DIY Hair Styles: using a hair comb

 Hello! I recently made a few of these yarn covered hair combs and I wanted to show you the different ways I wear them in my hair. All of these hair styles are super simple and fast. 

1. This is where I swoop all my hair to the side and out the clip in the back. In this photo I braided the remaining hair that was left down. Sometimes I also tease the top part of it to give it more body.  

2. Slide your hair over to one side (the opposite way that your bangs go). I like this for a quick way to get my hair out of my face.  

3. Swish your hair up into a bump on the top of your head in order to get all your bangs back. 

4. Spin your hair up into a bun on the top of your head and use the comb to hold it in place on the back.  

5. This is much like #1, except your leave your hair down and tease it on the side instead of braiding it.  

Tip: if you find that the comb is staying in, try teasing your hair and then putting it in. This gives you more body and helps it to stay. Also, add lots of hair spray, I love hair spray!

Extra Links: DIY Hair Comb, Hair Inspiration.

How to make your photo the width of your post column

Hello! I thought I would show you all how to make your photos in your post column (ie. right here) the same width as your text. Many people (myself included) believe that it looks better when all of your photos are all the same width. However, even when you put all of your photos to large or extra large the vertical photos often do not widen to the size of your column. Thankfully, it is pretty easy to fix this.

1. The first thing you need to know is how wide is your column. To figure this out go to Dashboard > Design > Edit HTML and look through your code to find "main wrapper". That allows you to see how wide the column is (see photo below).

Another way to do this is to add a horizontal photo, set it to extra large or large (depending on what fits in your column). Then follow the steps below to figure out the width of that photo. 

2. For step two you need to first upload your photos and make them extra large. If you are just learning I would say upload only one at a time to keep it a bit simpler. Then look at the top of the post editing box where it lets your switch from "compose" to "Edit HTML".   Look for the part of the code in the photo below. It should be segregated on it's own.

3. Find where it tells you your width. Mine says 516. You are going to switch that to the width of your column that you got in step one. So I would change 516 to 640. Now figure out the difference between those numbers. For me it would be 124. You now want to add that number to your height. So I would change 640 to 754. This makes it so that you are changing the size proportionally so that it doesn't turn out all wonky.







4. Switch back to compose and your photo should be larger and fit your column better. Please let me know if you have any questions at all.

Note: This is how I change my pictures, however it has come to my attention (through comments) that you can also doing it by finding the percentage of change between the two photos so that they don't look as wonky. Check out the comment section if you want to know more about this!! :)

DIY Chalkboard Chevron Desk

Hello! So I thought I would share with you how I did my chalkboard chevron desk. I originally got the idea/inspiration from this post. I even used her tutorial in order to figure out how to do this! So now I am going to share it with you!

Supplies: Contact paper, Chalkboard paint, a ruler, a paintbrush (not an expensive one cause it might ruin it), scissors, a flat surface (my desk in this case). 

Step One: Get some contact paper (I got mine at wall mart in the kitchin-ish area). I measured mine out to be a zig or a zag every five inches. There are marks on the back to tell you how far is an inch. So that means that every triangle of mine is 10 inches. Then draw the lines on the back and cut it out. Make sure you save the little triangle pieces you cut out of the zig-zag. Step Two: stick the long piece of contact paper to your desk (surface) wherever you want to paint. Then take the little triangles you cut out of that piece and line them up on top leaving the amount of space you want for your chalkboard paint to be on your desk (you can see this in the photo for step three). Step Three: Paint on your desk staying between the lines of your contact paper as much as possible. When you are done painting remove the contact paper before it starts to dry or it will peel up the dry edges. *repeat steps for however many chevron stripes you want!*

The finished product:

Ps. make sure yo check out my new sponsors on the right! ldc.

Valentines Guest Post from Punk Projects

Hi! Katie here, from Punk Projects! I love doing anything crafty- scrapbooking, crocheting, sewing, quilting, etc. I also love anything mixed media, and so I thought "Why not make some mixed media Valentines??"

I hope you guys enjoy this tutorial. :)

Supplies: Pretty Papers, (I used scrapbook paper and book pages) Paint, Paintbrush, Sharpies, Misc embellishments. (scrabble tiles, scrapbooking rub-ons,  buttons, etc)

1. Cut your paper down to the size you want. Mine are 3" x 4"

2. Taking old book pages and other fun papers, cut out hearts and glue them to your valentines.

 3. Paint an outline around your heart. I used white and pink paints, I also used a sparkle glaze over a few of the hearts. It just adds glitter, so if you don't have a sparkle medium, you could always just sprinkle some glitter onto your paint.

4.Now you just have to embellish your hearts! Have fun. I used a variety of embellishments.

Papers, Scrabble Tiles, Scrapbooking Rub-ons, Buttons, Letter Stickers and Sharpies!

 These were super easy and fun, and I didn't have to go out and buy any Valentines themed papers or embellishments. Are you making your own Valentines this year?

DIY Heart Shaped Hand Warmers

 Supplies: Felt, Rice and Sewing Machine!

Using Instagram Photos for Facebook Timeline

 Hello! So with the new facebook timeline comes lots of new great ideas for your cover photo. I decided that I would use my instagram photos to make a new look! It is pretty easy for those of you who want to try it. The hardest part is getting the spacing right.

If you want to try this the dimensions are: 850px by 315px

The top image is the one I tried first, however I forgot that your actual display picture would cover over the image. So I made a second one (below) with a spot for my display pic to fit in.

My facebook ended up looking like this..

 I am pretty happy with it! Have you done anything different with the new facbook Timeline? Let me know if you try this technique! xo ldc

A Quick DIY: how not to loose your bobby pins

Hello Everyone!
So I saw a pic of this fantastic idea a little while back on Pinterest, and while I was looking through my craft stuff I found some magnet strips and decided to try it out! All you have to do is get some sticky magnet strips and stick them to something close to where you do your hair and voila, a boby pin holder! I do my hair right at my desk so I stuck mine to the bottom of my tack board. So simple and convenient. I love Pinterest! xo ldc

Photoshop Tutorial: Color your text with an image

Hello! I thought I would share with you a simple but useful Photoshop tutorial on how to color your text or a photo you have drawn with an image. I have the steps written out and the step number corresponds to the number in the image below. If you have any questions at all feel free to ask either by commenting or by emailing me! Ps, if you are wondering how I drew those images (the flowes/ldc) above, check out this post.

Step one: Once you are in Photoshop open up a new blank file. Usually I just use the standard size of paper to start with.
Step Two: Create a layer mask over your background. This is where you will draw/type your picture.
Step Three: make your image. You can draw or type whatever you want, but keep it on that layer.
Step Four: Open up the image that you want to use as color for your image. (ex. for my buttons under my header I used a picture of fabric over my words)
Step Five: Put that picture however you want over the layer that you drew on.
Step Six: Make sure you have your colored layer (ie. the image you want the color from) selected and then go to Layer>Create clipping mask. This will make it so that everything you have under that layer comes up in that color.
Step Seven: Save it!

In this photo you can see that I have created two layer masks: one with text and one with a photo that I drew. This is the steps I used to create the image at the top of this post.  xo ldc

DIY 20 Minute Top

DIY Leather&Lace Bracelet

 Hey everyone! I did this DIY for the Miss Yellow Shoes blog a little while back and I thought I would share it with you also. It is a super easy diy and it makes a really cute bracelet! All it takes is some leather & lace. Super simple! You can actually buy all that you need at wall-mart! 

So lets get started!

First you will need to cut out a piece of lace about a half an inch shorter then your wrist. Then but out two pieces of leather twice the length of your wrist. 

Now take one piece of leather and start weaving it through the edge of the lace.

Once you have done that, start doing it to the other side with the other piece of leather.

now tie a knot in both ends of the leather. Make sure you tie them around the size of your wrist, but just a tad bit larger!

Now to tie it on your wrist you will put one knot through the loop before the other knot. Like this...

Once you have it tied so that it fits well, cut off the extra leather after both knots.

And there you have it! A cute leather and lace bracelet in less than ten minutes! Try adding beads to the leather for a different look!

Don't forget to check out the blog Miss Yellow Shoes!
xo ldc

DIY Summer Lace Shorts !