The Little Mermaid Project: Ursula Necklace

So with Halloween right around the corner I have been thinking about creating accessories for certain costumes and being a fan of Ursula I decided to create her iconic necklace. So if you are a fan of the sea witch or the film The Little Mermaid, I believe you'll enjoy this simple DIY project.
Now let's get started.

"Oh, and there is one more thing. We haven't discussed the subject of payment. You can't get something for nothing, you know...I'm not asking much. Just a token really, a trifle. You'll never even miss it. What I want from you is your voice." -Ursula

The first thing you will need is polymer clay which you can find at your local craft store. You can choose any color to work with preferably gold or white, but any color will work. I only had pink polymer clay left over so I used this. Initially you will want to knead the clay and roll it into a ball. After the clay is shaped into a ball you will need to roll it into the shape above. Make sure that one side is bigger than the other. Begin to curl the small end towards the bigger end as seen in the upper right picture. After you have curled it to the tip of the bigger end you should have a shape similar to the bottom picture.

Now the shape of the shell is almost complete. Soon you will be ready to put your clay into the oven to harden but before this happens you'll need to add some more detail to your shell. Flatten the bigger end and grab a needle to create the line indentations that you can see below. There is one last step before you bake your shell. You will need to create your hole for your chain to go through. I took the end of a paint brush and pushed it through one side to the other. Once you are happy with the look of your shell, you will need to place it in the oven. Read the instructions that your clay came with for details on the oven temperature and the length of time.

After you have finished baking your shell you will begin the painting process, which I find to be the fun part. If you used any color other than gold or white you will need to paint your shell white. Beings that I used pink polymer clay, I had to paint several coats of white.

Next you will need to grab some gold and copper paint. Cover your shell in gold paint and let it dry. If you prefer the plain gold shell then you can skip the next step. I added a bit of copper to shade in the indentations to give it more depth. You will need to use a small tip brush for this part of the painting process. 

After you are content with the look of your shell all you need to do is let it dry then add whichever type of necklace you'd like. I added a copper chain because that's what I had lying around but you could go with something different if you prefer.This is how it should look by the time it is done. Hope you enjoyed this DIY Ursula necklace.

An Egg-ceptional Way To Send A Message: A Message In An Egg

I saw this DIY project on pinterest and was quite interested in creating the message in an egg for my fiance. The only thing I didn't like about this project was that you could clearly see two holes on both ends of the egg, which gave away how the message was put into the egg. I wanted to make some changes in this DIY project so that there was some mystery behind how the message got into the egg.

Things you will need:

- 1 egg

- Thumb-tack or needle

- Paper

- Scissors

- Pen (I used a fine tip sharpie)

- Hot glue gun and glue stick

- Toothpick

- Paints and brushes

Now let's get started!

The first step was to poke a hole in each end of the egg with a tack or needle. One hole should be a bit bigger then the other so you can later fit a small scroll inside. To create the larger hole, you will need to slowly chip away at the initial small puncture. After you have created two holes (one at each end), you will need to blow the egg out and let the inside of the egg dry.

While the egg is drying you will want to take this time to cut a small strip of paper and write down your message like I did above. I actually wrote three messages but you can write as many as you want. After your message is written you'll want to roll the strip of paper you wrote so that it resembles a small scroll. After the inside of the egg is dry, stick the small scroll into the egg through the larger hole. To plug the holes up you'll want to take your hot glue gun and put a small dab of glue onto each side of the egg. While the glue is still hot take a toothpick and flatten the dab of glue. After the glue is dry (which literally only takes a couple minutes) paint your egg any which way you'd like and then you're done!!! 

Initiate No-Sew Shirt Reconstruction

Do any of you have any baggy old shirts stuffed away in your drawer? I sure do. I barely ever wear them so I decided to take one and initiate a shirt reconstruction project. My fiance bought me a baggy Kermit shirt for a $1 for the intent as a pajama shirt. I chose this one for this project. I will probably be making more of these shirts in the near future with some other shirts I have lying around.
So grab your shirt and lets get started!

 First you will need to fold the shirt in half and cut the sleeves off. The white line indicates where you should cut. The sleeves aren't needed, so you can throw them out if you want. You will also need to cut the bottom seam off and discard this scrap. After you cut the bottom seam off you will need to cut the side seams up so that you can open the shirt as you can see below.

You can cut along the white lines or you can eyeball it. Just make sure that your strips are a 1/2'' wide and that the line to the left which cuts off that excess is made. Make sure you cut up to the bottom of the collar but DO NOT cut the collar. Pull each strip to roll up the strips so they aren't so bulky and don't look so raw. I had twenty strips in the front and twenty strips in the back but you can have a little less or more depending on your shirt size. 

Now starting with one of the sides begin to separate the strips by two. Take the two strips and put a knot in them like I did above. Tie each knot as seen on the upper right picture to create a diamond shape. You will notice on the second row that there will be two odd strips left over but on the third it will even out. You will continue making these diamond shapes for at least four rows or you can do six rows depending on how large of an arm-hole you desire. Just make sure that you have the two odd strips on each end. 

Remember to do the front and back of the t-shirt so that you end up with four odd ends. To make the arm-hole you will want to take the odd end from the front side and back side and tie them together like so. After you do this with both arm-holes the strips will be even and you can begin knotting to create the diamond shapes like before. You can choose to do as many extra rows as you want depending on what length you would like. 

And now your t-shirt is done. An old baggy shirt upcycled into a macrame crop-top.
I hope you enjoyed this DIY.

Good luck on your t-shirt reconstruction projects.

DIY Birdhouse Key Hook

Have you ever experienced times when you are about to head out the door and you can't seem to find your keys? My fiance and I definitely have had this experience MANY times either because the children grabbed them and set them down or because my cat decided to play with them. I was tired of ripping our house apart trying to find them so we could start our car, so I decided I wanted to make a key hook. 

I was keeping in mind I was on a limited budget, but I really wanted something cute and unique. I decided I would buy a pre-built $.97 birdhouse and use my paints to make it my own. 

The first step is to screw the hook into the bird post. If you cracked the bird post a little bit like I did, it's okay you can fix that with some painters tape. After the hook is secured, you will need to grab your handy dandy white paint and begin covering the whole house in white, even the post and hook. I decided I wanted each side to be different so that's exactly what I did. Above you can see how I used painters tape to paint the stripes. I also used the painters tape to avoid getting paint on the other sides. I used acrylics to paint the other sides up and then attached a sawtooth hanger to the back of the birdhouse. 

This is the finished project. Oh I almost forgot to mention that you can add a little bird if you'd like or you can choose to leave the birdhouse as it is. I actually found this little bird in my craft box so I thought it would be a nice touch. Anyways, I hope you all liked this DIY!

Later all you DIYers!

DIY Desk Organizer

Hello to anyone passing through. I am sharing a simple DIY sewing project I whipped up today.

Today I glanced over at all my crafts stacked on my desk and decided I needed to create a quick desk organizer that wasn't going to take up more desk space. I decided to sew a simple rectangular side desk organizer that could be attached to the posts. The process was pretty simple. I measured and cut out the material that would act as the back board of the desk organizer and the pockets. With my handy-dandy sewing machine I put the materials right-sides together and sewed leaving a small hole to pull the right-sides out later on. After following through with the previous process, you need to pin and sew the pockets where you want them. Happy sewing everyone :)

Constructing a 3D Origami model: Gir from Invader Zim

Hello to any fellow Invader Zim fans and 3D origami creators :) 

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Today I am sharing another 3D origami creation. This time I was inspired by Gir from the show Invader Zim. After tediously folding over 200 pieces of neon green, a few pieces of black, white, grey, and one pink, I managed to make Gir. 

Above is an image I quickly made for anyone who is curious on how to fold the 3d origami pieces. I use colored copy paper. One sheet of copy paper will allow you to have 32 small rectangular pieces. After you have all the rectangular pieces cut out, you'll want to use the above diagram to help fold the papers into the 3d origami pieces you'll need to stack on top of each other to create the models such as Gir. Hopefully you found this to be helpful...happy folding.

Painting Mugs Inspired by Studio Ghibli and Alice in Wonderland

Hello to all coming across my art blog. Welcome to a place to view, learn, and share different forms of artwork. 

Above is a mug I painted that was inspired by Studio Ghibli. I am quite the fan of Hayao Miyazaki's anime films; my favorite film was Howl's Moving Castle. The characters on the mug include Totoro and Chibi Totoro from the film My Neighbor Totoro, the black soot from the film Spirited Away, Calcifer from Howl's Moving Castle, and a couple Kodamas from the film Princess Mononoke. This would be a great gift for any Studio Ghibli fan.

I previously posted about another Alice in Wonderland inspired painting. This mug has a lot more detail then the last and was also based off the tea party. The characters included the Mad Hatter, the March Hare, and Alice. I'm not sure if you all can see but the quote on the mug states, "We're all mad here."
Hope you enjoyed these two mugs :)

Howl's Moving Castle Watercolour/Ink Painting

Lately I have been dipping into watercolour painting. I decided to begin a Howl's Moving Castle painting by taping the watercolour paper onto my clipboard. I sketched a light image of the flying castle and then proceeded by painting it.

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After the paint dried I took black ink and a calligraphy pen to fill in the small details and to add a little splatter to the  background. 

I will continue the adventure of watercolour and share with everyone a bit of the process if you want to give it a try. Happy painting everyone :)

Origami and Kirigami: Folding Roses and Tulips

Sometimes after painting or sewing for a few weeks I go back to doing kirigami flower bouquets. I love the beautiful detail you can get with a few pieces of paper. 

Above is a bouquet I created and sold adding an origami "To and From" tag beings that this was intended as a gift. I wrapped the bouquet in tissue paper which I held together with an off-white silk ribbon. The flowers I cut and folded were colorful tulips and roses.

This bouquet is similar to the other bouquet but with some small adjustments. I added origami butterflies and a satin ribbon covered in gold glitter to match the inner gold tissue paper. 

I also create vases filled with roses and tulips of any color that is requested. Personally I love the vase of flowers over the tissue paper but just my personal opinion. Happy folding!

Beauty and the Beast: When Anger Turns into Something Beautiful

One of my favorite Disney films is Beauty and the Beast. Below is an hour-long project of the Enchanted Rose. 

The reason for the title "When Anger Turns into Something Beautiful" is due to the story behind the making. My fiance had given me his old glass chess set to use with my crafts. At first, I had the plan to cover the chess set in various colors of blue beads signifying the water. As a lover of origami and kirigami I planned on creating paper flowers laying in the "water," but after my fiance and I had a heated argument I decided to smash  the chess board into bits and create something else. After the glass was shattered I realized that I regretted some of the things I said to my fiance and should start on this project to give to him as an "I'm sorry" gift. I decided on the Enchanted Rose utilizing the chess set, beads, and a simple paper rose I folded. Of course we quickly made up and he loved his gift. Funny how such a beautiful and delicate piece of art can come from a place of anger.

DIY Neon Chocolate Factory and Mad Tea Party

Hi DIY-ers!

If you are interested in pom poms, foam, and pipe cleaning artwork or you have a love for the films Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory or Alice in Wonderland, you may be interested in this crafty DIY project.

My friend and I decided to start on a collaborative art project using the following above materials. We chose cardboard as our base for the M&B's Chocolate Factory inspired by the film and book Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. The chocolate river and the flooring was constructed with the foam while most of the candy and other sweets were made with pipe-cleaners and googly eyes.

After finishing the Chocolate Factory we decided to start another project but larger then the last. We discussed some ideas and came up with the Mad Tea Party from the film and novel Alice in Wonderland. Below is the result of hours of twisting, cutting, hot gluing, and painting. The chairs, table, and base were cut, painted, then glued together. As you can see we went crazy with the pipe-cleaners, pom poms, and googly eyes. There are several original characters from the film/novel in this DIY such as the Cheshire Cat, the Caterpillar, and Queen of Hearts. There are several extra characters added as well.

The table is filled with a huge cake as the centerpiece, teapots, tea cups, and cupcakes. This was a fun project and I hope you enjoyed this colorful DIY.

DIY Reupholstering Worn-out Chairs

Hello all DIY-ers! 

Having three children and a cat living in the house, things tend to get ripped up, worn out, and stained. I don't know how many times the little ones spilled their drinks or dropped their food or even ripped the little holes into bigger holes for the fun of it. Oh and my sweet kitty has also been guilty of ripping those holes bigger by playing with the dangling strips of fabric. So looking at the set of chairs in front of me I decided today, of all days, to finally reupholster these chairs with the left over fabric I had laying around my sewing bin. I scrummaged through my fiance's tool boxes and went to work taking the screws out from the bottom half to separate the seat cushion from the wooden chair base. After scavenging the shed and our small tool box inside the house, I realized that we didn't have a staple gun or enough small tack nails so I questioned, "What should I do?" but I soon remembered I had my glue gun. So although I recommend stapling the fabric on, you could hot glue the fabric to the cushion, though I warn you all that this is tedious. During the hot gluing process (or stapling process) I suggest to poke a small hole in the fabric so that it'll be easier later to screw the base back to the cushion. After I put these pieces together it was complete and looked much better. I am truly glad with the result of this DIY even though I didn't have the right tools. Plus the youngest one loves his new chair which always makes me smile :)  

It's Always Tea Time, So Grab a Mug and Let's Start Painting.

Hello to all day-walkers and night-crawlers. If you are interested in painting and love tea (or even if you're a coffee junkie), you might be interested in personalized mugs.

Above is an image of one of my favorite tea cup to use. I simply painted a little green tea bag on the front and a "drink me" tag on the back. Of course as you can see I also painted a simple quote, "It's Always Tea Time." After I let it dry for an hour or two I popped it in the oven for about 30 minutes.

Sewing Messenger Bags and Purses

Hello to anyone cruising the web and is happening to view my following art creations.

Rag-doll Messenger Bag

Above are images of a messenger bag my friend asked me to sew for him. We talked about the concept of what he wanted, I drew up a pattern, pulled out the sewing machine, and BAM a rag-doll bag a.k.a. Baby Boomer was born!!! After sewing the different colored materials together with my handy dandy sewing machine, I hand sewed the thick black stitching and the rag-doll face with some black yarn I had laying around. As a button-junkie I added a lot of buttons, and may I add that the eye on the doll's head opens!?!

Patchwork Bear Purse

Often people wonder what they should do with their small scraps of material left over from previous sewing projects. With a sack full of scraps left over from the rag-doll messenger bag I decided on making myself a patchwork bear purse. I took my bear pattern I made previously and sketched out a small basic bag pattern to create my patchwork bear purse I named Tama-chan. After creating a Tama-chan I decided I had to make an Usachan, which is a character in Ouran Highschool Host club.

Usachan Purse

3D Origami Pokemon

3D origami is definitely tedious but the results are worth all the hours of paper folding. As a Pokemon fan, I decided to create Professor Oaks' gift to Ash; that's right, it was a Pikachu. I also constructed a Cleffa, which is pictured down below.