Category: tutorial

My day ten project was Tulle Bows. There were several great variations available from this pin by Miss Lovie Creations, but I chose to make just the fluffy bow to start. We had purchased a roll of green tulle last year and still had half of it left, but you use so little for these bows that a single roll can last you a long time.

The tutorial suggested several loops, which I did, but originally made them too small to work with. After I lengthened them it only looped about three times. I’d suggest double for it to look better.

Next you pinch the center where the ends are open, so the looped ends are on the outside. I recommend having something ready to tie the middle with before doing this (I just used a small strip of tulle).

At this point you have a nice bow, but if you want a fluffy bow there’s a bit more to do. Gently cut open the looped ends, then trim some of the middle pieces to add more body.

Once you finish both ends, you have a fluffy tulle bow! This can be used for decoration, on gifts, tied on a headband, etc.

My day seven project (yay, one full week now!) was to make some Clay Texture Tools, using the project from this pin by PolymerClayWeb. Mine look no where as nice as theirs do, but they are definitely functional and will work nicely for the Clay Medallion project coming up next week!

The basic tools you need for this project is clay and some random baubles (preferably oven-safe ones). I ended up selecting a variety of random beads and metal findings, but you could also incorporate other objects from around your home (like bolts, stranded jewelry pieces, etc) as well. It will be easier if all of your objects are oven safe, but if not, you can make do with glue.

Roll out some of your clay and check out what impressions your objects make to make sure you’ll like the final product. I didn’t end up using all the objects I grabbed since some of them didn’t make a very good impression.

Roll the clay into a handle shape that works well for you, then gently push your objects into the end caps. Aside from the large blue tool I made, the rest of mine were double-ended to maximize my clay real estate.

If any of the clay is not oven-safe (or you’re just not sure), remove them before sticking it in the oven. I baked mine at 275°F for 15 minutes, but check the instructions on your clay’s package in case yours differs!

I guess you can’t really tell the difference, but here’s the ones I didn’t have to apply glue to after they cooled down from coming out of the oven.

Here’s a couple that needed glue. I didn’t have clay glue like PolymerClayWeb suggested so we’ll see how it’s working out when I get to put them all to the test next week.

Then it was time to test out the non-glued ones! I think these will do quite nicely and am please with the results. 🙂

Tomorrow’s project should be Incense Cones. However, the “arctic freeze” or whatever that weather event is dubbed, has postponed all UPS deliveries for the past two days in my area, so I may not get the base ingredient in time. One way or the other, some project will be done!

My day one project is Egg Carton Fire Starters. It is based on this pin from The Art of Doing Stuff blog that I spotted recently on Pinterest. I honestly didn’t expect it to work very well. Especially after I saw the finished product! It looked far from beautiful. But hey, store-bought fire starters are expensive and I had this huge candle my mom had sent me for the holidays, lots of drier lint and an empty egg carton.

I spent about an hour or so filling up six of the egg cubbies. I learned on the first one to cut off the lid and place it underneath; by the end of the second I put down a silicone mat to save time peeling off the wax drippage, as well as cut apart the cubbies early on.

The end product is far from beautiful, especially when you have four cats that contributed their fur to the drier lint. Good thing these are intended to be lit on fire.

So I threw a few pieces of wood into my fireplace and added in the first fire starter I made. My expectation was that it’d light briefly but peter out fast once the top lint was gone. I was actually surprised when it stayed lit long enough for me to grab my phone and snap this picture.

The fire just continued to grow. This was about 3-5 minutes in. The normal store-bought fire starters we use rarely catch the wood this well this quickly.

I attempted to get one last picture of the egg carton before the flame got too large, but though I was able to discern it with the nakid eye, it didn’t show well on camera. You get the picture (har), I’m sure. 🙂

From this point on the fire just got increasingly larger. It’s currently nice and toasty behind me as I type this up. If you have candles, egg cartons and some drier lint (or similar materials) around your home and a need to light a fire, I highly recommend spending the time on this project.

The final picture I took is the one at the top of this post. A toasty fire perfect for a cold day! 🙂

Tomorrow’s project should be paper beads. Happy New Year, everyone!