Day 89

Since I had stuff to do I decided to do what I thought would be an easy craft.  I pulled out the Kirigami book and chose to do the Bell Net fold.

It went well, until Cody grabbed the finished craft (not before ripping it while I was trying to take pictures of the finished work), he ran down the stairs, only to be attacked by Izzy and well...this is how it ended:

R.I.P Bell Net paper craft....

Before the carnage, I folded the paper and free handed the design for the cutting:

I then cut the lines, being careful not to do all the way to the end:

I gently unfolded it:

I then strung a thread on a piece of scrap paper and used it to pull the center up, to unfold the bell:

And here it is open, and this where Cody decided it was a cat toy:

And ripped it.....sigh....:

Here is an attempt at trying to show it hanging:

Right after the last photo I put it down flat and turned around, with my back turned that's when Cody grabbed the bell and ran down the stairs.  Refer to the first photo for the end of the story.  Ah well they are pretty cute, and I forgive them.  :)

Day 85

I was out all day with mom and just as we were heading home I started feeling a bit queasy, I laid down hoping it would go away but it hasn't so when it came time to do a craft, I really wasn't feeling up to doing something in depth.  Since I enjoy doing origami, and since it's usually a pretty easy craft, I decided to do the "Sailboat Note".  After you do all the folds, the closure, or buckle, is a sailboat.  The other side has a space for an address, or a name, or something else creative that I can't think of at the moment! 

Here is the finished Sailboat Note:

Here is the paper I used:

This is about half way through the folding:

And here is another finished photo:

Here is the other side:

Day 65

I found this cute elephant frame in my Kirigami book and decided to give it a try.  Right around the time to trace the elephant my allergies went crazy and I couldn't stop sneezing, which caused my tracing to be all over the place and I had to redo it.  So please, when you get to the picture of the traced elephant, don't laugh...too hard anyway...

Here is the paper I used.  I went with pink because I always think of pink elephants from the old cartoons (don't worry, I won't bore you with my childhood memories):

After some folding, I traced the elephant...and sneezed a million times....and traced again (please keep the laughing to a minimum):

All cut out:

All unfolded, notice the ears and eyes are also cut out, so cute:

Here is the general look with a picture, not the one I'll use, but just so you get the idea:

 

And here is Rascal (aka Coo-Coo) loving my arm as I try to type, just because....

Day 62

Let me explain how I got to today's craft.

About a year ago, someone hit (and ran) my car while it was parked in front of my house and knocked part of my drivers side mirror off my car.  I still have a partial mirror and part of the plastic casing, but it's a mess.  Last May when my car had the yearly inspection, they asked if I would be getting the mirror fixed, I told them yes, and they passed me.  Well I did have every intention of getting the mirror fixed, but after getting a quote, I couldn't afford it!  May is almost here and I'm just about due for another inspection, and my mirror is still not fixed.  I don't think I'm going to pass again.  What does this have to do with today's craft?  I'm getting there...

On the way to work I passed a car parked on the side of the road with a damaged drivers side mirror (and anyone who lives up here knows, it's common to see side mirrors hanging off cars because parking on narrow streets up here is a hazard) but being they had a red car, they had used red duct tape to reattach their mirror and it looked decent.  A tad bit ghetto, but decent!  I make a note that I should try this and go to work.  Upon getting to work and checking my email, I see that Michael's Crafts has sent me an email letting me know that their duct tape is on sale today only.  I decide to run over at lunch to pick up a role of black duct tape to try to fix my drivers mirror, and hopefully pass inspection next month!

Now, this brings me to today's craft!  When I got to Michael's to buy the black duct tape I see they have several pretty awesome printed duct tape rolls and end up finding one that has flames all over it.  My heart flutters and I think, "What can I make with that?!?!".  I remember I've seen duct tape wallets AND I remember that Stan and I just had a conversation not to long ago that his wallet is on it's way out.

After work we went grocery shopping and made dinner so it took me a while before I began the wallet, that is why I'm posting so late, but this is what I came up with using this tutorial I found HERE.  I am posting the "after" picture first so you can see what I came up with, but if you are interested in seeing the process come together, keep scrolling down.

I'm happy to report that it came out 110% better then I expected, it's durable and fun and I LURV it.  Yes...lurv!!!  So does Stan!  He now has a new wallet that is freakin' awesome and cost less then $2.50 to make!

The finished wallet, I put my stuff in it so you could see it finished, and the check register is where the money would normally go!  Notice I made a pocket under the credit cards AND a window for the drivers license (I had to hide vital info, which is why the cards are tucked and pulled out weird):

The beginning strips, layering duct tape:

More layering:

Finished stacking for actual wallet:

Covering the sides:

Actual wallet all done, now moving on to the compartments:

Here is where the credit cards will go:

Credit card compartment attached and pocket for extra stuff made:

After I added the license window, and closed it up, this is how it looks folded and closed:

Day 59

Seems to me that Japanese crafts are the theme lately for me.  I'm not exactly sure why.  I think it has to do that I enjoy paper crafts and Japan culture is known for crazy fun paper folding and cutting. 

Today I tried Kirigami.  Kiri means "cutting" and gami means "paper"...so it's paper cutting, cutting paper into decorative forms.  I did the easiest one I could find and I'm glad I did because it's harder then it looks.  Not to mention my blades and scissors are a bit dull.  I did a "classic snowflake"

First you fold the paper as directed and then trace the design on the paper:

You cut out the design:

And unfold!!  All done, not perfect, but still a very nice snowflake:

Another shot, and the best thing is, I can use this for another craft...maybe put it on a card or in a decoupage project, not sure yet:

Day 58

I had the day from HECK!  Yes!!  HEEECKKK!  ugh  Work just threw me for a loop so when it came time to do my craft I decided to do the Origami Stationery because it's easy and fun. 

Tonight I did the Parallel-O-Gram note and with the design of the paper it had a really cool effect.  I really like the way it came out.

Paper before folding:

About halfway through the folding process:

All done!:

Another after picture:

Day 54

This was just a crazy day, and I can honestly say that I almost decided to skip tonight's craft, even stop forever because it was just one of those days where I didn't want to deal with anything, let alone trying to figure out what kind of craft to do!  But then I remembered that life has good days and bad days and you have to take it for what it is, and keep going.  So that's what I did.

I didn't get to even think about a craft until 8:30pm, which is pretty darn close to my bed time, so I rushed around looking for something and decided on a Origami Suncatcher.  I did a two colored one this time and I had help from our cat Cody!  All in all, I'm really glad I took the time to do it, though I did rush and it's a bit sloppy.  But it grounded my thoughts and Cody had me laughing so it was really a great stress reliever for me.

I started with a sheet of orange and a sheet of red origami paper:

I folded each and was left with 8 rectangles for each color, but I only used four of each color:

I started folding each one, and Cody supervised, he licked the paper accordingly and at one point walked over them, getting them stuck to his feet, and freaked out.  I was laughing to hard to be mad:

Here is the finished suncatcher, notice Cody's paw of approval on the left:

Another shot of the finished suncatcher:

Day 50

For today's craft I decided to do the envelope that goes with yesterday's origami note.  It's very similar folding as the note, but you change it up a little near the end so it will fold into itself and "latch". 

I really want to mail it to someone!

I chose a paper similar to yesterdays so they would sort of match:

Here is the envelope almost completed:

The left origami is the envelope opened up, and the origami on the right is the note I did yesterday:

Put the note inside the envelope and do a few more folds:

And here it is, all folded and ready to be sent out to it's recipient!:

Day 49

Since I'm still getting over the drama of last nights bookmark (*wink*) I decided to try some more origami.  This time I used a kit I had purchased called "Origami Stationery".  It teaches you how to make "elegant folded note cards and envelopes for a personal touch".  It's actually pretty great, and it makes me want to make a bunch of these and mail everyone a note!

I chose a pretty origami paper, the kit came with a bunch of beautiful paper.  Then I chose the "Trapezoid Note".  I'm not going to get into details on the folds I did, but here is a basic picture breakdown of what I did...

Here is the book, paper and bone folder:

First few folds got me here:

A little further:

A little further still....:

All done!!:

And here it is back open, ready for me to write a note: