DIY Geometric Canvases

Hey Guys! What is going on? Tanner Bell here sharing a really fun decor idea featuring the Tulip Fabric Markers. The possibilities are truly endless. These markers are fun to use on all kind of surfaces and I'm super excited to share that with you. 

MAYA IN THE MOMENT TEEN CRAFT: Swirl Embellished Dog Bed

"I am Bianca, Queen Chihuahua of this house!"

I wanted to decorate a bed for one of my dogs, and the first dog (out of our 5) to jump in was Bianca!

"I like this bed. Please embellish it for me. Swirls are my favorite."

 I bought this bed at a discount store, and found it was a perfect fit for a Chihuahua!

 Using Puffy Paint, I made as many doodles and swirls to fill up the sides of the bed.

 Smooth and skinny lines usually do the trick. Try to avoid big globs of the paint, since it takes much longer to dry. Make sure you leave it to dry for a couple of hours, or over night is best.

"He seems so distant, why can't he turn around to see my starry eyes?"

As you can see, Bianca and Boostie loved it!

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ILoveToCreate Teen Crafts: Joyful Christmas Ornament

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ILovetoCreate: Joyful Christmas Ornament
Avalon Potter
"Teen created, Mom approved."

I thought I would squeeze in one more holiday project because it is one of my favorite seasons. A few years ago my mom took a clear glass Christmas ornament and put crystals inside making a snow globe for your tree. It was one of my favorite projects she ever made, so I thought why not adapt her old project into something new! My project is a clear ornament that you spray wit Aleene's Tacky Spray Glue and coat the inside with Crafty Chica glitter! I enjoyed making these as gifts for my little cousins because it is fun, easy, and you can personalize each ball with different colors and tag to make it special for the person you give it to.

Materials
Clear ornament with opening top (preferably plastic in case of accident)
Aleene’s Fast Grab Tacky Spray
Tulip Fashion Glitter (green and red or colors of choice)
Colored paper to match glitter
White printer paper
Paper to make funnel
Aleene’s Original Tacky Glue Stick
Ribbon to match color of ball

Tools
Printer
Hole punch
Scissors

Instructions

1. Gather your materials.



2. Open up your ornament and lightly coat the inside with the Aleene’s Fast Grab Tacky Spray.

3. Make a funnel with a piece of paper and insert the bottom into the opening of the ball.

4. Pour a sufficient amount of the color(s) of glitter you choose into the ball. Feel free to mix colors or choose different colors then I used.


5. Close the ornaments top and shake until the ball is completely coated with sparkles. Shake the excess sparkles out of the ball.

6. Using a font you like print out in large letters the word or name you want as the tag. Use a similar color as the one you used in the ball. If you used two or more colors chose one for the font and another for the colored paper behind it.

7. Cut out the word and cut out your colored sheet of paper a slightly bigger into a rectangular card for the word to sit on.

8. Use your Aleene’s tacky glue stick to glue the word to the colored paper.

9. Punch a hole in the corner of the tag.

10. String some colored ribbon that matches the ball through the hole and tie a knot.

11. Tie onto the top of the ornament in a bow to complete the ornament.

It's My One Year Blogiversary with ILoveToCreate Teen Crafts!

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As many of you know, this has been a crazy summer around Casa de Potter. Imagine my chagrin when I realized yesterday afternoon that I missed my one year Blogiversary with ILoveToCreate! It was July 16th last year when I posted my first teen craft project. Not to throw out a tired and overused cliche...okay I'm actually going to do that very thing...but time really flies!

Every week, my challenge is to come up with a project that is teen friendly and teen achievable. If it's too complicated or two 'grown up', it's not going to pass muster. Heck even saying pass muster isn't going to fly, teens have no clue what that means, and quite frankly neither do I. Let me search that...okay here! Trends are shifting constantly and I try my best to keep up with them. Silly Bandz were in and out of our schools here in literally one month. Who can keep up with that pace?! I try to combine a little retro sizzle with a modern twist, which is I suppose the trajectory of most of my work.

Luckily I have a fashion savvy teen here who advises me on the cool (or not too cool) factor of my ideas and contributes her own amazing projects to the mix when I need a helping hand. Ya gotta love that!

I've compiled a small smattering of my personal favorite projects here with links to the instructions for your edification, entertainment and enjoyment. If you go to this RSS feed, you can find all of my projects from the past year! These sometimes get lost in the shuffle of older posts and it's fun to take them out for another spin. I hope you enjoy and I look forward with breathless anticipation to sharing more Teen friendly craft ideas featuring the fabulous products for ILoveToCreate in the coming year.

Love
Madge

Madge's Top Eleven (I know, it's not ten, I like too many of them!) Favorite Teen Craft Projects from 2010...in no particular order!

CLICK ON IMAGES FOR INSTRUCTIONS!

Crafty Rock Star Necklace

Upcycled Denim Book Cover

As Time Goes By Necklace

La Tour d'Eiffel Tower Lamp

Mod Girl Chipboard Necklace

Pretty in Pink T-Shirt

Moulin Rouge Tiny Top Hat Headband

Snow Day Christmas Canvas

Halloween Hootenanny Invitation

Pretty in Peeps Necklace

Avalon's Awesome Sweet Dreams Throw Pillow

ILoveToCreate Teen Crafts: Totally 80s Pollack Inspired Tote Bag

ILoveToCreate Teen Crafts
How To Make a:
Totally 80s Pollack Inspired DIY Tote Bag
Margot Potter The Impatient Crafter™
“Mom crafted, kid approved.”

Sometimes you make crafty gold and sometimes you make...this purse, but whatever you do, own it fully and more importantly, enjoy the journey. By the end of several hours of earnest crafting, I was convinced I was staring at a full on craft fail. Then the buzzer sounded and I was staring at this tote bag, thinking...really, Madge? Is this your teen craft project for this week?!

All in all, this just might be a bit of a hot mess, but Avalon came home from school and absolutely loved it. Who knew?! I have to remind myself sometimes that my focus here is 'teen crafts', which means the projects can be quirky! This has definitely got a modern art meets the 80s appeal. It’s fun to let all propriety go and squeeze paint with abandon on a canvas. I can see why Jackson Pollack enjoyed it so much. In this case, the canvas is a tote bag and the paint is Tulip dimensional fabric paint. It’s the perfect medium for this kind of design because it won’t run and stays dimensional after it dries. After layering on paints, I carved out some floral shapes with the tip of a paint tube and embellished them with metal chain and the foil side of some old faux gemstones. Aleene’s glues make it easy to stick just about anything to just about anything else! The floral trim is from Prym-Dritz, I gave it an edge using a Tulip Fashion Graffiti Big Phat marker.

I think other teens will dig this too. (Yeah, I said dig it.) Send them outside with some canvas totes, markers, stencils, trim, adhesives and a bin full of fabric paints and sprays and let them make some glorious messes of their own!


Materials
Fuchsia Canvas Purse
Raveled Rosettes Fabric Trim
Tulip Fashion Graffiti Big Phat Marker
Tulip Dimensional Fabric Paint Metallic Silver, Matte Black, Slick Fuchsia
Ranger Alcohol Ink Mixative Silver
Aleene’s Liquid Fusion Glue
Aleene's Jewel-it Glue
Flat back silver faux gems or the foil side of old faux gems

Tools
Scissors
2 pairs chain nose pliers


1. Layer Dimensional Fabric Paints on canvas by squeezing the tubes about 8 inches from canvas and moving the paint stream into circles and lines and squiggles. Keep making layers until you’re pleased with the results.


2. Use the tip of one of your paints to carve floral swirls out randomly.

3. Squeeze and shake silver mixative over paint layers randomly. Squeeze into the center of your carved floral areas (a little goes a long way.) Allow the paints to dry.


4. Use the marker to darken the frayed edges of the flower trim.


5. When the paints have dried, use Aleene’s Jewel-it to add gems to center of carved flowers.

6. Place chain around flower to determine length needed. Remove segment from core chain using pliers. Add a line of glue around flower and glue down chain. Repeat for each flower.

7. Glue the flower trim across the top of the purse using Liquid Fusion Glue. Allow to embellishments to dry.

ILoveToCreate Teen Crafts: Techno Garden Cell Phone Holder

ILoveToCreate Teen Crafts
Techno Garden Cell Phone Holder
Margot Potter
“Mom crafted, kid approved.”

Avalon is finally not the “only kid” in her school that doesn’t have a cell phone. Lest you think us barbarians, we simply couldn’t see the point of paying for another line for a twelve year old. I think kids are too plugged in as it is. Little did we realize, due to a miscommunication with our cell phone carrier, we’ve been paying for a third line that we don’t use for a year now. Argh. So we gave Avalon a second hand cell phone and instructed her to only use it for emergencies. We’ll see how long that lasts...

She immediately started rummaging through my crafty coffers for my collection of hand crafted cell phone holders. I’ve been making these for the past few years for books and magazines. I love the irony of a kitschy retro craft being converted into a techno friendly item. Thusly this project was born.

Add the awesome fabric YoYo maker I scored last month at the craft store that I’ve been itching to use in a project, an upcycled gingham shirt with buttons that didn’t fit properly and some vintage plastic beads and...I present the Techno Garden Cell Phone holder. In case you didn’t hear, gingham is all the rage for spring and summer fashions this year. You will have to create a pouch that fits your specific phone, therefore I’ve not included dimensions here. Just measure the felt around your phone, making sure there’s room for the phone to slide inside. Cut, glue and decorate.

Materials
Craft felt sheet in red
Black and white gingham fabric (if you have an old shirt you want to use, feel free)
Three coordinating buttons (mine came directly from the shirt)
Pine green rick rack trim (mine was vintage, but this stuff is easy to find)
Snap set
Aleene’s Liquid Fusion Glue
Aleene’s Super Thick Tacky Glue
9 10mm yellow Beadin' Path vintage plastic beads
10 8mm green AB Czech glass beads
2 EZ-Crimp ends
.018 49 strand beading wire
White or light color thread
Red thread

Tools
Clover YoYo Maker Large

Chasing hammer
Snap setter
Steel block
Mighty Crimp Tool
Chain nose pliers
Wire cutters
Scissors
Needle

1. Create beaded strand by attaching wire to EZ Crimp using Mighty Crimp Tool. Add your beads beginning and ending with a green glass bead and alternating between the two colors. Use chain nose pliers to pull wire through EZ Crimp end, keeping wire rounded to prevent from being too stiff, use Mighty Crimp Tool to attach wire and cut off excess with wire cutters.

2. Measure and cut your pouch leaving a 1” edge for your flap.

3. Glue the sides together up to the bottom of the edge using Aleene’s Super Thick Tacky Glue. Allow to dry overnight.

4. Create Yo-Yo following instructions on Clover YoYo Maker package. Begin by inserting fabric into receptive end of tool and then snapping the cover into place to secure the fabric.

5. Use fabric scissors to cut fabric edge to approximately ¼”.

6. Keep edge folded as you sew around the template from the bottom of the tool. See photo.

7. When you reach your final hole, sew through the first hole again. Carefully remove the snapping component from the receptive component and remove fabric.

8. Gently pull thread end tucking fabric edge into the center as you create your YoYo. When you have it formed, sew the open thread into the fabric edge, knot and cut off and tuck excess thread. Create two yoyos.

9. Mark and cut rick rack trim to create flower stems. Fold a bit of trim to form leaf. You can tack this with thread if you like.

10. Glue the components to the front of the pouch starting with the leaf, the stems and the flowers with Aleeene’s Fast Tack Tacky Glue. Allow to dry overnight.

11. Use Aleene’s Liquid Fusion to attach buttons to front of flowers. Allow to dry.

12. Attach snap following directions on snap packaging. You can also opt to use Velcro tape here, but tack it down for strength. My snaps use a small tool and a hammer to attach to the felt. After attaching snaps, glue a button on top of the exposed snap back on the front of your pouch using Liquid Fusion glue. Allow to dry.

13. Use red thread to sew the EZ Crimp ends on the strap to the back of the pouch. I positioned my strap ends just inside of the glue line on the edges of pouch. Tie off thread and hit with a tiny dab of glue. Repeat for second strap end.