5 DIY Projects You Can Do This Weekend

My contributor Jenna is sharing 5 DIY Projects You Can Do This Weekend!

Hey guys! This is Jenna from Wife in Progress back again! Does some part of your house yearn for a quick update? Want to get crafty but need inspiration? I’m here to help! I’ve rounded up 5 of my most popular DIY projects that you can do in an afternoon – and NONE of them will break the bank!

All supplies can be purchased at your local Michaels, A.C Moore. Don’t forget to use your smartphone to get coupons – they both accept competitor coupons and offer an additional 15% off if you’re an educator!

Project 1: Create Your Own Watercolor Artwork

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What You’ll Need:

You will need:

•  A blank canvas (I picked mine up at A.C. Moore for $4)
• Watercolor paints (Again $4 at A.C. Moore after a 40% coupon)
• A paintbrush
• Gold Leaf (I used the gold leaf sheets)
• Water

Choose your color palette. I was inspired by a sunset so I chose a dark blue, red and yellow. I swiped the color across the canvas and blended it down with water.

I repeated this process with red and yellow, continuing to blend them with water.

This is a closeup of the paint while still wet. Once it had dried I went back and built up the color in some parts. I also decided to add some white to give it some more depth and interest.

I love the look of gold leaf so I decided to add some to the bottom of the canvas. You can leave it out or apply it wherever you want. All you need to do is put some glue down (Elmers or Mod Podge works well) and place the leaf over it using a foam brush or paint brush. It’s super delicate so will probably break into pieces but I like the effect that gives.

That’s it! Just bang a nail into the wall and hang the canvas.

If you’ve got the watercolor bug after that, you’ll love my next craft…

Project 2: DIY Watercolor Clock

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Looking for something to brighten up a boring wall in your home? This fun DIY watercolor clock might be just what you need! Armed with a bunch of coupons I was able to get all the materials I needed for $13!

Watercolors are such fun to work with and you really don’t need any artistic ability.

Just like the watercolor canvas, the colors will blend into each other and give you a really nice effect.

Once I had painted my clock face and was happy with it I attached the clock kit as per the directions. I used gold leaf for this project too and applied it randomly.

Once it’s dry sit back and admire it. Pretty AND functional!

Project 3:  DIY Placemat Pillows

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An easy way to add some interest to a bed or couch is to add new pillows. If you have some old fabric placemats, you can turn those into cute lumbar pillows that don’t cost you anything! This is so easy to do and literally only takes 20 minutes of your time.

What You’ll Need:

Fabric placemats
Seem ripper/scissors
No-sew tape (or a thread & needle/sewing machine if you want to sew)
An old pillow or batting/pillow filling

Directions:

Rip open one side of the placemat so that you are left with an envelope enclosure.

Fold over ripped edge and secure in place with no-sew tape. The idea here is to clean up the edge.

Stuff with whatever pillow filling you already have. OR cut an old pillow in half, sew up the exposed end and use as the perfect sized pillow form!

And in less than 20 minutes you have these cute pillows:

Project 4: Easy Chalkboard Printable

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First you will need to download this chalkboard background and one (or all) of these fonts: A Song for Jennifer, Sketchblock or KG Second Chances (Sketch).  There are plenty of other “chalkboard” fonts out there but those are the three that I like the best.

For this process you are going to use Pic Monkey, a free online image editor.

Here we go:

Select Design > 8 x 10. This is the optimal size if you want to print your finished piece. If you need it bigger, enter a custom size.

Select Textures > Your Own. Then find the location of the saved chalkboard background that you previously downloaded.

Rotate the orientation to landscape.

The next part is to add the text.  Click on the text icon then Add Text. Change the font color to white and set the fade to around 15%

Next you will want to select the overlays option (the one with the butterfly).  There’s many options to chose from depending on what you want on your chalkboard.

After playing around with different font options, you’ll see that I ended up with the font “A Song for Jennifer” in all caps. The cute giraffe adds the perfect finishing touch!

Save your file as a jpeg. I uploaded my finished one to Shutterfly and had it printed up.  Shutterfly doesn’t allow you to upload .png files so it must be a jpeg.

This tutorial can be used to make many other types of fun chalkboard printables such as these that I have available for download. You could also create some fun signs for your entry way such as these that I made last year:

Project 5: Colorful Painted Tile Coasters

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These coasters are so simple to make, you could easily have your kids help or have them make them themselves.

You will need:

• White 4 x 4 ceramic tiles. I picked mine up at Lowes for 16c a piece! (This may also possibly be the CHEAPEST project EVER!)
• Felt pads (or a piece of felt cut to fit under the tile)
• Painters tape
• Multi-surface acrylic paint ( I love the Americana multi-surface in the satin finish)

Directions:

1. Decide what design you want. I wanted to stick geometric so I just taped off sections at a straight angle.
2. Paint the untaped section. Let it dry. Paint as many coats as you need until you achieve the desired coverage. I needed about 3 coats.
3. Once this is dry, remove the tape and paint a contrasting color.  I love bright colors against navy so I picked a bunch of really bright, fun shades.
4. Add some felt to the bottom or some felt pads to the bottom corners so that the coasters don’t scratch whatever surface they are placed on.
5. If you’re presenting as a gift just stack ’em up and wrap some twine around them.

And that’s it – 5 easy projects you can do this weekend. I’d love to see what you guys come up with! As always, I’d love to hear from you via Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. If you would like more fun crafty DIY tutorials don’t forget to check out Wife in Progress.