RVANews

Worth a thousand words

Sarah Hand — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 16:00:21 +0000

Using materials you have at home, you can make an eco-friendly present mom will love to show off! Kids should work with an adult for safety (and fun)!

1. Gather your materials.

You'll need:

Cardboard (old cereal boxes, other thin food packaging boxes)
Paper grocery bag
Pencil
Ruler
Scissors
X-acto knife
Glue (glue stick works well)
Bone folder or the back of a spoon (for creasing and rubbing paper)
Ribbon or other decorative string
Colored pencils, crayons, markers, or other things to decorate with
Two 4" X 6" photos
Rubber stamps, collage papers, stickers (optional)

2. Open out the paper grocery bag and cut out a piece of the paper measuring 8.5" X 14" -- you can iron it on a low setting to remove the wrinkles, if you like.

3. Fold the paper in half as shown, open back up and fold it in half the other way.

4. Using your ruler, draw lines as shown. Each segment is 1/2" wide. For the interior lines, measure from the creases.

5. On the upper rectangles, cut half inch segments as shown.

6. With a craft knife and ruler, carefully cut out the windows you created on the bottom two rectangles when drawing the margins. These will be the frames.

7. Using a strong glue stick (I used disappearing blue glue for illustration purposes) put a thin line of glue along the center crease between the frame cut-outs.

8. Fold the paper in half and press the crease with your bone folder or spoon to seal the middle.

9. Turn the whole thing over and put glue on the flaps that stick out.

10. Then fold them over and rub to stick to the back of the frames.

11. Glue a ribbon to the back of both short edges of the frames, leaving ends free to dangle. Set aside for a moment

12. Open out the cereal (or other) box and cut out two rectangles measuring 4.25" X 6.5".

13. Glue the entire back of one piece of cardboard.

14. Carefully line up the cardboard cover with the back of one half of the frame, rub with bone folder or spoon. Make sure to leave the ribbons free.

15. Repeat with the other half of the cardboard.

You are done! You can press this under a heavy book for a couple hours so it can dry nice and flat. Decorate as you wish! I've used stamps and crayon and colored pencil on my folding frame wallet.

Put two photos in the frame, or a photo and a poem you've written for your mom, or a drawing or painting you've made for her. This project is designed for 4 x 6 photos, so make sure your art or poem is that size.

(Photos by Phil Nunnally)

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Shamrock pin

Sarah Hand — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 10:00:53 +0000

Feelin' a wee bit crafty? Give your look a festive touch with this quick and easy St. Patrick's Day craft. You'll need:

Hot glue gun
Needle
Thread
Scissors
Pen
Safety pin
Green fabric scraps
Two templates, one slightly larger than the other (make your own from paper or cardboard, shaped like the ones pictured below)
Buttons (optional)

1. Make your templates based on the picture shown. These will be the leaves of your clover.

2. Trace the larger template four times on one scrap of green fabric.

3. Trace the smaller template four times on a different scrap of green fabric.

4. Cut out all the leaves.

5. Thread a needle and knot the end. Stitch the larger leaves as shown.

6. Leave should look like this when your stitching is complete.

7. Slide leaves toward the knot so they begin to scrunch up.

8. Cinch them together by knotting the thread ends together. Do this so the leaves are cinched, but leave a little bit of slack so you can move the leaves around a little bit.

9. Clip the thread close to the knot.

10. Fluff the leaves up so it looks four-leaf-cloverish. Repeat stitching and cinching with the smaller leaves, using a new piece of thread.

11. Using a hot glue gun, put a smallish blob of glue in the center of the larger clover.

12. Place the smaller clover on top of the larger clover and press down to bond.

13. Cut a small square of fabric - about a 1.5-inch square. This will be the stem!

14. Tightly roll up the scrap of fabric.

15. Put line of hot glue on the edge of the rolled fabric and hold it for a second to secure the edge.

16. Put a good-sized blob of glue on the back of the clover and press one end of the stem into it - hold until glue sets.

17. Put another generous blob of glue just above the stem.

18. Press the safety pin into the glue -- open the pin first and glue the non-opening edge of the pin to the clover. Be careful with the pointy part!

19. Cut a small scrap of fabric and cover one side with glue.

20. Press this over the glued pin edge and top of the stem. This will make the pin and stem extra secure.

21. If you like, glue a button to the center of the clover. Wear your pin and be the envy of leprechauns!

Recycled gum box Valentine

Sarah Hand — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 11:00:42 +0000

Want your love notes to stand out? Skip the store-bought box of cards and try out this impossibly cute alternative. You'll need...

Scissors
Craft knife
Glue stick
Pencil
Ruler
Decorative paper
1 strip of paper measuring 1 7/8" X 14" (this will be folded to make a card)
1 pack of gum - I used Orbit, but other brands have cool containers, too!
Optional: rubber stamps, stickers, bits of paper, etc. for embellishing