Butterfly Mobile

Good

Now this is a craft that I had done with my 5 year old niece who really just needed something to do while her sister was napping. I got the idea from an origami video for butterfly's and decided to make a whole mobile with it. Again, we must remember I up-rated this as it was done with a 5 year old.

I was a little worried with her making them at first...but really she did a pretty good job.

First Step: Supplies

For the mobile you will need, Super Glue, A round object (I pretty much fordged this one in metal shop so I can't help on where to get it though some people use embroidery hoops for projects like this), square paper (I got mine at the $2 section of staples...came as seen), various ribbons. 

Not included in this image is tape...but we will get to that later.

Step 2: Wrap the hoop.

This part (of course!) cannot be done with a five year old. It was even a bit challenging for myself. Namely we wrap the ribbon until it completely covers the hoop, I chose a wider ribbon for this part because it is a larger surface area than what you will be using in later steps. Make sure you leave room at the meeting point for a bow.

Step 3: Tie and super glue the bow.

Supergluing the bow assures that it will stay tight and cute.

Step 4: Make TONS of butterflys

For this you can make as many butterfly's as you feel you need. For this project (and because I had rainbow paper...) I made 6 of each color (total of 42)

Step 5: Grab your hoop, ribbon, glue and butterflies...then...tie on your first ribbon.

This step is when I realized that super glue + child = I'm getting tape. Also when tying on the ribbon, make sure you leave a tail that can be brought together to later form the piece that makes it hang

Step 6: Become wiser and tape those mo-fos on

If you don't have a child doing this with you, feel free to use the glue. Though, I really did prefer tape over glue regardless. Come up with a pattern and work your way around.

Final step: Make sure everything is on tight and hang it up.

Make sure all of the pieces can be brought together at the end. Then tie all the tails together and gather a loop up top, I later hid this knot with another butterfly.

My niece holding the finished mobile...she is quite proud of herself!

News Paper Nails

Rating: Good

Since my blog is about the effectiveness of my craft. I am going to be jumpy on all of the subject matter. For my first entry I attempted to make work of News Paper Nails. Coming from a Graphic Design background the fact that I could put typography on my nails seemed kind of exciting. I followed the directions on the website (linked above) as best I could but at the bottom I am also going to attempt this again with white nail polish...to give it that extra papery feel. I am also guessing that this can be done with self printed items, but that wasn't my objective for today.

Step 1: Gathering materials

Tools to get the basics of this project completed are nail polish (light color), top coat, fast dry nail set, rubbing alcohol, newspaper and a q-tip (just in case). Note:this is a two day project for best effectiveness. also for good measure I preped my nails with one of these

(found at the dollar store):

It's a basic nail file, and there are probably nicer ones out there, but we should learn quickly that I am cheap and I am not going to spend money on these crafts because realistically you don't want to either.

Step 2: Painting the nails.

That would be what these are for...paint your nails with the light colored nail polish. I like to use the fast dry because I do A LOT with my hands and the time it takes to properly dry nail polish enough to do anything...

Step 3: Let set overnight.

This was the hardest part for me...but I did the best I could to preserve the polish overnight. This really does make a difference the the transfer of ink later.

Step 4: Pour out alcohol and rip up newspaper.

When morning comes you are in the clear to start the preparations for transfer.

Step 5: Dip and Stick.

I used the cap of the alcohol to make a little well for dipping. You have to wait about 10 seconds to really coat your finger nails with the alcohol for best results...I noticed the wetter the nails get, the better this works.

Immediately after you take your finger out of the alcohol you need to press the newspaper on the nail. The original directions say wait 20 seconds and peel off, but for best results I found that it is also best to wet the paper again before you peel it off. This reduces the "fuzz" left over to almost none...use the q-tip for this part.

Your end result should be something like this:

Note the fuzz...this is what happens when you don't make sure that your nail is moist enough...also it kind of ruined the paint job a bit.

Final Step: Top Coat.

After the top coat you are good and done.

Below is a white, speed job done on my niece...children don't stay still well so with her I just put the alcohol under the newspaper for pressing so it worked much like a temporary tattoo.

Crafting Blog

I apologize for anything that looks underdeveloped...Launch Date for this blog

(and The Art Major comic)

September 30, 2011

There are about a million craft blogs out there, but only one that I can do. I am not really seeking out to be the most awesome person ever, but after looking at the Craft Fail blog I started thinking about all those times I started a project and all those articles I read about the bloggers making about 100 of the same project in order to make it pretty enough to put online. There are few projects that I would consider under the "acceptable" line, but I do have the urge to not share them with the world, until now.

Some projects just aren't what we had originally thought them to be. Lighting, placement and execution is much different for everyone. My plan is to take the crafts that I make and, regardless of how they turn out, Post my steps. I will also give you the original plans to make these projects so that the owners have credit and it is a bit of a comparison project based on people who make these things all the time and how I followed the project on the first shot.

Because of the Awesome to Fail ratio...I propose a system of rating.

Kind of Awesome

Acceptable

Good

Poor

Considered not posting it on the Internet

My launch date is September 30, 2011