Gift Ideas – Page 20

Double Strand Newspaper Bead Necklace

This necklace is my favorite paper bead creation so far. I love the round, shorter paper beads. There is a wonderful video that helped me to figure out how to get this shape, as opposed to the longer oval beads. The trick is to cut a really long, super skinny based triangle.

For this piece, I planned the design, then made just the beads I needed, instead of my normal make a bunch of beads for days and days, then come up with projects. The latter method always left me with tons of leftover bead soup. I realized I was spending lots of time making paper beads for which I had no project in mind. Not very efficient.

I made the beads gradually smaller from front to back by decreasing the length of the triangle strip. Here is the instructional video I mentioned above from paperbeads.org. This site is amazing. The majority of what I have learned about paper beads has come from there.

This is going to make one person on my gift list very happy. Get rolling… you still have time!

3D Snowman Framed Art

by Johnnie Collier

Oh my, I am loving these paper spheres. Here, I showed you garland made from stringing them together. Today, I will show you how to make this precious snowman framed winter art. This is a quick, easy project, perfect for those last minute Christmas gifts to check off of your list. Can we say frugal? Absolutely. Pop on over to the dollar store and get some 8×10 frames. Aside from that, all you need is paper, a printer, glue and some circle paper punches, or some other way to cut precise circles in 3 sizes.

Instructions:

Cut out 3 circle sizes for each ball of the snowman. You will need 12 of each size. I used 3 circle punches: 1 inch, 1.75 inc and 2.8 inch.

Fold the circles in half. If you are using patterned paper, fold so that the patterned side is inside.

Start gluing flaps of circles together until you have glued all 12 for each size:

Once you have all of your snowman balls ready, print this file from Printable Decor onto 8.5×11 inch paper. It is the “Let it Snow” text and the snowman hat and arms. I used scrapbook paper, light blue with snowflakes for a wintery background and a snowy red for Christmas. Keep in mind that if your circles are much different in size than mine, you will need to adjust the size of the background graphics. I made mine for an 8×10 inch frame.

Glue your half spheres onto the paper, lining them up with the hat and arms of the snowman you just printed onto decorative paper. Frame and hang! You are obviously not going to put the glass in when you frame it since you want your snowman to be 3D.

I am so excited to send these as Christmas gifts. They are great decor for the entire winter season!

DIY Painted Pop Art

by Johnnie Collier

{This post was originally shared at Infarrantly Creative}. One of my very favorite things to do is design in Photoshop. In fact, I picked it up way before ever tackling painting… you know, with actual paint and a brush, in hand. Today we are going to do a bit of both, in this acrylic painting right on the glass from a picture frame. So, grab your favorite photo, lets tweak it a little Photoshop (beginner level, I promise), and use it to guide us in painting our own Warhol style pop art portrait.

Supplies:

Photoshop
Digital image file
Picture frame with glass
Rubbing alcohol
Acrylic paint in white and a deep, vibrant color of your choice
Fine paint brush for detailing, larger brush for dabbing (sponge or stencil brush) and one in between
Masking tape
Newspaper to protect surface
mixing palette for acrylics (paper plate or cardboard)
Heat tool (optional)

Instructions:

For width and height, you want to put in whatever your frame size is, which needs to be a size your printer can print. Here, I went with 8×10 inch. For the purpose of this project, set resolution to 300 ppi (field shown in above pic after width and height).

After cropping, duplicate the background layer (I don’t like to directly edit the background layer in case I need to go back to it). You can select duplicate from the layers palette window, or better yet, hit Command (Control for Windows) and the letter j at the same time…

Now desaturate the image (turn to black and white) with keyboard shortcut Command (Cntrl on windows) + Shift + the letter u. I removed the background layer out of habit. We don’t need to do this since the digital image is not our final piece of art. Just leave it in and ignore it in the painting part (which will make sense soon). After you desaturate, duplicate (control + J) the layer and rename it “Subjects”.

Open the Levels adjustment window and move the white and gray triangles around to get a photo with white, black and 2-3 shades of gray. The black triangle on the left can stay put…

Now you are ready to print your image on just regular copy paper.

*NOTE: If having the final portrait in the same orientation as the digital file is important to you, you will want to horizontally flip the image before printing it. You can do this in Photoshop by going to the top left of the screen in the horizontal toolbar; Go to EDIT—>Transform—>Flip Horizontal.

Remove the glass from the frame and clean it with rubbing alcohol and a lint free towel.

On protected work surface, place print face up, then line up the glass on top of this…

Tape glass to print to keep it from shifting while you paint.

Now you are going to paint right on the glass, in layers – one color at a time. First with white, then your color, then a light shade of your color and finally a darker shade of your color. You must let each layer dry completely before moving on to the next to avoid unwanted blending. I use a heat tool fot this, but you can let it air dry if you want.

First, the white…

Now the color, as is, you will shade in the darkest areas. These are the areas that are black in the print. Use a light weight, taper point brush and create texture where hair frames the face and at the eyelashes and brows.

Now the light shade of your color, which you make by adding a couple of drips of your color to about a tablespoon (really… a tablespoon?) of white…

Reminder to dry between layers…

And now that the paint is dry…

Now for your final layer. This is a darker shade of your color (darker than the light shade, but not darker than the original color), made by mixing less white, more color than you did above.

Finally! Flip the glass over and check out your masterpiece…

See how it is reversed horizontally from the image? Something to keep in mind, especially if there is text in the image you are painting. Frame it and you are done.

Here are a couple more I did with the same technique.

These are a big hit, quite inexpensive to make and work up in less than an hour (especially if you use a heat tool to dry between layers). I grab frames to have on hand while at thrift stores and flea markets for just this kind of thing. Photos to pop art digitally is fun, but there is a different kind of satisfaction that comes with getting paint all over the place once in awhile, right? I love that you don’t have to be at all skilled in painting to get a cool effect (I am living proof)!

Another great idea to do with a photo is to have a photo mug made, which you can do inexpensively and without the mess of acrylics! Find out more.

Thanks for checking out my project. I hope you are inspired to create your own.

Free Cloth Paper Scissors E-Book

by Johnnie Collier

Remember when I shared these paper mache shoes with you? I had several requests for instructions, which I got from the Cloth Paper Scissors Magazine referenced in the original post. Well guess what? CPS has made that article available for free in this e-book, along with three other cool projects. I know, right?! I am having so much fun with this particular e-book. Keep your eyes peeled for some mixed media stitching projects here at SBLC.

Chevron Polymer Clay Pendant Tutorial

by Johnnie Collier

*ORIGNALLY POSTED AT MOD PODGE ROCKS*
Today, I will be showing you how to make a polymer clay chevron pendant (yes, the Target Missoni line has everything to do with the inspiration behind this project). If you have never touched polymer clay, it is ok. You can do this. It is super easy, fast, and cheap, so let’s go…

Supplies:

Polymer clay in a light enough color to make your transfer visible. White clay shows the image the most true to color, but you can get interesting effects by using lightly colored clays as well. Here, and in general I use FIMO soft. It is easiest to work with, in my opinion.
Pasta machine, or acrylic roller or drinking glass to roll clay into uniform sheet
Small tile to bake clay
Mod Podge Dimensional Magic
Mister bottle with water
Pendant Bezel for the square pendant, Pendant bail for the round pendant
Cookie cutter in desired pendant shape
Craft knife or clay blade
Armor-All
Bake-able clay adhesive
Chevron images, here. For this technique, the images must be using a laser jet. A portion of these chevron prints are courtesy of Annie Howe. Find more of her chevron designs in her Etsy shop!

Instructions:

Condition clay: Polymer clay is composed of a bunch of particles that need to be “conditioned” before using, which is a fancy way of saying squished and rolled until they are mixed together evenly. I roll the clay around in my hands, pulling twisting and mashing it together until it is soft enough to flatten using my clay dedicated pasta machine. This is handy because it has 9 different numbered thicknesses, and for serious clayers, sometimes exact thickness is important. For this project, just warm the clay up by kneading it in your hands for a couple of minutes, and roll into a thin sheet using an acrylic roller or drinking glass.
Working on a ceramic tile (these are great for clay because you can work right on them and they are safe to bake your clay on, so you don’t have to handle the raw piece anymore than necessary), lay your conditioned clay sheet flat and place your image face down on the clay. Here I am using patty paper underneath the clay, which is also bake able. I do this when I am baking several pieces on a big cookie sheet so I can just move the patty paper instead of touching the raw clay with my fingers. Fingerprints have ruined one to many finished works, which is also the reason for the rubber gloves. Burnish the image to get rid of any air bubbles between the image and the clay.

Spray a few squirts of water on the back of the image…

Lightly run finger across wet image to remove paper backing. You may want to re wet the paper to get it to roll off. Water will not remove the ink, but too much pressure may do so and ruin the image.

For the bezel setting pendant, spray the bezel with Armor All. This is a release agent, preventing the clay from sticking to the bezel. Line the bezel up with the image and place it face down, pressing the back to create a impression in the clay.

Carefully lift the bezel, and cut along the square impression using a craft knife or clay blade.

Next, you can bake the square as is (275° for 20 min), remove from oven, let cool for 5 min, then glue it into the bezel using E6000 or you favorite strong hold craft glue. I chose instead to bake the clay in the pendant bezel. It is metal, and withstands the low temp required to bake the clay, no problem. This way, I know for sure it fits perfectly. I use a dab of bake-able polymer clay adhesive to adhere the clay to the metal bezel. If you don’t have this, and you still want to bake the clay in the bezel, you can do that. Just pop the piece out of the bezel after it is baked and put a dab of E6000, or super glue, on the bezel before replacing the clay piece.

For the round pendant with no bezel, I folded the clay sheet in half to double its thickness, then cut out my image with a circle cookie cutter (don’t forget to spray the cutter with armor all so it won’t stick to the clay). Bake the clay per package instructions. You will have to glue a pendant bail to the finished piece to attach it to a necklace, or you could poke a hole through the pendant for wiring, like I show here.

After Baking the round piece, I sanded the edges with 2000 grit wet to dry sandpaper to smooth it out, then inked around the chevron image with color box chalk ink to get the blue color you see in the finished pendant. I love chalk inks with polymer clay! They are so vibrant, and blend-able.

FINISHING: You can touch up any areas the image transfer didn’t take using a permanent marker before sealing with Mod Podge. I use a baby wipe to get rid of any stray paper backing, then cover with Mod Podge dimensional magic. Several thin coats are best, drying an hour or so in between. Add to your favorite chain and that is it. Here is another bezel setting piece I made using the printable provided…

This is a great project to keep in mind for handmade holiday gifting. You can use family photos, pets, custom text, anything you can print on a laser jet. Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoy.

Paper Christmas Tree Earrings

by Johnnie Collier

Today I will detail how I made these Christmas tree earrings using a shopping bag. Yep, a shopping bag. These are the perfect Christmas gift for someone on your list, or accessory to wear for your next holiday get together.

Supplies:

Paper
Toothpick
Straight edge
Glue stick
Mod podge or other sealant
Jewelry findings to back earrings
Round nose and flat nose pliers
Wire cutters
Beads of your choice to accent your tree
Craft Knife

Instructions:

Cut the 2 side edges of the shopping bag to lay it out so that you have a single layer, long piece of paper. To form the shape needed for the earrings, your strip of paper needs to be at least 24 inches long. Here it is 31.5 inches. You can glue together 2 magazine pages at the edges to get a long enough piece, or use giftwrap.

On your cutting surface, mark the 3 points of your triangle; the base I used was one inch, and the point should be half way between the base points at the opposite end.

If you make lines on your paper, they will show up in the bead, so I like to line up my straight edge (bought this at Wal Mart awhile back for $5 in tools), and cut with my craft knife.

Here is my long, skinny triangle:

Starting at the base of the triangle, begin rolling the paper around a toothpick.

When you get to the last few inches of the triangle, run your glue stick along it and continue rolling, adhering the tip to keep the bead in place.

Carefully slide the bead off of the toothpick

With your thumb and index finger, grab the bead at the center and put the toothpick at one end. Pull the middle of the bead towards the toothpick to form the cone (tree) shape.

Seal the bead while it is still on the toothpick. I used Martha Stewart’s decoupage sealant here. Mod podge, diamond glaze, or polycrylic are other good choices. Some people use clear nail polish with good effect. Stick the toothpick into styrofoam to dry. Apply at least 2 coats of sealant, 3 is ideal. After the last coat, remember to remove the bead from the tree from the toothpick after about a half hour or so. Leaving it on too long can cause it to stick to the wood, which is just not cool.

Place your beads on the headpin, starting at the bottom of the tree, so that the end bead is against the flat disk of the headpin.

Using your needle nose pliers, bend the wire to a 90° angle, as close to the top bead as you can get

Grab the wire at about 1/4 inch from the bead as shown:

Using your free hand grab the end of the wire and wrap it around the round nose pliers to form a loop as shown:

Wrap wire around a couple of times then cut off excess with wire cutter. Attach to earring findings and that is it!

Here is a pair I made from the shopping bag and embellished with red and silver fingernail polish before sealing.

Here is a pair made with giftwrap. I love how the red and green stripes.

I hope you enjoy making your own. Warning: making paper beads is quite addictive. For more paper bead jewelry, polymer clay, recycled paper projects, and all kinds of other crafty DIY, visit my tutorials page or connect with SBLC on facebook.

Seal Those Paper Beads

by Johnnie Collier

Last week, I showed you a the best video I have found on making paper beads, here. The method used to seal the beads involved painting each one individually with glaze, for a total of 3 coats. Ugh… how time consuming. I knew there must be a better way. Today, I will share how I sealed 125 beads in 5 minutes (not including dry time, of course)!

Supplies:

Paper beads
Minwax Polycrylic
Fishing line
Toothpicks
Newspaper
Some kind of place to hang your strands of beads to dry

BTW, that handy little sharp tool you see, a needle tool I think, is way handier than toothpicks for rolling paper beads. Just saying. I got it in the clay section in a pack of tools at Michael’s.

Instructions:

So easy. Just string your paper beads on fishing line (cause it is strong and cheap). I tie toothpicks at both ends of the string of beads so that I don’t lose any, and to hang the strands from in the drying step. Here are some strung beads…
Now, dip the strung beads in polycrylic, submerging every bead. You hands will be dripping with the stuff. Do this over newspapers to protect the surface, and do it where you plan to hang them. I use my closet wire shelving, with plenty of newspaper on the floor to catch the drips. As you pull the strand out of the polycrylic, run it between 2 fingers over the can, to remove excess polycrylic. It will still be drippy, but you won’t waste as much.

My handy dandy drying area:

Tips: I like to separate the beads from one another about 1 hour into drying so that they don’t completely dry together. You can even turn the strands, hanging them from the other end. After 2 hours, I dip them one more time and let dry for an hour or so.

I think this method is way easier, and quicker, especially if you are sealing a lot of beads at once. Since I am so obsessed with making these things, they are everywhere, and I needed to find a quicker way to do this. The dry time is slower than if I individually paint each one, but the hands on time is literally 5 minutes, leaving me to do one of the 10 other projects I have going at any given moment. I love the shine and durability afforded by the polycrylic too. Check out some comparisons…

BEFORE:

AFTER:

10 DIY Gift Packaging Ideas

by Johnnie Collier

It is that time of year to bust out the gift wrapping supplies to adorn all the goodies. I am making a commitment this year to increase the green-ness of my gifting. If you want to do the same, while saving a few bucks, here are some creative DIY alternatives to store bought boxes and bags.

*Newspaper to Gift Bag (if you can spare them from the paper bead pile) over at How About Orange:

*Origami gift box with lid at Uhandbag:

*Gift bag made from envelopes, again at How About Orange:

*Cereal Box to Gift Box at Instructables:

*Tons of free printable packaging templates at Yayoi.Senri:

*Scrapbook paper gift bags at From an Igloo:

*These organza envelopes over at Craftstylish are beautiful:

*Handmade Tulle gift pouch at Chez Plum:

*Gifts wrapped in vintage maps at Living Green:

*Art magazine gift wrap at Made by Joel

Newspaper Bead Necklace

by Johnnie Collier

I am completely out of control with this paper bead rolling thing. I have tried newspaper, magazine pages, giftwrap, junk mail, you name it. This piece is newspaper beads, paired with 4mm garnet bicones and black glass seed beads. I love how the red garnet pulls out the red in the paper beads. You can pretty much pair these rolled paper beads with any color, and bring that color out of them. This necklace is 48 inches, so you can loop it once or twice.

Check out this all inclusive video on how to roll the beads, with tips on how to achieve specific colors in your paper beads.

Easy Crochet Scarf Pattern

by Johnnie Collier

It was love at first stitch with me and Lion Brand Homespun yarn. Rummaging through the ol’ yarn supply, I found a single skein of this fluffy, soft, variegated fiber in the warm color scheme “Bourbon”. A simple scarf I whipped up a few years back came to mind, and I got busy. Today I will share with you this beginner level, super fast pattern that creates an elegant spiral effect, using evenly spaced increases every row. The only stitch you need to know besides chain stitch is double crochet. I made this in a single evening while catching up on a miniseries. I plan to make a few more for Christmas gifts. This project is ideal for sharing some holiday handmade love!

You will need:

Size K crochet hook
Single skein of Lion Brand Homespun, or other bulky weight 5 yarn
Netflix 🙂

Instructions:

Chain 144
Row 1: Double crochet in fourth chain from hook, *double crochet in next chain, 2 double crochet in next chain; repeat from * to end of row.
Row 2: Chain 3, turn, double crochet in same space, *double crochet in next two double crochet, 2 double crochet in next double crochet; repeat from * to end of row.
Row 3: Chain 3, turn, double crochet in same space, *double crochet in next three double crochet, 2 double crochet in next double crochet; repeat from * to end of row.
Row 4: Chain 3, turn, double crochet in same space, *double crochet in next four double crochet, 2 double crochet in next double crochet; repeat from * to end of row. Fasten off. Weave in ends.

If you have never crocheted, I hope this inspires you to learn. It brings great joy in many ways. For my favorite resources to get you started, visit my craft links page and look under “Crochet”. I taught myself using Crochet Cabana, which you will find linked there. Happy hooking!

Double Strand Newspaper Bead Necklace

3D Snowman Framed Art

DIY Painted Pop Art

Free Cloth Paper Scissors E-Book

Chevron Polymer Clay Pendant Tutorial

Paper Christmas Tree Earrings

Seal Those Paper Beads

10 DIY Gift Packaging Ideas

Newspaper Bead Necklace

Easy Crochet Scarf Pattern

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