12th Jan2012

Harry Potter Wands

by HippieKender

My son is reading the Harry Potter series (partially for enjoyment and partially to fulfill reading requirements for school). He has a book report of sorts due soon where he need to bring in 15 items that pertain to the book he is reading and talk about them. We decided he should have a wand to bring in (and play with when the book report is over). My husband was asking me for ideas on how to make one.  I came across this tutorial and we decided to give it a try. It was easier than we thought it was going to be. Everyone had their part. My husband and I made the base out of standard printer paper and decorated with hot glue. My son and husband painted the wands with acrylic paint. My daughter begged to play with hers RIGHT NOW during the whole process (hey, that’s an important part). They didn’t take long to make and everyone was quite pleased with the end result. My daughter already bent hers, but that’s ok – we can just make another!
Here’s the end result. I apologize in advance for the poor photography. My camera on my phone did NOT want to take good pics of these wands.

Harry Potter Wands

I’ve been learning to crochet. Watch for my next post which will probably include my novice attempts at crochet and possibly even amigurumi!

Category : Crafts
Tags : , ,
0 Comm
19th Feb2011

Valentines, part 2

by HippieKender

Since I shared the Valentines I made for my son, I thought I would share the ones I made for my daughter.

I don’t have some crazy story about how I spent all night making valentines. I actually planned ahead for these and my daughter got to help make them. She was so proud.

They are just 4 hearts cut out of scrapbook paper, glued together with a lollipop in the center. Thankfully in preschool they don’t have to write the names of all their classmates, just their own name on them.

I’m pretty sure there’s a tutorial over on Martha Stewert, but these are pretty self explanatory.

Stephanie

Category : Crafts
Tags : , , ,
0 Comm
11th Feb2011

Handmade Valentines – Pencils

by HippieKender

I decided this year I was going to make my kids’ valentines – you know, the ones they have to bring to school and give to every kid in the class. I picked up most of the supplies a couple days ago and was looking forward to a weekend of crafting with my kids.

Last night, after dinner, I check over my son’s homework and go to sign his planner when I notice, written at the bottom, “Valentine’s Day Party Tomorrow.” Wait, what?! I thought the party was going to be on Monday…. you know… VALENTINE’S DAY? I hadn’t gotten any papers home telling me the date of the party, or a list of all the kids names so the valentines could be filled out correctly. I had just assumed I would get that all on Friday so i could spend the weekend being creative, then have everything ready for Monday… guess that’s what I get for assuming.

So, now i am freaking out. It’s 7:30pm and I still need to get the kids bathed. I do not have time to run to the store for valentines before bedtime! I quickly run to the computer (thank you Google!) and search for valentine’s card ideas. I had bought pencils for my son to give with his valentines, but wasn’t sure how to attach them together. After a bit of searching, I decide to do a heart with the pencil through it like an arrow (classic Valentine’s day, no?). Great, now I have an idea! But what to make the hearts out of? I am out of card stock and I wanted them to be a little sturdier than plain printer paper. I spot some craft foam and get excited (yes!). I quickly realize that I don’t have enough craft foam to make 28 valentines. Now I am frantically pacing around trying to figure out what I am going to do. I find a stack of index cards. They’re sturdy enough, there’s plenty of them, but are they big enough? After a quick sample, I find that they are! Score! After getting son’s approval on the valentine idea, I cut out 28 of them, punch holes, realize those holes are not big enough for the pencil, cut slits to make the holes bigger, write cheesy sayings on them, consider how plain they look, embellish, have son write his name on them all, shove pencils in and rejoice that I am finally done with them!

Now to make 16 valentines for daughter’s class. Her party is actually on Monday… I checked.

Stephanie

Category : Crafts
Tags : , , , ,
1 Comm
03rd Oct2010

[SWAP] Tiny books

by HippieKender

I’ve been in a crafty slump lately (that’s probably apparent by my lack of blog posts). Not really sure why. I’m happy to say that the fog has been slowly lifting. The swaps over at Craftster.org have been helping. It may have been the challenge that helped push me along.
So, I joined the OTT Book swap and was partnered with the lovely lady4feet. Here is the book i made for her.

It measures about 3″x4.5″x1″ The cover is faux-leather/vinyl. She says it’s super soft!

Here’s some inside pages. I Coptic bound the book (basically, make folded stacks of paper and stitch them together.

The inside covers are skulls and crossbones (one of her favorites, she says). It’s actually tissue paper glued to card stock.

Most of the pages are plain printer paper, but I did sneak in some Origami paper…
…and some doodles.

I’m not very good with paper crafts, so it might not have been the Work of Art that other books were, but I am pleased with how it turned out.

I also made her a pair of earrings and a pendant in the same way. They are Coptic bound but this time I used REAL pages from a book! I had a hard time convincing myself that it was okay to cut up a book. In the end, the only reason I managed to do it was because i had 2 copies of the book, and it wasn’t very good. The covers on these were made from a paper bag that had a print designed on it that reminded me of brocade (another of my partner’s themes), though it probably looked more brocade-like on a larger scale. Either way, these were hard to let go of!

I didn’t measure them, but as you can see, they are not much larger than the ear wires.

Bookmaking may not be my calling in life, but I sure did have fun making these!

Category : Crafts
Tags : , , ,
0 Comm
17th Jul2010

Mag Bag [for a swap]

by HippieKender

i joined the FOC (friend of craftster) swap over on Craftster (obviously). My partner was beeker. The goal was to browse their wists and create a “duplicate” or an item inspired by their wists.
I found this magazine bag and decided to make beeker one (it’s the one directly from her wists).

I read through the whole thread and pieced together how to make this bag. I tried to use magazine pages that had full bleed (color all the way to the edges). I folded each page in thirds then in thirds again. I covered each page in clear packing tape then wove them together. I did 10 pages across and 18 pages down. I t folded up the bag to be the shape I wanted.
My partner says she really likes it, so I am thrilled. I was pretty unsure about the whole thing right up to the point when I put in the lining. Then it all seemed to come together and I fell in love with it. I kind of want one for myself.
It’s the perfect size for a night out or to take to a theme park while on vacation. Not that I have recent experience with lugging a large bag around a theme park. Okay, so i do, and I am wishing I had this bag to carry instead!

Category : Crafts
Tags : , , , ,
1 Comm
02nd May2010

Notebooks, Rings & other little projects.

by HippieKender

I’ve recently made a few little projects that may not be dynamic enough to deserve their own post, so I’ve gathered them up so I can post them all together.

First up, matchbook notebooks. I followed this tutorial and made some of my own. I used marketing from my work that would have otherwise been thrown out. I find these very useful to set next to the computer to make all those little notes that I seem to be constantly taking.
(click to enlarge)
- -

I love how simple these were to make. Mine are 2″ and 3″. I also like how you can easily tear out the pages.

I also saw a tutorial for a cluster ring on Cathie Filian’s site (she calls it a cha-cha ring). Here is the one I made:

My daughter wanted one of her own, but I didn’t have another ring blank so I improvised. I used a piece of 20g wire, fit it to her finger and added the beads. I’ll try to get a picture later. If I made another for myself I would use bigger beads. I think I have 15 beads on mine, and that’s all I could fit.

I’m trying to get supplies together to make the Amy Butlet Weekender bag. 2 of them actually, for when the kids visit grandma’s houses.

But i have been distracted by web design. My guild (Dominus Nihil) was looking to expand on their website. They wanted something more than just forums. So as a community we worked on the design, came up with something simple and I coded it. It’s ugly, trust me! So another member came up with a design that was sleek, simple and attractive. Over the course of 3 days I learned to slice and code a webpage. After much frustration, cursing and bullying my way though I finally got it. Hubby tells me that I am so stubborn and won’t give up until I figure it out. It’s true :) Now I need to design my own webpage so I can practice (and have something pretty that I designed myself).
Check it out: http://hippiekender.com/test/dn_test.html

I think that’s all for my update. This post probably took me an hour to type up. My daughter and son have friends over and I am constantly checking on them, getting them drinks and snacks and making sure they are playing nicely and sharing. So I’d better get back to that.
Until next time, take care!

Category : Crafts
Tags : , , , , ,
0 Comm
16th Mar2010

I made a book

by HippieKender

Yes, that’s right. From start to finish, I made a book. I was absolutely inspired by this post on Craftster.
So i searched out tutorials on how to make a book and got started…

First, I made registers and sewed them together.

Then, cut cardboard for the cover – I didn’t have chipboard, but i had a cardboard box.

I tried to pretty up the cover with some green tissue paper. I wanted to give it some texture so I crinkled it up. Now I’m not sure I like the textured look.

And … here is my finished book.

I am not 100% happy with the finished product. I can’t tell if that is because I am never really happy with anything I make, or if it really sucks that much. I’ll probably try it again with some small changes. I would make more registers so the book is thicker. I would also make the cover a little larger than the registers (I think you’re supposed to, but I didn’t remember until I had already cut them out). I would also make the cover prettier. Less texture, maybe find actual chipboard or thinner cardboard. The size isn’t too bad. Since I used regular printer paper for the registers, the finished book measures around 5.5″x8.5″

The two tutorials I used:
Basic Binding of Books
Daydreaming on Paper

And a few others I have bookmarked:
Bookmaking Workshop
Journals by Curiously Crafty
Journalling – a set on Flicker

All in all it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be, but I think I need practice to make it as neat and pretty as i would like it to be.

Category : Crafts
Tags : ,
0 Comm
19th Dec2009

Washer Necklaces

by HippieKender

I was inspired by this post to try my hand at making some washer necklaces. I was thinking I could give them away as Christmas gifts, but I’m worried about how they will be received and if they would be used. You know how it can be giving crafty gifts to non-crafty people. Maybe they can be saved for birthday gifts.
They are made with metal washers, origami paper, clear dimensional coat and leather cord.

On to the pics!

- All togetherAnd thumbnails of the close-ups


Photobucket Photobucket Photobucket Photobucket Photobucket Photobucket Photobucket

…And finally … How they look when worn
The discs are interchangeable to coordinate with almost any outfit =)

 

Category : Crafts
Tags : , ,
0 Comm
31st Aug2008

I made artwork for my walls!

by HippieKender

Taking inspiration from This Thread at Craftster, I went to the dollar store and picked up 3 8×10 frames. They were all split at the corners, but a little wood glue fixed them right up. I also spray-painted them blue to match the revamped clock I made earlier.
I tried to get a size reference shot, but any further away and my camera wouldn’t focus on it.

Fleur De Lis

Butterfly, shape taken from a sticker I bought, scanned in and enlarged.

Tribal Ravens/Wings. I found this one specifically for Jesse. The artwork is from here.

This is the first time I have hung pretty much anything on my walls since my first apartment 8 years ago. I think I just never bothered because I always lived in rentals. I am definitely enjoying the look and feel of having things you enjoy looking at hanging on the walls.

Some notes:
My printer paper is super thin. You can see the magazine strips though it – I found that out after I had cut out the tribal ravens/wings. I re-traced them onto photo paper and re-cut them out. It was a pain. Luckily, I was smart enough to print the butterfly directly to the photo paper and just skip the printer paper all together.
Using an exacto knife is much easier than using scissors .
A paper cutter is a life saver!
Larger designs (like the fleur de lis) seem to work better than the smaller tribal designs – and are easier to cut out!

Category : Crafts
Tags : , , ,
0 Comm
10th May2008

Calendar Envelopes

by HippieKender

Here are some envelopes that I made from the freebie calendar the library gave me. I really like them and plan on making more from the calendar that the union gave me [it has pretty images of downtown Chicago]. As usual, click to view larger images.

-All together now!
—and some of my favs out of the bunch–
-Memorial with snow covered tree
Gazebo with Christmas Tree
-bridge (also shows calendar insides, which I love)
-Brass statue of a girl
and on the back is the brass statue of the boy next to her
-Another statue of a girl
-and the boy next to her

Category : Crafts
Tags : ,
0 Comm