Featured Craft

Part 2: Perry the Platypus Costume tutorial- UPDATED!

October 25, 2010 | Also posted in Topic: craft, Halloween, recent

The Boy is going as Mr. Freeze for halloween this year, but he’s wearing last year’s Perry the Platypus (Agent P!) costume to school on Friday. I started thinking about it, and decided it needed a bit of an update, so here is Perry, V 2.0! I decided it needed big Perry eyes, so I added 2 ping pong balls, colored with Sharpie marker. I also added a drawstring around the hoodie that I never got around to doing last year, so that it sits closer to his face. Just those minor adjustments really add… Read on...

Sewing with a 5 year old- Sweater Snake 2.0

October 14, 2010 | Also posted in Topic: craft, Personal, recycled sweaters

I just had to share this with you guys. Way back in 2007 (near the start of Dabbled, actually!) I made a sweater snake for The Boy. Now it was an early project, and in retrospect I probably could have done better in my choice of materials — or maybe it’s the fact that it’s lived for the past 4 years with a little boy — but was getting holes in it. The 5 year old has been bugging me to “fix the snake”, so when he was off from school the other day, I told him I’d let… Read on...

How to make a (paper) graduation cap!

May 28, 2010 | Also posted in Topic: craft

Want a cute graduation mortar board cheap and easy for grad parties or kid fun? Here ya go! The Boy graduated from Pre-K the other day, and they made these cute graduation caps for them. So I reverse engineered it (and improved upon it) to make it into a tutorial for you guys! These mortar board caps are made from poster board and foam core… easy and fun to celebrate a graduation milestone. Needed:

Black foam core board – about 12 in square.
Black poster board (cut to 22 in wide x 6 in tall)
Gold

… Read on...

Cinco de Mayo Piñata, and more.

April 30, 2010 | Also posted in Topic: craft

Since Cinco de Mayo is coming up, just wanted to remind you guys about the fabulous Piñata tutorial from last year, by Joanne of Ready Set Craft!! It’s it just gorgeous?

Go read: How to Make a Flower Pinata, just in time for Cinco De Mayo!
For more party ideas: Piñatas, Cinco de Mayo, Fiesta ideas, and more!
And for food ideas: We’re having a Fiesta! Foodwhirl’s Gone Mexican…

New necklaces (with Dot’s art!)

April 28, 2010 | Also posted in Topic: art, craft, my art, recent, Robots

I’ve been working on a way to sell some of my artwork, in a way that is both affordable, and more ‘useful’ than just a picture you hang on your wall. So this is a couple of prototypes of my latest idea! (Excuse the pics, these aren’t the highest quality!) I’ve been playing around with glass tile necklaces, with either prints from my artwork, or original drawings, as fun and wearable art.
Here are the 2 prototypes–based on the watercolor series (“Robot World“) which is currently in the Museum of Science in Boston. One is… Read on...

More great egg ideas at Wisdom of the Moon

March 30, 2010 | Also posted in Topic: craft, Seasonal/Holiday

These are just fabulous ideas on how to show off gorgeous blown decorated Easter Eggs, from Dabbled fave, Wisdom of the Moon. (We linked to her “How to Blow Eggs” tutorial here.) Tons of ideas for making your blown and decorated eggs even more special, for hanging and displaying — including using buttons and snaps! So clever… Read the whole thing! She’s got a great idea for a simple way to make a very functional Egg Drying Rack. Again. Clever. And, how to color those eggs using the Ukrainian style technique (Pysanky) is here.

Adding Some UMPF with an Airbrush!

March 23, 2010 | Also posted in Topic: Guest, recent

Hi Everybody!! My name is Chrissy P. from Felted Chicken! I’m your average-everyday Felter living & working on Hollywood, CA. I’ve been needle-felting for about a year and a half now, and am always looking for new, interesting, and easy ways to add some extra UMPF to my sculptures. Nancy was kind enough to ask me to share a tutorial on one of these processes. In addition to the traditional felting techniques that everybody uses (needle & wet-felting, dying my own wool, accenting with tufts of colored wool) I also use an Airbrush to add shadows &… Read on...

Easter Eggs & Baskets

March 19, 2010 | Also posted in Topic: craft

Hippity Hoppity!

How to Make A Fabric Easter Basket: My friend Heidi make this way cool Easter Basket – And then was cool enough to write up a how-to, and even provide a pattern for you to make your own! This is from last year, but I thought it was worth a re-post. We had a bunch of readers make their own last year… if you make one, be sure to send me a pic! Make Your Own Easter Basket Tutorial

and…

Creative Egg Dying Ideas Also from last year,

… Read on...

Quick Project – Kids T-shirt Mod!

January 12, 2010 | Also posted in Topic: craft, Tutorials/Tips

A lot of people liked the super easy sewing of the Treeskirt project, so here’s another quick and easy project! My son has a favorite t-shirt that was getting a tad small… he wore it layered with a long sleeve shirt to a party the other day, which gave me the idea to make a long sleeved, slightly larger shirt out of it for him to wear this winter and spring.* I forgot to take a “before” pic, but you’ve seen t-shirts and long sleeve shirts before, so just imagine them, hehe. So, Here’s how I did… Read on...

A $4 Treeskirt from an ‘After Christmas Sale’ Tablecloth

January 2, 2010 | Also posted in Topic: craft

I spent way too much time and money at the 75% off at Target the other day, and found this great snowflake cotton tablecloth. It’s a nice heavy weight, and I love the red and whites! But I didn’t really need a tablecloth, and I have been really meaning to make a treeskirt, since I usually just wrap some spare fabric around the bottom of the Christmas Tree. So this was my quickie project for today… Since my space for my tree is squared off, I made this one a square, but if you tree is in… Read on...