DIY Pokemon GO AR Trading Cards

     One of my favorite features of Pokemon GO is the AR (augmented reality), wherein the program superimposes an animated image of the Pokemon you've clicked on over the image of your surroundings displayed by your phone's camera.  It enables you to take all sorts of cutesy or humorous photos with your favorite Pokemon.  But what can you do with these photos once you have them?  Why not fashion your own trading cards using your AR images?

Materials:
*Printed AR Pokemon photos
*Letter and number stickers (I used my Silhouette CAMEO to cut out the letters and numbers.  It was cheaper than buying packs of stickers, but gluing down every letter took quite a while)
*Blue cardstock
*Red cardstock
*White cardstock
*Black cardstock
*Mounting tape and/or all purpose adhesive
*Scissors
*Pencil

Directions:
*Attach printed photos to blue cardstock and then trim off the excess cardstock around the photo.

*Using stickers (or letter cut outs), write the Pokemon's number in the Pokedex and its name across the top (or bottom) of the photo (see e.g below).

*Print out the Pokeball template given below and cut out the pieces.

*On black cardstock, trace the large circle shape.

*On red cardstock, trace the shape corresponding to the upper half of the Pokeball.

*On white cardstock, trace the shape corresponding to the lower half of the Pokeball and the smaller circle.

*Cut out the various cardstock shapes and assemble the red and white cardstock pieces over the black circle to create the Pokeball shape.  Glue down the pieces.

*Glue the Pokeball to the center of the back side of the card.

*Using stickers (or letter cut outs), write Pokemon along the top of the Pokeball, curving with the shape, and GO at the bottom of the Pokeball.  Now you have your very own Pokemon GO trading cards!

Further tips and ideas: if you have friends or family members who are also fans of the game, you can exchange cards with one another to get your favorite Pokemon/complete your Pokedex, or you can give them out as gifts.  Wondering where to store your new trading cards?  Find a plain photo album that will fit your cards (mine I printed on 6 x 4 photo paper and then bought 12 x 12 sheets separated into 6 x 4 segments) and decorate it to look like a trading card book.

Creative Storage Solutions

     The beginning of a new year is a great time to take stock of what you have and get your house in order.  Here are some clever ways to clean up the clutter.

Shoe Organizer Makeup Storage

     Shoe organizers aren't just for shoes.  Use them to store makeup, hair accessories, socks and slippers, and any number of other items.

Jewelry Box Nail Polish Storage

     Jewelry boxes can be a good place to store nail polish and nail art tools.

Food Container Office Supply Storage

     You may already have seen my posts on organizers made from aluminum cans, ice cream tubs, pickle jars, and oatmeal tubs.  Here are some other food containers you can use to organize your space.

     This office supply container is an Andes Mint container I decorated with SpongeBob duct tape.

     Use the bottom of an empty cardboard soda 12 pack to hold colored pencils, rulers, or other supplies.  You could decorate it if you'd like, but no decorating is necessary.

Floss Organizer Perler Bead Storage

     Floss organizers are the perfect size for storing separate colors of Perler beads.  I like using the big compartments on the end for holding yet unsorted colors.

New Year's Confetti Popper

     Here's a great way to use up some of the tissue paper left over from opening presents this holiday season.

Materials:
*Tissue paper
*Toilet paper tube
*X-acto knife
*Pencil
*Wrapping paper or more tissue paper
*Twist ties (optional)
*Ribbon
*Scissors
*All purpose adhesive
*Tape

Directions:
*Cut long, thin segments from tissue paper in your chosen colors.  You won't need a ton of tissue paper, especially if you're using lots of colors, so by taking a thin strip from the edge you can still reuse the rest of the tissue for gift packaging if you'd like.

*Cut long fringes into the bottom of the tissue paper.

*Cut horizontally across the fringes to create confetti.

*Repeat the above process until you have enough confetti to fill the toilet paper tube.

*Take the tube and draw a line around the middle of the tube.

*Using your X-acto knife, cut most of the way along the line you drew.  You don't want to cut the tube in half or so much so that you lose structural integrity, but you need only leave a very small amount of cardboard intact to achieve this.

*Stuff the tube with the confetti and then glue tissue paper to the ends to keep the confetti from falling out.

*Wrap the tube in either tissue paper or very thin wrapping paper.  If the paper is too thick, it won't tear when you're trying to break open the popper.

*Tie off the ends.  I used twist ties first and then covered them with ribbons, but you could go straight to the ribbons if you'd like.

Felt Soda Bottle Ornament

     Are you or one of your loved ones as much of a soda fiend as I am?  These felt soda bottle ornaments make a great gift or addition to your tree and are inexpensive, customizable, and relatively easy to make.

Materials:
*Felt in the colors you'd like your soda bottle and label to be
*Needle and thread
*All purpose adhesive
*Sequins or other embellishments (optional)
*Metallic markers or chalk
*Stuffing

Directions:
*Resize the below template to the desired size and print.

*Trace two copies of the soda bottle onto the felt in the color that you would like your soda bottle to be and one copy of the label onto the color of felt you would like the label to be.  Cut out the bottle and label shapes.

I forgot to take a pic of the shapes before I decorated the label, so that's why it's already decorated in this pic.

*Decorate the label as you see fit.  I haven't done much embroidery before, but figured now was as good a time as any to try my hand at it.  I didn't appropriate adequate space for everything I wanted, as you can see, so some of the lettering/designs ended up getting squished together, as you can see.  If embroidery seems intimidating, but you'd like to add letters to your label, fabric paint could be a good alternative.

*Glue the label onto one of the bottle shapes.

*Place the two bottle shapes together, label side facing out, and stitch together using the blanket stitch.  Leave an opening at the bottom for adding stuffing.

*Add stuffing and sew closed.

*Tie some thread to the top of the bottle to create a loop for hanging up your ornament.

DIY Pet Stocking

     Include your favorite four footed family member in your holiday celebrations with this adorable mini stocking.  (Looking to make a full sized stocking?  See this post.)  This tutorial also works for a stocking ornament.  For the record, Beans is not actually my cat; he belongs to my brother and his girlfriend, but as Beans's "aunt," it is my duty to spoil him.  Don't tell him, but he's getting a l-a-s-e-r p-o-i-n-t-e-r for Christmas :).

Materials:
*Red felt
*White felt
*Needle and thread
*Fabric paint or glitter glue
*All purpose adhesive
*Metallic marker or chalk

Instructions:
*Draw a stocking shape or find a free printable stocking template online and size to your desired size, then print.
*Trace two copies of the stocking shape onto the red felt and cut out.
*Trace only the upper part of the stocking onto white felt to create the name band for the stocking.  Cut out.

*Glue the white parts of the stocking to the top of the red parts.  Let dry.

*Fold the two stocking shapes together such that the white part faces in and stitch together, leaving the top edge unsewn.

*Turn the stocking right side in, starting from the toe and working your way up.

*Write your pet's name on the white band of the stocking using fabric paint or glitter glue.  Let dry.

*If you'd like to hang the stocking from the mantle or tree, thread the needle and slide it through the upper corner at the top of the stocking.  Tie the ends together to create a loop.  Cut off the needle part and excess thread and then turn the thread until the knot hits the inside of the stocking, hidden from sight.  Now the little stocking is finished!

For size comparison, here is Beans's stocking next to mine.  As you can see, it's rather tiny, just big enough to fit a l-a-s-e-r p-o-i-n-t-e-r.

Magic of Christmas Potion Ornament

     Every holiday needs a little magic.  This ornament is a great gift for magic lovers of all ages.  Customize with your preferred glitter color(s) and your favorite holiday spangles/confetti.  You could also make "Magic of Christmas" potion pendants using this tutorial.

Materials:
*Corked vial
*Glitter/spangles/confetti of your choosing
*All purpose adhesive
*Twine
*Printer paper
*Coffee
*Baking pan
*Black gel pen
*Scissors

Directions:
*Uncork the vial and pour in a layer of glitter in a color of your choosing.
*Add a layer of spangles.
*Either cork the vial or cover the opening with your finger and shake until the glitter and spangles have mixed together.
*Add a layer of glitter followed by a layer of spangles and then shake until mixed.
*Repeat the process until your vial is sufficiently full.
*Cork the vial.  You may want to use a dab of all purpose adhesive to secure the cork in place so it won't fall out.
*Wrap some twine around the neck of the neck of the vial and knot.
*Pull the twine 1/4 of the way back around the neck of the bottle on either side and glue down.  Once your are finished, the vial should hang straight down rather than at an angle as it would if hanging from the knot.
*Tie the ends of the twine together to create a loop.
*To make the label, follow the directions given in this post.
*Glue the label on.  Once everything is dry, your ornament is tree-ready!

Maine is Where the Heart is Felt Ornament

     Show some love for the greatest state this holiday season.  While my template is for Maine, you could easily design a template of your own and follow the same steps to create an ornament for your home state.

Materials:
*Felt in a color of your choice
*Metallic marker
*Heart button
*All purpose adhesive (optional)
*Needle and thread
*Stuffing
*Metallic thread

Directions:
*Print out the Maine template below or find/create a template for your state.  The dot on my template marks the approximate location of the Bangor area, which is where my family is from and thus where I wanted the heart on my ornament to be.

*Trace two copies of the state template onto the felt using metallic marker and cut out.

*I used a little bit of all purpose adhesive to hold my heart button in place before sewing it on.  The drawback to this approach is that I had to sew through the glue, but it wasn't much of a challenge and ensured that I got the heart in the right location.

*Stitch together the two copies of the state using a blanket stitch, leaving a gap for stuffing.

*Stuff and sew closed.

*Slide some metallic thread through the stitching toward the top and tie the ends together to create a loop to use to hang the ornament from the tree.