Cosmo Cricket

An Artsy Angel Saves the Day

Sometimes you just need an angel to save the day! A special thanks to Donna Budzynski for creating this beautiful project with our Art Angel collection. If she hadn't I wouldn't have a thing to share with you, so thanks Donna!

Now for our winner. Congratulations go to  Gertie Pie who said, "I think the best reason is that this fabric is to die for! I don't need to share it with my friends surely? I especially love the cameras and the 4-pointed stars. Cosmo Cricket for President!" Gertie, send us your info and we'll send you some fabulous fabric.

PS: If Cosmo Cricket is elected president, we promise to make all fabric and scrapbook items fully tax deductible and purchasable with food stamps! 

Going Nuts Over Acorns

I've had this idea of wiring acorns together since I made my acorn headband. I imagined a great tutorial for you all where you would learn to make purse handles, bracelets and napkin rings with free acorns you could pick up off the ground.

Where then is the tutorial, you ask? Well, let me share a personal story to explain why it's missing.

Back in the days before Cosmo Cricket, I spent my time raising kids, taking walks and doing fun little projects... mostly inspired by Martha Stewart magazine. (Stay with me because I do have a point!) One such project was for batik napkins. I melted wax, I stamped it on linen, I died the linen. It was beautiful, just like in Martha's magazine photos. The only problem was that linen with wax in it is a bit stiff and does not absorb much! In fact, just the opposite. I had made waterproof napkins!!!

I reviewed the instructions. There was some fine print I had missed. It said that to remove "recalcitrant" (yes, I remember the exact word) wax you could use a specific cleaner and your iron to melt it out. I went and bought said cleaner. It did not make any difference.

Have I mentioned that I am persistent? I called the magazine. I asked to speak to the editor of the batik napkin column. I asked her advice on my problem. Now, what I say next is completely true and to me, unbelievable. She told me that for each photoshoot they litterally make hundreds of the craft, they pick the best ones and their only concern is how it looks in the photo. She said that their napkins were waxy too. I told her that waxy napkins just don't work. She told me that they don't actually expect people to do these projects. 

I however, hope you actually do our projects and this one, although the photo looks great, needs serious tweaking before you would be happy with it. The wire is too stiff to wrap easily around the acorns, but too weak to be secured to the purse as a handle. I need to use some metal D rings to attach the acorn segment, having them wrapped in thinner wire. Also, I need to adapt the gusset before I recommend that you follow my pattern.

But, until I get that done, feel free to use my photo and tips as inspiration.... or just make yourself the card, it's super easy!

And don't forget that we're giving away a huge S'more Love set. Leave a comment on this post to enter into our random drawing. We'll announce the winner tomorrow.
 

Thrifty Thursday: Coaster Instagram Album

Now that the kids are in school, Eric and I love to take a break and go out for lunch on occassion. It was last week, when we were at the Snack Diner on South Congress, that I realized my coaster would make a perfect DIY mini album for square Instagram Photos. I discretely put our soggy coasters in my purse as we were leaving. A couple of lunches later, I had enough coasters to make my mini!

A standard size for coasters, is 4". So I knew that this would be a small album. I want to get smaller rings (these were all I had) so that this can fit in my purse. It is so fun for me to look at and it reminds me of all the good things I have in my life! 



(I swear, I have to strap this kid down and hook him up to an IV to get him to hold still long enough for a photo! He's fine now which is great, and I did get some good pics out of the whole ordeal.)


I simply cut square backgrounds (the muted colors in Mr. Campy and Art Angel are perfect with the vintage effects of Instagram photos) and used some tiny type stickers. The whole book took less than an hour. (The chipboard letters on the front didn't match and so I painted over them, but with everything else going together so quickly, I didn't mind.) 

Now for a story.

Jack brought me this paper yesterday. He was sad because he didn't like how his faces were drawn. All my compliments on his artistic style did not appease him.

Having raised his older siblings, I was prepared with a great solution to this problem... or so I thought. I told him about a great artist named Picasso. I told him that Picasso was really good at drawing people, but that he decided drawing things the way they really look was boring (yes I know, I am improvising here) and as the artist, he could draw them any way he wanted. Then, we did a google search together so that he could see some Picasso portraits.

I pulled up one of my favorites for him and was telling him why I liked it, pointing out how it didn't look like a "real" face when Jack burst out, "He draws faces even better than me. I won't ever be able to draw as good as Picasso."

Note to self: Don't set the bar quite so high next time! 

Super Easy, DIY Wooden Button Bracelets

Before we begin in our button bracelets, I want to let you all know that the Moda Blog Hop is coming. And, as always with Moda blog hops, there is sure to be a lot of fun and really awesome prizes! So mark you calendars.

Now onto our button bracelets. Do you remember these wooden buttons that we just released?



Well, I saw a post on Pinterest for making button bracelets and got all inspired. Am I the only one that actually makes things from inspiration on Pinterest?

Let me give you a tip for making these super easy. Make a "needle" for pulling the twine through the button. You can do this with super-heavy-weight thread like I did. Or, if you're not too lazy to walk up the stairs to your bathroom, floss threaders meant for flossing with braces are perfect.... they are also wonderful needle and bead threaders by the way!

You can see below that I can even pull four lengths of the twine through the tiny button hole with this technique although I found it quite impossible to pull more than one length through without my "needle."

Most of my bracelets are simply two lengths of twine, each folded in half and each pulled through one of the button holes and then knotted with a lark's head knot (pull both ends through the loop).

But, I wanted to try one with the buttons strung together for a fancier bracelet. With the first button, I made one side just like all the other bracelets, but this time I added another button to the right, skipping the closest hole and threading from behind up through the next one.

Next your take your twine down through the hole you skipped. Then, on the backside, take the ends between the two strands of twine to make a little knot.

Continue these steps until you have as many buttons strung together as you like. Don't worry if they are flipping around to the wrong side as you're working. Once you are done, you will flip them all the right way and the tension created when the bracelet is tied to your arm will hold them there.

To finish off, on you last button, you will go through the first hole, bring your twine to the backside and knot off leaving an empty button hole on both sides of your bracelet.

Now you can finish your bracelet just like I did for the single button bracelets (with two lark's head knots).

Have fun with it! And wear them with pride knowing that you don't just look at crafty stuff.... no, you actually make it!!! 

DIY: Ombre Tissue Paper

If you haven't thrown out the tissue paper wrapping from your last gift, don't! You will need it. If you have, I'm sorry, because the above "creative girl problem" now applies to you.

Yesterday, I got the idea to bleach colored tissue paper. I had wanted to dye the edge of white tissue paper, but I didn't have any. So instead, I took my colored paper, folded it up (fan fold style) and then dipped the ends in bleach.

After it dried, I opened it up to reveal this.

 Isn't it so pretty?

The ideas startled swirling in my mind and I haven't even had more than a minute to get started on them. Except to make these Gluber flowers and ruffles. I can't wait to use them on girlfriend cards. I love the pink. I love the ombre look. I love it when an idea turns out to be great!!!

Happy crafting everyone. 

PS: If you are interested in how my kids' first day of school went.

Jack: Didn't make a new best friend, but will keep working at it. He doesn't like that the kids in his class are noisy and they think they are being funny. "Mom, it's not funny because I think it hurts the teacher's feelings."

Abby: Has made dozens of new friends already. One of them doesn't speak any English and they just "act out what they need to say."

Kate: Has one friend to eat lunch with, but she is Eastern Indian and Kate can't understand her name when she says it. Today's plan is to have her write her name and number down so Kate can call her.... and find out how to say her name. Also, Kate's Spanish class is full emersion and she can't understand even una palabra! 

Ethan: Worst first day ever. Ethan is dyslexic and transposed the numbers of the first classroom he was looking for (1236 to 2136). He wasn't even on the right floor and ended up being late to his first class.

His second class, he was looking for the right room, but when he found it he misread the numbers on the door and thought it was the wrong room. He was late to his second class.

He thought his third class was Properties of Exercise, but it was really Physical Education. His third class determined which lunch he was to attend. He went to the first lunch when he should have gone to the second lunch. He was an hour late to his third class.

To finish it all off, he missed the bus home because he couldn't remember the new bus number.

We are hoping for a better day today, but we are so glad that Ethan is the kind of kid that just rolls with it all!!!

Paint Can Gift Boxes

If you find that you have run out of tins for upcycling, you can get empty paint cans at your local home supply store for 3-4 dollars. They are super fun to make into gift containers.

I really love ideas that incorporate the lid of the paint can. Personally, I find the lids as useful as the cans themselves. This is the lid that I use as a paint pallet for small projects. It sits on my desk next to the tin that has all my brushes in it.

So, with this idea in mind, I took four sheets of Tiny Text stickers and using about half of each of the sheets, I covered a paint can.

The sentiments on these stickers are perfect, especially if you fill the tin with art supplies. I picked out some of my favorite colors of craft paint.

Now you have something to hold art supplies, and a small pallet that you can use for painting.  (PS: Acrylic paint simply peels off the tin when it dries.)

But, you don't just have to use paint cans for painting themes. Here's one I did for a friend that is just getting introduced to tea.


There are some really great flavors of tea out there and the Steeping Room in Austin has hundreds of them. I picked a bag of Beautiful Coconut Green Tea and a steeping spoon.  
 
Then, using Art Angel papers and embellishments, I decorated the tin and the lid. This lid works as a coaster. After I decorated it, I sprinkled UTEE over the top and melted it so that the paper and stickers are sealed. Now, every time she sips her tea, she'll have a sweet message and reminder of our friendship!

(Note to all crafters that like to rush things.... if you get UTEE too hot, it will bubble and turn yellowish. This is great if you want the antique look of yellowing, but if you don't then melt the UTEE slowly at a low heat!) 

A Mini Album Keepsake and New Adventures

Hi everyone!

Thanks for dropping by yesterday to see Lowri's post. Today we have an awesome project from our CHA booth. This one comes to us from Donna Budzynskij of Meme's Artplace.

Donna took a wooden box, added some feet and then painted and decorated it with Art Angel. When you open up this box, you find a hidden mini album inside.

I think this is so fun! It's almost like a time capsule. I have plans to make one for Abby with photos I have of her friends she left behind when we moved to Austin. 

And speaking of Austin, did you know there was flooding here last weekend? Well, when I say here, I literally mean in my house.

It was just before midnight, Ethan had stayed up late to watch a movie. Since the dishwasher was going, he turned the volume on the TV up a bit. He didn't hear the water running from the broken bathroom valve, down the hallway, through the kitchen and over the steps into the front room where he sat on a rug, on a pillow. When the water level was high enough to have soaked through the rug, the pillow, his jeans, his underpants and then meet skin, we heard, "DAD, DAD, DAD" being screamed at length.

It took about an hour to get all the water up. Fortunately for us, Ethan hadn't gone to sleep yet. Fortunately for us, our older house has uneven floors that sent water away from our computer equiptment and most of our furniture.

We called our insurance company and I'll tell you what, they don't mess with water in Texas! No, unlike Utah, Austin doesn't just dry out. It's much too humid and mold really loves it here. So, my floors have been ripped out. My baseboards are gone. I have 2" holes drilled in my sheet rock and our home now hosts 18 fans and 3 de-humidifiers.

But hey, we have great air circulation! And, we were going to re-do those floors eventually anyway.

Seriously though... my life... you can't make this stuff up!

3 Takes on DIY Coasters

We found our new-to-us dining table at Hog Wild Vintage in downtown Austin and fell in love! It has a great mid-century vibe that goes well with Eric's George Nelson lamp. What really got us though, was the funky desing of the chairs.

The current fabric on the chairs takes me right back to the seventies. In fact, I think my mom had bath towels in a very similar print and color. I have plans to recover the seats in bright solids, after the walls in our home are painted white.

We have name the table, "The Esmerelda" because it just seems like something Esmerelda from Bewitched would sit down to. Knowing that this has been kept in great shape for 40-50 years, we don't want to be the ones to ruin it. So, I have a new fascination with coasters because the temperature and the humidity in Austin make an iced-drink sweat even more than myself... and that's saying something! 

Last week I put Kate and Abby in charge of making some coasters. Four sheets of scrapbook paper kept them busy for an entire day. They cut S'more Love papers into 1/2" strips, folded those strips in half lengthwise and then glued them into a coil. After they had coaster sized disks, we put them on aluminum foil, topped them with UTEE and popped them in the toaster oven for about 10-15 minutes.

You could win some S'more Love today on the Papercrafts blog. Then you could make these and the stamped ones below!



Next, we took a 12" sheet of cork. (You can find them on sale at the moment for back to school students to use as bulletin boards.) We cut this into 4" squares, stamped them with our S'more Love owl stamp, painted the inside and then stamped over the top of the paint. 

These would so cute for a cabin or as neighbor gifts. Be sure to use a waterproof ink so that it won't blead.



For our last set, we wanted to try something completely different. We were thinking bright and shiny since we had found these simple bath tiles at Home Depot for 13¢ each.... I know, right!!!

We took a multi-pack of Glubers and pressed the different sizes onto the tiles. Then we sprinkled them with glitter to make super fun floating bubbles. I love the effervesent look! These would be perfect for wedding or party favors. Be sure to place some felt feet or backing onto the tiles so that they won't scratch your table! 




Wow, it's 9:30 already? I think I'll have to grab a coaster and an iced drink... I've been working so hard! Happy weekend everyone!!!

Thrifty Thursday Brought to You By Bottled Wine

How can wine possibly be thrifty you ask? At $10 for a cheap bottle, it's not exactly what I'd call a frugal expenditure. But, if you're drinking it anyway (for the health benefits, of course) you may as well do something fun with the corks.

There are a ton of ideas out there for wreaths, and hearts made out of lots of corks, but I wanted to try stamps.

I cut a heart, chevron, mustache and x/o stamp into four different corks.

Here's how I did it. 

First, stamp the end you'll be using to make sure all the surface touches well enough. If it doesn't, you can cut the end or sand it down a little. Then draw your icon onto the stamp.

Use the tip of a craft knife to go all the way around the line you've drawn. Press the knife down deeply all the way around the shape. 

After you have made your cuts around your shape, come in from the side with the knife flat. Cut in to remove the excess cork.

Clean up any edges and start stamping.

You can try different inks and even paint. Just have fun with it.

And, if you go letter boxing in Zilker Park... or anywhere else, what could be cooler than a wine cork stamp? 

DIY: Glittered Bottles with Vintage Labels

Who's excited for Art Angel to hit the stores?

When it does, you may need to pick up some of Sulyn's new vintage glitters to go with it.

I saw these jars all done up at the CHA trade show and had to get pictures of them to share with you. The Sulyn crew took their awesome glitters, coated the insides of jars and added in the whimsy of Art Angel to make the most beautiful things!

I was wondering how they got the inside of the bottles all glittery. Well, there is a trick. You need floor cleaner. Yep you heard me right, the stuff they make to clean linoleum. All you do is fill your glass object with floor cleaner, dump it out (back into the original bottle, let's not be wasteful) and then add enough glitter to shake around and coat the walls of your glass object.

Super awesome right?!?!?

If you think so, let us know and I'll pick a random winner from the comments to get the stickers, chipboard and Element tags from Art Angel so you can make some vintage and glittery labels to go with your beautiful glittered glass.