COMIC BOOK COASTERS.......

 

YOU'LL NEED

Images to copy from a comic book

4”x4” squares of 1/4” thick birch plywood (or head to the 99c store and buy a set and use those as a base, SHHH)

KRYLON spray paint in blue, red or yellow

Elmer's glue

Black Elmer’s Painter's Pen with chisel tip 

Sticky felt or Ultrasuede for the bottoms of the coasters 

 HERE'S HOW

1.  With the coaster on a flat surface, spray paint the edges and one side.

2.  Create your images in 4"x4" pieces.

3.  Paint the Elmer’s glue on the back of the image and adhere it to the

wood block.

4.  With your paint pen, draw around the edges to give it a nice

finished look.

5. Flip right side up and paint several coats of the Minwax Polycrylic

on the coaster and let dry.  Start with a very thin coat first and let

dry, slowly building up and letting dry in between coats.

6.  Cut out sticky felt the size of the coaster and adhere it on the back

of the coaster.

BOOM! BAM! ZAP! You’re ready to party!

 From THE BIG ASS BOOK OF HOME DECOR!

WOW-Butterfly Chandelier

Imagine your little girl or boy (remember, I made this) looking up at night right before bed and seeing sparkling butterflies hovering above her head.  This chandelier is perfect for any little kid who loves sparkles, flowers and butterflies.  I’m pretty sure that includes them all.  In fact, you don’t even need to install a light.  Remember to make magic, add sparkle and always 

Make Your Mark!

Imagine your little girl looking up at night right before bed and seeing sparkling butterflies hovering above her head.  This chandelier is perfect for any little girl who loves sparkles, flowers and butterflies.  I’m pretty sure that includes them all.  In fact, you don’t even need to install a light.

YOU’LL NEED:

Tomato cage with 3-5 rings from a garden store

Sandpaper or sanding block

Krylon Silver Crafter's Metallic spray paint

50 feet of cheap plastic pearls (Got mine at the 99c store!)

12 Feather butterflies

12 Faux flowers

Hot glue gun and glue sticks

E-6000 glue

Toothpicks

Scissors

Wire cutters or heavy duty pliers that can snip wire

HERE’S HOW:

1. Clip the larger rings off of the tomato cage with your wire cutters leaving 2 rings connected by extending wires.

2. Sand the wires to remove any dirt, rust or oil.

3. Curl the wires sticking out from the smallest ring of the cage like you see in the picture.

4. Bend the wires sticking out from the large ring toward the center so they meet.

5. Glue the wires together at where they meet with a big gob of E-6000 glue.

6. Hot glue your strings of pearls all around each wire of the now bent cage.

7. Once these strands are attached, take your E-6000 and carefully dab the glue all along the pearls so they are permanently attached.

8. Cut 6 strands of pearls in 12” lengths and attach each end of the top ring so that you have two drapes in between each wire.

DON’T WORRY! This is the fun part.  Just start draping any way you want to and you’ll see how beautiful it will be.

9. After you’ve attached about 6 drapes, dab on more E-6000 with a toothpick being very neat, but making sure to attach the pearl to the wire with the glue.  

WARNING! Hot glue and metal don’t work well together, so you are just using this to tack the pearls in place while the other glue dries.)

10. Once all of the pearls are in place, spray paint your chandelier with Krylon Crafter's Metallic.

11. When it dries, attach your butterflies and flowers evenly all the way around first with hot glue and then with the E-6000.  I only used 12 butterflies and 12 flowers, but go crazy if you want to and use a ton.

12. OPTIONAL:  Wrap your 6’ Snap-in Socket and Cord set around the top where the wires meet and hang from a hook in your ceiling.  Sweet dreams.

This and 100 more projects in THE BIG ASS BOOK OF HOME DECOR!

  

SUBSCRIPTION CARD ART.......One of my favorites!

 

Hmm.....Do those little subscription cards in magazines bug you as much as they do me?  I mean, come on!  How many do you really need?  I decided to make them into something interesting so that I would look forward to them instead of cursing the day they started inserting them!  I hope you like this project. I've been doing it for years and I really enjoy it.

YOU’LL NEED:

Subscription cards from a magazine        

Tempera paints in dark colors like blue, grey, green, red and deep orange

Blue painters tape

1” wide flat art brush

Rubber stamps, your choice here

Embossing powder in gold and silver

Embossing heat gun

Embossing stamp pad

HERE’S HOW:

 STEP 1: Working on some newspaper OR kraft paper , tape around your subscription card 1/4 inch.

 STEP 2:  Fill in the area with your tempera paint.

DON’T WORRY: If you can see the printing underneath, that’s part of the art!

 STEP 3:  When the paint is dry, stamp your image using the embossing ink onto the painted area making sure to center it artfully.

 STEP 4:  Sprinkle the embossing powder on the wet ink and you will see the particles stick to the design of the stamp, tap off the excess and then set the embossing dust with your heat gun (you could use a blow dryer on high for this, too)

DON’T WORRY: if your paper warps, just press it overnight in between some books.

STEP 5:  Remove the tape after this because it will be warm from the  heat gun.

Frame it in a simple frame and you’ve got some great art.

Get hundreds more ideas from my Big Ass Books!  

Baby Head Paperweight.......FUN!

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Wait, did I just say baby head paper-weight? Yes, I did!  I have an odd attraction to weird dolls, steam punk, and anything a bit morbid.  This paper-weight fits the bill just fine for me. I want about 20 of them on my desk so that I feel like I'm being stared at while I write my letters.  One day I'll figure out how to make them talk.  Until then,  I need to  figure out what to do with the rest of the doll!  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

YOU'LL NEED:

Doll head

Plaster of Paris

Brown and Gold spray paint

Water bottle

HERE'S HOW:

Step 1:  Rip (okay, gently remove) the head off of your doll

 Step 2:  Mix enough plaster of Paris to fill the head up to the neck

Step 3:  Let dry 

Step 4:  Spray with brown paint, let dry, spritz with water and while wet, spray with the gold paint to give the antique effect.

If you want the entire doll for your desk top, fill up the body with plaster to give it some weight and use the lid of a jar for a base.  Wrap with some twine, spray paint and guess what, you're still going to creep out your friends!

For this and many other projects, check out The Big Ass Book of Crafts Volume 1!