DIY: Vintage Rose Key

Hello Everyone,

It's been a while.  If you are following me on Instagram or Twitter, you probably know that I love participating in Fat Mum Slim's Photo-a-day Challenge.  I wanted to share with you one of my recent posts.  It is for day 3, Key!  I own a lot of nail polish, so I always try to find new ways to use them.  If you own a lot of keys, this may be a good way to help you find certain ones from the bunch.  Especially, if you own a lot of copied keys that tend to be the same color and shape.

I've been color-coding my brushes, pens, keys, etc. with my old nail polish for a while now.  I would like to share this tutorial with you.  Plus, it's another reason to paint, and that's always a lot of fun!

Materials you are going to need are:

Old or new nail polish:  I used red, pink, green, white, & a pale turquoise
A clear sealer or a top coat
Brushes
A key
Fine grit or medium grit sand paper

Step 1:
Roughen the surface where paint will be applied.

Step 2:
Place two coats of polish, or until the surface is even.

Step 3:
Place a dot of pink and a dot of red beside each other and swirl the paint together.  Make sure you create a pattern by not completely blending the two colors.

Step 4:
Take some white and lightly swirl it on top.  Then, place some green leaves as an accent.

Step 5:
Let the polish dry for 15 minutes.  Then, apply a layer or two of a clear sealer or a top coat.

You may apply a coat of sealer every few months or so, to keep the polish from chipping.  I hope you enjoyed this tutorial!  Here are some of my keys:

Have a lovely day!

XOXO, Carla

2013

A lot has happened the past year, with that said, I just wanted to wish all of you a wonderful year ahead! Here is a compilation of some of my favorite photos from 2012. Lucky for you, they are all of my little family! LOL!

Here is a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson, that I'd like to live by. I hope that it inspires you to do the same...

"Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year."

Happy 2013!!!

Xoxo,
Carla

Been gone, for sooo long!

Hello everyone!

I missed you all! I hope you are doing well. I haven't posted anything in a while, for that I apologize. A lot of things happened since. Dom is in kindergarten, & Solana is running! I got myself an iPhone and joined the millions of Instagrammers & tadaa enthusiasts - if you have an Instagram or tadaa account, please let me know. So feel free to follow me there too, @carlasdeleon!

I'll be posting from where I left off (April 2012), so I'll be busy updating my blog & catching up on my google reader. Have a wonderful week, my friends!!!

Xo,
Carla

And then, she's one!

I can hardly believe that a year has gone by... Solana is one today! She is far from being that tiny, helpless baby... She is starting to walk, she's getting more confident each day...

She loves to dance, some of her favorites are Beyonce, Gotye, Carly Rae Jepsen, & Foster the People!

She loves being around her big bro, Dom, & constantly looks for him. They're growing up to be the best of friends!

She loves to smile, and people around her can't help but fall in love. I love seeing myself in her mannerisms. I love seeing how similar she is to Dom, & Bry too!



To our dear daughter, & sister,

Thank you for making our lives richer! We love you so much!!! Happy 1st birthday, bebe!

Always,
Mom, Dad, & Kuya Dom

embroidered handwriting

hello everyone!  i would like to share a recent project i made for my little man, dominic.  he learned to write his name recently, and i wanted to immortalize it somehow. 

so, since i`ve been doing a bit of stuff to prepare for solana`s first birthday (she`s having a rainbow party), i wanted to make something special for dom - the rainbow, embroidered, handwritten name tag came to fruition!

since, he was practicing his letters, i got dom to write his name on a piece of scrap paper.  btw, you can also use a tear-away stabilizer.  to come to think of it, i should`ve used one.  but that`s the beauty of doing things impromptu, you learn to make it better the next time around.

then, i tore (you can cut with scissors - lol) the paper to separate each letter.  placed it on a piece of felt.  a color for each letter.

i decided to use white thread as a guideline (but, if you are using the tear-away stabilizer, you can skip this step entirely).  then, tear away the paper. 

he was painting & used a lot of paper - we recycled ;)

after, i used embroidery thread (6 threads) to go over the initial guideline.  it doesn`t need to be perfect, because you are going over this with the satin stitch.  i did theback stitch to give the satin stitch some volume.  when using felt, the embroidery tends to sink into the felt a little bit.  if you use the tear-away stabilizer, you don`t need the stabilizer i used below...

follow the shape of the hand-written letters with satin stitches, until you are done! 

stitch the rainbow pieces by using blanket stitches (i used the same color of thread as the felt - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet) to secure each piece of felt to the next.

i also used some pins to secure each piece to the next (sorry, no photos for the next steps).  do the same to the back piece. 

i finished securing the embroidered piece first.  after, i used the embroidered side as a guide to stitch the back piece together. 

align the finished pieces together, cut to the shape you desire (i rounded the ends on mine), then blanket stitch them using the same color of thread to the felt.

btw, you can also use this as a bookmark.  you can also stitch the handwriting to cardstock, printed paper, or a piece of beautiful vintage fabric and frame it!  here is the finished name tag:

one happy customer!

i used embroidery thread to create a string for the name tag.  you can braid different colored embroidery floss to create a fancier string.

hope you enjoyed my tutorial!  have fun stitching!!!
xo, carla