Paper pot

I used to make these paper pots a lot when I was younger, and now I'm going to show you how to.

Start with a plastic container. I recommend plastic because it's flexibility comes in handy.

Cover the container in Vaseline. It's pretty yuck but has to be done.

Get the glue out.

I started by putting a bit of PVA straight onto the container so that I could put sequins and glitter on. This is of course an optional extra.

Glue small pieces on tissue paper on top.

After a few layers of tissue paper I then moved on to ripped up pieces of a magazine. My magazine of choice was a September 2008 issue of Closer. Fun fact.

Keep gluing.

After a sufficient amount of layers I applied the final layer of paper which I wanted to be this silver tissue paper.

You then need to leave the whole thing to dry. The airing cupboard is a perfect place but I decided to make use of the hot weather we had this weekend and let mine in the garden.

Once it's dry you need to remove the plastic container. This can be a little tricky but that's where the flexibility of the plastic comes in. Just keep squeezing and tugging and soon it'll pop right out.

This is what the inside looks like. You're going to want to wipe out the inside with some paper towel because of the Vaseline.

To finish I cut round the top to make it neat and glued on some fun trim as a finishing touch. Also, here's another pot I made with a different sized container.

Super.

And remember folks, I'm now on Etsy so be sure to check that out.

Bargain time #2

At the weekend I went to a car boot in my village and scored this bag of beads for £1. Bargain!

Lets delve inside...

These pretty flower pieces which have holes so they can be strung together.

This awesome pendant, it's a got a couple of gems missing, but I'm sure I can replace them.

A few religious pieces

A handful of yellowy gems.

Some girly pendants.

And a whole lot of little beads! It was at this point I realised tipping the bag out on my carpet perhaps wasn't the best idea. It took forever to pick them all up again.

Keep an eye out to see what I create with these goodies.

Etsy

One of my goals for this summer was to finally get an Etsy shop up and running, and after finishing up some sewing, taking a bazillion photos and finding out posting prices I've done it!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/thecraftartykid

At the moment it's only 3 products, with 5 different versions of each. I just want to test the waters first, and if those sell well then I'll add more.

Please take a look and tell me what you think, constructive criticism welcome as I'm very new to Etsy.

My model room: #2 Wallpaper

Wallpapering time.

This part of the project is very realistic as I used the left over wallpaper from my actual room, so I didn't have to try and create the same pattern.

I cut the paper into more manageable strips and ended up using a combination of double-sided sticky tape and pva glue to stick it to the walls. This was not easy. The glue made the paper wrinkle and the tape kept coming unstuck.

I've never wallpapered an actual room but I don't want to after this experience as I imagine it will be 10 times as difficult!

I did have some help though; Jack Shepard from Lost was on hand with the glue.

Charlie was also around but he just sat on the parcel tape drawing on his fingers. Some people eh!

Mission accomplished. I'm hoping it will look neater once I get the carpet and all the skirting boards in.

You've been framed

Here are some of the more unique, hand-made picture frames in my room

This frame was a simple Art Attack project made out of cardboard,made many years ago.

I decorated this frame at Guides, again many years ago. It shows potential I think...

I helped to professionally make this frame on my year 10 work experience at a local art shop. Swanky

My model room

I'm now on my summer break from university, a whole 3 months, and I've set myself the project of creating a a model of my bedroom, to continue with my miniatures theme. It's going to be at a scale of 1:10, which makes measuring things a lot simpler because I only need to divide by 10.

I started by doing a lot of this.

Going around my room with a tape measure and recording the dimensions of everything. I want the model to be as realistic as possible.

This box is the main structure of the room. It's a little bit too long and not quite wide enough, but I don't think I'm going to get any better. I cut the top of it off so it's the correct height.

Then I blocked in the main features of my room; the airing cupboard, the doors and the window.

Next up; wallpapering!

Check back regularly to see how I get on over the coming weeks

What I've been working on

Remember this box of goodies I scored at an antiques fair? Well I've started putting some of the things to use, starting with some of the broken necklaces.

I used the beads to embellish these large rosettes which I'm going to make into hairbands

From shampoo bottle to flower vase

It was a sad day when I finally ran out of my Hannah Montana shampoo (another example of me being a craft arty kid) which I bought from the 99p shop back in September. They haven't had anymore in stock so I've had to go on without ultra glam shine hair. *sigh*

I really liked the shampoo container and couldn't bring myself to throw it out, so I thought about ways I could reuse it and came up with a flower vase!

I started by cutting off the top so it opens up and thoroughly rinsing it out.

Then I crammed glass nuggets into the lid to weigh it down. This could also be done with sand or something similar.

I also put some glass nuggets inside the container which helps to prevent it from toppling and makes the flowers higher in the vase so the stems don't have to be so long.

I then filled my new vase up with water and added some freshly cut flowers from the garden. A handy feature is that to replace the water you only need to flip open the lid at the bottom to drain away the old water instead of tipping up the whole thing. Genius.

Sidenote: fellow blog readers, if you're interested in musical theatre then go check out my sister's blog. It's a good read and she knows what she's talking about.

Yo-yo fo sho

Here's some of the colourful yo-yos I've been making lately. I'm going to make them into hairbands, but here's some other things they can be used for;

Thrifty Fun has a tutorial for how to make these yo-yo chicks.

Learn how to make this yo-yo bracelet at Zakka Life.

I love this wearable yo-yo piece from XODÓ DI PANO / YO-YO CRAFT.

And this cute yo-yo covered bag is from Craftstylish.

Let there be light

This is the light fixture in my bedroom. It's bright pink and it's flocked. What more could you want?

Well here are some even more impressive chandeliers.

This piece is by Yaya Chou ad is made out of gummy bears! Apparently they don't melt, they just go a bit soft.

Michelle Brand recycles plastic bottles to make these stunning chandeliers.

Along with party poppers, Stuart Haygarth has also made chandeliers out of glasses, plastic wine glasses and tail lights.

Zia-Priven is a husband/wife design team who made this ping-pong ball chandelier.

Sewing on photos

I've been sewing on to photos again, but this time instead photos of my friends I chose to enhance a holiday snap.