Product Review: PureForm Grip-Free Paintbrush

I have several home and DIY projects on my radar come warmer weather, so when PureForm approached me and asked for a review of their new patented grip-free paintbrush, the timing was perfect. I was intrigued by the ergonomic design and also by the claims of pain-free painting.

The unique design of the PureForm paintbrush offers "greater control, reduced fatigue, professional quality, and unmatched comfort."

I took this brush on a little test-run to a friend's house that happened to be painting her bathroom. Initially, you know this is a quality brush. However, I will admit that it takes a moment to adjust to the grip-free design, as your instinct is to grab the brush in the standard way. Once you let the brush rest on your hand, you can immediately feel that your muscles are relaxed and yet you still have complete control of the brush. If you suffer from any hand cramping, muscle fatigue, or elbow pain from gripping, this paintbrush is definitely a great alternative to a standard brush.

If you're interested in learning more about the PureForm Grip-Free Paintbrush, you can check out their Kickstarter campaign that is launching today, March 5, 2019. From there, you can snag some early bird specials during the campaign's first 24 hours. Sets of 4 sizes of brushes for only $25 and two sets for $45. That's an amazing deal for quality paintbrushes! The suggested retail price is $9.99.

Watch video demonstrations and more reviews on their website at pureformbrands.com, plus follow along on Instagram and Facebook.

What spring DIY projects would you like to tackle with a PureForm grip-free paintbrush? I can't wait to share my next painting project with you!

Happy painting, DIY'ers!

julee

****This product was gifted to me in exchange of an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Tweet

Smooch Valentine Party

Smooch. Smoochie. Smooches. I took this Valentine party up to a personal level. Because if you don't send your love grossly affectionate words of endearment, do you even have a Valentine?

This party was planned with my dear crafty friend, Craft E Magee, and it is the starter project of a big idea we have to continue to put together parties that we love. We're just getting started on some serious baby baby steps, but you can find more of our parties in the future over on Party in Lou. We'd love to have you stop by and follow our instagram, too. You know, if parties are your kind of thing.

Craft E Magee worked her magic on the seriously adorable pompom banner and I designed the Smooch cake topper and lip kisses in Silhouette. The cake was from Kroger and I can't get over its cuteness with the Valentine sprinkles and tri-colored cake layers. It's simple to add your own flair to cakes with personalized cake toppers and decor. Parties should be fun and not stressful, so take a look around your grocers' bakery to see what they're offering and don't be afraid to cut corners with store-bought cakes and pastries.

Here's to lots of love and smooches this Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day, DIY'ers!

julee

Tweet

Hello, Friday

Hello, Friday. Hello final sunsets on a fabulous but largely undocumented year. Hello 2019 and hot cocoa mornings with kindred spirits. Hello dreaming, planning, and resolution making for the year to come. Hello shooing the dust bunnies away from this little blog of mine. Hello, You!

Happy Friday,

julee

Tweet

eShakti FX Feature Review

Do you know eShakti? You should! eShakti is an online women's retailer that gives you multiple options for customization of their clothing, all at affordable prices. Do you like your skirts long, or short? Do you like your necklines revealing, or modest? With eShakti, you get to decide!

I own two eShakti dresses which I wear in heavy rotation and rave about constantly. In addition to the many styling choices, I love that their height and measurement options gave me perfectly fitted dresses.

Now, eShakti has rolled out a new feature, eShakti FX, that lets you see their dresses transform as you click on the many style options. Most dresses feature customizable necklines, sleeve length, and skirt length. (As a bonus, and because eShakti knows what women want, most of their dresses have pocket options!)

I played around with the fun (and addicting!) FX features for...probably longer than I should admit. You can see in this gorgeous emerald dress above that just by changing the neckline and sleeves gives this dress an entirely different look. Here are other dresses that I styled with the FX feature:

Want to play around and style some beautiful dresses, too? Head over to eShakti and look for the FX symbol for products with this feature. What do you think? It's like DIY'ing a dress without the cutting and sewing and frustrations. I bet you'll love it!

Happy shopping!

~julee~

This post was written in conjunction with eShakti. All opinions expressed are my own, as always.

Tweet

Kentucky Derby Easter Egg in Food Network Magazine

How do you represent Kentucky with an Easter egg? With a Kentucky Derby Chick, of course!

I was extremely honored to be invited to contribute the Kentucky egg for Food Network Magazine's United States of Easter Eggs feature in their April 2018 issue. 

Kentucky is many great things, of course, but I have traveled many places and know for sure that Kentucky is definitely one great thing to almost all across America and beyond: horses and the iconic Kentucky Derby. I created this little egg as a representation of that beloved culture.

To create the Kentucky Derby Chick, I enlisted the help of my crafty better half, Craft E Magee, and we experimented with a few techniques to give us the perfect hat shape and size for an egg. Then, we did on a smaller scale what we've done together many times on a larger scale. we created the derby flair with feathers, silk flowers, and tulle. You can see the full tutorial on making the hat here: DIY Mini Kentucky Derby Hat.

Look at all of these fabulous eggs representing The United States! I am astounded by the creativity of fellow craft bloggers. You can see each egg with links to all participating designers at foodnetwork.com/eastereggs.



Which state egg is your favorite? It's hard for me to have a clear favorite when there are so many great designs!

Happy egg creating, DIY'ers!

~julee~

Tweet

DIY Mini Kentucky Derby Hat

Sure, Kentucky Derby hats are notoriously big and loud, and perhaps (with all due respect), a tad bit ostentatious. If you're in the stands at Churchill Downs on Kentucky Derby day, your hat better be blocking someone else's view of the track or you're doing it wrong.

So, if that's the case, you're probably wondering why you would ever need to make a mini Kentucky Derby hat. Well, I have a few ideas. For a doll, maybe, or even say, to top an Easter egg. Maybe you just like cute mini sized things. Whatever your reason, I'm going to show you how easy it is to make your own extravagant hat in a small size package.

For the hat itself, you'll need to gather some supplies: cardboard (I used a shirt box), a round glass or other object as a template, cotton stuffing or cotton balls, pencil, scissors, and a glue gun.

The circle size for the hat brim will depend on what size hat you want to make. Using the glass, trace a circle on the cardboard. Cut the circle, and then make a slit to cut a small circle from the center.

Overlap and glue the slits together on the brim piece to create a curve for the brim. (The bigger the overlap, the bigger the curve, or wave.)

Cut a half-inch wide strip of cardboard long enough to fit the center circle cutout. Glue the strip to the center cutout. Now you will have the two pieces of the hat and you will cover each of these with fabric separately.



For the brim, cut a circle of fabric large enough to cover the entire cardboard piece. Pull the fabric up tight and glue around as you go. Unless you use a stretchy fabric, you will create a pleated look. If you don't want a pleated look, use a stretchy fabric.

For the hat top, glue the cotton to the flat top piece and then cover with fabric the same way as you covered the brim: pull up tight and glue to the inside center.

Now, glue the top and brim pieces together. If it doesn't look perfect, don't stress. We're going to use embellishments to create a flawless look.

Now that you've got a complete hat, it's time to decorate. Kentucky Derby hats are traditionally decorated with lots of big colorful flowers and feathers. There's no right or wrong when it comes to embellishments, and the more, the better! I've chosen to use tulle, a silk flower, and a variety of feathers.

I used the tulle to create a band around the hat. (Hint, this also hides any unsightly flaws created when gluing the top and brim together.) Play around with your flowers and feathers until you get the look you want and use hot glue to secure everything in place.

That's it! A small Kentucky Derby hat big on traditional revelry!

Happy hat making, DIY'ers!

~julee~

Tweet

Unicorn Birthday Party

What girl right now doesn't want a unicorn birthday party? I mean, hello cuteness! My young friend Ava was no exception when she was celebrating her 12th birthday this year, and her mama was happy to oblige. She used a lot of Pinterest inspiration for this party, along with the purchase of some Etsy printables and delicious treats from local bakeries. 

The unicorn face focal wall was really the highlight for this party setup. The unicorn eyelashes and unicorn horn were purchased and downloaded from Digital Curio on Etsy and then printed to size at Staples. The flowers were purchased at a craft store and we drew out the greenery and unicorn ears freehand and cut the pieces from poster board.

With a pink and rose gold color scheme, we kept the desert table minimal. The gold polka dot table topper was a roll of wrapping paper and a gold table skirt from a party supply store finished the look. The gorgeous cake was from local Plehn's Bakery.

The unicorn cookies were from local baker Sweets by Millie. White chocolate dipped pretzels with sprinkles and unicorn dip rounded out the sweets on the dessert table.

It looks like the birthday girl really enjoyed her unicorn party!

Happy party planning, DIY'ers!

~julee~

Tweet

Louisville Love: Paint Paper Petal

I'm a swooner, admittedly, and I blame Instagram. When I discover beautiful people making beautiful things, my heart swoons as I obsessively look at photos of their work and ooh and ahh and basically double tap the Instagram love endlessly. Such was the case when I came across local Louisville artist Alyson Thiel and her downright gorgeous paper flowers. Alyson showcases her paper flowers on her Instagram Paint Paper Petal and was recently the monthly artist in residence at a local library branch where I was fortunate to attend one of her workshops.

Alyson is a talented artist and a generous teacher. She obviously has a love for sharing her skills and was very encouraging to everyone at her workshop. On this day, participants learned how to make a poppy flower from heavy crepe paper. Most of us are familiar with crepe paper party streamers, but heavy crepe paper is thicker and more substantial. The thickness allows the paper to hold its shape when stretched and manipulated, thus creating nearly realistic-looking flower petals.

Thanks to Alyson's guidance, I am delighted with my paper poppy and I love the vibrant colors and the texture that the crepe paper brings to the petals and stems.

In her own work, Alyson uses various papers and paint to create many designs and textures. Check out her work on her website and Instagram: alysonthiel.com and instagram/paintpaperpetal.

What new-to-you artists have you been swooning over lately?

Happy artist discovering, DIY'ers!

~julee~

Tweet

Hello Friday

Hello week filled with lovely Valentine loveliness. Hello paper roses and craft night with my favorite crafty ladies. Hello morning kisses and surprise flowers from my love on Valentine's day. Hello filling my home with heartfelt quotes from our favorite books that make my heart swell. Hello Galentine brunch and silly laughs with my gal-squad.

Hello you. I hope your Valentine week has been filled to overflowing with love.

~julee~

Tweet

Vintage Library Wedding Reception

Alternate title: The Reception of a Writer and Bibliophile.

When my friend Liz told me she wanted to create her cake and punch wedding reception with a vintage library vibe, I may have squealed in delight. Squealed, I'm telling you. Because vintage. And library. Vintage. Library. As in, the stuff my dreams are made of.

We centered our inspiration for decorating the tables around a vintage suitcase and the bride and groom initial book cut-outs, purchased at a local shop. (I have since found them at Michaels if you're looking for a set.) Everything was set in the brides favorite colors - deep, rich, jewel tones.

The reception hall was a beautiful old building set back in a local park. The gorgeous exposed brick walls and large fireplaces on each end of the room created the perfect warm and cozy atmosphere for wanting to curl up with a great read.

The stunning three layered cake was made by a family friend of the bride. The baker used seasonal flowers as the topper and to decorate the perimeter. The flowers were purchased at Kroger and we used the remainder bunches split up in vases on the tables.

For the tables, we raided our personal libraries for hardback books plus we took a few trips to Goodwill to look for books with pretty decorative spines. Every table held flowers in jewel-toned bottles and vases, plus small tea light candles in holders.

We also found various small brass elements to compliment the gold on the book spines and table settings. Goodwill had plenty of brass tchotchkes to pick over. A few decorative skeleton keys found at Michaels added in nicely.

Finally, to finish off the table center pieces, I took to the internet and printed off several love quotes from various books and authors and placed them in simple black frames. Each table had a unique quote which became my favorite element of the tables.

An easy way to add visual depth when decorating a table is paper. The gold polka dot paper was a roll of wrapping paper cut to size. On top of that I used 12x12 scrapbook paper in the jewel tones. Easy and very effective at creating layers that tied all the tables together.

We also set up a kids table full of vintage Golden Books and coloring sheets and crayons.

Overall, this reception embraced the writer and bibliophile personalities of the bride and groom perfectly. Using many pieces from their home and personal library, as well as vintage elements found at thrift stores, we were able to keep this wedding reception highly personal and affordable. 

May they live happily ever after...

Happy party planning, DIY'ers!

~julee~

Tweet

DIY Mason Jar Photo Holder

It's not too late to craft some last minute gifts this Christmas. These Ball jar photo holders come together quick. Seriously, you make four of these in an hour or two. That, and they're cute and can be personalized with photos and gift cards. Win, win, win.

Supplies needed: 4oz mason jar, craft snow, small bottlebrush trees, wire (I used 18 gauge). You'll also need a small nail, hammer, wire cutter, pliers, and hot glue. It'll be helpful to find something round to wind your wire around to help it take shape - I used a thread spool.

(I found the 4oz Ball jars at Walmart and Kroger. They come in a 4-pack.)

Start by creating the photo holder in the lid of the mason jar. Using a small nail, hammer a hole in the center just large enough for the wire to slip through. Create two loops with the wire (twisting around a round object makes this easier). Create a long tail at the end of the wire loop. Thread this through the hole in the lid and then bend a 90-degree angle on the underside of the lid. Use hot glue or similar to secure the wire underneath.

Once your lid is finished, create your winter scene inside the mason jar. Use hot glue to adhere the bottle brush trees and then sprinkle in the craft snow. 

Screw the lid back on and add your photos or cards and you're done! Easy, cute, and personalized!

What last minute crafts are you making?

Happy holiday crafting, DIY'ers!

~julee~

Tweet