Seeing Red

We have added a new piece to the booth and it's a red desk! Kyle and I bought this desk and couldn't decide what color to paint it. We knew we wanted a color to brighten up the booth. Kyle had the idea to paint it red and I thought it was a good idea. Here is what it looked like before:

 
The desk was a little rough to begin with, so he did some things to secure it (placing screws places and doing the manly things he does). Then we put some coats of red oil-based paint on it. The original hardware looked drab on the original white desk, but it really pops off the red now. I am really happy with how it turned out!

And here is what it looks like in the booth:

 
I plan on painting a retro school chair that we have to go with it. Stay tuned for that.

Birthday & Chalkboard

Today is my birthday!! So I thought a great birthday post would be a DIY project!

This weekend Kyle and I did some major hunting at our local Goodwill store. We found some great finds that allowed us to start some new projects. Recently, I have been super excited about the wedding and I tackle a wedding project any chance I get. So, when we were at Goodwill and I saw some silver trays, I knew I wanted to make them into chalkboard signs for our wedding. I knew if I painted the middle, the silver rim would make a great frame. While this project is for my wedding, these would look great in a home as well.

Here is a look at the trays before:

What You'll Need:

Silver Trays
Chalkboard paint
A paintbrush (I used a small foam brush)
Silver paint pen
Newspaper (if you want to keep your work area clean)

Steps:
1. Start by painting the edges with the chalkboard paint first. I used a small paint brush so this would be easier and more precise for me.
2. Paint an even coat throughout the middle of the trays.
3. Let dry. Then paint another coat on each of them. This time try just to run the paint brush smoothly over the entire tray, that way there won't be obvious edges.
4. Let dry again. Then, take a silver paint pen and run along the edges of the paint and the silver. This will cover any imperfect edges of the paint and give the silver outline a little pop. Here is a picture of Kyle doing that part:

5. Let the silver dry and you are ready to write on the trays!

And here are our after pictures:

 

I think these would be super cute in a kitchen and that's probably what I'll do when I'm done with them at the wedding. What do you guys think?

Etsy Craft Party 2012

On Friday Mina and I participated in the Etsy Craft Party 2012. People around the country gathered together to make crafts with supplies provided by Etsy and Michael's. A store that we love, Homespun, now has a gallery space. They decided to host the craft party in their new gallery space. A free night of crafting fun? You know Mina and I jumped on that.

The theme of the party was "Home is Where the Heart Is." Etsy sent several supplies and there were directions and demos set up when we got there. Each person brought a potluck snack so we got to munch on delicious noms while we crafted. The first project we did was an Indiana felt coaster.

Here is mine:

And here is Mina's:

  

The next craft we did was a picture frame with Indiana art inside.

Here's mine:

Here's Mina's:

And last but not least, here's a picture of Mina and I at the end of our awesome craft night. 

Have you been to any fun craft parties? I am thinking we should host one sometime soon :) Stay tuned for another DIY this week! 

Wednesday Pinsday, the Mina edition

In an imaginary world/alternate universe that’s fueled by wishy-thinking I have a cabin on a lake.

It would have a small dock with a little row boat, a big warm barn with a couple horses and a few bikes for riding through the trails- did I forget to mention there are trails? There would be stacks of Billie Holiday records, sizzling bacon served in the morning and no internet. My imaginary cabin would have a well stocked library and a wet bar filled with several types of bourbon, big cozy cardigans and beat up wellies hanging out by the back door. There would be oversized hammocks, a cigar humidor hiding near the fireplace and a type writer to keep me company.

I imagine it being a place to hide from the world and entertain my closest friends- we would pick apples from the neighboring farm during the afternoon and tell stories by camp fire at night.

It would be perfect and I imagine it would look a little something like this…

Now I want to know, what would your hideaway look like? Don't forget to drop us a line, check out our new Double Dip of Hipstore and visit our booth, #1964 at Midland Arts and Antiques in Indianpolis.

-Cheers!

Over the moon for mercury glass

This weekend my best friend Allie helped me with a wedding DIY! For my wedding I knew that I wanted to have mercury glass votive holders. Here is a picture of mercury glass for those of you who are unfamiliar with it:

I have always loved the way the candle light shines through and we have some of these in our built-in in our living room.

I knew that these would be at least $5 per votive holder. That's a great price if you are just buying three for your living room. However, when you are looking to decorate a whole reception that gets a little pricey. So, I went to my one true love and bearer of all things, Craig's List. I started by just searching for regular votive holders because I knew I could DIY the mercury glass part.

Now, be warned, you have to do some major sorting when it comes to Craig's List. But the hunt is my favorite part! I just searched wedding and have been basically since I got engaged (I know, I know, I need to go to Craig's Listaholics anonymous). Again, another warning is that you can find some fantastic wedding decorations from chic brides just trying to make some money off their decorations they don't have a use for anymore. However, you can also find some ugly things and some sad things. Here are my two favorite wedding hunting examples. The first is: My fiance and I aren't getting married anymore, buy my engagement ring (sad). The second: I am selling my wedding ring for two Brickyard tickets (talk about the happy husband she'll have). Like I said, some of the classiest people are posting.

Anyways, excuse the tangent, I ended up finding about 25-30 large votive holders for $20. Here is a picture of just the votive holders I bought:

The next step was to look up DIY mercury glass and gather materials. Here is the tutorial:

What you'll need:

Clear glass votive holders

Silver metallic spray paint

A spray bottle filled with water

Cardboard or newspaper for a work area

Steps:
1. Place all of the votive holders on the cardboard or newspaper
2. Start by spraying one of the votive holders with water. You want it to just be random. Dump out any excess water.
3. Spray the inside of the votive holder with silver spray paint.
4. Repeat with all votive holders.
5. Let dry.

See it's so simple and fun! Here is a picture of mine drying in the sun:

And here is a picture of the finished product. I think these will be a great compliment to the reception and an inexpensive one at that.

Booth update

As Mina said on Wednesday, things have been going pretty quickly in our booth. So Kyle and I have been working hard on some new pieces for the booth! We went this week and put the new pieces in the booth and did a little rearranging!

The first two pieces we have to share with you are a suitcase side table and a large frame. The large frame would be such a great piece because of it's scale and we really liked how it framed the suitcase side table.

Kyle and I have wanted to create a suitcase side table for a long time. When we found this blue suitcase for the right price, we knew we were making one. Luckily, I had replaced my side table in our bedroom, so we used that for the legs. Kyle pried the top off of the side table and readjusted it to fit the suitcase. Then, we just screwed four nails in the suitcase to each of the legs. Here's a close-up picture.

Remember my post about my teal side table? That sold quickly and we had another side table in our garage, so we decided to do the same thing to it. If it's broke don't fix it. We spray-painted the hardware silver as well.

And lastly, here is a picture of the entire booth! Happy hunting and as usual, you can purchase any of these pieces at Midland Arts & Antiques.

Mobilized

I know in one of the last posts I told you I would share a wedding DIY. I have since changed my mind because I want everyone to wait for the wedding to see the project I worked on! So I promise I will post the tutorial at a later date. For now, I decided to share a fun DIY project that Kyle and I did for a baby shower.

Kyle and I made a baby mobile for the baby shower. And the best part was that we used paint chips! Gail Werner, a fabulous photographer and all-around amazing person is due in October. She is having a sweet baby boy and is currently designing the nursery. She gave me a few ideas for the mobile. Here is my inspiration picture:

Super cute right? The only problem is that it's a cool $68. As a grad student, that's a little out of my budget, so I decided to make one myself.

Since Gail has been planning the nursery already, she had the colors in mind that she wanted me to use for the mobile. She picked out an awesome Marimekko fabric to use as an art piece in the baby's room. Here is the fabric so you can get an idea of what colors I wanted to use:

How cute is that for a boy's room? So, below are the instructions!


What You'll Need

Paint Chips and I mean a lot of paint chips. Pick the colors you want (we printed out the picture of the fabric and brought it with us). You will want a stack about as high as a tin can. If you have more you can just use them for another one or other projects. We went to Wal Mart and Menards. At both places they also had pattern chips, so we got some of those too! You can also use cardstock instead.

A punch for the shape like this one I used. If you end up going to Hobby Lobby don't forget to download their app. They always have great coupons on there. I got my punch for 40% off! You can also just cut circles yourself, but this takes so much more time.

Fishing line

A needle

Scissors

An embroidery hoop

Paint (if you want to paint the embroidery hoop)


Directions
1. Punch out all of the paint chips using your puncher.
2. Paint the embroidery hoop if you wish.
3. Mix up all of the punches so that you get a random colored mobile instead of clusters of colors
4. Thread the fishing line through the need, cut it, and tie a knot at the end
5. Take two paint chips with the colors both facing out and thread the need through them. They should land on the knot you already made.
6. Tie a knot where you want the next paint chips to land.
7. Repeat steps 4 and 5 until you have a full fishing line of paint chips. I liked to vary the length and amount of paint chips I put on each string to give it some depth.
8. When you put the last paint chip on tie a knot and leave some excess fishing line to attach it to the embroidery hoop.
9. Continue that until you have enough strings for your mobile. I think we had 8-10.
10. Take the embroidery hoop apart and just use the inside edge.
11. Tie all of the strings to the inside hoop of the embroidery hoop.
12. Put the larger hoop back on.
13. Tie three strings to the embroidery hoop and have the meet in the middle. Then, tie a knot in them and leave excess string for hanging.

And voila! You have made a mobile. These are great for your own kids or even for a baby shower gift. Since I am young, it is hard for me to decide what to get someone on a baby registry. This is much easier and more fun, I think. And here is our after picture:

If this seems too complicated or time-consuming for you, we will make one for you! You can email us at doubledipofhip@gmail.com or you can check out our Etsy shop! Congrats Gail and Nick on your baby boy, we can't wait to meet him!

Wednesday Pinsday

Items are starting to fly off the floor at our Midland Arts and Antiques space in Indianapolis, which means Chanel and I (+ Chanel's fiancé Kyle) have been working hard on some new stuff for our booth. The items we picked up this weekend are awesome, so look forward to a few sneak peeks later this week, but in between the scouring garage sales, sanding and painting, we’ve certainly not forgotten our beloved Pinterest.

Mina’s Pins…

This week I’ve been really attracted to those coral and tan combos that have been all the rage this season… what do you think?

Now for Chanel’s Pins…

Later this week we’ll also feature a family friendly craft completed by Chanel for a baby shower. Also, the Double Dip of Hip Duo is gearing up for a massive project – so check back to see the major renovations we’re working on for a friend (and client)!
Cheers!