Inspiration Nation//DIY Cath Kidston inspired Fabric

I've swooned over Cath Kidston fabric wa-hayyyyy too many times to count, so I decided to make some of my own. Of course since I had to be covering a large surface area, probably to make me some cute clutches for the oncoming month, I decided to keep things simple and not go into details.The result tho', is just as stunning and I'll reveal the trick I used here!

Here's what you need to get started on your own designer fabric!

-Five fabric paint tubes in colors bright red, magenta, yellow, green and white.

-A rose flower stencil

-Paintbrushes (cuz, duh)

-Water as a mixing and cleaning medium

-Cotton fabric. (mine is in white, but as long as your fabric paints are bright, I think other colors may work?)

-A palette for mixing colors in.

-Painting skills of a five year old

-Scotch tape (optional)

How-to

For the flower outline

1.Begin by ironing out your fabric to remove any creases. (excuse my dirty paintbrushes in the background. They've been working overtime lately :-D)

2.Place the rose stencil in top of your fabric and secure on all sides with scotch tape.This will make sure your design comes out steady. I don't usually tape it down because I've gotten used to it but it's good for first-timers =)

3.Take three blurbs of paint (magenta, red and white) onto your palette close to each other(preferably making a triangular shape.)

4.Start be picking on some magenta paint on your brush. Pick 2-3 random petals on the rose stencil and fill 'em in.

5.Clean your brush, mix half of the magenta and half  of the white. Pick a couple more petals and paint them this color.

5.Take the bright red on your brush and fill in the remaining petals.

Remove the stencil and this is what you get in the end. This is the "infrastructure" behind creating even,beautiful and natural roses.All you need to do now is go nuts with different combinations and intensities of reds and magentas and fill the flower in further.

This process takes five minutes or lesser for me. When you get really used to it you'll hardly take any time to make a fat quarter!

For the leaves:

1.Begin by taking three blurbs of paint : white, yellow and green on your palette like you did before.

2.Mix in a leeeetle bit of green with your white to get a nice minty shade. Do random leaf strokes all around the flower. Don't be afraid to paint a whole bunch of them!

3.Now take a hint of yellow with the white and swirl in to make a light lime shade and dab this on your minty leaves. This is how your rose should look like now.

And that's it! You can do a whole lot of these depending on your much distance you want one rose from another;, or just go around the border of some plain fabric and drape in onto your table for a one of a kind tablecloth.

The advantage of using stencils is you never have to pay attention to design of the petals. All you are doing the whole time is taking in different colors to fill in. It's kind of a no-brainer but produces some awesome sauce!

If you've got a bit of your paint left (red/,magenta that is), you can go ahead an dot a few tiny flowers clustered with the leaves to add a bit more drama!

Try darker and lighter red and magenta palettes for an eclectic mix of roses! 

To be honest, my mum has been getting worried about my OCD with florals, so I think I'm gonna tone it down after my next post which would be part three of the Wardrobe Stylist Series.

And I wanted to show you how typical Nash got impatient and had a few stray streaks of paint, so yeah, be careful! =)

If you find this guide handy, pin n' share it along with you buds and follow Craft A Doodle Doo!

Stay tuned for another feature of the Wardrobe Stylist series coming in a day or two!

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Much love and big hugs, Nash

(You can check out the rest of my easy n' fab DIYs here!)

The Decorista Chronicles//DIY Makeup Brush Holder!

Hello Sunshine!

Because my university would be starting in a while, I though I'd get my get-ready-in-the-hectic-mornings station more organized. You all know how I made a chevron glitter vanity tray for that very purpose sometime back. So I thought I'd go ahead and make some matching makeup brush holder(s) with it too. Now I don't own a lot of brushes which is why I made just one. And I wanted to go a bit different than the other tuts out there and not smother the whole jar or can in glitter (altho' I'm SUCH a fan of that too); so I settled with a diamond glittered pattern.Here we go! :)

The Decorista Chronicles//DIY Ribbon-Tie Vanity Basket!

Haven't we all wished for that drop-dead gorgeous vanity? (Ladies, that question was for you!). This ribbon-tie vanity basket was gifted by me to my darling mum who was more than thrilled to have it. It sits now on her vanity and practically rules the place (read:the dressing table). It organizes her perfumes, makeup and lotions and reminds her that she has a "kinda" sweet daughter! 

Inspiration Nation//DIY Washi Tape!

If you've seen tuts on DIY Washi Tape before, I applaud you. Big chances are, you love to be budget-friendly like me without sacrificing on the prettiness of things.Hi-5! This tutorial goes an extra step further and gives you clever tips about the ins-and outs of this super-sweet DIY.

If you've seen my free Giftwrap post here, you'll see how I came up with this nifty lil' project. I had a bit of  my own designed wrap left over which I didn't have the heart to throw away since the patterns were just so pretty. I decided to jump on the chance to makes some washi tape to utilize every last bit  *wink*

And now sweets,here's how to go about it:

The Decorista Chronicles//DIY Closet Organizer!

Ah, closet organizers.Ever wish you'd have just that teeny bit of extra personalized storage without having to buy anything?
Here's a beautiful vintage+mod closet organizer for those dainty scarves,purses and accessories or even those grab n' go ones!
Make as many panels of these as you'd like and whip up some cute lil' extra for your closet doors without the extra bucks!

You'll need :

-Bottle caps equal to the number of knobs you’d like to have on your organizer

-A pair of scissors and a craft knife

-Pretty Scrapbook paper/Giftwrap paper cut to circles approximately sized to the bottle caps

-Heavy-duty (double-sided) mounting tape

-Washi tape or paint

-A couple of pencils  

-A ruler  

-Cutting mat   

-Glue gun/Super glue (not pictured)

-Wood (I used balsa wood; it’s incredibly lightweight and adds a lovely woody texture). You can also use MDF, foam board or heavy cardboard.

Instructions:

1.Begin by cutting out the circles to go over the caps' surfaces. Next, if you don’t like the color of your caps; either paint them to co-ordinate with the circles’ patterns or simply use washi tape (like I did) along the rim.

2. Next glue on the circles to each of the (painted) caps, add washi tape and keep aside. Use your wood to measure the width of your closet door.

3 Pencil in the size for reference and begin cutting the exact size that will fit in your door panel

4.Now, place the caps aligned and at equal distances onto the wood. When you are happy with the arrangement, hot glue ‘em down.

5.You don’t have to worry about your jewelry bungee jumping off the knobs because I promise you hot glue is gonna do the job tough!

6.Use the mounting tape on the bare side of the wood and secure the wood to your door panel.

7.Hang on your fav accessories, reach out for them when you need to pretty up, stay organized and have a fun color blast in your closet!

Be sure to join the rest of the Wardrobe stylist for lots more inspiration and eye candy!

Don't forget to pin if you heart this!

Stay blessed!

-Nash, xoxo

The Freebie Jubilee//Free Printable Giftwrap Sets:Readymade!

Today's post doesn't need a cheesy intro from me, because I think the pictures speak for themselves! :) So, anyone up for some really cute gitwrap paper for free? =)

 Your gifts are now outrageously easy to assemble with these sets, just as outrageously cutesie they'd turn out. Each set consists of a giftwrap base, a decorative side trim and a co-ordinating label to round up this definite gorg look.

The first set has an aqua stripes giftwrap base, a vintage floral trim and a gift-tag that I know even dummies can match with the rest of the set.

The second set has a black polka dot giftwrap, a mod floral chain trim and a matching gift tag with hints of sunny yellow!

Great for parties and I also think they'd make a darling surprise to a loved one even when there's no real occasion! Just that touch to make their day extra special!

You can download the two printable giftwrap sets right here!

Do tell me how you find these sets;  adorable, silly, plain jane, can do better? I'd love to know! =)

Till next time,

Nash, xoxo!

Craving Ravings// Juicy Chicken Shaslik!

I don't know about you but nothing in the chicken category beats juicy,oozing with flavor and barbecued chicken on skewers!

Well, faux barbecue works too.. I guess; which is why today we have Chicken Shaslik (also pronounced as Sashlik sometimes).

I have no idea whether this dish is Indian, from Pakistan or Bangladesh, I couldn't trace the exact origins, however, we had a restaurant here (we still have it but I consider it to be insignificant now) which had this grand dish brought sizzling on the table, it was the star of their menu I tell you, until, they revamped the whole menu and the next thing I knew was the waiter telling that they don't do that dish anymore.
What? What did he say?! 
I can't even tell you how amazing it was, so I began searching online of course and couldn't find one that came out the same but decided to pick one out with the best reviews and give it a go!

And ta-da, they turned out terrific, except for the fact they weren't the exact same restaurant style cuz' I'm pretty sure the hotel didn't use barbecue sauce!

I did this with 500 gms worth chicken breasts and that delivered 10 big sticks with four chunks of chicken each. You can adjust the quantity as you want of course!

To download and print the recipe, simply right-click and save it as an image.
I had a mental tragedy (sort of) goin' on since the past three days since I'd lost my Nikon's memory card, so I had just a skewer left by the time I found it and took a snap!

Merry dining folks,
Take care, Nash :)