Rainbow Spring Butterflies

Materials:
*Fabric
*18 gauge wire
*Brown or black pipe cleaners
*Wire cutters
*Round nosed pliers
*Flat nosed pliers
*Scissors
*All purpose adhesive

Directions:
*Print out several pictures of butterflies to use as templates for your butterflies.
*Following the picture, bend the wire to make wings.  18 gauge wire should be malleable enough to bend with your fingers, but if you are looking to add intricate detail (such as the detail in the wings of my purple butterfly), you may need to utilize pliers.  I made four separate wings for each butterfly, but you could also construct two wings from wire or the entire butterfly from a piece of wire to simplify the process.
*Turn your fabric pattern side down.
*Glue the wire frame to the fabric.  If you are putting the butterfly together in multiple pieces, make sure to leave space between the pieces when adhering them to the fabric.
*Once the adhesive has dried, cut out the butterfly's frame, leaving about 1/4" of excess fabric around the edges.
*Glue down the excess fabric so that it covers the exposed wire.  To glue, cut the edge fabric into segments.  As you near a rounded area or point in the frame, cut the segments into smaller and smaller pieces.  For example, if you had something like the wing depicted in the picture below, you might wnat to cut the fabric along the black lines before gluing the fabric down.  Cutting the fabric into small pieces enables you to go around corners without getting bunches or bulges in your fabric.

*Once your wings have dried, arrange them to form the butterfly, then glue them together.
*Add a pipe cleaner to create the butterfly's body.
*Once your butterflies are done, you can stick them to a wall or bookshelf, or make a butterfly garland like the one pictured below:

Goal Board and Goal Journal

     I often find myself with many things that I want to accomplish and a limited amount of time.  Rather than inspiring me to work harder or more efficeintly, having so many things that I want to do and so little time can leave me feeling overwhelmed and paralyzed, which makes it more difficult for me to acheive anything that I want to.  To help me break out of this rut, I decided to make myself a goal board and a goal journal.  In this post I have included instructions for making the goal board, some ideas for decorating a goal journal, and some tips that I have found have made it easier for me to follow through with my goals.  At the end of the post I will talk a little about my goals and my progress and if you have your own goals you are working on that you would like to share, please post them in the comments below.

Materials for the goal board:
*11"x14" or larger picture frame
*Fabric
*Ribbon
*Miniature clothespins
*Paint
*Glitter glue
*All purpose adhesive
*Scissors
*Cardstock

Directions:
*Brainstorm a list of goals that you would like to accomplish. 
*Type up your list of goals and print them onto the piece of cardstock (or hand write them if you prefer).
*Cut the cardstock into rectangles so that each goal is in its own rectangle.  Set aside.
*Paint or otherwise decorate the clothespins as you wish.  For mine, I painted the clothespins white, then aftet the paint dried I added a couple of layers of purple glitter glue.  Once your clothespins are finished, set them aside.
*Choose a fabric that you find visually appealing, perhaps one that you find motivational.  Lay your chosen fabric pattern side down on a clean, flat surface.
*Take the cardboard backing out of your picture frame and place it on top of the fabric (alternately you can use foam board if your frame does not come with cardboard).
*Run all purpose adhesive along the edges of the cardboard on the portion facing upward and adhere the fabric to the cardboard. Make sure to pull the fabric as tight as you can while gluing so that you won’t end up with bunches of fabric on the front side. Let the adhesive dry.
*Cut two lengths of ribbon slightly longer than the width of your fabric covered cardboard.
*Flip the fabric covered cardboard so that the fabric side is facing up.  Align the ribbons across the board in a manner you find pleasing, making sure to leave enough room between the ribbons and between the ribbons and frame so that you will be able to hang the goal cards from the ribbon.
*Glue down the edges of the ribbon, adhering them to the cardboard.  Let dry.
*Once dry, slide the cardoard backing into the picture frame.  Hang your goal cards from the ribbon using your decorated miniature clothespins.

     A goal journal can be a great way to keep track of the progress you have made and a way to hold yourself accountable for acheiving your goals.  For example, I may not feel like eating vegetables every day, but knowing that I will have to write down that I have not met that goal if I don't has so far kept me on track.  Below are some suggestions for ways in which you can decorate a plain notebook to make it into a goal journal.

Ideas for decorating a goal journal:
*Look for or create images that represent your goals that you can use to adorn the cover of your journal.
*Place an image of yourself in the center of the journal cover, with your goals in thought bubbles (as shown above).
*Display your goals in a scene.  For example, if I had wanted a different way to represent my goals pictorially, I could have made an image of myself in a graduation gown hula hooping while holding my novel in one hand and craft supplies in the other.
*Create a collage on the cover using the images you found.
*Write up a list of words related to your goal and make a word collage for your cover, either by printing the words in different fonts or by cutting out the letters for the words from magazines and grouping the letters together to form words.

Tips:
*After coming up with an initial list of goals, write down concrete ways you can achieve these goals and use these concrete steps as the goals you strive toward.  For example, if you want to write a novel, set the goal of allotting a certain amount of time per week or a certain word count per week.  Breaking up your long term goals into smaller, more achievable goals may help you to see the progress you are making and allow you to "check off" goals eariler on, which can make a huge difference as to whether you will stick with your goal.  So while it may take you a long time to write a novel if you are only able to write 2,000 words of it per week, being able each week to achieve the goal of writing 2,000 words gives you something that you have accomplished, rather than having to wait 25+ weeks for the completed draft to have completed a goal.

*If you think that some of the goals you want to achieve will pose a significant challenge to you, make sure to add some easier goals to your goal board as well.  This way, even if you end up getting stuck in one area, you will have other goals you can achieve and it may help you stay positive and motivated.

*Along the lines of the previous tip, focus on the positive.  No one is perfect; we all will have a day or a few when we are sick or busy or burned out and just cannot achieve a particular goal.  Rather than obsess over your missed goal, reflect on the goals that you have achieved and let these successes inspire you to keep going.

My goals:
     When thinking about what I needed to work on, I found four areas of my life which I wanted to focus more attention on: my master's thesis, my novel, my craft blog, and my health.  I came up with seven smaller goals that relate to these four areas of my life: spend at least two hours a week on work for my master's thesis, devote at least two hours per week to revising my novel, come up with a title and cover for my novel, make at least one craft a week (sometimes I make multiple crafts in one week, so I don't always need to make one each week to keep my blog supplied with crafts), create a flyer for my blog, hula hoop 15 minutes a day, and eat a serving of vegetables a day. 
     So far, I have managed to meet the five daily and weekly goals consistently.  I've had the most success with revising my novel and have devoted over five hours to it this week so far, much more than the two hours I had budgeted.  My ongoing struggle has been eating vegetables.  I am not a fan of them and have been forcing myself to eat carrots each night for the past couple of nights simply to achieve this goal.  If anyone has any tasty ways to incorporate vegetables into meals, please share :)
     Do you have any goals you are working on?  How are things going for you?  Let me know in the comments.

Rainbow Twist Dangle Earrings

Materials:
*20 plastic crystals (10 different colors, two of each color)
*10 head pins
*18 jump rings
*2 ear wires
*Wire
*Wire cutters
*Flat nosed pliers
*Round nosed pliers

Directions:
*Arrange the 10 crystal beads in the order in which you would like them to appear on the earrings.
*Cut one head pin in half using wire cutters, then pick up the half containing the pin's "head," setting the other half aside for later.
*Take one crystal bead in the color that you would like to have at the bottom of your earrings and slide it onto a head pin.  Trim the length of the head pin until you are left with only enough length to form a loop.
*Using your round nosed pliers, curl the metal to form a loop.  Slide a jump ring through the loop, then close the loop using the flat nosed pliers.
*Take the other half of the head pin and curl one end to form a loop.  Attach the pin to the jump ring that the other half of the pin was affixed to.
*Slide a crystal in the color that you would like to have second from bottom on your earrings onto the head pin.  Trim the length of the head pin until you are left with only enough length to form a loop.
*Curl to form a loop, then attach the pin to another jump ring.
*Take another head pin, snip off its "head," and cut in half.  Take one of the halves and curl the end, then attach to the jump ring.  Add a bead, trim, curl, and attach to a new jump ring.
*Repeat the above procedure until you have a chain of alternating crystals and jump rings.  With the last bead, rather than attaching the end to another jump ring, attach it to an ear wire.
*Take a piece of wire and curl one end to form a loop.  Create a spiral shape by twisting the wire around the round nosed pliers.
*Stretch the wire as you go to elongate the spirals.
*Once you have the required length of wire twisted into a spiral, separate the spiral section from the remainder of the wire using round nosed pliers.
*Attach the loop at the top of the spiral to the ear wire, then wrap the spiral around the crystal chain.
*Following the above procedure, create your second earring. 

Here's a picture showing how long these earrings end up being.  If these earrings are too long for your liking, try using fewer beads and modify the directions accordingly.

Personalized Shoe Tape Dispenser

Materials:
*Mostly white shoe tape dispenser, such as Scotch Lace High Heel Shoe Designer Desktop Dispenser
*Permanent markers in a variety of colors
*Optional: ribbon, glitter glue, rhinestones, or other embellishments

My undecorated shoe tape dispenser, carefully guarded by my googly eyed pom pom critters.

Directions:
*Determine what design you would like to use on your shoe tape dispenser.  You may find it helpful to print out a couple of pictures of your dispenser and try drawing patterns on it before you begin drawing on the shoe itself.
*Color the shoe as you would like to, then add any embellishments that you want.

Valentine's Day Zombie Stone "Conversation" Hearts

Materials:
*Stone hearts (or hearts from another material such as foam)
*Permanent marker

Directions:
*Look up zombie Valentine's phrases.  Some examples include "I love you to pieces," "I love you this munch," "I love you for your brains," and "my love for you won't die."
*Using your permanent marker, write zombie phrases on your hearts.  You can also add an illustration to the hearts if you would like.
*If you're not interested in zombies, make stone "conversation" hearts using traditional Valentine's Day phrases.

Valentine Zombie (and Non-Zombie) Pom Pom Creatures

Zombie Pom Pom Creatures

Materials:
*Large pink and red pom poms
*Small pink and red pom poms (twice as many as the number of large ones)
*Red and black fabric paint
*Red and pink foam
*Heart stencil or template
*All purpose adhesive
*Scissors
*Pen
*Optional: written or printed zombie valentine saying

Directions:
*Trace heart stencil or template onto the foam, then cut out the heart shape.  This heart will serve as the feet for your pom pom zombie, so size accordingly.
*Glue large pom pom onto the heart shape.
*Glue small pom poms onto the large pom pom to make ears.
*Draw x-shaped dead eyes using the black fabric paint.  If zombie is pink, add a bloodstained mouth using red fabric paint.  Set aside to dry.
*Glue a zombie valentine message to the bottom of your zombie's feet, if desired.

Googly Eyed Pom Pom Creatures

Materials:
*Either a kit for glittery pom pom critters (which is what I used)

OR:

*Large red and pink pom poms
*Googly eyes
*Red and pink foam
*Large heart template
*Small heart template
*Pipe cleaners
*Scissors
*Pen
*All purpose adhesive

Directions (if not using a kit):
*Trace one large heart and two small hearts onto the foam, then cut out the hearts.
*Glue a pom pom to the large heart.
*Cut off two sections of pipe cleaner slightly longer than the length you would like your critter's antennae to be.  Glue a small heart to each length of pipe cleaner.
*Glue googly eyes to the pom pom, then add the antennae.

I came across this song when looking for zombie Valentine's Day ideas and thought I would share it.  It's a fun song for a zombie themed Valentine's Day: The Zombie Song by Stephanie Mabey

Fuse Bead Adorned Silverware

Materials:
*Silverware
*Fuse beads
*Cooking spray
*Aluminum foil
*Cookie sheet
*X-acto knife
*Sandpaper

Directions:
*Cover the cookie sheet with aluminum foil, then spray the aluminum foil with a generous amount of cooking spray.
*Spray the handles of the silverware with cooking spray, then place the silverware on the cookie sheet.
*Arrange fuse beads on top of the handles of the silverware like this:

*As you begin working on the last piece of silverware, turn the oven on to 400 degrees F.
*Once you have finished covering the handles in fuse beads, slide the cookie sheet into the oven.  Cook for about 8 minutes or until the fuse beads have sufficiently melted.
*Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.
*Once cool, peel the silverware off of the aluminum foil.  Rinse off oil residue using dish soap and water.
*Some of your fuse beads may have melted over the side of the silverware.  If this is the case, carefully cut off the excess plastic with an X-acto knife.
*Use sandpaper to smooth out any rough edges.

Make your own colorful fuse bead dinnerware set by adding some fuse bead napkin rings and incorporate a fuse bead bowl into your centerpiece.