Just like the shrinky dinks you played with as a kid, but cheap and good for the earth!

Check it out!

• Part 1: HOW TO- Doodle Charms – Jewelry from recycled plastic
• Part 2: What would happen if..? (The Shrinky Dink Test Lab)
• Part 3: More experimentation in the Shrinky Dink Test Lab
• Part 4 of the Shrinky Dink Test lab: Successful sealing.. maybe
• Shrinky Dinkies – Special Edition : Make Wraparound Wine Glass Markers

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 fringe and gold floss (60 inches)
• 1 gold colored brad
• Staples & glue

Hat:

From your strip of black poster board, measure down 2.5 inches, and fold. Then and cut 6-8 slits straight down to to the fold from one side.  (See photo – note, photo shows an example using paper, not posterboard.) [Click the photos to see larger]

Staple hat together into appropriate size. (See second photo below).

Center on the square of foam core, and glue down.

Tassel

Take 48-60 inches of gold floss, and double, and double again, so you have 4 strands.  Knot each end.

You  have two options here.  Either use a 4 inch piece of gold trim, as shown here, or just make a tassel using gold floss.

Fringe version: roll up a length of fringe, then tie with the end of a of your floss.

Putting it together

Use the pointy end of the brad to make a small hole in the center of your foam core.  Use a toothpick to press the knot in one end of your floss through the hole.  Position the tassel string so that 1 inch or so of the string falls down over the side of the hat.  Inside the hat, knot the tassel string if necessary to secure.  Stick your brad through the hole in the top of the hat to secure the string as well.

You may trim off the excess floss from the inside of the hat if desired.

My FedEx Out of Office blog post is up for March, and I almost forgot to share it with you guys before St. Patrick’s Day!   This is a fun printable (with Dot artwork, naturally!) that your kids can fold up and have fun sharing with their friends.

You remember these from grade school, right?  You would make them out of a piece of notebook paper, then play with them telling fortunes until they were confiscated by a mean teacher!  We always just called them fortune tellers, but according to the internet, they are also known as Cootie Catchers.

I’ve got the printable and the instructions on how to fold it up, if you’re a little rusty, over at FedEx Out of Office.

EDIT: Apparently the FedEx blog is kaput, so here are the instructions! 

We have a GREAT sunroom. It’s got a huge vaulted ceiling and french doors on both sides and lots of windows. But, we also have a computer at a desk in the corner, and the light from the windows can cause a glare on the screen. Hence the need to occasionally cover up these gorgeous windows with some sort of curtain. And curtains or shaded on french doors are really a pain in the butt to me. They either get in the way, or they are clunky and unattractive, so I had avoided doing anything about the glaring window til forced to by nagging husband and kiddo.

So, I wanted a solution that would be easy to make, easy to remove, and look nice while it was up there. So what’s the secret? Well, note the 5 lovely buttonholes at the top of each panel. Does that give you any hints? It’s a shower curtain! We found a pretty black cotton waffle weave shower curtain at Target for less than $20.  And it’s held up by buttoning the button holes onto pushpins stuck in the door.  I used clear ones, but you could also do this with some really fun and funky push pins.

Materials:

• 10 clear (or interesting) push pins.
• 1 standard size shower curtain of a nice material, like cotton, with 10 holes at the top. [I originally wanted one with grommets at the top, but didn’t find one, and I think the button holes by themselves work fine.]
• Sewing machine (or a needle and thread and a bit more time and patience than I possess.) Pins, Scissors, matching thread.

How to do the transformation:

1. Cut the shower curtain in half down the middle.
2. Starting with the Left half:  Measure the distance from the left seam to the first button hole.  Fold your right seam and pin all the way down, the same distance from the 5th (last) buttonhole.
3. Noting the size of the hem on the left side, stitch down the right hand side with a similar size hem.
4. Trim the excess fabric.
5. Repeat with the right half.
6. Hold up your curtain to the door and determine where you want it to hang, and mark each button hole.
7. Stick pushpins where you marked, then just slide the buttonholes onto the pushpins!
8. Easy peasy mac and cheesy, you are done. The curtains can be folded back on themselves to let in light, or removed altogether, easily.

There are some really cool shower curtain patterns and fabrics out there, so you can really get creative with this project.  Just make sure you pick one that has 10 evenly spaced holes, meant for inserting the shower curtain rings.

That’s all there is to it…  hope you’ve enjoyed this tutorial and it inspires you to make something cool !  There are some more sewing type projects in the Related Posts box below, so if you like this, go check them out too…

cheers,

dot

The book has a bunch of really cute creatures and scenes you can create with needle felting – everything from a silly science lab, to a sweet shop, to a pirate island… with easy to follow instructions.   It looks like it would be a good introduction to the craft of needle felting, you don’t have to already know how to do it.

Tutorial: Big Purple Alien Blob

Huggable and utterly lovable, this friendly alien blob loves making friends, playing sports, shopping, and taking long walks along the lunar landscape.

Download the Full Tutorial : Alien Blob from Wee Felt Worlds

Or… buy the whole book of projects (use the link below to support Dabbled!)

Enjoy!

This is a fun project if you’d like an inexpensive way to make your own “canvas print”, and you like a retro, old fashioned feel.  It makes a great gift, too (like the one used in the tutorial, a great wedding momento!)

I did this for my December post on FedEx’s Out of Office blog.  It is easy to do, but be warned it is a bit time consuming when you get to the final step of removing the paper from the canvas, so I wouldn’t go any larger than 8×10″ for this project.

The photo for this project is by the fabulous Sarah Howell, of Kimball Bates Photography (recently relocated to North Carolina, for my readers up there–I highly recommend her!)

Tutorial Summary: Retro Canvas Print

Basically, you just need an inexpensive canvas, acrylic gel medium, and a image you want to use.  For the image you’ll need it slightly larger or the same size as your canvas.  Use an image editing program to reverse the image (so you have a mirror image) and to size your image appropriately.  Then you can have it color laser printed or get a color photocopy.

You’re going to adhere the image to the canvas (face side down) using the gel medium.  When it is dry, you’ll remove the paper from the canvas, leaving just the color.  You’d definitely have areas where the color doesn’t stay, hence the weathered, retro look.  You can then cover the whole thing with gel medium for a finished look.

Full Instructions, with photos (and Lessons learned)

I’ve got all the step by step instructions up at the FedEx Out of Office blog: Retro Photo Canvas Tutorial.

Also, a few lessons learned, based on trying this a few times:

• Like I mentioned, smaller is better due to the time consuming nature of the final steps.  It can take multiple (like 6!) times of rubbing the paper off the canvas.   Let it thoroughly dry after you think you have it all removed, then you’ll see more paper fibres.  Keep rubbing!
• Try a small test piece first.
• Experiment! You might find that it’s better to let the paper NOT dry all the way, and then just try peeling the paper off.  When I’ve done similar projects before (but with B&W photocopies) I’ve found that it was much easier, and worked just as well.  But with color I think it’s better to wait til it’s bone dry, which means much more work getting all the paper off.  But, it’s worth a try to attempt some experiments and see what works best for you.
• Related to that, here’s the technique I’ve used where you don’t let the paper dry all the way: Wooden Photo Ornaments

FOAM AND DISPLAY BOARD:
· 9” x 12” Mini Bi-Fold Foam Board

X-ACTO:
· Designer Series Gripster Craft Knife
· Designer Series 12” Metal Ruler
· Designer Series 12” X 12” Self Healing Mat
· Designer Series 8” Scissors
· Designer Series 5” Precision Tip Scissors
· Designer Series Basic Shape Templates
· Designer Series Decorative Shape Templates

PAINTERS:
· Painters Bright Colors
· Painters Sherbet Swirl

CRAFTBOND:
· Dot Runner
· Foam Mounting Tape
· Thin Medium Glue Spots
· All Purpose Glue Stick
· Quick Dry Dual Tip Glue Pen
· Elmer’s Designer Tape

Just leave a comment below telling me what awesome project (holiday project???)  this box would inspire you to do, and by random selection you can win your own box. Tweeting about this also counts as a second entry, as they show up in the comments as well. Be sure to stop by and visit the Elmer’s Craft it! facebook site, too!

{Contest is Closed! Stay tuned for the winner as soon as I’m not on death’s door with this cold…!}

So way back in 2008, one of the first big “experiments in craft” I did for Dabbled was what I called the Shrinky Dink Test Lab.  I had run across the idea for using #6 plastic to make homemade shrink plastic (aka ‘Shrinky Dinks’) at various places on the crafty webs, but I decided to delve a little deeper.  I started with a basic project (Doodle Charm Earrings), and that led to other questions.  What about coloring with other materials like colored pencils?  How do you seal your plastic afterwards so the marker doesn’t rub off?  And successes and failures in all this also led to interesting effects that could be achieved.

So flash forward to 2012.   Blogs are prettier and fancier now, and more professional looking.  We have Pinterest and Facebook and all kinds of visually focused sharing tools.  The technology is cooler now.  Dabbled gets a bunch more traffic than it did back then.  I ran across a really cute tutorial to make a shrinky bracelet and it made me look back  at  these old Shrinky Dink Test Lab posts and they just look so ….old.   Well, I’m not going to totally redo them or anything, but I did think that perhaps an index of them was in order, for better referencing in the future, and maybe some pretty graphics, too –in case you guys..um…I don’t know… wanna Pin this? ;)

Part 1: HOW TO- Doodle Charms – Jewelry from recycled plastic

This section is a good basic tutorial on how to make shrinky jewerly from old takeout containers, with just sharpies, scissors, a hole punch, and a bit of creativity.  Be sure to read the comments, there are extra tips there about how long to heat them, and whether there are issues with fumes, and some other good points.

Part 2: What would happen if..? (The Shrinky Dink Test Lab)

This section is the first of the experiments.  We cover several cool ideas, like drawing on the front and back of the plastic.  Also we tried several ways of sealing the charm, which produced different effects.  You could totally incorporate these effects into your design.  The comments include several good suggestions for other methods of sealing the shrinky.

Part 3: More experimentation in the Shrinky Dink Test Lab

The second day of odd experiments included what would happen if you sealed the shrinky PRIOR to shrinking, as well as a really neat effect using spraypaint.  We also shrink non-flat plastic (the side of a to-go box) and make a ring out of it.  And we combine several of the techniques to make a giant suncatcher, seeing just how big a shrinky we can make!  Finally, we use colored pencils, rather than Sharpies, to color our design.

Part 4 of the Shrinky Dink Test lab: Successful sealing.. maybe

This is the post where the commenters really come through.  Not only do we have the (mixed) results of my sealing using polyurethane, the commenter pipe up with a bunch of other solutions, and several do their own tests to really give us all the data.  If you’re interested in sealing, this is the post to read (including the comments).

Shrinky Dinkies – Special Edition : Make Wraparound Wine Glass Markers

This is not really part of the test lab, but was a fun project tutorial to make temporary wine glass markers.  Plus the idea of doing a shrinky making party with your friends!

Some Other Shrinky Projects:

• Eco-friendly Charm Bracelet
• Christmas Ornament Template and Tutorial

Don’t Blink!!  

It’s never too early to start planning for Halloween, especially if your ambitions are this big.

Check out this incredible build by HalloweenForum poster MacabreRob.

He built not one, but TWO weeping angels (of Doctor Who fame), and describes the entire process – from building the body, to molding the face.   LOVE it… I was thinking what a cool project building an angel would be, but I don’t think I’m up for anything quite this intense for our halloween decor.

Maybe we could figure out some way to fake this?  Any ideas ? :)

[More Halloween]

So my 7 yr old came home the other day from camp and was like “Mom, we’ve got to go do this experiment, it’s so cool!”

And it WAS pretty darn cool, so I thought I’d share it with you guys!

These are his instructions, and he did the experiment and showed it to me:

You’ll need 3 jars.  Fill the first one 1/2 full with water (room temperature), second one 1/2 full with oil, and the third 1/4 full with water and 1/4 full with oil.

Then take food coloring, and put a few drops in the first jar, and stir.  See how the water mixes with the food coloring and now the water is all blue?

Then put a few drops in the second jar.  Stir it up as much as you can, and the oil and water still don’t mix!

Now for the REALLY cool one.  Put a few drops in your half and half jar–which will now have separated back out so that the oil sits on top of the water.  You’ll see that the food coloring is caught in the oil, and sits at the bottom of the oil, on top of the water.  Now watch and wait.   It may take a few minutes, but as you watch each droplet of the foodcoloring will “explode” like fireworks into the water!

Pretty cool, huh? Looks like my nail polish from this weekend!

Afterwards, we shook it all up and watched what happened. (We took bets on whether the oil would be blue when it separated back out.)
Now I just need ideas on what to do with a jars of oil and blue water… any ideas?? :)