Friends are like stars...

This was a fun project I started after seeing toilet paper and paper towels rolls in use on Pinterest.  The paper roll idea comes from Susan Meyers and was featured on Ada's Interior Design webpage.

What you see above is the finished project.  I had to ask my friend to send me a picture since I neglected to take one before passing it on to her as a gift!

Here is what I used:

-  Toilet paper rolls
-  Paper towel rolls
-  Wooden, unfinished star
-  Tacky Glue
-  Scissors
Not shown:
-  Black acrylic paint
-  Blue acrylic paint
-  Black spray paint
-  Gold spray paint
-  Newspaper


First steps:

1.  Cut rolls once lengthwise  (I used my eye to
     cut them, but feel free to use a ruler for more
     precise, straight line.)
2.  Cut rolls into strips with a width of about 1 cm

Next, I painted the star black and let it dry.  I glued two of the longer strips from the paper towel roll together to make it even longer, and then glued this to the top right portion of the star.  I did the same for the bottom portion.  This gave me my "working area."

Then, by trial and error, I used the strips from the toilet paper rolls and the paper towels and started gluing them in places I thought looked nice.

Once my working area was filled in and all the pieces were glued accordingly, it looked like this:

*This is the only picture I took before gifting the project to my friend.  Note that the star is plain - In preparing the steps for this post, I found that it's much simpler to paint the star before gluing the strips to it!







The thin cardboard strips are very easy to manipulate so to add a more rounded edge to the pieces, wrap the strips around a pen, marker, or--what I found useful--a small bottle of paint.

Finishing touches:  I spray painted the wispy details black and added a very light, intermittent coat of gold spray paint for a shimmer effect.

On the black star, I dipped a crinkled piece of newspaper into a dark blue acrylic paint and blotted the entire front of the star. I added a friendship quote and freehand stenciling using a gold marker.

Live ~ Laugh ~ Love

Ok, so back to crayon art!

This is my favorite so far because it hosts one of my (and maybe your) favorite phrases! 

I used three separate 11" x 14" canvas panels and painted them with black acrylic paint.  I arranged and glued the crayons how I wanted and melted them with a blow dryer.

One extra step I decided to add was to paint a black panel along the crayons using black acrylic paint, leaving just a bit of the colorful tips to show.  This is not something I have seen on Pinterest just yet, but it wouldn't surprise me if it's already been created!

Once completely dried, I added the words using a paintbrush and metallic silver acrylic paint.

I finished this recently so I'm not sure if I'll add ribbons to the backing for hanging, or simply set them on a shelf. 

I showed these to a friend of mine and she liked them so much, I offered to make her a set!

Amazing Grace

Inspired by a project similar to this one this one that I can no longer find on Pinterest, I decided to give it a try.

Supplies:

Thin slats of Balsa wood (found at many DIY stores or retail craft departments)
Unfinished wooden letters spelling "Amazing Grace"
Permanent adhesive
Spray paint
Ribbon

The slats of Balsa wood I used were long, so I carefully (and temporarily) arranged the letters how I liked and cut down the Balsa wood to fit.  **As seen in the picture of the aforementioned link, I suggest arranging "Amazing" vertically and "Grace" horizontally, opposite of what I did!**

Once the Balsa wood was trimmed accordingly, I glue the two pieces together in the shape of a cross. Once secure, I spray-painted them using a textured paint.  Any paint of your liking will do.  Then, I scattered the letters on a cardboard box (worked better than newspaper) and spray-painted them with a differently-colored textured paint.

Once the paint dried on all pieces, I glued the finished letters to the cross and let it dry overnight.

To finalize the project, I glued a brown ribbon to the upper left and right corners of the back of the cross for hanging.  As you can see, this letter formation works fine.  As I mentioned before, though, I would rather have had the words switched with "Amazing" running vertically and "Grace" horizontally.

I made three of these as Christmas gifts for family and I received many, many compliments on them!

Tip:  The right side of the cross was a little heavier than left because of the letter placement and caused the cross to hang lopsided.  An easy fix was to glue pennies to the back of the left side until it was weighted enough to hang evenly.  This should not be an issue if "Grace" is horizontal, as the letters will be dispersed evenly.

(Note:  The link included in this post was a result of an image search using Google.  I do not own the website, nor do I intend to persuade purchase(s) or solicit any items for sale on their behalf.)

Got tissue paper?

I had three silk flowers in my craft box.  After using two for the previous crayon art, I desperately wanted to put the spare flower to use some how!  I was a little discouraged with the crayon art so I rummaged through my supplies to see what else I could find and, voila!  Previously-used tissue paper!

My brother and sister-in-law gave me most of the gently-used tissue paper they saved from my niece's 1st birthday party.  I thought it would be nice to use this paper for a sentimental "something" they could have to remind them of this special occasion.

Supplies:

Canvas panel (or other firm backing)
Used (or new) tissue paper
Kleenex (or other filler)
Silk flower head
Scissors
Glue
Ribbon

I used one sheet of blue tissue paper (folded in half) and covered the canvas panel completely.  I folded over the edges of the paper and glued them to the back of the panel using my favorite adhesive.  (No need to glue the tissue paper on the front as it will leak through.  Pull the paper taught and simply glue it to the back.)

For the "grass", I cut green tissue paper into strips measuring approximately 2" wide by 5" in length.  Lengthwise, I folded the strips in half, leaving me with 1" x 5" pieces.  I glued these to the blue background, overlaying each one to add dimension.  Once secured in place, I used the scissors to snip at the top of each piece to give it more of a grassy, wispy feel .

For the stem:  I used one trimmed piece of green tissue paper and rolled it around one piece of Kleenex and glued the edges.  I glued the stem to the panel and then the flower head last.

Once completely dry, adhere a ribbon to the top and left corners of the back of the panel for hanging.

Crayon Art - take 2!

I saw a piece of crayon art similar to this on Pinterest but the flowers were painted on.  It was lovely, but I thought the silk flower heads would add some dimension.

I used the plain white canvas panel like the other but left it white as opposed to adding color for the background.  I glued and melted the crayons in the same manner as my first project, but flipped it upside down to create a grassy-look to this particular piece.  I used silk flowers found at any favorite craft store, cut from the stem, and glued them on using e6000 adhesive glue.  You'll see the flowers start to separate once you cut them from the stem, so don't be afraid to use the glue to help hold the layers together.

I know now that I should add pictures of the various steps I take in creating these pieces (and I'll start doing that from this point on).  One step not shown here is adding a ribbon to the top of the canvas panel so it can be hung on a wall.

I used a white ribbon and glued each end to the top left and right corners of the back of the panel.  This is a very simple way to create a hanger.

Crayon Art

If anyone at all has been on Pinterest, you know about crayon art.  Well, this was my first experience with this type of project and it turned out...ok. 

Supplies:

1 Canvas panel (any size, but for this project I used an 11" x 14")
Crayons (Crayola crayons work best for me)
e6000 glue (or other preferred adhesive)
Acrylic paint (black and gold used here)
Paintbrush 
Hair dryer
Dash of patience

I used an 11" x 14" canvas panel and painted it black using inexpensive acrylic paint.  Once the paint dried, I glued the crayons on with e6000 adhesive glue.  (This works much better for me.  I found that the glue from a hot gun dried too quickly.)

Once the crayons were secure and the glue was dried (I waited about 15 minutes), I fired up the hair dryer.  If you have the patience (which were not spared when I was created), I suggest using the low setting and taking your time.  The crayon will melt slower but the results will be much more smoother and you will not get as many splatters and mixing of paint as I did here.

I started by placing the head of the blow dryer close to the top of the crayons and sweeping down to the bottom (about 3 or 4 crayons at a time).  You'll see the crayons getting "wet" as the start to melt.  I let the crayons get soaked until I saw them begin to drip from the bottom tips.  I let the drips fall onto the painted canvas and again swept the blow dryer in a downward fashion, allowing the melted wax to smear all the way down.

Once I melted it all I could with the little amount of patience I DO have, I let it dry.  I used a gold acrylic paint to add the word "dream".  This paint is resistant to the wax, so this took some time and a couple of coats to complete.  Any color will do; however, the project I saw on Pinterest was painted in white and was much more appealing to the eye than the gold.  White is the only color of paint I did not have at the time--go figure!

My brother--a self-proclaimed and lifetime dreamer--is the proud owner of my first Pinterest project and absolutely loves it!  It hangs on the wall of his office as he works each day on fulfilling his dreams as an entrepreneur.

And so it begins...

Like many others, I've decided to create a blog to display my attempts at creating various crafts I've found on Pinterest.  They will be few and far in between as I just finished nursing school and most of time is spent studying for the board exam.  (Wish me luck!!)

Who knows!?  Maybe I'll add a few bits of my life along the way.  The crafts, for some, will not be very exciting.  And my life?  Even less so!  But I'm here, and I'm just starting out.  Let's see what I can get myself in to!