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.