Sarah Jane's Craft Blog

Like many of you, I'm working from home right now, so I thought I'd revisit a craft project from several years ago to upgrade some of my office supplies and add some color to my home office. I used washi tape to decorate some tiny binder clips ( that were the same width as my wider  washi tape ) back then, so this time I wanted to try to decorate some larger binder clips. So I got out some well used binder clips and my bin of washi tape . I used both a scissors and a craft knife in this project. The scissors worked better when cutting off the role and if the tape was very paper-y. But the craft knife worked well for cutting the tape when it was on the binder clip. I tried applying the tape horizontally on the binder clips, but the edges wanted to peel at the corners, so vertically worked better. I used two pieces of tape on the wider (3/4 inch and 15mm) rolls and 3 pieces of tape for the narrower rolls of tape. After I applied the tape along the edge of the binder clip, I fli

The interior handle on our patio door broke last week. We found an almost exact match to the old handle online, but when it arrived, the exterior handle was quite a bit different from the old one on our door. However, the old one looked like this (photo above), so my husband put the new handle on the door and took the old one off. I put the broken handle straight in the trash, but after I saw how the new exterior handle fit the door, I saved the old one. In addition to the handle leaving a hole that would need to be patched from torrential rains and freezing temps, it also sat a quarter of an inch off the door. It was hard to get a picture of this, but the new handle had posts that didn't fit into the existing holes, so without drilling larger holes (which may not solve the problem) or cutting off the posts (which would solve the problem, but would be a pain), we'd have a gap and a hole. And even if we did get it sitting on the door properly, there's still a hole above the

When I was first learning how to use alcohol inks, I tried stamping ink on some hardware store washers and made necklaces. This project became one of my most popular posts. I've revisited washer necklaces many times  over the years with different techniques and sealing processes. This time, I wanted to make some washer necklaces that I would be sure to wear. So instead of testing out some crazy new techniques or mixing fun bold colors, I went with methods I knew would work and went with monochromatic color mixes so that I could actually match them to my clothes. I enjoyed flaming the ink on washers , so I set up my craft mat with a cork trivet and a small sheet pan covered in tinfoil. I got out a small jar for some rubbing alcohol, a fine tip brush, and a pipette . I picked out some larger washers from my stash and got out my alcohol inks and a lighter. I started out with some shades of blue. I dripped some ink on each half in two different shades and then lit them on fire (I r

After a having some trouble with last week's tin , this project was super simple. I had an empty Harney and Sons tea tin , so I decided to give it some color! The original printed label on this tin was pretty light, so spray painting it white was a breeze. I gave it one good coat on all sides and let it dry. I got out a craft mat and a roll of plastic wrap. I laid out the plastic wrap flat while keeping some wrinkles and covered it in drops of alcohol ink. Once the plastic wrap was covered in ink, I placed my tin on the plastic wrap and wrapped it around the tin. After the tin was covered in the plastic wrap and ink, I left it to dry. It usually takes 12-24 hours to dry enough to peel the plastic wrap off without the ink smearing. You can leave the plastic wrap to dry indefinitely if the surface you are inking is slightly porous (like paint). I ended up letting this one "dry" for almost a week before I pulled the plastic wrap off. But You can see the colors are darker an