Puffy Paint Backpack for Back-To-School

It's not too late to personalize those backpacks for back-to-school!

Save the cash you would lay down for a fancy designer backpack for your little princess and simply grab a pack of Puffy Paint to put a kitty face and her name on the front in no time.

DIY EXTREME Puffy Paint Classroom Folders

It's Back-to-School time again, and if you're looking for a way to brighten up the classroom in a BIG way with a SMALL budget, these DIY Classroom Folders are just the ticket! 

DIY Sunglass Cases

When Scott and I were in Amsterdam this year, we were so excited to go to the Van Gogh Museum.  It was a tremendous experience, with the beautiful works of Vincent Van Gogh including masterpieces such as Almond Blossom, The Bedroom and of course, Sunflowers! 

After the tour, we ended up in the museum store where I found this little fabric rectangle in a plastic pouch for cleaning your glasses.  The pattern on the fabric is a print of Sunflowers, and I thought it would be fun to have, since I probably clean my glasses about a dozen times a day.... I know.  

Neat freak.

 Then I got the idea that the fabric would be perfect to make a little pouch for my sunglasses.  Plus, it would be handy to have a pouch made from the same fabric I can use to clean my glasses.

All I needed was a good adhesive to glue two sides together, right?  So I reached for my stash of super-duper fast and easy to use Aleene's® Instant Tacky 1/4" Double-Sided Tape.

Now if you don't have one of these glass cleaner cloths, you can pick them up in tons of stores, usually by the cash register.  Or, you can cut a piece of fabric or felt into a 6 x 7 inch rectangle with pinking shears.  Step #1 is to apply the tape on one of the short ends of the fabric (6-inches).  Then cut a piece of tape 3-1/2 inches long and apply from the corner, half-way up the longer side. It kinda makes an "L" shape.

Step #2 is to peel off the red liner from the tape.  

So far, so good :)

Step #3 is to fold the fabric in half and press the edges of the pouch together firmly with your fingers to insure the adhesive is set.
That's all there is to it, and I love my simple little glasses pouch.  It fits in my skinny cross-body bag, I use it all the time, and I think it's a great idea for a stocking stuffer or teeny gift for someone.

I hope you are enjoying my DIY journey and keep coming back for more ideas, tips, how-to's, and projects to 

craft, create, and decorate.

See you in the next post! 

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DIY Birdhouse - Home Sweet Home

Have you heard about the NEW Aleene's Ultimate Multi-Surface Adhesive™ and watched the darling video?

It's a story about love, glue and, well…find out what happens on Day 395....

Watch it now....

After watching, I was inspired to make this super cute birdhouse your little birdies will call
"Home Sweet Home"
as soon as you hang it on a fence in your backyard!

DIY Ugly Chair Makeover

I love chairs!

But sometimes I meet an ugly chair and I just have to have an intervention.  That was the case with this chair.  And it was the perfect case for an ugly chair makeover because it was residing in the cube of Brandi, our Design Studio Coordinator.  She was desperate to have something done, and I knew just what to do.

Case in point, right?  Who doesn't love a mauve chair, leftover from the 80's or 90's and would give you some dusty buns if you sat in it. Well.... here we go. This is how you make-over an ugly chair.

How to make a Leather Heart T-Shirt

I LOVE ALL THINGS THAT ARE GLITTERY and BRIGHT and WHIMSICAL!!!!

Happy Hump Day all you crafty crafters! I get super excited when it comes to holidays and I know you do too! Since I live in Louisiana the next holiday for me is Mardi Gras but we will skip that one here on the blog and jump right into Valentines Day! We all know everyone loves this holiday, filled with tons of love and happiness. I can't say it's my "favorite" holiday but I do love pink and red so that will make me happy. Today I will be showing you how to make a T-shirt with leather hearts on the sleeves. It's my take on the "new and improved" shoulder pads. 

Let's get started!

Gold Chevron Sweatshirt DIY.

If you follow my blog WobiSobi you know I love the chevron pattern. 

There is just something about this pattern that I am drawn to.

Make a Sparkly sweatshirt to go with that sequin skirt your going to wear New Years Eve.

How To Make Sequin Ornaments

Bright, Bold and Beautiful is how I roll when it comes to anything in my life. If you know my style by now then you know I love adding pops of color and black and white to everything! When I saw these beautiful sequins I just knew they had to make a quick appearance on my studio Christmas tree. Let's just say this, they have moved twice so far...now they are by themselves on some old branches I have in a vase and I think they like it better. These ornaments are fun to make and anyone can do them. When the holidays are over you can box them up carefully and reuse them the next year! PERK: you will NEVER find ornaments like your's in any store!
Let's get started!

Rhinestone Choker DIY

 I love simple elegance, not too fussy but makes a statement. 

I have been looking  for a choker like this forever
but could never find anything close to what I had pictured in my mind.
 I finally had to make what was in my head,
and Aleene's  jewelry and metal glue made it super easy to create.

How to make a Leather Tribal Phone Case

It's almost summertime and we all love sporting fashionable patterns, right! I know I do! Lately I have been searching for the "perfect" phone case which can be difficult at times. My phone is a part of me 24-7 and when it doesn't feel like it goes with me I freak! Well not really but you get my point. I decided to create my own leather phone case and put all of my energy into the design. So now when my phone is in my hands or on my ear it will look just as cute at the shirt and shoes I am wearing!

Let's get started...

Bedazzled Puff Paint Ornaments

Wahoo! It's that fun time of year where we decorate ornaments, bake yummy goodies and shop our brains away. But, if you are like me then you just bake and decorate because I am all about homemade things. The only time I buy something is if I truly can't "make" it! How funny is that. I wanted to show you today how to bedazzle some ornaments and add a tad bit of color to them. They almost look soft and delicate with a twist of FUN! 

Let's go make some Bedazzled Puff Paint Christmas Ornaments! 

HOW TO MAKE: FAUX BEADED SNEAKERS

 

What's going on people! It's already time for cinnamon-pumpkin candles, veggie soups, football and lot's of Fall and Halloween crafting. I always try to have something in my daily outfit that POPS and the fact is some day's all I want to wear is a cute pair of skinny leg blue jeans and white v neck shirt. What is one to do to make their outfit POP at this point? 

 I know! Make FAUX BEADED SNEAKERS! 

Delight in the Seasons + Aleene's Giveaway

We are excited to be giving away a great Delight in the Seasons/Aleene's prize pack to one lucky blog reader! This book by Lisa M. Pace is truly fabulous and includes paper crafting projects and techniques that will inspire you any time of the year! It's filled with beautiful how-to photos and instructions that will teach you how to make delightful projects...everything from altered tins to party hats and paper flowers! We're excited about this book because Lisa used a lot of our Aleene's Adhesives to create her amazing projects! Enter to win below! a Rafflecopter giveaway

iLoveToCreate Retrofabulous Crafts: Cheers Cocktail Coasters

iLoveToCreate Retrofabulous Crafts: Cheers! Cork Coasters

Margot Potter

“These are your grandmother’s crafts.  Ya gotta problem with that?”

Nothing says retro like cocktail parties, a delightful custom that is rapidly disappearing.  What could be more festive than a few friends, some fondue, hors d’oevres and a litany of libations?  What indeed.  Whatever your poison, be it leaded or ‘un’, these perky little coasters will turn any occasion from drab to fab in seconds flat!  Cheers!

Materials

Aleene’s Spray Acrylic Sealer-matte

Scribbles brush-on fabric paints black and white

Conversation bubble stencil (I used a Shape Template from Fiskars)

Fine tipped black marker
Tulip sponge pouncer

Small flat paintbrush

Small tipped paintbrush

Trace conversation bubble on front of coasters using a fine tipped black marker.

Carefully paint black edges around bubble.  A flat brush is the best choice for this task.'
 

Paint the inside of the bubble white, use flat brush for larger sections and small brush to get into smaller spots.  Allow paint to dry.

Use a foam pouncer to apply a small amount of paint to letter stamp, be careful not to get paint on stamp edge.  Stamp words on each coaster, these can be a little wonky as this is a cocktail accessory! After dry, spray with two coats of matte acrylic sealer. 

Cheers, clink, sip and savor...the four components of a successful toast!

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iLoveToCreate Teen Crafts: Funky Flower Tank Top

iLoveToCreate Teen Crafts

Funky Flower Tank Top

Margot Potter for Avalon Potter

“Mom crafted, teen approved.”

Av is in her final week of school and just got home from a trip to Washington, D.C.  So I stepped in to make this funky tank top.  This was my second painted shirt attempt from yesterday; the first one was so horrid it ended up becoming the paint rag.  By the end of the day, I was starting to think this was heading for the ‘craft fail’ bin too, but now I’m kinda liking it and Av really liked it.  Craftastrophe or crafty triumph...sometimes it’s a fine line, people.  If you really get into a pickle, you can always cut the fabric up and use it for another project or, as I did with shirt number one, turn it into a colorful rag! I used the Paint Canon paints to do a Jackson Pollack influenced splatter background and then the flower stamp added a little touch of girly whimsy.  Still...it needed something...so out came the dimensional paint and some faux gemstones.  What was cool was the fabric was so wet, the dimensional paint sort of faded into it in spots.  The key here is to really get it layered without letting it get muddy and to keep dabbing as you work.  Ideally you’d dry between layers, but I was in a crunch for time, so layers just kept going on and the shirt kept getting wetter.  A lot of my best ideas come from being willing to make glorious messes and ultimately, there are no craft fails, except for the failure to craft. 

Materials

Ribbed tank top in grey

Tulip Fashion Graffiti cannon fabric paints in black, pink and white

Tulip Soft Fabric paint in hot pink

Tulip Slick 3-D fashion paint in white

Aleene’s Fabric Fusion glue

Faux gemstones

Foam flower stamp

Tools

T-shirt or sponge to blot and soak up paint as you work

Tulip sponge pouncer to apply paint to stamp

Tulip fashion form

1.  Wash your shirt first.  Slide the form inside of your shirt.  Use the paint canon paints to drizzle and drip layers of paint straight from the bottles.  As you work, dab excess and keep layering and dabbing until you are happy with the results.  Allow to dry or leave wet while moving to next step for a more faded look.

2.  Apply pink paint to stamp with foam applicator.  Stamp flowers randomly on front of shirt.  Use a pouncer to add pink paint on spaces between flowers for another layer of color. Allow to dry or leave flowers wet for more faded dots.

3.  Use dimensional paints to add dots around flower petals.  This is not meant to be perfectly perfect, vary spacing and placement.  Add a white ring to center dot on each flower.  Carefully glue faux stones to center of each flower using Fabric Fusion.  Allow to dry before wearing. 

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Aleene's glue gun featured on Portlandia episode!

 Forgive me for just discovering this hilarious series on IFC. It's called Portlandia and is about the eccentric characters of Portland, Oregon. The new season begins this Friday, but you can see a bunch of clips on You Tube from season one. I laughed through all of them! I found this one where Aleene's glue gun is featured!


LINK

Here's another cute, crafty kind of clip called Put a Bird on It:

LINK


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Recycled Snow Bottles Video - KSEE24 NBC - We Are Fresno Live!

DIY Snow Bottles Video 

as seen on NBC - KSEE24 

We are Fresno LIVE!

Host Stefani Booroojian was so much fun on the LIVE show on Thursday, 

as she shredded foam with a cheese grater 

while I covered recycled bottles 

with Aleene's Tacky Glue.  

You've got to watch and see how easy and cool these bottles turn out, 

and how inexpensive they are for fabulous winter centerpieces. 

For the instructions, go to:

 http://www.ilovetocreate.com/ProjectDetails.aspx?name=Winter%20Wonderland

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iLoveToCreate Teen Crafts: Nerds Rule Glasses

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Avalon Potter for iLoveToCreate Teen Crafts
Nerds Rule Glasses
"Teen crafted, mom approved."

I got these nerd glasses a couple of years ago when I started a nerd club at my old school. I still wear them sometimes for fun and this week wore them for Nerd Day at my new school. Plain nerd glasses were cool, but adding Tulip Glam it Up Crystals made them even cooler! I love these now! You can do this to any pair of glasses you have, even the not so nerdy ones! But hey, let's face it...

Nerds RULE!


Materials
Black plastic 'nerd' glasses
Tulip Glam it Up Crystals in clear
Aleene's Platinum Bond Glass and Bead Adhesive
Sand paper or soft nail file

Tools
Chain nose pliers OR Tulip Fashion Art Tweezers

1. Rough up the surface of the areas where you'll be attaching crystals. Don't go overboard! You may want to tape the lenses of the glasses to prevent accidentally scratching them.



2. Put some glue into a piece of tin foil and dip the crystals into the glue one by one using tweezers.



3. Adhere them evenly around the rims of your glasses. Take your time and if you want to, mark crystal placement in advance.

4. Allow glue to dry overnight and then wear your nerd glasses with pride!