Tuesday, April 30, 2013

S+ A Wedding Ceremony

Yesterday, I posted about the pre-wedding Mehndi Ceremony.  Here are some photos from Sunday's wedding ceremony:




All the ladies received white flowers to wear in our hair

The lovely bride reaches for her groom



Colorful saris 




The beautiful couple

Monday, April 29, 2013

Mehndi Ceremony

This past weekend I attended the long-awaited wedding of a dear college friend.  It was an especially beautiful event, full of color, tradition, delicious food, and of course, love.

Here are some photos from Saturday's Mehndi ceremony.  (To see photos from their wedding ceremony, click here.)



Mehndi being drawn on a friend


Such beautiful and intricate artistry


The bride's lovely hands

This shot reminded me of a scene from a Bollywood movie

The lovely hands of long-time friends


Saturday, April 27, 2013

Goodbye, Chuck


I'm going away this weekend to attend a friend's wedding.  (Hubby and Chuck are staying behind to man the fort and welcome our Aussie house guests.)

As much as I'm excited to see old friends, wear fancy clothes, and attend my first Indian-Ghanaian wedding, I'm already missing hubby and Chuck.  It's the longest time that this mama's been away.  

Hope you have a great weekend.  I'll be sure to take lots of photos and share them with you.

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Hide it close to your heart

Disappointments.  Fears.  Worries about the future.  Problems with a second pregnancy.  A break-up.  Struggles with job-hunting.  Illegal residency.  A  child with learning disabilities.

While hearing about friends' and family members' struggles, this quote kept popping into my head:


It's true, right?  Life is beautiful, but it is also brutal.  I'm going to hide the quote close to my heart, and pull it out whenever I feel myself getting grumpy at someone or feeling too shy around strangers.

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

String art thread and milk jug necklace

Spring is here!

I love feeling the warmer temperatures and seeing the trees bursting with delicate pink and white blooms.  And I don't know about you, but I can't wait to exchange my dark, winter wardrobe for a lighter, more colorful one.

Inspired by the warmer weather and this gorgeous necklace from Modcloth, I welcomed the new season by crapting a wearable, string art necklace out of two materials:  a milk jug and embroidery thread. 

Materials:
- empty milk jug, cleaned and dried
- scissors
- hole puncher
- 2 colors of embroidery thread
- Sharpie marker


Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Kids' Cheesy Cardboard Camera

Hi everoyne!  

Happy belated Earth Day!

 Today I'll share about how I made this cheesy cardboard camera for Chuck.   This crapt was inspired by his love for eating cheese and touching my camera.  Here's what the camera looks like from the front:
 And here's what it looks like from the back:


Materials:
- small metal cylinder container with lid (or you could probably use a paper towel roll)
- can opener
- small, sturdy cardboard box
- craft knife
- scissors
- self-healing mat
- drill
- pencil
- 3 caps (I used 3 baby food squeeze pack caps)
- 3 brass fasteners
- packing tape
- lanyard (or string)
- disposable baking sheet (or plastic container lid or heavy duty aluminum foil)
- glue
- craft paint
- paint brushes and foam brush
- Mod Podge

Directions:
1.  I used a can opener to remove the bottom of my small, cylinder container.  I made sure that the can opener made clean cuts so that I wouldn't cut Chuck's fingers.  This cylinder became my camera "lens."

2.   The photo below shows my original box.  It was initially too big, so I chopped off a couple of inches off the right side of the box.  I used the cut off bits to fashion a top for the camera.

 3.  I cut out two circles, one in the front and one in the back of my camera.  The circle in the front was the same size as my cylinder.  (I just traced the cylinder and then cut the circle out.) The circle in the back of the box was slightly smaller than my cylinder.  (This ensured that my lens would poke out through the front, but not slide out through the back.)

4.  I also cut a rectangle from in the top, right hand corner of the front of my camera.  This became my "flash."

5.  Hubby drilled five holes in my cardboard:
- Two holes in the back to insert my back red knobs
- One hole on my top piece to insert my top green knob
- A hole on each side of the camera to string my lanyard strap through the body

He also drilled a hole into each of my three caps.  All the holes had to be big enough so that a fastener could fit through them.


 Here's a photo showing how the pieces fit together on the inside.  (I didn't use fasteners on the sides of my camera. I just poked them through the holes to show you where the holes were)

Here's how the camera  looked like with the top piece on:
I took this photo before cutting out the rectangle hole for the flash.
6.  After making sure my camera parts fit together, it was time to paint.  I gave the cardboard parts and cylinder two coats of yellow craft paint.  I also painted on my grey circles.
 7. Once the paint dried, I attached my "knobs", "lens", and "flash."  I used the brass fasteners to fasten the knobs onto the cardboard pieces.   I cut out a rectangle from my disposable baking pan and taped it over my rectangular "flash" hole.  I used a lot of packing tape to attach my cylinder to the inside of my camera.
8. I touched up my paint job a bit. Then, I coated my camera with Mod Podge to protect the paint.

9.  I strung lanyard through the body of the camera and then used glue and packing tape to attach the top piece to the body.

10.  To further protect my paint job, I ended up putting a thin strip of packing tape on the edges of the camera. (I've noticed that paint chips off the edges first, so I made sure to protect those with tape.)  I also put some tape near the lanyard hole in case the weight of the camera pulled on the lanyard and ripped the cardboard.

Phew.  Once I was done, I couldn't help but smile a cheesy grin.  (Hee hee.)  Here are some photos of Chuck playing around with his new cardboard camera.


Say "Cheese!"

Thanks for joining me on another crapty adventure.  If you're interested in making other crapty cardboard toys, check out my cardboard guitarcardboard rattle drumcereal box elephant, or cereal box giraffe.

Thursday, April 18, 2013

I can't believe I...

recently created an official Pink Stripey Socks Facebook page for my blog.

This was a pretty big deal for me.  You're probably thinking "Who cares? It's no big deal.  Everybody uses social media nowadays."

Urm... well... confession time- you're talking to the girl who's been hiding under a technology rock for the past couple of years.  I don't twit tweet.  I just got a personal Facebook page last October.  (I know, I know.)  And since we're airing dirty little secrets, I might as well let you know that I don't own a smart phone   or a texting plan.

I know.  *Gasp*  I'm a technological dinosaur.  Rawr!

But ever since I chose the word "try" as my word of the year, I figured I should try this newfangled social media thing out.  I really love blogging and crafting, so this seems like a nice way to connect with others and grow as a blogger.  I'm not going to lie.  I'm still nervous about creating the Facebook page because it means that I'm putting myself out there and I'm taking this whole blogging thing more seriously.  Will everything just end up blowing up in my face?  I don't know.  Not sure.  Hopefully not.  But I just have to try and see where this adventure leads.

Does this mean that you'll soon see me twittering twitting  tweeting?  Urm, probably not.  (Those hash tags really scare me.)  Or, does it mean that I'll start texting and get a data plan?  lol! omg no way :)   Baby steps, my friend, baby steps.

And since we're nearing the end of this post, I just wanted to upload this cactus doodle because seeing faces on cacti just makes me smile.



(Psst- Special thanks to Kira at Her New Leaf blog for providing lovely free social media buttons and clear, easy-to-follow instructions.  They were perfect for a techno-phobe like me.)

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Use fabric paint and painters tape to paint a purse

This month is going to be a busy one for us.  Hubby's relatives are arriving next weekend and staying with us for a couple of weeks.  I'm also going to Massachusetts to attend the long-awaited, two day wedding celebration of an old college friend.

I'm super excited for both big events, but time is just passing by way too quickly.  Right now we're busy preparing our apartment and I'm still on the search for wedding appropriate clothes.  (Sadly my old dresses just don't fit.  After having the baby, my body is a whole new shape.  Moms out there... is that normal?)

Even though I have yet to find two dresses, I may not have to worry about finding a purse.  Awhile back, I acquired a lovely, gently used purse.   I really like its gold chain (not shown) and woven outer design.  Since I enjoy painting things, I thought I would paint a bunch of white stripes on it to make it a little more summery and fun.

Front:  Ooh.  I see some stripes.

Back:  Wham!  Stripey.
I'm sure you can guess how I made it.  But in case you want the details, here's what I did:

I taped stripes onto the front and back using painters tape.  I also taped the edges to protect them from paint.  Then, using a sponge brush, I covered the area with fabric paint.  After my paint dried, I gently peeled off the tape to reveal the striped design.

Overall, I like how the purse turned out.  The white lines really pop and the design is (mostly) clean and graphic.  However, I was sad that the tape slightly damaged the trim.  Boo!  If I were going to try this technique out on another purse, I would make sure to test my painters tape on a small area first.

Boo scratches!


Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Using cooking oil to blur oil pastels

I had no idea that plain old cooking oil could be used to blur oil pastels.  But once I found out, I had to try it for myself.  One afternoon I doodled away on some computer paper while Chuck napped.

Then, I used Q-tips and swabbed my pictures in canola oil.

The colors and lines blurred together.  The images also became translucent.  Here's how a picture looked before:

And here's how it looked after:


But what to do with my oily pictures?  After drying up the excess cooking oil, I traced and cut out some circles.



Then I taped my circles to the window and made some lovely sun catchers.

Hrmm... I wonder what kind of art Chuck would make....

(On a more serious note- Given the terrible tragedy that happened in Boston, I debated whether to put this post up.  Is writing about crafts too frivolous?  *Sigh*  It's just so sad that people could do something so horrible to others.  *Sigh*  In the end, I've decided to upload this post.  I can't do anything to directly help those affected.  However, I can keep praying and writing posts that hopefully bring a bit of cheer to anyone who reads them...)

Monday, April 15, 2013

What's up, Chuck?



Hi everyone.
Last week was rough.  Chuck got pretty sick and hubby had to go away on a business trip.  Thank goodness Chuck's better now and hubby's back.  Here's hoping that this week is a better one!

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Make pipe cleaner bubble wands and big bubbles

Currently Chuck only knows a couple of words.  One of them happens to be "bubbles."  This kid of ours really loves bubbles.  He'll point outside and say "bubbles."  He'll point to round objects and say "bubbles."  He'll point to the bathtub and say "bubbles."  He'll even point to birds and say, "bubbles."

Given his obsession with soapy spheres, I thought it would be fun to make our own bubble wands and bubble solution.  These pipe cleaner and straw wands make larger bubbles than the wands you typically buy in the stores.

To make the straw and string wand:  String together two straws with some yarn.  Slide the knot into one of the straws. If you have problems getting the string through the straws, try sucking it through.  You'll get a mouthful of string, but it works!
We dunked these wands in our homemade bubble solution and had some messy fun. At first it was difficult to make the larger bubbles, but I soon got the hang out of it and created some lovely large spheres.

(Psst- Here's the recipe for the bubble solution that we used.  I combined 5 C warm water, 1/2 C Dawn dish detergent, and 1/4 C glycerin.  I gently mixed the liquids together and made sure not to create suds.   Then, I let the solution sit overnight.   Even though this recipe made fairly large bubbles, I really didn't like the way the Dawn smelled.  Yuck.  Plus, Chuck tried to rub his face with soapy hands, so I worried that the soap stung his eyes.  Next time I'll find a recipe using baby shampoo.  This way the solution won't smell so detergent-y and Chuck's eyes won't sting.  )

Here are some photos from our first big bubble making adventure:



I found that the bubbles didn't pop as quickly if I made them by moving the wand through the air instead of blowing it.

Another bubble created by the wind.   


All in all, not a bad start.  We managed to make large bubbles, but they popped really easily.  Hrmm... Next time we'll try a different solution and we'll make one of those giant bubble blowing wands.  Oooh! I can't wait!