Decorating is a way to personally connect with the structures and pieces of your home, handcrafting any decorations can help to forge or strengthen the connection you have with your home and the way you feel within in. To my fellow renters: I know it’s difficult to fully decorate when you can’t put holes in the wall or paint, but don’t fret you can still decorate your walls with your own personal touches.
Handmade
Adult Color Books: Rough Seas
Coloring, CreativityFine-point sharpies come in handy once again! This interpretation of this “rough seas” coloring page was a lot of fun to color, and was completed after two sittings. Coloring is a creative outlet that encourages planning and creativity. Share your coloring experiences with me
Cutting Canvas
Creativity, Handmade, PaintingI saw great designs cut into canvas scrolling through Pinterest. I was inspired to make a small piece of canvas art for my kitchen, based on a pin I saw, and luckily I had a small canvas on hand. Notably, this was my first attempt at cutting canvas and I have many more projects in mind to try with this technique… stay tuned!
DIY Coffee Mugs for Under $15
Creativity, Handmade, PaintingBeing on a budget meant that I had to get creative with a wedding gift for a dear friend. I was able to complete this look for under $15! Here’s what you’ll need:
- –Oil-based Paint Marker Sharpies (colors of your choosing)
- -Plain coffee mugs from the dollar store (microwave safe & dishwasher safe)
- -Stickers or stencil
- -Oven
I cleaned the coffee mugs to prepare them for paint, then I applied the stickers for each of the mugs. I chose to give these mugs as wedding gift, so I used alphabet stickers to form “Mr.” and
“Mrs.”
Once the stickers were applied, I used the oil-based paint markers to make dots around the letters, dense near the letter and becoming less dense as the pattern moves out from the sticker. 
Let the mugs dry for several hours or overnight, then it is time to bake them! Don’t turn the oven on to preheat just yet, instead place the mugs in prior to preheating to avoid heat cracking or damage. Bake the mugs at 450° degrees for 30 minutes and let them cool inside the oven before removing them. Check out my other DIY or handmade craft ideas under $15.
To Recap:
- Pick your marker colors, your mugs, and your stickers/stencils
- Clean the mug before applying stickers/stencils
- Draw your design
- Let it dry
- Place mugs inside cool oven
- Bake it at 450° for 30 minutes
- Let mugs cool inside the closed oven
- Enjoy your DIY mugs!
Handmade Wreath for Under $15
Creativity, HandmadeWhat you’ll need to re-create this look:
- Grapevine wreath
- Wood letter
- Burlap flowers
- Wreath hanger
- Burlap bow
- Hot glue gun
I went to Michael’s Craft Store to purchase most of the materials for this wreath. I chose items that tie onto the twigs of the grapevine wreath so that I could enjoy the versatility of adding or removing items based on the season or holiday. However, I used a hot glue gun to secure the wood letter to the front of the burlap bow. This wreath really enhanced the look of my front door and didn’t break the bank!