Friday Finds: Spray Paint DIY

Hello all!

As I had mentioned last week, I'm currently in the process of redecorating/revamping my bedroom. Like with all projects, sticking to your budget can be a difficult task. In order to stay within my budget but still get creative, I've resorted to the wonderful Pinterest community for diy ideas. With a little searching I've discovered how much a little can of spray paint can do for your old items!

Here's a few wonderful tutorials:

1. Orange Milking Stool
2. Neon Pink Pitcher
3. Neon Pink Pots (unfortunately this was an image without a DIY, but I believe some painters tape and spray paint is all you need!)
4. Mint & Gold Teacup 
5. Gold Chevron Vase 
6. Yellow Tipped Shoes (also just an image without a DIY *curse you pinterest* probably some tape, primer and bright spray paint is all you need)
7. Coral Folding Chair

DIY To Do

For all those who don't have a green thumb, this is the perfect solution for you! I have a mild...ok not so mild obsession with succulents. I'm always looking for the next creative idea on how to display them. Recently I discovered this adorable and SUPER easy DIY tutorial. Take a peek on how to make your very own pots, that you can later hang or just rest on your desk.

I'll be making these soon and sharing my results with you!

ps. don't forget the super colorful neon rope to add a flare to your new hanging pot!

xo

Shoe clips DIY

For all those who asked about our shoe clips from our Crafts and Cocktails event, we made you a little DIY :). 

To start gather all the items listed above: spray paint (of any color, we picked gold and silver), hot glue gun, scissors, shoe clips (found on etsy or amazon), pom pom makers (found at Joann's or store bought poms work just as well), plastic animals, ribbon(any color will do!) and yarn(of any color if you're making your own poms).

Optional: glitter and Elmers glue (but how can you say no to glitter) 

The pom poms can be store bought, but if you like a specific color combo, the pom pom maker will be your new best friend.

1. Pick out yarn color 2. Wrap yarn around one side of pom pom maker (the more you wrap the fluffier your pom pom 3. Snip the yarn once the first side is fully wrapped 4. Wrap the second side of the pom pom maker 5. It should like this once both sides are wrapped 6. Snip along the wrapped sides 7. Snip both sides 8. Take a piece of yarn and wrap it thru the two halves 9. Double knot the yarn super tight! 10. Snip the excess yarn off 11. Pull the two halves of the pom pom maker apart and trim your pom pom to your desired shape! 

Depending on the size of your pom pom maker, you might get large or small pom poms! Using mixed yarn also creates colorful unique pom poms. 

Cut ribbons to either the shape on the right, or create little bows.

Spray paint the animals (be careful with the spray paint, this part should be done outside). For one of our animals we dabbed a brush in Elmers glue and covered it in glitter for some extra sparkle.

Aren't they adorable! 

Time to heat up your glue guns, be careful it'll be hot! 

While the glue gun is heating up, put together your combinations. We usually combine either an animal or pom with a ribbon then a shoe clip.

Start by gluing a small dab onto the ribbons front side and attaching a pom pom (or an animal). Next be sure to glue onto the small side of the shoe clip!

Attach the small side with glue onto the back of the ribbon.

It should look like this once glued! Complete this twice for 2 shoe clips :).

Finally attach them to your favorite pair of Seychelles, we put ours onto the "Thyme" shoe in suede.

For all the animal lovers (us included!), we made an elephant shoe clip. Follow the same steps of gluing the ribbon to the elephant, then the clip to the ribbon. Don't forget to decide if your elephants should be facing one another or in the same direction before you glue!

We paired our elephant shoe clips with the "Down To The Wire" in black suede!  Voila now you're ready to show off your adorable shoe clips and spark some envy. 

Crafts and Cocktails with Zooey Magazine

Thanks to the lovely ladies at Zooey Magazine, Ruche and Elsie and Emma from A Beautiful Mess. We had such a great time at this weekend's Craft and Cocktails party. Sneak a peek at all the adorable DIY craft tables, we couldn't tell which we loved more!

Seychelles home office got some cute decorations for the party.

The Cake Bar was a hit, our favorite were the lemon bars!

Thanks to The Impossible Project, we were able to have vintage polaroids for the cute Ruche photo booth. Our guests definitely had fun with the mustache props!

Our little DIY table included pom poms, wild (plastic) animals and some cute fabric for Shoe Clips! We'll have a tutorial up soon so you can make your very own.

For all those nail art entusiasts, Nicole by OPI had a great table set up. 

The girls at Ruche had a fabulous idea for jazzing up your every day coat hangers. With some colorful fabric strips, they transformed the hangers into colorful pieces to decorate your closet. Guests had a great time wrapping coat hangers with their own combinations of fabric strips.

How could we say no to decorating our own cupcakes! The Goodie Girls definitely had the tastiest DIY table.

Guests were asked to fill out our little raffle of "What's your top 3 favorite pairs?" The winning raffles would win a free pair of Seychelles or BC shoes! You can never have too many shoes.

Bethany Joy Lenz had a great time trying on some new flats in our Seychelles Showroom. 

 

Elsie and Emma from A Beautiful Mess gave a great tutorial on how to make some adorable bows. Guests wore them as hair bows and even as bow ties for the guys! We loved the versatility from such a small bow.

Last but not least, guests got to take home the adorable goodie bags from Zooey and Shop Ruche. You can never go wrong with some cute washi tape!

Crafts and Cocktails was such a fun party, we just didn't want it to end! Thanks again to the girls at Zooey Magazine, Ruche and Elsie and Emma from A Beautiful Mess for hosting this wonderful event. 

DIY Idea: Glitter Tote

The concept of a glittery tote alone piques our interest. A DIY version that can be made with affordable and easy to access goodies from your home keeps us wanting more.  Thanks to Lauren Conrad for sharing this awesome DIY find with us. If any of you try this at home, be sure to tweet us a shot with the hashtag #SeyGlitter. x 

What you'll need:

• 1 1/2 inch wide Scotch Duct Tape (in Hot Pink shown here, or the color or pattern of your choice) *We just couldn't say no to this hot pink tape, but know that this is a non-traditional way to get straight lines. You should opt for Scotch Blue tape for straight lines.
• canvas tote (available at most craft stores)
• fabric glitter glue 
• sponges for spreading glue (you can use your fingers too)
• craft-grade glitter
• scissors

First, you will need to stripe your bag with glitter. Here’s how:

1. Tape off the top of the tote starting from the top stitched line of the bag. This will ensure that all of your stripes are straight.
2. Continue to tape the entire front side of the tote, aligning each piece of tape with the next.
3. Remove every other strip of tape. These spaces will be your glittery stripes! Be sure to save the strips of spare tape because you will need them later for the bow detail.
4. Apply pea-sized dots of fabric glitter glue along each stripe of exposed fabric.
5. Using your sponge, spread out the glue until it is evenly covering the exposed stripe of fabric.
6. Sprinkle glitter over the glue. For best results, give it between 1-2 hours to dry before removing the tape strips. Repeat steps 4 through 6 until each exposed fabric strip is glittered!

1. Cut two strips of Scotch Duct Tape in the color or pattern of your choice. The first strip should be 5 inches and the second should be 4 1/2 inches.
2. Place the smaller piece of tape on to the larger piece. Be sure to center the smaller piece. Sticky sides should be facing.
3. Fold over each end sealing off the end of the tape.
4. Using your thumb and index finger, pinch the tape together at the center.
5. Fold the tape back on each side (like an accordion) and continue to hold firmly with your thumb and index finger.
6. Snip off a small strip of tape and wrap it around the center of the bow where you have been holding with your thumb and index finger. Now you have yourself a pretty little bow!

Once your glitter strips have dried completely, remove the tape and affix the tape bow using fabric glue or a pin. And voila—you have yourself a fabulous, sparkly new tote bag!

Grapefruit Macaroons - DIY

We were perusing through Pinterest and stumbled upon these amazing pictures by Lulu's Sweet Secrets, of macaroons. (which happen to be one of our favorite delicacies) We immediately decided if not now, when to trying to bake them for ourselves. It's a weekend project and we will definitely let you know how it goes. 

Any tried and true dessert recipes you care to share??

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Grapefruit Macaroons

courtesy of Lulu's Sweet Secrets

Ingredients for the shells

(from the book Miette)

(makes eighteen 1-inch sandwich cookies)

1 1/2 cups (7 1/2 ounces) whole almonds - I used blanched almonds

2 1/4 cups (10 ounces) powdered sugar

3 large egg whites

1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon finely grated grapefruit zest

Preparation

Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. Using a 1 1/2-inch bottle cap as a template, draw 1-inch circles in rows on the paper, about 1 inch apart. You should have room for eighteen circles on each sheet.

Place half of the almonds and half of the powdered sugar in a food processor. Process for 30 seconds, until the almonds are finely ground. Pour the mixture into a separate bowl, and repeat the process with the remaining almonds and powdered sugar. Sift  or strain through a sieve to remove any lumps. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine the egg whites and cream of tartar and whisk on high speed until very stiff peaks form, 3 to 4 minutes.

Using a rubber spatula, gently fold about one-third of the almond mixture into the egg whites. Fold in the remaining mixture in two more additions, just until the ingredients are completely combined.

Fit a pastry bag with a medium (1/2- or 5/8-inch) round tip and fill the bag with the meringue. Pull up the cuff and twist it to seal and tighten the meringue down into the cone. Purge the bag of air bubbles by squeezing the bag. Keep the bag tightly twisted so that meringue doesn't come back up on your hands. Using the template as a guide, pipe 1-inch circles, 1/2 to 3/4 inch high, onto the baking sheets. Set the room temperature for 2 hours. this allows the macaroons to develop their distinctive crust and a "foot"or base on the bottom.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Bake the macaroons until set but not browned, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer the baking sheets to wire racks and let the macaroons cool completely on the pans. When they are cool, use your fingers to carefully lift half of the cookies from the parchment and turn them upside down. Using a pastry bag fitted a medium (1/2- or 5/8-inch) round tip and filled with either the grapefruit butter cream, squeeze a nickle-size dollop of filling onto each of the upside-down cookies, and then top with the remaining macaroons to complete the sandwich cookies.

Store the macaroons, refrigerated, in airtight containers for up to 2 weeks. Serve at room temperature.

Grapefruit Butter cream

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1 tablespoon milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoon freshly squeezed grapefruit juice

2 teaspoon grated grapefruit zest

In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat together the butter, sugar and milk until smooth and creamy. Add the vanilla, grapefruit juice and zest. Stir until well combined and smooth.

DIY - Palette Ideas

So many ideas, so little time... These are amazing and definitely worth a try.

Check out French By Design's blog for more ideas and how to's.