Shadow Boxes : Hot Air Balloon

Today's project is DIY shadow box making!

Ideally when you put together your own shadow box display, no matter what season or occasion, you are going to want to consider 3 different basic elements.

     *your flat background (can be solid or patterned or include a photo)
     *text (your message or quote or caption)
     *3 dimensional objects (the things that will fill the space inside)

If you stay true to this recipe, you can't go wrong!
Shadow boxes are great to showcase all kinds of things. Think of it as new level scrapbooking. 
The most popular occasions would be:

     *to display a family member's photo with tiny treasures
     *show a summer or beach scene
     *Engagement photos with mementos
     *Graduation pictures
     * "Baby's Firsts"
     *Christmas scene
     *Birthday Box
     *Vacation trips
     *your favorite quote
     and the list keeps going!

For the shadow box I made today, 
the supplies you will need to recreate it are:

shadow box with an unfinished wood frame
assorted solid and patterned cardstock paper
matte or gloss Deco Page glue/sealer
Exacto blade
acrylic paint
brush or foam-on-a-stick
foam Pop-Up-Dots
double sided tape
baker's twine
ball point pen or pencil
scissors
assorted sizes of white pom-poms
hot glue gun & glue sticks

First,

Paint your frame using your acrylic paint. I used a dark maroon. Dry time should be between 30 mins to an hour. 

Then using your Deco Page and brush/foam-on-a-stick, glue a piece of your cardstock to the backing of your frame! After 5 minutes, cut off the edges with an Exacto blade.

(The cardstock I chose had the phrase, "Oh! What a beautiful day!" on it and had pictures of clouds smiling so I was inspired to make something that was sky related. Thus the hot air balloon idea was born!)

Then hot glue 3 white pom-poms to the baker's twine. Length should be the as wide as your shadow box. Glue ends in place inside the frame, about halfway in between the front and back so that your string looks like it's floating.

Next to draw the hot air balloon, sketch out a circle. Then extend circle down to make a light bulb shape. Don't worry about all the sketch lines, the secret is to turn it around to the other side once we have the perfect shape. 

Once we have our balloon shape, trace it on to another piece of cardstock paper. Taking the lighter color, draw stripes up and down, then cut along the lines. You will only be keeping every other stripe.

Stack your stripes on top of your first balloon using your pop up dots. These will make the stripes stick out!
Then putting a strip of double sided tape to the back of the balloon, stick the 3 strings of baker's twine, and then either glue or tape to the back of the "basket" of your balloon.

Then simply attach balloon via pop-up dots to the backing of your shadow box frame and ta da!
So cute.

I used a Decocolor white acrylic marker to draw arrows on the top to add some more detail. Drawing on the outside adds something different than what you'd expect from a typical frame.

And there it is! 
Adorbs.

Have fun making your own shadow boxes! Explore new themes and ideas!
Have a great week :)

Bethany @ Enchanted Lake

                              Aloha from our Island of Hawaii

     .

  “U“want an easy graduation centerpiece/front table piece?            

Materials:

   -  Piece of black glitter paper             5x5.

   -  9.5” Wood Letter

   -  Embroidery thread (choice of          color)

   -  Elements Brads

   -  Design Master 14KT Gold               Spray paint

Now this is going to be real easy:

n Choose a wooden letter.

n  Spray it with the design master 14KT gold.

n  Set to the side dry.  

n  Make a tassel using the DMC embroidery thread.

o   I used the Beadalon Tassel maker tool to create the tassel.

o   Poke a small hole in the middle of the glitter paper. Wrap the tassel around the brad. Then put the bard in the hole and close.

n Take the low temp hot glue gun to clue the cap to the letter.

                      
                                 MAHALO!  JOYT@HILOBEN               

Mermaid Lap Desk

Hi there, Crafters!

For today's project, I decided to follow the old adage of "waste not, want not" and use the materials I had from last week's Mermaid Art Journal to create a project I've been itching to try; a fun and functional lap desk. I'm so in love with this Voyage Across the Sea collection, I was thrilled to be able to work it in to another project.

I started off by choosing an 11"x14" frame. Any frame will do, (the 11" x 14" is a great size, although you could also go a bit bigger for a roomier desk,) but since I had already decided that I wanted to use Krylon's Sea Glass spray paint in Aqua I went for one in white. Technically, the sea glass spray paint is made for glass but I'm a crafter, and rules are meant to be broken when it comes to crafting.

While my frame was drying, I started working on the collage that serves as the decorative top to my desk. The best part about this project is the fact that anything you can think of can be added here;You can display family photographs, art work or if use a shadow box, you can even glue in small objects. It will all be protected by the glass or acrylic sheet that comes with the frame! In my case, I used the left over pieces of card stock from last week's project, a couple of coordinating pieces of card stock and finally accented it all with the same BoBunny glitter paste and pearlescents and a few self adhesive rhinestones. My collage went in to the frame just like it would if I were planning on hanging it on the wall, and the pillow bottom was created by using a couple of our fat quarters, pillow stuffing and hot glue.

Here are a few pictures of how it looked while I was still working on it:

After my fabric was glued and pillow stuffing stuffed, it was just a matter of braiding my handles and adding the decorative accents I had decided on:

I wanted to stick with a nautical theme, so I tied in (pun intended) rope and twine. I wrapped the rope around the entirety of the frame twice using hot glue, and created a 'knot mat' on either side. This is totally optional, but I do think it added a nice touch to my finished product. The extra fabric at the end of each braid was made in to a bow and wrapped with a piece of twine. How cute is that?

When all was said and done, the finished product was a gorgeous, light weight and shockingly comfortable lap desk. I'm so pleased with it, I'm already working on two more; one for a gift and one to keep! 

Want to make one yourself? Drop on in and we'll get you all set up! Talk to you soon :)

- Chelsea @ Mapunapuna

Crankin’ Out Crafts: Lei Making II

Episode 474: 3 Straw Round Lei

Beth explains how to create a one-of-a-kind lei with 3 straws and yarn.

Supplies
Handcrafted Lei & Flowers XI, page 32
3 skeins Nani Yarn- your choice of colors
3/8"Grosgrain Ribbon (cut grosgrain to lei length plus 24" more for tying)
Scissors
Tape
3 Bubble drinking straws

Click here to view this episode

Episode 475: 4 Straw Round Lei 

Watch as Beth demonstrates her favorite lei, the 4 straw Lei.

Supplies
Handcrafted Lei & Flowers XI, page 33
1 skein Ali'i yarn your choice of 1st color
1 skein Ali'i yarn your choice of 2nd color
3/8" Grosgrain Ribbon your choice of color (cut grosgrain to lei length plus 24" more for tying)
2 kukui Nuts
Scissors
Tape
4 bubble drinking straws (2 colors)

Click here to view this episode

Episode 476: Candy Lei

A sweet how-to video treat by Beth.

Supplies 

Handcrafted Lei & Flowers V, page 58
1 Pkg Lei netting
Curling Ribbon or Satin Ribbon
Assorted Candies
Scissors

Click here to view this episode

Anchor Wood Panel Art

Afternoon, Crafters!

Today I have a "Pin-spired" nautical-themed piece of art that can be re-created with just three items! Seriously!  It's an easy and fast gift for that ocean-loving friend or for yourself to use as some

really cool beach décor.

 

 

The only things you will need to make this is paint, a 9x12 inch wood panel and some jute rope.

You're going to need two or three colors of paint to create that ombre effect on your wood panel.  Darkest blue will go at the bottom, then you keep mixing in more and more white to tint that color as you move toward the top of the panel. 

Next, paint on an anchor in pure white, being sure to leave a little space at the top and bottom of it.  Hot glue a few strips of our new Studio G jute rope on to the top and bottom for some accenting texture and there you have it!

 

This is, again, a very fast and minimalistic piece of nautical art that can be "spruced up" and personalized quite easily.  Write a friend's or loved one's name on it.  Mod Podge some sequins onto the anchor.  Glue some shells or starfish on it. 

Create your own masterpiece!

 

 

Have fun!

Erika @ PC

Graduation Poster Board

Hello Crafters!

Since graduation season is upon us, today we’re going to talk

about graduation poster boards!

 

Today I’ll be focusing on this graduation board I themed with

McKinley High School. Their colors are black and gold, and their

mascot is a tiger. As you can see, I stayed with a black and yellow

theme, and added their mascot in the background.

 

 

What I used for this project was:

-20x30 foam board

-Design Master Black Glossy Spray Paint

Citrus Ceramcoat Acrylic Paint

- Black Cardstock

- Yellow Cardstock

-Scrap Poster board (Not Pictured)

-Masking Tape (Not Pictured)

-Accu Cut machine (Not Pictured)

 

For my sample graduation boards, I cut our 20x30 foam

boards in half, just for the sake of making multiple sample boards

while using less materials. Feel free to make a full sized board for

your project.

 

First, I spray painted my board all black for the background,

again, this is just because of the multi purposed board. You are

free to start with a black, or any preferred color board.

 

After that was dry, I used the in store Accu Cut to cut out

“2016" with the School House font out of a scrap poster board to make a stencil.

I secured the stencil down to my board with masking tape and sprayed over it with yellow.

Extra note, I taped my stencil down from underneath the stencil rather

than around, so when I sprayed over it, the edges of the border will

be visible afterwards. This was intentional for that “graffiti” painted

style.

 

Once all the spray paint has dried, I started painting the tiger

logo with my citrus acrylic paint, using the McKinley HM High

School stickers we sell in store as reference.

 

Next step is the words. I used the Accu Cut Typewriter font to

cut out “Congratulations class of” out of yellow cardstock. Now on

my board, here is where I made a mistake, but actually turned out

to be a pretty cool effect. Some of my words clashed with the

yellow tiger in the background. To fix the problem, I cut out the

same letters that was clashing out of black cardstock. Then I

overlay yellow over the black, resulting in a cool shadow effect that

helped distinguish the words from the yellow background.

 

 

After that problem was solved, My McKinley grad board was

complete! I hope this helped you get ideas and techniques to

decorate your own grad boards to support your fellow graduates!

One last quick tip, it was easy for us to make our boards more

“school themed”, but personally I’d suggest you make your boards

more personal for that specific graduate your supporting. If they’re

in Cross Country, make a big pair of shoes! If they’re a

photographer, go for a huge camera! Get creative! The possibilities

are endless! Happy crafting!

James@ Market City

Seashell & Sand Garden Pot

Happy Monday!
Today I'm going to show you how to make a beachy garden pot for your lānai!

Supplies:

terra cotta pot
Krylon sand colored fine texture spray
pack of white shells
clear E6000 glue

First,

Spray your entire pot with your texture spray. Because the "limestone" sand color is so pale, you'll need to spray more in order to get a nice even coat. Let sit for a few hours outside.

Next, 

once textured pot is completely dry, glue shells around the outside using your E6000 glue. (Because the pot is curved you only need to apply glue to the inside of the shell on the top middle area and bottom middle area, as shown in the next picture.)

Because it is best to let this glue sit over night to completely cure, I tied a string around the shells to hold them on to the pot as they dried.

And that's all it takes! It definitely dresses up any front porch or garden nook. 

Happy Crafting!

Bethany @ Enchanted Lake