Retro Snowflake Christmas Ornament

It has been... a while.  My excuse is that life has been CRAZY busy- worked at camp over the summer while looking for a real person job, then getting that real person job, moving, beginning my first year as a teacher...  Ugh, I'm tired just thinking about it.  Now that I am not running around like a chicken with it's head cut off (quite so much...) I found some time to do some crafting.

I do feel like a little bit of a cheat doing this one because it came out of a kit.  In my defense, however, this would be the easiest kit to replicate.  All you need are:

• A small Styrofoam ball (think size of a small bouncy ball)
• About 30 pins (the ones with the pearl-like endings)
• A bunch of sequins
• Snowflake sequins for the tips
• Round cap sequins for the bottom
• Plastic faceted beads
• String for hanging, and tiny pins (or a glue gun...) to attach it.

Or you could just use this...

First things first.  Attach the string for hanging the ornament to the ball.  The kit came with three tiny pins, but you could very easily use glue.  The ornament will not be very heavy, so you could use pretty much any kind (although I'd steer away from stick form...)

Next you are going to put your objects on the head pin.  The order was snowflake sequin, four beads, then cup sequin.

Stick 'er in.  The directions recommended dipping the end of the pin in glue for added security, but as the kit didn't come with any, I decided to live on the wild side.












Continue stringing and sticking.  Overlap the cup sequin so that you cannot see the white styrofoam.  Make sure you keep an eye out for what direction your pin is sticking up or you could get some crazy looking pins (I've got a couple on it that I must have been looking in a completely different direction while working on.)

One last warning- It will get tricky pushing in the pins.  I don't know if it was just the ball I was using or if my pins began to meet one another inside.  I couldn't get some of the pins pushed all the way in.  It doesn't affect the final look of the snowflake, however, and so I wouldn't worry too much about it.

And here it is- all done.

It took me about an hour to make, but it was an hour of watching adorable puppies on Animal Planet so I don't know how much of it was due to the repetitiveness of the craft versus the constant need to pause and go, "Awww..."

Speaking of puppies, here are my own.  Well, the Scottie outside (Moose) is my Grandmother's and the Welsh inside (Tally) is my parents', but still.  This was taken at Thanksgiving.  Tally gets very possessive of her space so we tended to have one in and one out at a time.  Sadly, both wanted to be where they were not (very poetic, huh?)  We played for a while with them like this before they realized we were messing with them and abandoned us.  Party poopers.

Graduation!

Sorry, anyone reading my blog, but I don't think I'll have time to do a craft this weekend.  I'm officially no longer a poor college student.  I'm a poor just-graduated person instead!  Got my B.S. in Elementary Education today, and I will be going to my brother's graduation tomorrow.  Hopefully I'll be able to do some stuff next week when I'm waiting by the phone for substitute teaching jobs.

Chain and Bead Bracelet

Today, instead of studying for finals, I went shopping.  Got clothes for graduation (one week away!) and yes, craft supplies.  I made two bracelets tonight, neither of which will go with what I'm wearing on my big day, but both of which I will want to wear.

Anyone want to guess my favorite color?

I've had this thing for years...

My mom gave me a bunch of costume jewelry when I was just beginning to make jewelry.  I have no idea what this thing used to be, but it inspired me.  That chain would totally make an awesome bracelet!  So I removed all the 80s bling so that I'd just have the chain.  I have ideas for the pink things later on in life.

I used a bead tip to connect the chain with stretchy string.  To keep the string in I just knotted it a few times and used a super glue to hold it all together.  Better pictures coming soon.

So here's the threaded stuff.  I also added a charm that I had laying around, because I feel like they add that special something to crafts.  Notice the threaded bead tip.

 As you can see, I knotted the stretchy string a few times.  Then I used my super glue, and closed the bead tip and connected it to my chain.



 Finished product!  I love that it has the mix of materials, and because the chain is flat it's comfortable to type while wearing (yes, I'm wearing it while typing...)

Glamour shot!

 I didn't bother documenting the other one I made- I just strung beads onto stretchy string, knotted it, and used super glue.

I found these green beads at JoAnns when I was home for Spring Break.  They're the perfect weight for a bracelet, and the most gorgeous green.

Finals are coming up, and have me stressed out of my gourd.  I'm annoyed because I only have one legit test, and it's on the first day of exams.  But I guess then I'm pretty much done.  And I won a raffle for 20 games of laser tag so the day before graduation Nicole, her boyfriend her brother, her best friend, my brother, and I are going to go to war, boys vs. girls style.  Nicole told me she's a sniper, so maybe she'll level out my complete inability to play.

Mod Podged Picture Frame

Happy Cinco de Mayo! As promised, I have a new post this week.  And a doozie of a story.  I bought a $1 picture frame from Michaels a few months ago, and my plans for it have changed four times now.  Let me walk you through my mind...

1. I was going to use comic strips to decorate it.  Have them overlapping, a cool collage.  This will probably happen in the future, but collecting the comics was getting moderately daunting.
2. I decided that I wanted to use it somehow in my future classroom, so I found a bunch of inspirational education quotes.  I was going to mod podge them onto it, then have my "teacher rules" in it.  I love it when teachers display what rules they'll follow (e.g. I will respect you, I will put in my most effort to reach your needs, etc.).
3.  I then got an assignment for one of my classes.  I had to make a "banner" (or any display) of my beliefs for inclusion.  Well, here I had this picture frame that had been sitting around.  Why not use it for this assignment instead?  So I bought some scrapbooking stickers to decorate it.  And then I lost the stickers.  I tore apart my apartment three times over searching for them.  So change from plan three to plan...
4. was just a change in the stickers I used.  I bought new ones from Michaels today.  And decided I should probably use them immediatly so that I don't loose them again.  After all, this is due Wednesday.

Here are my materials:

• Wooden picture frame
• Scrapbook paper
• Exacto-knife
• Pencil
• Paint
• Mod Podge
• Brush for paint
• Brush for mod podge
• Any other decorations your heart desires

First things first- paint the parts of the frame that will be showing.  For me this was the sides and the inner part of the frame.  The main front part will later be covered by my paper.

Next I traced my frame on my paper.  Sorry about the blurry photo, but I think you have the idea.

Use your handy dandy exacto-knife to cut out the paper.  Perfect!

 Mod podge that sucker down.  LET IT DRY!  I got impatient at this point, which caused me to make a pretty obvious mistake (obvious, that is, if I took good pictures).  After it's dry, you will want to file down the paper so that it fits flush to the frame.  I used a nail file.  If you don't let it dry all the way you'll end up bringing up parts of the paper.  I fixed this later by putting a sticker on top of it.

When the paper is perfectly set, put a couple of coats of mod podge on the top.  I also coated the sides that I painted so that it would have that pretty glossy appearance all over.

After it's completely dry, add the embellishments (before you loose them).  I love these 3D stickers.  They were 40% off, and I had a coupon for an extra 25% off.  Can't beat that! 

And here it is completely finished!  I hand wrote my beliefs on construction paper, which I then coated with mod podge.  My other plan was to laminate it, but I figured I had mod podge with me, while I would have to go somewhere else to pay for laminating.

I'm happy with how it turned out, although I'm not sure if I'm going to leave my inclusion stuff inside or if I'm going to change it out for something else when I actually bring it into my life.

Avengers Nails, Coffee Stained Paper

Sorry I missed two weekends!  The semester is wrapping up for me, my camera's on the fritz, and I've been applying for jobs.  I think those are decent excuses.

I will hopefully be able to post a couple of crafts this weekend, but to make up for the dry spell I have my roommate's nails!

Guess what movie she has midnight premier tickets for?  She's so proud of herself, and we have plans to paint our mascot on our nails for graduation.  Everyone will be ultra jealous.

And more on the crafty(ish) side, I made these for a class of mine.  I did a project in a group where we taught other students about Ronald Morrish's philosophy.  We had a pirate theme, and I was doing consequences.  My station was called "Walk the Plank!"  It was completely adorable, and the first time I've ever done stained paper.

Here's what you need:

-One pot of coffee (I used instant)

-One cookie sheet

-One hair dryer or the patience and space for laying them out and letting them dry

Steps:

1.  Make a pot of very strong coffee.

2. Pour the coffee into the cookie sheet.

3. Take your paper and lay it flat in the cookie sheet.  Make sure you submerge it.  Let it sit for a little while.

4. Take out the paper and use the hair dryer to dry it.  While doing this, have another sheet of paper in the coffee.

5.  Repeat until you're all set!

This will get you a basic piece of stained paper.  I took it one step further and burned the edges.  This was a very tedious process because I was scared to death of catching my apartment on fire.  I slowly brought the paper back and forth above the flame of a candle, keeping it a few cm above the flame.  This takes a LONG time, but it adds so much!

And there you go!  I hope this makes you all a little bit okay with my break, and I will be sure to put a more sufficient post up this weekend.

Lined Paper Shirt

Sometimes crafts just don't happen the way you want.  But you've taken photos, and it's going up on your blog anyways.  Or my blog.  I loved the idea of this shirt, but I should have known from the beginning that it wouldn't be quite the best looking thing on me.

It is really cute, though.  And maybe if I lost 10 lbs it would look better on me.  So it's going into the back of my closet until said time!  Also, you can tell my fabric marker began running out (ok, ran out) by the end.

First I put magazine in the shirt so that the fabric marker wouldn't bleed through.

Use tape to mark the area to paint.

I used a red fabric marker to make the line that runs down the shirt.

Then I removed the tape.  It's a sketch-looking line, but I thought that added to the charm.

Then I used tape to mark the blue lines, and because I'm impatient I took off the tape as I went.

Meanwhile, Nicole sent Prudence to bother me.  Annoying hamster... If she wasn't so cute she'd be in big trouble!

Here it is, all the tape removed.  I can't believe my markers ran out...  But I think it looks just as cool.

It turned out cute, just not cute on me.  Either I'll let it chill in the back of my closet for a while, or I'll try to make it into a reusable bag.  We'll see!

"Rock, Paper, Scissors!" Necklace

I'm home for Easter, so I'm afraid I'll just have to show you something I made without directions.  I think, though, that you don't really need any for this.

Aw!  It's my "Rock, Paper, Scissors!" necklace!  Finding that scissor charm was just about the hardest thing I've ever done.  I visited dozens of craft stores, called dozens of hobby shops, and no matter what I couldn't find one.  The thing that bothered me most throughout this escapade was that I know I had seen one before at Forever 21, but because I go to school in the boondocks I wouldn't be able to find it until I went home to visit.  In the meantime, scissor charms in Amazon and other online places taunted me, but I could not justify spending twice the amount of the charm on shipping and handling alone.

So for spring break I went to Forever 21 and found a gold scissor charm.  I'm not a gold person, but it was getting to the point that I just couldn't wait any longer to find the perfect charm.  Plus the necklace was only $1.50.  Forever 21 is a dangerous place to shop for jewelry...

As soon as I get home from finding this charm, I just happen to go to JoAnn's website.  And guess what?  Free shipping on online purchases.  So what's a girl to do?  I ended up buying the silver scissor charm as well.  But I like this one better not only because it's silver but also because it's smaller.

More beauty shots!  I love being able to use the yard at home to take pictures, as well as my mom's camera.    Mine is acting up, so I think it's about time to get a new one.  If only I could afford one!

I've worn this a couple times, and have gotten a few compliments.  I like that it's rather subtle, especially when I have it on a very long chain.

For those of you wanting to recreate this...

- Paper Bead:

   I made the paper bead a while back when I made my Paper Bead Necklace.  Follow the directions there to make your own!  I experimented with sizes on this necklace, and decided that I preferred a small one.  To make it into a charm, I used a headpin, threading on a white seed bead, paper bead, and another seed bead. I simply twisted around the top and put it on a jump ring.

-Rock Bead:

   I used another headpin for this one, again using a seed bead, rock bead, and another seed bead.  Twist over the top and put on the jump ring.

-Scissor Charm:

    At first I simply put one of the handles of the scissors through the jump ring, but I didn't like how that looked.  Instead, I put a jump ring through one of the handles and then put that jump ring on the jump ring along with the other charms.

Easy as rock, paper, scissors!  I know that I'm going to end up wearing this necklace out pretty quickly- I'm completely in love!

Anyways, I'm off to have Easter Eve brunch, and then we're heading off to see the Orioles beat the Twins!  The perfect Easter Eve...

Any other ideas for cute themed necklaces?  Leave them in the comments!

Magnetic Glass Whale

Internet's working again!

I know, took long enough.  You'd think that the exorbitant amount I'm paying to live here would mead adequate internet, but no.  Finally, though, it's up and actually letting me load pictures, so maybe I now can get on with my life.

Which includes... I just got back my Praxis II score for Elem. Ed. Content Knowledge! I got a 191, which is in the top 15 percentile.  Can I just tell you I'm a little stoked?  I am just that much closer to my teaching certificate.  Now to get myself on task and actually fill in those job applications...

To show you how responsible I am, here's the craft I did this weekend instead of homework!

Awww!  So cute!

It's a little magnetic whale!  The perks of having a roommate taking glass blowing is you get sweet little chatskies that you can mess with.

So here's the shape Nicole gave me.  She was so excited that she accidentally made a whale, and I was so excited that she gave it to me!

I decided that it was about time for me to play with my tissue paper.  I picked through my stash and found this pretty teal-ish color.  I thought it looked very appropriate for a whale.

I tore the paper into little bits.  When Mod Podging it, I placed them down one by one on the glass.  It's much less frustrating if they're pre-torn.

Layer that glass piece with Mod Podge.

And place down your tissue paper.  This will be the back of your magnet.  I was sure to rub them down as I went, and I applied another layer of Mod Podge when I was done.

Then I decided that I wanted some more colors.  I grabbed a dark blue piece of tissue paper and repeated the above steps with the new color.

This is the back of the final product....

And this is the front!  I'm so glad I added that second layer of color.  It really makes the ocean feel I was going for.  Nicole said I should add eyes, but I like it as it is.  I tend to add too much detail.

After that, all you have to do is glue on the magnet.  I used an extra strong one (this is one magnet which could cause issues if it dropped off the fridge) and used a cold glue gun.  I would recommend using something like gorilla glue instead just because it would be easier.

And here's the final product!  Among Nicole's psychology word magnets...

By my freakishly cute birds I bought at Michael's...

And on our dry erase board on the fridge in the kitchen!  Gosh, he travels!

I'm lucky to have a roommate who brings me her mess-ups from class.  If you're not lucky like me, you can use the same idea to decorate glass plates, the bottom of glass cups, even the back of those little flat sided glass marbles!  If I was doing something like that, however, I would try to find a spray sealant made for glass.  The tissue paper on the back of my whale would easily peal off if I messed with it, which made it easy to clean up the edges but would mean death if it was something that was frequently messed with.

I'd love to hear any other ideas you might have, especially as Nicole keeps sending home more bits of glass shapes for me to use.  How else can I decorate them?  Please share in the comments!