Day 48

So I was thinking all day that I just wanted to come home, do a simple craft and relax.  My first thought...bookmark.  I realized today that I had contact paper for a wedding craft I had planned and could use it as a laminate.  I mention all this to Stan and he helps me find a bookmark template online to make it even easier, just need to insert a photo and quote.  BONUS!  I tell him I want a picture of a moon, and he starts searching while I go to my trusty book of quotes to find something relevant.  I figure this will be done in no time...

Not so much...

Stan finds a nice picture, I find a good quote, we insert, print...and realize I had regular paper in the printer, so we print again, on white card stock.  Alright, no big deal.  I pull out my paper cutter, and the stupid thing is of course not cutting straight, so I try to fix it with regular scissors and I'm not straight.  I have a minor temper tantrum and have Stan trim for me.  Okay, I'm alright now, so I get out the hole punch and punch the hole at the top of the bookmark for the fringe string I want to add.  Low and behold I'm too close to the top, and end up splitting the hole open at the tippy top!  O..M..G...I fall to the ground and start slamming my head against the floor.  (Don't worry, we have carpet!)  I beg Stan to go downstairs and pop open a bottle of wine while I try to now cover the bookmark in contact paper to salvage the hole for the string.  I'm starting to hate bookmarks.  Alright, contact paper....I've never used it before, I cut a nice big square, put the bookmark face down close to the left side and fold the right side over to sandwich the bookmark.  Guess what??  I'm not straight, so the contact paper buckles and sticks...I toss the bookmark across the desk, and start swearing like a sailor.  Stan comes with wine...after a long silent gulp...yes, I admit it, a gulp...I feel better.  Stan takes over and trims it up for me.  Wine slowly goes through my body, I'm now feeling better.  I get the string and start stringing it through the now complete hole and can't get the knot to tie.  I keep trying while silently laughing manically in my head.  After about 5 attempts, I get it, I cut trim, I'm DONE!!!!

YAY!!!

And then I try to take pictures....sigh...our cat Cody decides he needs to help....sigh....I send Stan down for another glass of wine....here are the pictures..../headdesk

Bookmark with Cody trying to get the camera strap:

Close up or bookmark:

Another closeup and Cody:

Cody willing to rip my face off for the camera strap:

Day 47

I don't remember what grade I was in, but it had to be maybe 6th or maybe 7th, our class took a field trip to the Springfield History/Art Museum, or the "Quadrangle" as it was known.  I remember it pretty vividly, I know I had a lot of fun, but one thing that really sticks out in my mind was the Japanese artifacts.  There was all kinds of cool things, and we had two activities.  One was doing the Japanese Signature Stamps, or Hanko Signature Seals, that was pretty cool, but the thing I really really enjoyed was the origami we did.  We all made an origami cup, and actually were able to put water in it from the water fountain and drink from it!!  Since then I've always enjoyed dabbling in origami, it's just so great how you can make so many fascinating things just by folding paper.

When I saw this book "Origami Suncatchers" I was intrigued.  The folding is pretty simple and they designs in a window will be very pretty.  I plan on covering all the bedroom windows in them, just because I can.  And from outside, it will probably look fun.  Or crazy, I guess it depends on who's looking at it!

Here are the supplies I used:

First you take 2 pieces of origami paper, fold them in half horizontally and then in half vertically.  Then you cut along the folds to create 8 smaller squares.

 

Then you take each square, turn it so it's a diamond, then fold the left corner to the right corner like so:

 

Unfold it, then take each corner and fold it in toward the center like so and glue them down:

 

Keep going until they are all done and look like this (only glued, forgot to glue this one before the picture!):

 

Next you put glue on the lower right triangle and glue another triangle to it, then the left triangle as seen here:

 

 Keep going until they are all glued, and then hang in the window!!  (It's dark out, so would be pointless if I do that now!):

 

Day 46

Today's craft is from a kit I had purchased from Barnes & Noble.  It's called "Traditional Japanese Egg Decorating".  It came with a wooden egg, a wood stand, paper, brush and glaze.  Once you get the hang of it, it tells you how to do it on real eggs.  Since bunny season is here (aka Easter) I decided this would be a fun and relevant craft!

Here is the egg and paper I had Stan choose:

 

You take the paper, fold it in half, make cuts every 1/4" leaving about 3/8" at the top crease, so as to not cut all the way through.  Then you go back and cut each piece to a point:

 

 Put white Elmer's glue on the inside center of the paper and roll around the egg, starting at the top of the egg glue each point to the egg, one at a time, overlapping as you go, then do the bottom paper:

Let it dry:

Paint the stand and let it dry:

Apply the glaze, let it dry and your done!:

 

Day 25

I really have no idea how I came up with today's craft idea.  I was sitting at work, thinking about what craft I should do when I get home, doing a mental run down of what I had on hand.  I remembered that I had some sample material that a store had sent me in the mail.  Those little 2" x 2" squares, in several different styles and designs.  Also, lately I have been reading a lot about collage, mosaics, and mixed media/altered art.  I eventually want to work on an altered art book.  In any case I started thinking why not do a collage of mosaic material?  Of course then I needed to consider the design.  To make things easy I started doing searches for different pictures that were large and interesting.  I found a spider on a web and as they say, the rest is history...

I cut out pieces of each material as I went, just cutting randomly and by eye.  I used tacky glue and only glued the middle of the material so all the edges were loose and you are able to run your fingers over the art, to get a 3D feel of it.  I didn't worry about staying in the lines, I just wanted it to be random and fun.  I think it came out great.  I'm really happy with the end product.  I wish there was a way to feel things online, it feels cool...take my word for it! 

Supplies- spider drawing, tacky glue, fabric squares:

Spider close up - all done:

 

Spider all done, further away:

Spider all done - this way you can see how the fabric is "3D"

Day 23

Today's craft I got from the book "The Big-Ass Book of Crafts".  Yes, that really is the name of the book.  One of the reasons I got it!  The crafts in the book are great, but pretty involved and in need of many supplies I never have.  I decided to flip through once more, since I usually do it quickly and forget what's in there.  I saw the "CD jewel case notebook" and decided to give it a go. 

I realize I already did a notebook (the tea box notebook - Day 12) but this one is a different concept, and hey, you can never have enough paper notebooks around! 

First I took a CD case, took out all the stuff inside (the cover, black cd holder and the back cover) then I cut 10 sheets of regular copy paper to 10" x 4.5" and folded it in half.  I then cut a piece of decorative scrapbook paper to the same size and glued it to the first white paper.  I cut another piece of paper 2" x 4.5" for the spine and glued that on to the bigger sheet.  I stuffed it all into the CD case and then put in a pencil (that I had to sharpen, and sharpen, and sharpen...until it was the right size!) and closed it all up nicely!   

The finished CD jewel case notebook closed:

Close up of finished CD jewel case notebook closed:

The case open:

The back of the case open (sorry about the reflection):

Day 22

I think it's no secret that I love Stan.  I think he's just the cutest, most lovable, most wonderful man I have ever met.  I think since we have been together for 7 years now, sometimes we get complacent in showing our love for each other.  Because of this, I decided to make him something that will remind him daily, even hourly that I love him so very much.

I had a matchbox laying around and saw an ornament craft in one of my books, so that's where I got the idea.  I have always loved miniature crafts, but never really do them because of my sausage fingers!  I end up getting in my own way and it causes me to just have a temper tantrum and abandon the thing I'm working on...forever! 

I pulled out some leftover stickers from Valentines Day, some paint, card stock, a heart punch and the glue and set to work.  I cut purple card stock and glued it on all the sides inside the matchbox.  While that was drying I cut a window into the matchbox sleeve and painted (or tried to paint) it pink.  The paint wasn't thick enough to cover the design on the matchbox, so you can see that it came from a steakhouse.  (I'll go back to that in a minute!)  I took the 3D stickers, added pop dots to the back so they would be even more 3D and put those inside the matchbox.  I then cut out hearts with a punch and glued those to the sides of the matchbox sleeve.  I added some more 3D hearts to the back of the sleeve, so all the sides would have some pizazz!  Then I poked two holes in the top of the matchbox and threaded some 24 gauge wire and formed a heart, sort of like a little handle. 

When I presented it to Stan, I'm happy to report he didn't think I was corny and he loved it.  When I pointed out that you can see the word steakhouse on the cover, he said "well when I look at it, it will remind me how much I love you and steakhouses!"  :)  I love him. 

This is the full front view all completed:

This is the sleeve and matchbox, can be taken out to see details:

And here is the side of the sleeve:

And now the back:

And now a close up of the back:

After I finished making this I made grilled cheese for lunch, and being in a miniature mood, I made our dog Izzy a mini grilled cheese...she loved it!:

Day 21

Since I'm still not feeling very well I didn't want to do a craft that involved pulling out all my craft supplies and making a mess that I would then have to clean up, 

I decided on a card, I guess this would be considered an "any occasion" one since it really doesn't have a theme.  I had some left over orange card stock cut in the perfect size so I grabbed that and I have a huge supply of old magazine laying around so I decided on a collage format.  I cut out a page full of color, in various sizes and then glued them on to the front, then I went back through the magazine and cut out words that were positive sounding, and glued them over the mosaic pictures.  Overall I think it looks fun and funky, just like me!  LOL

Day 18

I don't feel well today.  I know when I get home I'm not going to feel like doing any crafting.  This brought up a thought.  What if I get sick and don't want to craft, will I skip a day or just fight through it.  I guess it depends on how sick I am, hm?!  Well today, I thought ahead and drew a sloppy kitty while at lunch.  It's all I could think of before I put my head down and took a nap on the kitchen table in the break room! 

So please forgive the sloppy, pencil drawn kitty....he's sick too....

Post 17

I debated on today's craft because I was thinking that maybe this wouldn't be considered a craft, but then I realized, of course coloring is a craft!!!!  COME ONNNNN!!!! 

I admit it, I love...love...love to color!!!  Get me in a dollar store and the first area I go to is the coloring books!  There is nothing that relives stress more then sitting down in front of the boob tube with a coloring book and a box of crayons!  Don't believe me??  Next time you have a hard day, try it, I guarantee it's better then therapy!  And I don't care if you are 16 or 70 years old, coloring is fun no matter what age you are!

I found this sugar skull design online:

And once I got the coloring pencils out, this is what it looked like when I finished:

Day 15

I am really tired today so I did a very simple craft.  I went to Borders today and since the store is going out of business they are having an "ok" sale.  I picked up some more books for my out of control book collection and decided I needed more bookmarks, of course!  I tend to read more then one book at a time, since I get bored so easily, so tons of bookmarks are helpful.

Today's bookmark was inspired by spring.  Sunflowers are not really spring, but they are my favorite flower so I included it.  We are supposed to get snow tonight so something to bring spring early is nice!

All this bookmark is paper and glue.  The sunflower was a diecut, but the rest I cut from cardstock, didn't really do well with the clouds, but the idea is there.  Now everytime I go to stick this bookmark into a book, I'll feel like I'm in a beautiful field, with the wind lightly blowing the sunflowers, and the clouds slowly going by.  *sigh* 

Day 13

I love to draw, but I'm not good at it.  Or maybe I should say that I am not good at coming up with my own drawings, from my own imagination, so I tend to draw things I'm looking at (not trace mind you, just look at whatever and draw it freehand).  I first realized I enjoyed doing this when I had to draw a tree outside our class window for school once upon a time.  Again, I'm not great at it, but I enjoy doing it.

For today's craft I decided to draw the Artist Zombie from the book "How to Draw Killer Zombies".  He has a step by step way of doing it, but I suck at that whole process, and he says to use tracing paper, stencils, etc...and I don't have all that.  So I grabbed the book, a sheet of white copy paper and my trusty #2 pencil and set to work.  The image on the top is my drawing and the image on the bottom is the picture in the book that I looked at while doing my drawing.

Because it was in pencil, and I scanned it, it's hard to see, but I made it bigger in the hope you can see it!

Day 12

I'm really proud of today's craft!  It's a "tea box notebook".  The premise of the craft is in a book I bought called "Craftcycle: 100+ Earth-Friendly Projects and Ideas for Everyday Living", but I'll be honest, I didn't understand the directions!  So I winged it, and I'm really pleased with the outcome.  My design has a little flap and flap holder on the inside, so it will stay closed when it's in my purse.  I really like it! 

I used an empty tea box, scissors, craft glue, stapler and white copy paper.  Took me less then an hour to cut, glue and staple everything.  If I knew what I was doing, it would have gone faster, but since I had to figure this out as I went, I think I did good.

Day 10

The other day I was looking online for card ideas and came across a charity website called Make A Child Smile (http://www.makeachildsmile.org/).  The site lists kids who are have various illnesses, tells their stories and gives you the opportunity to mail them a card, to make them smile.  I thought it was a great idea, so today's craft is a card for one of the kids on the site, a 3 year old named Nathan. 

The outside is a 3D sticker of Cookie Monster (it's fuzzy too!) with some 3D cookies!  Really adorable.  The inside, I wanted to put a joke but the only one I came up with was "Why did the cookie go to the doctor?"  "Because it was feeling crummy!".  It's really the only cookie joke I could find online, but I was sort of hesitant to put it in the card, as it's going to a "sick" child!  But after some thinking, I thought it would be okay, as it's a card about cookies and Cookie Monster!  I really hope I don't offend with the joke, but again, I feel safe sending it.  I did the joke on a little flap, so you have to lift the question to get the answer.  And put cookies around it, with a personal note at the bottom.  I hope it makes him smile. 

Day 8

Today's craft was tricky!  I chose it because I really thought it was going to be simple and quick.  I have tons of books around the house and most of them I will never pick up again, so I had purchased a book on how to do crafts with old books (lots of irony there, huh?!).  One of the crafts was to make mats using rolled book pages, white glue and bobby pins.  I decided to make a drink coaster. 

The hardest part was rolling the pages!  Tricky little things.  I don't know why I had such a problem with it, I guess maybe the way the book paper was, I'm not sure, but each roll ended up being a bit different size then the last, and they were all supposed to be "uniform".  The book suggested using a "rolling tool, such as a dowel", but all I had was a BBQ skewer, so that's what I used.  It wasn't much help!  After I rolled each page, I used white glue along the edge, held it, got glued to the paper, got unstuck, got glued to the table mat, got unstuck, got restuck to the paper, swore, shook off paper and started on the next roll.  I did this 20 times as per the instructions.  After letting the glue dry, and attaching the rolls side by side with bobby pins, I realized I only needed 14 rolled pages, so I got stuck on paper/mat/paper 6 more times then was neccessary.  I swore again. 

After all that, I was pretty happy with the outcome.  Upon showing Stan, he tried to blow into the ends, saying it looked like a pan flute.  I then showed my mom, who was in a different part of the house and had no idea what Stan said.  She proceeded to try to blow into the ends, saying it looked like a pan flute.  I then showed our dog Izzy, who proceeded to try to eat it.

No one knows good coaster art when they see it!

Day 5

Hallmark watch out!  Okay, well maybe not.  I did have other ideas, but I realized that they would take more then a day to finish.  Since I only have an hour or two when I get home at night, I think my options are going to be limited.  Maybe once I get into a better routine, I'll be able to whip out more advanced projects.  In the meantime, here is another card.  This one will go in the "when needed" box for now, so I didn't designate it an occasion. 

The design is a stamp that I inked and stamped two different times on yellow paper.  I cut both designs out and colored them in, and then used a 3D pop dot to stack the designs to get the popped effect.  I like it lots!  Once I find a use for the card, I'll add words and maybe some other decorations, but for now, it's perfect!