Origami Broach
My grandma loves the origami that I can fold. When I first got in to origami she would even pay me for folded flowers. For her birthday I decided to make her some origami pins because she has always been a broach fan.
You’ll need:
- pretty origami paper
- ModPodge
- pin backs
- hot glue
Start by folding your origami to a flat or slightly 3D design. I chose cranes.
Glue your pin on to the back and let dry.
I then coated them in ModPodge to give them a little shine and a little more durability.
Here’s the final product in action. My grandma didn’t know which end was up, but loved it anyway. I’m going to label the back of the birds for her so she’ll know for the future.
First Garage Sign
I’ve been feeling crafty lately and had been wanting to make Joe some sort of man cave garage sign. The only issue was that I never knew what it should say. After watching a marathon of Fast ‘N Loud with Joe I settled on “Blood, Sweat and Beers,” which was something one of the characters said. After an extensive trip to Hobby Lobby with a friend I got the supplies needed.
You’ll need:
- a piece of wood
- a wood burner
- wood stain
- sand paper
- an old rag
- a sponge brush
- hot glue/krazy glue
- wall fastener
- a few days for dry time
First you start out by stenciling on your letters. I had to erase and start over a few times before I got it even, so measuring might not be an awful idea.
Next you break out the wood burner. This was my first time using one, but I think I did a decent job. Choose the tip that works best for lettering. You don’t want the skinniest one unless you don’t plan on filling in the letters. I used a roundish tip.
Next you’ll wan to sand and stain. You don’t necessarily have to stain it, but I didn’t like the color of the wood. Sand any rough edges before staining. You could also sand before you start stenciling, but I didn’t think of that until now. Be sure that you thoroughly stir the stain. When applying and wiping off the excess always always always go with the grain.
When that’s done drying, preferably over night, you can add more coats of stain or move on the a clear coat. I decided to use some exterior use ModPodge because I already had some. Paint it on evenly, you can do more than one coat if you like.
The last step is to add some sort of wall mount fastener. I don’t like the screw in kind, or the ones you can see on top so I wet with a back mount. The wood is light so I just krazy glued it on and voilà. And now you have your very own home made garage sign.
Decoupage
I had some ModPodge sitting around the house so I decided to make an attempt at decoupage.
What you’ll need:
- Modpodge
- sponge or paint brush
- colored paper
- scissors
- patience
- paper towel
- Windex
Obviously you need to start by finding all of your supplies. Next step is to clean the inside or outside of your jar. I put the paper on the inside, so I cleaned the inside.
Next you cut, or rip, up your colored paper.
Start at the bottom with a layer of Modpodge in the jar. Place your paper on the Modpodge then paint another layer on top of the paper.
Keep at this until it’s all the way up to the top.
Trim the edges and let it dry.
Bam. Decorative jar for whatever you’d like. I wouldn’t recommend putting a candle in there, just in case Modpodge is flammable. Maybe a flameless candle. That would be cool.
Book Safe
After spending some time on Pinterest I decided my next project would be a book safe. I looked on Amazon for the cheapest large book I could find. Initially, I looked at War and Peace, because that’s a big ass book. I eventually settled on a different large, unnamed (it’s a secret) book that was on sale for $5.
What you’ll need:
- a thick book
- x acto knife
- card board
- mod podge or glue
- paint brush or sponge brush for glue
- patience
- large books or other weights
- wax paper
- a couple of hours for cutting and an overnight for drying
First you want to find your large book. Then measure the page dimensions and decide how large you’d like your safe hole to be. Then cut out a piece of cardboard to use as your guide. I put packing tape around the edges just so my knife wouldn’t catch on the cardboard every time I cut. In hindsight, a reverse cardboard guide would’ve been easier to use. One that looks more like a picture frame. If you really want your cuts to be even you can glue the outside edges of the pages before starting. Again, follow my advice on using weights and wax paper that are shown below.
Start cutting. This will take a while. You can cut one at a time if you have the patience and are a perfectionist. I tried to cut as many as I could at a time, but my edges were uneven. I’d probably aim for 5-10 pages depending on the thickness of the paper and how sharp your knife is.
When you’re getting close to the bottom you can put a piece of cardboard underneath the last few pages so that you don’t cut through the rest of the pages or cover, depending on how deep you plan on cutting. Next break out your mod podge/glue and your paint brush. You’ll want to paint the glue all around the inside of the safe. I let it dry and did another coat the next day, but that’s up to you.
Before closing the book to dry, insert a piece of wax paper between the cut and glued pages and the uncut front few pages so that they don’t get stuck together.
Once you’ve done this, find a corner or table out of the way and stack a bunch of other heavier other books, or other heavy objects, on top over night to dry. It’s important that you do this otherwise the pages will dry wrinkly and warped and the book will be wider than it’s supposed to.
After it has dried over night, carefully peel off the wax paper and fill the safe with whatever you’d like. Add it to your shelf and voilà!
When you’re done you’ll have a lot of extra pages, I had around 800. You can use them for other craft projects like origami or decoupage or as kindling for a bon fire.
Masquerade Mask
A friend of mine is having a masquerade birthday party so I decided to make my mask.
Adventures in Life 