Totally obsessed with malachite, and it's not because green is my favorite color, or that emerald is Pantone's color of the year. Its the pattern and the detail (ok and the color too), and I want malachite in my house and on my body. Every piece looks so unique and so fancy! It's really giving me an itch to try some kind of faux malachite painting technique like this amazing desk  that Jenny from little green notebook did, but on a much smaller scale, like maybe a box like the one above or a tray. I ordered this book from the 90's called The New Paint Magic, that is full of faux painting techniques, including one on malachite! I'll keep you posted on that project.

For now here are some malachite items to swoon over, maybe sell your car and buy that Monique Lhuillier dress! I wonder if they have a technique for faux malachite tie dying?  I think I would be willing to give it a whirl.
  

Monique Lhuillier strapless ball gown / Soixante Neuf jewelry / Trina Turk LA palm jewelry / Primadina 18k ring / African bead jewelry / Rablabs Malachite Medium Andu Box / L'Objet Malachite Candle, $160

-Whitney

DIY Photo Transfer to Wood

I attempted my first photo transfer since my High School photography classes, and I am very happy with the results. Transferring photos to wood is a really neat (and cheap) way to display your favorite photos. Now that I have made this one, I want to keep making more, it just looks so cool and so advanced, when it is so simple! It still boggles my mind how this gel can pull the picture off the paper!

You will need:

a piece of wood

optional wood stain & rag or sock

your photo printed on a laser printer

scissors

paint brush

matte gel

gift card/credit card

towel

Mod Podge or Spray Coating

2 leveling picture hangers

Getting in the Spirit

Valentine's day is just less than a week away and so here are few things to get you in the mood.

 Nothing is better than hearing little kids talk about Love...

How about some DIY love for your front door...

before:

 after:

how sweet! LC knows best.

And Romantic Art that is just the perfect amount of personal. Birthstone Portraits, original hand-printed silkscreen

for the Valentine Baby - Amethyst 

 who doesn't love - Diamond

or a Ruby for a July birthday.

-Megan

DIY Gift Ideas From Our Archives

Looking for the perfect DIY gift for the special people on your Christmas List?? Here are a few great gifts from Pretty Penny. Click on the link below for the full tutorial.

- Painted Coasters

- Painted Tray

- Tassel Earrings

- Scrapbook Paper Coasters

- Wire Picture Hanger

- Painted Moccasins

- Fabric Covered Pots

Chic Moss Letters

Easiest DIY moss letters...These letters are pretty and would be great in any type of setting. I made these moss letters for two great friends who were tying the knot. They were having a DIY wedding at Mildale Farm in Kansas City and these went perfect with their decor.

Supplies:

Gold letters from Hobby Lobby

Super Moss: Perserved Sheet Moss from Hobby Lobby

Scissors

Hot Glue Gun

            

Super easy and super chic!

-Jane

DIY Painted Coasters

We are big fans of coasters around our house, especially DIY coasters, like these. We had some plain white tiles left over from coasters we made for Christmas presents, and decided to make some bright painted coasters to add to our collection.

These are very easy, and you can get creative with your shapes and patterns.

Supplies:

ceramic square tiles (from any hardware store)

paint brush(es)

masking/painters tape

acrylic paint

gold spray paint, or gold paint pen (optional)

clear acrylic gloss coating

foam, felt or cork

Using your tape, create your desired pattern(s) on your tiles, remembering that wherever the tape is, it will end up being the ceramic white.

Using acrylic paint, paint the while parts of your tiles. 

*Don't let your tiles dry completely. Peel off the tape as soon as you are done painting, to create a cleaner line. You can use your fingernail, or any sharp point to scrape off any paint that snuck under your tape.

We didn't like the plain edges of the coasters, so we wanted to paint them gold. We found some gold spray paint, and we were going to use that, but it seemed like a lot more work, to keep the newly painted tops from getting gold on them. We remembered we had a gold paint pen, that would work perfectly. We carefully painted all 4 edges of the coasters with the gold paint pen.

After the paint on your coasters has dried for a little, spray 2 coats (waiting 2 minutes in between coats) of clear acrylic gloss coating to sealing the coasters and making them water-resistant.

After the gloss coating has dried, usually for 24 hours, glue some felt or cork to the bottom of the coasters to keep them from scratching the surfaces that they set on.

Now you have yourself some fun and custom coasters!

DIY Headboard

One Sunday I decided to play handy man in stead of lay out at the pool. I went to the local hardware store and browsed their scrap wood section. I have a queen bed in the guest room up against a blank wall, so it needed some headboard love! I measured the width of the bed according to the frame, for the wood and the height that I wanted.

Below is a list of the materials I used:

• 4 pieces of scrap wood- 60 inches wide x 4 inches tall
• 2- 2x4 pieces of wood measured at 54 inches tall
• Drill
• Screws
• Your favorite stain or paint (I used Mini-Wax Jaco Mean Stain because I had it left over from my floors)

All I did was lay out the 2x4's and screw the planks into them using the drill. I used 4 screws per plank.

Once done, I did one round of sanding to smooth out the scrap wood. I only applied one coat of stain because I didn't want the headboard to match my floors. Let it dry for about 24 hours.

And about 30 minutes and $45 later, you have a new headboard!

-Brooke 

DIY Necklace Holder

I was getting sick of my T Bar necklace holder, and always having to take half of them off to get to the necklace I want. I wanted a more practical and visually appealing holder, and I wanted to clear up some space on my dresser, so a hanging holder was what I was going for. I've seen some DIY necklace holders that looked fairly easy. Well I found out it took a little more work than I thought, and I'm glad I had some help.

I found this interesting shaped piece of cedar wood at my mom's new house, and thought it would be perfect for a necklace holder with some fun knobs.

A while back, I bought some knobs at Anthropologie for my dresser, and knew I didn't want to spend that much money on this project. I checked out Hobby Lobby's knob selection and I was pleasantly surprised. Not only did they have a great selection and were cheaper than Anthro's,  but they were all 50% off! So I got each knob for about $3.

What you will need:

*A piece of wood- if you don't have one, you can have them cut you one at pretty much any hardware store.

*Stain or paint if you don't want the natural wood color

*Knobs 

*Measuring Tape and pen or pencil

*Drill

*Regular Drill bit

*Paddle bit

*Needle nose pliers

*Hack Saw

*Sawtooth picture hangers

See the full instructions after the break

Hung

Need an easy and inexpensive way to hang art?? How about using pant hangers? It gives your art a different look, and you can switch out your prints easily as often as you want.

We found these pant hangers on sale for just $2, for a set of 2. We knew they would work perfectly for the fern prints that we printed off of the the NYPL Digital Gallery for free! They had been collecting dust because we hadn't taken them to get framed at matted. This method was way easier, and cheaper, and I think it adds a little character to the prints.  

We had a narrow wall that was really in need of some artwork, and these pant-hanging ferns worked perfectly!

They hang right on a regular nail.

You could even stain or paint your hangers if you wanted to add a personal touch to them.

Crafty Cut-Offs

I guess regular cut-off jean shorts are just not cool enough this summer. But don't go spending a bunch of money on fancy designer cut offs, I have seen some really cool DIY ways to jazz up your average cut offs . From embellishments, paint, stencils, bleach, you name it! Here are some of my favorite:

Lace Pockets

Scalloped Edges

STUDS

Fun Fabric

Ombre

Stenciled 

Bleached Stars and Stripes

Looks like I need to get a pair of cut offs to get crafty with! What would you do with your cut offs?

-Whitney

DIY Fabric Covered Flower Pots

I made these fabric covered pots as Mother's Day gifts, and I think they were a huge hit. I saw a few different covered pots on Pinterest (of course), and figured it couldn't be too hard. They would make perfect gifts for any occasion: Birthday, Housewarming, Get Well Soon, etc.

You just need a few materials:

Fabric

Mod Podge (they need to start selling this stuff at Costco!)

Terra Cotta Pot and Saucer

Brush (I have found the cheapo foam ones work best with Mod Podge)

Thumb tack

Lay out your fabric, and starting from one edge, roll your pot in an arch shape along the fabric from one side of the fabric to the other. While rolling, trace a line about an inch and a half from the top of the pot (you will need this extra fabric to fold over in the inside of the pot). You can kinda see my pencil line on the pic above.

Cut the fabric out along the line you have drawn. Your shape should look like the pic below.

Paint a small section of your pot with Mod Podge and, starting from the shorter side of your fabric, stick it onto the Mod Podge'd part of the pot, smoothing out the section that is now glued. Continue doing this with small sections to ensure no bubbles or folding, around the entire pot. When you get back to the side of the pot you started with, cut off the excess fabric and fold the end in, so you don't get any fraying, and glue that folded edge down.

Now for the top and the bottom: Cut 1 inch slits around the fabric on the top, and fold those pieces over into the inside of the pot, painting on the Mod Podge to adhere. The bottom is a little tricky, you may need to cut excess fabric off. Cut slits in the fabric, like at the top, and glue the pieces down as flat as you can.

Paint the entire outside of the pot with a coat of Mod Podge. Let dry, and paint another coat on if you would like.

Once my pot was completely dry, I used a thumb tack to poke a few holes in the bottom so that water could get through the pot.

Fill your fancy schmancy pot with herbs, flowers, or even use it as a fun container for your makeup brushes or pens and pencils.

-Whitney

Revamped Flower Pots & Stand

A couple years ago we painted some flower pots that we were going to hang on our fence. Well that never happened, and after two years the paint was chipped away, and they needed a face lift. So did our plant stand. Nothing a little spray paint couldn't fix!

We spray painted the pots with a few coats of off white spray paint, and the stand with two coats of Valspar's gloss spray paint in "Exotic Sea".

After painting the pots off white, I taped off the bottom half, and used the leftover "Exotic Sea" spray paint, and painted the upper half of the pots.

 

Then we planted a variety of flowers in the pots, using a trick I learned on Pinterest to keep the dirt from coming out of the hole in the bottom, a coffee filter. I didn't want the dirt dripping down onto the bottom row of flowers.

That was it! An easy way to revamp some garden accessories that we already had, as well as brighten up our deck!

DIY $1.99 Tray Makeover

While at our favorite store ever, Hobby Lobby, we found some great trays in the aisle of wooden crafts and knew they had some serious potential! We bought a large rectangle one for $2.99 and then this small octagon shaped one for only $1.99!! We moved on over to the scrap book aisle to check out their array of paper. I found a perfect piece that looked like antique turquoise wood. Once i had my supplies, it didnt take long to complete the tray transformation.