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

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.

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.

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

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 guitar, cardboard rattle drum, cereal box elephant, or cereal box giraffe.

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.)

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!

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...)

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!

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!

Decorate a "rain, rain, go away" umbrella with fabric paint

Let's Paint an Umbrella!

They say that April showers bring May flowers.  

So, I updated an old umbrella with some fabric paint.  

Now we'll look cute while staying dry.

(This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you for your support.)

Make two crapty kites: Newspaper Kite and Plastic Bag kite

With temperatures soaring higher and higher, I'm looking forward to spending more days outside with Chuck.  In anticipation of the nicer weather, we tried flying two homemade kites last weekend.  (I never actually flew a kite before, so I was way too extremely excited to try the activity out.)  To cover all my crapty bases, I crapted one kite out of newspaper and another kite out of a plastic bag.

Two notes before we start:
-  I'm not an expert in kites or kite flying.  But, I thought I'd post up our experiences in case someone out there wanted to try making kites with their kids.  Both were easy to make.  And guess what?  *Gasp*  Even though it wasn't very windy outside,  the newspaper kite actually flew!

- When flying these kites, be sure to bring out extra supplies like string, packing tape, scissors, plastic bag,  and newspaper.  We found that we had to do some quick taping and tweaking to fix broken skewers and lengthen tails.

Kite 1:  Newspaper Kite
This kite was made out of a grocery store flyer, skewers, yarn, packing tape, and a Popsicle stick.  It's hexagon shaped and super light.  (I modeled my design after this newspaper kite found on Instructables.)

Materials:
- Newspaper flyer  (or wrapping paper)
- Yarn (about 25 feet)
- Popsicle stick (or piece of cardboard, or pencil, or random stick you find on the ground)
- 2 skewers
- Scissors
- Packing tape
- Hole Puncher
- Ruler

Directions:
1.  Trim the sharp points off your skewers.  Make your skewer the same width as your grocery store flyer.

2.  Fold the flyer in half and cut off the corners from your flyer.  Make your cuts in such a way that the skewer (lined up parallel to your fold) forms a triangle with your two cuts.  (Here's another way to think about it:  You want the height of your resulting hexagon to be the same length as the skewers.)  When you open the flyer, you should have a hexagon with two symmetrical sides.

3.  Tape down your skewers with packing tape.

4.  Cut out two thin rectangle tails out of newspaper.  Tape them to your kite.  (Kite tails are pretty important.  They stabilize the kite.  I made our tails pretty short, but you could try cutting out different lengths and testing how the tail length affects flight.)

4.  Place tape on both sides of your hexagon.  (This will ensure that the newspaper is strong enough to take the hole punch.)  Hole punch both sides.  Then, string a piece of yarn across your hexagon.


5.  Wind about 22 feet of yarn onto your Popsicle stick.  Tape down the beginning of your string to the stick so that the yarn doesn't fall off your stick.  Tie the other end of your yarn to the middle of your horizontal string.

Enjoy your newspaper kite.  As you can see on the photo, this kite actually flew even though we only had a bit of wind.



Kite 2:  Plastic Bag Kite
This kite was made out of a plastic bag, four skewers, packing tape, yarn, and a Popsicle stick.  It has the lovely traditional diamond kite shape, but sadly... it didn't really fly.  (I blame the lack of wind.)  There are a lot of great instructions online, but in the end modeled my design after this plastic bag diamond shaped kite from My Best Kites.



Materials:
- Plastic bag
- Yarn (around 30 feet)
- Ruler
- 4 skewers
- Scissors
- Pen
- Packing tape
- Popsicle stick (or cardboard strip, or pencil, or random stick you find on the ground)

Directions:
1.  Cut open your bag and decide how big you want your kite.

2.  Cut off the points from your skewers.  Use packing tape to tape your skewers together.  (It's better if you use longer sticks, but I just used what I had.  The points where the sticks were taped together were a bit flimsy, so take that into account if you have super strong winds in your neck of the woods.)

3.  Lay your sticks on your plastic bag and mark where the corners of your diamond kite shape should be.

4.  Use ruler and pen to connect the points, creating a diamond kite shape.  Cut that shape out.

5. Use packing tape to tape the skewers to the corners of your kite.  Then, pierce two holes through the center of the kite so that you can use a piece of yarn to tie the skewers together and to the kite.

6. Wind the rest of your string around your Popsicle stick (making sure to tape the beginning to the stick).  Then, tie your string to the lower end of the vertical stick and to the piece of yarn that you previously used to tie the skewers together. 

7. Tie together strips of plastic bag to create a tail.  (We initially made our tail 16 inches long, but after trying the kite out, we added several more strips to better stabilize the kite and keep it right side up.)  Attach your tail to the kite with packing tape.

Voila.  Now you have a plastic bag kite.  And since you made it to the end of this very long post,  I thought I'd treat you to a short video showing me huffing and puffing as I try to fly the kite.


P4063100 from Pink Stripey Socks on Vimeo.