Last minute DIY Valentine's Day cards

The glue is still drying on my first card this is so embarrassing. 

These will lit-ruh-lly take you 5 minutes, even if you're craft-challenged like moi. 

All you will need is some card stock (I used super thin crappy paper because Target was all out of the good stuff), candles, matches (bonus if you can find red), and a V-Day color-appropriate felt tip pen. BAM! You look like the most thoughtful person who ever lived. 

Today's five favorite links

• Kembrel is a private shopping site just for students. 

• The 10 funniest commercials of all time.

• The politics of beer pong. This is TOTALLY how we should decide the President of the United States.

• DIY summer hosting tips

• Cannot WAIT to read the Grace Coddington memoir (the creative director at Vogue for almost 25 years now!)

DIY: Collar Necklace

I've recently hopped on the collar-necklace train. They can be big and statement-making with beads and studs or more simple and understated like this DIY from Harper's Bazaar. Either way they look great when paired with a simple-silhouetted top. 

Peep the DIY over on harpersbazaar.com

DIY Antipasto Plate

A party for your tastebuds; with all the right guests.

From: The Ink Remains

Turning Your Bag Into a Bracelet

J.Crew. The gift that keeps on giving. Turn the handle into the newest edition of your "wrist party" with this easy DIY. 

Midnight Snack Box

I'll be honest, I'm a nurturer by nature. (Hahahah, get it? I didn't even try to set that up. Roll with my unintentional puns.) I get it from my mother. She's one of the most caring and thoughtful people I know. We both like doing fun little things like this for the people we care about. 

Check it out. 

How welcoming of a treat would this be for guests crashing at your house? They don't have to worry about being hungry post-bed time, they can dig into their midnight snack box for a treat. What a creative way to make people feel right at home. 

All photos via: You Are My Fave

5 Things I Found Today (The January 23rd Edition)

• Craft and DIY PORN. I'm sorry, there's just no other way to describe it. 

• This is the world's biggest treehouse. And it's in America. And I'm going. 

• Pictogram movie posters. Can you guess what films they are without looking?

• "Skillshare's mission is to flip the notion of traditional education on its head and democratize learning. They believe that anyone can be a teacher, and everyone has valuable knowledge and skills to share." (Swissmiss)

• The 10 funniest commercials of all time. 

DIY: Paper Flower Key Holder

Never lose your keys again. And be cute about it. Directions here. 

A Yummy Last Minute Gift Idea (It's DIY!)

Popcorn and I have a long-term love affair. It surely ranks in my top three favorite snacks of all time, if people had official rankings for things like that. They usually just reside in the head, don't they?

If you know someone with the same affinity for this salty (or sweet, I don't discriminate) snack, why not gift them a flavored popcorn kit for Christmas?  It's a win-win. Their taste buds party and you look all Martha Stewarty. 

Head over to A Beautiful Mess for complete instructions. 

DIY: Disco Vase

Any DIY involving sequins I'm all, "Chyeup!" 

I like the pink rose, it looks romantical and all, but I think I'd substitute it for a peony. Or two. 'Tis my favorite flower. *Cough* hint *Cough*

Find the pretty-dang-simple instructions over at Sania Pell's blog. Check out the rest of her site too. Woman knows what's up in the craft world. 

Get All Bad Ass

Stud your trench coat. Duh. Found over on Who What Wear. 

INGREDIENTS:

-H&M Trench Coat ($60)

-Approximately 400 chopsticks or candy apple sticks

-Handsaw

-Gold spray paint

-Chalk

-Glue Gun

DIRECTIONS

Before you begin: if you're particularly good with a handsaw or know someone with a power table saw, proceed with Step 1. For those of you who don't have those tools handy, you can make an alternative version of this trench by purchasing and using gold studs instead. If you choose to do the latter, please refer to the second set of instructions and note that this project will get a bit pricier.

1. Cut down chopsticks or candy apple sticks to about an inch with a handsaw or ask someone with a power table saw to cut down for you. You should end up with 164 pointy ends for each sleeve.

2. Once you finished cutting the sticks, it's time to paint them! Make sure you're in a well-ventilated area and are working on a flat surface. We suggest protecting your workspace with old magazines or newspaper.

3. Apply a layer of gold spray paint to the pointy tips. Leave them on your workspace for approximately 15 minutes or until dry. Flip them over and spray the other side.

4. Before you apply the spikes to the jacket, use white chalk to outline a rectangle on each arm, starting at the shoulder and ending at the elbow. You want it to be large enough to fit approximately 24 rows and five columns, but this will vary depending on the size of your jacket and how many spikes you want on it.

5. Space the gold spikes evenly in each row and use dabs of hot glue or super glue to secure each spike onto the jacket.

6. Wait approximately 10 minutes or until the glue is completely dry before wearing the trench.

If you choose to use studs:

INGREDIENTS

- H&M Trench Coat ($60)

- 17 bags of Tree Spikes ($13/bag of 20) in Gold

-Leather hole punch or X-Acto knife

-Chalk

DIRECTIONS

1.Before you apply the studs to the jacket, use white chalk to outline a rectangle on each arm, starting at the shoulder and ending at the elbow. You want it to be large enough to fit approximately 24 rows and five columns, but this will vary depending on the size of your jacket and how many studs you want on it.

2. Create small holes using a leather hole punch or X-Acto knife where you would like each stud to go.

3. Press the post of the stud through the small hole and screw the back onto the post.

Runway image, courtesy of Burberry

Making Parties Colorful & Awesome

Confetti invitations and giant balloons. I feel drunk off color right now.

Cooo--uhllllll. Here's the tutuorial. 

These delightful little (big) things are from Geronimo and I find them ten times better than regular balloons. 

What To Do With Burned Out Light Bulbs

Clever.

Via: Have & Hold

You Know By Now I Have an Intense Inclination for Confetti

Loving these DIY dotted thank you tags from Tokketok:

So Here's What I'm Doing Today.

Making chocolate ice cubes for milk... 

... and colorful friendship bracelets

Hi, I'm Liz, and I'm ten-years-old sometimes. 

5 Things Worth Putting Off Whatever You're Doing

• Have you hopped on the google+ train yet? If so, here's a list Huffington Post put together of the 35 Google+ users you need to follow. 

• K I may be the only one who finds this "worth putting off whatever I'm doing because I'm an intense baking nerd but, fun facts about Parisian pastries?! Hi that's awesome. 

• Saturday super-easy DIY project: Picture frame necklace holder. Aww that's just FUN. 

• Australian illustrator James Gulliver Hancock has been working since last August drawing every single building in New York (yeeeah. every. single. one.) That is over 336,000 structures and a helluva lotta talent and ambition. Wellllllll don't I just feel SUPER ACCOMPLISHED with my life. 

• 6 life lessons learned form playing Scrabble. 

4 Things I Found Today

• Guuuuuys (literally, guys), now you can get in on the DIY fun too. Man Made DIY is an entire website dedicated to "creativity and and the handmade life for the postmodern male". 

• Sad. "Too Hard To Keep" is a blog where people can upload photographs that are too difficult to keep in their lives. Beautiful, eerie and heartbreaking all in one. 

• Want. These milk bottle measuring cups from Anthropologie. 

• I'm so effing happy after watching this video. You know those things that are SO CUTE you almost just want to smother them to death? This is one of them. Oh. You don't know what that feels like? Yeah, yeah me neither...that'd be so weird..

God Bless America (And Beer)

Just in case you want to be a little extra patriotic in your festivities this next week. Via Hello Giggles. 

What you’ll need:

• A piece of 1 to 1.5 inch thick wood from a home improvement store (at the Home Depot they will cut it to the perfect size for only $1 per cut)
• 2 sawhorses for your wood to rest on (you can buy wood or metal sawhorses at home improvement stores – likethis sweet yellow one)
• Paint colors of your choosing
• Painter’s tape
• Paint brushes and rollers
• Screws (to secure wood to sawhorses)

Do it:

• Choose your pattern for your table top (could be a flag like Smiley’s or maybe a nice summer plaid)
• Tape off your pattern
• Paint your table
• Set the table-top on your sawhorses
• Secure wood to sawhorses with screws (most sawhorses have screw holes. *Make sure your screws aren’t too long to stick through the top layer of the table). Optional step but you may want to in case someone tries to do a victory dance on said table.
• Buy beer and plastic cups, balls, paddle and friends… well, don’t buy friends. And please recycle. Not the friends, the cups.

Creative & Colorful DIY Business Cards

What better way to say "Yeah, I'm pretty creative" than your very own DIY business cards? I probably wouldn't be able to resist throwing in "yeah, I made these, it's fine," while handing them out. Head over to While The Sun Shines blog for a tutorial. 

Colorful Popsicle Picnic

What a fun little party I found over on Design*Sponge. Little did I know until reading the captions that this was actually a wedding reception. Laid-back celebrations like this are so my style. Head over to Design*Sponge for all the details and DIYs.