Monday, October 31, 2016

Fun Cheap Halloween Decor T-Shirts

Happy Halloween!
What a fun time of year.  Look at these fun Halloween T-shirt embellishments.  All you need are black T-shirts, orange duct tape, wax paper and scissors - easy peasy!
Kitty photo bombed us!! Bad kitty!!
Roll out the duct tape onto a piece of wax paper.  Don't press too hard or you will have trouble removing the duct tape from the wax paper.  I thought nothing stuck to wax paper...well, duct tape does.

Actually, I like to leave a bit of the wax paper overhanging the duct tape to make the removal process easy:

Cut whatever shape you like for the jack o latern face.  I didn't want to trace out anything so I just cut out a few triangles for the nose and eyes and a crescent moon with zig zags for the teeth.


Even kitty cat wanted  to help.


Now just stick them onto your shirt like stickers.  Take them off before you wash your t-shirt.  Isn't this great, cheap, temporary Halloween fun?

Happy Halloween!!!!




Thursday, October 27, 2016

Halloween Pencil Toppers Tutorial and Tips

These pencil toppers were so much fun to make.

I decided to add black glitter glue on each of the scallops to add a bit of texture.  I used G Studio black glitter glue from Michael's.














Here are a few more toppers I finished this morning.  

Have a wonderful Halloween everyone.
Hugs
Celina


Thursday, June 2, 2016

Fun DIY Fabric Strapped Flip Flops Tutorial

I hated flip flops!  They gave me blisters!  I loved the look of them so I figured out a cool way to alter them to make them more comfie.
Here are a couple more pairs I made:

I splurged on Shopkins fabric.  Too cute!







A few hints and tips:
-some videos mention just gathering the fabric without sewing it into a tube.  This is a bad idea because the ends will fray and you will have threads sticking out of your straps.

-if you get glue on the bottom of your flip flop, let it dry and then scrape it off with your fingernail.  It will not stick to the flip flop rubber.

-don't use hot glue!!! When you are walking outside in the summer on hot pavement, the hot glue will liquify a bit and become sticky.  You will then get bits of gravel and dirt stuck to the bottom of your flip flop...like having a piece of gum stuck to your shoe - gross!!

-if you are making this for kids, the length remains the same (22 inches) but the width is 3 inches.  The fabric you need for adult straps are 22 inches by 4 inches.

-use a seam allowance of 3/8 or 1/4 inch.

Here is the picture of the finished flip flops from the video tutorial:


Fun Flip Flops
Have Fun
Celina




Sunday, May 15, 2016

How to do kids goody bags

The first goody bags I made for kids was last year when my daughter turned four.  I asked her preschool for ideas on what I should do.  She said that all goody bags have to be the same.  They also should have a couple of yummy treats.  Kids like the little toys but they love candy.  It's important to also ask about allergies.  I bought toys from the dollar store and Oriental Trading.  The candy type goodies were from the grocery.  Fruit chews, suckers, hard candy and nut free treats are fun.
I glued on paper from DCWV.  The boy goody bags had DCWV Nautical stack and the girls paper was a floral stack.  I used up old ribbon so the ribbon closures were different on the girls bags.  No complaints.  Yay!




Thursday, May 5, 2016

Loom Band Hair Style

This is a cute hairstyle that I do every morning for my daughter.  She has very fine hair and most hairstyles just fall out.  I have done this hairstyle for a friend's daughter who has wavy thick hair.  It looked cute.


Just a note that the bottom elastic can be omitted if you would like two ponytails which I prefer.  However, my little Sofie only likes one ponytail.  This is the above picture.


Monday, May 2, 2016

Easy and Quick Altered Clothespins using spray paint

I wanted a cute closure for the goody bags for my daughter's little birthday soiree and thought clothespins would be fun.  They are cheap ($1.25 for a pkg of 50) and customizable.






Here are pics of the goody bags:

Thursday, March 31, 2016

Still Stuck with Paper I'm not to Crazy About

I find myself obsessing over that Floral Shoppe paper from Hobby Lobby.  I'm going to use every last sheet of it, if it's the last thing I do. 











Here are a few ideas:


If your “ugly” decorative paper is too dark, you can stamp on this paper using a bold stamp with light pigment ink or a white ink pad.  These inks will sit on top of your paper.  If you attempt to use dye ink, the image will disappear on the paper because it will absorb into the paper.
If your “ugly” decorative paper is too light, stamp a darker bolder image on it.
Either of these methods will change the character of the paper.

Take a foam brush that has been dipped in watered-down acrylic paint, and ring out as much of the liquid as possible.  Now rub the brush in one direction across the decorative paper.  Keep doing this until you obtain the desired degree of “white washed”.  I really like this technique for very bright paper.  It tones down the brightness.

Instead of using a stamp, use a sponge.  This will give you a faded look if you use white or light ink or a distressed look if you use dark ink.  

Actually I used a few sheets as wrapping paper to wrap a few presents for a cardmaking event and the gifts looked retro cute.  
Flower Shoppe paper used as cute retro wrapping paper

Bottle Cap Hints and Liner Removal Tutorial for Embellishments

Disguising paper using a brayer

I know you have a brayer collecting dust in a corner of your craft room.  I just dusted mine off a few days ago to see what I can do to refresh less than loveable scrapbook paper.
Here are a few ideas:

1) Kissing:  No don't go smooching your brayer.  Brayer, with ink, over a large background stamp that has quite a lot of detail.  Next, roll the brayer onto a solid image stamp.  You have now transferred the image of the detailed stamp onto the surface of the solid stamp.  Take this sold stamp and press it onto your cardstock or decorative paper.
Actually, as an aside, you can put lip stick on your lips, kiss the paper and then sprinkle embossing powder over the kiss print.  Heat emboss.  You now have an embossed imprint of your kiss.  This is great for a sweetie Valentines card.  It works.  Honest!
2) Ghosting:  Stamp an image on your cardstock several times in clear embossing ink.  Do NOT emboss.  Next, brayer over your invisible images with a dye ink stamp pad.  Your images will magically appear on a velvety colourful background.
3) Drywall Tape Printing:  Wrap your brayer with drywall mesh tape at the hardware store or even the dollar store.  It looks exactly like Magic Mesh.  Remember Magic Mesh - I still have some in a drawer.  Since the drywall tape is sticky on one side, it will adhere to your brayer.  Next, roll your wrapped brayer into a white, gold or any other pigment stamp pad.  The stamp pad has to be pigment because it is like a paint.  It sits on top of your paper instead of soaking into it like dye ink.  Finally, roll it onto a decorative paper to create a weathered grid-like paper.
Drywall Tape Printing

4) Colouring cardstock:  Do you have a really nice coloured ink pad, but not have the paper to match it?  Roll your brayer in the ink pad and then roll it onto your white cardstock over and over.  You will achieve a piece of cardstock that matches your ink perfectly.  You may want to reserve this technique for small pieces of cardstock such as punched out flowers.  Otherwise, you will use up your ink and wear out your arm muscles.

Like I said, dust off your brayer and give these ideas a test drive.