Paint a rainbow fan

So I don't know about you, but this DIY rainbow fan has been stuck in my mind.  What?  You can see primary colors mixing in front of your very eyes?  Amazing!  I felt so inspired that  I made my own version.  Here's my DIY rainbow fan:

DIY Rainbow Fan

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Oooh.  Circular rainbow!  I just think it's so cool that the blades are painted different combinations of red, yellow, or blue.  Yon can only see the rainbow when the fan is turned on.  Whoa, right?

Let's get crafting.

Paint your own galaxy umbrella

Inspired by Carl Sagan's quote, "We are made of star-stuff," I painted this galaxy umbrella:

On the outside the umbrella is black. But open the umbrella up and wow, you're now standing under a galaxy full of twinkling stars.  Let's get crafting!

Materials Needed to Paint Umbrella:

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- Black Umbrella
- Painter's tape
- Craft Paint (I used black, red, yellow, blue, and white)
- White fabric paint (I used the bottle because it had a nice tip to draw stars)
- Fabric Medium
- Cups
- Sponge
- Stick for stirring
- Palette (or crapty styrofoam plate)
- Paper towel
- Inspiring photo of the universe

Steps to Make Galaxy Umbrella:

1.  Cover the umbrella's ribs with painter's tape.

2.   Make your fabric paint.  Not sure if you have this problem, but I own a ton of craft paint and very little fabric paint.  So instead of buying different bottles of fabric paint, I bought one bottle of fabric medium to turn my craft paint into fabric paint.  (Wow, right? Oh Martha, you crafty minx!  What will you think of next?) Following the bottle's directions, I mixed the fabric medium and the craft paint together to make black, blue, purple, red, yellow, and white fabric paint.  

3.  Use a dry sponge and a piece of paper towel to dab the different colors on.  (I tried starting with my darker colors first and then adding on my lighter colors... but then ended up using darker colors again.... so just play around and have fun with it.)



4.  Once you're satisfied with how your background looks, use your white fabric paint to paint stars.  (I liked using the bottle because it had a nice neat tip.  But, you could also just  use the white fabric paint that you previously made and apply it on with a paint brush.)

5.  Make some stars cross shaped to look like they're twinkling.  Remove painter's tape. Then, let your masterpiece dry overnight.

Voila!  Now you've got your very own galaxy.  Open this baby up on an icky rainy day and you're guaranteed to feel better.

(Psst- Wanna see another painted umbrella?  Check out my "rain, rain, go away" umbrella.)

Have fun creating your own galaxy!


UPDATE 8/26/13- I've now taken this umbrella out a couple of times and the paint is fine.  Phew.  The only problem that I have with this umbrella is that the insides are now a bit sticky, so the umbrella is a bit more difficult to open.

Gluten free Cocoa Brownie

Last week we celebrated hubby's birthday.  In case you didn't know, hubby is a big, big fan of chocolate.  Me, not so much. But every year I put aside my indifference and try to bake him something chocolatey.

Last year I really struggled to find a good gluten-free chocolate cake recipe.  This year, I tried again to find a yummy recipe that would satisfy hubby's choclatey wishes and satisfy Chuck's dietary restrictions.

After looking around the internet, I found this cocoa brownie recipe and tweaked it.  Instead of normal flour, I used Domata gluten free flour.  (It was so easy.  I just exchanged 1/3 C of normal flour for 1/3 C of my gluten free flour.)

The results?  Woot woot!  Finally some gluten free baking success.  I got a whole batch of dense, fudgy, and extremely chocolatey brownies.

They were delicious.

This recipe's a keeper.  Sometimes it's so tough seeing other kids at birthday parties eating cake and knowing that Chuck can't eat any of it.  Now I know I can bake him something special and chocolatey too.

Hope you have a great weekend.  See you next week!

Adventures in Brooklyn

Last weekend we visited Brooklyn to see the Renegade Craft Fair.  Wow.  It was really amazing to see so many talented crafters.  I walked away feeling super inspired (and super intimidated.)  

Below are some photos from the day's adventures.  I wish I could have taken more photos of all the vendors' wares, but, it was way too sunny and hot.  We ended up just walking through and then searching for shade.  Despite all my best efforts at using sunscreen, I still ended up getting burned.  Ick, ick, ick.

Some Brooklynites lay sod over a closed-off street to create instant green seating for an afternoon concert

Brave souls who ventured out into the heat to enjoy lovely crafts

Love these earrings because they reminded me of friendship bracelets

Cool word art (And now I'll know the different parts of Brooklyn)

One vendor sold lovely diorama boxes with interesting images

Chuck cooling off with his spray bottle

Chuck and I sharing a smoothie

Make Colorful Coffee Filter Pinata-inspired Letters

I don't know about you, but I've been feeling so inspired by all the warm weather lately.  It seems like everything around us is bursting with life, light, and color.  To bring some of that happy, airy, summer feeling inside, I made these fun pinata-inspired letters to decorate our bedroom wall.

Materials:
- coffee filters
- markers
- spray bottle
- shallow pan
- cardboard box
- tape
- double sided tape
- pencil
- exacto knife
- scissors
- white paint
- paint brush
- plastic bags

Directions:
1.  Cut out your letters from cardboard.  (I found that using an exacto knife was much easier than using scissors.)  Paint the letters white to help your colors stand out.

2.  Use markers to doodle on your coffee filters.  (Have fun with it!  It really doesn't matter what you doodle.  All your designs are going to be washed away anyway.)

3.  Spray your coffee filters to make the colors run.  Then, let the coffee filters dry.  (I placed ours on some plastic bags and waited overnight.)

Here's what the coffee filters looked like after they dried:

4.  Cut out strips from your coffee filters and tape them onto the horizontal sides of the letters to cover them.  (This way you won't see the raw cardboard edges.  The vertical edges are going to be covered by fringe.)

Oops.  I missed one edge on the "L."

5.  Cut out similar sized strips from your coffee filters and turn them into pinata fringe.  Use your double sided tape and normal tape to stick them onto the cardboard letters.  Be sure to work from the bottom upwards.  Also, wrap the strips around the letters to cover the exposed cardboard sides.

Here's what a finished letter looks like:

And here's what the fringe looks like up close:

And that's it.  Now we have a lovely set of pinata-inspired letters.  I placed them right above our bed.  I think they look nice there, don't you?

Thanks for reading!
(Psst-  If you liked this pinata-inspired craft, you can check out my number pinata or snack bag pinata.)