Timothy the Owl

Credit for Artwork to Sheldon Allan of Ghost Town Tattoo in Okotoks Alberta

Phone Case Owl Upgrade

Upgraded this phone cover with some left over adhesive vinyl from anther project. I simply drew the deign I wanted an cut it out. It is a quick and easy personalization to something I am never without.

Weekly Calendar

Yet again, another Pinterest inspired DIY project weekend.
This week I created my very own Weekly Calendar out of an old frame and scrap booking supplies, all of which I already had in the house.
This frame has been sitting idle in my bedroom for a few weeks now just crying out to be re-purposed. What finally got this project up an running started with a fall off the bed for Tin and ended with some blood and tears. The sharp corner caught the back of his head, the frame had become a safety hazard so I just had to craft it this weekend.
This will hang on the wall of my kitchen and hopefully aid in keeping my busy little family a bit more organized. Because it was originally a picture frame, you can simply write on it with a dry erase marker each week. I am quite pleased on how this turned out.

Link to the original

Waxed Capiz Shell Chandelier

I have been seeing the Capriz Shell Chandelier all over Pinterest the past couple weeks and although I love how it looks there is no way I am 'shelling' out the small fortune it costs to buy one. I have stumbled across a few tutorials in making a budget friendly alternative to the beautiful fixture out of waxed paper. No one tutorial though suited what I was looking for, so I am creating one.

What you will need for this project:
3 Rolls of Waxed Paper
Clothes Iron
Circle Cutter
White Glue
Hot Glue Gun
3-4 Hot Glue Sticks
Stripped Lampshade
Craft/Floral Wire
4 Small Hooks

The first step is to iron two sheet of waxed paper together. Give each section a quick once over with your iron on the hottest setting, this will give it the appearance of Capiz Shell. Don't fuss trying to make the waxed paper be wrinkle/bubble free, it is supposed to be imperfect. I ironed my sheets once on the front, once on the back because they were separating but not necessary if you are not having that problem.

Next Fold the ironed waxed paper into accordion like rows, this will make cutting if with your circle cutter easier.

Now it is time to make your circles. I chose to make all my 'shells' 2 inches in diameter. I have seen photos of larger, smaller and mixed diameter chandeliers so the diameter is up to you. Cut 3-4 accordion rows at a time with your circle cutter, any more and it wont go through and any less it will rip your waxed paper.

After you have cut all your sheets of waxed paper into circles (which can be quite time consuming) you have an over whelming amount of circles. We now have to get them into rows to be placed on your lamp shade frame.

I have seen it done where they were sewn together, placed together with a ribbon and hot glued together. I chose to use good ol' white school glue. My Rationale... I have a heavy duty sewing needle on my sewing machine and it made holes that were to large for my liking (and I did not want to go get a new needle just for this project), the ribbon technique was to visible for my liking and same goes for the hot glue, it made little beads that just looked off.

Making the rows I chose to do 6 circles in a row connected with a small (very small) spot of white glue. The glue dries clear and if done with due patience there is minimal overlap between circles.

I ended up with 154 rows of 6 circles, that means I cut over 900 circles out of waxed paper. Sound like a lot, but I used every one.

Now that the shell rows are ready it is time to prepare the lamp shade. The structure of the lamp shade I used allowed naturally for two tiers of shells to be hung, I wanted a fuller looking Chandelier than that would allow for, so I added extra rows. Using floral wire I added two extra rows by wrapping and hot gluing in-place between vertical supports on the lamp shade. I had actually originally only added one but still wanted a fuller look so added the last after I had finished. I do not recommend this, it was a pain. Other tutorials suggest you spray paint the lamp shade white before beginning, I did not. Why you ask, because I did not have white spray paint on hand, if I did I would have but I don't feel skipping this made any difference to the final product.

The next step is gluing the shell rows onto the lamp shade frame. I used a small dot of hot glue to attach each row. I placed one row per inch the frame was around, meaning there was quite a bit of over lap among the rows, this again creates the fullness I so desired.

Once all the rows are glued on it is time to hang your finished Chandelier. I used small hooks that I found at the dollar store. I screws 4 into the ceiling around the fixture I wanted to cover and simply hung the lamp shade on the hooks, easy peesy.

Here is what my new Waxed Capiz Shell Chandelier looks like in my bedroom with the light on and off.

I am extremely happy with the way this project turned out and I hope this tutorial inspires you to try it too. If you do I'd love it if you sent me a picture so I can see.

Happy Crafting

Envelope Pillow Covers

Envelope Pillow Covers, bet ya can't make just one.



Tutorial Coming in the near Future, Stay Tuned !

Melted Crayon Art

My version of the ever so popular melted crayon wall art, which is harder to create than it appears it seems. I have seen may a photos of perfectly dripped melted waxed crayons on canvas, this is not one of them. My wax crayons were melting and clumping, my hair dryer was spraying molten wax crayon everywhere. Although I am not 100% happy with how my first attempt turned out, it has allowed my to work through some of my issues. Mainly next time I will warm the crayons through the back of the canvas, cutting down on spray on the canvas and burns on my skin; hopefully.

Be sure that this is not my last attempt at creating a perfect melted wax crayon masterpiece. In the interem of my next attempt though, I must say this one does not look that bad hanging on the bedroom wall of tin&tan.

Hot or Cold Rice Bag