Pinterest & DIY

Are any of you as obsessed with Pinterest as I am?

I am loving the fact, I can save DIY tutorials and inspiration for later, and it's perfect for me since I am a very visually minded person. I've started inspiration boards for DIY & crafts, for inspiration for custom wedding party jewelry designs, inspired weddings for my Nostalgia Film blog, photography, things I covet, other random design & inspiration, and more (food, travel, etc.). Here are some of my favorite DIY projects I am saving for a rainy day (though it may be a while since there's a major drought in Texas!):

Also, unrelated, The Frisky (a site I love and freelanced for) is having Get a Hobby Week and asking: Readers, Tell Us About Your Hobbies!

Lovely DIY & Giveaway Coming Soon!

I am loving the chalkboard pendant DIY posted over at Oh Hello Friend yesterday! I am going to be trying to make some of these soon!

Oh Hello Friend DIY

Also, SoCoDivka Designs will be doing a necklace giveaway when we hit 300 "likes," and we are close! So,  join me there, please!

SoCoDivka Designs

Promote Your Page Too

Have a lovely weekend!
xo
Shanna

Valentine's DIY

There's a great post today over at oh, hello friend: you are loved that's full of Valentine's DIY projects: diy with Brittni. This adorable heart makes me want to learn to crochet!

Valentine's Day :: Crocheted hearts tutorial

 Plus Martha Stewart's site has a big section on "How to Charm Your Valentine." Check out the Heart-Shaped Soap

 and Crayon Hearts projects.

 

 A few other of Martha's craft ideas I love:

Good Thing: Heart-Felted Scarf

Valentine Flowers

Knot Bracelet

 

 

And this one has to be my favorite... I have always wanted to learn how to do this... Luckily it has a video, so maybe there is hope for me!

Papercut Hearts

If you love craft tutorials, also check out Totally Tutorials, which I just discovered. I love this Valentine Bath Salts tutorial from Shrimp Salad Circus.

how to-sday . valentine bath salts

And I totally want to make these... Yum.

strawberry pink champagne cupcake recipe

And last but not least, over at Craft Gossip, check out Nine Valentine's craft tutorials.

All these crafts make me think of the childlike joy that comes with making Valentines at Valentine's Day.
What do you think? Do you want to try any of these or any other crafts for your loved ones?

Last Minute FREE DIY X-Mas Mix Tape

I have recently fallen in love with the blog Happiness Is... Her daily doses of cute and covet-worthy items are always a bright spot in my inbox. Yesterday, she featured this great freebie for any last minute Christmas mix CDs you're making! Perfect along with a bottle of wine or homemade cookies for a Christmas party host or hostess or anyone road-tripping this holiday!

What's your favorite Christmas tune for the perfect holiday mix tape? Let me know in the comments!

I've had "Last Christmas" by Wham in my head all week! (I also hear the Glee version is great!) I'm also loving Electronic Santa from Blazer Force. Did you know you can download a whole FREE indie Christmas mix, The Christmas Gig, on Target's website?

Best Coast and Wavves

Coconut Records, a solo project by Jason Schwartzman (swoon)

Blazer Force

Pear & Peacock: DIY

I just discovered this site today, after coming across her cute jewelry.
There are a lot of fun DIY tutorials, most for the holidays. My favorite has to be the DIY: Sequin Ornaments.
They remind me so much of ornaments my parents had from the '70s! Yay, handmade nostalgia!

Pear & Peacock: DIY

Free Holidays DIY Project E-Book

Eight Holiday Tutorials and DIY Projects | papernstitch

Holiday Crafts

 Two weeks to Christmas!? That's crazy. Where did 2010 go? While we've barely managed to get our tree and lights up, I still hope to make a couple Christmas homemade crafts. 


At the top of my list, these gift tags. We made chocolate orange homebrew beer (yum!!) for gifting this year. Instead of going the label route we did for our wedding brew, I want to make these gift tags, and tie them to the bottles with baking twine!

Holiday Freebie: Typographic Gift Tags » Eat Drink Chic

I always love bunting to cheer up a space - 

DIY: winter fun bunting {download}

I also love these felt crafts, found via  Oh, Hello, Friend 

DIY: felt shingle tree

DecoratingHomemade for the Holidays: Easy Felt Crafts

 

What holiday crafts are you making this year?

Wedding DIY

Here are some of the DIY projects we took on for our recet wedding. I got photographer photos back a few weeks ago and haven't had the chance to share yet. There are even more projects we did than are shown here, regrettably, I didn't get photos of them all!

I custom made the ringbearer pillow with this fantastic papel picado print I found at Vista Latina. The rings attached for show I'd even made in silversmithing class! I also made the boutonnieres, as you can see here, for all of the groomsmen, our ringbearer, and the guy of honor on my side. The coordinating papel picado/Dia de Los Muertos ties are from Cyberoptix.

I also made the flower girl's basket (and hair clip, not pictured here).

With the help of lady pals the morning of the wedding, I made this bouquet. I couldn't be happier with how it turned out! We trimmed the flower budget by buying in bulk from Costco online. Which brings us to our centerpieces...

We hand painted mason jars with aqua vitreous paint, then baked them, and added coordinating ribbons.Then just set a colorful, European-style pre-made bouquet into each one.

You can sort of see in the background the card box I made. I found the base at Hobby Lobby and painted it a coordinating aqua. I handlettered "Cards" and added the same papel picado print as above. Also on top...

...were little skulls I handmade from clay. They kind of look a bit like us...

Above are some signs and a chalkboard the groom made for the wedding!

Maybe one day soon I can create some tutorials!

I am back! Just Married!

I am back in Austin! The wedding was an amazing whirlwind, that was so much fun. My amazing friends and family helped up pull the whole thing off, decorating and helping and being awesome every time I turned around.

It was such a wonderful day--and whole wedding weekend--that flew by in a heartbeat!

I have lots to share about the wedding and awesome honeymoon after in Maui, Hawaii, but I will save them for another day when the jet lag has finally has worn off. A couple of my favorite photos taken by my friends in the meantime:

Handmade Weddings :: Etsy Blog

Search: handmade weddings :: Etsy Blog

I love Etsy's new wedding section. So much great stuff for a DIY bride!




How-Tuesday: Create a Luscious Bridal Bouquet

Handmade Weddings: Southern Intimacy

Loteria Confetti!

I just got an idea for table confetti for our wedding, and maybe you can use this idea for something festive, too! I wanted to write it down before I forget it, because my mind is going a million miles a minute lately.

I bought some pre-cut paper flower confetti in aqua at Michael's for something dumb, like $4 or $5 bucks for a little jar. I was daydreaming of the other things I could make confetti with (going with our schizo vintage/Mexican fiesta/dia de los muertos/papel picado themes) and thought about the random stack of Loteria cards I found in our closet the other night (which you can find in your town or on the internet... I just happen to be a hopeless packrat). Plus, I saw some awesome cut-out stamps at Michael's that I bet could make confetti even more fun!

I will post when I make them and have pics to share. I have a busy weekend of crafting coming up - new vintage Lucite studs to take to Lovely, Austin, painting ball jars aqua blue for centerpieces, and making confetti!

{vista latina}

While I was looking for the graphic above, I also found this AMAZING fabric.... Guess who's ordering some for table runners... or hell, the ring-bearer pillow I keep putting off making! :)

{vista latina}

xo,
Shanna

Fabric Flower Crafts

Here I go reposting from my wedding blog again. It's just that a lot of wedding crafts have non-wedding uses, too, and I am also wound up in channeling my creativity into wedding stuff for now... I can totally picture some non-wedding applications for these little beauties! Now to find the time!

DIY Wedding Challenge 2010: Fabric Flower - Project Wedding

Best DIY Wedding Craft List I've Seen!

So excited about this, I am crossposting thjis great find from my wedding blog. Now if only there was more time to make it all!!!

43 DIY Wedding Projects For The Budget Bride

Please help SoCoDivka Designs win a grant!

Please help me out! I am trying to win a small business grant. This could really be the kick in the pants I need... To carve out studio space (instead of the kitchen table) and get some silversmithing supplies, so I can start working in silver at home (with ventilation for those acetylene gasses!). It would be a dream come true!

It only takes a second, and I'd be eternally grateful!



http://bit.ly/bz2ny6

It's super easy to do, if you haven't already, just go to that link above or click on "Add your comment" on the widget and fill out #3. "Cast Your Vote."

Many thanks!

xo
Shanna

Affordable DIY Save the Date Postcards

I'm cross-posting this from my other wedding blog... After I started talking to the blogger behind Oh So Beautiful Paper (a great site!) after commenting on the Spanish Garden Party Save the Dates post because I was loving on their Save the Dates ( I have yet come to calling them STDs as it seems many wedding bloggers, do!) and color scheme.

I thought I'd share with you my easy way to make Save the Date postcards on the cheap.

All it took was a little design research into what I liked, a little dabbling in Photoshop, a papel picado graphic that I tinted to match some aqua paper flowers I am using since we are having a bit of a fiesta/Dia de Los Muertos theme, a fun carnival font from 1001Fonts.com.

I was able to order 100 postcards for less than $37 at Vistaprint!! (Not including shipping and handling).

Now if only addressing and mailing them was that easy! Thanks to google docs' address web form, I am having some help with getting my address book into fighting shape.

March is National Craft Month!

Did you know that crafting can reduce stress, build self-esteem and increase physical dexterity? In fact, recent studies from NYU and Harvard have shown that activities ranging from scrapbooking to knitting can actually improve concentration, while enhancing health and mental wellness.

With interest from younger crafters, advances in technology, and riding the immense popularity of do-it-yourself web and TV programming, craft ideas and innovations are being spread across the globe to all four corners of the planet. Crafting has successfully survived another U.S. recession enjoying what some are calling a "crafting renaissance." According to the Craft & Hobby Association over 56% of all U.S. households are crafting in one form or another creating a $27 BILLION U.S. craft and hobby industry!

What are you currently crafting and how do you plan to celebrate?

National Craft Month at Craftster

How to Celebrate National Craft Month from eHow

More information from the Craft & Hobby Association

Celebrate National Craft Month from Craftplace

National Craft Month Supplies at Overstock

Big News!

I've been off the grid--literally--in the Mexican jungle near Tulum for just shy of a week! Hence my lack of posting and Twittering and all that.

But I am back, and I am engaged! Whee! I may eventually start an offshoot blog for great funky, vintage, and DIY wedding finds if we don't just elope... because boy that sure sounds easier (despite all the awesome necklaces and fascinators I could make for a wedding). 

I am still frantically gearing up for E.A.S.T. this weekend, too (Nov. 21-22), and hope I get to see you there!

xo

Win One of Five Etsy Business and Marketing Plan Consults

 Etsy sellers may be interested in this contest:

FREE Etsy Business and Marketing Plan Consult with Jordan Moore of Handmade Success

Plus her blog, Handmade Success, has a lot of helpful tips. 

Three fer Wednesday: Three very helpful craft marketing blogs

1. biz ladies 09: the 30-second elevator pitch @DesignSponge 
2. Terrific Tuesdays - My Etsy Journey: Marketing My Shop (part 2) @Purple Lemon Designs
3.  The second link came courtesy of Handmade Success, a helpful etsy seller blog
   

South Austin Bohemia

I'm the girl behind SoCoDivka Designs on etsy. I also have a site at www.socodivkadesigns.com (as well as Facebook and Twitter, too).

I craft jewelry from vintage and vintage-style Lucite and acrylic flowers and beads inspired by a love of mid-century style and Bohemia. (I'm half Czech--it's in my blood!) I also create flowered & feathered hair accessories ... inspired by flappers, burlesque dancers, and pin-up girls of the past. I'm beginning to take custom orders, too. (Also, I take custom mosaic work, but that will be another blog!) And I will also list neat vintage finds I come across from time to time--like those cowboys boots I found to die for, three sizes too small!

I'd love to share with you my various finds and discoveries along this crafty journey.