Tag Archive for ‘tutorial’ at Inspiration Junkie robayre.com

Tag Archive for 'tutorial'

Our Annual Christmas Ornament

Published

on December 20, 2011

. 2 Comments

Yesterday Matt and I made our annual Christmas ornament. I like the idea of using recycled or repurposed papers to make such a beautiful thing. So far we’ve recycled paper 3 years, and purchased origami paper one year. This year I was fortunate enough to pick up some waste paper from a song book we were printing at work and it made for a beautiful ornament. This is the tutorial pattern I follow every year. This was also the first year we used hot glue and it is by far the sturdiest ornament yet. I highly recommend using hot glue. If you don’t have a glue gun you can find them at your typical marts and craft stores for under $10. Also, don’t make the same mistake we made, use small paper! Our first ornament ended up being the size of a soccer ball and will never make it to the tree. Now we use 3″ square and it works perfectly.

I like this picture above with all the ornaments we’ve made so far. It’s our first year in our first home and this picture captures so much. It’s like an eye spy. There are four ornaments on our dining room table but can you see the a handmade table cloth that Matt’s great grandmother made? How about a nosey kitty, and a christmas tree, and don’t forget a tired Matt lounging on the couch?

And since we are on holiday decorations, here is a picture of our first full sized tree. Previously we had a little 3 foot tree that was more of a pain than anything. The cat was constantly trying to eat it and it was always falling over. This new tree was gifted to us by Matt’s parents. Please disregard the lack of a tree skirt. I’m working on it. The tree is covered in white lights (my preference), my handmade gold and silver garland, and a collection of both of our ornaments from since we were babies.

Pinterest and a Wooden Mat

Published

robayre

on July 19, 2011

in Projects

. 3 Comments

The other day I came upon the above image and tutorial link on Pinterest and immediately knew I HAD to have one. At first I thought it would be easy enough to just buy a mat and paint it myself, but when I looked up how much it would cost to buy a wooden slatted floor mat, $$$, building one from scratch became more attractive. The instructions seemed pretty simple so this weekend my sister, mom and I started working on making 3.

As I joked to my dad, the tutorial was online, but I must not have read it too closely because I missed the first few steps where it must have read “listen to your mom and sister bicker at Lowe’s” and “Rearrange your brother’s garage to access the table saw.” All the same, the three of us put together a pretty decent assembly line.

We cut down 18 large pieces of 2×2, but only had enough daylight and strength to finish the first mat. Here is a picture of me and my sister proudly standing on our first creation. As much as I love the colors in the first one, I think I’ve decided that what I’m going to do is go with a simple stain, and then when I want to change it up, I can paint it a color and then maybe later, paint it a different way.

Fabric Tape

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robayre

on May 16, 2011

in General Update

. 2 Comments

I finally got around to making some fabric tape. I’ve been wanting to make some ever since I saw this tutorial by Annekata online a while ago. It was fun and easy to make and I can’t wait to use it as well. I didn’t have any wax paper at home, so I used parchment paper instead. It was okay, but the tape didn’t really want to stick to it, I wonder if the wax paper would be better. Some people have suggested trying double faced tape, but I’ve taped and glued fabric enough in the past and knew I wanted my tape to be very permanent and not eventually come apart from the adhesive.

FYI - It took me a while to hunt down some of that paper packaging tape, but I finally found it at Office Max.

Oh, and I guess this is as good a time as any to share my pinterest craft board. I’m trying to remember to pin any craft tutorial that I see online and want to eventually do. I love pinterst for keeping track of things online. Do you have a pinterest?

Potholders - leave it to the experts

Published

robayre

on January 19, 2011

in Cool Links, General Update and life

. 6 Comments

It’s the middle of winter. It’s freezing cold everyday. The sun is only out while I’m away at work, and then hides away the moment I get off for the day. I’ve been horrible about blogging, but only because I haven’t been working on much artwork at all, but being very crafty and domestic; Knitting, sewing, baking and the like.

Yesterday I saw this tutorial on Whip Up, on how to make patchwork potholders. In the kitchen I feel like I’m always desperately searching for something to pull out the hot stuff from the oven. The tutorial looked super easy and I was all excited to get home and start cranking these puppies out. Immediately upon starting I realized that it wasn’t going to be as fast and easy as I thought. I made the above potholder and it’s a real disgrace.

Frustrated I realized that there are probably TONS of crafters who make quilted potholders on Etsy. I was inspired to make this treasury with some that caught my eye. I’m usually all about DIY, but It was one of those times where I realized I would be thrilled to support a handmade artist, and buy my future potholders online, rather than suffer through making another. And boy are they affordable! You can find lots of them for $2-$5 range. For a handmade item, that someone lovingly created, that is amazing.
And, a special note, I found this particular shop, Vintage Armoire, that takes old quilts and turns them into potholders. I love that.

Candy dots / buttons

Published

robayre

on December 19, 2010

in Fun, General Update, Projects and life

. 2 Comments

I’ve been so excited to share this project, but it was part of the advent calendar box Matt and I are doing, so I had to wait till it was revealed.

Matt’s not really a candy person, but I LOVE candy, so when I find something that he likes I usually go overboard buying it for him. When I was thinking of things to put in the advent box the idea of candy dots (or as some people call them, candy buttons) came to mind. These are such a little kid kind of candy, but Matt likes them, as do I because, well, they are fun. Real sheets would be too big to put in a tiny advent box and I just thought “I wonder if there are recipes online for making my own”. Immediately after doing a quick google search I find that it is simply royal frosting with food dye, and I definitely know how to make that, after hosting my annual gingerbread house making parties.

I made a batch of royal frosting, referencing recipes online using powdered sugar, egg whites (the boxed pasteurized type in the refrigerated section at the grocery store), and cream of tarter. I divided the finished frosting in 6 ziplock bags and then began adding drops of food coloring until I got the colors I wanted. Red turned pink, yellow, blue, and then mixed the primary colors to make the secondary colors, orange, green and purple. With all the colors mixed, I nipped off a corner tip on each bag of frosting and then was able to push the frosting out of the bag, like real frosting bags.

To fit into the tiny advent boxes, I made a couple miniature candy dot sheets and they were perfect. Plus, we all know that anything in miniature is always way cuter.

After that I had tons of frosting left and I had a plan to go the other direction and make mega rolls of candy dots. Think Willy Wonka, endless rolls of candy. While I was working on my looong strips, I realized I had a rainbow of colors. And just like that, I started making DOUBLE RAINBOW THEMED MEGA CANDY DOTS! Matt thought that was hilarious.

If you’ve ever had candy dots you know each dot is solid and hard sugar. I know from working with royal frosting it starts getting hard pretty quickly, but I wasn’t sure how long it would take for each dot to become entirely solid. The next day I attempted to smoosh one to see if it was solid and the very inside was still a bit soft. It probably took a couple days for them to get thoroughly hard, but once they were done, they really did taste and feel exactly like how candy dots feel and taste. I forgot to mention, I had also added lime juice to the secondary colors, but it must not have been enough because we couldn’t discern a difference between the primary and secondary colors with the completed candies. Perhaps if I used the “True Lemon” or “True Lime” products, which are crystallized, I could have added enough to make them flavored. It would be interesting to try a variety of different extracts and flavors to the icing. I just didn’t want to add more liquid to the recipe because I was afraid it wouldn’t harden properly.

When I was telling friends about this they asked if I had used waxed paper instead of regular paper, to avoid the bits of paper you get in your mouth from eating the original candy. I wanted my dots to be authentic looking and even though no one wants to eat paper, it’s part of the experience, so I didn’t, but it is an option. And to tell the truth, my candy dots that I made released easily from the paper. I don’t know if it was the type of the paper I used or the recipe. They’ve been fun and delicious as we’ve been munching on them for days.

There you go! If you are looking for a fun candy project, try making some candy dots.

Tiny Paper Bunting Tutorial

Published

robayre

on June 19, 2010

in General Update

. 3 Comments

It seems that bunting and banner flags have become very trendy. I think it’s because you can’t help but be happy when you see them.

Check out these amazing necklaces on Etsy

by seller Scoutholiday by seller stripeymonkey

Happy now, right?

Earlier this year you might recall my mini flag tutorial from here. Now I’m back with another quick bunting tutorial. If you thought that other one was quick and simple, don’t blink. The results are so sweet that I don’t want you to miss out. These flag garlands are even smaller yet, and we all know things get even cuter when miniaturized.

Materials:
diamond paper punch
paper (scratch paper, junk mail, magazines, patterned or colored papers, etc.)
glue stick
string

Step one: punch

Step two: fold them in half

Step three: glue

Voila! Mini bunting that can go anywhere. Hang it with magnets on your fridge or with thumbtacks on your bulletin board. Hang it across the top of your imac, or just above your monitor at work to make you happy. Hang it across a picture frame like I did here. If I had a car I’d be tempted to drape one across the length of the rear view mirror ;)

Have fun getting your bunting on!

A special day

Published

robayre

on May 26, 2010

in Fun, General Update, My Artwork, goals and life

. 2 Comments

Last week was my sister’s birthday. Happy Birthday Chris! I hope you had a great birthday and will have an AMAZING year ahead! She has always been a supporter of my artwork and is ALWAYS there for me when I need help, or an opinion and guidance.

For her birthday she wanted to go to the Museum of Science and Industry. It was an awesome day. I haven’t been there since I was in elementary school and could have spent a couple days there before reaching everything they have to offer.

Unexpectedly, I was also able to (semi) cross off two items on my To-Do-List for 2010. At the MSI now, your tickets to get in become a “sci-pass” where you can record the activities you participate in and then access them online later. They had a sound booth that was similar to the storycorp idea, where you could go in and interview other people. I went in and recorded a short interview with my sister, which was one part of number 23 on my list.

Number 12 on my to-do list was to get an old-timey picture done. In my mind, that meant REAL old photograph techniques, like daguerreotypes, as mentioned in a few posts ago, rather than some quick digital pics that have been converted to grayscale or sepia tone. That being said… MSI had a photo studio set up where you can take quick digital old-timey pics in an old car, so we played.

I’m the one in the back with the straw hat on, my sister is next to me and my brother in front of me, and his friend Chad next to him. The portrait woman was cracking up at Chad’s leg sticking out.

I have some art to share, as usual. This was the fourth grass painting in the series. I know I always say it, but it has to be said again. I LOVED this painting. It has a watercolor look to it, but it’s acrylic on canvas. It went to my sister for her birthday. I also made her the brooch in the above picture (orange and aqua at the top right).

I also made her a ring, and then made this one for myself. I used this tutorial from Makeitdo, that I found through the craft blog.

Holiday Bunting tutorial

Published

robayre

on January 24, 2010

in General Update and Projects

. 3 Comments

Here is a super quick and easy tutorial to make a very adorable festive decoration of flag bunting, sewing machine free.

The other day when I was taking product pictures for the Valentine’s Day yoyo set and I made a super mini flag garland to hang from the shadowbox frame and it got me thinking about these. I made a ton of these before I opened my Etsy shop, back in the day and I thought I had already shared them here on the Inspiration Junkie before, but it must have been on my old blog. They are easy enough to make so I thought I’d share it with you. I’ve seen flag garlands often enough on crafty blogs, but most often they are done with all fabric and require sewing. This method is just as quick, just as cute and only requires the few items shown below.

1. Fabric. I’ve chosen solid and striped red fabics for the purpose of this post, but you can use whichever fabric colors you want. I used to make these garlands using one piece of fabric from my entire stash for variety.

2. Cut out a cardboard template of a triangle. The height of the triangle was 3 inches. As you can see I nip off the top points of the triangles so that I can fold over the edges easily. The resulting final triangle will then be about 2.5 inches tall. You could make your triangles larger or smaller depending on your preference.

3. A pen, to trace the template onto the fabric. If you have a water soluble or disappearing ink fabric pen, wonderful, but as you can see here I opted for a sharpie just because it was close by.

4. Scissors.

5. Glue gun

6. String. I use this embroider (?) string just because it’s sturdier than thread, but not as expensive as embroider floss. But, use whatever you’d like.

Start by plugging in your glue gun. This project is a very quick one, and by the time you get to gluing, the gun should be warmed up.

Trace out your template onto the fabric. You can maximize your use of fabric if the finished traced template triangle alternate pointing up and then pointing down.

Cut the the traced templates out of the fabric. You can reduce the amount of cutting if you trace your templates right next to each other, so that you can cut 2 edges with one snip.

Next, I lightly score the edge of the fabric with my fingernail so that the fabric folds over easy. Bend where the corners have been nipped off. You use that line to decide where to fold the fabric, plus now the folded over edge can’t be seen from the front.

Using the glue gun, draw a thin line across the folded edge. The next few steps need to be done rapidly while the glue remains hot.

Leaving about 6-12 inches of string empty on the end, place the string right on the glue.

Fold over the fabric and crease the edge, glue and string together.

Alternating fabric and leaving as much string as you want between each flag. You may want to put the flags immediately touching each other or keep an inch of fabric between, as I have done. Glue the rest of the flags onto the string. Make sure that you keep the back and fronts of the fabric consistent so that once the garland is complete you don’t have some fabics showing the front while others show the back with the crease.

Keep alternating until desired length. Leave a bit of extra empty string on each end to use later for hanging. The edges of the fabric are left entirely raw and with my experience this is never a problem because it is used just for decoration so there is no reason the edges should fray or fraying will be minimal. You might elect to iron out any wrinkles in the fabric, but just make sure to keep iron away from the glued edge of each flag because you don’t want to melt the glue onto your iron.

Voila! An adorable bunting for you to hang just about anywhere.

And just for fun, I’ve added this particular garland, which is 6.5 feet of mini flags, to my Etsy shop, if you’d be interested in purchasing it.

matchbook tutorial

Published

robayre

on November 13, 2009

in Artomat, General Update and Projects

. 2 Comments

Today I assembled these little matchbook styled scrap-pads to add to my purchase packs that go out with every order. I used to have these quarter sized recycled scratch pads, but when I ran out I got the idea to revamp the plan and make matchbook styled scrap pads. And you know me, whenever there is an option, always go miniature!

While I was making them I thought it would be pretty easy to take a few snapshots and put together a little tutorial on making these easy-peasy pads. They are still made from recycled, hence the “scrap-pads”.

The materials are basic things everyone has in their home. Scrap paper, scissors or paper cutter, and stapler. If you’re feeling like getting tricked out, grab a ruler, glue stick and bone folder.

The paper size is 1/16th of an 8.5×11, meaning I halved, halved, halved and halved again, if you can keep that straight. Otherwise it’s 1.0625″ x 1.375″. That’s not based on real matchbooks, but just in the ease in halving over and over again. For the cover I just grabbed some 12×12 scrapbook paper, but you could also use any pretty paper you have lying around. I think I’ll use paper from old books for my next batch, then they will be truly recycled (aside from the new staple). I cut the scrapaper down to strips roughly the same width as the halved paper (1.0625″).

1. I used the halved paper in stacks of 10 since that seemed to be how much my stapler could handle. Placed my stack of paper face up with the decorative paper face down and stapled them together like shown in picture 1.

2. Slightly above the staple, I fold the paper back down. You should be able to see the decorative side of the paper now, like in picture 2. This way you can hide the staple.

3. Continue wrapping the paper around the back, creasing the folds, like in picture 3.

4. Now fold over the top, from behind to front, like in picture 4.

5. Carefully trim the decorative paper so that once trimmed the edge fits under the flap from the bottom as seen in picture 5.

6. Voila! You have a handy-dandy snazzy easy-peasy pretty scrap pad.

Use the bone folder to crease and fold and the glue stick to glue the back page to the back cover, if you like.

Throw a couple in your purse so that when your frantically riffling through your purse looking for a piece of paper to write down a phone number on, or to throw away the gum you’ve been chewing on for eternity, you are golden. I took mine a tiny step further and put my personal stamp on the inside cover, as seen in the first image. You could go to whatever lengths you want to gussy them up. They are fun to make, quick, cute AND functional.

Making these I was reminded that the Artomat machine at KCH has a “matchbook” slot, where a book would have dropped with every pack of cigarettes. I wonder if books like these would work in that machine. It would be a cool project for the students there to make their own “art matchbooks” that would drop with each Artomat sale.

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