25 Handmade Gifts Under $5 If your gift list is long and your budget is small here are some great Handmade Gifts that you can make. Keep in mind that handmade items are not just beautiful but special… I love to give them and I love to receive them. Jersey Knit Bracelet Lovely! This would make a perfect gift for any of your girlfriends. You can choose the colors and recycle t-shirts that you have around the house. Cheap and cute! tutorial Paper Clip Earrings Tutorial This is a brilliant idea… and the possibilities are endless. Love it! Printed Candles Who doesn’t love a candle? Think about how many different stamps you could use to customize this project. tutorial Hot Chocolate Art! What a great gift for neighbors and teachers… I am personally a hot chocolate lover so this would make a great gift for me tutorial Tile Coaster You can buy these plain tiles at Home Depot for under a dollar. I’ve seen them with family pictures also… Way cute! tutorial Bow Belt I was amazed how easy this tutorial was. So Pretty! tutorial Paper Plate Clock Cheap?
{Valentines day} pixelated popup card I‘ve been scratching my head trying to come up with a card for my hubby {AKA the non-romantic type}. I finally decided to make this pixely popup heart card! They are really minimal (which I love) and take about 20 minutes to make (that includes the card, insert and envelope). You can even make some pixely confetti to put inside the card (if you are a big kid like me!). Full instructions and printable templates below! (BTW I remember seeing something similar in a popup book years ago. How to 1. (If you have a cutting machine then see note at end of post!) Cut along the black lines and score the grey lines. 3. 5. 7. Edited to add: The lovely Kayla from saynotsweetanne has send me a .dfx file of the card which you can use if you have a cutting machine. I‘ve been scratching my head trying to come up with a card for my hubby {AKA the non-romantic type}. They are really minimal (which I love) and take about 20 minutes to make (that includes the card, insert and envelope). How to 1. 3. 5. 7.
Envelope Book A Basic Envelope Book Materials Needed: To create a basic envelope book you will need: 4 envelopes all the same size2 pieces of plain cardstock cut to the same size as the envelopesPatterned scrapbook papers to cover the cardA piece of cardstock as wide as the envelopes and 12" longA length of ribbon Cover the plain cardstock with the patterned scrapbook paper, snipping the corners to get a neater finish. Fold the long piece of cardstock accordion style. Lay the ribbon across the centre of both covers, tape down to stabilize if necessary and glue the spine in place. Cover the inside front cover with patterned scrapbook paper and an envelope to the back cover. It's up to you whether to cut the flaps off or leave them on -- either way looks good.
Papercraft alphabet | Digitprop – Papercraft and Stuff This is the official announcement for the papercraft alphabet I just finished uploading. That was quite some work, especially with two hyperactive kids climbing all over me while I am typing. By the way, if you speak German: Hätte auch auf Deutsch funktioniert. Anyway, the alphabet is now complete – a collection of 26 papercraft templates for all letters 0f the alphabet, each representing an animal, thing, or people starting with that letter: You will find the complete list of templates here. Here is a ZIP file containing all templates as PDFs. Have fun with these – and if you do, I wouldn’t mind if you help to spread the word… Edit: I have just uploaded numbers to go with the alphabet.
Repurposed Cot Recently our little Squeak made the transition from the cot to her first big girl bed. I dutifully moved the cot into our study waiting to be dismantled and either stored or passed on, but kept finding reasons not to do it. The thing is, I'm certain there will be no more babies for us. Kind of certain. OK, 99.99% certain. But every time I passed the study and saw our empty cot looking back at me forlornly (it really was) I'd procrastinate a little bit more. * baby cot with a removable drop side * mdf/particle board cut to mattress size * blackboard paint Our drop side had already been removed so all I had to do was adjust the base to the highest newborn setting. I cut two sheets of thick mdf to fit snugly into the mattress base to provide a table top. It was then easy to use hooks and suction hooks to create storage on the cot sides. On the left hand side we hung Bubble's whiteboard for doing her therapy homework using 3M removable hooks.
DIY Doily Light: Simple Suspended-Sphere Lace Lamp Shade So simple a child could make it – and have fun in the process, too. And the result? A shining example of how light and shadow can work together to brighten up a room. Swedish craftswoman Isabelle Dos started with a simple party-shop balloon, blown up big and wrapped in white lace place settings painted with wallpaper glue. The soaked material sticks readily to the sides of the inflated sphere, overlapping to form a contiguous shell, suspended and left to dry overnight like a plaster cast. Pop the balloon and presto: a little cut in the top lets you drop in a bare bulb and create your own chandelier, potentially using whatever pattern you want (if lace feels a little too old-fashioned) to frame the outside and filter the light. Headband Refashion Our headband had a flower that was starting to look a little tired and worn so we made it new again! This braided ribbon could embellish many things— a hair clip would be cute too! These headbands would make great handmade gifts for little girls to make each other! Woven Ribbon Headband Gather a headband and about 4 1/2 yards of ribbon. You can use any with — I chose 1/4 inch. Begin by finding the middle of the ribbon. Now bring the bottom ribbon up and make a loop and send it through the beginning loop that you just made by crossing the ribbon. Pull the right side snug. Now repeat for the other side, picking up the right side, making a loop and sending it up through the loop just made on the other side. Pull the left side snug. Pull right side snug. Continue braiding until you have a piece long enough to cover the headband. Bring the other side over and then trim. Hot glue ribbon to headband. Finished!
The Magic of Seeds and the Science of Insuring Earth's Future by Maria Popova What tiny parachutes and a man named Wolfgang have to do with the future of all living species. All life — including human life — depends on plants. All the genetic information the biodiversity of our planet, as well as the sustenance of our species and others’, is held in the seeds that survive from generation to generation. This superb short film, featuring breathtaking photomicroscopy of seeds by Rob Kesseler of Pollen fame, takes us behind the scenes of the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership, where the scientists of Kew Gardens are hard at work preserving wild plants and habitats for our future. There’s no technological reason why any plant species should become extinct. See more of Kesseler’s work on his site. For a related treat, revisit the book about the project, accompanied by Jonathan Drori’s TEDx talk on seed preservation and some gorgeous vintage seed catalog illustrations. ↬ MetaFilter Brain Pickings has a free weekly newsletter and people say it’s cool.
Backlit Canvas Art Do you have one project that you've been longing to do, but just haven't found the time yet? This is it for me. I call it my Backlit Canvas Art and the inspiration piece has been pinned in my "Crafts to try" Pinterest board for ages. My "pin"speration is an artist's piece made from metal that has hand cut flowers all over it. So I decided to give it a go and create my version. There are two main differences between the two: 1. 2. The idea of the canvas is that during the day (ie. with the Christmas light off) you have a beautiful sculpture while at night (you guessed it, with the Christmas lights on!) How about a tutorial? Supply list Mounted canvas (mine is 10"x10") cardstock to fit on your canvas (mine is 12"x12") stamps ink pad X-acto knife light source* *I wasn't sure if I wanted to use a single bulb or Christmas lights so that is why both are in the above picture. I decided to go with the same flower theme as my inspiration piece. I randomly stamped various flowers across my cardstock.