Crafty Texas Girls

6/17/14

The Truth about Jamberry Nails

This is an unpaid reivew of Jamberry Nail Wraps. I was given Jamberry Nail Wraps to try, all opinions are my own!

It's no secret that I love all things Chevron :) So I was excited when Nicole from Jamberry Nail Wraps contacted me and asked me to do a review on the nail wraps, especially when I saw they offer chevron designs!

Jamberry Nail Wraps are salon quality nail wraps that adhere to your nails with a bit of heat and pressure. These are not stickers! They take a few minutes to apply and can last for weeks. Jamberry Nail Wraps come in lots of cute colors and you can even design your own.

Nicole sent me a page to try as well some super sweet 'Jamberry Juniors' for my girls.

Since this is a review, I decided to put Jamberry Wraps up against traditional nail polish. I painted my nails with regular polish and top coat, and then applied the Jamberry Nail Wraps on two of my nails. I like the 'accent' of chevron don't you?!

I used my blow dryer to quickly heat the back of the wrap and then smoothed it on my nail. Then I trimmed off the excess and warmed the wrap again with my blower dyer to completely seal it to my nail. You can see a video of how to apply them on LoseThePolish.com . Here are my nails on Day 1.

(I posted this pic on Instagram and got a ton of comments, you guys were as curious about Jamberry Nail Wraps as I was!)

And here they are again on Day 5. My polish is chippy but the wraps are still going strong. Between cleaning my home, crafting, dishes, lots of swimming, painting projects etc this week, the polish didn't stand a chance. I am pleasantly surprised the Jamberry Nail Wraps stayed in place.

I think the 'secret' is to make sure you achieve a good seal all the way around your nail in the beginning. So my truth about Jamberry Nail Wraps, I really like them. My girls liked them too! (Although they both picked them off on Day 2. Sigh.) They stay in place and they are a great solution for those of us who can't keep up with the cost and time of getting weekly manicures.

Doing this review was fun! Thanks for letting me share it with you. If you are interested in trying Jamberry yourself, you can purchase them by clicking {Here}. I am hosting an 'online party' for all my Crafty Texas Girls readers ;)

Have you tried Jamberry Nail Wraps? What design is your favorite?

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6/14/14

DIY Father's Day "Desk Plate"

For Father's Day this year, I fired up the power saw and got to work.

I think I scared of few of you when I posted this picture to Instagram. Luckily all my limbs are still in-tact. And even better, I have a crafty Father's Day idea to share with you! It is a bit 'cheer inspired'-- you know "Give me a D, give an A, give me a D! What's that spell??? DAD!!" And it is also a nod to my love of funky photography for gifts. (Remember the chalk photo we did a few years ago?)

So to make your own, Father's Day Desk Plate, here is what you need:
-Photos of your kids posed like letters
-Wood
-Stain
-Nails
-OR you could just frame the photos if you prefer to skip the power saw and what-not :)

To take the photos, find a neutral background and either a ladder or high stool. Pose your kids and take a pic. Keep in mind you can crop and adjust the brightness or color in PicMonkey if needed. And not only is this a cute photo opportunity, it actually is a good learning opportunity. My little one is in preschool, so this was perfect for her 'letter knowledge'. And my big one had the opportunity to play 'choreographer'. Win-win!

After the photos were uploaded to my computer, I used the collage feature on PicMonkey.com to put them in order. We are fortunate enough to have 5 special guys to celebrate on Father's Day. (Dad, Grandpa, Grandan, Gramps, Papa) So we made a lot of letters and a lot of collages. Your older kids can help create the photo collages (kids these days are SO tech saavy!)

"DAD"

"GRANDAN"

"GRAMPS"

"GRANDPA"

"PAPA"

I added the collages to a document on Word, using the landscape layout on legal sized paper. I sized the photos to fit on the legal paper and keeping in mind that they would be going onto a 2X4. Then after fighting with my printer, I just sent the photos to Staples. com and had them printed there. If I were you, I would skip the home printer and go straight to a print center. The quality is always better and the stress is less.

I made this to put on the back of the 'desk plate'

Now on to the power tools! I bought a 2X4 and cut it into pieces that matched the length of the photo collages. I used a power sander to smooth the edges. And then the girls helped me stain the wood.

Once the stain dried over night, I re-sanded the edges to give the wood a worn look. Then I nailed on the photo collages using little tacks.

And voila! A DIY Father's Day Desk Plate.

"Front of the Desk Plate"

"Back of the Desk Plate"

Here is how I imagine my hubby will display it in his office... :)

Hope you have a great Father's Day! And if you need it, feel free to grab and print this little tag below. Your kids could sign their name with chalk or a 'silver Sharpie' and attach it to a Father's Day gift.

6/11/14

"T-Shirt into a Dress" {the Frozen Edition}

If you have a little girl, you know the popularity of the movie "Frozen". I feel like that ballad "Let it Go" has become the official theme song for 2014. Seriously, I can't get that song out of my head. If you have tried to purchase anything 'Frozen-related' in the past few months, you know it is virtually impossible. Disney must have all that Frozen merchandise locked up in their movie vault!

So when I found out my sweet little niece is a huge 'Olaf' fan, I wanted to buy her something cute and Olaf-y from the Disney store for her birthday. Buuuuuuut no such luck. I think the manager at the Disney store actually laughed when I told her what I was looking for.

I bought the only 'Olaf' tshirt I could find and decided to turn it into a cute dress. If Disney wouldn't sell me a fun knit Frozen dress, I would just have to make it myself :)

Want to turn an oversized t-shirt into a dress like I did? Here's what you will need.
-Large t-shirt (this is a size 7/8 and I made it into a 2/3t dress)
-Ribbon
-Ruffle
-Elastic
-Sewing machine
-Sewing scissors

Step 1: Cut off the sleeves, just inside the the seam. I used my rotary cutter on a mat, but you can use scissors. Since knit doesn't fray you can leave it as is after cutting- yay!

2. Cut off the top of your shirt. I cut just above the collar. The bit of collar left won't show, so don't worry about it.

3. Fold down the front of the shirt and pin both sides in about 3/4".

4. Sew a straight stitch to create 'tube' or casing for your elastic. I used hot pink thread to match the ruffle that I will add at the end.

5. Now thread through your elastic. My elastic is less than .5 inch wide and 16 inches long. This will form the neck of the dress. (You want it big enough to pull over her head, but not so big that the dress falls off her shoulders.) Run the elastic through both the front and back of the dress, then overlap the ends of the elastic and sew together.

6. Overlap the shirt to cover the elastic and sew closed on top of BOTH shoulders.

7. Now you can add a ribbon and be done! I didn't sew on my ribbon because I wanted her mom to be able to remove it for washing or if it annoyed my niece. Some kids like a bow on the shoulder, some don't :) This chevron ribbon is from Hobby Lobby.

8. Optional-- add a ruffle! You can buy premade ruffle or make your own. I cut off a strip of hot pink knit from a Hobby Lobby XL tshirt. Then I ran it through my machine to create a ruffle. (See how I like to make a ruffle by clicking here.)

9. Sew on the ruffle. Then 'top stitch' to keep the ruffle from flipping up (and it adds a little design detail). The contrast stitching at the neck matches the stitching I did at the bottom.

And there you have it! A plain t-shirt transformed into a cute dress. This tutorial is perfect for all those boxy shirts you have stuffed in drawers. Just in time for summer camp and VBS shirts too!