Day 52: Pop Up Pull Tab Card

I try to make a little gift or write a small note and hide it in Ryan's bag each time he goes back on tour.  This time when he comes home sometime in November we'll have only spent 2 weeks together in more than 4 1/2 months.  Ouch.
My goal was to make something to remind him of home. 
Cat Benatar and Ryan battle at the end of the couch everyday. 


I decided to make up pop up card and have a pull tab to make the cat jump out from behind the couch. 
I made a prototype first.

1. You have two options on the base card design. The first is to use two equal sized pieces of paper and glue them together once the pop up and pull tab are all cut and placed. I did this for the final product. The other option is to fold the paper in the center then fold both ends back to meet the crease. I did this with the prototype. The benefit of the prototype's design was that I could put the pull tab at the very end of the card and the fold would hold it in. The pull moved much smoother this way. With the other option of gluing the separate paper together you get a nicer look along the edges and at the fold of the card but the gluing/taping needs to create a nice path for the pull tab to run. More below.


2. At the center fold cut to equal sized slits about 2-3 apart. Push the paper between the slits in so the center fold is going the opposite direction and is inside the folded piece of paper.

3. Cut out a little cat with extra paper coming off it's backside about an inch.

4. Cut out a square where the pull tab will be accessed

5. Cut out an L shaped piece of paper. One end should be about inch longer than the distance from the pop up opening to the location of the pull tab opening. Determine where to attach the cat to this end of the L so that it can slide easily from behind the popped out area. Attach this end around the extra paper at the end of the cat using tape or glue. The other end will be visible as the pull tab.



6. Place the cat/pull into the opening into the pop-up opening



7. Draw/cut out couch.

8. Open card and attach couch to front the popped up rectangle. I used double sided tape.



9. Push the tab into the card till the cat is hidden behind the couch. Trim the paper so that the end of the tab lines up with the edge of the card,

10. Hold the tab to the card and flip it over. Mark where the tap slides to.

11. Tape or Glue along that line so that the tab does not fall all the way into the card when it is pushed in.

12. If you chose to use two seperate pieces of paper you will need to put tape along the 'unhinged' side of the L. The goal is to provide a path for the tab to slide



13. Double stick tape or glue around all the edges closing up the card.

14. If using glue test quickly before glue dries by pulling the tab to make sure the cat slides out smoothly and stops at the appropriate point.



I copied some of our photobooth pics and glued them around the card.

Day 51: Sculpey Again

Just playing with Sculpey again.

Day 50: Fake Stained Glass

I found this idea online... HERE.

The idea is to cover a window with tissue paper using washable glue.

Extremely simple, temporary, and great result.

Supplies:  Tissue paper and washable glue

Instructions:  Rip up a bunch of tissue paper, put glue on the window, put tissue on window. DONE

The light is hitting the left side of the window, that's why the colors appear different.

Here's the result from the site I copied:

Day 49: Sock Bun Curls - Yeah, It's A Girl Post

Hey Ladies, have you fried the shit out of your hair like I have? Do you want to wake up in the morning with a pretty flowing locks? Well let me introduce you to the sock bun. You've probably already seen a sock bun and in my personal opinion I think the bun itself is ugly and looks like a butthole on your head but eh... you could convince me it's a sexy ballerina thing, ala black swan, and I might buy it.

Butthole bun, Bagel bun, whatever blech.

1. Take a sock, cut off the toe.

2. Roll that shit up.

3. You need to do this with ALMOST dry hair. Don't do this with wet hair you'll get a bad result AND you don't want bottom of the hamper hair (moldy, gross). I think it's silly to buy a spray bottle just for water so I run my hands under water, flick them and then run the remaining water through my hair... depending on how dry my hair feels I may do this 1-3 X's.
4. Tip your head over and pull your hair into a top-of-the-head pony tail (here some people use a rubber band to hold their hair in place but I got a bad kink so I skip that).

5. Take the sock "scrunchy" slide it on like a normal hair tie.

6. Separate your pony tail into two sections

7. Slide the sock to the end of your strands

8. Wrap each of the strands around the sock one on each side. *My first try I was LAZY and didn't tuck the ends nicely and had great curls with kinks at the end.*

9. Once you have the ends nicely tucked roll it down to your scalp.

 

10. Put on cat eye glasses and a tight button up shirt and treat your man to the sexy librarian look, or drink a couple glasses of wine alone ... then go to sleep.
11. Wake up, unroll, meow
I read that chicks in the military do this.
It's VERY comfortable (the lump is soft and on the top of your head).

I'll edit this tomorrow AM with pics... when I have make up on, and then I'll crop out my face anyway.

*And here it is... it's really hard taking a picture of the back of your head.  I think I may have TRex arms.

Here's the video I watched to learn this trick: How to curl your hair with a sock! No heat

Day 48: How Tall

The project was to make something tall that can stand on it's own. I was having trouble thinking of anything that would be interesting for others to view and could be made from items I already own... not for lack of creativity but more because I thought the idea was boring and I didn't put much thought into it.

So instead here is a thread of my friends and I wasting an hour coming up with mocking DJ names for my brother:

Mike: DJ crawlspace.
Felix: DJ Desperation

Mike: DJ restraining order

Felix: Sir Stalks a lot

Ryan: DJimhumdawg

Felix: Gay-Z
Ranae: Mix Master Bate
Mike: HUM DMC
Felix: Alone Thugs and Harmony

Felix: Dr. Gay and Poop Dogg

Mike: NWGAY

Felix: nicecube

Mike: brotha sits home

Felix: pleasey-e
Ranae: KRS-None
Felix: Jam Master Gay
Felix: Mannibus
Felix: lifeless HIll
Felix: Feminem
Ranae: 2sad
Ranae: Nice Dude (ice cube)
Felix: Ja Fool

Felix: Jizz-a

Ranae: Talib Crying

Ranae: De La Sad

Mike: no hang clan

Felix: inane clown posse
Ranae: Public Frenemy - topical and hip
Mike: house of lame

Felix: gross-def

Felix: nifty cent

Felix: Cryclef jean

Felix: Neverlast

Felix: Hid Rock

Ranae: no-social-skills by nature

Ranae: Salt n Peder
Felix: borin' G

Ranae: Muff Saddy

Ranae: Fool & the Lame

*Check comments for additional names*

Day 47: Flower Power

Create something using flowers (real or fake). I'm trying to use things I have around the house, so I made animal plant holders and magazine flowers.
My cat eats ALL of my plants and killed off half of this bowl of plants so I added these toy animals.
I stole this idea from Plaid Pigeon, who's designs look amazing compared to my crap but that's acceptable.
I bought the toys from Rite Aid and used my Dremel to make a hole.  Luckily the toys were hollow which saved a lot of trouble.

I also decided I needed to make something with flowers since it was in the title of the project so I found this cool design (which again, I stole) and even found an instructional video.
Here's my version:

Day 46: Face Fun

Create something using your face.  I decided to demonstrate the method I used for my Medusa make-up this Halloween.
You need:

• Fishnets or a net bag (I used a plastic net bag that held cherry tomatoes).
• Cut out a section of the net and attach it to a "frame".  Take four pieces of cardboard, popsicle sticks, whatever.  The goal here is to stretch out the net.  If you skip this step you will be trying to hold the net in place and stretch it out at the same time without moving.  I was lazy and didn't do that for this pic and it shows.
• Various shades of green make-up... I would use a yellow and a purple to help highlight/contour.
• Eyeshadow applicator

Here's a pic of my eye (thrown together as an example)

*smaller shapes using the cherry tomato bag - I like the fishnet affect better.

Instructions:

1. I suggest using a lid primer, then apply a very light shade of green, white, or yellow across the lid and scoop it around to a bit of your cheekbone.
2. Set out all of the darker colors have them open and easy to access.
3. Hold the net up to your lid.  Dip the sponge eyeshadow applicator into a green and tap tap tap all over.
4. Try not to move the net and keep covering till the green is dark.
5. Now if you'd like use the purple and tap a winged out shape along the crease of your eye and tap yellow under the arch of your eyebrow.
6. Pick up the net and bring the shape out onto the cheekbone and into the hair line.  I used mostly purple close to the hair line and took the shadow right onto the hair
7. I also suggest the Eddie Munster V on the forehead going into the hair line.

If you have creases on your forehead I highly suggest keeping the forehead V very close to the hairline and to avoid shiny shadow.  I looked ten years older and had to redo mine.
Also, purchase that make-up freeze spray.  I'll update this if I can find the name, it may be called a make-up sealant spray.
Here's a picture of me making a gnarly face from Halloween

*created using fishnets - looks more snake like

Day 45: Tape

I used tape as a laminate and taped out a frog sculpture by Kate MacDowell from an issue of Hi-Fructose.

I cut out the frog, taped it, cut out in detail, then attached it to a hair clip.
My first couple of thoughts were to either use tape as a stencil for painting or create either a wristband or water bottle band out of tape for jogging with pockets for my car key and money.
But this works and is creepy.

Day 44: Light It Up

Create something that lights up (w/ candles, bulbs, etc).
So I decided to come out of the gate with some bad quality pictures. Yeah! Eat it up!

First mistake - using film with ocean pics. Just looks like pictures of static. I was afraid to use film with pics I love and I don't have much left.
Mistake two - never preparing for the project prior. Red votives don't really allow enough light through.


I was inspired by this project to do a follow up where I scan my photobooth pics, turn the images in the strip by 90°, print, modge podge around the outside of clear votive holders. Plus I can adjust the transparency of the pics in Photoshop. Bam!! Awesome.

Oh by the way... Materials: Votives, film, tape... yeah tape!

Day 43: Random Projects (string balls, IKEA godzilla hack)

I took a break from daily projects and following the books suggestions.  Here are some of the creations from my hiatus.

GLITTER BALLS

I've been completely obsessed with Pinterest and saw a number of string orbs but most just seemed boring... and then this:

*From the site Juicy Bits...*

I used materials I already had: Balloons, cross-stitch thread, glue (mixed with water & corn starch), and confetti.  You'll also need trashbags, string, and something to hang the drying balloons on.

You can find these instructions online anywhere but basically draw a circle around the opening of the balloon and do not cover that section with thread (in case you want to add a light).  Then run the thread through the glue, and this part is important, run your fingers along the string to get off a bit of the excess glue.  I didn't do this for my first two. Wrap wrap wrap, throw confetti, and hang. 

Wait overnight, or in my case a few hours because I need immediate gratification for my work.  Popping the balloons was extra festive because it shot a lot of the graffiti all over the room.

I only had a small amount of thread so these are more sparse than I would have liked.

Lessons learned:

• Next time I'm using yarn or some sort of thicker thread. 
• As I mentioned run your fingers along the thread wiping away some of the excess glue.  You can see the glue all around the threads of the purple ball but the yellow ball looks great.

IKEA HACK:

You've all seen the oversized (55 x 40) wall pics at IKEA; I bought the Chicago one years ago and even though it's kind of ugly, now that I live in California it holds some sentimental value.  I decided to enhance the picture... by adding Godzilla and King Kong. 

I measured the buildings and decided on the appropriate size for the creatures.  I found pictures online adjusted their size in a photo edit program and printed them out.

I took a sandwich bag and sharpy and traced the skyline so I could nest the creatures between/behind the buildings.

I taped the sandwich bag to the monster and cut out the monster and the lower half to match the skyline.

In order to make the creatures blend in a bit better I tinted them by adding water and paint to a bowl and dipping the paper.  As mentioned, I'm impatient, so I grabbed a blow dryer and dried them out.
The creatures were attached to the pic using plain ol' glue sticks.

It looked better but needed addition flare so I added googly eyes and some red and yellow confetti.

A little closer view:

Last I decided to fill my frame with some of my toys.  I stapled a screen to the frame and used floral wire to hang the toys.  I don't really like it.  I'm thinking maybe a black background might make it look better.

Day 41 & 42: Think Big & Junk Mail

Day 41: Create a large version of something normally small.  Day 42: Work with Junk Mail.

I created a paper mache flea

Unfortunately I can't remember what recipe I used for the paste but it was basically Water, Elmer's Glue, & Corn Starch.  I used two balloons blown up to two different sizes.

I would love to have captured the pain in the ass process but as soon as you set the thing down the glue wants to adhere to the plastic and trying to clean the glue off of my hands was.... a joy.

Body basically done, now adding legs.  This part was, well, difficult.  I created the legs first then would wrap strips around the leg and onto the body in different directions.

It's ugly and I love it!  I'm proud of my first attempt at paper mache so I'm leaving it unpainted.

Day 40: Work with Yarn

Not a very exciting post but I've always wanted to learn how to knit. I went to "The Little Knittery" and they helped with the yarn and knitting needles. I used a You Tube video to learn the basics.

Here are my tips for a beginner:

• Start out with a short row. I almost filled the needle and by the time I was a few rows in, I was a burnt out and my work was pretty unimpressive.
• Keep it loose. My hands were aching because I pulled the yarn too tight making it hard to pull over or push further down the needle.
• Most importantly, unless your boyfriend has a mommy or grandmommy fetish this is not an attractive activity.

"Don't mind me Ryan, I'm just going to sit on the davenport."

"Could you hand me the afghan?"

"How about helping massage this vapo rub onto my chest?" *at this point I would lick my lips and make a kissy face*

He wasn't into it.

Day 39: Haiku

Write a haiku about something that happened today and illustrate it.
I had planned to write a haiku about the Macho Man Randy Savage who passed away today but as I tried to focus this happened...

Day 38: Underwater

Fill up a fish tank, bowl, or vase with water and create something inside.
My first idea was to use saran wrap and bubbles to create some sort of jelly fish but no saran wrap. I drew the shark and (to be honest) I traced the girl. Slacker!
I used shrinky dinks, colored pencils, a vase, and of course water for this project.

The final product. I was really excited to discover the girl floated perfectly with half her body in the water.

Day 37: Staples

Make something with a stapler or just staples.
I only have a cheap small stapler so actually stapling something wasn't working out, I ended up having to just make something using the staple. My stapley sense was tingling.
Spider-Man (made of staples)

By the way staples are like dominos and there was a lot of cursing during the making of this.

Day 36: Old to New

Take something old and make it look new.
I've been on a hiatus from crafting while I worked on moving and settling into my new place.  There hasn't really been a night to relax.  The work I did actually qualifies for today's craft:
I flew my mom in to visit me for her birthday and mothers day and being the amazing daughter that I am, put her to work.  We went to a thrift store to look for some needed furniture to find out that everything was half off.
I have a lot to learn yet, my mom luckily had the eye to see the possibilities in all of this furniture.
Before & Afters
Fish tank stand ($12). Perfectly hides all my fish tank equipment!

File cabinet ($6). I work from home and always had my docs and office equip awkwardly stashed around my desk and even under my bed. So excited to have this.

My craft equipment has a home!($7)


Nerd Case ($25). This bookshelf had space camp and 'Artificial Intelligence is Real!' stickers all over it.
Look at this ugly thing!


Can't find a before picture of this table but the top was different than the legs but it looks great painted and will work great as my work AND craft desk! ($25)

Bathroom Storage ($23). This thing was so ugly without the paint, mom had to do some persuading.

Last I made this coffee table. We found a bucket of random table/chair legs $1 each at a flea market. Unfortunately, the kid at Home Depot couldn't cut a consistent height and kept chopping the legs shorter and shorter. Finally I took them as is and tried to even them out with felt.


I learned:
- Sellers in LA know what their products are worth at flea markets and apparently that value is, more often than not, more than it's worth to me. I get more pride in a cheap find that I made an attempt to make my own vs a ready-made very cool but very expensive item. I found it best to stick to the thrift stores for cheap big fixer-uppers and the flea market for the unique smaller accents. *The midwest is completely different, there is always an attic, basement, garage, or even barn being emptied full of amazing treasures.
- I may be wrong on this point but I prefer going to the flea market later in the day; the professional shoppers will have finished their shopping and I hate haggling so the fact that the seller may not want to pack this item up and haul it back home takes care of some of the haggling effort for me.
- Take time to sand and clean the furniture before painting.
- When in doubt use a primer before painting.
- For small projects save money by going to the dollar store for paint trays (and depending on the project, even rollers and brushes).
- Don't screw directly into wood or it may split, drill a hole first (thanks mah)
- The wood for the coffee table seemed smooth enough until I tried to wipe it off with a paper towel and this item will need to get wiped off regularly I guess I should have sanded it with a fine sand paper? Ryan's going to help me fix that one, will update with the results.
- Last, if you make your mom do heavy lifting, clean, paint, and decorate over her bday or mother's day (or in this case both) make sure to take her drinking afterward to earn back her love.
Happy birthday and mother's day mah! Thank you for all of your help. Love you!
Mom & I at the flea market. She bought me that tree for my jewelry.