Recycled Drink Coasters!

My poor kitchen table. It is always assaulted by various liquids due to the fact that I simply do not own drink coasters. THIS CHANGES TODAY, MY FRIENDS! And we're recycling in the process! Can you handle it?!

First, find something you can use to make the drink coasters. I found a few old tatami place mats in the kitchen, so I thought I'd might as well butcher these. Mom won't mind, right?

I've also heard of people using cork board, and even decoupaging magazines or newspapers for drink coasters. IMHO, you can't beat a tatami mat.

This is actually pretty simple. Cut the mat into squares, and glue any loose ends with fabric glue, if necessary. Works great, and looks really professional. LOVE IT.

So that's it! My dining surfaces are now protected, and I recycled. +2 points for me!

Until next week! Enjoy the sun and be blessed!
-Britterz

Portal Bookends

Recently, everyone around me has been going crazy over Portal 2, a new video game. It has really interesting physics to it, involving blue and orange teleportation portals.

Complete with super cool robots!





So I decided to make a bookend set to commemorate the occasion. Yay nerddom!

First I had to use a jigsaw to cut out the figure. I felt so buff. Aw yeahuh.

I also cut out some squares and rectangles to make the actual book ends.

Assemble the book ends, and prepare to slice the figure in half! MACABEEE.

Get some wood glue and stick that lil' bugger on there. Let it dry overnight.

Once it's dry you can start painting it!

And BOOM! Done! In one portal and out the other!

Side view.

Frontal view. MM, so nerdy and delicious.









Until next week! Go inside and play World of Warcraft. And be blessed. So there.

-Britterz

Up-Cycled Centerpiece!

I'm SO excited about this week's post! I love decorating my new apartment, but it can be so ridonculously expensive to buy furniture and decorations in the store! NO MORE I SAY! I'M UPCYCLING MYSELF A CENTERPIECE FOR MY NEW TABLE AND AIN'T NOBODY GONNA STOP ME!!

This is the inspiration for my centerpiece! Just paper leaves on black sticks- simple, and absolutely FREE! Just the way I like it.

First, I got some thick-ish paper and cut out some leaves. I wanted mine to be all white, but you can use colored paper too.

Make a few sizes. GET CRAZY!! Also, make sure you gather a few twigs and sticks from around the neighborhood.

Use glue to add the leaves onto the sticks. Don't use Elmers. Use a glue gun. Please. Learn from my mistakes. My messy, messy mistakes.

One...

Two...

THREE! All done! A super cool and artistic center piece for my kitchen table, and it's totally free!! CAN YOU HANDLE THE ENVIRONMENTALLY-FRIENDLY FLAVA?!

Didn't think so.



So this is Britterz! Signing off for this week... I think I'm going to try to break out the power tools for next week... But not before I file an updated Last Will and Testament and my life insurance policy. Priorities, people. Priorities.

YOU. SAFE. BLESSED. NOW.
-Britterz

Handmade Poppy Earrings!

IT'S WARM OUTSIDE! I'm officially wearing shorts every day now! To express my overwhelming bliss, I thought I would commemerate the moment by making red poppy earrings.

This is a poppy. AKA the attempted murderer of Dorthy in The Wizard of Oz.

They're pretty cool though, right?! I love wildflowers!

To make this project, I used my good ol' buddy Sculpey! It's a easy to use bake-able clay that costs about $2 for a 2" packet. Totally do-able. I had some skin tone left over from a craft I did previously, so I just used that.

You're also going to need a set of old earring studs (right). And the Sculpey is on the left, although it does look like a mutilated nose or something from this angle... ew.

I rolled the Sculpey flat using my Exacto knife. Make sure that you blow dry the clay beforehand so it's easier to work with. Don't overheat it, though or it will set!

Cut out a small strip and wind it up into the inner petal shape. Just one complete circle, then use the Exacto knife to trim off the excess.

Place another slightly larger petal over the first layer. Shape it to look more like a poppy on the edges. Just be patient and work at it, re-blow drying when necessary. 

Repeat for the other earring. Here are the two shapes finished!

Poke the stud through to create a hole. Then heat some water until it boils, and dip both earrings in the pot for 2 minutes. This sets the clay.

Then REMOVE THE STUD and place permanent, water-proof glue all around where the stud touches! If you don't the petals will wiggle and even fall off! (Sad, but true, story.)

Get some acrylic paints and get to work decorating your poppies! I love this bright, glossy red.

Let it set to dry before adding another color. GAH! SO PRETTY!

Add the black around the center. Let dry again! The nice thing about acrylic paint is how quickly it dries.

Then add the yellow dots for the center of the flower! Allow it to dry, and coat with clear sealant, if desired.

And VIOLA! Super cute and summery earrings that were a total exercise in re-purposing!








Let me know if you have any questions! Sculpey is a bit weird to work with at first, but you'll get the hang of it with practice! It's a fantastic artistic medium, in my humble opinion. MHMM.

Until next week! Be happy and blessed!
-Britterz

Homemade Mozzarella Stix!

Are you ready for FRIED CHEESE?! That's right! It's MOZZARELLA STIX WEEK!

Step 1! Cut some string cheese in half, and prepare to "dredge" them. Dredging is an easy way to coat food for frying, and it entails coating the object in flour, egg yolk, and seasoned bread crumbs. IN THAT ORDER.

FLOUR!

EGG! BREAD CRUMBS!

Now while you're dredging, heat up some oil on medium heat, and then drop those puppies right on in there! Be careful though, the cheese melts if they're left in there for more than like... 20 seconds, as shown by this picture... (FAIL.)

And ba-da-bing! Fried cheese! Perfect for clogging all your buddies' arteries at your next football party.

...I feel like all my food posts have been horribly bad for you and deep-fried... haha




So until next week! This is Britterz, signing off.
Have a safe and blessed week everyone!

-Britterz

Tuffet Pincushion!

In other news, my pincushion recently broke, releasing a confetti spray of sawdust and needles! Lots of fun to clean that one up... SO I decided it was high time to make a new  pincushion!

I wanted to make a shiny tuffet of a pincushion, so I used pink satin. Using a pot lid, I drew and cut out a small circle.

Go around the circle with the needle, zig-zagging with an un-knotted thread. I actually held the thread's end in my mouth while doing this so it wouldn't get lost in the fabric.

Eventually, it will start to scrunch up in the shape of a satchel. Continue to do this all the way around, and tug at both ends so it puckers.

Stuff it with either stuffing or sawdust, and pull the thread tightly. I then attached a felt circle to the open end with hot glue.

I also glued some trim around the bottom, so it would look more like a tuffet. I also attached a cute button to the top!

Here is the final product! Works great, and a lot cuter than the generic ones they sell in craft stores.







Until next week! Enjoy the warm weather and be blessed!

I would also like to formally apologize for my sincere lack of comedic interludes during this post... I unfortunately can't think of anything witty to say about pin cushions... must be all my homework PINNING down my creativity! HA.

-Britterz

Handmade Bow Headbands!

So... sorry I didn't post last week! I was really busy saving a runaway train of orphans and puppies from Communism. Also, homework was a key player in the delay. Anyway! I did two projects this week to make up for it! The first: HANDMADE BOW HEADBANDS!

I love bows; they're adorable. I had a ton of ugly headbands lying around the house, so I thought that I'd take advantage of the situation and make some cute bow headbands!

Git your glue gun, headbands, fabric and ribbon and go for it!

Using a ribbon to make a bow headband: First, tie a bow and cut it free from the rest of the ribbon.

If your headband is a different color than what you'd like it to be, wrap the headband with the excess ribbon. Luckily, mine is already red. HA.

Glue the bow to the headband. I found that it looks nicer if you use a small rectangle of ribbon to cover the bow's knot. Let it dry, and then try it on! ....Don't switch those steps up.

Here it is! There are tons of possibilities for these things! I'm gonna do another headband too, but by using white fabric rather than ribbon. OH THE VERSATILITY!

First, I sewed a tube of white fabric, and then slid it on the black headband.

Tie off the edges, and sew or glue the fabric to look the way you'd like it to.

Make a rectangle and sew on both sides. Then pinch/stitch in the middle to make the bow. Glue to the headband.

AWESOME. I LOVE BOWS.

There are so many combinations! GO CRAZY! I bet you can even make hair clips and bowties with this technique, too!








So that's the make-up project for last week! Good luck!

Be blessed,
-Britterz