Pumpkin Festival!

It's over. Finally over. Thank goodness for that.
Well, this years was kind of a flop for me. All the work I did cranking out bottles, coasters, and paintings... was for little to nothing. I sold 3 bottles, one to my aunt, and a few sets of coasters. No painting sold at all. I could hear people when they walked by say "well, I could just do that at home". I wanted to walk over there and say "Fine. The go frikken do it!"
I charged 3 bucks for a bottle. That's not a lot at all. So, I'm not sure i'll do it again next year. It was so much stress and work for so little profit. I do enjoy making things, but now I'm stuck with a bunch of stuff I would rather not have. Like bottles that say "Faith" and "love".
I am not exactly heartbroken that certain paintings didn't sell... They can go on my wall now.
Well, here are a few pictures of the booth I shared with my friend and fellow crafter. Our setup was much better than last year, so I'm pretty happy bout that. Our booth and Facebook page is called O.ophoria. Look us up! Plus, all my leftover stuff is listed on there for sale.

The crocheted hats and mason jars were made by Stephanie, the carved flowers and boot Birdhouses by my uncle, and the table with the coasters on the blue tablecloth was made by another friend, and Stephanie's sister, Sabrina.

Thanks for tuning in!

Quick Craft - Glitter Bottles

Hello fellow crafters! I finally have a smidge of time to post another blog. Woop Woop! Its not going to be a big one, but its glittery, so its awesome. Btw, update on the Pumpkin Festival; I've got everything I wanna sell made. YAY! But now I need to make a few things to display them on, booo. Oh well, more crafting!

Here is another quick craft, super easy, and very glittery!

Supplies needed:

• Pledge Floor wax with Future Shine
• Clear Glass Bottles
• Glitter (Fine)
• Funnel
• Paper plates

Tips:

1. Make sure your bottles are clean and dry.
2. When using glitter, use the fine (tiny particles) glitter

Step One:

Stick the funnel into the bottle and slowly pour the pledge into the bottle. Try to not let it foam, the foam prevents the glitter from sticking. Only fill the bottle about 1/8 full, then twirl the bottle around, don't shake, and coat all of the inside of the bottle. Then pour the remains back into the pledge bottle.

Step Two:

Pick your glitter color, and pour a good amount into the bottle. Don't use the funnel, it'll only stick to the sides. Put your palm over the opening of the bottle and shake it all around. This should allow the glitter to coat all of the bottle, if not just pour more glitter in. The pour the leftover glitter onto the paper plate.

Let it sit for about an hour, then Viola! You have a pretty glittered bottle!

See, easy peasy.

Here are some examples:

If you have any questions about this just leave me a comment, and I will get back with you pretty fast!

Bye bye!

Quick tip on organizing & safety.

Here is a good tip kiddies: after you use a x-acto blade set, always make sure you put it up. Otherwise you may leave it on your sofa... And then sit on the open box... And rip a pair of pants... Also while getting a slit scrape on your tookus. Just thought you guys should know this. Happy crafting, and have an excellent weekend.

Glittery Glassware

HEY GUYS! Sorry I haven't posted anything for a long while. I have been swamped with getting things ready for the Pumpkin Festival. So much crafting! I made 15 sets of coasters Saturday and Sunday  each set has for tiles. I worked on bottles all last week; and these past few days I've worked on bottle cap magnets and necklaces. Its insane.

So for this blog, i'm gonna keep it short, sweet, and glittery! Time to bust out the glitter and podge!

Supplies Needed:

• Glass item - Such as a candle plate, wine flute, martini glass.
• Modge Podge
• Various glitter colors
• Paintbrush
• Painters tape
• Paper plates.

Step One:
Once you have picked the glass item you want to add some glitter too, tape off the area that shall be glittered.

Step Two:
Add podge to the area that is in the taped off section. A decent layer of it to, nice and thick.

Step Three:
Pour on the glitter! Hold the glass over the paper plate and sprinkle the glitter onto the podged area. Its ok if it gets onto a non podged area cause it'll just come right off. You cannot put to much glitter on it. Once you have a nice thick coat all over the podged area you shouldn't be able to see any white of the podge. Shake and tap the item to get the loose glitter off. Its ok, don't panic about it. Glitter goes pretty far. Take the tape off before it dries; the tape might pull up all your work once it hardens.
Let it dry completely.

Step Four:
Once the podge on the jar is dry pat another decent layer of podge over the glittered area. This will just seal it in. Once that layer has dried spray it with an acrylic-water proof sealer. Then viola!, you have a perty glittered glass!

Here are some examples:

This blog is going to be fairly sparse until the after the Pumpkin Festival, which is the 20th of this month. So maybe i'll post another thing before then, maybe not. We shall see; stay tuned for more awesomeness!

Bye everybody!

Want Wednesday. Short and Sweet.

Today is Wednesday! That means I will show you something you want/need for crafting.
I've gone a bit emo on this post, how you say? I chose X-Acto blades. A whole set o f them. They come in handy for everything! Painting, gluing, cutting obviously, scraping, and a ton more.

These use to be my dad's. I kinda took them and use them more than he, so they are mine now.

This set is for sale at Walmart for just 20 bucks. Not that bad when you realize the convenience it affords you. These things are super duper sharp though. Be careful when using them. Always have a stack of band-aids next to you.

I think I may have built up a tolerance to pokes in the fingers though, cause I've done that a lot and just don't seem to bleed any. Even though you can see where i was poked and pull the skin apart. Gross.

I use these in painting how? I have been taping paintings a lot lately and these blades not only cut the tape with precision they remove it as well. For those I use the pointy edged blades.

The flat edged blades I've used most with scraping labels off bottles, or dried hot glue off of a crafting fail.

In general, all of these blades are fantastic. Just if you plan on being emo, don't use them. Go eat some cake and be happy. Cake is awesome.

See. The cake is not a lie!

Computer crash! iPad to the rescue!

Hello all! So my computer is currently rebooting and going through issues. I tried to download the new Warcraft expansion patch and it decided to flip out. So I apologize, I'm not able to post about another bottle how to since all the pictures are on my computer.

No worries though! I did happen to paint this weekend and I took pictures on this thing. So, I think I will go with the splatter paint chevron. It was easy, fun, and messy. Here we go!

Supplies needed:

• Canvas
• Paint (lots of colors)
• Paper plate/something to mix paint and water on
• Cup-o-water
• Drop cloth
• Painters tape
• Paint Brushes

Prepping the work area:
Cordon off the area with the drop cloth. Believe me, you need to do this. Cover everything! Especially your tv...

Step 1:
Get your canvas out, get your tape, and tape off chevron stripes. I didn't measure or worry about them being perfect, I think it gives it character.

Step 2:
Pick out your paint colors, put a dab of it on your plate and mix it with water. Only a smidge of water though, enough to make it fling off your paintbrush really easy and not be gloopy. Start flinging colors at the canvas. Occasionally dab the paintbrush on the canvas for effect. Once you have the colors you want to the desired effect, you are onto step 3!

Step 3:
Rip all the tape!! But be careful, dont actually rip it. Carefully peel all the tape off. You don't have to wait for it to dry, just make sure your paint isn't dripping when doing this.

Tadaa! You have a pretty new painted canvas. See, super easy! I promise to edit this tomorrow on network computer and make it suitable! Also, I will totally fix my computer and continue with the bottle up-cycling!

Please comment if you have
Any questions, complaints... Actually don't post complaints. I'll just delete them. Craft hard guys! Adios!

Productive Saturday!

Hello all! This isn't going to be a how to post. Just wanted to show y'all what I've accomplished today and what are going to be some of my future how to thingys. I have painted all day, and am thus covered in paint.

I would like to give a bit of advice to you future and present painters... by a drop cloth. It's worth whatever price you pay for it. But you also have to remember to cover your tv if you are splatter painting near it... Just saying.

Also my crafty pants have taken on a new color and it's fantastic! So here you are people, enjoy some funky paintings!

Upcycled Beer Bottles! Part 1.

Hello friends. I apologize beforehand for any typos that may commence... there is a cricket in my computer room. Crickets are evil spawn, and tend to try and jump on me. Which will result in me running away and screaming and this blog post not getting finished. I shall persevere!

Ok, tonight kiddies, I shall show you how to Upcycle some beer bottles! This is going to be a multi blog thing. I have done quite a few different things with beer bottles and soda bottles, I wanna show you guys the potential awesomeness you may have sitting in your fridge!

I sort of have an unlimited supply of beer bottles. The guys I work with always drink after work, and they have started saving them for me. They told me I could probly have about 80 bottles every week. I declined and said i'd take about a dozen every two weeks. SO many bottles...

I shall start with painted bottles. I have some college sport themed bottle all finished and ready to be sold. Since I'm an Okie I chose out two major colleges, Oklahoma State University (Go Pokes), and Oklahoma University. Lets get this tailgate party started yo!

Supplies needed:

• Beer Bottles
• Spray Paint (your choice of colors, I chose Orange and Maroon)
• Puff Paint (various colors)
• Xacto blades

Step One:
If your bottles have labels on them soak them in hot water for about and hour if you want to keep the labels intact. If you don't care about your labels then an xacto knife will work wonders. Take the blade and just scrape all that paper and goo right off. Beer bottle labels arent very sticky, so they come off super easy.
I find that the blade pictured below is the best. Its a flat edge blade and just does the job great.

P.S. You will have a messy clean up, so you might want to get a box or bag and do this over.

The destroyed labels!

Step 2:

Now take your naked bottles and go outside. Ha! Yea, you gotta actually go outside for this project.

Take your spray paint with you, and a little box or paper plate to sit these things on.

Once outside, take a look around. Enjoy the scenery. Fresh air... cause one you start spray painting it'll get smelly.Take your bottle and spray away.

You can either stick a finger in it, sit it on block or box, or get a stick and stick in it. I used a cinder block. I used two types of spray paint, one had primer the other did not. I love the primer based paints. 

The orange spray paint took many coats, I ended up doing about 3-4. So I suggest either getting a spray with a primer, or using a primer. 

Let these bottles dry till they aren't tacky. I shouldn't take very long, 30-45 mins.

>>Inside Step: Step 2.5

I also did a few "house divided" bottles. Which required me to paint them two colors. I got some painters tape out and halfed the bottle.  

After you spray the first color take the tape off immediately. I've figured out that if you leave it on there to dry with it, it will take paint with it. So, wait for the spray paint to dry, half it again with tape, and spray away. It was easier than I actually thought it was gonna be.

Here are the bottles all pretties up and painted.

Step 3:

Now onto the puff paint! I used white puff paint for the maroon, and black for the orange. On the orange bottles I wrote out "OSU" & "OSU Cowboys". On the maroon bottles I wrote "OU" & "OU Sooners". With the half/half bottles I drew a line down the center since it wasn't exactly clean, and wrote "House Divided" on side, and OU/OSU on the other. This really is a simple process. I debated on putting some polky dots on them but decided to not over work them.

Viola!

And there ya have it, college sport beer bottles! Seriously simple for a lazy crafter. :D

Other various yarn up-cycle project involve floor wax, yarn, glitter, hot glue, crayons, candles, and fire. Not in that order though! So be on the look out for some pretty awesome recycling ideas!

If you have any requests or neat things to do with bottles let me know! Comment away. I love feedback... the good kind anyways. :D 

See ya guys! I'm off to gorge on Lord of the Rings Blu-ray goodness.

Want Wednesday... It's my birthday!!

So, my blog is lacking today. It's my birthday, and I was actually busy with work today, so I didn't get a chance to post anything.

Tonight, on "want Wednesday", I will show you two things I wanted, an got for my birthday! I'm doing this on my phone, so I can't post pictures the way I normally do, so my bad.

First off, Lord of the Rings Trilogy, extended edition, Bluray. Got it! It has 15 discs, over 26 hours of bonus footage and documentaries, plus the added 3 hours per movie. It's kind of awesome.

Second is a massive jar of buttons! A gallon glass jar filled with various colors and sizes of buttons. It's fantastic. So many sizes, there are some that are bigger than a silver dollar. I like big buttons and I an I cannot lie... Yea, I went there.

Thirdly, my mom brought me cookies and a Dr.Pepper. Win.

Fourthly... Vanilla chai cupcakes. Epic win.

Without further adue, here are a few pictures.

Thank you for tuning in on "want Wednesday". See ya!

Manic Monday... have some bottle caps!

Today, my friends, is Monday. That means people all over are groaning in displeasure. I usually don't mind Mondays, my stressful days at the office are Fridays, weird I know. I procrastinate a lot though. So I was trying to think of something to show you guys how to do, and I though "Bottle Caps!" I will show you how to make necklaces & magnets. Its super easy, and you can make like, 70 in one batch. Crazy stuff! So on with the show yo! Plus, I had a few bottle caps to practice with.

Supplies needed:

• Scrapbook paper/Newspaper/Dictionary
• Bottle caps (washed ones)
• Modge Podge
• 1 inch round hole punch
• Modge Podge Resin
• Paint brush

For Necklaces:

• Ice pick / pointy metal object
• Small hammer
• Needle Nose pliers
• Metal rings / jump ring
• Chain / twine

For Magnets:

• Crazy glue
• Round Magnets

Step 1:
First off you need to print out some design and such, I used a dictionary for one set of bottle cap fillings. Get out the one inch hole punch and punch out some words or pictures you'd like to have inside a cap.

Step 2:

Get your bottle caps out and fill the bottom with podge, make sure to coat the outer side with your paintbrush, use a good glob of it if necessary. Put the cut out circle into the cap and press down on it, and press the sides into the cap until some podge comes over the edge. Then set it aside and repeat the process with as many caps as you have. Or if you just want to do one cap, watch some Tv.

See how some of the podge is over the words?
That's ok, it dries clear.

 Step 3:
Once the lower layer of podge dries, apply a thin layer of it over the top with your paintbrush. The thin layer should dry really fast. Once that layer has dried apply another layer, and make sure to seal the edges. I will show you what happens when you don't. But for now, apply a few layers and let dry.

I don't have a picture of them after I put the added layers on.
So here is "Starry Night" + the Tardis.

Step 4:
Once all the podge has dried, whip out your resin. Fill each cap to the tippy top, and make sure you are doing this on a flat surface. A flat surface that doesnt need to be moved for about 24 hours. Once the caps are full of the resin, they must sit for 24 hours to solidify. If there are any bubbles in the resin get a needle and pop them, or use the tip of the resin bottle to suck them back up.

They have a milky fog to them, this is fine, this to will clear up when dry.

Step 5 (For necklaces):
Once these puppies are dry take your ice pick and stick it where you want the top to be (resin side up). Get your hammer and tap it till it goes all the way through. You might want to do this on a stack of magazines or a block of wood. I learned the hard way, and have a hole in my crafting table. Once the pick is all the way through, you should have some protruding metal edges on the opposite side. Us the hammer to flatten them, be gentle. Take the metal ring and open it, slide it through the hole you made, and close it up. Follow by putting it on a chain or a piece of twine!

Step 5 (for magnets):
This is super easy. Sooo simple. Take some glue, slap it on the magnet, and put it on the back of the bottle cap. Bam! Done. Well, let the glue dry first, then finished.


Here are some pictures of bottle caps that have yet to be made into anything.

Some of these ones I didn't get a good seal between the paper
and the bottom of the cap, the resin sunk in and created bubbles and cracks.

Happy crafting ya'll!!