Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Monday, September 24, 2012

simple bias tape holder


i love the new pretty "stripes" of color on my sewing-corner of my desk :)...instead of being in a stacking container on a shelf!


need:
- piece of wood
(mine was a piece of scrap wood i had lying around :)
- wooden dowels
- drill + bit(dowel size)
- empty paper spools
or
- make little paper rolls

tips:
- i cut the paper spools using a saw
- when you run out of spools like i did :), you can make little paper rolls - cut strips of paper and twirl around a dowel (or something that has a little larger circumference than your dowel holders), applying glue to the outside "beginning" end(before twirling) and the inside "end" end



 
....and if you don't have one yet, make a holder for your spools of thread too :)!

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

bottoms-up-cup!

turn your cup upside down and draw on the bottom!
 
 
i used:
- dishware-safe and dishwasher-safe PEBEO markers (these require "baking" )
- and these really(!!!) cheap IKEA cups
important!: you need to make sure that your cup/dishware has a raised rim, otherwise when in use, you will end up scraping off the drawing. the ikea cups have a raised ring, but warning! - they also have their labeling on it, but it didn't bother me and i worked around it :)
 
 
it's fun to drink out of and completely food/liquid safe, since the paint is on the outside.
 
tips:
- if you are using these markers for the first time, it's good to try it out on what i call a "doodle jar" (which is now my paint water jar)
- this is not much of a craft for small children (like my Ji) - it requires some patience, especially if you are also drawing on the circumference of the cup
- if you mess up, don't worry!...if it's still wet, wipe it off, if dry scrape it off - i use my glass-stove-top-scraper.
 
p.s. this is a general decorating tip/trick - i used dots here because i love dots, but they can also be helpful when it's hard to draw a straight line/outines. i came up with this trick when i was decorating christmas cookies....i was having a hard time to draw straight lines with the unruly frosting. so i came up with "dotting" - it made nice, unmessy outlines and looked cute too! 
 

Friday, September 7, 2012

t-shirt stenciling by the boys :)

 
using freezer paper, Ji and his friend drew a drawing, i cut it out with
my exacto, ironed it on the shirts and the boys did the painting.....
 
 
 supplies: non-toxic textile paints, sponge brushes, newspaper spread and
a plastic bag inside the shirt so the paint wouldn't soak through 
 
 
 we used a dabb-and-brush technique and started with the edges,
then filled in the center
 
 
let it dry, and peel the freezer paper off! yay!!!
 
 


Thursday, September 6, 2012

sock sorting

the other day i bought 2 packs of assorted color socks for Ji and St. both packs had the same colors, just 2 different (but close) sizes, so to make it easier to sort in the laundry i took my fabric pens and "marked" St's socks.....with a couple of monsters and some polkadots :)
 

:)