DIY Wooden Square Block Craft - Delta Gamma

I have always been a crafty person. And with such gifts, comes a lot of responsibility. Such as... crafting for others... For me at least, crafting for others is an enjoyable activity. I just finished a project for my cousin who is in Delta Gamma. The Anchor is DG's symbol and stands for Hope.

This is a great project to do with sorority letters, or with a monogram! Or just use your initials and a symbol in the middle. Like a cross, a heart. Anything!

 

 

First you're going to need three pieces of wood. Put down a base coat and keep painting on all sides until you get your desired colors. I love pink and I had originally painted these pink; however, I ran out and went with a salmon-pink instead that i already had three bottles of... I love how it came out! Pink, Bronze, and Blue are DG's colors so this worked out great! I didn't need any materials except for the wooden squares. You can scavenger up pretty much anything for this project. You can add beads, ribbons, tissue paper flowers... Anyway...

The anchor was the hardest. But I just looked at a picture online and kept at it until I got it right. If you want you can get a stencil but stencils always seems more difficult than free hand.

After writing the D and G I outlined in blue and then added glitter!

Then I put three gems in four of the corners. And two on the anchor.

And there you have it. A perfect, easy, and interchangeable gift! Or make one for yourself! As a sorority girl myself, I have plenty of crafts. My entire wall and two shelves hold my crafts. And then the rest of my apartment holds the rest...

Anyway, stock up on wooden squares before the holidays and make some for your own cousins!

DIY Paper Lanterns

My apartment is looking a little dreary, mostly because I moved in a couple months ago and during the summer I have had trouble getting motivated to decorate! Anyway, I wanted to make some cute lanterns to hang in the archway between the living room and dining room.

First I chose a color scheme that I liked. Choosing a color scheme would have been much easier if I had gone to the craft store first. But I wanted to get into my project right away, and I made due with what I had. Which ended up perfect! I wanted all my lanterns to have a similar look without being the same colors. I chose green and grays for the outside paper. And pinks, blues, and orange patterns for the inside.
 

I would recommend using paper from a pack. It's easy to mix and match and they all have a common theme that will allow the colors to flow. Otherwise you need to be cognizant of your colors or you might get a messy look. After you have your papers, cut off any end pieces you have.

Then start to cut one inch or 1/2 inch flaps across the paper. Make sure to cut vertically on your design. It does not matter the size of your flaps as long as they are pretty even. Leave about an inch at the top without any cuts. You do not want twenty strips just a paper with a bunch of flaps.

Oliver wanted to help too.

Next tape the bottom of the paper together. You could skip this step if you folded the paper in half and then begun to cut strips; however, I did not want to have a crease in my lantern.

Choose the lantern you want on the outside. Then make a circle with your paper and hot glue the top of one flap to the top of the other flap on both sides. You want their to be a slit between the sides you are gluing together. You will then make a circle!

Take the paper that you want on the inside of the lantern. Make a circle and glue one flap on top of the other flap. You want this one to be smaller so you are gluing flaps together without a slit. You could also cut off one slit completely and just attach the tops like you did on the outside paper.

Slide the smaller paper inside the larger paper.

Push both sides together to make them plump up. You can get them to stay by attaching strings on opposite sides of the lantern to create the correct height and bounce.

Add some ribbon on the top to hang and some ribbon along the top and bottom, and you have a beautiful paper lantern!

Still in the process of hanging and making lanterns. I'll be sure to post my finished project!