DIY Photo Light Box // Take Better Photos! One thing I've learned during my blogging adventures: You eat with your eyes first! Photography is everything when trying to capture a tutorial for your readers, or make your products look desirable on Etsy.com. And what's the most important part? Lighting! Follow this little tutorial to make your own Photo Light Box for the perfect lighting. Cut a border of 2 inches on each side of the tri-fold display board (the two sides and the back). Use a ruler and an exacto knife to make straight edges. Use masking tape to attach the two pieces to form a box. Finally, cover the two sides and the back with white muslin fabric, attaching it with masking tape. Ta-Dah!
How to make a kindle or ipad sleeve | michele ng | fashion . beauty . craft . lifestyle Want a simple and inexpensive way to make a sleeve for your Kindle or iPad? Restyle a thin padded envelope from the post office! This works as a flat clutch for essentials too :) Here’s how: Get a thin padded envelope that’s large enough to fit your Kindle or Ipad from the post office or supply store. A non padded envelope works if you just want to prevent scratches. Stuff your gadget in and mark the edges on the indentations. Connect the marks with a ruler. Measure out and mark your top flap. Cut along the line for the top flap design and then cut the front off at the height of the sleeve. You can use glue but Mod Podge is way more awesome in my opinion! Stick the coated side onto the paper or fabric you want to use. (If you were wondering about the pool of glue in the corner – I tend to do my Mod Podge projects on freezer paper with a waxy side so I just dump glue in a corner and work with the project in the center.) Fold another piece of paper in half and stick down. You may also like:
Vintage Frame Purse | Pear Shaped This is the another version of Mic-O-Pear coin purse I published a few days ago. Adapting the frame’s vintage mama-look, I created this pear purse in a mod style, thus, named it Mod-O-Pear. The sewing method is a little different from Mic-O-Pear but installation of the purse frame is the same. Ball clasp frame purse is popular during the 60′s and 70′s, it was a “must” for a girl to own a frame purse. I still remember my mum have at least 2 but they seems “rotten” in my memory but she still used it when we were young. I am so happy with the great response on the pear purse sewing kit giveaway which is ending this 7 Oct 2011. Pattern: Download pattern here.Materials: 1. Download the Mod-O-Pear Purse sewing pattern in pdf document and print it with your printer. Get ready all the materials as mentioned above. Pin the batting onto the wrong side of the traced fabric with adhesive side down. Sew purse to base, from marking “B” to marking “B”. Mark the center line on the top edge.
52 reasons why i love you Update January 2013: Thanks to everyone who has visited, commented and shared this post. Who knew my little craft would be so popular?? pricklypants.com is now defunct but if you like what you see, join me over at reneeyoxon.com where I blog about my life as a professional jazz musician. See you there! Renée Craig’s 28th birthday was yesterday so I decided to make him a little book out of playing cards to tell him how much I love him. You will need: a deck of cards2 binder ringssticky notesa cheap pen with dry ink (don’t use an expensive, wet ink, ballpoint kind)mod podgea paint brusha hole puncher Punch holes in all the cards. That’s it! Do you like receiving hand-made gifts? Make a felt clutch | michele ng | fashion . beauty . craft . lifestyle Sewing a flat felt clutch is simple and makes for a great gift! Here’s how to sew a quick unlined one with hand stitches. If you want to use felt shapes of the same size, grab a magazine cover (so it’s thicker than regular paper) and draw it out! Cut the shape out. Place it on top of the felt you’d want to use and draw outlines using a ballpoint pen. Cut out as many pieces as you need. Grab a long piece of rectangular felt and fold the base upwards to form the body. Use regular clothes pegs or clips to hold down the sides. Once you’re happy with your design, you can use glue on the back of each piece to hold it down. To stitch the felt pieces by hand, grab a needle and thread. Keep your knots on the inside and stitch all around! After you’re done with sewing down the felt pieces, sew down the two sides of the clutch. And there you have it, your very own simple felt clutch! You may also like:
Iron Craft Challenge #40 – Graveyard Terrarium This week for Iron Craft we were to create something using bottles or jars. I’d been playing with making creepy trees for Halloween terrariums and thought a mason jar would make for a great vessel. I’m kind of in love with how this turned out. To make it even spookier I added a flickering light to make it really show up at night. I like it so much, I made a bigger one in terrarium that I had killed all the plants in. Here’s how I made it… (Because the instructions to make the creepy trees are a little long, so I put them in separate post.) Supplies: mason jar with a lid and screw top (I used a quart size) or other glass containerblack paint (optional)grey clay, such as fimo or scultpyorange paint (optional)paint brushspanish mossscissorsglue, I used super glue and tacky gluecreepy tree (instructions in this post)battery powered tea lighttapehelpful items: pliers, knitting needle, chopstick, tweezers, skewer Leave the lid and screw top to the jar silver or paint them black like I did.
Sock Monkey Gosh… I am supposed to sew some thing for the Earth Month this April, but I can’t wait to sew these sock monkeys. My hands simply took over my head and see what I did after a few days and nights of sewing…. a house full of sock monkeys!!!! Do you love them? I have seen a lot of sock monkey photos hanging around friends’ photo albums in many photo sharing websites, so envy. These sock monkeys are so cute and so adorable that I would want to hug one, I bet my kids would love to have them to accompany too when mommy is busy with works. Therefore, I went out to shop for some socks thinking that may be 4 to 5 pairs should be enough, I ended up with 20 pairs of colorful socks, simply can’t resist for not buying ;-). …. With different sizes of socks, I made the sock monkey out of a family, from baby, toddlers, teens to adult. 3rd picture in the above album shows the family photo of the sock monkey, from daddy, mommy, sister, brother, triplet toddlers, and a baby. Pages: 1 2
Bohemian Infinity Dress… « Needles, Thread and Love I saw this dress as a project in vol. 4 of the Quick Stuff To Sew magazine. It was insanely easy to make and I love it so much! Its so flowy and bohemian… The dress is essentially a circle skirt with two really long straps sewn onto the front. You can wrap the straps around you in different ways to make a smorgasbord of dresses! The magazine shows you how to create a ton of different looks… it would be so perfect for traveling. Like this: Like Loading... Candoodles: Upcycle: Time for a good Book (Clock) .... You already know how this is going to start right? Once, way back, when I had a little more time than money, I turned old books into clocks. I was honored to be able to sell them at The Armadillo's Pillow for a few years! When I set out, there were no online tutorials to be found so there was a lot of trial and error involved. The first one was so much work, I kept it ... still hangs on the wall in my home even though it's quite plain (see the last image in this post). One thing I'll add: If you want to hang a book clock on a wall, you can. The first tutorial, for the clock pictured above, is hands down my favorite. Love this one from Ruffles and Stuff because she upcycles an old book and an old clock. Again, an outstanding tutorial for a clock that looks too simple to need one. Finally, a creative hack of the "bookshelf" clock. My first book clock ... still hanging on my wall as a reminder: if you know how to make something, you will always have a way to support yourself!
Modern Parents Messy Kids: Handmade Halloween: Make Spider Sack Decor with the Kids I’m so excited about this Halloween project, it turned out even better than I’d envisioned. It’s the quintessential MPMK project – easy enough for kids of all ages to get in on the action and the finished product is a decidedly stylish take on traditional Halloween decor. And did I mention how inexpensive it is? The basic materials include a pack of water balloons ($1.99), yarn ($3.79), and standard craft glue (already had it but glue should be on back-to-school sale right now). That’s it for the essentials. To really get the full effect, it’s nice to add a few plastic spiders which are on sale pretty much everywhere. To make the sacks, I simply adapted this yarn ball tutorial. Next, approximate how much yarn you’ll need to cover your balloon and wrap it around you hand to create a loop (this helps prevent tangles). Then dunk it. Now comes the really hard part, blowing up the water balloons. You probably think I’m exaggerating – I’m not! Now comes the second hardest part, waiting around.
DIY: How to Make a T-Shirt Halter Top When I first saw this tutorial on how to make a halter top out of a t-shirt over on Wobisobi, I was half flabbergasted and half reaching for the scissors and an old t-shirt. I've always been a fan of the t-shirt upcycles-- from t-shirt quilts, t-shirt flower dresses, and woven t-shirt shirts. (Say that five times fast.) ;) The t-shirt halter top is SUPER easy and it takes about 5 minutes! With a pair of scissors, cut off the arms of the t-shirt on both sides. Then cut a deep V into the front of your shirt. Then you need to cut along the back of the shirt along the lines of where the arms first met the shirt. Twist the long straps that you just cut, cross them over in the front, and tie it in the back! Meow. ;)
How To Make Your Own Nail Polish In Any Color Pregnancy insomnia can be a little bit of a blessing (depending on how you look at it). Sometimes when I can't sleep I randomly get these ideas that just pop into my head. I quickly jot them down into my phone and revisit them when I am coherent in the morning. I would say only 30-40 % of them actually turn out like I imagined. Take this little project for example. What you will need: Clear nail polish.Cheap eyeshadow. Take out the eyeshadow you want to use. Empty a small amount of clear nail polish out so you have room for the eyeshadow powder. Use the toothpick to mix up the color into the bottle. You now have you own custom shade of nail polish!