written by threadslinger

My mom, already acting in her grandmother role, sent us a ton of kitten toys*. The kitties were so happy and acting like it was Christmas. However, after a day or so all the toys were lost, either stuck under the couch/bed or knocked behind the dishwasher, etc. So, as I was vacuuming today I retrieved all the toys and decided to make this kitty toy box to store them in. They love it cause all their toys are in one place and we love it cause it means I won’t have to wake up in the middle of the night and accidentally step on a furry mouse toy and nearly have a heart attack. This is also super easy and fun.

Materials needed:

1 box (I used a small package box about 10 x 4 inches)
pretty paper (I used 1 sheet of scrap booking paper)
Paper ribbon (can be found at most craft/art stores)
glue
Magazine cut outs and things to decorate it with.

Directions:

1. Cut off the top of the box. Then cut a rectangle out of the front of the box.
2. Cover with paper both inside and outside the box, like so:

3. After box is covered put a glue a ribbon along the top so that it creates a “seal” for the paper on either side of the box.
4. Decorate as you wish. I put the names of my three kitties on the front of the box but if you have any other ideas use them. And, now you have a pretty box that will make both you and your kitties happy.

*I realize this is the second cat related craft Miss Marie and I have posted. I promise this is not going to become a cat crafting blog we just both happen to be crazy cat ladies now, okay?

written by admin

My friends came over for my birthday and brought a case of beer. My new kittens loved to jump in the box and hide in there. I didn’t want to keep a Budweiser box in my apartment but I didn’t want to throw their house away. So I made them a kitty house. This is quite simple but adorable.
Supplies:
Colored paper/magzine scraps
Kitten sized boxed (beer or soda boxes work well)
Cellophane (do NOT use something thiner like plastic wrap)

Tools:

Tacky glue
Hot glue gun
Scissors
Knife
Ruler

Instructions:

1. Draw out a design for your house — complete with windows.
2. Trace the windows on your cardboard box and cut them out with a knife.
3. Using the hot glue gun, glue cellophane over the holes on the outside of the bare cardboard box. You don’t have to trim the cellophane close to edges as this will be covered.
4. Glue a solid sheet of paper (with holes cut over the windows) on the sides of the box.
5. Cut paper from old magazines, cardstock, etc. to form the houses (leaving holes for the windows).
6. If you want the house to stay in good shape, then cover the whole thing with packaging tape.
7. Play with the kitties with it! They especially like it if you roll a ball into it, they’ll chase it inside.

Please be sure to supervise your kitties when they play with this so that they don’t tear and eat the cellophane or anything.

If you’d like to see more of my kittens, check out their blog.

written by threadslinger

In case you haven’t noticed, I am a big modge podger. This journal is great because you can customise the journal to express certain things about yourself or certain ideas you want the journal to inspire.

Materials
- Blank journal (these are usually super cheap)
- Magazine cutouts
- Modge podge
- foam brush

Directions:

1. Start with blank journal like this:

2. Then place different pieces of magazine cut outs on journal until you have desired design. Everyone does modge podge collages a little differently but I think that it is good to try and layer on different sizes intsead of just cutting out squares.

3. After you have the magazine pieces placed you can brush on modge podge over the magazine cutouts. It will look white at first but don’t worry it drys clear. And, then you are done and you have a lovely new journal.

ps these also make great gifts!

written by threadslinger

I loved making paper dolls when I was little and that love never really left me. I don’t have any little girls (yet) to make them for, so instead I make paper doll “bookmarks” thereby providing justifcation for being 23 and still making dolls. I made these two and will write up instructions for the geisha girl because the way I made her top is kind of neat.

Materials

Orgami paper (for the dress)
Beige cardstock
Black cardstock
black paper
Paper ribbon for belt
Glue
Pen

1. Cut a long rectangle stip of beige and a small circle for the head. Glue to top. Next, make the hair by cutting out two half circles and one smaller circle for the bun. Glue the two half circles to either side of the head and glue bun to top of head.

2. Now, this is the fun part. To make the dress take a 5 x 5 square of orgami paper and fold back and forth accordian style. Then, turn so that the inside is facing you and fold over the top left corner, then fold the bottom left corner. Repeat on other side and tuck together. Glue to rectangle body.

3. For paper ribbon belt wrap around geisha girl and glue it with the ends sticking out, draw a cute little face and your done, now you have a cute little bookmark. And, its functional, see:

And, just to show you that you can make various paper girl (or boy) bookmarks, check out this cute little girl I made.

written by threadslinger

Aye, it has been way to long since either one of us posted on this site. I could run the gambit of typical blogger excuses, but honestly life just got in the way. This does not mean that this site is dead, far from it, and to prove it I am going to share with you all one of my favorite crafts.

The decoupage mirror is one of the first crafts I did and I fell in love with it. Every single one of my closest girl friends and even my boyfriend, had one made for them. Its great because you can personalize it by picking out magazine images and words that remind you of that person and almost always, they are touched with how much you “got them.” Plus, I think this is one of those fun crafts that borders on art.

Materials

Paint
Mirror
Picture frame
glue (any will do)
magazine cut outs
modge podge
paint brush

1. Paint picture frame desired color, this is so that if there are any gaps in your magazine placement it looks better. Plus, painting, yea.
2. After paint drys, take magazine cut outs and glue them wherever you want, some people like to put them in perfect squares, while other like to cut out different shapes, its your choice.
3. After magazine cut outs are glued down use paint brush to spread modge podge over magazine cut outs, this seals in the cut outs and makes it so they don’t care. You should try to do it all in the same direction so that it doesn’t look streaky.
4. After your modge podge dries, glue mirror in the center of the picture frame and you have your own personalized mirror.

**Also, to make up for not posting for awhile I will show you one of the things that has caused my distraction and, if you have a heart, you will go awww and forgive me.

written by marieann

I know this would have been more useful over a month ago, but I couldn’t post here before the holiday because then my mom would have seen her Valentines’ Day card. After all, this card could easily be given for other holidays and there’s no reason why you can’t just tell someone you love them on any day. So here’s a not-too-difficult but very cool looking card. There are obviously lots of ways you can personalize this and make it your own, so do it!

Supplies
Fabric scraps
Thread
Cardstock

Tools
Sewing machine
Clear glue
Stick pin

Instructions:
1. Make a small quilt block. You can choose any pattern or style but here I did a twist on the Log Cabin pattern. You can also make a crazy pattern too if you’d like using a more scrappy style. It should be a square. Be sure to press all the seams open.
2. Draw a heart pattern that you like that almost fills your block. Pin to the quilt block and cut out.
3. Pin to a piece of cardstock larger than your heart.
4. Satin stitch around the heart. This means that you take your zig zag stitch and decreased the width and height so that it makes more of a solid line. You will probably want to sew around the entire heart twice to fill in the stitches even more.
5. Sew using a special stitch across the top of your card and along the bottom too for some more prettys.
6. Using a straight pin, poke your loose threads thru the cardstock to the inside of the card.
7. Glue another piece of cardstock in the inside to cover the loose threads.

written by marieann

This was super easy and addictive! Just think of all the fabrics you can use to make these for all your books and occasions. These don’t have to be for your journals, but for your books too. They are so easy there’s no reason not to make dozens of them.

Materials
A piece of fabric 4 times the width of your book and the height of your book plus 1 inch

Tools
Iron
Sewing machine
Needle & thread

Instructions
1. Sew under the edges of the fabric on both ends a 1/2 an inch to create a clean edge on both short sides.
2. Wrap the fabric around the book wrong sides out. Close the book with the fabric attached.
3. Snip the fabric on either side of the book binding until you reach the book.
4. Baste the cover together along the top and bottom with a hand stitch.
5. Slip the cover off the book and sew along the basting lines with your sewing machine. Trim the excess fabric off the corners.
6. Turn it right side out. Press the cover flat everywhere.
7. Put it back on the book!

written by threadslinger

.
I feel like my craft corner keeps on growing and growing and since I live in a tiny studio apartment I need to keep things organized. Instead of just using a shoe box to store my things I decided I would employ some crafting skills on the craft storage boxes themselves. This is a super cheap, easy and fun craft that will keep you organized.

Materials

Shoe box or any kind of box (the smaller one I used is a cookie tin)
Magazine clippings
Modge Podge
Paint brush
Paint (optional)

Directions

1. Make sure that box is clean and has all the tags off of it. Use magazine cut outs of various things, words, people, ect. Glue onto box and make sure that you smooth down each one (I sometimes use a piece of cardstock to run across the magazine clippings so that there are no bubbles but it lies flat.)
2. After your magazine cut outs are glued down cover with 2 coats of modge podge, make sure that you brush in the same direction or else it will look all messy.
3. If you don’t want to modge podge the whole box then you can just do the lid and paint the bottom on the box like I did here:

written by threadslinger

Constantly when I am cooking I think to myself “don’t forget to buy ___ when you are out next.” Inevitably I will forget and then be cooking and really need that thing that I forgot to remind myself to get. Since I am a super visual learner I realized this could be solved by having a cute little notebook (hung on my wine corkboard) that I could write reminders on. So, to save money I bought a cheapie notebook and re-did it to now hang in my kitchen.

Materials Needed

3 X 5 notebook (I got 6 in a pack for a dollar, so super cheap)
ribbon
origami paper

1. Remove ugly wire binding notebook pages together and discard cardboard front.

2. Cut a piece of origami for the front of notebook. Use a pin to poke holes in that piece of paper so that all your pieces match.

3. String ribbon through holes looping it over. Leave enough at the end to tie the two ends together and have a bow in the front. Now you are done and have a cute little notebook to jot notes down into.

written by marieann

I am so into chocolate and teal these days. I found this awesome skinny dresser on the street near my house and I had to have it (I love NYC for awesome free finds). I took it home and after a couple of months of slowly working on this and planning, I refinished it. I am very happy with it and learned some very important lessons. This dresser is pretty self-explanatory but I have some tips on how to make it (and things NOT to do).

Supplies
Furniture to refinish
1 quart of interior paint (I chose semi-gloss, but more on the choice of paint later)
Scrapbook papers
1 qt of ACRYLIC polyurethane (do not get the plain kind because that has an amber tint to it and will change the color of your paint/papers)

Tools
Fine grade sand paper/block
Paint brush
Allene’s glue (or some other TACKY glue)
Circle cutter (in the scrapbooking section of stores)

Instructions
1. If you have any pulls or hardware on the furniture, remove all of them.

2. Sand the piece with a soft grain paper. I have a few hints here. First, if you are painting with a darker color, your wood does NOT have to be completely raw again (assuming you’re dealing with a pre-painted piece of furniture; if you are painting over a piece that had previously been stained you DO have to sand it totally clean). Also, do NOT use a really coarse sandpaper as it will put mini scratches into your wood.

3. Wipe the whole thing down with a wet rag (or those awesome little sawdust picker upers).

4. Paint it! This is probably obvious but in case it’s not, paint with the grain of the wood and also be sure that you smooth everything. You do NOT want bubbles of paint (check the edges of drawers, etc. because paint tends to pool there). DOUBLE coat it.

5. Here’s the fun part. Cut out lots of different shapes from your scrapbook paper. Glue them to your furniture using Allene’s glue. Be sure that you press all the edges down. It is normal that your paper might have very tiny ripples in it because of the moisture in the glue. This will go away.

6. After everything is dried solid (I would wait over night), coat everything in THREE layers of the polyurethane. Be sure to read the directions and also do it in a ventilated area.

7. After you let it dry very hard over night, screw back in the pulls.

8. An alternative fixture note: I had originally planned to paint the shapes onto my furniture after the chocolate house paint dried. However, I found that my acrylic paints didn’t stick to the chocolate paint. Because I used semi-gloss paint, it just slid off. This looked horrible and this is why I chose the paper (which ultimately I liked much better). If you would like to paint on your details then you must use a matt house paint. This is fine because you can buy the acrylic polyurethane in gloss and make that effect if you like it.