Recycled Napkin Rings - Tutorial

This is an inexpensive way to recycle some objects you might have lying around the house. And it makes a lovely hostess gift, for next to nothing! Here's what you need:
Buttons
Furry Yarn
Toilet Paper Roll
Wire
Glue Gun

Take your toilet paper roll and cut it into 1.5-2 inch rings. It doesn't really matter if it's a little rough, because it will all be covered by yarn, but try to make them fairly straight and similar in size.

Take a decent sized bit of yarn and hold it in your hand. With the other hand, dab some hot glue on the inside, and stick the yarn to it. Begin wrapping the ring in yarn, occasionally adding some hot glue to the inside, to keep the yarn secure.

If your yarn doesn't make it all the way around, just finish it off on the inside, cut another piece of yarn, and start again. It will be completely unnoticeable when the ring is done.

Take three buttons of different sizes, and coordinating colours, and align them on top of each other. Take your wire, and thread it through the button holes. Add a dab of glue underneath the buttons. Wrap a strand of wire around the ring, to secure it further. Bring the extra wire up, and curl it in a decorative fashion.

Voila! I made 2 with buttons, and 2 just plain, and it turned out to be a really nice presentation.

Twilight Zone Wallhanging: A Crafty How-To

This is a Twilight-inspired wall hanging that I made to hang in our office for Halloween... to go with my Alice Cullen costume. It'll reside in my bedroom after Halloween's over. (This can also easily be adapted to suit any theme)

This is a pretty simple project, but it is quite time consuming. It's also inexpensive, with all of the items found either at the dollar store, or laying around my craft room.

Supplies:
1 Wooden Plaque (Found mine at Dollarama for $1.25)
Scrapbook & Tissue Paper (stick to red/black/grey/white tones for something Twilight related)
Gems, Glitter, Sequins, etc
Computer printout of Cullen Crest/Twilight font
Mod Podge
Sandpaper


Here's how you do it:

Start with a dollar store wall hanging. As soon as I saw this one that said Vampire Zone, I had to buy it... but then as I kept looking at it, it just seemed too boring, like a project waiting to happen.

Sand the wall hanging down, so that the glue can grip a bit better. It doesn't have to be perfect...

Also, it would probably be better to detach the wire at this point... but I was lazy and decided not to.

Begin layering your paper. I started with the tissue paper, then began layering scrapbook paper on top.
I'm not sure what the deal was with that grey/black diamond paper, but it really buckled a lot & the grey rubbed off as I glued.
It wasn't a big deal, just something to be aware of.

You'll notice that all my letters and embellishments are already cut out... this is important for placement purposes.

As you continue layering, you should have an idea in your mind of what you want the final hanging to look like. Occasionally, you should check the positioning of your letters/embellishments so that you can make adjustments.
(For instance, I realized in between the last step and this one that black would look better behind the "twilight" layer, so I started adding some black scrapbook paper)

Once you're happy with your paper decoupaging, glue your letters into place.

Then add embellishments like glitter, sequins & rhinestones (you can see those in the main/final image above)

And you're done! From boring dollar store sign to fab Twi-decor ;)

(Note: This project was also crossposted at cutoutandkeep.net)

Amy's Cottage (better late than never!)

Amy invited us (Errol and I) up to her cottage one weekend in August when he was back in town. Although it was a bit chilly (unseasonably... kind of like our entire summer here in Toronto), we still made the most of it and had a great time. There was lots of nature involved. The Muskoka area of Ontario is truly beautiful though, and even an indoors type of person like me enjoyed it (though they couldn't convince me to get in that canoe!!) Here's a few pics.

You can view all the pictures from our cottage trip right here.

Battle of the Blades

Amy & Katie - Battle of the Blades
Originally uploaded by superflash

Sorry I haven't been blogging much lately... I blame... THIS. :) Battle of the Blades is the new show I've been working on. It airs Sunday & Monday nights at 8pm on CBC, and it is freaking awesome.

I highly recommend tuning in!

And I apologize for my lack of updates - this will probably be a continuing trend through the month of November. Drop me a line via email/facebook/wherever to say hi :)

Culture of Greed Session - Last one!

The last location for the Culture of Greed shoot was actually the first one I thought of: train tracks. Tracks always feel so symbolic to me, and they can be interpreted in so many ways: movement/travelling/journeys... the past... desolation... crossroads... And, they just look cool.
Here's some of my favourites: