More watercolors!

I have a quick post today to make up for rambling so much last time. :)

I made a quote painting with watercolors and a white crayon. 

How to:

On a piece of watercolor paper, use a crayon to write out a quote (or you could draw something as well). The thicker your lines the better. I picked a quote that was too long and didn't press down hard enough with my crayon. Aaron still loved the idea and made one for himself. He learned from my mistake and chose a short quote. 

Paint over the page as you desire. I recommend using the tips I used in my last post about watercolors (with the cardboard and tape and whatnot. But it's up to you.) The paint won't cover the crayon markings! If you do several layers it might start to cover it a little, but you can still read it.

That's it! Short, sweet, and to the point. Although I would like to add I love it when Aaron does arts and crafts with me. :)

Have a wonderful Tuesday! :)

Water Color Silhouettes

As promised, this is not another post about upcycling tin cans! Hooray! Today, I want to show how to make a water color silhouette. It is easy, and doesn't require a whole lot of artistic talent - so don't worry if you don't think you are an artist, you can do this!

For this activity you will need:
-Watercolor paints
-Paintbrush
-Watercolor paper or any sort of heavier weight paper
-masking or painters tape
-cardboard bigger than your paper

My lovely family on the East coast gave me a graduation gift when they visited this past month, and I used some of that money to buy myself a nice watercolor set. For quite some time I have wanted to buy some watercolor paints and I finally felt like I could do so without being frivolous. You don't need a fancy watercolor set to do this, though. Any set will do.

To start off, determine what you want your silhouette to be. I chose a seahorse and traced one onto scrap paper. You can also print something from your computer, use something from a magazine...there are a lot of possibilities.

Cut out your shape, trying to keep as much detail as possible.

Next, trace the shape onto your heavyweight paper using a pencil. You will want your pencil lines to be very light. You can always go back and erase them if to lighten up your lines if you made them too dark. With the tape, secure your paper to the carboard. Sometimes the tape can tear the paper when you pull it back off, so I recommend first putting the tape on something fuzzy - like your shirt - then use it to make the border.

Next, with your paintbrush and some water, get the paper a little bit wet everywhere except inside the silhouette. Next, start painting!

I used blue, green, and purple and varied the intensity of the shade through how much water I also used. After everything was filled in, I went over everything with a layer of blue paint. But that was my personal preference.

Have fun painting! This one we hung up in the bathroom. I think I'm going to paint another one - this time a dolphin. 

Yarn-Wrapped Can

Yes, a third post in a row about upcycling a can. I am in the process of slowly reorganizing my craft supplies (can I claim to be reorganizing when it wasn't organized in the first place, just all thrown together willy-nilly?). I promise my next post won't be about a tin can, I have something fun with watercolors coming up.

For this activity you will need:
-Yarn
-Hot glue gun
-Tin can (or other clean container that you want to upcycle)
-Scissors

This activity follows the same technique as the yarn wrapped lampshade I did last month. I used a fun rainbow yarn that I've had for years. It is leftover from a scarf I crocheted forever ago.

Glue the yarn to the base of the can and start wrapping! Whenever you feel that you need to secure the yarn, using your glue gun put a little dot of glue and press the yarn into it, then keep going. 

Once you get to the top, make sure to glue the yarn in place and snip off the excess.

Ta-da! It is pretty and functional! This can was the perfect size to hold my set of bic permanent markers. I love the look of yarn-wrapped items, and have an itch to see what else I can do...but my next post will be about a fun watercolor technique, I promise! :)

Button covered can

After making that colored pencil can, I knew that I had to decorate more cans. So I got out my stash of buttons and got to work!

For this craft you will need:
-Tin can
-Buttons
-Hot glue gun

This can craft was considerably less involved than the colored pencil one.

All you need to do is glue your buttons to the can and you are done!

Easy and simple! 

Ta-da!

Colored Pencil Can

I have a ridiculous amount of colored pencils. And I never use them! I prefer crayons above all other coloring utensils. Most of these I have inherited over the years. With older cousins and an older sibling I ended up with them.

So what do you do when you have a bazillion colored pencils and can't remember the last time you use them? You figure out a way to upcycle them, of course!

For this craft you will need:

-Colored pencils that you don't mind never coloring with ever again

-A tin can (mine originally held diced tomatoes)

-hot glue gun and extra glue sticks

-A hacksaw

-A rotary tool 

This craft ended up being more intense than I originally thought it would be, but I love how it turned out. First of all, gather enough pencils to cover your can. My can was about 9" in diameter, which ended up being 35 pencils. 

Next, you need to cut the pencils so that they are the same height as the can. I used a hacksaw (very carefully, of course!) to get them all to the right length. I used a sharpie to mark where I needed to cut each pencil. 

Aaron makes a lovely hand model! 

Seeing all of the decapitated pencils almost made me feel bad...

Next, take your hot glue gun and start gluing the pencils onto the can. Make sure they are perfectly vertical, and that the uneven sides are pointed up (i.e. the end that was attacked with a hacksaw). 

Once you get everything glued on, in all likely-hood the pencils aren't quite the same height, and the edges are rough thanks to the hacksaw. This is when having a rotary tool comes in handy!

Believe it or not, Aaron was actually glad I was using his power tools for arts and crafts! The rotary tool had been bought for a specific purpose, and he was glad it was getting used for something else, thus justifying the purchase even further. 

The rotary tool makes a bit of a mess. Make sure you use it over a tarp or newspaper. I actually used a trash bag spread out on the floor. That's also what caught the mess when I used the hacksaw on the pencils. 

Once the pencils get sanded down, you are ready to use your newly decorated can for whatever your heart desires! All mine holds right now is my ruler and a pair of scissors, but it will get more as I organize my craft supplies. 

Ps - I have an etsy shop! http://www.etsy.com/shop/TallieH 

Because you are awesome and reading my blog, here is a special treat - a coupon code for free shipping through the end of September! If you make a purchase, at some point during checkout there will be a box for a coupon code and you should enter: THANKSABUNCH

Bubble Stationary!

For this project, you are encouraged to blow bubbles with your straw - nay, you are REQUIRED. How often are you told that not only is it acceptable to blow bubbles through a straw, but it is necessary? Um, how about never?!

Until today, that is.

With only a few supplies you can make unique and awesome stationary. Plus, you can have a lot of fun doing it.

List of supplies:
-white computer paper
-white envelopes
-small bowls, one for each color
-straw
-food coloring
-1 teaspoon dish washing soap
-1 teaspoon sugar
-1/2 cup of water

Mix the water, sugar, dish soap, sugar and ten or more drops of food coloring together in a bowl. Stir until the sugar is dissolved.

Using your straw, blow bubbles in the mixture! The bubble mixture should extend above the rim of your bowl.

Your should protect your work space. I did not and ended up getting food coloring on the kitchen counter. 

Take an envelope or piece of paper and gently place on top of the bubbles so that the bubbles pop.

Repeat until the paper or envelope is completely covered! Don't forget about the back of your envelopes - they need some bubbly love too. 

It is so bubbly and fun! Once the paper dries, write a letter to someone! Not only do you now have totally unique stationary, but it cost next to nothing. 

Paper Roses

A few weeks ago, I went to a wedding where all of the flowers were made out of paper. It was gorgeous! I decided to try my hand at making some paper flowers myself, and made some paper roses. I did some experiementing using card stock verses regular paper, and I like the look of the card stock flowers better, but you can even use plain printer paper to make these if you don't have any heavier weight paper on hand.

Supplies:
Paper
Scissors
Pen or pencil
Ruler

Why yes, I do have a sparkly ruler with my name on it! Thank you for noticing. :)

Cut a square out of your paper  - here I cut a 4" x 4" square. Next, take your writing utensil and draw a spiral.

Cut out the spiral.

Start rolling the paper, from the outside of the spiral to the inside. Make sure to hold it tight and not let it start to unroll too much. Once you have the paper tightly rolled - let go of it. It will loosen up and taken on a more rose-like shape.

Ta-da! Isn't it pretty? You can use some hot glue on the bottom to secure the rose so it will maintain its shape. Some of the ones I made I glued and some I did not.

These are so easy and fun to make - I now have a desk drawer full of them because I'm not quite sure what I want to do with them. I'll figure something out, I always seem to.

For the flowers made out of white paper, I dipped the tops of them in food coloring and water. I love the effect!

Painted Canvas - Abstract Art

I have had an extra canvas I've been waiting to do something with ever since I made the melted crayon painting. The canvases came together in a two pack and I have been wondering what I could do with them.  My fiancé and I were able to decide on a project we could do together. I love it when he does arts and crafts with me. It doesn't happy very often...

Anyway, he liked the idea of painting the canvas with bright colors with random shapes to add some color to the bedroom. To start this project, we used masking tape to create lines and shapes on the canvas.

Once we both agreed we liked how it looked, we started painting. We used two or more coats of paint in each section until he was happy with how it looked. My fiancé  can be even more of a perfectionist that I am!

Once the paint dried, we peeled the masking tape off to reveal the blank, unpainted canvas beneath. I like how it makes the colors stand out more on their own with a bit of a white border around it.We both like how it looks and it brings a lot of color into the room. Now to find or make a few more things to go on the walls...

Flower Pens

I have a deep and abiding love for flower pens. They are just so happy and fun! Throughout college I used them whenever I could. I figured if I had to take notes, I might as well take notes using a pen I absolutely adored. Personally, I like to make flower pens with a smaller size flower instead of a larger one because it makes it easier to write with, (and less obnoxious when in class...).

I had a bunch of purple and teal flowers that were leftover decorations from my engagement party last weekend that had just been sitting on the dining room table all week...I figured why not turn them into something where I will continue to use and look at them!

Flower pens are super easy to make - and at least to me they are mildly addicting to make because they are so easy!

Supplies: Silk flowers, pens, wire cutters, floral tape, and  baby powder

The first step is to use the wire cutters to cut the stem of the flower so it is shorter than the pen. Some people like to cut the length so that it is nearly as long as the pen, but I prefer to cut the length to be about half of the pen.

Now start wrapping the floral tape around the pen and stem of the flower, securing the flower to the pen.

Once you are done wrapping the pen, cut the floral tape off of the roll. Your pen is probably all sticky (which is gross) right now. To get rid of the stickiness, rub a small amount or baby powder onto the pen. Now only does this get rid of the stickiness of the pen is also makes it smell...fresh? 

But you now have a delightful way to take notes, jot down a grocery list, or do whatever with! Flower pens can also make a great gift. If you make several then put it in a small flower pot filled with beans it looks pretty and it is functional!

I keep all of my pens in a flower pot. As you can see, I already had a few flower pens. I didn't need more, but they are so fun and so easy to make! I just can't help myself!