Crapty Fridays- DIY cardboard animal trophy head (Holiday edition)

So I know that this week I already made a crapty egg carton wreath.

And I guess that technically should count as my weekly piece of crapt.  However, I just couldn't help it.  Our pile of recycled materials was growing larger and larger and the crapting bug hit me full force.

I had to give in.

So here's another crapty project:  a cardboard deer head trophy (that I glitzed up for Christmas)

Before we continue, let me give this Crapting Disclaimer:  If you attempt to try this project you will need the patience of a saint and some kick-a&& knife skills.  I didn't really have either, so it took me several days to finish everything up.  (I adapted this project from this set of original directions.  I'm not ashamed to say that their final results looked way more polished than mine.  I just used the crap that I had lying around the apartment.  If you want a more polished look, go look at their directions.  If you want a quirkier girly crapty look, try out mine!)

Still with me? Ok, let's begin.

Materials:
- deer head template
- scissors
- pen
- Mod-podge
- foam brush
- aluminum foil
- very sharp craft knife
- shoe polish
- sequins!!!
- skewer
- cardboard boxes <--crap!

Directions:
Step 1: Print and cut out your deer head template.  Trace the various pieces onto cardboard and then cut everything out using a sharp craft knife.  (Scissors really won't work.  Trust me.)

Note:  I simplified the design of the antlers because I'm just really not that patient.

Step 2:  Modpodge your aluminum foil (shiny side down) onto the fronts  and backs of the different pieces.  Let everything dry overnight.

Note:  See how my edges are still cardboard brown? Ick. I wasn't quite sure what to do with them, so I just covered each piece's front and the back.  Looking back, I probably could have covered one side with aluminum foil and then left a little bit extra so that I could cover the edges as well.  Then, I would have just covered the back of the piece and not had to worry.

Step 3:  I wasn't too pleased that my deer head looked like it was made of cardboard and aluminum foil.  So, I pulled out some shoe polish and tried antiquing everything  I wiped on the shoe polish and then used a paper towel to wipe some off. Now my aluminum pieces looked a little less shiny.

(Like this look?  I used a very similar technique to make my cute cat metal magnets)




Step 4:  I still wasn't too pleased by my results, so I went with the "more is more" approach.  I totally blinged this baby up and added sequins to the antlers and nose.  To do this, I painted on a bit of Mod-podge, and added each sequin one-by-one.  I have shaky and clumsy hands, so my fingers got really sticky after a couple of sequins.  The whole process went by much faster when I switched to using a skewer to glue the sequins down.

Warning:  Sequins are super shiny and will blind you.  

Step 5:  I waited for everything to dry and ta-dah!  My glitzed out animal trophy is complete.

So what do you think?  Is this piece quirky and girly? Or, is it just a deer-saster?  I actually kind of like it and it's definitely going on our walls during this holiday season.

Hope you have a great weekend andthanks for joining me on another crapting adventure!

Kicking my butt

Guess who's just down to 1 nap a day?  

This little guy is totally kicking my butt.  He's got tons of energy and wants to touch break eat do everything.  

Hope you're having a good Thursday!

DIY Egg carton wreath

Hi everyone.  Did you vote yesterday?  I took Baby Chuck into the voting booth.  He wasn't too sure about the candidates, but he was very excited about pushing the buttons.

As I sit here and watch the results coming out on tv, I thought I would post my adventures crapting this egg carton wreath.  Since this DIY involves crap (egg carton), it technically should be posted on Friday.  But, I was so happy with how it turned out that I just couldn't wait.  (I also took a bunch of photos of the flowers for my blog facelift.  Do you like it?)

I think this is my favorite crapt so far.  It's pretty, cheery, and colorful.  It's also super easy to make.

Materials:
- egg carton (<--crap)
- cereal box
- craft paint
- paintbrushes
- hot glue gun (or possibly any other strong glue)
- scissors

Directions:

Step 1:  Get yourself an egg carton.

Step 2:  Cut the lid up into leaves.

Step 3:  Cut the egg cups up into different flower shapes.

RIP Egg carton- This is all that's left

Step 4: Cut out a ring from a cereal box (I traced a bowl and plate to create the ring)

Step 5:  Paint and let everything dry (I also doodled "hello," cut it out, and painted it)

Step 6:  Glue everything onto the wreath (I glued the leaves first, then the "hello," then the big flowers, and then the small flowers)

Happy Wednesday!

 Let's keep in Contact!

Like kids crafts and activities?  Then you'll definitely want to check out this awesome craft ebook!  It contains 115 pages of unique crafts written by 18 kid craft loving moms!  And, it costs only $12.99!

   

And, you can always find  fun ideas on my Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter accounts!  (Or subscribe to my email mailing list by filling out the pink bar at the top of your screen.)

Happy making, friends!

A poem

(Click here to see an  illustrated copy of this poem!)


Give thanks when a bright sun warms the sky,
and thanks for each gentle breeze that whispers by.

Give thanks when we have enough food to eat,
and thanks for the good earth beneath our feet.

Give thanks when we complete honest work with our hands,
and thanks for the blessing of family and friends.

Give thanks even though current times might be hard,
and thanks for the strength found in loved ones' arms.

Give thanks for each star that twinkles at night,
and thanks for the moon's soft comforting light.

Saying Thanks

So it's been about a week that we've been storing things that we're thankful for in our Jar of Thanks.  At first it was a bit strange to keep jotting down notes, but now I'm beginning to like it.  Each time I write and drop a note I'm acknowledging something good in our life.

Lately I've also been making it a point to thank others more.  "Thank you" is only two small words, but I think they will grow a spirit of gratitude in me. I've also been trying to explain why I appreciate what somebody did.  Then maybe the other person will feel loved and appreciated with my verbal acknowledgement.

Here's hoping that it works.

(Funny side note:  I told hubby that I was trying to say "Thank you" more, and he responded, "Is that why you've been saying thank you so much lately?" Oh dear.  Oh well, let's see how this all goes.)

(By the way, thank you, dear reader for visiting this blog.  Whether you're a first time or frequent visitor, I appreciate your interest and support.  It encourages me to keep on blogging and crafting.)

Crapty Fridays- Creating batik-style paper and a Jar of thanks

It's November! 

Since Thanksgiving is just around the corner, I thought I'd try something new.  This month, I'm working hard at being thankful for things.  I don't know about you, but it's so easy for me to start wishing I had more or wishing I was someone else doing something else. 

I really don't like feeling this way.  So this month I'm figuring out ways to shoot those thoughts down (Katniss Everdeen style, of course).

So let's begin this journey with a crapt that will (hopefully) help me to be more thankful.   This week's crapt is a container which will hold our daily record of things we're thankful for.  Inspired by this awesome post, I made my own batik-style paper and used it to cover the container.  

Materials:
- empty and clean oatmeal container <-- crap!
- scissors
- exacto knife
- crayons
- paper bag (or any paper)
- craft paint (black and other)
- sponge brush
- paper towel
- Mod Podge (or any other glue)


 Directions: 
Step 1:  Cut out an opening on the top of your container. 

 Step 2:  Measure and cut out two sheets of paper.  One sheet will cover the top of your container.  The other will cover the container's sides.  (Note:  I just used a paper bag.  For the most part this worked just fine.  But you'll notice that my final colors just aren't that bright.  I think using white paper probably would have worked better.)

Step 3:  Draw your design with crayon.  Be sure to press hard and cover your entire sheet with crayon. This process will take a long time and your fingers and wrists may get sore.  (Ok, I admit. I've got weak wrists and had to take several breaks.) 

Here I drew the design and then had to go back and color in the background too

Step 4:  Mix your black craft paint with a bit of water. 

Step 5:  Crumple your entire drawing.  (The crumpled bits will allow your black paint to adhere in interesting ways.)

Step 6:  Cover your work area with scrap paper.  It's going to get messy.

Step 7:  Begin batiking!  Using your foam brush, brush black paint over your drawing.  Then, before the paint dries, use a paper towel to wipe the paint off.  Repeat this painting and wiping process until you've painted and wiped your entire drawing.

As you can see, crumpling the paper added lovely black lines.  Also, I forgot to color in parts of the paper, resulting in black areas near the paper towel. 

Now I probably don't need to tell you this... but try your best to not touch the paint. Otherwise you'll end up with lovely hands like mine...

Does this make me a real artist?

Step 7:  Let your paper dry.  (It won't take very long.)

Step 8:  Glue your paper onto your container.  I found my design to be rather dark, so I painted a green heart to lighten everything up.  

Step 9:  Create mini "I'm thankful" sheets.

I've placed the container, sheets of paper, and a pencil near our television.  Every day hubby and I are going to record at least one thing that we're thankful for and place it in the container.  Hopefully this act of recording daily blessings will help grow a spirit of thankfulness in us.

Do you have any nice ways for living a contented life? 

New friends

I'm so thankful that we're slowly starting to build some new friendships here.

Happy Halloween!

We just got power back.  Yay!   It feels so good having hot water, a working fridge, lights, and the internet again.  Sadly, some of our family is still left without power.  We're hoping that everything gets fixed soon.  

Even though it doesn't really feel like Halloween, I still wanted to wish you a Happy Halloween! Here's a photo of Baby Chuck in his Mr. Potato head costume.

We're just going to have a low-key day today.  With the terrible weather conditions, I'm so thankful that we were able to celebrate Halloween last Friday at our nearby library.  They did such a nice job bringing the Halloween spirit to the kids.

Queens County Farm Museum

Dear Sandy,

You're not playing nicely with others.  I'm sorry, but I'll have to ask you to leave.  No treats for you.  Please go away!

Leslie



As I'm writing this post, Sandy is outside loudly howling and rattling our windows.  We've briefly lost power a couple of times, but I think we should be ok.  *Crosses fingers*

Hubby and I have been watching the news and it's horrible seeing all the flooding and damage.  We hope everyone is able to stay safe. 


To mentally escape from the craziness outside, I'm posting several photos from last weekend's pumpkin picking adventure.  (Looking at colorful photos makes me happy.)  It was our first time visiting the Queens County Farm Museum.  Just an hour away, we felt like we left our urban environment behind. 

Who knew that such a beautiful place existed in New York City?
 

  These pictures are such a far cry  from what's going on outside.  Eek.  Please stay safe! 

Hurricane and pumpkin carving

As we waited for Sandy's arrival, I spent the night carving a pumpkin and eating ice-cream.  

Here's hoping that Sandy quickly comes and goes.  Stay safe!  Hubby, Baby Chuck, and I are hunkering down in the apartment until the storm passes through.

Crapty Friday- Faux metal magnets made with glue, aluminum, and cardboard

I can't believe it's Friday already.  Time is really whizzing by!  We're still doing some last minute Halloween preparations over here.  I just finished sewing Baby Chuck's super simple costume.  We're also planning on picking out and carving pumpkins this weekend.  Hopefully we aren't too late and there are still good pumpkins to be found.  Eek!   

This week I crapted two kitty magnets.  I was inspired to try out this crapt after seeing this awesome  post.  My kitty magnets were made out of aluminum foil, cereal boxes, and old magnets that I saved from  a magnetic notepad.  (After finishing the last page of the magnetic notepad, I saved the magnets and used them again.)  

Here are the materials that I used:
- magnets  <-- crap
- cereal boxes
- pencil
- Sharpie
- glue
- glue stick
- aluminum foil
- Q-tip
- paper towel
- scissors
- black craft paint (the original set of directions used shoe polish, but we didn't have any so I improvised)
- hot glue gun

Directions:
Step 1:  I cut out two rectangles from the cereal boxes.  These became the base of my magnets.  I doodled images on both and then traced my doodle with glue.  I let the glue dry overnight.  (Note:  I made very simple designs because glue lines are pretty thick.  Later I used a pencil to add details.)

Step 2:  I cut out two pieces of aluminum foil that were bigger than my rectangles.  I glued the aluminum foil onto each rectangle.  Then, I carefully rubbed the aluminum foil to reveal the raised cat shape underneath. (Note: I placed a paper towel between my fingers and the aluminum foil to make sure that I wouldn't rip or scratch the foil.)

Step 3:  I used a Q-tip to rub around the glue.  This made the raised glue bits further stand out.

Step 4:  I trimmed the aluminum foil and glued the excess bits onto the back.

Step 5:  I used a pencil to create texture by drawing different patterns and finer details.

 Step 6:  Using my Q-tip and paper towel, I dabbed craft paint onto small portions of the magnet.  Then I quickly wiped off some of the paint.  The black paint helped the patterns and raised bits to further stand out.  It also made the aluminum foil look less shiny. 

I repeated this dab and wipe off procedure until I got a look that I liked.  To further emphasize the details, I lightly traced portions of my design with the Sharpie marker. 

Step 7:  I glued the magnets onto the back of my cat images and voila, two finished magnets.

This was a pretty fun process.  I felt like I was making some counterfeit antique items.  Don't the finished products look a lot more substantial and expensive than they really are? 

Thanks for joining me on another crapting adventure.
Hope you have a great weekend! 

DIY Halloween window clings

I made these window clings on a whim because I still had left over black glue from my  DIY faux stained glass project. 

I doodled Halloween images onto a piece of paper.  Then, I traced the images in glue on a  piece of wax paper. Afterwards, I let them dry about 24 hours. (Yah, I was surprised it took that long for the glue to dry too!)

Just realized now that my bat looks like a black golden snitch with eyes

Tada!  Spooky!

As you can see, these clings aren't quite as nice as the ones from the store.  They are kind of bumpy and don't completely stick to the window.  But, they're one of a kind and fun to make.

Because I lay down the black and white glue at the same time, they mixed together as they dried.  (Now my ghosts a bit spookier than I intended.  Eek!)  When I make window clings again, I'm going to outline my images in black (or whatever color) first. Once that dries, I'll fill the images in with my other glue. 

Also, the clings didn't initially stick to the windows.  I had to wet the back of the cling with a bit of water and then stick it to the window.  (Tip learned here.) Somehow the water helps the clings to stick.  Water also dripped down the window as I stuck them up.  But not to worry! Once they were sufficiently stuck, I just wiped the smudges and dribbles up.

I think the Halloween decorations are helping Baby Chuck to get into the Halloween spirit.  He's so cute.  He keeps pointing to the clings and and pumpkin garland and growling. 

What did you fail at today?

When I was in elementary and middle school, I was deathly afraid of getting bad grades.  Once I got a B (which my mind translated to F) on a test and I cried and cried and cried.

When I got to high school, the stakes became higher. I learned about the triad of dreaded acronymns- GPA, PSAT, and SAT. 

*Shudder shudder shudder* 

I wore them like heavy chains around my heart.  I became even more afraid of failing.  On the outside I showed a smiley faced demeanor and acted like I didn't care too much.  But inside I was fiercely competitive.  School was the one thing that I was always good at.  I studied hard and wasn't happy unless every grade was some sort of A.  I put a lot of pressure on myself because I didn't want to be labeled the dreaded F word: Failure.

*Shiver*

This September, for the first time in twenty-seven years, I'm no longer a student.  I'm no longer working for a grade and dreading what someone will label me.   (If you're interested in my decision to drop out of the PhD program, you'll have to wait a big longer.  I'm still reflecting on that whole journey.  That'll be for another post, for another day, for another blog...)


Now that I'm no longer being graded, I feel a loosening of the weights around my heart.  Gone are the scary nightmares where I'm back in school and *gasp* asked to take a ridiculous math exam that I didn't study for.

Now that I'm not being graded anymore, I'm giving myself a free pass.  I'm giving myself permission to fail.

Wait, strike that.  I'm encouraging myself to fail... every day.

Surprised?

Last spring I heard an interview of Sara Blakely, the inventor of Spanx.  (According to Forbes magazine, she's the world's youngest self-made billionaire.)  When I listened to her journey, I was struck by a story she shared about her father.  Every night he would ask his children to name one thing that they failed at that day.  Faced with this question night after night, Sara was encouraged to try to do new things every day. 

She learned not to be afraid of failing.  She also learned that failure didn't happen when things didn't work out.  Failure meant not pushing yourself to try new things, not pushing yourself to do and be more than the day before.

That story planted itself into my heart.

I'm going to fail at something every day.  This way I can stop being afraid of things and grow.

What's up, Baby Chuck?

Yesterday Baby Chuck was having a blast playing with his toys.

I took the opportunity to take some photos.

He's such a funny little guy.

 

PA236589.AVI from Pink Stripey Socks on Vimeo.

I need my fix

It's finally happened.

A big name craft store moved into our town.
It's a 10 minute drive from our apartment.

I promised myself that I would be good. I'd only go in and peek around.  Just one peek couldn't hurt right? 

But one peek lead to another and soon I found myself walking through all the aisles, "oohing" and "ahhing"  over everything.  What sparkly baubles!  So many colorful sheets of paper!  Ooh, they sell undecorated wood?

I couldn't help myself.
I bought some items today. 

And I'll be heading back tomorrow. 

I think I'm a crafting junkie!

Thanks

I just wanted to say a great big thank you for your outpouring of kindness last week.  I was really surprised and touched by all your thoughtful comments and emails.  Thank you for your encouragement and thank you for sharing your stories with me as well.

I started this blog two years ago.  I created it on a whim as a place to store random stories and thoughts that made me happy.  I never dreamed that I would keep it going for this long or that it would help me to overcome some shyness and find community.

Thanks for joining me on this journey and thanks for your encouragement and support.

I think this week is going to be a great one.