Shrinky Bracelet If you grew up in the 80's, like I did, you're probably already familiar with the awesomeness that is Shrinky Dinks...but did you know that you can still buy Shrinky Dinks? Yep, they're still out there - in craft stores, hobby shops, and even on Amazon. But you don't have to buy a Shrinky Dink kit to have all the fun. Just look for #6 plastic containers and you can make your own! There is a great tutorial on Instructables (courtesy of Dabbled) with all the instructions for making your own shrinky projects from #6 plastic containers, so I won't go into too much detail here. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Use a pair of pliers to open the rings. 8. Surprise mom with a priceless piece of jewelry made by her little artists! I was also able to make a pendant from a long, skinny piece I had left over after cutting apart the "beads" for the bracelet. Cute, right?
Cardboard Stampede « ann wood Or: How to make a cardboard horse. In 2006 I started making cardboard horses. They were a self imposed assignment, a daily creative task intended to motivate and loosen me up, little experiments, paralysis prevention. My plan was to make a cardboard horse everyday, Monday through Friday until I had 100. I did and exhibited the group at Tinlark in Los Angeles in 2007. I’ve made 3 patterns, two adults and a colt, to share and I hope you make a cardboard horse or two or three or maybe a little family or maybe your own stampede! What you will need:pattern cardboard- you can use any kind – I think a medium weight is good, I’m using cardboard from a gift box. scissors manicure scissors pencil hammer and one nail buttons thin wire pliers paint and brushes, glue, paper, fabric, lace etc. – whatever you like, whatever you’ve got. First download and print the patterns, cut out the pieces and trace them onto your cardboard. (Click the images for a larger view)
Ric Rac Rose I love these easy-to-make Ric Rac Roses! Isn’t it beautiful? You can make these and use them in hair, on jewelry, on clothing, as embellishments on anything! And with The Ribbon Retreat’s large selection of Ric Rac, your possibilities are endless! They are also sold at an awesome price for $.65 a yard! – Supplies – Ric Rac (I used 3/4″) Hot Glue Accessory to attach it to The first thing to know about this Ric Rac Rose is that the wider the Ric Rac, the taller the rose. I started out by cutting two pieces of Ric Rac at 21 inches. I ended up using a bit less than 21 inches… probably 16 or 17 inches. Now we are going to “braid” the two pieces of Ric Rac together. Keep going until you get to the end. Take the end and curl the Ric Rac in. Continue rolling the Ric Rac. You can put a little hot glue on the sides as you are rolling it. Here is how the side looks. When you like the size of your rose, you can stop rolling. Now put some glue on the under side of the rose. It looks pretty, just like this!
Fluffyland Craft & Sewing Blog « photos of my adventures in sewing, crafts, and narwhal creation Big news! The Starburst Wrapper Bracelet Tutorial is now available as an Amazon e-book It’s only $2.99 and with the e-book version, you can take this handy step-by-step guide wherever you’re going to be folding! Giving the e-book along with a pack of Starburst wrappers would be an excellent gift. The purchased book can be read on the iPad, Kindle, e-reader, or your computer screen so it’s portable and versatile. Thanks for your support of Fluffyland Craft & Sewing Blog, and enjoy crafting! <A HREF=" Have you been wondering how to make the amazing bracelets from Starburst wrappers? If you’re clever, you can make this bracelet from any rectangular wrapper: dum dum wrappers, tootsie roll wrappers, most gum wrappers, now and laters… be creative, there are lots of options! Keep in mind that when you have finished, you need the bracelet to be big enough to slide on and off your wrist without too much trouble. Click on any of the photos for a larger view.
Tutorial: Homemade Sidewalk Chalk by Michelle Vackar, Modern Handmade Child One of our favorite outside activities at our home is drawing with chalk on the driveway. You can play hopscotch, four-square, and of course draw and create silly stories. My daughters and I were talking one day as we played hopscotch about how to make chalk and I thought to myself, let’s try it! It ended up being quite a lot of fun. What you will need: • Toilet paper or paper towel tubes • Scissors • Duct tape • Wax paper • Small bucket or disposable container to make the recipe • ¾ cup of warm water • 1 ½ cups Plaster of Paris • 2-3 tablespoons of tempera paint • Paper bag or a “mess mat” ** we made six tubes of chalk – we simply doubled the above recipe Step 1: If you are using paper towel tubes, cut each tube in half, so it is roughly the length of a toilet paper roll tube. Step 2: Cover one end of each tube with duct table to hold the contents within. Step 3: Cut as many pieces of wax paper as you have tubes.
How to Create Rosette Accessories Using Duct Tape What up duct tape? Did you miss us?! For today’s bit of DIY accessory magic, we’ve figured out how to turn 3M’s Scotch Color & Patterns Duct Tape into gloriously neon rosettes. Materials: - duct tape - scissors - ruler - accessories: earring backs, barrettes, comb clip, pin We used an array of neon duct tape as well as a fun snakeskin pattern as an accent for the hair accessory. We’ll start by showing you the step by step for our turquoise rosette ring. Repeat until you’ve folded all 20 pieces. Twist the first one into itself so it looks like the photo above. Cut off the bottom of the rosette so that you have a flat surface to attach your ring. Don’t worry about being gentle – duct tape is ridiculously durable! To make a ring, simply fold a piece of duct tape over itself lengthwise, roll into a ring and tape. For the hair piece, do the same thing as above but leave the pieces at 1 1/2 inches. To attach the hair comb, use skinny strips of duct tape.
{macramé: square knot} string & hexnut bracelet By Kate on September 13, 2011 This bracelet has been inspired by this really wonderful “Braided Hex-nut Bracelet” tutorial which I pinned on Pinterest a while back. Two things I absolutely love about this project are: 1) It’s cheap as chips: I already had string in the cupboard and the brass hexnuts were 3p each from the hardware shop. 2) It’s my kind of jewellery: I’m not really a girly girl IYKWIM! The bracelet I made is a bit different to the ‘braided hex-nut bracelet’ and uses macrame instead, which is great, because I promised some tutorials a while back and felt a bit bad that I hadn’t written any yet! Full instructions after the jump! Square Knot Please note: I have used different colored cord in the tutorial so that it’s easier for you to figure out whats going on! 1. 2. 3. 4. This might seem a little tricky a first but I promise once you have done it a dozen times you’ll be sorted….! If you need a hand then leave a comment and I’ll get back to you.
On the Cheap: Scrapbook Paper iPhone Covers I found this clever trick on Pinterest the other week from Oops I Craft My Pants and had to try it for myself: iPhone covers using scrapbook paper! Now when I had my first cell phone in high school (the old Nokia), I probably had about 15 different cell phone covers that I would switch out to match my clothes everyday! I figure this scrapbook paper iPhone phone cover is an easy way to update my phone without spending all the cash! First thing I did was purchase a couple sheets of scrapbook paper from Michael’s. I also purchased a clear iPhone 4 cover from Best Buy. You could really purchase any cheap clear phone cover, but I wanted one with protective rubber sides since I’m a klutz and always drop my phone! First thing I did was trace the scrapbook paper around the iPhone cover to get the basic shape. I cut out the main section just using a pair of scissors. For the camera hole I used a pencil to sketch in the hole that I had to cut out using an exacto knife…. and that’s about it!