.


Materials:
-A clean small jar (sample jam jars work perfect.So do travel-sized lotion jars. After you wash n' dry them, give them a clean with rubbing alchohol). This makes it great to pop in your purse.

-Cornflour/cornstarch or loose translucent powder (if cornflour looks ashy on your skintone, even though it's fairly translucent, mix it with a tad bit of cocoa or cinnamon powder)

Coupled with my DIY primer recipe and my DIY blotting tissues, this is a meltdown ninja combo.Even alone, it stands proud. :)

The Test:

I kept checking regularly throughout the day for the ultimate stay-on test. I tried this with two foundations. A totally crappy foundation (Maybelline Dream Liquid) which doesn't suit me at all - It has great finish but one hour later, it slides all off my face, leaves my face patchy, even my forehead shiny, you get the gist. With this? My nose was still a tad shiny, but there was NIL dragging around with the foundation. Even 8+ hours later, it looked like I had just put it on. Skin was even all round, it hadn't slid off places and disintegrated. None of that nonsense.

Also there was a reduction in oxidation. How-utterly-cool. (Normally, this foundation makes me look as dull as a muddy puddle.)

Next, I tried it with a friend's foundation. I'm not sure what company it is but it was a long-last foundation and I love it to bits (probably the one I'd purchase next). I already love the foundation because it stays on so long and applying the powder before the foundation and after moisturizer, sunscreen etc. just made it completely shine-free & truly gorgeous.

My friend and I wore the same foundation on that particular day and though hers faded a lil and still looked pretty with a teeeensy bit of oxidation, mine didn't budge or fade. Win!

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So if you have a favorite foundation, this trick is gonna make it your beyond favorite. If you're trying to make a nasty foundation work, this is gonna make it workable.

And don't worry about your face looking cakey. I promise it won't. In fact, the cornstarch acts like a filler (just like primer) post-moisturizer for the skin. I suppose the video specifically mentions loose powder because it is finely milled and won't make your foundation look cakey.

The best part? This is so ridiculously cheap.

Have any questions or comments? Ask below!

Don't forget to share and pin! Also subscribe to Craft A Doodle Doo or join me over at Pinterest & Facebook for simple, outrageously genius tips!

Love, Nash

INSPIRATION NATION// DIY STAMPS!

I'll ask this straight, are you up for some fabulous textile printing? ;)

Call me nuts, but I see a lot of potential in bottle caps. "Bottle caps, yep you're crazy!". Let's just date back and take a look at the in-door style closet organizer I made using bottle caps. It's still sturdy and rocking my wardrobe today, and let's not forget these come for free! So what else can you exploit these for? DIY Stamps of course! Stamps are for babies, you say.Maybe they were, but today let's make a rebel out of ourselves, shall we? :D

You'll need:

Bottle caps, lots of them!

Craft Foam (plain or patterned)

Super-strong craft glue

Stamp pads/Paint

A scissors and a pencil

Washi Tape (optional)

How-To:

1.If you'd like your stamps to look extra cute washi tape the tops first. Of course you don't need to do this, it's just one of the perks of being excessively girly.

2. Trace around the bottle cap's circumference with a pencil to determine how much area you have to draw and doodle any shape inside. I just made me an entire botanical set, so I began with a rose. If you need, you can have a template or anything of the kind for reference. :)

3.Cut out the shape you drew and glue it down onto the cap.

4.Grab your stamp pads, or paint (I used acrylic paints) and begin stamping away. I just used a pretty satin napkin to put my pattern on.

Tip: If you're using paint, it can be a tad difficult, so just make sure that:

       - You have a nice, even coat of paint on the stamp shape.

       - Make the paint a bit diluted (using water) so it's smooth and not gunky because

       that'll make the designs, uhhhh...weird.

5. Be awesome and make yourself a cup of tea! (or coffee if you're a coffee person. I'm more of a tea + iced coffee girl, I don't know why I typed that here.I know it isn't even irrelevant)

I poured myself some hot cardamom tea in a cute mug and my pretty new napkin to cheer me up. It's the little things that give me glee.

Here's a close up of the print. Don't they look pretty? How about making ombre patterns now? I think that's what these lil guys will do next.

Liked these idea? Pin it, sweetheart (cuz' sharing is hot)

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In the meanwhile, come join me at Pinterest and Facebook or subscribe to Craft A Doodle Doo if you'd like to get updated on loads more DIYs!

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A million hugs,

Nash

(PS #1: Need another textile design tutorial? This Cath Kidston inspired print tut may just bowl you over! Or check out other DIYs in my DIY Gallery!)

(PS #2: I apologize for the changing blog design, but I'm trying to get a hang of how I want it look eventually. Yes, I'm indecisive.)

PRETTY ME UP// DIY BEJEWELED HEADBAND!

This is the first rich crafty goodness I churned out for Cut Out+Keep on their Crafty Superstar feature! It's a uber-luxe bejeweled headband and looks so sophisticated at the same time. ( because we know that not everyone fancies OTT things). Looking to perk up a plain outfit?
I bet  this'll do the job!

Just corral your broken jewelry and random beads. (or maybe have some old dresses that you never wore because they were too sparkly for your taste? Switch the sparkle to your hair instead!) Your locks deserve that extra pampering,don't they?

If you already have a crazy assortment of beads and gems on hand, you're good to go!

See the full tutorial I made for them here! or

You can check out all 7 DIYs I made for the feature here!

And if you're gifting it to a friend (like me!) then add it in a small pretty sachet for her to keep in! ( I just made mine out of some satin scraps and a fabric tape gift tag!)

You can check out another super-pretty headband tut here or more accessories to pump up your wardrobe in my DIY Gallery!

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Meanwhile, hop over to my Pinterest and Facebook to follow for hot new DIYs + become a subscriber! (I know we all wanna look gorgeous for frugal!)

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Take care, (Don't forget to pin and share with your friends!)

Nash

INSPIRATION NATION//DESIGN YOUR OWN BLOG! (And a FAB one at that!)

I must confess, I've become disillusioned with my newest obsession, blog designing! Now I've never really designed anyone's blog per se (just a few tips and tweaks for other friends), but I think I'm kind of fancying the blog design bandwagon! So today, I'll let you download a super-easy tutorial on how you can design your own blog (on Blogger, works for Wordpress too) and I'll give you all the blog design elements I designed in this tutorial for free!
     Seatbelt on girls!

I'm honestly head over heels for this one, so much that I feel like switching like my own blog design to the one in this tut, but I'm still in the process of primping up my own. ;)

I used Photoshop CS6 for this tutorial (the version doesn't really matter though) but if you're good at other online editing apps like picmonkey and pixlr then you can probably use those too. Isn't is nice when everything is so versatile?

The blog elements include the header, the fonts, social media icons and the navigation tabs. The above is a screenshot for you to see how they all look like after put together. Such a happy family!
The zip file I put for download include the pdf file which lists the detailed tutorial as well as the individual design elements to upload onto a basic blog template.

Header:
Every blog needs a whopper of a header. It's the first thing that makes those eyeballs stay put on your blog or else close the window pronto! Here's how I made mine and you can make yours too. Begin by thinking of a theme. I love fresh. pretty colors and it's Spring too, so I grabbed this image from Pinterest for reference and began painting away.

Hand-drawn doodles or painted designs are so much the chic trend now and they really give that casual+professional feel to a blog. Here are the steps:

We now import the image in photoshop (it can be a scanned file from your printer or a photograph you took, I used the photograph) and continue with the editing to create our pretty blog banner.

You can see the rest of the steps in the pdf file because the post will run incredibly large if I do post everything over here. (Yes, Nash you say, please don't force us to read your long drawl-y posts!)

A nice way to give your blog a super-polished look is to choose colors with a contrast. Use a few colors from one part of the spectrum and then choose a few colors from a contrasting range of the spectrum. Like, me being me, used a rage of hot pink to pale pink petals to add a feminine pop of color in the header, and a lot of gender neutral blues and greens to give a beautiful contrast. Of course, if you like, you can still make it all your favorite color, but I just think having a palette adds so much more visual interest!

The best part? You don't even need to be a good painter. Posing as one will do (I do the same!)

Fonts:

Fonts make up so much of the blog's readability. Fonts look great paired with contrasts too (Sans serif with serif. Plain fonts with calligraphic. Serious fonts with playful, handwritten ones). Whenever you'd like to use a fancy font, make sure you use it where you need a large font size. Generally, fancy fonts are difficult to read when they are small-sized. Stick to the very basic of fonts for large chunks of writing, because they are more readable and pleasant.

See all the font-mantra I just mentioned down below. The blog title has been written in a calligraphic font (I list the fonts names in the downloadable tutorial file). The tagline for the blog is written in a simplistic font. It helps the fancy calligraphic font pop even more!

Textures and Patterns:

While you can use a multiple of patterns and textures, make sure that you either
1) Use a focal design on one area of the blog and keep the rest minimal or
2) Use a variation of textures on different areas while making sure they all tie up perfectly well together (Usually making everything look unified goes back to the colors you used.)

Obviously the second choice is more difficult to follow through. For this blog design I kept the background completely plain but you can use a very minimal background too and it would still look great.

My rule of the thumb for the perfect laid back+professional design is this, pair opposites but not to the extremes. For ex, I paired delicate flowers with some geometry(circles)! They are not really opposites but circles usually don't come anywhere near flowers, do they? :)

Social Media Icons and Navigation Tabs:
Since I used the same colors and geometry for the navigation tabs as the header (again to tie everything together), I used an ombre pink for the social media icons.

You can check out how to:

1. Upload a header images to blogger
2.Upload social media icons for blogger
3.Upload navigation tabs in blogger:
To upload navigation tabs, use the same technique as the social media icons but don't upload all the images into one widget but individual widgets and link each to it's url.

Everything includes psd files so they're editable or you can add extras by modifying the existing elements. :)
You can download the whole step-by-step tutorial here.
You can download the whole zip file for the design elements here.

Have any questions? Drop a comment! Or leave a comment on my Pinterest/Instagram/Facebook!
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Meanwhile, pin this and share it if you found this useful. *smile*

Check other design resources here

Lots and lots and lots and lots of hugs,
Nash, xoxo

(And oh yes, check how how the blog design looks over here!)