Craftside

How to make a Hello Kitty Duck Tape Valentine Heart Shower Curtain

I have another in my "Duck Tape Shower Curtain Series". Have you ever read that sentence before? Not me, but I am so loving using a plain shower curtain and Duck tape to create fun holiday decoration, and this time it's even more special because I used Hello Kitty Duck Tape, so it's kind of a two-fer good thing!

And yes that is a Hello Kitty hair dryer (the latest in my Hello Kitty appliances thanks to my friend Maria!)

Okay, now on to the tutorial on how to make a giant heart. I used some packing paper to sketch out the heart. First I used a black BIC marker, and then when I was close to the shape I wanted, I cleaned up my lines with a second color BIC marker. (Fun fact about BIC markers: They don't smell!)

Lay the clear curtain on top of your template. Then, I simply cut strips of Duck Tape and stuck it down to the shower curtain using the sketch on the paper as my guide. I used smaller lengths of tape when I needed to make the curve tighter and longer lengths of Duck Tape for the long straight sections of the heart.

And since I am on the subject of baths, I thought I'd share a couple of recipes for bath soaks, one to soothe joints and muscles and one to relax.

Click on this page from The Home Apothecary to enlarge and read all the details for the recipes for a joint and muscle soak and one for a relaxing bath bag.

More about this Quarry recipe book:

The Home Apothecary: Cold Spring Apothecary's Cookbook of Hand-Crafted Remedies & Recipes for the Hair, Skin, Body, and Home

by Stacey Dugliss-Wesselman

An apothecary is a skilled craftsperson who compounds herbal mixtures that enhance health and beauty. Put aside the modern world of tricky marketing and harmful chemicals and create your own apothecary solutions. They’re fresh, safe, and effective—and many are made from the wholesome ingredients already in your kitchen and garden.

Inside you’ll find:

·         Skin Care 101: How to make cleansers, scrubs, creams and lotions, tonics, and toners for oily, dry, sensitive, or combination skin—along with acne treatments, natural sunscreen, lip balm, and more

·         Body care recipes for homemade body scrubs, massage oil, body powder, and toothpaste

·         Remedies for what ails you, including healing cough syrups, compresses, teas, and tinctures

·         Hair care recipes for dry, normal, or oily hair—add shine, clear up dandruff, and control thinning and volume

·         Recipes for the home, including Kitchen Sink Scrub, Drawer Refresher, and Fly Deterrent

·         Plus, get inspired at your farmers’ market and explore seasonal recipes for a Pumpkin Mask, Cucumber Toner, and more!

Stacey Dugliss-Wesselman launched Cold Spring Apothecary (http://www.coldspringapothecary.com), a line of health, beauty, and home products that adhere to sustainable practices for people and the planet.

Valentine Heart Pop-up Template by Helen Hiebert, Author of Playing with Pop-ups

Last week, I posted a whole week of Valentine's Day projects and it looks like I have a few more to share. Pop on over to author of the soon to be released book Playing with Pop-ups: The Art of Dimensional, Moving Paper Designs, Helen Hiebert's blog for the free download of this pop-up heart card.

If you are a fan of the pop-up you can pre-order Helen's new book available in May:

Playing with Pop-ups: The Art of Dimensional, Moving Paper Designs

by Helen Hiebert

 

...and more tasty and crafty goodness:

Boday Mind Beauty Health

A Walking Mediation to help you reach your goals

Quarry SPOON

Recipe for Nutella Pana Cotta

Whole Home News

How to install a tile backsplash

Rock Paper Ink

Painting with out a brush video

Motorbooks

Steve McQueen's 1958 Porche Speedster Super

Walter Foster

Painting Valentine Hearts from the book Brave Intuitive Painting

 

 

Strawberries Make Great Hearts and a Recipe for Strawberry Sorbet

To wrap up this week of Valentine love, I want to share with you this great idea for using strawberries as hearts and a recipe for strawberry sorbet from the book Everything Goes with Ice Cream. Wouldn't little strawberry hearts make great embellishments for cupcakes, pastries or even a garnish for a cocktail?

Click on this page from Everything Goes with Ice Cream to read the recipe for strawberry sorbet.

If you love pretty books fill with recipes and crafts I bet you will love the Where Women Create series book from Quarry:

Everything Goes with Ice Cream: 111 Decadent Treats from Raspberry Sorbet to Cream Cookie Pie Plus Fabulous Handmade Party Ideas

by Koralee Teichroeb

Everything goes with ice cream - yet we understand that the perfect dessert for all of us is not always a big bowl of ice cream. Not everyone loves ice cream, as hard as it is to believe! Which is why Everything Goes with Ice Cream is the book for all of us. It does, of course, have the easy-to-make homemade ice cream, but it also has 176 pages filled with other ideas for making a summertime snack covered in made-from-scratch sea blue candy sprinkles; s'mores and hot chocolate for winter; or an ooey gooey dessert whose magic ingredient is, of course, chunky chocolate fresh raspberry ice cream. Simple projects fill the pages too, including tiny candles made in tea cups, miniature no-sew cake banners, party pom poms, heart-shaped button covers for a special party blouse, and so many more.

Everything Goes with Ice Cream is filled with cute ideas, a fun layout, and fabulous photography to make you as happy as you are on a summer day with your grammy's fresh peach ice cream pops covered in orange frosting sprinkles!

Koralee’s photographs, paired with her little bits of daily wisdom, can be found on her creative blog Bluebird Notes (http://www.bluebirdnotes.blogspot.com), where she shows us that it is the little things in life that really matter. Koralee lives in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada with her husband, three girls, and a son-in-law who all eagerly taste test her creations.

 

Valentine window drawings and Bic Window Markers and 20 Ways to Draw a Tree Giveaway

Along with today's Valentine project I also have double giveaway. This time featuring 2 packs of Bic Window Markers and a copy of 20 Ways to Draw a Tree and 44 Other Nifty Things from Nature: A Sketchbook for Artists, Designers, and Doodlers perfect to inspire sketching and doodling on all the "canvases" formerly known as windows in your house!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I had so much fun doodling with the red, pink and white Bic Window Markers on my window. Since Valentines Day is my current theme I tried my hand at some cute bees, an inch worm and a cloud from 20 Ways to Draw a Tree and a bleeding heart plant from 20 Ways to Draw a Tulip (which you can enter to win over at Craft Gossip Recycling).

More about the drawing and doodling Quarry book:

20 Ways to Draw a Tree and 44 Other Nifty Things from Nature: A Sketchbook for Artists, Designers, and Doodlers

by Eloise Renouf

This inspiring sketchbook is part of the new 20 Ways series from Quarry Books, designed to offer artists, designers, and doodlers a fun and sophisticated collection of illustration fun. Each spread features 20 inspiring illustrated examples of a single item, such as a tree, tulip, shell, owl, peacock feather, mushroom, cloud, or berry.–with blank space for you to draw your take on “20 Ways to Draw a Tree.”

This is not a step-by-step technique book--rather, the stylized flowers, trees, leaves, and clouds are simplified, modernized, and reduced to the most basic elements, showing you how simple abstract shapes and forms meld to create the building blocks of any item that you want to draw. Each of the 20 interpretations provides a different, interesting approach to drawing a single item, providing loads of inspiration for your own drawing. Presented in the author’s uniquely creative style, this engaging and motivational practice book provides a new take on the world of sketching, doodling, and designing.

Eloise has a keen interest in mid-century art and design that influences her design aesthetic. Imagery, textiles, children’s book illustrations, and home interiors from the 1950’s, 60’s, and 70’s contribute to her unique, appealing style. She currently lives in Nottingham, U.K. View her work online at http://www.etsy.com/shop/EloiseRenouf.

and

 20 Ways to Draw a Tulip and 44 Other Fabulous Flowers
A Sketchbook for Artists, Designers, and Doodlers

by Lisa Congdon

This inspiring sketchbook is part of the new 20 Ways series from Quarry Books, designed to offer artists, designers, and doodlers a fun and sophisticated collection of illustration fun. Each spread features 20 inspiring illustrated examples of 45 themes–tulips, roses, dahlias, and much, much more–over 900 drawings, with blank space for you to draw your take on  20 Ways to Draw a Tulip.

 

To learn more about Lisa in her own words, listen to this podcast of Lisa’s interview with Meighan O’Toole about her work & making art for a living. You can also read this interview with Lisa on The Great Discontent and view this short film about her artwork and life. http://lisacongdon.com/

 

 

How to make a pencil Valentine arrow mobile inspired by the book Just Us Girls

As promised, I have a fun and easy Valentine's Day craft project inspired by the available-for-pre-order new book Just Us Girls:48 Creative Art Projects for Mothers and Daughters to Do Together. I whipped up these fun arrows made with pencils and paper that I displayed as a mobile, but would make a great Valentine to pass out in class or to all your friends and co-workers.

I love the arrow as a Valentine motif, and inspired by this arrow project in Just Us Girls, I thought I'd give it a try.

I die cut hearts out of a variety of scrapbook paper, glued the hearts together so each side had a pretty print on it, and made it a bit sturdier.

To make the feather end of the arrow, I folded a piece of the scrapbook paper in half and glued it together.

Using the template I sketched out below, I cut the feather parts out.

WARNING!!! This is the part that you need to be super careful with. Cut slits in the end of the pencil and the eraser. Take especial care when doing this. Also make sure to make your slits in the same orientation, or your heart shape points and your feathers won't align.

To make the mobile, I simply tied the pencils to a piece of yarn and slid them to make them balance at the angles I liked.

Valentine arrow template.

More about the Quarry book written especially for mother and daughter crafting time:

Just Us Girls: 48 Creative Art Projects for Mothers and Daughters to Do Together

by Cindy Ann Ganaden

Explore and nurture your mother daughter bond and create a keepsake that you’ll cherish forever with Just Us Girls. This highly-illustrated craft and activity book includes 48 heartfelt, earth-friendly projects to make together, including: dolls, press books, wreaths, crowns, earrings, handmade fossils, dreamcatchers, wands, garland, and much, much more.  The projects mix and explore themes of beauty, magic, and appreciation for the natural world, while moving through the seasons of the year. Many projects incorporate upcycled materials, objects from nature, and simple home ingredients. 

 

Activities are broken up into sections by season: spring, summer, fall, and winter, providing you with a year’s worth of fun and memories. Each activity is designed to bring you closer to each other and to the world around you. This book also includes a tear-out materials page (in the back of the book) to jump start your creativity, and a pocket at the back to store drawings, photos, and keepsakes.

 

Part scrapbooking, part memory-making, Just Us Girls makes a great gift for moms, daughters, grandmothers, granddaughters and women of all ages.

 

In her past life, Cindy Ann spent over 13 years working as an art director and design manager. And just over a year ago she made the leap to full-time artist and illustrator. Cindy Ann’s been lucky to work with and learn from some amazing brands including Old Navy, Chronicle Books, Klutz, Time Inc., and Papyrus. Cindy Ann’s time working with these corporations has given her an appreciation for what goes into developing and manufacturing a product line and it has helped strengthen her sense of vision, foresight, and creative thinking.

 

Cindy Ann is known for coloring outside of the lines and on the walls! Originally from the East Coast, she now calls the Bay Area home. When Cindy Ann is taking a break from capturing her imagination within the pages of her sketchbook you can find her crafting and baking brownies with her daughter Ava Blu, husband, Jay and Boston Terrier, Penny.