8241. Do Paper Embroidery

 I loved going to Make and Mingle at Kaukauna Library every month. It was a great way to get out of the house and try my hand at various crafty projects. Then my work hours changed it was more difficult to get there. I was able to make it work in May and I dragged Danielle with.

May's project was paper embroidery which is almost like regular embroidery but on paper instead. My aunt used to do counted cross stitch while my mom the just regular cross stitch. I found both tedious and never picked up the craft. 

To start the project, we had to decide if you wanted to make a card or a picture. I opted for a picture. I don't send cards. I just needed one piece of cardstock type paper. Otherwise I would have used 2 (the second to hide the stitching inside the card.

Then we had to punch the pattern on the paper using a needle. This was a bit of a pain because the needles weren't very sharp. We were all doing the same flower pattern. 

Once we were were done with punching the pattern, it was time to start stitching. It was simple line stitch for the most part. We started at point 1 and then went to point 2 and back to point 1 and repeated until the flower or leave was done. 

The hardest part was pulling the floss apart into 2 strands. I cut my strands too long so it would not up. Danielle found if one of us held one end while the other split the threads apart, it worked much better. 

My picture didn't turn out too bad except for the one of the petals of my flowers is going in the wrong direction. I guess that's what makes it mine.

Like cross stitch, paper embroidery is not my thing. Definitely too tedious. It was a fun project and if it wasn't so tedious, it is definitely a project I could master. Even Danielle agreed with me. Maybe one day I'll attempt Macramé. 

5038. Paint something at Catch Fire Creations in Menasha

Thanks to a post on Facebook, I discovered a new artsy place I had to visit. During the month of March you could painting 3D printed Easter Eggs for a dollar each. Unfortuntately I didn't there in March but Danielle shared an adopting a bee project for April. I was game and we met up at Catch Fire Creations to paint some bees.

Catch Fire Creations is in downtown Menasha between a liquor store and brewery. It is a paint your own object place except all the objects are 3D Printed. I'm saying object because they have animals, planters, and things like wine bottle holders. They are open Tuesday-Saturday 11-7 and 10-3 on Sundays. Prices vary based on the project. Our bees were $5 and that included a vial of wildflower seeds.

The process is pretty simple. You pick out what you want to paint from the store and pay for it. Then you gather your paint and brushes. They have a wide variety of colors.. like a whole wall. Some were even glitter glue to make your creation sparkle. They also had ribbons, fabric, pom poms, etc. to decorate with your creation with. 

Once we had our paints, we got to work. It was not as easy I thought it would be to paint a small plastic object. My lines were not perfect so the colors are not perfect. It is a total Amy project.

The bee was harder than the hive. I didn't realize the "feet" looking things were actually his wings. I initially painted them yellow. Oops. Eventually I figured it out and painted them black along with some stripes. My bee definitely looks like he got into a fight.

After we were done painting, either a color or the entire thing, they had these hand held fans to dry the paint quicker which was nice. They were also heavy duty dryers in the back in if you needed them.

We probably spent about 30-45 minutes painting our bees. The bigger the object or the more detailed you want to be, probably will take you longer. 

Catch Fire Creations is a perfect rainy day activity for kids or adults. They are definitely worth checking out. I may have to paint the axolotl next time. I can't wait to see what May's project will be. It sounds like they have a monthly project every month. 

Make an air plant holder

When Kaukauna Library was making air plant holders for their February Make and Mingle project, I was definitely intrigued. I really didn't know what an air plant was but it sounded like fun.

Basically they are these cute little plants that are like succulents that don't need to be planted in soil and can survive in the air. They get watered by soaking them about once a week.

To make the air plant holder we used paper straws. These plants aren't very big. You need 8 straws and some string.. and some ability to make sense of the directions.

First we cut the straws in 4 long and 8 small straw pieces.

Then we tied the string to make a knot in the middle of the two strings.

We added a short straw to each of the ends

Then we made a 3 triangles with the remaining small straw pieces and it looked like a pyramid when it was constructed.

Then we added the long straws to each side of the base of the pyramid.

                                                    

Then we tied everything together

And added a plant.

It was pretty easy for me but others struggled to put it together. It was really just geometry.

I had no interest to come this plant since I would probably kill it. I gave it to Erin as a housewarming gift. 

If you have a green thumb, air plants might be a fun plant to have. They can hang any where. I would buy a holder if I got one in the future. 

7714. Make a paper bead bracelet

 Scrolling through Pinterest, I saw that you can make beads out of paper. It looked interesting and easy enough that I saved several examples to my crafting board and promptly forgot about them... like usual. When Kaukauna Library offered a paper beads as one of their Make and Mingle Events, I was like sign me up.

Paper beads are fairly easy to make if you are not in a hurry. When you want to rush they do not turn out as good.

Materials

• Paper -- just any paper will work. We used old magazines. You want to make sure there is a lot of color and not a lot of words. Pick a color palette and stick with it.
• Scissors
• Glue -- we used regular Elmer's School Glue. You could also use a glue stick if that is more your thing.
• Toothpicks and something to stick your toothpicks in. We used form blocks. 
• Bracelet string or wire

Steps

1. Cut your paper into tapered strips about 1/2 to an ich wide. You want one end to make a point. There are various ways to cut if you are talented or want to be fancy but they all end with a tapered point. Mine were more triangle shaped.

2. Once you have at least 16-20 strips of paper, you can start making beads. To start place the fat end of your paper strip on a toothpick and begin to roll it around the toothpick.

3. As you roll apply glue so it the strip sticks to itself. You do not want to glue the strip to the toothpick otherwise you will never get the toothpick off.

4. Stick the toothpick in the form to let dry. It will dry quickly (10-15 minutes)

5. Repeat step 2-4 until you have enough beads to make a bracelet.

6. Once you have all your beads made, string them on your bracelet. We used a stretchy bracelet cord so we just tied square knots to finish it off. 

I was told thicker paper like scrapbook paper isn't as easy to use. Comics and magazines work great. Try to make your strips all the same width or your beads won't be the same width.

Like I said it was an easy craft and not really too time consuming. It is something you can do while watching TV. Even older kids can handle making them. The hardest part is starting the bead on the toothpick. 

Would I make them again? Maybe. I would need the right opportunity. I am not one to sit and do crafts so I would really need a reason to make them again.

7532. Create a paperweight

April is National Poetry Month. I am not a huge poetry fan. I do like Haikus but serious poetry not so much. When I saw that Kimberly Library was having a resin poetry paperweight making event, I hemmed and hawed about going. I kept seeing the event on Facebook and decided I might as well try makig a paperweight even though resin scares me.

The first part of the event was a local poet, Kirsten Hopfensperger, explaining how she got into writing poetry and reading several of her poems.

After that we worked on our poems. We were told to pick 3 words from a pile of words and try to make a phrase. Then we needed to add a 4th and 5th word. Exchange words and rearrange until something made sense. I really wanted something sports themed but couldn't make anything work. I ended up with "Forever to dream & believe".

Once we had our words and accessories, flowers and items to go in our paperweight, they would pour the resin into our mold for us. It is very interesting compound to work with if you are not careful. It can overheat very quickly if done incorrectly. This why the librarian and her mom handled the resin. I'm so I glad I wasn't going to be responsible for any chemical reactions at the library.

After the resin was poured in the mold, we had to blow on it to remove most of the air bubbles. Then we could places our words and accessories into the resin remembering everything is backwards. Since the words were double sided, you had to make sure you didn't accidentally place the word the way or your phrase backwards. Heavier objects sank to the bottom of the mold so they would be at the top of the paperweight. Lighter objections tended to start towards the top so they would be at the bottom. However if you added the glitter pieces and they stuck to the paper flowers, the flowers would then sink. 

We had to leave our paperweights at the library for 3 days to dry. I was very happy at the way mine turned out. 

Okay so resin this way was not as scary as I thought it would be. I would never do a resin project myself but if the library wanted to do it again, I would sign up. Even my poetry wasn't bad. 

7430. Create a paint pour pumpkin

 Kaukauna Library does a Make and Mingle once a month on Wednesday evenings. It is a chance to create something nice and make new friends. This month the craft was paint pour pumpkins. I made sure I was online at 9 am to reserve my spot. I was able to snag the first spot.

Paint pour pumpkins is essentially what is sounds like.. pouring paint over pumpkins. However, it is not quite that simple. Well it could be but to get a real marble look, there are a few steps involved.

Materials
- Paint Pouring Medium  -- this allows the paint colors to not mix with each other. 
-Acrylic Paint -- 2 to 3 colors. I choice Dark blue, light blue, and yellow.
-Pumpkin -- Pie pumpkins or mini pumpkins
-Disposable Cups
-Stir Sticks -- popsicle sticks work great

Steps
1. Pour some paint pouring medium in a cup. One cup for each color

2. Add an equal amount of paint into the cup

3. Mix the medium and paint together. Make sure it is mixed really well. If the paint mixture is too thick add a few drops of water to thin out. This will help with pouring.

4. Layer the colors into a 4th cup. You want as many layers as possible so just a little of each color before adding the next color. Save some color in each cup in case you need to file in the gaps.

5. Pour the paint over the pumpkin in several places. You can hold it by the stem and rotate to get to mix to let the colors fill in all the spots.

6. Using your stir sticks, fill in any gaps.

7. Let dry for several days.

It is messy. We propped our pumpkins up on cups to help cover the entire pumpkin. We also had them in aluminum pans to contain the mess. You will still get your hands covered in paint. 

I have seen that you can do it without the pour medium but you might not the marbled look we got. Also the paint will peel up when you try to remove it from the cups or tray once dry so be careful not to pull off all the paint. 

Next month, I'm trying my hand at glass etching. This should be interesting. Stay tuned.