365 Days with Kiddos - #17 - Make Creativity Journals Using Recycled Paper & Books

If you have kids you probably have them... books that have wrecked bindings, ripped or missing pages, or maybe so much doodling on some pages that they are ready to be tossed. Instead of tossing them you can use them for many projects, including for making creativity journals. This is a simple project that along with other paper destined for recycle bin is a great way to save paper.

Creativity Journals
By Tiffany Teske

Materials
- Delapidated book
- Paper that needs to be recycled, like printer paper that is printed on one side, old notebook paper or filler paper, drawing or construction paper from mostly used books, your child's art work, etc
- A cover for your book, either a soft book cover or cardboard from packaging
- Scissors or paper cutter
- Office type comb binding punch machine for use with wire or plastic comb bindings
- Wire or plastic comb binding that fits your punch
*For a variation
- Three ring binder punch
- hinged key chain rings if using a three hole punch

Directions
1. Trim down paper to a size that fits in your binding machine. All of your pages do not need to be the same size as long as the largest size fits in your punch. Lay out your book whatever way you like with smaller pages contained inside large ones. Once you have your book the way you want it, use binder clips to hold the "spine" in place.
2. Put your book into your punch all at once or in sections.
3. Put your comb binding into the machine and make your book.

*Variation
Instead of using an comb binding machine you can three hole punch your book and then used hinged key chain rings to hold the book together. There are many many ways a book can be bound. If you are looking for other ways just google "book binding".

In the book shown we used all-purpose kid's craft paper from a book we found partially used at the thrift store, and an old book that had come apart. We put a piece of paper, then a book page, then paper, then a book page. I made this book before we headed out for a summer plane trip. It was a good way to combine a book to read with paper for drawing in a way that was compact and contained. We also brought along crayon cakes, which will not roll off a plane tray table onto the floor...

Quick Decorating Project - Wallpaper Covered Flat Panel Sliding Closet Doors

I completed this project last year (as some of you will be able to tell from the photo of my daughter) but have wanted to share it ever since. It is one of the best things I have done to make my bedroom more warm and cozy. We have two closets in our master bedroom. One has two sliding mirror doors and the other had just basic white flat panel doors. The white was glaring and annoyed me everytime I went into the room. I decided that one way I could make them look whatever way I wanted for very little money would be to wallpaper them. I was a bit afraid at first, because straight lines and I do not get along. I even contemplated paying a professional way too much money hang it for me. I was convinced that if I did it the pieces of wallpaper would be all wonky... I was wrong. I regained my "I can do it" attitude and with the help of my hubby, while I was nearly nine months pregnant, we were able to complete this project. It took us under an hour. I highly recommend the extra set of hands if you at all worried about starting this project. And to have another place for young children to be...

This tutorial is for self adhesive wallpaper. I have another project to share soon that uses vintage wallpaper with paste.

How to Wallpaper Flat Panel Sliding Closet Doors
By Tiffany Teske

Materials
- enough self adhesive wallpaper to cover your doors, you can measure them and then the people at the store can let you know how much you will need of the kind you select in order for it to match up properly (the kind I chose came in two roll packages, which gave me JUST enough if I did it correctly, and cost about $45).
- scissors
- tape measure
- an oblong mop bucket that you can wet your wallpaper in (or your bathtub if it is near where you are wallpapering
- a sharp straight edge razor blade or x acto knife or utility knife
- rubber squeegee (make sure it will glide over the wet paper and not scratch it)
- soft sponge

1. Wash your doors and let them dry.
2. Measure your wallpaper. Cut your first length. If your doors are wider than one piece and you need an additional piece, make sure you match up your pattern and cut the next piece so that your two pieces will match up correctly side by side. You will likely end up with a scrap piece of wallpaper left over from doing this.
3. Reroll up the first section of paper. Put the whole piece into the water in the mop bucket, briefly, making sure the paper gets evenly wet. Pull the paper out of the bucket by holding it in fingers of both hands from the top so that the weight of the wet paper unrolls all of the paper. Let the excess water drip off, then transfer the wet paper to the door, lining it up at the top and edge of the door. Press the paper onto the door with your flat hand, rubbing it so it attaches, then squeegeeing it from the top down and from the sides in, so that it is square and so that all the bubbles are removed between the paper and the door.
4. Once the piece is on, you can wipe it down with the sponge.

5. For the next section of paper, do the same, making sure the pattern lines up seamlessly when you add the second section next to the first. The second section of paper will likely be wider than your door so you will need to smooth the paper to the edge of the door, then cut the paper using your razor blade or knife. My door has a raised edge, so it was easy to cut it against that edge to make sure it the cut was straight and flush to the edge. Once it is cut, smooth out the whole section of the paper.
6. I needed four sections of paper for the two doors. Once it was all on, I wiped it down with the wet sponge again and let it dry.

All done!

UPDATE: I was at an interior decorating firm today, collecting some old fabric sample books, and the woman I know there started talking to her friend about how wallpaper is making a comeback in this area. However, she has some she wants to have hung in her bedroom and there are only two people in the area who do this. She said the quotes were from $150 - $300 to hand less paper than I did on my closet doors! Maybe I should start hang wallpaper...

A Week of Birthday Posts - #4 - Birthday Party Food and Little Touches

This is post number four in the series on my daughters' birthdays. This one has some cheery photos of handmade details from my four year old's tea party.


As an artist, I pay attention to visual details. I love color and so do kids. My daughter Quin's birthday had a tea party theme, which she chose. In the past couple of years we have attended a princess and pirate party, an art making party, a dancing party, and recently we sadly could not attend a fun crazy hair/make your own pizza party.


Of course, not all parties have a theme but I am always game to work within a theme, so a tea party it was. Each child's place was set with a real tea cup from my collection. They drank fresh squeezed lemonade from them.


I don't go crazy with party decor. I do wish I had had the time to make a cheery banner but we focused on the table. Quin LOVES balloons so we made sure there were a few on her chair. I love the orange polka dot one :)


Colorful tissue paper flowers make me swoon. I stayed up until 2 AM making one for each guest to wear on their wrist as a corsage. And I don't say that like it was work, I love making them so it was fun. I will write a post someday on how to make them, but you can always google it. There are many good tutorials out there. The kids were tickled with their flowers. I showed them to Quin when she came down for breakfast and they made her day! The ones that were not taken home are still on our dining room table and I gaze at them throughout the day and remember the party fun. We made play dough for favors but these made great additional favors for the kids who remembered to take them home.


Tissue paper flowers in a vase...


...became corsages on the day of the party.


One important element, along to napkins, plates, and balloons that I purchased were the party hats, or tiaras. I am going to make each of my kids a birthday crown, something the like the one my friend, Serena, made for her little guy, but it was not to be this year.


We couldn't have a birthday party without a craft...


The kids made bejeweled butterfly place mats. I folded construction paper in half and drew a template on one side of the paper, then had them cut out the butterfly along the drawn lines.


Voila, a blank canvas butterfly, that they covered in jewels.



Only one more birthday party post, stay tuned! Number five will include recipes...

A Week of Birthday Posts - #3 - Colorful Party Favors for Kids

Our daughter turned 4 this year. I still can't believe it! She is growing up so fast and it is really amazing to see her change and grow. We had a fun time planning and creating for her birthday party. She was able to help with almost everything. We decided to make the party favors she gave her friends. We often make and give play dough as a homemade birthday gift and it is always well received by both parents and kids. For the favors we decided to make play dough, one ball each of six colors per kiddo, in a goody bag tied with metallic ribbon. Each child was also sent home with a lollipop.



I will re post the play dough recipe here so you can make some of your own...



Homemade Play Dough
By Tiffany Teske

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup salt
1 Tablespoon Alum Powder (I buy it in bulk at a health food store)
2 cups boiling water
3 Tablespoons cooking oil (vegetable)
food coloring

Mix dry ingredients. Add water and oil. Mix well until it forms a dough. Divide into however many ball you need for the number of colors you want. Knead dough balls until they no longer sticky and add food coloring according to the colors you want to make.



Here are some colors to get you started...

Pink - 1-2 drops of red
Orange - equal parts red and yellow
Purple - equal parts red and blue
Black - 3 drops red, 3 drops blue, 2 drops green
Brown - 2 drops green, 2 drops red, 6 drops yellow
Turquoise - 1 drop green, 3 drops blue
Lime - 1 drop green, 9 drops yellow


As for the lollipops, I put a rolled up washcloth the bottom of a vintage flower pot, covered it with jelly beans, and stuck in the lollies, with a bit of metallic ribbon wrapped around each stick.

Recycled Art for Kids: Painted Rocks Project #1 - The Caterpillar

I just finished teaching a Recycled Art class series for kids aged almost 5 to 9. It can be challenging to select activities for that span of ages, but it can be done. One day we did two painting projects, both of which involved painting rocks. Kids LOVE to paint, probably because it is a messy activity that many moms don't want them to do (I am sometimes guilty of this myself). Kids also love rocks. My daughter likes to fill her pockets with them. And since we worked on this project she brings them to me all the time. It is fun because I put them in a coat pocket, or on the mantle, or in the car, and then I think of her and how she thinks of me, when I see them. I am happy she has started to see beyond the obvious uses for things. This project is a good project for all age levels and the kids can feel really good about and use their imaginations to play with the results.


How to Make a Painted Rock Caterpillar
by Tiffany Teske

What You Will Need
~ 5 or more rocks
~ Acrylic craft paint
~ Paint brushes; one for covering the rocks with solid all-over color, and smaller ones for detail work
~ Matte finish sealant; I used Krylon Matte Finish Spray Fixative


Directions
1. Select your rocks. Wash rocks and let them dry.
2. Paint your rocks a solid color. You will need to paint them all on one side, let them dry, then flip them over to paint the other side. Acrylic paint dries quickly.
3. Repeat step number two, 2-3 times, depending on the color of paint and how well it covers. Dark colors cover better, faster, than light colors.
4. Using a small detail brush, paint dots, strips, and any other kind of design on your rocks. Also, make a face on your first rock, and maybe little legs and feet on the sides of the other rocks. The sky is the limit.
5. Let everything dry well. I waited until the next day.
6. Spray with sealer according to manufacturer instructions. This it to make the rocks more durable.
7. Play with your new caterpillar.

Decoupage Your Child's Art Table With Vintage Book Images

I have been wanting to get to this project for, oh, a couple of years now. My eldest daughter turned four this week. She has had this table and chairs since she was old enough to sit on a chair by herself. It is a simple wooden table and chairs, unfinished, with a particle board top. I got the set at Ikea but you could easily adapt this project for use with any wooden table and chair set you own. My daughter just turned 4 and was able to help me with parts of this project.

How to Decoupage Your Child's Art Table With Vintage Book Images
By Tiffany Teske


You Will Need:
- a set of wooden chairs and a table
- mat finish acrylic gel medium (although you could probably use thinned PVA glue)
- brayer (rubber roller) or credit card (to get rid of bubbles)
- a vintage children's book that is worse for the wear
- scissors or utility knife
- Satin finish Varathane (water based, low odor, cleans up with water)
- sponge brush


I had a book in mind well before starting this project. Our local library always has a bookshelf of books for sale near the entrance. Sometimes, the kid books that used to be circulating in the library's collection, are pretty beat up. In good shape or bad they are a steal at $1, which the library uses to buy more books. The day I saw a 1981 copy of Brian Wildsmith's Bear's Adventure, and I snapped it up. Even though it had pages that were almost completely ripped, it didn't matter to me, because I LOVE this man's books and his art, and I knew right away what I would do with this wonderful story. Cut it up and paste it onto something... By the way, Bear's Adventure will soon be re-issued by Star Bright Books, which publishes many wonderful children's books.


Step One
Select the images from your book that you would like to use. Your child can help you with this. I like to use parts of images, overlapping them, not just laying them out next to each other. You can decide what you like best.


I like to lay everything out, with my daughter, so we can decide what we like best. We do this BEFORE even thinking of gluing the items down. I am pretty fast at making compositional decisions but some people like to look at things for a day or even a week before committing. Select the images for both your table and chairs.


Step Two
Once you have cleaned your table and chairs you can start gluing your images onto them. You can use whatever decoupage technique you might know. I like to use mat finish acrylic gel medium straight from the jar. There are pros and cons to this. I need to get the paper down pretty much perfect the first time, but I find it is nice and thick so nothing curls up on me. I prefer a mat finish because I think it is much more forgiving than glossy, since you see every bump and bubble with a gloss finish.


Here is the gluing process, step by step.
1) Brush your glue onto your table top or chair top. If you prefer, you can put the glue on the back of your image instead but it will curl and you will need to handle it with care. Remember to glue the images that will have parts that are underneath other images down FIRST.


2. Lay down your image how you want it. Using the brayer or your credit card, smooth out the image, pushing any bubbles to the edges. Continue to glue the elements of your composition onto the table.


3. Once everything is glued down you can brush glue over the entire table and chair tops. Don't worry too much about bubblse, they should break on their own. Put everything somewhere that is not dusty while it dries.


A finished chair that needs to dry.

4. Once your table and chairs have dried, repeat step 3. at least twice more, letting the glue dry for several hours between each application. These layers of glue seal the paper on the table so that they will not get soaked during the Varathane process.


Step Three
It is now time to apply Varathane to your table and chairs. I used satin finish. DO NOT SHAKE the Varathane can. This will create bubbles. Open the can and using a paint stir stick, stir the Varathane for a couple of minutes. It should appear milky, like in the image below. IT WILL DRY CLEAR. Apply the Varathane with a sponge brush, from side to side, making sure to cover the whole surface. You can gently break any bubbles you see. Let the Varathane dry for 4 hours, then apply at least two more layers. I did four layers. You want your table and chairs to be durable.


Let your table and chairs cure for one week before using. When ours was ready we took it outside for a little tea party. You can wipe your table and chairs with a damp cloth when necessary, otherwise just dust with a dry cloth.



Voila!! We love our new cheery. colorful table and chairs! We like the wood unfinished, but for even more color and fun you could paint the wood. I would suggest doing this BEFORE decoupaging, to save yourself some headache of protecting the images. As always, I would love to hear if we have inspired you to try this. If you have any questions for me please leave a comment. Have fun!

Book Recommendation - Bazaar Bizarre: Not Your Granny's Craft Book by Greg Der Ananian

I ALWAYS have my eye out for craft and art how-to books, both new and vintage. I was surprised to find I had overlooked this book from 2005, in our local library. Bazaar Bizarre: Not Your Granny's Craft Book by Greg Der Ananian is worth a read. In fact I was more impressed by the writing in the book than in the actual crafts. This book is unique in its format. I like that it was written by a guy, that there are fun photos of the contributing crafters, that he gave the same interview to each of them, that he takes a historical look at crafting between each how-to craft, and that he suggests good music and movies to watch while making each craft and that there are even some recipes. What I don't like are that the steps of the projects are drawings and that the middle section that features color photos of some of the finished crafts only features SOME of them. I am a photographer by trade and I prefer photographs of the step by step and finished crafts. But at $16.95 US, the price is right.

As for the crafts, they are pretty mediocre, but maybe that is because this book is 5 years old so a lot of these crafts are old news (sock monkeys, vinyl cuffs, dirty cross stitch, and marble magnets). Or too involved for me (why would I take the time to MAKE my own set of playing cards that look JUST LIKE an old deck I got at the thrift store?!). I adored Der Ananian from the moment I read the dedication page, which had a big "I Love You Mom" graphic faded behind a hand written like font that reads, "This book is for my mother, Priscilla Der Ananian, who once told me I was the closest thing to a daughter she'd ever have. I love you, Mom." His two pages of acknowledgments are sweet, sincere, and funny. He reveals that he found out he had a golf-ball sized tumor in his brain during the late stages of this book. I am grateful he is ok now, because aside from boring (sorry) crafts, this book is one that I would add to my collection. It is extremely funny, at times laugh out loud funny, both thanks to Der Ananian's humor and that of his contributing crafters.

Tutorial - Camera Strap Cover - Revamp an Old Camera Strap Using Thrifted Upholstery Samples and Embroidery

You may or may not know that I hold two University degrees in photography (one as the major and the other as a minor to studio art). I am an artist, crafter, writer, and all around creative, but I usually say I am a photographer first when I am asked what I "do". Six months after I had my first child we moved across the country for my husband's job and I pretty much gave up my commercial photography business. I specialized in shooting black and white film images at the homes of my clients. I shot enough sessions that I would burn out motors and shutters so I would buy "new" used bodies for back ups. Last month, I started going through all of my analog camera equipment. I have 7 SLR bodies, from good working order to parts cameras, that I needed to test. I have gotten through 5 of them, with some of the results here. I love and miss shooting film and now that I know which cameras to keep, I will probably be doing more of it...

This brings me to the project. In the course of going through all my gear, I decided it was time to make my camera straps pretty. My recent sewing class has inspired me to find new sewing projects and a wide, boring, black neoprene camera strap volunteered to undergo a make over. This project can be adapted to your vision. The sky is really the limit on fabric and embellishments. You can even hand sew this project entirely if you don't have a sewing machine. If you don't have a camera strap you can find many boring and suitable candidates at the thrift store. I will walk you through a few simple steps and then off you go...

How-to Cover a Boring Camera Strap to Make it Pretty...

What you need...

- Wide camera strap
- Fabric, I used upholstery samples
- Sewing Machine and thread (or needle & thread to hand sew)
- Items for embellishment like buttons & embroidery thread


1) Using your camera strap to measure against, decide where to cut your fabric. My piece had some grommets I cut off. Here you can see I pinned the fabric up against the edge of the strap. You will need to make a tube around your strap that fits snugly. I think I only had about 1/2" of fabric beyond my strap on each side (so cut fabric 1" wider than strap).


2) If the ends of your fabric are not finished, finish them now. My sample had finished ends which I just turned under when I put my cover on. It was too short, however, to be used as one piece, so I did sew two pieces if it together. I didn't bother to line up the pattern because I knew I would embellish one end... I sewed the buttons where my obvious seam from joining the two pieces is.


3) You can embellish the top front side of your fabric (the part you will be able to see) now or at the end. I actually did all of my embellishing at the end, when my cover was already on, using a curved tapestry needle. I would suggest doing the embellishing before if you want to remove the strap (since I may have sewn through parts of the strap). I just embellished one end. I did it on the end because I knew that part would show while wearing my camera. If your hair is short you could embellish the whole strap, since it won't be hidden under your hair. I cut a flower and paisley from my fabric and appliqued them on, using embroidery thread.


4) Put wrong sides of fabric together, pin, and sew, using a straight stitch, reinforcing each end by front and back stitching. I used a 1/4" seam allowance. Turn your tube right side out.


5) Slide your cover onto your strap. If you already embellished, you are now done, If not, go ahead and do it now.


Voila! Now go, shoot something, and wear your camera with pride...