"CONFETTI" GREETING CARDS

Em and I made these fun, and super easy to make confetti-inspired cards.

 
I carved out (with an exacto knife) tiny geometric shapes from a stamp carving block...but these work really great too.

For Em's "kid-friendly" stamps I cut out tiny shapes from a styrofoam take out container and used two-sided tape to adhere the shape onto a wooden peg.  Tape works great because you can easily peel off and tape on a completely different shape-- then you'll only need one wooden peg.

If I were to do it over again, I would use something thicker for Em's stamps...like fun foam to eliminate those rings around the image.  I'm okay with the imperfectness though, and had to work with what I had.  Still, I think they came out pretty cute...

Reminds me of this pretty soap:

(from a slice of delight)

I also came across an inspiring post with "confetti" images at my life as a magazine.  A blog I've been love, love, loving lately!

DIY MINI ZINES TUTORIAL

Make Mommy and Me Mini Zines!

Em and I had lots of fun this weekend making little fashion mini magazines.  Making a mini zine is super easy to do, which makes it a perfect activity for kids. 

Except for the part where your toddler decides to dig all of the glue out of the gluestick and smear it on the table. And after telling her to use the glue correctly, or not at all says-- "mommy why are you scolding me, why?".  Sound like I'm speaking from experience? Oh, yes.

Other than that little bump in the road though, the rest was smooth sailing.  And tons of fun. It's amazing how therapeutic simple cutting and pasting can be for an adult.

MATERIALS:

• 2 sheets of copy paper-- one for mommy, one for child
• old magazines
• glue
• scissors
• pens for doodling
• color copier
• other collage items (optional)

How to make a Mini Zine




When your zines are folded, it's time for the fun part.  Cut out images you are drawn to or that match the theme of your zine.  Zines can be about anything.  We did a fashion-ish one, but you could do dinosaurs, cars, animals, recipes, poetry, all pictures, or all written word, things to do in your town-- anything goes.
All of our images came from an old (2008) issue of Sweet Magazine from Japan. 

Em picked out all her images, I helped her with the cutting.  Then I let her go at it with the glue.

After you complete your little book, open it up and let it dry.

When completely dry, run it through a color copier and fold the copy into a mini zine for a clean, smooth version of your book. Make lots of copies, and give them away. Leave them in random places for people to find!

Em Jay's pages...

Mommy's pages...

WAIT! BEFORE YOU THROW AWAY THOSE ENVELOPES...

Why don't you make some D.I.Y. photo corners...

You'll need: junk mail envelopes, a ruler, scissors, pencil, assorted rubber stamps, ink

I measured about 3/4 of an inch in, and marked with a pencil

Then I snipped off the corners along the pencil mark, stamped away...

And Voila!  Your very own recycled photo corner.

HAPPY EARTH DAY, EVERYONE!



FRIENDSHIP BRACELETS... FOR ADULTS

remember those friendship bracelets we used to make when we were kids? I'm loving them again... especially modern ones like these...

 from brooklyn thread

from thief and bandit

from erban fiber

from anaosgoodjewelry

from ayofemijewelry

from plume and bloom

from lucky brand (zappos)

from juicy couture (revolve)

here's one I made...I was inspired by the summer of love class by kara haupt--we used them as book bindings!

and here's a great website full of tutorials!   

p.s. going to announce the winner of my kind-hearted blogger giveaway tonight or tomorrow morning.  sorry for the delay, also still waiting for one of the prizes to arrive.  be back soon!

FOIL COLLAGE

it's been quite awhile since I've done an art project with em jay. we finally spent some artsy time together.

MATERIALS:

• thin cardboard (I used a cereal box)
• aluminum foil
• tape
• various collage items (tissue paper, sequins, yarn, string, ribbon, glitter, etc.)
• elmer's glue
• water
• paintbrush

prepare/gather collage materials.  fold foil over thin cardboard (for a sturdier surface) and tape down.  mix elmer's glue with water to create a very thin consistency.  paint thinned glue onto the foil surface.  add tissue paper pieces.  paint more glue.  add more tissue.  keep adding glue over each layer.  add sequins, ribbon, and other items.  after a final coat of glue.  finish with glitter.

BALL PUZZLE TUTORIAL

MATERIALS:

• empty favor container with a clear top like this, or this.
• tiny silver beads, ball bearings, or recycle an old ball puzzle by breaking apart and using the balls. 
• circle cutter (my container is round), or scissors (I use Martha Stewart)
• anywhere hole punch (I use making memories)
• cardstock
• rubber stamp.  I used an owl by nikoart.

step one: cut out background paper in a solid color from cardstock to fit the bottom of your container

step two: stamp your image onto cardstock, and cut out to fit the bottom of your container (I used a circle cutter because my container is round)

step three: punch two to three holes wherever you would like the ball to sit.

step four: color your stamped image and glue background piece together with stamped image. then glue to bottom of the container.

step 5: add in your tiny silver balls (two if there are two holes), then put a little glue around container cover edge and cover the box.  let dry.

my mom is really good at this.  she could get them in super fast!

you could customize the theme and use them for little party favors...they're so much fun, and easy to make!

KITSCHY BOTTLE CAP MAGNET TUTORIAL

I once scored a huge bag of bottle caps for 99 cents at salvation army. Here's my attempt to use some of them. 

MATERIALS:

• bottle caps
• images (from magazines, books, printed from computer, photos, etc)
• scissors
• circle cutter (or just trace the circle and cut with scissors)
• packing tape
• sequins, rhinestones, or tiny beads
• black permanent marker
• glue that dries hard and clear (glossy accents, diamond glaze, clear resin)

step one: cut out image to fit your bottle cap (using a circle cutter is much easier).  then draw or write on the image (I wrote "hello" on the white space). my images are from shop 66.

step two: cover both sides with packing tape to seal/laminate the image, trim packing tape around the edges.  this is to prevent the image from bleeding or warping when you add the glue later.

step three: rub over the image with a burnishing tool, or popsicle stick to smooth out the bubbles and air pockets.

step four: place image in the bottle cap and cover image with a thick coat of glue that dries hard and clear.

step five: embellish with sequins, beads or rhinestones. tip: I used a needle to guide the sequins to where I wanted them placed. I also used the needle to pop any air bubbles that formed

step six: this is the hardest part-- let dry overnight until clear.

step seven: use a super strong glue to attach a magnet to the backside of bottle cap. Let that dry overnight and you're done!

PACKING TAPE TRANSFER TUTORIAL

MATERIALS:

• packing tape
• magazine page image (recycled magazine pages seem to work well)
• popsicle stick, or burnisher tool (I actually just used the plastic rounded handle of my scissors)
• small bowl of water

step one: find an image you want to transfer and place a strip of packing tape over it.

step two: cut out the packing tape covered image from the magazine page.

step three: rub over the entire image with a burnisher tool (or rounded handle of scissors) to smooth over the surface and get rid of air bubbles.

step four: soak the entire image in a bowl of room temperature water.

step five: rub off the magazine page from the tape.  it should rub off very easily.

step six: gently dry with a paper towel.  the adhesive will still be a little sticky, but the image should have transfered onto the tape.

now you can trim or cut out the image to your liking and use in journal pages, card making, art, etc.  the image will be transparent enough for background paper to show through.

be forewarned: this is very addicting!

TERU TERU BOZU

 I'm so excited to share this project with you, as it reminds me of my childhood. when I was young my grandma would sometimes make me a teru teru bozu, to chase the rain away.  she would just use kleenex, and string, and color in the face with a marker. much like these:

I recently came across a teru teru bozu project by a fabulous artist, maman marche the site is completely in japanese, but her projects are so inspiring.  tutorial found here-- also in japanese but way easy to follow. I adapted the measurements to a 14cm circle, with a 6cm-circumference running stitch in the center to make a smaller version.  I used a floral fabric because it's the only one I had on hand at the moment, and I also used acrylic paint with a thin paintbrush for the facial features.

by maman marche

my little guy

these are quick and fun, and can be adapted in so many ways with different fabrics, and trims.  let me know if you try this, I'd love to see other versions!