written by marieann

I made this painted portrait for my bf’s mom a few years ago. She has a modern edgy style and she loved it. It’s much easier than it looks so I decided to give you a tutorial on how to do this.

Materials:
Posterboard
Paint

Tools:
Paintbrush
Computer w/Adobe Photoshop
Projector (either a teacher’s projector or a tv projector)
A good photograph of your subject that clearly shows the subject’s face

Instructions:
1. Open the image in Photoshop. Crop the photo so that it’s close on the subject’s face.
2. Go to Filter -> Artistic -> Blur.

3. Adjust the cutout settings until you get as blocky of image as you can while still clearly highlighting the features.

4. Click okay. Then go to Image -> Adjustments -> Color Balance

5. Adjust the color balance (you can do at the shadow, midtones, and highlight levels) until you like the color result that you have.

6. And your image is done! I only know how to use a tv projector so that’s how the instructions will proceed. But I think you could use a school teacher one too.

7. Connect your projector to your computer. Point the projector at the wall and move it around until your image fills the posterboard (tape the posterboard to the wall).

8. Trace the lines blocking the color splotches.

9. Paint — just like painting by numbers. Be sure to mix up a lot of a particular shade to be sure you have enough.

Here’s a WIP of me making the original painting…

written by admin

I made this bow for a birthday present for my boyfriend. I wrapped his present in regular paper then painted the bow with acrylics afterwards. This is really useful if you want to mail a present to someone because there’s no risk of the bow being smashed. This is one of the most realistic paintings I’ve ever done and I’m not a good enough painter to explain to you how to do it so if you can’t paint, have at it.

written by threadslinger

I actually stole this idea from Marie but will post it here anyway. Crafting is kind of like going down a long rabbit hole. You start out with just a few supplies but it quickly can turn into a heap in the corner of your bedroom that your cats sleep on and you have to step over unless you are careful. This is why I learned from the masters that organized crafting is the best crafting. I am still not the best at this, but slowly am picking up speed. Here is a simple way to organize your magazine cut outs so that you don’t have stacks of magazines hanging around your house just waiting to be modge podged. It also saves you a lot time when you want to make something because all the coolest pictures are neatly organized in this bin.

Materials needed:

-File folder
-Magazines
-Marker

1. Take your stack of magazines and tear out anything you think could be used in a future collage. Then try to categorize them and make little tabs like this:

2. After you have filed away all your magazines throw the old ones away. Resist the urge to be a pack rat and bam, now you have an organized magazine file just waiting to be used for modge podging.

written by marieann

Last year, I discovered fatbook/chunkybook pages. They are art pieces (like a collage or scrapbook page), sized 6 x 6″ with lots of “chunky” things attached to them like fibers, stickers, or charms. There are groups of women, connected by the internet, that make multiple copies of their pages, and swap the copies so that they can be bound in a single book. I have participated in a few of these fatbook page swaps and they are really rewarding. There are so many skilled artists participating and the chunkiness makes the books so interesting.

These are the groups I joined to swap fatbook pages: Chubbyville; and Fatbooks. You join the yahoo group and then sign up for the particular books you’d like to work on whenever you want.

Here’s more pages that I made for these fatbook page swaps:

For the tarot card book:

For the “Hard Work Being a Woman” book:

The first photo was for the “Beachcomber’s Journal” book. Here’s the little book opened and the back:

And if you’re interested, here’s what I wrote in the little journal (after living in Hawai’i for two summers and falling in LOVE):

You never really leave Hawai’i.

After you leave, you will still feel the cold hibiscus petals resting across your throat. The memory of your feet walking across fine white stand will stick between your toes. The beat of the ipu will maintain steady in your pulse. When the cool breeze blows, you will miss the dancing palm trees. The Pacific will hold you captive and forever crush its way into your dreams. Once you have danced in a tropical rain, the shower elsewhere will lose their magic. The moon will never look the same to you because it’s not the low hula moon.

The islands will forever live in your heart.

written by threadslinger

I got this genius idea for a cat toy that has all my kitties entertained for hours. By putting a cat toy in a box and cutting some holes so they can paw at the toy it drives them mad while they try to get it out. It is super easy (and cheap) to make also, so everyone wins.

Materials needed

Cardboard box
Scissors
Paper
Elastic
Cat toy or something with a bell

Directions

1. Cut holes in sides of box that about big enough for your kitty to stick their paws through.

2. Cut a tiny hole in the top of box, thread elastic with toy attached to it and let it dangle.

3. Cover with paper and make it purrrr-dy (yes, I am lame.) And, now you are done, a cheap and fun cat toy!

written by marieann

I designed these journals from scratch — literally. I made the image in Photoshop then added the journal prompts (50 in all) to the pages. I think the idea of a pre-printed prompt journal is stellar because sometimes you want to write but you don’t know what to write about. These pages are highly customizable and you can add additional images or your own prompts like I did to make these pages.

Materials:
Paper — both pretty scrapbook paper and typing paper
Cardboard scraps

Tools:
Printer
Photoshop
Scissors (paper cutter would really help)

Instructions:
1. Choose which pages you like best. If you don’t like my final product, then you can choose one of the other images and customize as you’d like. Click on the images to get the full size for downloading.

2. Personalize the pages as you wish in Photoshop. Here’s a couple of examples of what I did.

3. Print them. Be sure you print the full size as I made them fit the pages perfectly. Also, you need to print them landscape style.

4. Trim the pages. I trimmed the pages so that there was 1/8″ to the right of both pages. This leaves you with a thick enough white space to the left of the right page that prints so that you can bind it. This definitely takes awhile if you want to do it nicely.

5. Use the cardboard scraps to make a front and back cover. Wrap the cardboard in pretty scrapbook paper.

6. Take the journal to your local office supply store to get it coil bound. At Kinko’s it’s about $6.

7. Write in your own personalized journal!

Alternatives! I made one of these for my mom too and I made her planner pages — like calendars, lists, etc. I would post them but I made them too low of resolution so they printed up kind of blurry.

More images of my finished journals –

written by marieann

I had this clear plastic box left over from candy. I thought it’d be perfect to cover to store crafty supplies.

Supplies:

Magazine cut-outs
Plastic box

Tools:

Glue
Clear varnish
Paint brush

Instructions:

1. Cut out lots of magazine pictures that you like.

2. Layer a thin layer of glue all over the box. Attach the pictures. When you are applying pictures to the edges, you need to either cut the paper a bit or else fold it about so that you can fit it to the curves.

3. When the glue is all dried, using a brush, paint a layer of clear varnish over the entire box.

Caro has some more modge podging tips located <a href=”http://diynamite.com/2007/09/09/modge-podge-journal/”>here.</a>

written by marieann

I made an origami book recently and I really liked the folding process. Then one of my frames fell off the wall and broke. I was annoyed when I realized I could make my own! I whipped this up and I think I’m addicted. You could use such fancy papers or fabrics for SO cheap and ANY size. I ordered this great prints online and I’ll post a photo when I frame them up too.

Supplies:
Cardboard
Paper or fabric (if you use fabric, I suggest you starch it to make it more like paper, but at least press it)

Tools:
Glue stick (or glue gun)
Boxer cutter (you really need this, don’t just rely on scissors)
Scissors (too)
Ruler
Pencil (or fabric marking pen if you are using fabric)

Directions:

1. Decide on the size you want the frame to be based on your image. Cut out the center as well to make it the exact size you want. You need to use the box cutter because this really needs to be perfect.

2. Lay the frame down on your paper. Draw a line one inch outside the frame and one inch inside the frame. You also need to draw the lines of the frame on the paper too. Cut it all out.

3. Draw a line thru the outside corner (to make a right triangle) in each corner and cut those corners off. Draw a line thru the inside corners to where the frame begins make two 45 degree angles. Cut along those lines.

4. Fold all the inside pieces inside. It’s not too hard to do perfect because you just fold along the frame lines.

5. Put the frame on the paper, the inside flaps inside. Fold the outside flaps up around the cardboard.

6. Glue the paper down with the gluestick to the cardboard. I glued the inside first then the outside.

7. That’s all! I taped my cross-stitch piece to the back (with the glass I had too) and then attach something to hang it. I used the pieces from my broken frame but you could use whatever (like string).

You could use fabrics, silver paper, collage, or even make large frames for big posters.

Here’s an example of a decoupaged frame that could be made with this technique:

written by threadslinger

I made these ornaments last year and they were fun and very simple to make. Plus, you can really add your own touch by adjusting the size, colors or even adding some hanging beads. Here is a quick tutorial to show you how to make your own.

Materials needed

Yarn
Bendable Cardboard (I found that cereal box works best)
Scissors
Decorative Paper
Tape
Glue
Crochet hook
Beads or any other embellishing desired.

Directions

1. Cut out three rounded edge diamond shapes from the cereal box cardboard. You can cut different sizes to make different shapes.

2. Cut out paper to cover the cardboard that is the same shape. Glue to the cardboard.

3. Tape together the diamonds starting on the sides and moving up to the point. It will form a 3-D diamond shape eventually. Don’t worry about it showing too much tape because you are going to cover this with yarn.

4. Make a single crochet chain long enough to go along the edges of the ornament. Then glue around the edges.

5. Now decorate as desired, have fun with it! I am planning on making more this year with dangling beads or maybe modge podge a few. Happy ornament making!

written by marieann

Caro found this tutorial for making a covered measuring tape. I thought it was really cool but I don’t have the retractable tape holder like this. But it did remind me that I hate that the measuring tape is connected with the one inch at the end of the roll to cardboard. (If yours is like this, it will make sense to you). The result is that I always have to uravel the whole thing even if I just need to measure something six inches long. So I whipped up this alternative. It’s pretty functionless but it is cute and recycled.

Materials:
Empty ribbon reel (slightly wider than your measuring tape)
Scrapbook paper scraps
Cardstock scraps

Tools:
Glue stick
Piece of scotch tape
Measuring tape
Circle cutter (or a compass and scissors)

Directions:

1. Cut four circles the same size as your ribbon reel — two out of scrapbook paper and two out of cardstock. Mine was 3.5 inches.

2. Glue the scrapbook paper circles to the cardstock circles.

3. Glue these circles to the empty ribbon reel.

4. Tape the long end (the 60″ end) of the measuring tape to the reel.

5. Wrap up the measuring tape.