glass terrarium DIY

I am always finding new ways to arrange my succulents and creating new excuses to buy even more succulents, so of course I was eventually drawn to making my own terrarium :) . I have been ogling over all of the beautiful glass terrariums from moorea seal and urban outfitters for quite some time, so I was pretty excited when I found this hexagonal beauty at a vintage store down town for only 4 bucks! Isn't it gorgeous? I also found a small one to store my jewelry in on my dresser that is pretty adorable.

To build my terrarium I simply bought some aquarium rocks and grabbed a bag of soil and started layering them. I tried to do them slightly at an angle to add more visual interest. You could also add small layers of colorful rocks to add some color into your terrarium! I cut off some babies from some of my older succulent plants to put inside, though I was pretty tempted to buy one of these succulent flats... I avoided the temptation though... for now, go me! Have you made your own terrarium? -Leah Faye

I am always finding new ways to arrange my succulents and creating new excuses to buy even more succulents, so of course I was eventually drawn to making my own terrarium :) . I have been ogling over all of the beautiful glass terrariums from moorea seal and urban outfitters for quite some time, so I was pretty excited when I found this hexagonal beauty at a vintage store down town for only 4 bucks! Isn't it gorgeous? I also found a small one to store my jewelry in on my dresser that is pretty adorable.

To build my terrarium I simply bought some aquarium rocks and grabbed a bag of soil and started layering them. I tried to do them slightly at an angle to add more visual interest. You could also add small layers of colorful rocks to add some color into your terrarium! I cut off some babies from some of my older succulent plants to put inside, though I was pretty tempted to buy one of these succulent flats... I avoided the temptation though... for now, go me! Have you made your own terrarium? -Leah Faye

home sweet apartment: our first bar cart

I found this little cart while thrifting about a year ago, and it has gone through a few different jobs, most recently holding a large amount of succulents. I decided that it was time for it to move on to a new duty.

I love the idea of having a bar cart, and I see so many gorgeous ones all around! Now that I'm done with finals I have a bit more free time, so I used that today to do a little rearranging. Here is what I came up with! It's just a start, but now I'm keeping my eyes open to other inspirations from carts that I love.

Do you have a bar cart? What would you deem a "bar cart essential"?
- a clover & a bee

I found this little cart while thrifting about a year ago, and it has gone through a few different jobs, most recently holding a large amount of succulents. I decided that it was time for it to move on to a new duty.

I love the idea of having a bar cart, and I see so many gorgeous ones all around! Now that I'm done with finals I have a bit more free time, so I used that today to do a little rearranging. Here is what I came up with! It's just a start, but now I'm keeping my eyes open to other inspirations from carts that I love.

Do you have a bar cart? What would you deem a "bar cart essential"?
- a clover & a bee

DIY macrame dream catcher

You'll need: One embroidery hoop,embroidery floss, white yarn, hemp, scissors, & wood veneer feathers This dream catcher turned out to be super fun and actually really easy. First I followed the instructions found on this website for creating the weaving inside the hoop. I only used one piece of my embroidery hoop so that hopefully I can do another craft with the other piece! I added the pink in the middle to add a pop of color (and because I ran out of white.... as I say in my art classroom "turn a boo boo into something!"). Once my dream catcher was completed, I wrapped hemp around the outside of the hoop to cover up all of the wood. I used a thicker grade of hemp for this section, though you could use thinner hemp. I left a section on the bottom to tie on my yarn.  When creating the macrame section of my dream catcher I tied on a few pieces of hemp and a few pieces of different colored embroidery floss-pink, hot pink, and yellow- to add some variety. I then filled the remaining space with long strips of white yarn. I then tied knots to create a macrame effect. I started with a knot in the middle and then did the two furthest outside knots so that I would have a guide for where my other knots should go. I did two layers (this also prevents tangling!!). Once I was finished I added some wood veneer feathers to the bottom for a finishing touch! I just loved the way it turned out. It looks really nice hanging in my bedroom. Plus while I was working on it Erin and I couldn't help but run around the house singing "Mac-ra-uh-uh-uh-uh-may" like how they pronounce Macklemore in his song Can't Hold Us. We love Macklemore. Have you made a dream catcher lately? Perhaps had any crazy dreams? -a clover & a bee

You'll need: One embroidery hoop,embroidery floss, white yarn, hemp, scissors, & wood veneer feathers This dream catcher turned out to be super fun and actually really easy. First I followed the instructions found on this website for creating the weaving inside the hoop. I only used one piece of my embroidery hoop so that hopefully I can do another craft with the other piece! I added the pink in the middle to add a pop of color (and because I ran out of white.... as I say in my art classroom "turn a boo boo into something!"). Once my dream catcher was completed, I wrapped hemp around the outside of the hoop to cover up all of the wood. I used a thicker grade of hemp for this section, though you could use thinner hemp. I left a section on the bottom to tie on my yarn.  When creating the macrame section of my dream catcher I tied on a few pieces of hemp and a few pieces of different colored embroidery floss-pink, hot pink, and yellow- to add some variety. I then filled the remaining space with long strips of white yarn. I then tied knots to create a macrame effect. I started with a knot in the middle and then did the two furthest outside knots so that I would have a guide for where my other knots should go. I did two layers (this also prevents tangling!!). Once I was finished I added some wood veneer feathers to the bottom for a finishing touch! I just loved the way it turned out. It looks really nice hanging in my bedroom. Plus while I was working on it Erin and I couldn't help but run around the house singing "Mac-ra-uh-uh-uh-uh-may" like how they pronounce Macklemore in his song Can't Hold Us. We love Macklemore. Have you made a dream catcher lately? Perhaps had any crazy dreams? -a clover & a bee

erin's birthday

We get so much joy out of planning parties-for some odd reason cleaning and decorating gives us a thrill. We spent all day Saturday hanging lights, tidying up our messy apartment (hey, life happens, right?), putting out refreshments, and adding little bits of decor here and there. We didn't want to go too overboard though, as both of us have pretty tight schedules and lots of things that fill up our free time. Our apartment looked and felt so wonderful by the time we were done. It really made us want to keep it that way! Though we realize that isn't always possible. We had our guests bring over their favorite cocktail or drink to serve potluck style, which ended up being a huge hit! People brought supplies to make margaritas, butterbeer, whiskey sours, and so much more. We even created a fun drink for the evening that we can't wait to share! It is always such a delight to get to spend time with the people you love. It was so wonderful to have everyone over to celebrate Erin's 21st.  Happy Birthday Erin. Congrats on finally being legal! -a clover & a bee

We get so much joy out of planning parties-for some odd reason cleaning and decorating gives us a thrill. We spent all day Saturday hanging lights, tidying up our messy apartment (hey, life happens, right?), putting out refreshments, and adding little bits of decor here and there. We didn't want to go too overboard though, as both of us have pretty tight schedules and lots of things that fill up our free time. Our apartment looked and felt so wonderful by the time we were done. It really made us want to keep it that way! Though we realize that isn't always possible. We had our guests bring over their favorite cocktail or drink to serve potluck style, which ended up being a huge hit! People brought supplies to make margaritas, butterbeer, whiskey sours, and so much more. We even created a fun drink for the evening that we can't wait to share! It is always such a delight to get to spend time with the people you love. It was so wonderful to have everyone over to celebrate Erin's 21st.  Happy Birthday Erin. Congrats on finally being legal! -a clover & a bee

DIY hexagon palette

Dear Readers,  It is our sincerest apology for being AWOL for the past, what, 4 weeks? We have been bad bloggers but we think we are finally back into our swing and ready to party. Let's just pretend these past few weeks didn't happen, okay? Love, a clover & a bee Over the weekend we celebrated miss Erin's 21st birthday. It is a day we have long waited for. Now we can go out on the town (perhaps a different town due to the lack of bars in ours) and we can finally share cocktail recipes! Hurray! For her birthday we hosted a little get together with a few of our friends over at our house, which meant lots of cleaning, decorating and reorganizing. The weather here is finally getting to be perfect for sitting out on our patio, so we decided to focus our attention there.  We have had this palette sitting on our back patio for quite some time. It looked shabby and old but hey, when your neighbor tosses an old palette you can't not pick it up, right? I decided to whip out some of my old thrifted paints and get to work cleaning this bad boy up. I created a hexagon shaped stencil out of a cardboard box, carved the stencil randomly around the palette, and filled the spaces up with paint. My only advice would be to not use thrifted paints like I did! Something about the paint, could have been the fact that it was embroidery paint, made it dry immediately with contact with air. My palette still looked nice in the end though! What fun projects have you done with a palette? -a clover & a bee.

Dear Readers,  It is our sincerest apology for being AWOL for the past, what, 4 weeks? We have been bad bloggers but we think we are finally back into our swing and ready to party. Let's just pretend these past few weeks didn't happen, okay? Love, a clover & a bee Over the weekend we celebrated miss Erin's 21st birthday. It is a day we have long waited for. Now we can go out on the town (perhaps a different town due to the lack of bars in ours) and we can finally share cocktail recipes! Hurray! For her birthday we hosted a little get together with a few of our friends over at our house, which meant lots of cleaning, decorating and reorganizing. The weather here is finally getting to be perfect for sitting out on our patio, so we decided to focus our attention there.  We have had this palette sitting on our back patio for quite some time. It looked shabby and old but hey, when your neighbor tosses an old palette you can't not pick it up, right? I decided to whip out some of my old thrifted paints and get to work cleaning this bad boy up. I created a hexagon shaped stencil out of a cardboard box, carved the stencil randomly around the palette, and filled the spaces up with paint. My only advice would be to not use thrifted paints like I did! Something about the paint, could have been the fact that it was embroidery paint, made it dry immediately with contact with air. My palette still looked nice in the end though! What fun projects have you done with a palette? -a clover & a bee.

DIY gold honeycomb espresso cups

The stars seriously aligned in order for me to make these lovely cups. I had been thinking about trying out the ole' sharpie-on-ceramicware-then-baking craft and I have been in love with hexagons and honeycomb designs for quite some time. So when I stumbled across these adorable plain white Pier 1 espresso cups at Erin and I's favorite thrift store for only 2 dollars, I knew it was time to get busy.  I did as instructed and drew on my design with my gold sharpie then I baked them at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. They seriously turned out so fantastically! Now all I need to do is find an espresso machine... though based on the fact that I found a kitchen aid mixer at our favorite store today it will only be a short amount of time before an espresso machine pops up. Good logic right? (did you catch the fact that I thrifted a kitchen aid mixer?? I was pretty excited) Have you tried out the ole' sharpie-on-ceramicware-then-baking craft yet? What did you make? -Leah

The stars seriously aligned in order for me to make these lovely cups. I had been thinking about trying out the ole' sharpie-on-ceramicware-then-baking craft and I have been in love with hexagons and honeycomb designs for quite some time. So when I stumbled across these adorable plain white Pier 1 espresso cups at Erin and I's favorite thrift store for only 2 dollars, I knew it was time to get busy.  I did as instructed and drew on my design with my gold sharpie then I baked them at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. They seriously turned out so fantastically! Now all I need to do is find an espresso machine... though based on the fact that I found a kitchen aid mixer at our favorite store today it will only be a short amount of time before an espresso machine pops up. Good logic right? (did you catch the fact that I thrifted a kitchen aid mixer?? I was pretty excited) Have you tried out the ole' sharpie-on-ceramicware-then-baking craft yet? What did you make? -Leah

Our favorite crafts recap

In an attempt to inspire our creative sides and to celebrate our blog's six month birthday (it was on July 1... oops), we have decided to review some of our favorite crafts we have done so far on a clover & a bee!  Bleach Dipped Plaid Button Up- we got really excited about bleach for awhile there...My dorm smelled constantly of bleach. This bleach dipped plaid shirt turned out really well and we got a good laugh because people thought that I was pregnant due to some odd camera angles...

Glitter Dipped Mason Jars- we love all things shiny and involving mason jars (usually) so making a glitter dipped mason jar seemed inevitable. We loved the ways it turned out-Our toothbrushes look so fancy in it! Bleach Dipped Levi Shorts-Its true, we pretty much live in our Levi shorts. Thus the need to own several pairs that look slightly different so we experimented with bleach and added a few studs. Cute right? Cat Print Dress-We don't own a cat and may be slightly allergic, but cats are just to cute to leave out of the crafting fun. we used an apple to print little cat heads all over one of our dresses and love the way it turned out. Heart Print Table Cloth- During our Valentines themed week we made our own heart print table cloth using, you guessed it, an apple! This process of printing is our new favorite. Embroidered Cocktail Napkins- Wiping your face is so much more fun when wiping it with cute fabric with adorable phrases hand stitched into them. Its true, this is a real testimony. This was such a simple DIY for making your table just a little cuter. Crochet Skirt- In the winter we lived in these crochet skirts! They are adorable paired with a big chunky sweater and some tights. Turns out they are also pretty simple to make (that is if you have atleast some sewing experience!) Here is to another six months (and then some) of crafting! Hope you guys are having fun with us! - Leah and Erin

In an attempt to inspire our creative sides and to celebrate our blog's six month birthday (it was on July 1... oops), we have decided to review some of our favorite crafts we have done so far on a clover & a bee!  Bleach Dipped Plaid Button Up- we got really excited about bleach for awhile there...My dorm smelled constantly of bleach. This bleach dipped plaid shirt turned out really well and we got a good laugh because people thought that I was pregnant due to some odd camera angles...

Glitter Dipped Mason Jars- we love all things shiny and involving mason jars (usually) so making a glitter dipped mason jar seemed inevitable. We loved the ways it turned out-Our toothbrushes look so fancy in it! Bleach Dipped Levi Shorts-Its true, we pretty much live in our Levi shorts. Thus the need to own several pairs that look slightly different so we experimented with bleach and added a few studs. Cute right? Cat Print Dress-We don't own a cat and may be slightly allergic, but cats are just to cute to leave out of the crafting fun. we used an apple to print little cat heads all over one of our dresses and love the way it turned out. Heart Print Table Cloth- During our Valentines themed week we made our own heart print table cloth using, you guessed it, an apple! This process of printing is our new favorite. Embroidered Cocktail Napkins- Wiping your face is so much more fun when wiping it with cute fabric with adorable phrases hand stitched into them. Its true, this is a real testimony. This was such a simple DIY for making your table just a little cuter. Crochet Skirt- In the winter we lived in these crochet skirts! They are adorable paired with a big chunky sweater and some tights. Turns out they are also pretty simple to make (that is if you have atleast some sewing experience!) Here is to another six months (and then some) of crafting! Hope you guys are having fun with us! - Leah and Erin

chalkboard dresser re-style

Being a poor college student from halfway across the states, unsure of where I'll be in the next year, I find it difficult to invest in furniture. This dresser came from Leah's wonderful family (apparently if I seem desperate enough, furniture just falls right into my hands). They told my I could do whatever I wanted with it, basically, so I decided enough was enough with the brown drawers that clashed with the beige walls and also brown carpet. 

Leah and I have an abundance of chalkboard paint, and as I am a huge fan of neutral colors, a black chalkboard dresser seemed like the perfect solution. It just took an evening and about an hour to make sure it was all painted, and I love how it turned out! 

What else could you turn into an awesome chalkboard? (everything!)

-Erin

Being a poor college student from halfway across the states, unsure of where I'll be in the next year, I find it difficult to invest in furniture. This dresser came from Leah's wonderful family (apparently if I seem desperate enough, furniture just falls right into my hands). They told my I could do whatever I wanted with it, basically, so I decided enough was enough with the brown drawers that clashed with the beige walls and also brown carpet. 

Leah and I have an abundance of chalkboard paint, and as I am a huge fan of neutral colors, a black chalkboard dresser seemed like the perfect solution. It just took an evening and about an hour to make sure it was all painted, and I love how it turned out! 

What else could you turn into an awesome chalkboard? (everything!)

-Erin