Paint Swatch Boxes

I saw this project involving paint swatch boxes and immediately wanted to try it. The materials I used were paint swatches, an x-acto knife, a pencil, ruler, and glue. The process involved first marking measurements with a ruler. Then I used my x-acto to cut the sides, I folded them and hot glued them in place. They didn't look great at first but I went back in with a liquid glue and cleaned up the sides a bit.

In the end they look very cute but are not the most sturdy containers. It was a nice project but I can create stronger boxes with different material that are easier to work with.

Whiskey The Pooh

This project is called 'What's actually in that jar, Pooh?' I used a whiskey bottle and some paint to create this bottle design. I think it's pretty funny but I'm not yet sure what I want to do with it now. 

Mini Watercolors

In Italy this past summer we found a tiny little studio with a tiny little lady who painted tiny little watercolors. I love miniatures so of course I had to try my hand at these small scale watercolors. In the end I created 9 mini watercolor book covers with pages inside to match. I made a box to hold the whole collection together. Here are the results:

 

Some work from the artist that inspired me:

Hot Air Balloon Mobile

I love papermatrix's woven paper hot air balloon mobile. 

Materials: colored paper, bamboo skewers, embroidery thread, glue, scissors. 

Process: print out design on the paper matrix website, cut out the design, weave the paper, glue, use paperclips to hold in place until dry [for mobile: cut bamboo skewers, tie strings of different lengths, glue in place, use a needle to thread into balloons]

I plan on giving this to my new baby cousin for her nursery.

Paper Egg

Project: Paper Egg. 

Materials: tons and tons of sheets of turquoise paper, scissors, hot glue

Process: folding tiny individual sheets of paper as little spikes or scales, gluing them layer by layer

Bottom View:

This was incredibly time consuming. Very cool to look at but it took me a couple weeks of on and off work to perfect it.

Rolled Magazine Jewelry

Project: Rolled Magazine Abstract Jewelry Design

Materials: magazine strips, bamboo skewer, embroidery floss, glue, hot glue

Process: cut strips of magazine, roll them on a bamboo skewer, glue rolled magazine circles up against each other in an abstract design 

The abstract jewelry is neat to look at it but a little bit weird to actually wear.

Painted Pumpkin Decorations

I've been seeing decorated pumpkin DIYs everywhere. A friend happened to pick up some little pumpkins for me and so opportunity struck! I went for a black and white theme. The idea is that when put together you can create a little pumpkin black tie suit. One pumpkin resembles pinstripe pants. Another pumpkin resembles a button down shirt. And the smallest pumpkin has a nice little 'stache to tie it all together. 

I thought it turned out quite nicely. Very seasonal and festive.

Embroidered Pencil Case

I have a habit of personalizing my stuff, as is obvious from some of the other projects on this blog. So when I got accepted into the Advanced Placement art course at my school I got a bit excited and decided to decorate my pencil case with all my charcoal and erasers and writing instruments. The materials: embroidery floss, needle, and a basic fabric pencil case. The process: honestly I didn't have very much of a process, I just guessed and tried to stitch in a design. 

I'm really looking forward to this school year.

Italy Memorabilia Display

This was a photo display of memorabilia collected in Italy this summer. I had an amazing time there. I went to a bookstore I had always wanted to visit. I enjoyed amazing food (I have never tasted ravioli so delicious). And walking the streets of Florence was unbelievable. Of course I needed to bring back souvenirs. Captured here are a pair of shoes, paper I bought in one of the hand bound book stores, gallery pamphlets and tickets, restaurant business cards, little watercolor paintings I got from a cute little artist's private studio, and maps of Rome and Florence.

It was a wonderful first trip to Europe. And despite some near death experiences with tiny Italian cars, I would love to go back. 

Pixel Heart Necklace

I found the Pixel Heart Necklace design here. The materials I used were 12 pixel heart cuts on cardstock, scissors, and glue. I don't own a die cut machine so I cut out the hearts individually with an x-acto knife. Then I glued the 12 layers together. I used black embroidery thread for a necklace chain.

It was a fun, quick project and pretty cute to look at

Sneaker Paint Job

Every year I like to give my sneakers a new paint job. It personalizes them for me and since I wear sneakers so much it makes every outfit feel like I can subtly show off my artistic interests. Some of the references I painted include: Adventure Time (tv show), Daria (tv show), Minecraft (video game), Fitz and the Tantrums (music group), The Fault in Our Stars (book), Totoro (movie), and did you catch the Craft Insomniac logo?

and if you click your heels together three times you wind up in the Aperture Science labs ;)