glitter spy jar

This idea started out as a "mind jar"...perhaps you've seen them on Pinterest here, here, and here...and while I like the idea of a meditation jar (it's meant to help a child calm her/himself as the glitter falls) I thought it might be fun to make it into more of a game. Our challenge this summer is more about competing with video games and television for entertainment.

So I combined the idea of the glitter jar with the game "ispy"!

Alfredo was involved in every part of making this project...and enjoyed it almost as much as the finished thing!

First, we went on a hunt for tiny things. Goodness knows we have a lot of them. Toys, charms, buttons, and even alpha-beads that spell out his name. We collected about 30 things. The more you collect and the smaller the things, the more challenging the game. Or wouldn't it be fun to fill it with a bunch of similar things, like dinosaurs, and then search for each one.

Next, we photographed each individual thing, or group of things (for instance, 3 purple beads together). I set those up to be printed 2 each on a 4" x 6" photo paper. Then I trimmed the cards to 4' x 3" oversized cards.

Our favorite part was putting together the jar. The mind jars all used clear glue but I thought I would use cooking oil  (I don't really cook with a lot of vegetable oil but I had a couple of bottles which had turned a bit rancid. You can tell by taking a whiff...rancid oil smells funny.) First we filled the jar 3/4 full with oil. I had this fun tall jar that had contained Looza fruit juice. The tall, skinny jar worked great for us but it will work with any size jar. If you're concerned about using a glass jar, plastic will work fine too. Perhaps you could even use the plastic jar the oil came in?

Next we dumped in some glitter...a combination of colors and sizes. We are glitter rich in this house so we had plenty to choose from.

Then, Alfredo's favorite part of all...he dropped each little toy in, one at a time, watching it drift slowly to the bottom. Some toys floated for a while on top and then took the dive. Fun, fun!

Fill to about a 1/4" from the top with more oil.

Finally, because the idea of an oil slick in my living room makes me crazy, I secured the top with a bit of strong glue. Simply run a bit of the glue around the inner rim of the lid and attach. Clear bathroom caulk would work great too.

For the game, we can play together or Alfredo can play by himself. I think this might be just the thing for him while I'm preparing meals. Choose a card and then see how quickly you can find what's pictured. Some things, bigger toys like the snake, will be easy to spot, while smaller items like the buttons, will be more challenging. Choosing the card with the alpha beads spelling ALFREDO is most challenging of all since we'll have to find the letters in order!

Good cheap fun...

 Have fun making your own...I'd love to see how it turns out!

surprise eggs

I can hardly believe it myself. I had time today to make something, take pictures, and share it with you!

These eggs are so much fun (and messy!) to make...

And, best of all, you use those plastic Easter eggs!

Other things you'll need are pages from old books, glue, glitter (optional), and ribbons. Also gather little treasures like flowers, buttons and beads.
In a bowl, dilute craft glue by 1 part water for every 2 parts glue. Tear pages of old books or sheet music or tissue paper into small bits (the smaller the bits the easier to adhere without too many creases...squares seem to work better than strips for this project).

Dip each little piece of paper in the glue mixture, using your fingers to squeegee extra glue off. Also using your fingers (see what I mean...messy!) smooth the pieces on the plastic egg. As you cover the egg, you may find that you can use the extra glue on your fingers to prepare the pieces instead of dipping them.
If you are adding glitter to your eggs, put them into a bowl of glitter and use a spoon to spread over the sides. Use the spoon to scoop out the egg and put on wax paper to dry.
Tie bits of ribbon to each egg.

Next have fun attaching bits and bobs like buttons and flowers. I used a bit of tinsel to attach the buttons, twisting it closed but you could hot glue items to the ribbon.
Here's the surprise bit...you can actually crack these eggs open (well at least tear them open) so they can be a fun way to present a surprise gift! (just be careful if you put a candy in since there's glitter on the outside.)

It would be fun to tuck in a little jewel or sentiment or cracker jack toy!

If you want to keep the egg intact when opened, just be careful when gluing the bits of paper on to not overlap the seam of the egg.

Have fun!

easter eggs

I made these eggs a couple of years ago...do you remember? I thought you'd like to see them again...


from the archives...March 2008
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These eggs are so much fun (and messy!) to make...

And, best of all, you use those plastic Easter eggs!

Other things you'll need are pages from old books, glue, glitter (optional), and ribbons. Also gather little treasures like flowers, buttons and beads.
In a bowl, dilute craft glue by 1 part water for every 2 parts glue. Tear pages of old books or sheet music or tissue paper into small bits (the smaller the bits the easier to adhere without too many creases...squares seem to work better than strips for this project).

Dip each little piece of paper in the glue mixture, using your fingers to squeegee extra glue off. Also using your fingers (see what I mean...messy!) smooth the pieces on the plastic egg. As you cover the egg, you may find that you can use the extra glue on your fingers to prepare the pieces instead of dipping them.
If you are adding glitter to your eggs, put them into a bowl of glitter and use a spoon to spread over the sides. Use the spoon to scoop out the egg and put on wax paper to dry.
Tie bits of ribbon to each egg.

Next have fun attaching bits and bobs like buttons and flowers. I used a bit of tinsel to attach the buttons, twisting it closed but you could hot glue items to the ribbon.
Here's the surprise bit...you can actually crack these eggs open (well at least tear them open) so they can be a fun way to present a surprise gift! (just be careful if you put a candy in since there's glitter on the outside.)

It would be fun to tuck in a little jewel or sentiment or cracker jack toy!

If you want to keep the egg intact when opened, just be careful when gluing the bits of paper on to not overlap the seam of the egg.

Have fun!

December 3 and all is well...

Shall we continue the advent fun? Here's matchbox #3, made by Donna Robinson...
And look what wonderful little treat is inside...a tiny ornament inside a bottlecap!

And here's Alfredo discovering door #3 this morning. I plum forgot to make it last night until after I'd tucked myself in bed. Then I jumped out of bed and quickly put this one together. There was a bit of a glittery mishap but I think all's fine now.



Speaking of glitteriness, I thought I'd show you my new star treetopper. I had a ho-hum ornament for the top of the tree which I decided not to use this year. While at Walmart with my folks last week, I spied this and the wheels started spinning.


It was pretty enough but a little too plasticy.

This picture really doesn't show it so well but exercise your imagination and trust in me...clear glitter on the clear parts, silver glitter on the silver parts and...
The lights are softly diffused a bit and it looks vintage and nice. Here's another picture I took last night...maybe you can see it better here...

If you need great glass glitter to make your own, get some here.

all hearts

Here's a fun Valentine project. I'll share with you how I made it.

You'll need 7 or more wooden hearts. You can experiment with different heart shapes. I used 6 wider hearts and one tear-drop heart. You'll also need to buy a small wooden wreath form, available in the floral supplies section of the craft store. Other things to gather include gesso, your favorite crafting glue, a paintbrush, assorted pages from vintage books, sheetmusic, etc., silver glass glitter, and a vintage hearts playing card (try to find one of a value of 7, 8, 9, or 10 so you'll have a lot of hearts to work with.)

I began by painting a coat of gesso on both sides of each heart and the wreath form. You may find that you can skip this step. I like the way the glue adheres to the primed surface and that the back of the wreath is finished too.

Using a staple gun, secure a loop of velvet ribbon to the back for the hanger.

Next, gather up assorted pages from books, including at least one illustration. Use original papers instead of copies. Select pages from different pages to give the piece depth as each paper will have a slightly different patina. Look too for blank endpapers. Trace the heart on the paper and then cut out. Paint a layer of glue on the heart and adhere the paper heart to the wooden one. Do this with each heart.

After you paper the heart, paint the edge with glue and swipe it through a little pile of silver glass glitter to make a border of silver glitter all the way around the heart. It's okay if it's not perfect...that adds to the charm!

Work with the hearts on the wreath form to figure out the placement of the hearts. Overlap, rotate, mix them up.

After you decide the placement, cut the hearts out of the playing card and artfully place them on the hearts. If you don't have a vintage playing card, just use a heart-shape hole punch to make heart shapes out of red paper.

Search through your page scraps or through the books they came from for an appropriate word or phrase. It's like magic, I swear. You'll find exactly the word or phrase you need. I found the word "Together". Instead of cutting it out, use the edge of your counter or table to tear a straight edge. The age of the paper will cause the paper to tear unevenly.

Secure the hearts to the wreath base. Glue first the hearts that are flat against the base. Then glue the overlapping hearts to the first layer.

Voila! A sweet little Valentine wreath that makes a great gift. Experiment with different sorts of papers, including vintage Valentines.

packing up

I'm working like a fiend to get ready for the class on Saturday. I leave early tomorrow morning and I have a million and a half things to do.

One thing I just did was decorate the bottles of glitter for each table. {Probably a detail that I could've skipped} I used the got flowers from Prima for the kits...you know the ones that come in little milk bottles? Well, I had so many of those bottles left that I decided they'd be the perfect vessels for glitter. I added a label, layered flowers on top, and a little strip of fabric. Even better would be to glitter each flower on top. Maybe there'll be time for that when I get there.

I could really drown in a sea of details right now. I need to try to keep focused and make sure that I pack everything I need. I'm on the verge of crazy right now. Just a tip-toe away from ding-dong.

Little Alfredo is napping. This is nap part two. He woke up while I was on the phone and I rocked him back to sleep. Any minute now he'll wake up again and who knows what I'll be able to accomplish then, with those big eyes and sweet voice asking to sit in my lap for the 101st viewing of 101 Dalmations. We're evidently on a little 101 Dalmation marathon. Before that, Jungle Book. And before that, Brother Bear. I bought two new movies for Rich to surprise him with while I'm gone. Rich is taking off work tomorrow and Friday so he'll have some nice together time with him.

Back to work...I'll take lots of photos on Saturday so you'll see all the fun we're having.



Oh boy am I ever going to miss him while I'm gone.

building a house...

About a month ago, I received an exciting email from Tim Holtz asking me to be a participant in the Ranger Ink CHA Designer Challenge. Of course, I said yes. I think I must've been the first to respond...maybe just 3 minutes after the email was sent.

The challenge was to fashion a house of whatever style we fancy using Claudine Hellmuth's Studio line of paints and brushes and sticky back canvas. All of the supplies, including the fabulous paints, were provided. All I had to do was build a house.

Using a paper mache rectangle as the base and chipboard for the roof. I painted a sheet of the sticky back canvas and then cut it into strips to use for the siding. I applied the siding from the bottom up, overlapping the edges to mimic siding of a real house. I added a door and windows and flowerboxes, all made with the sticky back canvas.

I put flowers in the flower box and a little clay birdy. The doorknob is a shiny button and the topiaries are vintage pom-poms.

The whole business got a coat of glitter, because it didn't seem complete without it. Although, in retrospect, I miss seeing the quality of the paint on canvas which gave the piece so much charm. If I were to do it over, I'd only glitter the flowers and the trees, I think.

It was a real joy working with Claudine's Studio line, especially the paints. They are so pigment rich!

So here is the final result, shipping out today to {hopefully} make the Friday deadline.

sugarville

Oh! I have so much to show you today. I just finished designing the label for my new glass and pure silver glitters. I'm so excited to share these with you!

The clear glass glitter will give your projects a sparkly sugarcoating. It's the same kind that I use for my little houses. And the silver glitter is really exciting too...it's made from real silver and will naturally age and tarnish giving your projects an authentic vintage look!

Click here to see them.

inspired village

A couple of months ago, fabulous Deb asked me to be a guest designer. We worked together to come up with this fun project to share with you.












Here's how you can make this glitter 2-D village yourself:

Start with these little blank houses from Deb's etsy store. Click here to get them.

• Base paint the entire little house the color you'd like for the house to be.


• Once the paint is dry, paint the details like the roofline, chimney, doors, windows. If you're shaky, use tape to mask off areas where you don't want the paint. Add polka dots and stripes and more details like window sashes and doorknobs when that coat dries.


• Alternatively, you could cut out bits of paper for details like the shutters, doors, and windows and glue them into place.

• For the piece with an open doorway and windows, glue paper bits to the back of the piece.


• Add accents like tiny Christmas balls, millinery flowers, beads, pom-poms using hot glue. Have fun with this part and look at everyday things with fresh eyes. Let yourself play!


• Coat the entire front of the piece with craft glue using a broad paint brush. Be sure to dot glue over the bits and bobs too.


• With a piece of paper underneath to collect the run-off, pour a generous amount of clear glitter over the entire piece. Shake off the excess.


• Ta-dah! Glittery wonderment!

show toppers wonderment jar

It's a snow day here so Alfredo and I decided to do a little crafting. Well, mostly I crafted and Alfredo staged an epic dinosaur battle all around me. I made this adorable snow jar using a regular jar and Cosmo Cricket's super Show Toppers jar lid and mini mobile. Let me show you how I did it.

First, I used Claudine Hellmuth's paper doll set to make a fun version of our little family. It was super easy to do it in photoshop but if you don't have mad photoshop skills, you could just make the paper dolls the old-fashioned cut and paste way and then scan them in. Then, make them into Shinky Dinks by printing them onto Shrinky Dink Ink Jet plastic sheets! Shrinky Dinks will shrink to about 1/3 of the original print out size. One great thing about making Shrinky Dink paper dolls is that it's easier to cut out a paper doll that's 6" tall compared to one that's 2" tall.

To prepare the file, lighten the colors quite a bit. As the image shrinks, it becomes darker. If you skip this step, your Shrinky Dinks will be too dark.

There's nothing so fun as making Shrinky Dinks! It was most fun to make them using a toaster oven so Alfredo could easily watch them shrink. They roll and fold onto themselves as they shrink, doing somersaults. You really must make little Shrinky Dinks of yourself!

To make the snowy mound that we're standing on, I used a styrofoam ball, cut in half using a serrated kitchen knife.

I covered the styrofoam surface with a generous, gooey coat of Alene's Tacky Glue...

And then dumped clear glitter on top.

I inserted two toothpicks (trimmed to about 2")  to the snow mound so that I'd have something to attach my little people to. And I left this to dry a bit.

Meanwhile, I used the mini mobile from Cosmo Cricket to make a sweet little chandelier. I used some crinkly wire but you can use any kind of thin wire you have on hand.

I began by twisting the end of the wire to one of the hooks. I cut a length about 18" long and began threading little beads on. 

I used the tiny beads from this assortment, adding them randomly.

When I had enough beaded to make a little swag, I wrapped the wire around the next hook and continued around the entire mobile. 

Then I added another layer, with less beads, above those swags. 

I glued a large silver bead over each of the hooks to help keep the wires on...and I added some dangly bits attached in the center, like the heart bead. These dangling wires ended up being a bit too long so I wound them around a round toothpick to make them like springs, which made them shorter.

To assemble the jar, I glued the snowy mound into the bottom of the jar. I added extra glitter, which settled nicely all along the bottom of the snowy mound. Then I attached the chandelier to the hook inside the show stopper lid and screwed the lid onto the jar.

 

Can you even stand how adorable this is?  You have got to make a little version of your family for your own little snow jar! 

Claudine's Paper Doll Sets (I bought the family version)

Shrinky Dink Plastic for Ink Jet

Cosmo Cricket Show Toppers 

(Or here)

Cosmo Cricket Mini Mobile

 

Enjoy! And hey! Show me what you make!