The long-awaited (I know, I know!) #10-- Sharpie Mug

So, it's been a long time. I won't bore you with all the reasons that I let this go unattended, but I have done some crafties between then and now, I just haven't posted anything.
But!
I'm really excited about these:

Sharpie Mugs!
Basic Idea:
Get some paint-based markers and draw on mugs! Woo!

You'll need some mugs (I got mine at the dollar store!) and some paint pens.
I tried it first as you see it online, with just normal Sharpies, (like this) but it didn't stand up to a good washing, unfortunately. So I got some Sharpie oil-based paint markers (these are the ones I bought, but I got them at a craft store... I think. Might have been Fred Meyer, though.). They come in lots of colors, according to the internet, so you should be able to do whatever designs you can dream up! :)

My first mug was a Batman mug, for my boyfriend. I found a good picture of the logo online, which I then traced and cut out as a stencil. With a pencil, I traced the design onto the mug. Pencil worked out perfectly, because it rubbed right off the surface-- didn't even need an eraser!
Once I was happy with the design, I outlined it with the pen, and started coloring it in...

Pretty straightforward, huh? and so cool!

If you mess up with the paint, a Q-tip with nail polish remover, or even a cotton ball, if you want to wipe everything off, will do the trick. you might need two, though-- one smears it around, and the other will wipe up the leftover color.

I got a little more abstract and free-handed the mug I gave my roommate:

I stole (because it was so cute!) the idea for one I gave my little sister (the Harry Potter one in the middle) from this website, which is also where I got the baking instructions, though I did double check them against several other websites, just for good measure.

So once you're done drawing, put the mugs on a cookie sheet and pop it all in the oven, then turn it on at 350 for half an hour, letting the mugs preheat and cool down in the oven.
The Batman and Harry Potter mugs I baked at my parents' house, and the colors stayed pretty true, but the ones below I baked in the oven in my apartment, and the colors got a little deeper, which is fine, they look great, but something to maybe just be aware of.

This is round 2-- the mugs I'm keeping! :)  My language nerdiness got the best of me.

"La vie est faite de petits bonheurs" 

If you have any questions let me know!

Craft #9-- Thread & Chain Bracelet

Another Bracelet DIY!

Basic idea: thread, weave, or knot some pretty colored string onto a chain to make a bracelet.

You'll need a chain, some string, ribbon or embroidery floss (what I used), a clasp, and your trusty big ol' needle.

I got the idea for this one from pins like this and this, originally intending for it to look more like the latter, so it started out like the picture below, but I changed my mind- thinking it would look better if it were wider, so I took it apart and started over.

I got a piece of chain that was twice as wide as my wrist, and picked out the center link, to be the clasp. Next, I got a nice long piece of embroidery thread, and tied it in the middle, so it doubled up, to the center link of the chain.

Then I started knotting the thread.  I used a technique I learned when I was in elementary school, making clip-in hair wraps (I was super cool), and you also use it when you make friendship bracelets. I've heard it referred to as a 4 knot, since it looks like a number 4. (here're instructions in the friendship-bracelet form) It's essentially just knotting one strand around another.  Here, I used the needle to pull the embroidery floss through a link, creating the knot, first on one side, then the other, back and forth. (If you want to see bigger pictures, just click on them.)

 While you're going, it looks like this:

 I fit about five or six knots on each link, then I moved on to the next one until I got to the end, and I tied on a clasp (didn't have one the exact color as the chain, annoyingly.)  That's it!

 Et Voila! I love it!

 Questions, comments, let me know! :)

Craft #7 (the last!) Hex Nut Bracelet

It's been a while since my last post! I spent the last month dealing with end of school, finals, and spending time with my family. But now it's summer (though it's only 65 degrees outside here) and I will hopefully have time to be crafty!
I have been snoozing (an extension you can get if you use Google Chrome) this page, an Etsy store ad for a "Steampunk" Hex Nut Bracelet for a month or more. I don't remember now where I found it, but I decided I could totally make it myself, especially since I still had hex nuts leftover from my other bracelets! 

Basic idea: string the flat sides of the hex nuts together to make a bracelet!

I used embroidery floss and 40 hex nuts, assisted by my big ol' needle.  My first step was to arrange the hex nuts in the pattern, just so I had an idea of where I was going to be threading them together. I ended up not doing it that way--in three rows-- but it was useful to start out with.

I tied the end of the string (I cut about two arm lengths to start out with) around one of the hex nuts, and wrapped it twice around another one--flat ends together. Then I continued, lashing the hex nuts together, flat side-to-flat side, wrapped twice with the thread, adding as I went.
(If you need a bigger and better view of the pictures, click on them!)

 I decided at this point that I didn't want to continue as in the Etsy post, and instead make it a little smaller and more feminine. (Since, obviously, the pink wasn't girly enough.)
So I kept plodding along, adding in my little pattern. (Scroll back up to the top to look at it!) Where I only have it connected by one hex nut, in order to keep the bracelet from being too wobbly, I discovered that it was best to attach it on two sides, rather than just one. Make triangles! 
I needed to add more string as I went, so I just tied it on, trimmed the ends later, and threw some clear nail polish on the knots.
Last step was to add the clasp, which I debated about how to do for a while, but I ended up just stringing it on with the embroidery floss. My clasp was big enough that I could hook it on to the last hex nut, but it was a little hard to unhook. So I just threaded a loop of floss through.

And there we go! I'm pretty happy with it, and I might even go to the hardware store and pick up more hex nuts. Of the three bracelets that I've made, this one's my favorite!

Questions, comments-- let me know :)

Craft #4 Hex Nut Bracelet-- Wrapped

Here's Hex Nut Bracelet part 2!

I got the idea here (as always, if you click on the picture, it will lead you to the original post).  She used washers and made a necklace, but those washers are big-- statement-necklace sized, and I have all these smaller, bracelet-sized hex nuts. You use what you've got! and it works! (most of the time!)

Basic idea: wrap a bunch of hex nuts in embroidery floss/string, lace them together, and make it a bracelet.

I used hex nuts, obviously, embroidery floss from my parents' house (we used them for making hair wraps when I was little, so we had a lot), and a big ol' needle to make wrapping easier. 

 In the original post, she superglued the loose end to the washer. When I was doing it, I hadn't actually read all of her instructions, and I left a tail on mine. You can do it either way, but I was happy with mine because it gave me something more than just the little nut to hold on to, and it ended up being how I tied them together at the end.

I didn't need a whole lot of thread to wrap it, maybe about an arms length, which left enough of a tail for me to use them to make the ties later.  

Holding the loose end and the hex nut in one hand, I threaded the needle around, doing one full loop and then going back and covering all the gaps, which were usually around one of the points of the hexagon. By the time I was done, they looked much more like donuts than hexagons.

Once I had pretty much all the metal covered, I knotted off the ends, but left the excess on.
Repeat!

Before I connected my little donuts together, I laid them out so I knew in what pattern I would be tying them. In my first bracelet (the pinks) I used the thread of the previous hex nut to attach it to the following one. For the blue and purple bracelet, though, I worked from the outside in, blue to purple to blue to light blue, so that the middle purple was attached to both the light blues. If that confused you, look back at the picture at the top of the post, you should be able to see what I'm trying to describe!

 To link them, I threaded the needle onto the longest tail of the preceding hex nut, and looped it around the following one twice, then knotted it securely with the short tail. I looped it only once on my first bracelet, but I wanted it to be more secure on the second one.

 Once I had them all tied together, I cut off all the tails and used the long ones to make the ties on the bracelet.  If your ends are too short or you want specific colors for your ties, just cut more embroidery floss. I needed mine about seven inches or so. Now, there are options here. You can just knot them on to one of the hex nuts, you can use a jump ring, or you can do what I did.
First, I threaded four lengths onto a needle.

 Here's the tricky part. With the needle in the middle of the thread, I pulled it about halfway through the hex nut on the end. Then I flipped the needle back through the hex nut and carefully wiggled it back out with my finger in the loop, keeping it intact.

 After I had successfully maintained my loop, I pulled the loose ends through, finishing off with a knot at the end and a snip to make my ends even.

And there you go! another creative way to use hardware store leftovers.

Questions, comments, suggestions, clarification? anything? 

Leave me a comment and let me know!

Craft #2-- String Easter Eggs

Just in time for Easter, this was pretty easy and you get to get nice and gooey and sticky! Here's my inspriration , you just click on the picture and it takes you on to the instructions on Crafty Endeavor.  Also, after I had already made the eggs, I found instructions for baskets! I may still make one :)  

Basic idea:  dip string into a glue/stiffener, wrap it around a balloon, let it dry, and pop the balloon out from underneath the dried string. 

So! you need some sort of string- embroidery thread, for example, or crochet thread, which is what I used. For a stiffener I used a watered down white glue (the same glue I used in the previous post to adhere the tissue paper!), but you can use liquid starch also. I chose glue simply because I'll have opportunities to use the rest of the bottle, and because I don't have any need to starch my tee-shirts. And then, of course, you need balloons-- water balloons are about right!
 I used about three yards for each balloon, but I probably could've used more. It was recommended in the instructions to coil your string into the glue mixture to avoid knots. I did that for the first couple balloons, and it did keep my string pretty tangle-free, but I discovered it was faster and easier to coil the string around my fingers before dealing with the glue at all-- your fingers get pretty sticky which makes it a lot harder to deal with dry string.

Once I had my balloons blown up, all my string coiled, and my glue to a slightly watered down consistency, but not super watery, I dunked a coil into the glue, squeezed out the excess and started wrapping it around the balloon.  Unfortunately, due to gluey fingers, I don't have any pictures of that part. You just wrap it all around.

 I made them in the evening and left them to dry overnight, then popped the balloons after I got home from class in the afternoon.  There was a bunch of glue remains left in between the strings, and I scraped some of it out with an open pair of scissors.

Once I had all my eggs, (I ended up with six- one balloon deflated before it dried, and one just wasn't strong enough) I strung them up the long way and hung them in the little space between the windows in our living room.  Perfect little decoration! Some  of them kinda look like pears though. Oh well! I like them!