Stylish Rain Boot Repair

Do your rain boots have a hole in them?  Here is a fashionable way to patch them up.  Even if they do not have a hole, this craft can be a great way to personalize your boots.

Materials:
*Duct tape of varying colors
*Scissors

Directions:
*Select a design for your rain boots 
*Once you have a design in mind, determine your base color.  Since the sky would make up a lot of my springy scene, I selected blue for my base color
*Using the base color, tape over the entirety of the surface that you want to cover.  Make sure that the tape is well secured in the spots where there is a hole you are trying to cover up
*Cut out shapes from the duct tape and apply on top of the base color in your chosen pattern

Bonus:
*Apply scraps of duct tape left over from cutting out the patterns to a notebook cover to give it a funky new look.  Depending on the sizes of the leftover pieces of duct tape, you may want to cut the pieces into smaller sized pieces before applying to the cover

Sparkly Shoes

Give scuffed up old shoes new life with this glittery craft project

Materials:
*Old pair of shoes
*Glitter
*Glitter bond (what I used) or spray-on adhesive
*Spray-on acrylic coating in gloss finish
*Newspaper

Directions:
*Spread newspaper across your designated work area
*If using a spray-on adhesive, stuff the inside of the shoes with leftover newspaper so as to prevent the adhesive from sticking glitter to the inside of the shoe (if not using spray on adhesive, you may still want to do this before you spray on the acrylic finish
*Apply adhesive to a section of the shoe, then quickly pour on glitter
*Repeat process until the entire shoe is covered in glitter.  Make sure you have not missed any spots.
*Let shoes dry for the recommended amount of time given on the adhesive bottle
*Spray shoes with the acrylic coating.  Let dry.

Before

After

T-Shirt Decorating

I felt compelled to do this post just because I find it really exciting that I have managed to combine my geekiness with my craftiness.  I made this T-shirt for my differential geometry class. 

Materials:
*Plain T-shirt
*Fabric paint
*Fabric (optional)
*Fabric glue (optional)

Directions:
*Visualize the way you would like your T-shirt to look.  It might be helpful to sketch out a design before you start smearing on fabric paint
*Decorate using fabric paint (and fabric, if you so choose).  Let dry for the appropriate amount of time given on your fabric paints before washing.

Miniatures: Part I

Miniature Wall Art

Materials:

*Clay

*Wooden or paper letter

*Scrap of patterned paper

*All purpose adhesive

*Scissors

Directions:

*Shape miniature photo frame out of clay

*Bake frame in oven according to the directions on the package

*Cut out a scrap of patterned paper the same size as the photo frame

*Center the letter on the patterned paper, then glue down

*Glue the back of the photo frame to the patterned paper

Googly Eyed Bears

Materials:

*2 medium sized pompoms

*6 small pompoms

*2 small googly eyes

*All purpose adhesive

Directions:

*Glue the two medium sized pompoms together to form the body of your teddy

*Glue the small pompoms on to form arms, legs, and ears

*Glue on googly eyes

Miniature Memento Board

Same directions as the large sized memento board, minus the frame and done on a smaller scale

Clay and Button Pendants

Materials:

*Clay

*Pretty buttons

*All purpose adhesive

*Needle

Directions:

*Select a button

*Mold clay into a shape you think would work well for your button

*Press the backside of the button into the clay.  Mold the clay around the button until you have a shape you like

*Poke a hole through the clay at the top of the pendant using a needle or another similar item

*Gently pull the button out of the clay.  Take great caution to ensure that you do not distort the clay in a way such that it will not fit back into the clay

*Bake the clay according to the directions on the package

*Once the clay has finished baking, glue the button to the clay

Childhood Crafts

My little "robot" after being freed from the time capsule

     On Sunday, I opened a time capsule with my sister and a good friend of ours.  It had been five years since we had constructed our time capsule, the longest we had managed to keep a time capsule for.  Upon opening the time capsule, I found this little guy inside.  While I have always been somewhat crafty, it was a reminder of just how crafty I was as kid.  As a tribute to my childhood craftiness, my craft this week is my little “robot.”

Materials:

*Wooden bead

*Golf tee

*Pipe cleaner

*Googly eyes

*Thread

*Small piece of clay with a hole through the center

*Small wooden spool

*2 round wooden pieces

*Small nail

*Wire cutters

*Hot glue

Directions:

*Place the hole in the wooden bead over the golf tee.  Glue the pieces together.

*Glue a wooden circular piece to the top of the golf tee

*Trim a pipe cleaner to the appropriate length to form arms for the “robot” and glue on the pipe cleaner arms

*Glue googly eyes to the wooden bead to form the “robot’s” eyes

*Affix a wooden circular piece to the bottom of the wooden spool

*Construct a small, rectangular piece of clay with a hole through it large enough to thread a piece of string through.  Bake the clay according to the directions it comes with

*Cut a length of thread at least 1’ in length.  Glue one end of the string to the golf tee, at the point where the golf tee begins to widen.  Slide the other end of the string through the clay piece and glue on

*Slide the nail into the wooden spool.  The head of the nail should be able to rest flatly against the spool.  If this is not the case, trim the nail until it fits

*Center the nail inside the circular base of the “robot.”  Glue the nail to the circular base, then let dry

*Place the “robot” on top of the spool, with the nail going inside the spool.  Pull the string and your “robot” should spin

My little "robot" in action!

Have any memorable childhood crafts?  Feel free to share them with me at hathaway.amber@gmail.com or describe them in the comments section below.

Card Book

     During the holiday season, I often receive a number of cards.  Having a limited amount of time, I can't always come up with beautiful and unique ways to display each one.  This album provides a simple yet attractive way to display 10-20 cards

Materials:

*12”x12” square of chipboard or heavy cardboard

*2 12”x12” sheets patterned paper w/ the same pattern

*2 sheets 8½” x11” white paper

*All purpose adhesive

*10-20 lengths of thin ribbon, each about 9” long

*Scissors

Directions:

*From the sheet of chipboard, cut one 3”x9” piece of board, then two 6”x9” sections

*Trim about 1.5” off the top of each sheet of patterned paper.  Overlap the two sheets of paper, then arrange the pieces of chipboard on the paper in the following manner:

*Glue together the overlap between the sheets of paper, then glue down the chipboard pieces.  Let dry

*Cut off the corners of the paper, then glue down the edges of the paper. Let dry

*Overlap two 8½”x11” sheet of paper to cover the inside of the book.  Glue down paper, but leave the paper covering the top and bottom portions of the spine of the book unglued.  Let dry

*Arrange lengths of ribbon along the spine (however many you can fit will depend on the width of the ribbon), gluing the tops and bottoms of the lengths of ribbon underneath the paper covering the spine. Let dry

*Hang cards from the ribbon

Much thanks to my amazing boyfriend, Brian, who helped me out with this craft project :)