DIY Tutorial: Customized Martini Glasses on the CHEAP

Hi everyone!

I took yesterday off to clean my house, and BOY did it need it!  Laundry was everywhere, and dishes...dishes as far as the eye could see!  Now we are all nice and tidy, and I can return to my little bloggy slice of heaven.

For my Lash Bash, I wanted to create something personalized for my guests to take home. When I saw Benefit's martini glass with their logo on it, on the page with food and drink ideas on the Lash Bash planning site, I KNEW I had found my something amazing.  I didn't want to use the exact same logo as what was on THEIR glasses, so I chose to use the written out logo, that was available for download on the Ipsy/Benefit Lash Bash planning site.  I looked in to lots of different ways of creating personalized glassware, but they seemed a bit on the expensive side, and since I am a gal on a budget.....I did these the Only Average way.

I do want to note that although I used permanent markers, this was NOT permanent on the glassware.  If a glass is rubbed hard, or washed vigorously, the writing will wash off. I am sure that there is a sealant that could be applied to the glasses, but I didn't do it. This worked well for the one-night event, and were a hit.  I offered to re-write on anyone's glass after it was washed, if they wanted to save it.

Customized Glassware for my Lash Bash

Customized Martini Glasses

What you'll need:

You will need permanent markers, a printout of what you want on the glass, two pieces of tape, and your glass.

• Clear (or lightly tinted) martini glass (this one is from my local Dollar Tree), or other glassware you would like to personalize; washed and dried.
• Permanent markers in two shades: the metallic ones I used worked very well, and are (you guessed it!) sold in sets of 2 at Dollar Tree
• A printout of the logo/phrase you want on your glassware, cut out close to the words
• Two small pieces of scotch tape

First, download the image of the logo or phrase you want to put on your glass, I copied and pasted mine into Word, so I could easily resize it. Once it's sized as you like it, print it out on plain white paper, and cut it out closely.

Next, put two pieces of tape on your logo paper- one on each side, so that the sticky side is on the same side as the printing is.

Remember to keep your design low on the glass, and one that you can easily trace.

Tape the paper inside the glass, with the words/logo facing out- this is so you can trace the letters onto the outside of your glass.  

A top view of the paper taped inside the glass.

Keep in mind that you want to avoid the rim of the glass (where someone would put their lips); as not all markers are non-toxic.

As you can see, you can't really see the silver letters. That's ok- what we really want is a base for the red.

Take your base color marker and trace the logo/words onto the glass, allowing it to dry for a moment.  I used silver as a base color.  This will likely not show up too darkly- and that's okay.

If your tracing isn't perfect, don't stress it!  The marker will easily wipe off at this point, if you want to try again.  Personally, I think that imperfections make this project unique.

Next, trace over the letters/logo again with your main color.  This should be a brighter color, and will stand out much more on the base color than if used alone, and allow to dry. 

Simple and classic.

Remove the paper logo and tape from the glass.

Love Benefit?!  Why, yes...yes I do!

I added a heart, freehanded above the logo, since it looked a bit low on the glass.

For a basic personalized glass, that's it!  

Freehanding the letters was really easy!

Just freehand the words again, right over the base color.

I had so much fun making these, that I wanted to keep going, so I flipped my glass over and freehanded the hashtag: #benebabe to the glasses, first with the silver, and then the red/pink marker.

The silver looks better here, but is still very pale and boring.

The red over the silver really makes it "pop".

I wanted each guest to instantly know which glass was theirs, so I wrote their names on the bottom, first in silver, and then in the red/pink.  

These turned out super cute, and were a major hit at the party!

I served "Wink Lemonade" (Pink Lemonade) in the glasses, and rimmed them with pink sugar crystals.  This is a super easy way to up your presentation, and only takes a minute to do.

So gorgeous, served with Wink Lemonade :)

Sugar-rimmed glassware

What you'll need:

You will need: two plates, sugar crystals, lime juice (or fresh limes), and your glass

• two smaller plates
• decorator's sugar crystals in the color of your choice (we used pink!)
• lime juice, either fresh or bottled
• the glass you wish to sugar rim

First, put some lime juice on one plate. I bought fresh limes for my party, but I didn't have any today to photograph.  If you have fresh limes, you can just slice into the lime and run it around the glass.  I didn't want to do this, because I didn't want to chance hitting the personalization on the glassware.

Next, pour some sugar crystals onto the other plate.  I removed the shaker top from the container, because it was taking forever to pour them out with it on.  You want to put enough on the plate so that it is easy for the crystals to stick to the rim of the glass.

So easy, the kids took over this job at the party :)

Invert your glass onto the plate with the lime juice, and twist.

There isn't enough sugar on this plate, but I think you get the idea.

Place the lime juiced glass into the sugar crystals, and gently pat the glass into the sugar crystals, until it is coated as you desire.

Fill with your favorite drink, and serve.

See?  Easy peasy, and oh so cute!

This project had great presentation and cost VERY little- the markers cost a total of $2 (the colors I wanted didn't come together), each glass was $1; the sugar crystals were less than $3 at the market, and the limes were on sale-a bag for $1.  

I hope you enjoyed this quick tutorial, and can use it at your next house party!

Tell me- what's your favorite drink to sip from a martini glass?

Until next time, my friends- Stay average!

DIY Tutorial: Photo Booth Backdrop

Hi everyone!

I'm slacking off today, and thought I would take a moment and write a quick tutorial on how I made the photo wall I used at my Lash Bash, sponsored by Ipsy and Benefit Cosmetics.

This project is super easy, and while I don't have photos to walk you through it, I think anyone would be able to replicate this.  I love this backdrop because it looks kind of like something you would see at a high end event, like a premier or an opening.

I live in a tiny house.  Please ignore the messy bookcase. 

Photo Booth Backdrop

Supplies You'll Need:

• Large Poster Board, 2-4 pieces
• Sticker Paper, (or plain paper with a glue stick) that will go through your printer
• Masking tape- I used the blue kind that removes from walls easily
• Permanent markers
• Computer with printer

The first thing I did was go through my craft hoard and find some poster board.  If you don't already have poster board, Dollar Tree sells the large pieces for $1.00.  I only had 2 pieces of poster board, but for a larger photo backdrop, four would be ideal.

I then copied the logos of the companies that I wanted to represent, into Word.  I sized them to fit approximately half a page.  The Ipsy logo was a bit more grey than the Benefit logo, so I darkened the image a bit.

Next, I printed out the logos onto sticker paper.  I have a TON of paper with a sticker shipping label on the top half, and plain paper on the bottom half, left over from my eBay days.  This worked perfectly for this project.  I printed out four of each logo, but you could do more or less if you like.

I laid out my poster board, side by side, and put the stickers with the logos on the boards, staggering the logos.

When it was time for my party, I stuck the posters to the wall, overlapping just a smidge (but only because my wall was smaller than I thought it was!), using blue painter's tape.  If you are using FOUR pieces of poster board, put two at the top, and two below them, to create a square.

This is the only photo that I took that really shows the backdrop.  Here, the ever gorgeous Lisa shows off her realsies :)

During the party, I provided a bag of photo booth props (you can get pre-made ones at WalMart, or other mass-market store), and the "Realsies" frame.  The younger guests had a BLAST playing with the photo booth, but honestly, we ran out of time so we didn't take a ton of pictures.

This is what my backdrop looked like by the end of the night.

At the conclusion of the party, I asked guests to take a marker (I had pink and silver ones, to match the theme) and write on the backdrop what their honest thoughts were of Benefit Cosmetics, now that they had all tried it.  This turned out SO awesome, and was a great addition to the party.

Here's some close-ups of what the guests had to say about Benefit:

That just about sums up the easiest project ever, right?  When I took this down, my daughter freaked out when she thought I was going to throw it away. At the very least, I will reuse this again, and decorate the flip side of the poster board.  Maybe I'll have another party sponsored by Ipsy and Benefit and will be able to reuse it again!

I hope you enjoyed this QUICK tutorial-if there is any interest in how we made our snacks for the party, I'll be happy to post that as well.

Tell me- are you addicted to photo booths, like my family is?  We have one at EVERY party now, and love it!  What is your favorite photo opportunity?

Until next time, my friends- Stay average!

DIY Tutorial: Shipping Envelope Banner

Hi everyone!

My Lash Bash, sponsored by Ipsy and Benefit Cosmetics, was this weekend, and we had a FAN-freaking-TASTIC time!  

In the week leading up to my Lash Bash, I spent some time creating some fun DIY decorations.  Now that my Bash is over, I wanted to share a little about how I created some fun decor on a very strict budget.

The day before my Bash, I wanted to create a banner, but wasn't sure what to do.  My printer was out of ink, and I had already spent all of my party budget, mostly on food.  I had checked my Dollar Tree for "Make Your Own" banner kits, or anything bright pink, but my DT didn't have what I was looking for.  I looked through my craft shelf to see what I had.  My eyes alighted upon my Ipsy shipping envelopes, that I had saved to reuse to ship packages when needed.  My stack was pretty tall, and I added up the letters in what I wanted my banner to say: Ipsy (space) Benefit, 12 letters. I counted my envelopes and saw that I had at least six, I knew I could do something fun with them.

Here is how I made this fun banner, step by step:

Ipsy Envelope Banner

Supplies Needed:

Envelopes, duct tape, curling ribbon, butter knife, scissors, pencil, sticky label paper, glass cleaner, sticker adhesive remover and paper towels

• Medium padded shipping envelopes, one for every 2 letters in your banner phrase.
• Plain paper or sticker paper.  I used shipping labels, but any sticker paper or plain paper will work (if using plain paper, a glue stick or spray on glue will be needed).
• Glass cleaner (to help remove the shipping labels
• Adhesive remover
• Scissors
• Pencil or pen
• ribbon
• strong tape (I used duct tape)

Peel off the shipping labels as best you can, and then spritz with glass cleaner.  Let it sit a bit until the cleaner penetrates the paper label.

The first thing that I needed to do was to wash the labels off of the shipping envelopes.  Those suckers are stuck on there good, so I peeled off what I could by hand, and then sprayed them with glass cleaner and let it sit. 

Use the back of the butter knife (non-serrated side) to scrape the label off.

Once the labels were saturated, I used a butter knife to scrape the label off.  The envelope were set out to dry- this took a few hours. 

I copied the logo from the Ipsy home page, and pasted it into Word.  I sized the image to fit the page.

While my envelopes were drying, I looked online for the logos of the brands I wanted to represent on my banner.  I copied the Ipsy and Benefit logos into Word, and sized them until it looked correct on my screen. 

When I sized the image up, it was blurry, but that didn't matter- I was going to trace the image, not print it out.

 I wanted each letter to be on its own triangle, so I tweaked the sizing on my computer screen until I thought it looked right.

You can see here where the adhesive is still on the envelope.

The adhesive from the shipping label was still sticky on the front pieces, so I used adhesive remover to take it off.  This stuff seriously STINKS; beware and crack a window to avoid a contact high.

Just spritz some on, and let it set a minute or two.

I used a paper towel to wipe the adhesive off.  After it was removed, the envelope was a bit oily feeling, so I rinsed it off and dried it with paper towels.

Remove the top portion, just under where the flap was stuck to the back of the envelope, and the two sides, close to the seal.  

After my envelopes were dry, I cut off both of the sealed sides, the top flap, the top of the back where the envelope was stuck together.  

Cut right on the bottom fold.

Next, cut the back from the front.  I now had two rectangles from each envelope.

Fold the rectangle in half, lengthwise.

I sorted my rectangles, and found the smallest one.  I folded it in half (like a hot dog) and cut the UNFOLDED side to create a triangle. 

I made one angled cut, starting at the wide end, and going towards the center fold.  This worked really well.

After I unfolded it, I needed to tweak my triangle a bit, to get a nice sharp point on the bottom.  If you prefer, you could use a ruler and draw the triangle shape perfectly on the back (silver) side of the envelope with a marker, and then cut it out.  I wanted my  banner to be unique, so I cut without measuring.  I AM Only Average, after all.

Use your first triangle as a pattern to cut the rest of your triangles.

I used this first piece as a pattern to cut the rest of the triangles, one for each letter.  As I needed 12 triangles, I used a total of 6 envelopes.

I held up one of the triangles to the logo that I had on my computer screen.  I was happy with the size of my letters, but if you are not happy with it, adjust the image accordingly.

As you can see, the label paper I used (something I bought a TON of on eBay years ago) is very easy to see through.  Tracing was a cinch!

I put my label paper (with the backing still attached!) over my computer screen and was THRILLED that the image could be seen through the paper.  

Don't laugh at my tracing skills.  I am NO artist!

I used a pencil to trace each letter onto the label paper. 

Cut the letters out, rounding corners if you want that look.

After tracing all of the letters, I cut them out, and then erased the pencil lines.  

Pencil lines, be GONE with you!

Carefully peel the label paper from the backing.  Fold over a TINY corner and work your way out.  Try not to tear your letters!

Next, I peeled the backing from each letter, and placed it on each down-facing triangle, as near the center as I could, one at a time.  

The sticker paper probably won't let you adjust your letters, so be careful when applying them to your triangles.

I laid out my triangles on my floor, in the correct order, and then flipped them over (now silver side up).  

I tore my tape into skinny strips. I got about 3 tape strips from one regular length of duct tape.

Curling ribbon was used to attach the letters to one another, using duct tape.  I wanted the letters spaced out, so I attached them to the ribbon about 2 inches apart from one another. Hints and tips for this step: Make sure to leave long tails of ribbon on each end, so that the banner can be adjusted in length to fit where it needs to go. Be sure that as you are attaching the triangles to the ribbon, that the ribbon is flat and not twisted, as this can adjust the way your letters hang from the ribbon.

And that's it!  It is MUCH simpler than it sounds, and if my printer wasn't out if ink, I likely could have just printed the letters onto my label paper, instead of tracing them, but I did want the look of the white letters on the pink.  

My finished banner, all curled up so that it could fit in a picture.

I am really happy with how pretty it turned out, and was shocked to find out that Ipsy had posted it to their Facebook wall!

That's about it for this tutorial; it was really easy and only took me about an hour, if you don't count the drying time for the envelopes.  I've learned my lesson with that- I will remove the labels now when I GET a bag, and not when I go to USE one!

If you make a banner using this tutorial, post a picture here and I'll add it under Inspirations :)

Until next time, my lovelies, stay AVERAGE!