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.