Craft Wars Update

Sorry that I haven't been here in forever. I'm still doing crafts, and you'll be seeing a lot more of them in the coming months. I took a hiatus in doing crafts due to money concerns, but upcoming events dictate that I shall make a return.

I have a few little crafts that I've done that I'll post here over the course of a couple days. Also, I want to take this time to mention a rather handy website called cutoutandkeep.net. It's a great place to showcase crafts as well, find how-tos, and everything. I have an account there under the name Patricia P. And Ariyana has an account there under the name Slinky. Find us and and friend us!

Until next time, happy crafting!!

Decoupage Masquerade Mask

These Masquerade masks were developed much the same way as the one Patricia made; however, instead of a painted surface, I used scrapbooking paper to create patterns over the features of the mask. Then, I used lace (on the full mask) to create Period accents and develop a bit of a Lolita feel. For the full instructions on how to do this visit my article Decoupage Project.

Another type of mask that's fun to make, is a paper mache mask using one of these cheap plastic masks as a re-usable base. I plan on working more on this project in the months to come. I'll be sure to post pictures of my finished paper mache mask(s). Here's an article on how to make paper mache Venetian masks. It's a fairly easy project. If anyone has any suggestions for the paper mache project, feel free to leave them in the comments.

Masquerade Mask

Another one of my "older" crafts. This was done for the Vampire Halloween Masquerade party I held in 2008. I used a lot of materials for this: wooden dowel, cut to wanted length; black acrylic paint, red acrylic paint, red glitter, colored jewels, 3 red feathers, hot glue, fake eye lashes, spray glue, hot glue, red ribbon, black ribbon, red fabric rose, black fabric rose, full cover mask.

First I painted the mask all over black, with the exception of the eyeshadow areas and lips. I think I had to do a couple of coats to get the color of black I wanted. I then painted the eyes and lips...again doing a few coats until I achieved the right color. After drying, I sprayed the mask with the spray glue and sprinkled the amount of red glitter I wanted on it. Again, after drying, I glued the jewels on to give the appearance of crying blood, using hot glue. I glue the three feathers on the forehead with hot glue to give the apearance of a saloon girl's headband. I put red glitter on the clump of hotglue used to hold the feathers on to disguise it some. I sprayed some of the spray glue into a paper plate, dipped the adhesive eyelashes in it, and applied them in the appropriate spot. I then evened out the red and black ribbon, reserving some of the red, on either side and hotglued them on to resemble the pigtailed hairstyle. I hotglued the red rose on top of one set, and the black on the other. I then painted the dowel black, hotglued the red ribbon on it in a spiral, and then hot glued it onto it.

Holiday 2008 Ornament

This is the ornament I did for Slinky last year. I did one for all my friends, using their favorite colors...or colors that fit them, in Slink's case. The materials I used were colored plastic beads, white sparkly pipe cleaners (they have a real name for the craft kind...I just can't remember it), red ribbon, hot glue.

The making of this ornament is simple. Take two pipe cleaners and twist one end together a little. Then, take two beads and put one on each one of the pipe cleaners. Twist the pipe cleaners together a litle bit above the beads, and repeat. You can do any pattern you want with the beads. As you can see, I chose to do two of like colors side by side and to alternate colors each turn.


Photo by Slinky.

Holiday Ornament 1: Slinky

Okay,this is one of the ornaments I did for Xmas...this one going to Slink. The materials I used were: red glass stain paint, glass etching glue in white, large clear glass ornament, orange ribbon w/ white flower designs, hot glue.

You can choose any ribbon,I just picked one that would match Slink best.

First, I made a bow out of the ribbon. What I did was cut eight equal lengths of ribbon--probably about four or five inches...maybe a tad longer. And two lengths that were half as long as my eight lengths. Then, I hot glued each of my lengths, separately, into circles. Then, I took each circle made from the longer lengths and glued them middle to middle. By this time, the longer lengths should have two loopy looking openings on either end. Then,I stacked them, middle to middle, gluing them together and turning them so that it filled out my bow. Then, I glued by two smaller circles to either side of my bow (by the way, you can do this with package ribbon...just leave off the smaller circle on the bottom and use double sticky tape instead of hot glue).

Next comes easily the hardest part...putting the ribbon inside. Put the hardened middle of the ribbon to the opening in the ornament. Then, gently and slowly, just shove it inside...which could take a few minutes. Once inside, shake the ornament until you have the ribbon flipped the way you want it.

Next, using either a stencil or free-hand, write whatever you want on the ornament. I wrote Slinky in freehand...which is why it's kind of sloppy. Wait for it to dry. Then, trace your design w/ the the glass etching liquid. Again, wait for it to dry. Then, you're done!





Photos courtsey of Slinky. Composite and edits made w/ GIMP.