Okay, this does not involve recycling or anything, but it is suuuuper cute and very easy to do! This is actually a traditional Danish Christmas craft. Imagine that. As seen here, with instructions and even a video!
It opens up into a little basket/cone, so depending on how big you make the heart, you could put candy in it, or a note, or anything else you can think of.
Adorable.
Recycle cardboard earring boxes by wrapping string around them, painting them, and using them as stamps! As seen here.
Tie the yarn in the back of the box.
Woohoo, pretty paper!
Father’s day is coming up on Sunday! Make a garland to surprise your dad!
Obviously, you could take this craft a lot farther than I did here. However, cutting out those letters really took a lot out of me (I used a box cutter…I can’t find the willpower to spend money on an x-acto knife). Keep in mind that it might not be readable unless you hang it from a solid background. To hang it, I folded over the top and draped it over some fishing wire.
What a lovely fold we have here.
There are so many options with this! Instead of cutting out letters, you can write them on or paste them on. Leave it plain, or use patterned scrapbooking paper. Throw some glitter on there. Make a garland for birthdays, celebrations, holidays! Surprise someone any day of the year!
I’m gonna hang this up on our TV on Saturday night so my dad, the earliest riser in my home, sees it when he gets up. I think it will be a nice little surprise for him, especially because he’s not very materialistic. He’s the kind of dad that only asks for socks as presents. Making a craft, no matter how simple, can help show someone how much you care about them and want to brighten up their day. 🙂
Best dad in the woooooorld!
Homemade beauty products are awesome. Why? I’ll tell ya.
This is a recipe for a really great exfoliating scrub. It’s super easy and makes your skin feel soft and moisturized. And olive oil is great for your skin. Just ask the ancient Greeks.
This is all you need!
Just mix all these ingredients together. Wash and dry your face, use this as a scrub, and then rinse off. Try this on your hands first so you can alter the ingredients to your skin type (if your skin feels slippery, add more sugar to balance out the olive oil). The scrub should have a mushy consistency and not be too liquidy or grainy. This makes a good amount to use on your face, but if you make more it can also be used on your whole body. I suggest using your scrub on the same day that you make it. If you wait until the next morning it is a little bit watery, but still alright to use, but I wouldn’t leave this out for more than a day.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I do! (:
~Allison
Litter your room with immortal iced tea can flowers! They make gorgeous decorations and easy to customize and make your own! Cut a tall can in half after carefully slicing off the top and bottom. Cut whatever shape petals you desire, making sure to leave room at the bottom of each for a small pin hole. Arrange the petals together however you like and stick a push pin through the middle of each in two spots. Send a thin wire through from the back of the petals and fish it in and out of a button. making sure not to loose hold of the arrangement, fish it back through the petals and twist it together on the other side. Decorate the stem by wrapping string around the wire with another wire to hold it in place!
Not really sure how to explain these, but basically experimenting with different mediums is an excellent way to understanding art in all its forms. Millions of magazines sadly go to waste everyday, and salvaging one for a small art project is not going to save the world. It’ll probably just make your room a hell of a lot messier with cut out scraps and glue.. but the outcome is what matters, right?
Remember an older post about wire wrapping? Well here’s flower wire wrapping taken to another level. All it takes is some patience and a few pretty colors of string. This adorable charm could be used on a necklace, earrings, a hair clip, a pin, a ring, a button, oor a decoration on pretty much anything!
These pouches only need basic sewing skills, a couple swatches of fabric, a button, and a magazine clipping or picture. Sew the two swatches together (facing inside out), making sure to leave room for the flap. Then sew the button to the front and cut a hole in the flap for the button to fit through. Sew around this hole and the flap a couple times to make sure it doesn’t fray. To make it customized, sew a picture around the back and cover it in varnish after to make sure it stays. I got my pictures from an article and an old Matisse calendar!
Yesterday Steph gave me some AMAZING incense and it reminded me of this incense holder I made a while ago.
All I did was take an old cardboard jewelry box (earrings are often sold in these boxes) and use a box cutter to slice a small x in the top so I could stick the incense in. Then you can paint whatever design you want on it.
I didn’t think about it until after I was done, but a longer box (like for a necklace) would be better if you wanted to catch the ashes that fall. Or you could just have it over a tray like me.
I made this sweet little collage of some jellyfish a couple weeks ago with tiny strips from magazines. Jellyfish are my favorite animals by far. Graceful, carefree, and beautiful, but they can seriously mess you up. I just think they are such cool creatures.
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately, and much of it has been inspired by indoor percussion, an immensely time consuming but satisfying activity that I participate in with my school. I play the vibraphone (like a xylophone) and our show’s concept is insomnia. It’s much more performance-based than marching band and the hardest aspect for me is definitely to stay in character, as an insomniac.
As a generally serene person, it was really awkward and uncomfortable for me to make angry faces at an audience while I played. Performing the show did not really become fun until I gave up on caring about what I looked like and just did it. Now I love performing so much more.
Anyway, my point here is that I think some people let their self-consciousness and fear of criticism limit their true capabilities. I was like that for a long time. Doing more art is really helping me get over this and stop caring about what other people might think. I think too many people believe that any artistic activity is limited to professionals and the naturally talented, and that’s not true at all. Everyone can do it and everyone should do it! Art is fun. And it’s even more fun when you stop comparing your work to someone else’s and just enjoy the process of making it instead. My jellyfish picture is really nothing that took any talent, but I love it because no one else would spend so much time on a stupid little picture like that. Art is all about taking something from your mind and expressing it in the real world, and even the tiniest ounce of self-consciousness will affect it. And when you think about it, what is there to be afraid of, anyway? If you don’t feel like someone is judging you every once in a while, you’re probably not doing enough interesting stuff or taking enough risks. So stop caring. When you think of a cool idea, just go with it.
strawberryinthedesert 