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Showing posts from October, 2016

Teal Pumpkin

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Happy Halloween! Since this week's new post falls on a holiday, I have a quick craft for ya. Before the trick-or-treaters came to our house this year, I decided to participate in the Teal Pumpkin Project . It's a movement to let kids and parents know which houses will have non-food treats (instead of or in addition to candy) for Halloween. It's a nice gesture to have something on hand for kids who have food allergies or diabetes or any number of reasons why candy might not be a good choice for them. So I grabbed one of the pumpkin pails that was sitting in our basement (I grabbed a few of them one year from Target on clearance after Halloween), a can of teal spray paint, and a cardboard box. A few coats later--voila--a teal pumpkin! You could stick some gravel or sand in your pumpkin and stick a light in it to set on your stoop, or like I did, print off one of the signs from the website to put on your window and then fill your teal pumpkin with your non-f

Alcohol Ink and Plastic Wrap on a Glass Bottle

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I found this fabulous decorative wine bottle at Dollar Tree, and I just had to bring it home and ink it, but I didn't know exactly what I should do with it. Dripped rainbow ink looks fabulous on glass, but I wasn't sure it would look awesome on this bottle. Stamping is always an option , but I didn't know how it would look with all of the ridges and details on the glass. So, I decided to try a new (to me) technique using plastic wrap that I had seen on Pinterest. Unfortunately, I never did find a complete tutorial, so I was just winging it. I knew the colors would mix together, so I picked ones that were adjacent to each other on the color wheel so they wouldn't turn into a muddy brown mess. I grabbed some blues, a purple, and a teal. I spread out a sheet of plastic wrap (just some cheap stuff I had in the cupboard) onto my craft mat . Then I dripped a bunch of ink randomly onto the plastic wrap. To thin the ink down just a bit, I dripped som

Updated Guide to Adult Coloring

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Last spring I made a Guide to Adult Coloring , but since then, I've picked up a few new supplies and coloring books that I think are worth sharing. First up, coloring books. I still recommend the Joanna Basford and Eleri Fowler coloring books, as they are high quality with beautiful designs. But if you're looking for something a bit more economical, I've found a few options. This coloring book was so good, that I even added the recommendation as an update to my original post over the summer. Parragon publishes a line of coloring books that are each 288 pages long and are priced around $8-12. The paper isn't quite as thick as some of the high-end books, but it's jam packed full of great designs. They range from geometric to floral to doodle-y--whatever your mood may be. The three images below are all from Coloring for Creativity . They also have a Coloring for Tranquility and Coloring for Inspiration . In most of my coloring books there are mandalas

Dripped Alcohol Ink Halloween Candle

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A while ago I decorated some pillar candles by stamping alcohol ink on them. Ever since then, I have wanted to try dripping alcohol ink onto pillar candles. With Halloween around the corner, I went with some holiday colors for my first attempt. Once I had my white pillar candle, I grabbed my craft mat  and a couple shades of orange and black alcohol ink to drip onto my candle. I started out by dripping  Sunset Orange in one-inch intervals around the candle. If my single drip didn't make it all the way to the bottom, I added a little more to the stream. Then I went around the candle with Terra Cotta  and finally with some Pitch Black . The black didn't run quite as much as the orange did, so I had to add more to most of my trails of ink. As the ink started to mix a bit toward the bottom, I realized I'd have to add more orange to fill in and mix a bit on purpose. After adding more orange and black, I had a pretty funky Halloween candle. All

Duct Tape Covered Disinfectant Wipes Container

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I'm knee deep in paper grading, so I have just a quick project to share with you this week. I had an empty disinfectant wipes container, and from past experience, I know that they make great bag containers. The last time I made one of these, I used tissue paper and mod podge , but I was looking for something even faster, so duct tape it is. I grabbed a cutting mat and a rotary tool along with two rolls of duct tape--a solid color and a print. I measured my container and found out it was just under 8 inches tall (from base to lid) and about 10 inches around. So I made a sheet of duct tape that was 8 inches by 11 inches (for good measure). I laid my strips of the solid color along the bottom and a single row of my print tape at the top. I picked this print because it had a little yellow in it to coordinate with the lid. Then I used the rotary cutter to trim the edges to make a nice neat square of duct tape. Next, I carefully peeled the sheet of tape off of