Make-It-Monday: DIY Chevron Paint Chip Necklace

Here's a Make-It-Monday tutorial from KiraArts! (you can check out her blog here)

*If you make a Make-It-Monday craft yourself, take a picture and share it with us at our RNEST Facebook Page, or use the hashtag #RNESTMakeItMonday on Instagram, and we may share it here on the blog!*

"My mom and I went to Lowes last week. While we were there, we saw these Sherwin-Williams paint chips that were shaped like little houses!  

As mom and I were having fun picking out color combinations that we liked, I noticed that they reminded me of chevron necklaces. (Like the ones from RNESTer The Knotty Owl). Mom has made circle necklaces out of paint chips before, using different sized circle punches. So I thought, why not make a chevron necklace?

First, I arranged the paint chips and used a clothespin to hold them in place.
Then I put packing tape on them to hold the chips together and laminate it.  In hindsight, I would not recommend using packing tape, because of the little air bubbles. I should have used clear contact paper. You may still get air bubbles with contact paper, but they would be easier to get out than with the packing tape.  And, obviously, if you're lucky enough to have a laminating machine, go ahead and use that!

Then I cut the paint chips to the size I wanted.

So, I have this cool tool...the Crop-A-Dile.  It's for putting in eyelets.  I thought the eyelets would give the necklace a more finished look, rather than just using a hole-punch.  If you don't have a Crop-A-Dile, a simple eyelet kit would work.
(The Crop-A-Dile is mainly for papercraft projects; I wouldn't recommend it for putting functional, long term eyelets in fabric if you're making a corset or something.)

Then just put a chain through the holes and your necklace is finished!
The packing tape bubbles made the finish a little wonky, but I'll know better for next time! (and you all get to learn from my mistakes!)

*If you want a chevron necklace that is much more durable, you should really check out the handmade wooden ones by The Knotty Owl!

You can use a long chain...

Or a short chain!

And, you could really do this with any kind of scrapbook paper, or even cover some cardstock with washi tape!

Happy Crafting!"

Make-it Mondays : Handmade Envelope

If you have even the slightest flair for crafting and creative endeavors, you (like the rest of the RNESTers) probably have a tendency to hoard cool objects for unknown future projects. In this case, here's an idea for all that sweet paper you have sitting in a drawer.
And it's fast! This took me about 5 minutes.

Handmade Envelope

What you need :
-envelope to use as a template
-decorative / recycled paper
-pen (or pencil)
-scissors
-double sided clear tape (or a glue stick)


1) Open by your store bought envelope by carefully seperating the adhered edges and trace the shape on the envelope onto you decorative paper.


2) Cut out the form of the envelope.


3) Fold the side wing in and use double stick tape to adhere it. Fold to opening flap down as well. And, ta da, a fancy envelope!

Make it Mondays : Single Shot Screenprinting

You're probably starting to see a trend here, so alright, I admit it : I'm pretty into T-shirts.

This Single Shot Screenprinting method (aka, 'ghetto screenprinting', as we called it in college) is a great way to transform a boring, blank shirt into a far more awesome one. This was also my key method of having shirts sporting my favorite bands on them when I too poor to buy them. Over the years, I've made countless shirts using this method and have been thrilled with how long the print has lasted with minimal or no fading I have a few that are over 3 years old and the print is still looking great!

What you need :

-blank T-shirt
-acrylic paint (I'm currently using house paint, which also works just fine)
-plastic coated freezer paper
-print out of a design your choosing
-Exacto knife
-cutting mat (cardboard also works)
-pencil
-iron
-small paint roller and tray (tray not pictured)
-cardboard (not pictured)
-hair dyer (optional)


1. First things first : Choose your design. It can be just about anything, but I'd recommend keeping it simple. Big, bold forms and minimal text works best. But, depending of your level of patience and skill with an Exacto knife, you can get as crazy as you'd like. The sky's the limit.
After brainstorming and searching Google Images for a while, I decided to go back to the routes of my ancestral homeland and make a New Jersey Turnpike shirt (don't judge me).


2. Now that your have your design printed, trace it onto your freezer paper. Make sure that you trace it papery side up, plastic-y side down.

3. Using the Exacto knife, carefully cutting out your forms. You can either discard cut outs, or save them to create an inverse print of your design (kinda fun if you have the time and something else to print onto).
PS--Turn the iron on.

Here's a good trick that will help anytime you have text or a time you have a shape with another shape in the middle of it. Create a bridge, basically a thick line, that connects the form in the middle with the space outside of your design. We'll cut this bridge away later.



4. Now that your stencil is made, it's time to adhere it to your shirt. First, slip some cardboard inside the shirt to prevent paint from seeping through the back of the shirt. Line up your stencil on the shirt, plastic side down, and iron the stencil onto the shirt. The freezer paper should adhere very easily; you'll only have to iron for about a minute.



Let's go back to that bridge we made earlier. Now that the stencil is ironed on, you can carefully using your Exacto knife to cut away and remove the bridge.
PS--Turn the iron off.


5. Time for my favorite part : the paint!

As a side note, you can get these mini rollers at any hardware store for about $2 and they come with a little plastic tray. However, I've done this some many times and forgotten to wash just as many trays that I am using the back of an old canvas instead. You can use tin fold, a paper plate, or whatever you have around; the principle is the same.

Pour the paint onto the tray and roll your roller in the paint. Try to pick up a fairly liberal amount of paint, but not so much that it will splatter. It also usually takes a decent amount of paint to cover your design, as the fabric just soaks it right up. Roll the paint over your stencil, and be careful to not get paint on the exposed part of the shirt.




6. Hooray! You're almost there! Now you can either wait for the paint to dry or use a hair dyer to speed up the process.

7. Once the paint is completely dry, carefully peel off the freezer paper from the shirt. It should come off very easily. In some cases, you can even get another use or 2 out of your stencil. Otherwise, just discard it.


Congrats! Now you have a totally sweet t-shirt! You can wear it right away, but I like to wash mine first. I find the first wash can help to set the paint into the shirt and loosen up the painted fabric a bit. I'd also recommend washing inside out, especially for the first wash!


Happy DIY-ing and see ya next time!

Make-it Mondays : T-Shirt Tote

This is a great way to reuse one of those old, crumby t-shirts sitting in the back of your closet. And it could not be easier. This project took me less than 15 minutes (including time to dig out materials) and, frankly, I'm pretty clumsy on the sewing machine.

Materials:

-old t-shirt
-fabric scissors
-pen or pencil (or white charcoal in my case, since my shirt is such a dark color)
-dinner plate
-3-6 straight pins
-sewing machine (and thread, of course)


Step 1 : Cut the sleeves off the shirt, leaving the seams in tack.


Step 2: Lay the dinner plate on top of the shirt such that about half the plate is covering the shirt. Trace the edge of the plate with you pen(cil) and cut out that piece. This will be the opening of the bag.


Step 3: Turn the shirt inside out and, using your straight pins, line up the bottom of the shirt. Run the bottom of the shirt through the sewing machine.


Step 4: Turn the shirt right side in and start toting things around!

Make-it Mondays: Ink Blot T-Shirts

Every summer I counsel at a Senior High camp on Lake Erie. This year for crafts I wanted to take a new spin on the tried and true tie-dye craft project. I found a really cool tutorial on Instructables, based on Rorschach ink blot tests. These are super easy and give you pretty stunning results.

You will need:

• A pre washed cotton t-shirt
• Fabric paint (I used speedball silkscreen ink, found at most craft stores)
• Craft/Popsicle Sticks
  
• A large piece of cardboard
• Flat thumbtacks
• Ruler (preferably a yard or longer)
• X-acto or utility knife
• Iron

Step 1: Score a line down the middle of the back of your cardboard, using a ruler and x-acto knife. Don't go all the way through. Just enough so the cardboard can fold in half.


Step 2: Push the cardboard inside the shirt. Center it by lining up the crease in the card board with the care tag. Smooth the shirt out against the board, but be careful not to stretch it. Place 8 tacks to secure the top and bottom of the crease as well is the sides of the shirt.


Step 3: Add random paint splatters on one side. I used three colors, you can use as many or as few as you like. I also like to drizzle the paint on with small craft sticks. Be careful not to go too thin (design won't transfer) or too thick (design will crack).


Step 4: Fold the cardboard from the blank side of the shirt over your wet paint design.


Step 5: Open it up and you have a great ink blot design! Remove cardboard and tacks. Heat set with an iron, following the settings suggested for the particular fabric paint you are using.


Here is an example of one I made for myself. Enjoy as others interpret the psychological implicatons of your t-shirt design :)

Make-it Mondays:Post-It Notebooks

This week's tutorial comes from Kira Sinclair of KiraArts....well actually from her mom ;) These would make great gifts and perk up boring desk at work too. Enjoy!!!

From Kira:
At my request, my mom wrote the original blog tutorial for these cute little Post-It Notebooks that she makes. I've done a bit of editing, elaborating, and reformatting... but all the craft work shown in this post is all her! (I should get her to do a tutorial for one of her coffee cup cards/books).

Step 1:

First cut your base card stock 7 1/8 inches by 3 1/4 inches. (I used black...since a friend, who was destashing her scrapbooking supplies, gave me a lot of this thick, sturdy, black cardstock.) Crease at 3 1/2 and 3 6/8. (See picture above.)

Step 2:

Create Flowers or circles from punches or what ever design you want. You can even use rubber stamps, markers, geometric shapes, whatever you want! (This is the fun and creative part!)

Step 3:

Glue a 3 by 3 piece of paper on top of the black cardstock (I used lime green), then glue on your embellishment (I used green & yellow paper flowers).

Step 4 (Optional):

If you want your inside cover to be a pretty pattern or a different color from the base cardstock, you can glue some patterned/colored paper on the inside of the cardstock cover.

Step 5:

Finally, glue the spine of the 3 inch Post-It Note pad into the area where you creased for the folds. (OR, alternatively, you could glue the pad to the bottom of the inside of the booklet, but I recommend gluing the spine.)

And there you have it! A cute little Post-It Notebook to pretty up your regular old boring Post-Its! You can make lots of them with different designs. You can even personalize them. It's a quick and easy project and can be a great little handmade gift!

*A special thanks to my mom for humoring me and writing the original tutorial on her blog (even though she is insecure about her blogging capabilities!), and for providing most of the photos!*

Make-It Mondays: Dopplegangers

A few weeks ago I was struggling with what I should post on my personal blog. So I googled myself. What I found, among mostly junk, was a photo of my work that some one took and posted on Flickr, that received ton's of great comments. I made a post about it, thanking the person and actually heard back from them the next day. Pretty cool right?

This week I was stumped for Make-It Mondays. So, guess what? I googled it. What I found were many other crafty Make-It Mondays. Not so clever moniker after all ;) but now if you are jonesing for more Monday making goodness you can check out these sites too:

Papertrey Ink's Make It Monday Series
Five Sixteenth's Make it Monday posts (She also has Fan Fridays and Sum Up Sundays)
The Long Thread's Make It Monday
Ada's Interior Design Monday's Make-It posts
Make It Monday Tumblr

Make-it Mondays: Home Baked Crayons

This is a project I have been excited to do for awhile. After teaching Art for a couple years, I have a big box of little Crayola stubs that I couldn't part with. So here is a fun way to reuse them. These make great gifts for small children and a fun art club project as well.

All you need is:

1. Broken, nubby crayons in search of a new home
2. A muffin pan
3. Paper muffin pan liners
4. Oven mitts
5. An oven

1. Divide your crayons by color scheme and peel off any paper. I like staying with analogous and warm or cool color families, but feel free to go crazy!


2. Place paper liners in a muffin pan and fill the cups up with crayon pieces. Most of the gaps will fill in, instead of overflowing.


3. Put your mitts on and the pan in the oven. I preheated my oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit and melt time took about 15 minutes. (Times may vary based on brand, so keep an eye on them!)

4. Once melted, remove the pan and let cool until they have solidified and feel cool to the touch.

5. Remove the crayons from the liners and have fun!

Post project thoughts: When the paper liners are peeled off, it is a good idea to rub down the tops, as the edges have thin, flaky pieces. You could also just leave the liners on the crayons to give them as gifts or even leave them in a cute, thrifted muffin pan that doubles as gift wrap and storage for your home baked crayons. The only downside to that is the tie-die effect isn't revealed until they are taken out of the liners. Side project options could be personalized coloring books/pages...mmmm, another tutorial perhaps?