Zombie Altered Cameo Necklace

     Looking for a gift for your undead sweetheart, pal, or maybe for yourself?  Why not give them a cameo necklace - with a twist!

A comparison of the modified and original cameos.  While the original is fine, I'm rather partial to the zombified version.

Materials:

*Faux cameo pendant
*White acrylic paint
*Red acrylic paint
*Black acrylic paint
*Brown acrylic paint
*Green acrylic paint
*Paint for hair (I used yellow and gold, in addition to brown)
*Paint for clothing (I used pink)
*Fine tipped paintbrush (I used a nail art brush)
*Acrylic sealer
*Necklace chain

Directions:

*Mix together paints until you reach a shade that is close to the color of a zombie's complexion.  For a light skinned zombie, you'll want to use mostly white, with a little black and green.  For a darker skinned zombie, you may want to use brown as your base color instead of white, although you may want to add, in addition to the black and green, a little white for pallor.

*Paint the face, neck, and any other exposed skin of the cameo using your zombie skin colored paint mixture.

*Combine colors until you reach the desired hair color for your cameo.  I mixed together yellow, brown, and gold for a dark blond color.

*Paint the cameo's hair and eyebrows.

*Paint the cameo's eyes white.  You may also want to paint any pearl jewelry white, although you could choose other colors for the jewelry as well.

*Paint the cameo's clothing a color of your choice.  I went with pink because blood drips would show up well on pink, but any light color should work for that purpose.

*If your cameo has flowers or other surrounding details, paint those in the color of your choice.  I opted to use a blood red color for the roses, which I made by adding small amounts of black and brown paint to red paint.  I also painted the leaf green.

*Once the base colors are dry, it's time to add some blood.  I made crimson paint by mixing a little black and brown into red paint.  I painted her lips, added a trickle of blood dribbling down the side of her face, and then added some drips of blood along her necklace and across her dress.

*Add in any missing details.  I used brown paint to add some detail to her hair.

*Coat pendant with an acrylic sealer to keep paint from chipping.

*Place pendant on a necklace chain and now you have a stylish zombie accessory to wear.

Fabric Table Runner

     Now that you've got your anatomical heart coasters, what's the next thing a classy zombie needs to host a dinner party?  A table runner, of course.  Unfortunately I did not have zombie themed fabric on hand that was appropriately sized for my table, but my zombie captors, er, associates, assured me this tarot card themed fabric would do.  After all, magic is one of the means by which the living become the undead.

Materials:

*Strip of fabric that is at least as long as your table and slightly wider than you would like the table runner to be
*Scissors
*Needle and thread or sewing machine

Directions:

*Once you've cut your strip of fabric to the desired size (leaving a little extra fabric around the edges for hemming), fold one edge over by about 1/4" or so and sew down to hem that edge.

*Repeat with the remaining edges.

Hey Day Challenge Week III Round Up

     We've made it through three weeks of the Hey, Day Challenge!  I feel a little accomplished.  In this video series, I challenge myself to try out activities relating to various pages from the book Hey, Day! by Clea Hantman and Keva Marie, a day book filled with things to "do, make, and ponder."  I'm not covering every page in the book, but rather about 10 per month.
     If you've been meaning to follow my Hey, Day Challenge video series, but haven't had a chance to, here's a round up of all the videos that aired between January 12th and January 19th.  I've included a brief description of each video so you can determine whether the videos sound like they're up your alley.

Be a Vegetarian for a Day (Featuring a Veggie Burrito Recipe)

     If you're looking for a new vegetarian recipe, check out this video.  In it, Brian shows us how to make vegetarian burritos.

Constructing Sentences from Random Words

     In this video, I choose words at random from five different books and construct sentences using them.

     Stay tuned because we have a fun craft tutorial coming out on Tuesday.  Also, since I'm only releasing one video this week, I may skip a week with the round ups and do weeks IV and V together, so if you don't see a round up post from me next week, that's probably why.

Anatomical Heart Coasters

     (Zombie) Valentine's Day is less than a month away.  While zombiesv are typically depicted as mindless, consumed by their biological imperative to eat human flesh, for at least some of our undead chums, the historical portrayal falls short.  Sure, a zombie's gotta eat, but plenty are appalled by their kin who tear humans limb for limb in public, no less.  For the next few weeks, I'll be showing you how to set up for a classy zombie dinner party.
     Nothing says "I'm a fancy adult" like coasters.  I mean, if you have coasters, their presence insinuates that you have wooden furniture that's worth preserving.  These anatomical heart coasters are perfect for the zombie who wants to make it clear that they are different from their slovenly counterparts.  Even if you're not a member of the undead, these coasters can be a nice touch to a Halloween or Valoween party, and could be nice for everyday use too, if you like a Gothic aesthetic.
     If cutesy is more your Valentine's aesthetic, keep your eye out for my February Hey, Day videos.  We'll be planning a Valentine's party, with plenty of pink and red table decor.

Materials:

*Matte photo paper
*Gold gel pen
*Ruler
*Self-adhesive laminating sheets
*Cork sheet
*Box cutter
*Photo safe adhesive
*Scissors

Directions:

*I found this anatomical heart freely available for use from the Graphics Fairy.  Import it into the software program of your choice that you use for photo editing.

*Add some extra white space around the edges using your photo editing program to make the image into a square.  Add a thin black border around the edge of the square.

*Print four copies of the image, each one 4"x4".

*Using a ruler or other straight edge and your gold gel pen, draw a thin gold border along the interior of the black square on each image.

*Cut out the squares.

*Place two squares on the self-adhesive laminating sheet, making sure that each square has plenty of laminating material around its edges.

*Cut out the squares, leaving a border of laminating material that is about 1/4" thick around each edge.

*Cut off the corners of the laminating material.

*Fold down the edges of the laminating material along the back of the photo one at a time.  Use the ruler to smooth the edges.

*Using a box cutter or X-acto knife, cut out a 4"x4" cork square.

*Glue the photo to the cork board.

Hey, Day Challenge Week II Round Up

     Two weeks of the Hey, Day Challenge down, only 50 more to go (assuming I can stay on top of things).  In this video series, I challenge myself to try out activities relating to various pages from the book Hey, Day! by Clea Hantman and Keva Marie, a day book filled with things to "do, make, and ponder."  I'm not covering every page in the book, but rather about 10 per month.
     If you've been meaning to follow my Hey, Day Challenge video series, but haven't had a chance to, here's a round up of all the videos that aired between January 5th and January 11th.  I've included a brief description of each video so you can determine whether the videos sound like they're up your alley.

DIY Tradition

     A more appropriate title for this video would be "Blondie Brownie Recipe," because that's basically what this video is.  The point of this Hey, Day Challenge is to create a tradition, and since January 22nd is Blonde Brownie Day, I figured I would see if I could adapt Brian's "3-2-1 Brownie" recipe to make a blonde brownie in a mug.  If you want to bypass the intro and get right to the recipe, you can skip to the 2:22 minute mark.
     If you like blonde brownies, keep this recipe handy and celebrate Blonde Brownie Day with a blonde brownie in a mug.  Also, if you like the Brownie in a Mug Recipe Mug featured in this video, you can find it here.

DIY Pandora's Box (Now with 100% Less Devastation)

     In this video we DIY what the authors of "Hey, Day!" call a Pandora's Box, which is basically a time capsule.  I also talk about the previous time capsules I've made and go on a tangent about the time I got lost at UMaine when I was a kid.  The intro is honestly my favorite part of this video, but that's probably because these are my memories and stories, so if you want to skip to the crafting, it starts around the 6:30 minute mark.

Bad Jokes

     This video is me telling a bunch of bad jokes.  If you like bad jokes, you may enjoy this video.  Feel free to share your own bad jokes with me, if you'd like.

Horror Pocket Pals: Georgie from It Plushie

     My sister loves Stephen King's It, so I decided to make her a Georgie plushie for part of her Christmas present.  Here's how you can make a Georgie plushie for the Stephen King fans in your life.

Materials:

*Felt sheets in peach, yellow, brown, blue, and red
*Sewing needle
*Thread in peach, yellow, blue, red, and black
*Thin wire
*Buttons
*Stuffing

Directions:

*Print out a copy of the template given below:

*Cut out two copies of the body template from peach felt, two copies of the rain jacket, one with a cutout for the face and one without, from yellow felt, two copies of each rain boot from yellow felt for a total of four rain boots, two copies of the pants from blue felt, one copy of the hair from brown felt, and two copies of the balloon from red felt.

*Sew the hair to one of the body pieces, as shown below, using brown thread.

*Stitch a straight line down the center of the rain jacket using black thread for the closure point.  I forgot to do this until later, but it's probably easiest to do it now, before you sew the jacket on.

*Sew on the rain jacket using yellow thread, as shown below.

*Add button eyes and a mouth using black thread.

*Sew on the pants and rain boots using blue thread.

*For the back of the plushie, sew the jacket to the other peach felt template using yellow thread.

*Sew on the pants and rain boots using blue thread, like you did for the front of the plushie.

*Place the two halves of the plushie wrong sides together and sew together using a blanket stitch.  You can do it all using one color, which will mean the stitches will be pretty visible, or sew each part of the plushie using the corresponding thread color, as I did.  Leave an opening in the plushie's head for stuffing.

*Add stuffing and sew closed.

*For the balloon, start sewing the two balloon pieces together using red thread and a blanket stitch.  Leave an opening for stuffing.

*Add a little stuffing and sew closed.

*Take some thin wire and slide it into the end of the balloon to form the balloon's string.  Wind the end of the wire around the plushie's hand.

Hey, Day Challenge Week I Round Up

     One week of the Hey, Day Challenge down, only 51 more to go (assuming I can stay on top of things).  In this video series, I challenge myself to try out activities relating to various pages from the book Hey, Day! by Clea Hantman and Keva Marie, a day book filled with things to "do, make, and ponder."  I'm not covering every page in the book, but rather about 10 per month.
     If you've been meaning to follow my Hey, Day Challenge video series, but haven't had a chance to, here's a round up of all the videos that aired between December 29th and January 4th.  I've included a brief description of each video so you can determine whether the videos sound like they're up your alley.

Introduction and Future Files Part I

     This video, which aired on January 2nd, provides an overview of the Hey, Day Challenge and also introduces one of the recurring projects in the book Hey, Day!  The Future Files are a way the authors are trying to get people thinking about what they would like to do in the future.  This month's edition of the Future Files called for participants to clip out fashion, beauty, and hair styling inspiration.  Later Future Files (not mentioned in this video, but will be handled in their respective months) include career ideas, travel plans, and places to live, among other things.

Writing an Ode in Five Minutes (Brian Picks My Topic)

     The January 3rd page in the book Hey, Day! calls on readers to write an ode.  To make it into a challenge, I asked Brian to give me a prompt and then allowed myself only five minutes to compose the ode.  In this video I also read one of my high school odes and go on a tangent about the cell phones I've had.

Communicating with My Plants?!?

     This video, which aired on January 4th, is probably the silliest of the bunch.  The book contains a spell you can cast to communicate with your pet.  However, since I don't have a pet, I decided to modify it to try to communicate with one of my spider plants, Spidey.

     Unfortunately, aside from a little collaging in the first video, none of this week's videos called for much crafting.  However, we'll be getting to crafting before the end of the month, so stay tuned!

Easy Earring Holder

     Looking for a way to store your earrings?  This earring holder is easy to make and inexpensive.  It's also a good way to reuse a cardboard box you in all likelihood already have on hand.  The lid of the box can be used for storing lots of stud earrings, while the inside of the box can hold larger earrings or other jewelry items.

Materials:

*Cardboard box with lid (whether the lid is a flap closure or a detachable lid)
*Thumbtack
*Optional: paint or other decorating supplies

Directions:

*Punch holes in the lid of the cardboard box using a thumbtack.  Make sure that the holes are spaced far enough apart that your earrings can fit side by side.

*Optional: you can paint or decorate the box if you'd like.  My box was already a nice shade of blue, so I decided to leave it as it was.

*Arrange your stud earrings in the holes on the lid.  Place longer earrings or other jewelry items inside the box.

Also, if you haven't seen it already, my first Hey, Day video went live today on YouTube.  If you want to follow that series, you may want to either follow my Facebook page, where I will be posting about it, or my YouTube channel.  Also, if people would be interested, I could do an end of the week round up post containing all the Hey, Day videos from the week, but I don't want to overwhelm you with content if that's not what you're interested in.  I've included the first video in the series below, in case you wanted to check it out.

New Year, New Projects!

Ringing in the new year with my partner in crime, Brian

     Hi everyone, I hope 2020 is off to a good start for you!  I wanted to take a moment to give you a sneak peek at what you can expect to see from Amber's Craft a Week blog this year.
     First up, I've started a video series, which I'm Calling the Hey, Day Challenge.  Basically, we'll be taking a trip back to 2001, going through various activities inspired by the book Hey, Day! Super-Amazing, Funk-da-crazing, Ultra-glazing Things to Do, Make and Ponder Every Day of the Year by Clea Hantman and Keva Marie.  Unfortunately, I don't have enough time to film a video every day, so we'll be going through select pages from the book, with a target goal of about 10 projects a month, plus a monthly roundup video.  Some of what we'll be doing are are crafts, some are writing exercises, and others are just random activities that seemed interesting.  The first video goes live tomorrow, so keep your eyes on my Facebook page or YouTube channel for the launch.  I don't know if I'll be able to keep this up for all 12 months, but I'll make as many videos as I can.
     Note that the Hey, Day Challenge is separate from my craft blog, so you can still expect to be getting weekly blog posts (assuming life doesn't get too hectic) with the usual sort of crafting fare.  My first craft post of the new year will also go live tomorrow, so stay tuned for that as well.
     Speaking of life getting hectic, Brian and I are planning on getting married in May.  Since we don't have a ton of money, I'm planning on doing a lot of the decorating myself, so hopefully I'll have a bunch of wedding DIY ideas to share with you.  I've already filmed a DIY wedding invites video, which I plan to post later this month, and have filmed parts of the "dress" video  (Dress is in quotes because it's not a traditional wedding dress; I made an overskirt to convert one of my rompers into a ballgown, of sorts).  That video, like most of the wedding craft posts, probably won't be coming out until after the wedding is over, but if everything goes as planned, you can expect to see some wedding blog posts starting in June.  Our wedding is Alice in Wonderland themed, so the DIYs may not all be applicable to a general wedding, but hopefully they will give you some ideas about how you can save money by doing your own decorating and if you're planning on throwing an Alice in Wonderland party, then they should be perfect for you.
     Since my birthday is literally a week after our intended wedding date, I won't be hosting a birthday party this year.  However, I have years' worth of themed birthday party ideas in my blog's archives, so if you're looking for some party ideas, you can always check there.
     I have a ton of things on my plate right now (have I mentioned I'm also working on finishing up my Ph.D.?), so I'm a little nervous, but also excited to see what 2020 has in store.  Wishing you all the best for this new year!

Amber