I love receiving REAL mail, and this Valentine’s Day, I wanted to send my snail mail friend something exceptionally neat. Admittedly, mailing a surprise-filled tiny box isn’t an original idea. Two Valentine’s Days ago, my sister (who is very crafty) sent me monkey heart socks in a jewelery box. I thought I’d spread the tiny box valentine cheer. To any males who found this/us in pursuit of girlfriend gift inspiration: YOU’RE WELCOME.
SUPPLIES:
Tiny box. You can easily get a 3 x 3 box at craft stores.
A charm + chain for charm + jump ring (if the charm hole won’t fit on the chain). I featured the above carousel in the last pocket-sized treasure post, and it is available at TheseNThose’s Etsy shop.
Card-friendly paper to make a tiny card for the inside of the box lid.
Kraft paper.
Tissue paper.
Three stamps. This is the lazy-Tricia route. I hate lining up at the post office to mail a package, so I’d rather send something by stamps whenever possible. Three stamps is probably excessive, however, I also HATE getting returned mail. I have successfully mailed the same sized box with three stamps, so that’s enough of a guarantee for me. If you have a heavy necklace, you might need more postage (and HAVE to visit the post office, because the box cover can only fit three stamps).
STEPS:
1. Assemble necklace. The carousel horses have manes!
2. Trace the box (length times two!) to make a card for the inside of the box lid.
4. Adhere your card to the inside of the box lid.
5. Tape the necklace to a side of the box so that the charm hangs.
6. Fold over the tissues paper, put lid on box.
7. Wrap box in kraft paper. Make sure you use packing tape, because the post office will reject your box if you use normal tape.
8. Mail!
There’s only one more day until the premiere of the final season of LOST. My Chicago friends are behemothic LOST fans (one is even in a LOST novelty band, Sonic Weapon Fence). Consequently, my life has been bombarded with LOST anticipation. Gmail user images changed to both JACKFACE and Frank Lapidus a few days ago. But even before that, discussions in regards to a LOST party occurred. Well, “party” = “gathering to watch Lost,” because it’s a week night, and we are old kids with 9 to 5 jobs. I offered (via a Gmail chain of emails, and in broken English now that I’m rereading my email) to contribute beer, with possible “little dharma labels.”
Possible = Scared to commit to something I might not follow through with. OH but fear not, a day before the big PREMIERE, I have created my own Dharma Beer labels using this Dharma Initiative Logos font on dafont. And I am sharing it with you today, so you can create your own Dharma Beer.
Simply cut, and tape (or if you are well-stocked in office supplies, perhaps print a page on sticker paper?). There’s two labels per page, because there wasn’t enough room on a regular letter sized page for three labels. So, I guess you’ll have the bottom strip to doodle- hooray! Finally, I conceded that the labels aren’t authentic. There are some letters and numbers at the bottom of the label, but I have spent too long squinting at this screen capture, trying to figure out what the numbers are. While I’m confessing things, if you were wondering why I’d be drinking such unsightly beer, or, you know, were perceptive to notice the text “ALL NATURAL PURE FRUIT JUICE & SPARKLING WATER” at the top, IT’S NOT BEER. It’s Izze. I haven’t bought beer for tomorrow night’s festivities yet.
PS- Rabbit, rabbit! Happy February!
I could have spent my New Year’s Eve mauled by vexing teenagers at Crystal Castles, or at one of the other debauchery-filed Chicago orgies. But…I mean…I already did that last year, and I think any future New Year’s Eve show experience will be peas to seeing Justice. (Plus, I feel old and listless with my 9-5 job, and escaping youth.) As a result, I stayed at home to shrink plastic and play my ukulele.
Last week, my coworker caught me looking at embossing heat tools online. This led to my spirited declaration that I had decided to embark on a new adventure in life: shrinky dink. Having never played with it as a child, I have always been curious about shrinking plastic. It is ubiquitous on etsy (1,287 results!), and I like the idea of things shrinking before my eyes (NOTE: I hated “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” REFLECTION: I must not enjoy all shrinking objects). So, for the past week I have been gathering supplies for my adventure.
Supplies:
1. PolyShrink. Thinking that I would not be able to find Shrinky Dink plastic in any store, I found PolyShrink on eBay. Today I discovered, however, that MICHAELS SELLS SHRINKY DINK PLASTIC. Harrumph.
2. Stamps. These are from Paper Source. This sad dinosaur was on clearance, so the purchase was partly fueled by pity (but the stamp is really rad). He just wants to party!!!
3. Hand Punch. I have always been meaning to buy a 1/8″ circle punch. Craft-wise, it is the most useful circle size. Until this purchase, I MAY (circle) or may not had been improvising my own 1/8″…by stabbing paper with a compass spear.
4. Embossing Heat Tool. Another life desire that I made happen this week. When I turn it on, I like to pretend that it is a large blow torch or a bazooka. To shrink plastic, you can also use ovens. I wanted to use an embossing tool instead because I think an oven would waste a lot more energy shrinking a small piece of plastic.
I had all the supplies to make plastic pendants and rings, WITH THE EXCEPTION of a permanent black ink pad. I am not sure why I forgot this crucial ingredient in the mix, but I became overcome with excitement when I saw EVERYTHING ELSE lumped together, so I forged ahead anyways. On my side was a permanent marker, and the patience to trace things.
Using this tutorial as a guide, I first made a ring. IMPORTANT THING TO NOTE ABOUT THE TUTORIAL: Different brands of shrink plastic will shrink at different percentages. The PolyShrink I have shrinks to 45% of its original size. This is important to note, as I overlooked this fact, even though it is on the package. My ring is too big. Fail, Tricia. I traced the bear heart stamp using my permanent marker, and it seemed to work well. The process is slightly laborious, however, I took multiple breaks to play my ukulele since I have a short attention span. Today I bought a black permanent ink pad, so my future is void of stamp tracing.
My third project (My second creation was a party dinosaur key chain, but I already gave that to my friend. He seemed to enjoy it.) was a necklace! The image might look familiar; it is the cat on the cover of Ratatat’s Classics album. Despite hating cats in the real world, I’ve always enjoyed the cat on the album. So I traced it.
The end of my New Year’s Eve fun! Have you ever played with shrinky dink plastic? Do you have any tips you could share?
1. Goldtone Banjolele Deluxe from Musician’s Friend, $450 (too shiny and would prefer the banjolele sold at the Old Town School of Folk Music’s store on Lincoln Ave. …thank you to the guy at the store who let me hold it…)
2. Yama Syphon Brewer from Clive Coffee, $50
3. Save the Manatee club membership, $25
4. Hohner Melodica from Musician’s Friend, $35
5. Wacom Bamboo Fun tablet from Amazon, $167
6. Blue Microphones Snowball from Amazon, $72.30 (so I can record songs about pies and bucolic fields…just kidding.)
7. Itazura Coin Bank (White Kitty) from Strapya World, $21.70 (watch this and you will be convinced)
8. Proximity Magazine subscription, $30 (even if you’re illiterate, you can still admire the STUNNING typography and layout)
9. Speedball Ultimate Screen Printing Kit from BLICK, $85
10. Keyboard stickers by Christopher Morno DeLorenzo, $15 (B for Bowie!)
And that’s the end of our wishlists.
Of course the Stickers and Donuts team’s greatest wish is to hear from you (we know you’re reading! Google Analytics does not lie!) SO! Now it’s your turn. What’s on your wishlist? Fulfilling the S&D wish not a good enough reason for you to comment? Well, here’s a bribe. The first 10 people who comment (excluding any S&D writers, however, they are encouraged to comment regardless) will receive a S&D surprise.
If you’ve been keeping up with my Unemployment Projects, you already know I’ve a penchant for drawing books (check that post out if you want some tips on book-drawing). In fact, I am so obsessed that I have been drawing notebooks full of books:
OKAY I KNOW IT’S WEIRD. BUT, they are coming in handy. I decided to scan all of my drawings into my computer, and make notecard sets, presumably to give away at the next holiday! Of course, you don’t have to draw BOOKS to make your notecard sets, you can draw anything!
SUPPLIES
I am sure you do not require step-by-step instructions, but here are some tips!
Here are some of my final card designs (more or less):
(Except I actually cut a border around these books so as not to have to print in all black!)
(You might noticed I got the above from a certain Catcher in the Rye Desktop Wallpaper!)
As a congrats to those of you who actually finished the post, the first three people to email me at maria[at]stickersanddonuts.com with their address, I will send one of my sample cards, with a little note inside! (There will probably also be stickers on the envelope.) (EDIT: Done & done! Everyone who emailed will get one. I’m a sucker!) Everybody loves snail mail!
This week’s craft is effortless: wall art! It’s an easy way to update a wall, and you can painlessly swap prints as often as you would like.
Supplies
Canvas! Craft stores usually sell inexpensive beginner/value pack canvases . The canvas used above is 16″x12″. For those of you who are more ambitious, you can build your own wooden frame with wood and nails. But I’m a sloth, and that route demands too much effort.
Fabric! Choosing the fabric will probably take longer than assembling the wall art. Below is a sample of fabrics that I’ve used. The left is an OLIVIA (!) print from eQuilter, which I picked for a friend who loves Olivia. The print on the right is Joel Dewberry’s “Sparrows.” If you don’t live near a good fabric store, eQuilter (Quilters. LOVE. FABRIC) and REPRODEPOT FABRICS have great selections.
Iron!
Stapler!
Steps
1. Cut fabric so that there is an inch of fabric around each side of the frame.
2. Iron fabric.
3. Turn canvas over, and staple the fabric to the frame. Make sure that the fabric is taut (and not crooked)! Yes, my staples are purple. Five years ago I had an essay to staple, and no staples. I went to the school store, and discovered that everyone else had ALSO ran out of staples. The lonely staples that remained? Purple. Since boxes of staples seem to last eons, purple staples will scar my documents FOREVER.
4. You’re done! Hang your new creation on the wall.
Remember when I got all excited about American Apparel’s Circle Scarf because you can wear it a million different ways? Well, I’ve always wanted our dear circle scarf, but I never wanted to spend the dough, and since our economy is down the tubes, maybe you don’t either!
As you have probably already deduced, you could make a circle scarf out of any long strip of fabric if you just sew one end to another. Still, I’ve come up with something even more impressive.
A pillowcase!
Cut off one end (or take out the seams), and voila, you are done.
You can spend the rest of your unemployed day creating new costumes (as you can see I’ve already become a head trauma patient and a terrorist). I actually really like the simple scarf configurations. The bestest part of this is the potential for insanely designed scarves (if you have, let’s say, a Mickey Mouse pillow case!).
Yes, that’s seriously the end of the how-to. And, no, I wasn’t feeling very modely (if you want to know the truth — MANGO SKINS CONTAIN POISON THAT HAS REDUCED MY FACE TO AN ITCHING MASS, go to wikipedia if you don’t believe me about that crazy fruit!) so these aren’t my most stunning pictures. Errrr.
Thrilling Tips: (1) If you do have a sewing machine, you can hem the end you cut (I don’t, and my scarf prevailed nonetheless). (2) Use a belt to keep a halter shirt or a skirt from falling down. It’ll work best if you put on the belt and then flap some fabric over the belt after it’s tightened. (3) Add decorative pins. (4) Speaking of pins, the side-halter and the one that goes tight around the neck were created using a strategically placed pin. (5) I used a chopstick to keep together that knot on the bathing suit style top. (6) My pillow was made of stretchy jersey fabric. This made it more flexible for cool configurations.
Finished? Here are my other Unemployment Projects.
I’ve written before about my inspiration binders and inspiration boards, and the resulting outfits such projects inspired. But now that you’re unemployed (see all unemployment projects here!) you have time to go crazy with your inspiration binders and achieve something else equally important — getting rid of all of those magazines I know you’ve been saving.
I had stacks of Print, Oprah, Real Simple, Nylon, Teen Vogue, Good, and ReadyMade (between Oprah & Teen Vogue, try to guess my age!) piling up in my shelves and taking over my life. I am a packrat, so I couldn’t just throw them away.
I made multiple binders with the following categories: Fashion (with tabs for: hair, makeup, professional clothes, socks, and awesome outfits); Recipes (real food, desserts); Crafty Inspiration (Cool Page Layouts, DIY, and Home).
Here are some excerpts from my fashion binder:
Here are some Tips & Tricks for your binder making:
Finally, a crafty reader named Ann sent me the funniest email and an awesome project. While you’re going through your magazines, cut out little squares of solid colors and use them to make or decorate something you need, like a CD rack. I’ll give you her instructions:
“After many rounds of somewhat lame cross-stitch projects, I needed something different to do, so I decided to attack my mysterious Vogue subscription (mysterious because I have no idea why they’re being sent to me because, obviously, I can’t afford anything advertised there) collection. I needed a storage solution for my cds and whatnots, but since I couldn’t find a cool box that i liked from target, I decided to grab my scissors, magazines, and glue and get to gettin.”
“First, I cut down my Quaker Oats jumbo box to about 5″ high. Then I started ripping out pages from my magazine, focusing on those pages that were mainly of one color, or of fun pattern (stripes, plaids, and flowers). Then I started cutting out 2.5″ squares from those sheets of paper. THEN I folded in the four corners, glued, flipped over, folded in the four corners again and glued, to make mini squares. THEN I sorted them into ROYGBIV order, then glued them onto the box. I cheated a bit on the long sides, but I like the finished product well enough.”
With both of these projects in hand, you should be busy for at least two days!
First off, Happy Mother’s Day!
Okay, I just had to do this quick post. I was surfing over at the TOMS Shoes web-site (remember the vegan wrap boots? and that when you buy a TOMS shoe they give one to a kid who needs shoes?), and they had this crazy special where the creator of TOMS shoes has his mom INDIVIDUALLY doodling over plain shoes for Mother’s Day (yes, at first I thought they were designed by children — but either way I think they’re awesome)! They were $68, and you couldn’t specify the design, but they are all SOLD OUT now (maybe she is tired of doodling!).
ANYWAYYYY, that got me inspired. All you need to do is get some White Canvas TOMS (also in men’s sizes), and you can doodle-em yourself! DIY TOMS! It’s over $20 cheaper and you can coordinate them with your own style. Then when you are out-and-about you can be like, yeah, I designed these myself.
Yasmine just put up the newest issue of Parasol Magazine. I liked #1 but with #2… I am really in love. Honestly. THERE ARE CUPCAKES ON THE COVER (see picture below).
Consider this. It is 5:30 am and I am writing a post on this even though I have a combination of a headache & insomnia & the magazine was issued less than two hours ago.
It’s up in both an online Issuu version and a downloadable pdf. Download the pdf, yo. Above are some of the highlights, a little taster-sample so you will think, my god!!!!!!!, I need one of these myself! You WILL need one — it will inspire you to be creative, eat cupcakes, wear vintage jewelry, cute shoes, and paint pictures with rainbows. Bestest of all, it’s so ridiculously free there is no reason not to get it!
