The Rug that Rules

I was looking through a craft book a little while ago when I came across an outdoor rug made from wooden slats.  The wooden slats reminded me of rulers and, being the math geek that I am, I decided that it would be cool to make a rug out of rulers.

Materials:
*12 rulers (or more if you would like a wider rug)
*Ribbon
*All purpose adhesive

Directions:
*Arrange your rulers as you wish.
*Loop ribbon through the holes in the tops of the rulers.  Knot the ends of the ribbon so the rulers cannot slip off.
*Carefully flip over the rug and two glue lengths of ribbons across the rulers, one toward the top of the rulers and one toward the bottom.  This will help to stabilize your rug so that your rulers will stay in place.

Personalized Magnetic Paper Dolls

When I was a kid, I had a set of Edwardian era paper dolls that I enjoyed playing with and sometimes my mom would draw paper dolls for me.  I used to wish that I could have a paper doll version of myself, though.  Here is a way to provide your child or another individual in your life with a personalized paper doll.  Also, by magnetizing the pieces it may make it easier for your child to play with (I always found the paper tabs annoying) and easier to keep track of all of the pieces.

Materials required for both options 1 and 2:
*Printable magnet sheets (preferably without a gloss finish, especially if the intended recipient is young, since glossy images will scratch more easily)
*Camera
*Computer and printer
*Scissors
*Sheet of printer paper

Materials required for option 2 only:
*Pencil or pen
*Markers, glitter, and other imbellishments

Directions:
*Photograph the individual you intend to make a paper doll of.  If you are planning on including shorts and T-shirts in the paper doll wardrobe, it works best if you photograph your subject wearing a swimsuit or shorts and a tank top.

Option 1: Photographed clothes
*Next photograph your subject wearing a variety of different outfits that you would like to include in the paper doll wardrobe. 
Note: This option works well for shorts, T-shirts, and billowy clothing since the subject will not need to replicate their original position exactly for these garments to fit the paper doll, but can be quite tricky with long pants or long sleeved shorts.  To make the jeans fit my paper doll, I widened the legs of the jeans using Paint.  As another option, you could leave white space around the garments, as I did with the shoes, so that it won't matter if the garment would not fit the paper doll body exactly.
*As a test, print the paper doll and the clothing garments onto a sheet of paper.  Cut out the garments and make sure that they fit the doll.  If they do not fit, try some of the remedy techniques mentioned above or try photographing your subject again.
*Once you are certain that the clothes will work for the doll, print out the doll and clothing onto the printable magnet sheets.
*Cut out the doll and garments and your doll will be ready to use.

Option 2: Draw your own clothes
Note: This option is easier than option 1 and can give your intended recipient an avenue for creative expression.
*Print out the photo of the subject onto a printable magnet sheet.
*Print another photo of the subject onto a sheet of printer paper.
*Cut out the photo on the printer paper.
*Place the photo onto a printable magnet sheet and trace around the outline of the subject to create garments that will be the right size for the doll.
*Decorate the clothes as you wish.  If you are giving this doll to a child, s/he might get a kick out of designing her/his ideal wardrobe for her/his paper doll.

Clothes Dyeing

Have a plain colored shirt that you would like to liven up or shirt that has started to fade?  Here's a way to give bland or old clothes a new life.

Materials:
*Light colored shirt or other garment
*Fabric dye
*Salt

Directions:
*Fill a three quart saucepan with water, 2/3 cups salt, and a few drops of fabric dye.  Stir until the salt has dissolved.
*Heat water on the stovetop until it is boiling, then reduce heat.
*Put the shirt or other garment that you are dyeing into the water.
*Stir constantly for half an hour.  This step is essential if you want even coloring.  I did not stir constantly and I ended up with uneven dyeing, but I liked the end result anyway.
*After the shirt has been in the dye for 15 minutes, turn off the burner.
*At the end of the 30 minutes, remove the shirt from the dye solution.  Rinse with warm water, then wash in your washing machine.
Note: There are a number of different dyeing techniques, each rquiring varying levels of effort and difficulty.  This is the one that I chose to use, but there are many others you can choose from, some of which you can find here.

Melted Crayon Art 2.0 and Splattered Stationary

I had a lot of fun making melted crayon art last week and I really liked the end result, but I saw a lot of potential for improvement in this art.  I decided that I wanted to make another canvas, one that required more imagination and creativity, and this is what I came up with.

Materials:
*64 pack of crayons
*8 1/2 x 11 canvas
*Hot glue gun and glue
*Hair dryer
*Ribbon
*Glitter glue in a color of your choice
*Large paintbrush
*Small paintbrush

Directions:
*To achieve the ombré background effect, begin by painting the entire canvas with a coating of glitter glue.  Let dry.
*Once the first coat has dried, paint the bottom half of the canvas with another coating of glitter glue.
*After the second coat has dried, paint the bottom third of the canvas with another coat of glitter glue.
*Finally, paint a thin strip at the very bottom of the canvas with a coat of glitter glue. 
*When your canvas has finished drying, arrange your crayons on the canvas in a color pattern you find pleasing.  Make sure to set aside the white crayon, which you will need later.
*Using the hot glue gun, glue the crayons with the tips facing down.  Make sure you are gluing the crayons to the lightly colored top portion of the canvas so that you do not end up covering your color gradation.  You should end up with something like this:

*Cover your work area with newspaper to prevent melted wax from adhering to your area.  Lean the canvas against a wall.
*Turn your hair dryer on high heat and aim at the middle of the crayons.  Run the heat over the crayons until they have melted to your liking.  Be careful, as some of the wax may splatter a little.
*Once the crayons have melted as much as you wanted them to, let them sit for some time so the wax will resolidify. 
*Once the crayons have hardened some, break the white crayon in half.  Peel the paper off the bottom portion of the crayon and drop it into a ceramic bowl.
*Turn your hairdryer on high heat and hold it over the crayon until the crayon has melted.
*Dip the small paintbrush into the melted crayon and fling the white wax at the canvas.  Repeat until you are satisfied with your canvas.  If the crayon begins solitifying before you are finished, turn the hairdryer on it for a moment until the wax has melted again.
*When you have finished splatter painting with the white crayon, let your artwork sit until the wax has fully solidified.
*Glue a piece of ribbon to the back of the canvas to serve as a hook from which you can hang the canvas.

Bonus Craft: Splattered Stationary

This craft idea resulted from a failed craft attempt.  I was trying to make bubble stationary, but when I pressed the bubbles onto the stationary the resulting color was not dark enough for me.  I did not want to dump out the solution, so here is what I ended up doing.

Materials:

*Food coloring

*Dish soap

*Sugar

*Water

*Heavyweight white paper

*Plastic spray bottle

Directions:

*Combine a couple drops of food coloring, a squirt of dish soap, a small amount of sugar, and some water in a spray bottle.

*Cover your work area in newspaper to prevent staining your furniture etc. with food coloring.

*Standing a foot or so from your paper, spray with the solution in your spray bottle.  Make sure not to spray too much liquid in one area or it may cause your paper to wrinkle. 

*Once you have created a pattern you like, set your paper aside to dry.

Looking for more creative inspiration?  Check out my latest addition to my stylish storage containers blog post.

Melted Crayon Art

I've seen melted crayon art online before and I thought it was really cool, so I finally got around to making it.  I'm including a link to the original post I worked from in addition to my own, slightly modified directions.

Materials:
*Two 24-packs of crayons
*8 1/2 x 11 canvas
*Hot glue gun and glue
*Hair dryer
*Ribbon

Directions:
*Arrange crayons along the canvas in a color pattern you find pleasing.  You will not need to use all 48 crayons
*Using the hot glue gun, glue the crayons to the canvas, with the tips facing down.  You should end up with something like this:

*Cover your work area with newspaper to prevent melted wax from adhering to your area.  Lean the canvas against a wall
*Turn your hair dryer on high heat and aim at the middle of the crayons.  Run the heat over the crayons until they have melted to your liking.  Be careful, as some of the wax may splatter a little
*Once the crayons have melted as much as you wanted them to, let the art work sit until the wax has cooled
*Glue a piece of ribbon to the back of the canvas to serve as a hook from which you can hang the canvas

Photo Magnets

Materials:
*Small pictures
*Large clear flat backed glass marbles
*Scissors
*Pen
*Mod Podge
*Paintbrush
*Magnetic backing
*Strong adhesive

Directions:
*Place flat backed glass marble on top of your picture and move it around until you can see the portion of the picture that you want to see through the marble
*Trace around the marble
*Cut out the picture
*Using your paintbrush, spread a very thin layer of Mod Podge across the back of the marble
*Place the picture on the back of the marble.  Set aside to dry
*Once dry, glue a piece of magnetic backing to the back of the marble.  Even if you have self-adhering magnetic backing, it may not be strong enough to support the weight of the marble

If you have a magnetic photo frame . . .
*Pick up some smaller clear flat backed glass marbles.  Using the above procedure, create magnetic captions, images, and other decorations

Fireworks Earrings

Materials:
*22 headpins
*24 fake pearls of various colors
*2 ear wires
*Round nosed pliers
*Flat nosed pliers
*2 jump rings
*Krazy glue or other strong adhesive
*Wire cutters

Directions:
*Cut each head pin in half, keeping the half that contains the pin's "head"
*Slide a fake pearl onto each head pin
*Using pliers, curve wires slightly
*Create a loop at the top of each head pin and clamp onto a jump ring.  You should end up with 11 head pins on each jump ring
*Attach ear wires to jump rings
*Spread out the head pins around the jump ring and very carefully glue each one in place. Let dry
*Glue a pearl in the center of each earring covering the jump ring