diy expert

Good morning! I'm super excited today because I'm bringing back Laura from Beauty & the Beard. For last week's Friday Fancies post we were randomly linked up and I was thrilled. I adore her blog. Laura is absolutely a DIY queen. I'm so inspired by her! I asked her to write a guest post for me on some of her DIY projects to give me and all of you some inspiration and a few tips!

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Dearest readers of Run Dream Cook...we meet again! 

    Yes, you thought you'd seen the end of me last Friday for my Friday's Fancies blog swap post, but I'm back! If you all haven't been by my blog Beauty & the Beard- in my posts I usually am sharing my DIY projects & recipes (with a lot of sarcasm, may I add). I was thrilled and flattered when Julie asked me back to share with you all my DIY Inspiration! 

    First of all, let me start this post off by saying I am no Martha Stewart. I'm wayyy too messy to be like Martha. If she saw my craft table on any given day I think she'd faint on the spot. That being said, although I may not be so coiffed and soft-spoken, I love coming up with cheap, easy, fun crafts. My favorite place to get inspiration is Pinterest, and I'm sure I'm not alone on this. I have a special board dedicated to crafts and recipes I absolutely must try- whether they seem easy or difficult. That way when I go back to that board when I'm in the mood to create- I can decide how committed and involved I want to be each time with a range of ideas.

   For example, I saw this easy tape art project on Pinterest:

I loved the idea and thought it would be even better as a triptych, so I grabbed a few canvases and and ended up with this:

See the whole post HERE

Is what I ended up with wildly different than the inspiration? No. Did I still make it my own? Yes. Crafts like this are great because they are simple, but still leave you with a sense of accomplishment, and feeling like you can take on bigger projects.
     I love getting inspiration from Etsy as well. I'm a big fan of supporting local artists, or small businesses, and Etsy is all that rolled up in a website. I do purchase things from artists- but sometimes I see amazing things with absolutely ridiculous price tags. This always motivates me to make a better, cheaper version. One particular craft I found was this awesome string and nail Texas piece...that had a price tag of $60 + shipping!

    I knew this couldn't cost a penny over $5 to make, and it absolutely didn't. A bit of wood, acrylic paint, paneling nails, and embroidery floss later I was left with this:

Find the whole post on this HERE

Is it as perfectly uniformed as the inspiration piece? No. Did it cost less than $60? Yes. ($4 I think!)

    As you can see, sometimes I take the inspiration and work literally with it- essentially trying to mimic their techniques. The more and more I DIY, the more and more new ideas I come up with for my own crafts- recently I had a day off and out of nowhere decided to paint a tree on a wall to hang my statement necklaces from...Man, was my boyfriend surprised when he came home that night! Here are a few of my favorite DIY projects:

Rainbow Polka Dot Phone Case (Found HERE)

Drink themed Scrabble Coasters (found HERE)

Paint Chip Christmas Cards (found HERE)

Marbleized ornaments (found HERE)

Painted Jewelry Tree (found HERE)

    I really think one of the big parts of crafting is accepting the fact you aren't going to be perfect right off the bat. No one is born with the ability to paint perfect lines or dream up epic colorful murals (Unless you're Martha, of coures). It takes times to figure out what your niche is, and what inspires you-  and the only way to do that is trial and error. I've had plenty of failed attempts at projects, but then again I've had some amazing outcomes- all by just jumping in and trying it. I love looking at other blogs, websites, Pinterest boards, and Etsy shops to appreciate the creativity of others- which in turn inspires me to find my own creativity. If you need to, start small! Do crafts step by step you see on a website! The more and more you do you'll find yourself coming up with new ideas...and before you know it you'll be inspiring someone else with your work.


Thank you SO much to Julie for letting me on the blog again, and I truly hope you all stop by Beauty & the Beard if you like DIY crafts...and endless sarcasm. B&B has only been around for a few months, and I appreciate every single follower and comment I get! Thank you so much for your time!
xo, laura
psst, you can follow me on Pinterest with a click of this button: