Firework Poppers!

Fireworks are dangerous y'all. 

They are loud. They involve fire... Maybe that's a part of their appeal to the masses. For others, the noise and the danger are unsettling and intrusive. Even illegal. So I came up with something else!

You will need:

Colored rice (food coloring, vinegar, white rice)
2 sheets of paper cut in half, hotdog style
4 toilet paper rolls
markers
tape
4 medium-sized balloons

*Makes 4 poppers.
*This project was originally intended for kids but my test audience (fellow 20-something) and I found them highly entertaining.
*I researched to make sure the rice/food coloring combo wasn't bad for birds. As far as I could find, they'll be fine.

Start with dying the rice. Use 2 tbsp of vinegar with 2 drops of food coloring to 3/4-1/2 c of white rice. Stir it all together and let sit for 5 minutes.

Spread the rice on foil to let it dry. I left it overnight, but I think it was ready in a few hours.

Use the markers to decorate one side of cut paper. Roll the paper around the tube and tape it shut.

Tie the end of the balloon and cut off the very top. Place it around one end of the tube.

Are you ready for the fun part? Take a small handful of rice and put into the open end of the tube. Pull back on the knotted end of the balloon slightly and FIRE! 

See all the rice in the air? It worked way better than I expected. But don't aim these towards your face. We didn't try it but I have a feeling it wouldn't go well.

We even took a video because we weren't sure a photo fully captured the effect. Unfortunately, I'm apparently the world's worst videographer and there's a lot of camera shaking and laughing involved.

Do you love real fireworks or hate them? Would you make these with your kids or for yourself? I'd love to know!

Sheila :) 

Plastic Bag Doormat (Work in Progress)

Sometimes, projects take longer than I expect.

For example, this is a doormat I've been working on made out of plastic bags. The first night I worked on it, I got is about 1/3 of the way finished. The next time I touched it I hardly made a difference. It's still sitting on the floor of my bedroom, staring at me. Mocking me with it's little plastic bag voice "Feeling lazy Sheila? We'll wait." Joke is on you, mean doormat, I'm going to post about you anyway.

This project is not at all difficult, but it is time consuming. When it's finished, we will have an easy to clean, waterproof doormat on our front porch. And it was freeeeeeeee.

You will need

-Plastic bags, I used around 60. 

-scissors

-rubberband

-Thick needle and thread

*60 sounds like a lot of bags but we had that lying around the apartment easily.  It's especially easy if you don't care if your bags are all the same color. Clearly, I don't. It's also helpful to have a roommate who supports your recycling hoarding habits. 

 

Start by cutting your bags into strips. For this project,  it's best to cut a few bags at a time and go back in sections. It's easy for the plastic to become tangled or unruly if you try to do too much at once. To cut the bag, flatten the sides in and remove the thin strip with the bottom seam and the handles. Cut the rest of the bag down the center long-wise to create 2 long circled strips. 

 Loop the circles together and tighten. 

The best compromise as far as tangle-free and not stopping every 5 minutes to cut more bags was to cut 3 bags and loop them all together at a time, for a "strand" that was 6 loops long. You will need 3 of these strands at a time; 9 bags for each section of braid. Start the braid by tying the ends together with a rubberband. 

It's easiest to braid if you have something to pull against, so I used the rubberband to attach the ends to the top of a chair. A door knob would work well too. An even, medium tension braid looked the best.

When you reach the ends of the strands, loop together a few more bags and add them to the end. I used about 20 bags in each strand for a total of 60 bags. I also moved the knot on my chair as I added bags so I didn't have to keep walking backwards around the apartment. Coiling the braided bags as you go makes it easier to see how much more you will need.

Once you've finished the braiding, you're ready for the tedious part: sewing. The bag cutting and braiding goes pretty quickly. It took maybe 2 hours (or the length of "You've Got Mail") from cutting the first bag to finishing the braid. The sewing is what is taking me forever. If you don't want to put it outside, you can probably get away with hot gluing it. But no cutting corners here!

I wanted my braid to lie flat so it would be a little wider and more flexible. I removed the rubber band from the end and started sewing by running a few quick stitches at the end to keep it held together. Working from the center around, the best way to keep stitches relatively unnoticeable is to run your needle between the strands (center to center) instead of through the plastic. It also requires less effort. Phew! 

Can you see the stitches? Granted, they're only in a few inches in the center so far...

Maybe now that the internet world knows about it, I'll be more motivated to finish. Especially since it will look so cute with all of Amanda's plants on the porch. I promise to give an update of the finished project.

Do you have the patience for a project like this? Or would you have to put it down and come back from time to time, like me? I'd love to know.

Sheila

Homemade Business Cards

This weekend, I'm going to my first local crafty event as a craft blogger.

Normally, I would avoid this temptation. "You'll just want to buy everything," I would tell myself, "better to stay far, far away..." I love supporting local artists and I love knowing that the work is truly one of a kind. What I do not love, is trying to accomplish those previously mentioned goals on a poverty level living stipend.   But now I have an excuse! I'm going to meet artists, do a little networking, and see if there is any potential for posts about their work, their process, or anything else an artist might be interested in sharing.

I looked into buying business cards for these purposes. There are tons of free offers online but they are pretty restrictive on design and still charge shipping. Eventually, I'd love to have a personalized stamper for cards like this one but that is not a possibility at the moment. Also, I'm hoping that it won't be long before the blog will have a  big girl design overhaul. Instead, I went for the most costly friendly and cutest alternative I could think of: make 'em!

I went through a few different styles using materials on hand. The first round turned out like this:

Which I hated.

Eventually, I printed out the info and cut the sheets to size instead of trying to stamp or hand write like a crazy person.

Using a sewing machine on a 2" x 3.5" piece of thin cardboard was surprisingly easy, but not forgiving. And I bet you know what the base is made of already...

Sorry for stealing all your food boxes, roomie. 

I didn't make a tutorial for this because, frankly, most people probably would not make the desired professional impact handing someone a business card made out of a waffle box with a ribbon sewn on. But to local artists? I think they'll understand. I'm excited for the opportunity to meet these people and bring the enthusiasm back to BTCC. I just wanted to share that excitement with all of you :)

Would you be able to get away with handmade business cards? What kind of impression would these make on you? I'd love to know.

Sheila

PS. Don't worry, there's no personal information on these cards not available on the blog. I'm private, yo. 

"The Only Universal Language" Fabric World Map

My roommate is a master's student in conducting. I used to think of myself as a relatively knowledgeable musician. I was lying to myself. Anyway, today is her Birthday.

I had to surprise her. She went all out for my birthday in March. Last night I decorated her bedroom door and made her a chocolate layer cake with oreo cream cheese icing. And a little artwork. Fancy making you're own?

You will need:

- large world map print out, used here 4 landscape letter sized sheets taped together
- corrugated cardboard large enough for map
- 1/4 yard of fabric
- paint, used here are primary blue and black
- push pins
- Mod Podge and foam brush
- scissors
- black marker
- craft paper
- 4 eyelets and mounting tool (like Crop-a-dile)

After you've printed your map and taped the seams together, trim any extra paper from the edges. Carefully rip cardboard down to the size and shape desired to accommodate map. Varying the amount of corrugated board showing through adds texture.

Paint your board. I used a mix of primary blue with a drop of black. 

 Cut out large outlines of your map and mark your spacing.

 This is where it gets a little more complicated. Pin your paper map pieces to your fabric. I wanted the fabric to fray but trying to cut it was way to tricky. It was much easier after coating the back with a thin coat of Mod Podge and letting it dry. I didn't even have to take the pins out to do this. It gives the fabric just enough stability to be easier to cut, but unfortunately for this situation also keeps it from fraying easily.

The more details you cut, the harder it will be to get them all in the right place! Some smaller or closer islands are grouped together and cut out as one piece to preserve my sanity. This map is questionably geographically accurate... I double-checked. Remove the pins and paper templates and use Mod Podge on the back of the fabric to glue the sections on to the cardboard. Usually, I would recommend going over the top of the whole project with Mod Podge as well, but I didn't want the shiny finish and am secretly hoping the fabric will magically distress itself over time.

 The roommate loves to travel so I was hoping to combine the two loves of travel and music.

 But I hated how it looked so I re-did it using a few pieces of craft paper layered to cover the original writing and 4 gold eyelets to mount them.

It didn't turn out exactly how I had in mind. It had a life of it's own. Cutting out something in such varied shapes using a fabric with straight lines in the pattern was much harder than anticipated. Also, if I started over from the beginning I would probably soak the fabric in a tea bath first to tone down the bright whiteness of it. Overall, I'm still happy with it and Amanda likes it, so that's all I care about!

Have you ever had a project you'd like to adjust after you've already finished? Would you cut out all those tiny islands!? I'd love to know!

Sheila :)

Paper Towel Roll Napkin Rings

You didn't think I was going to stop with just the napkins did you?

Napkin rings are the punctuation to a table setting; they finish the look and complete to the tone. But they tend to be expensive as even the cheap ones are a few dollars a piece. To create an inexpensive alternative you can use a regular, plain ol' paper towel roll.This project was inspired by Renee's DIY Napkin Rings over at Rustic Crafts and Chic Decor. Thanks Renee!

You Will Need:

Paper towel roll or any other type of cardboard roll 

6 strips of unrolled paper twist, 15" long

Hot glue

6 buttons

Cord or ribbon

Hole punch

The first step is to cut your roll to size. You can use any type of cardboard roll you desire. I cut mine down the center and then in 1-3/4" wide sections since the roll was 11" long total. 

Next, wrap your unrolled paper twist around each section. It was easiest to wrap and then glue. Once you've completely covered the cardboard, hot glue the ends and any lose sections. 

Adding the buttons and loops was the tricky part. Use the smallest hole punch you have to punch a  hole centered about 1/4" away from each edge. Use a short piece of cord through the holes and your button and feed the back of the cord through one hole. Knot several times until it it is larger that the hole.

Next, use a longer piece of cord and tie a loop. Push the loop end up through the empty hole, leaving the knotted end inside. Both inside knots could also be hot glued into place if desired. 

Then just close it up around your napkin.

You could make them all the same, but it seemed like more fun to switch it up and let each ring be as unique as the napkin.

Even my "non-crafty" friend who I tricked into helping thought they were super easy to make.

Can you tell they started from a paper towel roll? More importantly, have you ever used paper twist before? I'd love to know!

Sheila :)

Weekend Inspiration: Embroidery Hoops

There are so may neat projects all over the internet world. I love looking through them and thinking "How did they ever come up with this!?" Sometimes, people are amazing. Sometimes, not so much. But the not so much times are not what we are focusing on now. I'd like to start a new series on Friday called "Weekend Inspiration." My plan is to scour the internet to find the coolest DIY and crafty ideas with a theme. This week, the theme is using embroidery hoops. They're super inexpensive and extremely versatile. That's enough to inspire me at least...

This amazing table runner on On to Baby. 

This could be a great addition to any classroom. Or any room. Ever.
Made by Heatherlee of Lady Poppins.

Always been a favorite quote! From the Etsy shop Art by Autumn.

I am pretty much obsessed with this photo chandelier from Natalme.

So fresh and springy. From the Etsy shop littlenestbox.

This idea has been around for a while because it's so cute and simple.
This wall art is from Inspired by Charm.

Wouldn't this be a sweet baby shower gift? Made over on Creative Jewish Mom. 

OMGoodness, can you imagine a wall in a craft room with a bunch of variations on this idea as supplies organizers? Someday, when I'm not such a vagabond... Sewing kit from The Train to Crazy.

A wine cork trivet is classy and useful. This is so grown up-esque it's almost intimidating.
See the tutorial on Lines Across.

HOOP. There is is... I'm sorry. I had to. 

Will you make any of these? Have they inspired you for a new, completely different project? I'd love to know.

Sheila  :)

PS. Have a wonderful weekend!