DIY Mother's Day Card

Today I'm excited to be participating in 100 Days of Tombow.  One hundred bloggers across America are creating projects with Tombow products to celebrate the company's centennial year.  But the best part is that for every blogger who participates, $100 will be donated to the Council for Arts Education.  You may know that art education is very important to me.  Often I volunteer my time to do art projects at my children's school.  In fact, just last week I scheduled an outing for a couple classes to visit a pottery studio.

Tombow sent me a few of their projects to make a craft for this event.  Today I will be working with the Tombow markers to make this Mother's Day Card. 

Supplies:
Tombow Markers - two coordinating colors
White Crayon
White Cardstock
Scissors
Ruler
Piece of plastic - I used a disposable plastic pie cover.  Any kind of plastic packaging should work. Check your recycle bin.

To make this card I'm using a wax resist technique.  With a white crayon I wrote out the words "Happy Mother's Day".  To get your letters straight and centered as best as possible here are few tips.

1.  Work in a well lit room so you can see the white crayon on the card.

2.  Place a ruler on the paper and use it as if it was a blue ruled line on your paper.  This will keep all your letters straight. 

3.  A good way to write well centered and spaced words on a card is to start with the middle letter.  For example, write the letter "P" for the word "happy" in the center of your paper.  Then write the letters on each side evenly spaced.

Once you have your images written out, you're going to cover the entire card with marker.  To give it a gradient look, use this method. 

1.  Write on your plastic with the darker color marker.

2.  Pick up the color with the lighter marker.  Just rub the marker brush on the ink and it will pick up the darker color.

As you color over the letters they will resist the crayon and show up.  The marker will also gradually lighten in color as you draw due to the technique you used above, giving it a gradient style.

Make your card into any shape you want.  You can also use this technique to draw images as well. 

 

Business and Legal Forms for Crafters

Once in awhile my husband will check out a book for me at the library when he sees something that he thinks I will like.  Last weekend he brought home Business and Legal Forms for Crafters and I was pleasantly surprised at how informative and useful it is.  The book comes with 30 forms from basic invoices to licensing contracts plus shares how to use the forms.  Included with many of the forms are negotiation checklists to help you as well.  The book was published in 2012 so the forms should for the most part be up to date.

I wanted to share this with all of you because when I started out as an independent designer, there were a lot of things I didn't know.  For example,  I didn't know how to write something as basic as an invoice.  I can remember the first time a magazine requested one from me and I was a little overwhelmed by it.  I ended up using Sage One  to send out my invoices.  And I should say, I'm still learning as I go.  I don't have it all figured out.

If you get a chance, check this book out at the library.  And if your library doesn't carry it, see if they will transfer it in from another library.   I decided to buy a copy of the book and it was only $2 on Amazon.  Click here to see the book. 

Origami Tea Packet Favors

Looking for party favor ideas?  This simple origami tea packet folds up quick and is inexpensive to make.   And if you're not into tea, you could place a candy or photo inside them instead. What's also nice about this project is you can change the style and feel of the favor depending on what paper you use.

Even though this project is quick and easy to make, I do recommend some knowledge or origami before getting started.

Supplies:
Origami Paper 6 x 6 - I purchased the flower print paper at Daiso.
Tea Packets -  no more than 3" in height.  I did have to bend back part of the package to make the tea bags fit.  I used Good Earth teabags for this project.

Click on above image for a larger view.

Starting with the blank side up, fold paper for directions 1 - 7.  For step 8 I've created some photos to make it a little easier to see how I got to step 9.

Grab paper at the center crease and fold towards center.

 Continue to fold each side towards the center.  The paper should naturally form into its shape from the previous folds you made.

Your finished piece should look something like the picture above.  Now all you have to do is tuck a tea packet under the four corners and it will stay in place with no glue.

On the back, add a printed sticker label with the details of your event.  

Origami Snack Container

Hi everyone, you can find me over at the Chronicle Books Blog sharing how to fold an origami snack container  and talking about the first origami piece I folded.  Hope to see you over there!

Lets Talk Camp Crafts

Today I'm over at the Galileo blog sharing how to make this ammonite fossil that's pictured above.  But before you head on over there, I'd like to talk a little about camp crafts.

As a child I went to numerous camps and made a lot of cool things.  It was a lot of fun but I realize now, they didn't have a lot of substance.  The projects were fun to make but they didn't teach me anything.  And I'm not saying all crafts need a teaching agenda.  You know most of my crafts that I post here are just for the sake of making.  But if you're looking to teach children in a fun way, crafts can be a great tool.  Especially for those children who flourish in the arts but not traditional subjects like math and English.  That's why I like the craft projects at Camp Galileo.

Each week at camp Galileo there's a theme and the art and science projects coordinate with that theme.  Pictured above are some of the projects kids will be making for the Amusement Park theme this summer at Camp Galileo.  Here's a little information about the projects in Galileo's own words:

Art: Join Cirque du Galileo. Learn the art of mixing tints to make masks inspired by the elements. Use professional sculpting wire and tools to create performers and props for an Alexander-Calder-inspired wire circus scene.

Science: Design your own dizzying, hair-raising rides. Learn about centripetal force and torque to engineer a one-of-a-kind spinning attraction. Then use your electrical know-how to make basic series and parallel circuits to illuminate your rotating ride.

To find out more about the Camp Galileo and each week's theme, click here.

Click here for the Ammonite Craft Project.

Disclaimer:  My children are receiving one free paid week of camp as compensation for this post series.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.