Month: December 2014

  • Turning Toys into Ornaments

    For my latest AP craft story, I wrote about several methods of turning small toys into Christmas tree ornaments. You can read the story HERE (as usual, if the link expires, just Google my name and a keyword or two, in this case, toys and ornaments).

    For the Harry Potter ornaments, I followed a great tutorial at the Craftberry Bush blog. The others were made using a new product called Sugru, that feels like Play Doh but cures overnight into flexible rubber.

     

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    (Full disclosure: I approached my son about using one of his Lego Star Wars clone troopers for this  project and he flatly refused. Apparently each of the dozen or so minifigs he has is ESSENTIAL and would be immediately missed. Sigh.)

    I also experimented a bit with the Sugru to make a few bud vases out of some glass ornaments I had leftover from some other craft projects.

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    I just rolled bits of Sugru into balls and stuck it on the bottom of the ornaments. It was tricky to get the placement just right, and even after curing, the single-ball vases seem slightly unstable, at least when they’re empty. When they have water in them, they’re a bit more stable. It was also quite tricky to stick the three ornaments together (by then, I had mixed a bunch of Sugru together, and such a tiny bit comes in each package, that all I had was this rather unattractive brown. If I was doing this again, I’d use white, or maybe green, that would blend in with flower stems).

     

     

     

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  • Winner!

    Thank to everyone who entered my giveaway, and for all the great food and drink suggestions! The winner is Steph, who said: “I can’t wait to play these with my son. Thanks for the chance to win them. I like hot apple cider and kringla cookies.”

     

     

  • Giveaway

    Welcome to my giveaway! For first-time visitors, I am a reporter for The Associated Press by day, crafter by night. This blog has been a bit neglected in recent months, but I hope to get some momentum back in the new year!

    I’m giving away a set of Japanese-style beanbags called Otedama that I made using a tutorial found HERE at The Things That Make Us Happy and Wise blog. Instructions on how to play the game can be found HERE, but it appears to be similar to playing jacks: You throw one beanbag in the air and pick up another before catching the thrown bag in the same hand and so on. My 10-year-old son gave this set a test run this morning and found it fun but more challenging than we expected!

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    They were rather tricky to sew because they are so small!

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    I will leave this open until Friday at 9 p.m. EST and will announce the winner on Saturday. I will ship internationally.

    Just leave me a comment, any comment will do. If you’re feeling chatty, tell me something yummy you like to eat or drink for the holidays.

    And please check out all the other great giveaways here: