This Sparkly Icicle Craft is a wonderful way to bring the beauty and magic of Winter right into the home or classroom!
During our two and a half year battle with infertility and recurrent pregnancy loss, I spent a lot of time dreaming about what our little child's nursery would look like. I went back and forth on some options and I ultimately decided on Disney/Pixar's "Up". It's one of my favorite movies and it has many nursery themes built into it. Not to mention that some of the main characters in the film also suffered from some of the same issues that my husband and I were also familiar with. While it is unclear whether Carl and Ellie suffered from infertility or miscarriage, we were familiar with both. The movie had a lot of themes to use for the nursery: a sky theme, a jungle theme, a zoo theme, an adventure theme, or a travel theme. It's very close to my heart. The problem is that it's almost impossible to find "Up" merchandise. Not a lot of things were produced to begin with and what items were produced were no longer available or hard to find/expensive to acquire. I knew this was going to be a DIY nursery. Once I was through the first trimester, my husband and I got started with our projects. The first inspiration came when I was looking for bedside table lamps for our bedroom. I stumbled across this lamp from lamps plus. It immediately reminded me of Kevin, the snipe. Unfortunately it was out of stock at the time, but I did order this one. Then I stumbled across this silhouette reading lamp on pinterest from Chica and Jo. So I googled a coloring book page of Kevin, printed it out, and followed the instructions on the blog. Then I took a hot glue gun and covered the lamp in feathers. Here was the result. Here is an inspiration shot from the movie and proof that Kevin is terrible at hiding and would resort to putting a lampshade on his head. Then there was the suitcase side table. Inspiration and directions from The Ruche Blog. We used furniture legs from Lowes. I found the tiny Dug on Ebay. My brother Mike made the Carl and Ellie silhouette portraits and my friend Jackie made the watercolor floating house. My husband bought me this magnificent vintage contour lounge chair from Mid Century Obsession on Etsy shortly after we found out we were pregnant. We had seen one in an antique shop a month earlier while visiting my parents in Florida and I knew that if our IUI took, I had to have one. As it turned out, it's about perfect during feeding time. It also vibrates, reclines, and heats up. Then there are the pillows. I did Russell, Carl, and Ellie character pillows. I used an envelope pillow cover tutorial I found on Lovesome. The directions for the Russell sash I found at A litre of sunshine. My mother-in-law crocheted this "Up" inspired blanket. I made a bookshelf from 1x12 lumber, custom for his wall. The bottom shelf or the zoo was inspired by the fact that Carl and Ellie worked at the zoo. The Paradise Falls jar was an old apple cider jar. The radio flyer wagon was a gift from Dustin's coworkers. The airplane came from Home Goods, the frame came from my friend Christina she found at Hallmark, the balloon animal bookend was from modcloth, and the marquee letter from JoAnn Fabrics. The Carl figurine, jar, and Fredricksen chairs were gifts. The house was a kit my mother-in-law bought for my baby shower. My brother put it together and painted it. I free handed the waterfall painting that Carl and Ellie had over their fireplace. Colors and shapes are a bit off, but I'm satisfied with it. Oh, and that Ford truck bank was mine when I was little - my dad was a Ford tractor mechanic. I bought a pattern for baby Kevin from Miles of Crochet on Etsy. My sister-in-law's future sister-in-law crocheted him for me. This is her instagram. The toybox was inspired by Carl's balloon cart. My father-in-law picked it up at a thrift store. Someone made it and didn't finish it so my husband painted and stained it. The curtain rod was inspired by Carl's cane. Dustin spray painted a PVC pipe silver and popped a tennis ball on each end. The curtain was inspired by this balloon rug and Ellie's overalls. The tutorial for the curtain came from Sew Many Ways. They're lined with blackout fabric I got from JoAnn Fabrics. Works great. The dog butt hooks came from ikea (because of the dogs in the movie). This Disney/Pixar "R" print came from Jerrod Maruyama on Flickr. The dug portrait was done by my brother Mike and the elephant print was done by my friend Jackie for the baby shower. I made the quilt and it was my first attempt at making a quilt. I think it came out alright. It's inspired by the nursery in Carl and Ellie's house. I found the mobile plans on Recipe 4 Cute. I added the photos to just the bottom of the mobile so Robert can see them. I thought they mimicked balloons. I found the house on the family disney blog. The balloons are a styrofoam ball covered in pom poms. The clouds were made by my friends Jackie and Heather for the baby shower. My husband and father-in-law made the crib. I was inspired by the Millbrook crib from Restoration Hardware. I didn't want to spend Restoration Hardware money though. It just so happens that my father-in-law is a muffler man and he and my husband are quite handy with a welder. I wanted it in silver so it would look like the blimp. It's made from steel and exhaust tubing. I made the crib skirt and ironed on the "Spirit of Adventure" letters. And a close-up of his adorable sheet from Babies R Us. The map chest dresser was inspired by a dresser project on The Painted Hive. The hat came from My Knitting World on Etsy. I picked the globe up from Burlington Coat Factory and the poster (ripped from a library book, haha) came from Rakuten. The hamper was a gift from our friends Ashley and Alg. We are all Alabama fans, you know. I thought it worked because Carl and Ellie worked at the zoo. The changing table is a microwave cart that my father made for his mother. If I remember the story correctly, the top and shelf were made from hardwood from an old bowling alley in the town I was born in and the legs were made from a tree from my grandfather's farm. I made the topper with instructions from Lay Baby Lay. My husband made the fabulous old fashioned marquee frame for the movie poster. We replaced the fan with one that we thought looked like a propeller. And my friend Heather made a wreath for Robert's door. A few all together photos... Oh, and the paint is "Sea Cap" by Behr from Home Depot.
From making paper lanterns to drawing crescent moons and stars on the walls, you can get your house prepared for Ramadan with these Ramadan decorations.
Love minimal Christmas decor but not sure where to look? Here’s a round-up to get you started!
ICE Fantasy is a spectacular ice sculpture festival in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Let's visit together this amazing kingdom of ice!
Beautiful Needle Felted Scottish Highland calf sculpture by Teresa Perleberg of Bear Creek Felting. Needle Felting inspiration.
Count down the days to Christmas with a DIY Advent calendar you can make at home. Our creative ideas feature items you may have on hand and are the perfect treat-filled way to celebrate the season.
Hi! Long time no see! I had some very interesting projects which I mentioned on my Facebook, but very little I could actually write about. I tried to make doll "straw" hats, and it turned into this huge obsession with a bunch of styles and experiments I want to try before condensing everything into one or two blog posts. Anyway, during my millinery frenzy, I went to the store to get some trims for one of these hats I was making for a trade, and my eyes fell on some beige pipecleaners. Well, outside the store lighting they were actually band-aid coloured, but I pictured them into bears rather than fuzzy nude stick men. I remembered Jason White's teddy bear tutorial and thought one of those would make a nice addition to the items I was preparing to trade. When I tried following the tutorial, I found out that I didn't have the right type of beads and even the bear shape didn't look nice in this colour. I had several more pipecleaner teddy bear tutorials which my friend searched for me to try. My favourite was this one, but right off the bat I didn't like the shape of the head. I decided to draw inspiration from the two tutorials and my plush teddy bear to make my own design. I untwisted my first attempt, unwilling to ruin the other three pipecleaners I had until I arrived at a satisfactory result. Spoiler alert: none were ruined in the end; turns out that tortured, slightly balding pipecleaners still make decent teddy bears! As several people asked me to write my own version of the tutorial, here it goes: The supplies: - one pipecleaner (about 300*6mm) - two eyes (beads, rhinestones...) I used 2mm half-pearls which I stuck on some masking tape and painted black with nail polish - nose - I happened to have a piece of brown suede ribbon, but you can use anything you like that doesn't fray, from old belts to felt and even cardboard - scissors - glue (I used fabric glue) - toothpicks Optional: - dark fineliner pen to draw the mouth - pliers and tweezers to help you in tough places - thin ribbon, string or yarn - fork - flame (candle, lighter...) Steps 1. Bend the pipecleaner in half (it doesn't have to be precise) and then bend a little portion at the first fold perpendicular in an "L" shape. I swear, this is way easier to make than to explain! This creates the muzzle/nose. 2. Make two round, loose bends for the ears. If you're looking straight at the nose with the pipecleaner ends upwards, what you're doing now is creating a heart shape where the nose is the lower point and the ears are the curves. 3. Turn it over and complete the heart shape by twisting the ends twice where you want the head to end. 4. Now bring one of the ends up between the ears and bend it over the face. 5. Bend it diagonally over the nose. For example, I started next to the right ear and brought the pipecleaner over the left side of the nose. 6. Repeat for the other end. After this step, the pipecleaner ends should cross above the nose and point downwards. 7. Twist them twice at the neck again. The head is done. 8. Make the arms/front legs by bending the pipecleaner sharply a short distance from the neck. Repeat for the other side. 9. Bring the ends together and twist two or three times to make the torso base. Don't make it too long or you won't have enough to finish the bear. 10. Make the hind legs in the same manner as the front legs, only a little longer. It seems I took fewer photos of the last steps, but at this point it's easy to figure out. Twist the ends again a couple of times, either in front or behind the first torso. 11. Fold the remaining bits over the shoulders to the opposite side and tuck the ends in. Bend the bottoms of the legs into little soles. You can use pliers at this step. Now shape your teddy bear any way you want it and brush it with a clean toothbrush if it got ruffled. 12. Prepare your nose, eyes, glue, toothpick and tweezers. For the nose, I cut a little triangle with two rounded corners. 13. Carefully glue the features in place. I used tweezers. 14. After this the teddy bear is technically complete, but I happened to have a brown fineliner handy, which I used to draw the mouth as an inverted "Y" under the nose. I used the same fineliner to darken the nose on one of the teddies. I turned all four pipecleaners I had into teddy bears and put a bow on the prettiest of them. I didn't think I'd write instructions for this part because I used a tiny piece (about 5cm) of narrow ribbon from a doll outfit and the narrowest I usually see in stores is 3mm, almost twice as wide. However, I later found the exact same ribbon in a fancier store, it was labelled 1.5mm. So now I can write the second part of the tutorial - adding a bow. I hope you can find this type of ribbon, it's very pretty and useful in miniatures. But you can also use any string or lace you like. For comparison, I also made a bow out of 3mm ribbon. Bow tutorial 1. By looking at the teddy bear, you would think the ribbon is tied around its neck and made into a bow at the front. But I don't know if it would be possible to tie a neat bow in such a small scale, so I made the bow separately and then glued it. Take your whole ribbon or a comfortable length if it's too long and tie a fork bow at one end. It's easier if the ribbon is double-sided. Here is a good tutorial. Use the inner teeth of the fork, not all four. 2. Wrap the long end around the teddy bear's neck and mark where to cut it. You should have enough to go around the neck plus a little extra. Cut both ends to the desired length and melt with a flame. If you're using natural or unraveling fabric/yarn, don't try to melt it. 3. The fork bow has a pretty side and a less pretty side. Place the long end of the bow on the teddy bear's chest and hold it securely. Make sure to have the pretty side of the bow facing up. 4. Add a small amount of glue on the ribbon at the middle of the neck. 5. Wrap the ribbon around and place the knot of the bow over the glue. Press firmly until the glue grabs. I used tweezers. The same step with a wider ribbon bow: Wait for the glue to dry and you're done! This size of teddy bear looks great with 1:6th scale dolls. J-Doll Karl Johans Gate Playing with pipecleaners is very fun and relaxing and these teddy bears are so easy to make, I want to make a big bunch of them. What for? I don't know. Pipecleaners in my store are sold by piece and that's quite expensive, so I found some lots of 100 online for under 2.5$. Unfortunately the first one I ordered, while still beige, is not the same delicate colour as the ones in this tutorial. It still works for teddy bears (and for curling doll hair :P) but I want to find this exact colour for my big army. Is this a crazy idea? Can you think of uses for mini teddy bears? I gave one to my dolls and hung another in the car, the third is gifted, and that's it. The forth is sitting in a drawer. Would you buy them or make them if you found yourself needing a teddy bear? Do you know other pipecleaner projects? Share your thoughts in the comments below! The Black Kitty (^^)~
We live in a world today where we often order things online as it is convenient, economical and quick. And the reason we mention this here in this article is because we want to talk about the art projects that come from cardboard boxes, which the byproduct of all our online forays. Often, we tend to either throw the cardboard boxes in the trash or recycle them. but what if we were to tell you that you can use these cardboard boxes to make a nice art project? It can be a fun thing to do especially if you want to involve the young ones at home in a worthy project. In fact, with kids at home, you can add this to your real ‘I am bored’ jar ideas for the summer in order to keep your kids occupied throughout the holidays. This can be a green project too since you are using a natural product like cardboard to make something inventive, fun and artistic.
Learn how to dress as one of the characters from Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol," including Ebenezer Scrooge. Here you will find ideas for a variety of Dickens characters.
Inspiration awaits around every corner for Bethan Laura Wood, whose work transcends the realms of art, fashion, and design. The multi-faceted British designer, known for her unique sense of style and bold use of color, often draws on her travels during the creative process. “I've been traveling a lot to Asia in the last year, and I’d definitely like to work with some producers in Japan," she says, hinting at what we can expect down the road. "I think there's some very amazing qualities about the techniques there."
A homemade Christmas alphabet block tree is easy to make with small wooden blocks that you decorate yourself or with those you buy that have letters on them. Make a wood base and connect the blocks with hot glue, forming a tree shape.
Cher(e)s ami(e)s, Continuons à apprécier un univers de douceur, de candeur et de traditions dans ce monde où certains deviennent fous ! Cliquer sur les photos pour les agrandir. Je vous avais présenté la dernière fois les santons de H. Vézolles, voici...
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I thought I was making something simple this year turns out it wasn’t 😅 The making of the book was easy peasy but the bit inside the book not so easy. Anyways it was a fun to make cake and loved every detail. Hope you guys like it too. I’ve added a li
Make a straw pan flute using a few drinking straws and tape. This is the perfect activity to accompany a lesson on sound, five senses, or music.
Enhance literacy and pretend play with these easy to make origami finger puppets. The instructions are so simple, even origami beginners can make them!
