DIY: Paint Your Own Folder

As I get ready to head back to uni next week I have the very important task of buying all my new stationary (who doesn't love a good old stationary shop!). This year, after seeing some plain brown cardboard lever arches in Hobby Craft, I got my creative hat on and had a go at painting my own designs onto the front and back. The perfect way to add a bit of fun and colour to an otherwise boring file for all my lecture notes!

I find the best paint to use on this type of material is acrylic paint. The thicker consistency of acrylics means you get a great solid colour without have to add 100 coats! I added two coats of the paint on the base of each folder and found I only needed one coat when painting on the individual patterns. On the colourful flower folder, as well as some sections of the stripy folder, I used a sponge to create more of a tie dye background. I also added some glitter glue and gems to one of the folders to give it that much needed sparkly girly touch! I picked up all these materials from Hobby Craft too.

What do you think of my d.i.y folders? Have you got creative at all this summer?

Thanks for reading!

Sam x

Sparkle up your Converse

I got a cheap pair of converse style shoes and jazzed them up with some crystals to create the look below! Keep reading to find out how I did this ...

What will you need?

You will need a cheap pair of converse style shoes, or if you're brave enough a real pair!! You will also need some crystals/gems. I got a pack of self adhesive crystals from Hobby Craft. You also need some strong glue, again I purchased the one I used from Hobby Craft and it is just an all purpose Glue. You may also want to get a towel or cloth to place on the surface you work on in order to ensure you don't get glue everywhere and also a pair of tweezers to pick the gems up with.

How to create the look ...

I placed each crystal on individually and found it made it a lot easier when I picked up the gem with a pair of tweezers to place onto the shoe. First I applied a small amount of glue onto a section of the rubber area on the front of the shoe and placed the gems on top. I used a semi circle pattern starting with the bigger gems around the outside and adding the smaller sized gems in the middle of the rubber front. It may be an idea to place the gems onto the section before you add glue to check they fit nicely. I also added crystals down the back of the shoe, which can been seen in the photos at the top of this post. 

This look adds a bit of sparkle to a trainer style shoe and makes them look more girly! I am really happy with the outcome of this look and its a cheap alternative to purchasing the already crystallised converse shoes!!