Alright, so this DIY was supposed to be a stocking stuffer but, alas, Christmas proved to be much more hectic than I planned! However, I bet there are some of you that forgot to gift something to that distant cousin who showed up unexpectedly for the holidays and now you're scrambling to put something together..or maybe, over Christmas, you became one of the lucky few to get a plane ticket present to welcome the New Year on a tropical and peaceful island. Regardless of what you'll need it for, I'm back with a DIY that is both classy and quick to make - a leather passport case with gold lettering! Read below for the easy step-by-step instructions...

What you'll need: Leather swatch (got mine in aqua color at Michael's), Letter stamps (purchased at Michael's), Gold Marker Pen, Permanent Glue, Scissors, and passport/pencil for sizing.

First, layout you passport on the inside of the leather swatch, drawing a light trace around it with a pencil. Next, trim the swatch so there is about 1" extra across all sides, with an extra .5" especially on the vertical sides in order to make flaps (this will make sense in the pictures). Afterwards, taking one side, fold the leather over the front cover of the passport, dotting glue on the corners. Repeat with back page of the passport. Be careful not to glue your passport to the leather! It should fit snug in the leather but also loose enough to take it out. Repeat adding glue if the leather doesn't stay down at first and lay under a stack of heavy books for a couple hours until it keeps its shape. Alternatively, for the sewing inclined, you can stitch the flaps under a sewing machine for a sure hold. Once that is set, simply take your rubber letter stamps and, one by one, coat a letter using the gold marker pen and press hard into the leather. Write whatever you wish! That's it! 

Follow my colorful mess on some of my newest social media accounts: instagram and twitter, and let me know what you think!

Blogging Boss 101 || #1 || Text Tutorial, Part I

red dress image from Atlantic-Pacific

Hey everyone! Welcome to "Blogging Boss" - my new series of tutorials, tips, and advice on how to improve your blogging material! I constantly get asked how I create my graphic design elements and photography work, so I'm starting this series to help anyone get a solid understanding of the many creative mediums you can use to enhance your blog. I learned how to do everything on my own (including designing my blog and photoshop) and relied on many useful websites and blogs to do so. This series is simply me giving back to the internet world for the countless times I needed to take information from it. If you have any desired topics or tutorials you want me to talk about, just leave a note in the comment box or shoot me an email (thekipiblog@gmail.com)!

Part I of this tutorial, "Having Fun with Text," teaches you how to put an image inside text. It is one of the first things I learned how to do in Photoshop and it's surprisingly super easy, trust me! Since so many of you love the 'golden' title on my blog, here is a quick tutorial showing you how I was able to create it in just a few steps: 

 

Come back next week for Part II of this tutorial, which will show you how to place text behind an element within a picture (for example, in the image above, how I placed the text behind the woman's head)!

Friday Faves || #23 || Holiday crush

I know it's not friday, but I just couldn't resist posting this week's friday faves! My holiday splendor is bursting at the seams...and looking at all the beautiful projects, food, and gift ideas on the web is not helping. These are a handful of my many favorites - check them out for yourself!

Homemade Potpourri (by Half Baked Harvest) // DIY Leather Bow Bracelets (by A Pair and A Spare) // DIY Cake and Beverage Stencils (by A Beautiful Mess) // Wreath Gift Wrapping (by Odessa May Society - See more DIY Holiday Gift Wrap Ideas by Oh So Beautiful Paper) // Three Ingredient Chocolate Almond Clusters (by Le Creme de la Crumb) 

DIY || #30 || Stocking Stuffers - Leather Coffee Cup Sleeves

Welcome to part one of a three-part series on affordable holiday stocking stuffers made with leather! It's been hard getting back to the blog after trying to sift through the mayhem that is applying to medical school. Yet, with the holidays in full blast I couldn't help but craft all the project ideas buzzing in my head!

This first project, DIY leather coffee cup sleeves, is a chic (and fairly hipster) project that looks and feels quite luxurious but only cost me around $6-7 to make. That's a steal! As a California gal living on the east coast, I don't do well in the cold. I also don't do well with wasting things. Although many paper coffee sleeves in cafes are recycled, why not just have a reusable one you can easily carry in your bag or wallet? Better yet - snag a reusable coffee mug and you'll essentially save the world (and look good while doing it).

Alright, here are the deets!

What you'll need: paper coffee cup, coffee cup sleeve (as template), leather (I got mine for $3.99; here is a similar one online at Michael's), permanent glue, scissors, and a pencil.

How to make it: trim the paper coffee cup sleeve on each end so it will fit nicely on your leather sheet. Flip the leather over and trace the outline of the paper sleeve lightly. Cut! You'll notice that the leather sleeve at this point won't wrap all the way around. Obviously, if you have a longer piece of leather this won't be a problem, but mine wasn't. So I saw it as an opportunity to keep being artistic with it. To fill this gap, use a piece of scrap leather, flip it over for an 'opposing' color/texture look, and glue to both ends of the sleeves. Trim excess as necessary. I then wrapped a bit of the excess around the top and bottom of the sleeve to complete the look. Wait at least 10 - 15 minutes for the glue to dry and harden before using. That's it! Happy sippin' folks! And come back next week for second DIY in this leather stocking stuffer series!