Duct Tape Craft: Flower Pens

Spring is in the air and with that comes bright colorful flowers flowers. We all like to receive flowers and would love for them to live forever so that we can enjoy their beauty. Alas, they cannot. However, if you have a pen and some duct tape you are in luck; I can show you how to turn your plain pen into a usable, unique pen that will brighten anyone's day. Let's get started.

Materials:

- Xacto Knife or scissors that are clear of gunk, for a clean cut (a swipe with goo gone does the trick for me)

- Your favorite duct tape color or pattern or both

- Ruler 

- Cutting Mat

- Pen of choice

Once everything is collected, pull out a piece of tape a little longer than the pen. Cut a small corner and cover the flat, skinny end of the pen.

If your pen has a cap, and want to continue it's use, keep it on to measure this next step. If not, you can remove it and measure out the whole length of the pen. Just keep in mind that the cap may not fit back on the pen if you cover the whole pen. I've done it both ways so I do not have a particular preference but, I do like to have the cap on when I give these out as gifts. 

Lay your pen on your cutting mat parallel to your strip of tape. measure and cut where the tape meets the lid (or the line before the tip)

Next, measure and cut the strip 1 inch wide. 

I you are leaving the cap on, keep it on at first so that you can use it as a guide, if not, remove the cap.

 Wrap around the base of the pen. Length wise. 

Now that we have our stem, let get to the petals. This is the time consuming part of our craft. You can use the same color/pattern tape as the stem or another color/pattern for this part.

Pull another strip of tape and cut it into 1 inch squares. I usually do a few strips at a time. 

Now that we have a ton of these little guys, the process should move a little quicker once you get the hang of the fold. 

Turn over your square so that it's sticky side up. 

Turn down one corner until it meets the middle of the square.

Now, do the other corner so that you have a little house. 

One petal done! Turn it over and put it aside and continue until you've you done all your squares.

Once you've finished that little batch, we can start applying our petals to the 'stem'. take one petal and wrap it around the tip of your pen. Watch and make sure there is no "sticky" showing. 

Wrap all your petals around the tip, place the petal tops next to one another, and wrap around overlapping as you go. Your flower will begin to take shape. You can space the petals how ever close or far apart as you desire. There is no right or wrong way when it comes to art. Use your creativity. 

Make more petals as you need them. You can even add other colors/patterns and alternate them! 

Your flower is done when you feel it's done. 

Now you can enjoy your new spring pen or give one to a friend. I love to make these as a gift for teacher appreciation week. I just add a tag and BAM! instant daily gift. Teachers love these because no one can walk off with it, and it adds some fun to their desk. These are always a hit. 

These can also be used as party favors, gifts for girls, a slumber party activity, a "Happy Spring" gift for friends and co-workers and can be tailored to one's personality.  

Can you spot my Slytherin inspired pen?

Happy Crafting friends!

Jade

Duct Tape Craft: Re-purpose From Drab to Fab

Duct tape is used for so many reasons and here in the south it's a running joke that duct tape can be used for everything. Got a hole in your wall? Put a little duct tape on it, it'll be fine. Bumper falling off? Put a little duct tape on it, it'll be fine. Now that duct tape comes in all kinds of different colors and patterns, "put a little duct tape on it, it'll be fine," brings about a whole new meaning. I've put a little duct tape on a some things and have turned plain and ugly to fabulous in a matter of minutes. I've covered shoe boxes in Angry Bird,Super Mario Brothers, checker board, even chrome duct tape and used those instead of buying expensive decorative boxes. They're even tailored to what my little guy likes and sometimes the theme of what's inside the box. The best part is, they have lids! I didn't stop there either, I covered diaper boxes in wrapping paper accented with colored duct tape and used them to hold all those puzzle boxes that just get stacked in a corner, assorted movies that my son can choose from, bowling pins and so much more. Since I am a poor student that is required to get crafty for her clients because I can't buy everything I need, I made a treasure box for my younger clients and stuffed it with meal toys, and other little things my children bring home and never use like decorative pencils, stickers, etc. What I like about this is that the duct tape makes the boxes sturdier so the longevity of life on the box is increased. I can vouch for that, some of these boxes (that are handled by little hands everyday) still look new.

Sorry, these little hands were done letting me take pictures of his stuff. This is a kids shoe box holding all his micro Cars. I used Chrome on the long sides and Black and White Checker Board on the short sides.

The box on the left is an adult shoe box. I used Dark Green to cover the whole bottom half. The lid is the Angry Birds rolls, Traditional Gray, Yellow, and the Dark Green. I just lined the strips side by side to make the horizontal stripes. 

The box on the right is a youth shoe box. I used the red/orange Tye Dye pattern for the lid and Neon Orange for the bottom of the box. There is a picture of what's inside this box cut out and taped to the lid for easy access and organization. 

Here is the diaper box that I covered. The wrapping paper was paper that I bought a few years ago from Old Navy after Christmas. I used it to cover the box and used Dark Blue to hold it all in place. The Yellow tape was used as an accent and to label the box. I stenciled in the stars and colored them with Sharpie. 

The treasure box I made using Tan and Gold. I decorated it with adhesive jewels that were in my craft box. I think I bought them from Hobby Lobby (Walmart carries them too) originally. The box is a youth shoe box. This thing has been through the ringer. I made this in the of Summer 2013 (my son decorated it) and it was in my trunk all summer sliding around, things were piled on top of it, was handled by 7 year old fingers, and has finally found a home in my filing cabinet, for now. This little idea was a gem and has held up impeccably. I am pleased to say, I haven't even lost a jewel. 

My son loves the movie Wreck It Ralph, and wanted to dress up as Fix It Felix at DragonCon last September. My husband and I loved the idea and decided to make his costume. It was pretty easy until it was time for the hammer. There was no way we were going to give our Autistic 6 year old a real hammer. Especially, when he is prone to hit things when he starts having an anxiety attack, or during an episode. I jumped on the internet and found this website that sells nothing but stress balls. Office Playground, they even let you buy just one item instead of in bulk. So of course when we get it our son doesn't want it because it's not the right one. Felix's hammer is gold. So I hit up the duct tape box (I just realized it's not decorated in duct tape) and found the gold. Here's the end product. It's not pretty because it was a quick job under the watchful eye of my son. We quickly learned that foam was the best way to go. Apparently, Felix hits what he fixes and so does our son. He's hit walls, the t.v., and me, I guess I'm broken. 

If you, your spouse or anyone in household, uses cotton balls and Q-tips everyday, and have an old soup can or coffee can, you can wrap it in duct tape and put it on your sink for a trash can. I love mine. It sits in the corner of my sink and no more random Q-tips or cotton balls lying around. My husband no longer leaves them on the sink. 

So I love Bath and Body Works but I only get to go like once or twice a year. Usually, I go around mid- January or February and then again right after Halloween. At these time they are usually having an end of season sale and I take advantage of this. I buy all the hand sanitizer I can get my hands on. These are great for gifts especially teacher appreciation, to put on lunch boxes, go bags, or just to have in the car. Since these little guys are usually decorated in seasonal prints, and my husband didn't appreciate having a pink penguin hanging from his backpack (but liked the smell), I had to do something creative for him. I  decided to cover his in chrome duct tape to make it more manly. So now, I cover them all, it makes giving them as gifts a lot easier. Bath and Body Works usually has the little holder thingys on sale too. We've got a variety to change out as well. 

I hope my experience with duct tape has inspired you to try something new. Next time, I'll post a "How to" on making duct tape flower pens. These are fun to make and everyone loves them. But until then, put a little duct tape on it, it'll be fine. 

Updated: 28 May 2014

Jade

DFTBA

Cricut Craft 2: Glass Etching

I once went with a friend to this antique shop and in the back of the shop this woman personalized glass coffee mugs in under 30 minutes. The first thing I thought was impossible, she'd have to have more time to do some of the designs she was advertising. Well friends I'm here to tell you, it can be done!

I was meandering around Hobby Lobby one day between classes and clinic and let me tell you, you can find beautiful treasures when you have time to look and talk to the employees, who are fabulous by the way. One of the many treasures I found was Armour Etch, it's glass etching cream (yes, way!). It is a small bottle that was about $8 but I used a 40% off coupon (you can pull up on your phone at the register) so it was cheaper. This puppy was the star of my Christmas craft making, nine gifts and I even have some left over. 

Now on to crafting.

You will need:

Armour Etch (I've only used this bottle so I'd recommend this bad boy)

Glassware of your choice (I've used glass from the Dollar Tree, clear and tinted, and Pyrex cookware)

A sponge brush or paint brush

Vinyl to use as your stencil

Cricut and cartridge of choice

1.  Wash and dry your glass. Make sure it is fully dry before applying your vinyl and cream

2. Using your Cricut, find and cut your image. I used the Team Spirit cartridge for the Hog, 50 States, and Plantin School book on the soup glasses and the baking dish. 

When applying your vinyl, it doesn't matter if there are bubbles as long as all the edges and anything that's going to be covered in the Armour Etch is adhered completely to the glass surface. Do not worry about the vinyl coming off afterward. If you use vinyl, it will come off cleanly and very easily but it is only a one time use.

3. Apply cream liberally to the glass surface making sure to keep within the confines of the vinyl. Once your surface is covered, let sit for 10-30 minutes. It's up to you really. I experimented with the times and they all seemed to have the same results. I left it on a little longer for my piece of mind.  

4. Rinse off. Under the facet, using the paint sponge wash off the cream. 

5. Peel off the vinyl, dry, and admire your handy work. 

Yes folks, that easy. I was surprised at how easy it was and so made several custom gifts for my in-laws for  Christmas. My husband got in on the action and etched his Dad a set of black tinted glasses with a piston on each for his shop. My husband designed and hand cut the pistons on his own. So there is no cartridge he cut from. Amazing, that man is.

As you can see the Razorback head is very popular the whole family (and state) loves the Hogs. For the baking dish, I inverted the design and etched it on the back of the dish. It is not on the inside of the dish.

I hope your creative juices are now flowing, happy crafting and DFTBA!

Updated: 28 May 2014 

I was asked a few times on Pintrest and Twitter, how you to the Razorback image because some of the mascots on the Team Spirit cartridge are layered. There is a vinyl option on the cartridge. I whipped out my machine and went through the steps both on the machine itself and through the Craft Room. Here you go:

 On page 59 of the cartridge manual there is an option for vinyl, it's "shift" then the "lockers" image on the image pad. I used that option to cut the image. On the Cricut Craft Room there is a tab that says vinyl. if you click in that then click on the "show shift/lock images it will pop up in the place where the lockers image was. I hope that helps.

Jade

DFTBA

DIY: Angry Birds Game

For the last year, maybe even longer the Angry Birds apps have been on every ipod, ipad, and iphone my family owns. I wanted to find a way for my kids to play the game without having to spend too much on the table top versions. With that I started racking my brain for ways to bring Angry Birds to life. I pondered for days, even took to walking around with Gavin's small stuffed red bird (not sure if they have names). I started planning for his birthday party and it hit me, Angry Birds Bowling! Then, I had a face palm moment when I realized that I could have just hopped on Pintrest to begin with because when I typed Angry Birds in the search box, I quickly saw that my great idea was already done.

You will need:

• Cans (any size you want)
• Dark green spray paint ( I used Valspar Paint + Primer in satin Tropical Foliage it was a little over $3
• Acryllic paint in white, red, and citrus
• Black sharpie
• Ball of choice 

So, I got to work. I gathered several soup cans from under my kitchen sink (yes, I keep anything I can upcycle), pulled out my acrylic paint and after class swung by Home Depot and picked up some spray paint and got to work. On a nice day outside this doesn't take very long. I did this in two and a half hours including, set up and clean up.

After spraying the cans and letting then dry long enough to go inside get a drink of water and grab my "paint sheet," and get all my paints, I was ready to start. Now, I free handed the faces (using the citrus paint) but I'm sure you can find a template online if you want to use one. 

I let those dry for a few minutes while I organized my other colors. I painted on the faces with the white and red and then used the sharpie to outline in black. I tried using black acrylic paint but my hand is just not steady enough to do something that tedious the Sharpie was much faster, and easier. The best part? They were completely dry by the time cleanup was done!

 Super easy, fun craft that kids can do with minimal adult hands.
Happy Crafting!
Jade