How-To's Day: Comic Party Ball Decorations

Kevin here,

The Avengers is out today on Blu Ray and if you are a geek like me, you'll be watching it a lot.  I like to imagine it'll be my revenge for KC's Twilight marathons that can go several days.  So if you are planning on having a marvel marathon viewing party of your own, why not be uber geek and make custom decorations out of comics!

I enlisted KC's help showing me how she made the Party Balls at the last Etsy Night at CAFAM.  These are instructions originally from Mark Montano's demo. I'm going to use old and freeby comic books instead of the Robert Pattinson gossip magazines she uses. These party decorations made from comics are going to make my re-purposed geek party a hit!

Materials

• Paper (30 pages)
• Hot glue gun and sticks
• Scissors
• Pen
• Large throat stapler and staples

Cutting Steps

Step 1
Create a template to trace a 7" diameter circle on your papers.

Step 2
Cut the circle shapes out on 30 pages.

Step 3
Cut 12 little notches proportionally around the circle stack.  Draw lines across your template to line them up first.

Step 4
Group a stack into 15 pages and fold them in half straight through two notches on either side.  Along this crease, staple three times evenly.  Repeat this step, you will have two stacks prepped for gluing.

Gluing Steps

Steps 1-3
Starting between the 1st and 2nd pages of a stack, place glue dots on the first, middle and last notches.

Step 4
Turn the next page down and put glue dots on the two notches not glued on the previous page.

Repeat this process until all the pages are alternately glued together, resulting in a half moon shape.
Do all these steps again for the other stack.  When 2 completed stacks are glued dry, carefully unfold these halves and complete the paper sphere by gluing them (pictured below).

If you have any trouble, Check out more details here too.

I hate to waste good comics, so I used promotional and free stuff.  I plan on creating enough paper decorations with ribbons to disperse around the ceiling of the party room.  Let me know if you guys make some and what kinds of images you use!

-- Kevin Sears

Have a Tie Dye Party

Tie-dyeing is based on the traditional art of folding or tying fabric to resist the dyes and create unique patterns of color. Whether you are tie-dyeing T-shirts or marbling fabric for quilts and home accessories, you can't go wrong with trying your hand at tie-dyeing.


Basic Supplies Needed:

Rubber gloves
Rubber bands, string, or 2-inch wide strips of cloth
Plastic to cover your work surface (you can split open a large heavy trash bag to do this)
A 3-gallon bucket or tub for each color
Rit or other Dyes
Long-handle stainless steel spoon
Scissors
Plastic Bags
Masking Tape and Permanent Marker






First you will want to pick the pattern or design you want for your tie dye. Here are some quick examples:

Image found on Flickr via  weavingmajor

Basic Tie-Dyeing Instructions

We used two packets of dry Rit Dye per tub.  8 Colors in all to chose from.

The first thing you should do is choose your colors. Most people say you can choose one, two, or up to three colors. (This is the case when you want to turn some colors into another when they mix so you would have up to six colors once finished)
*I think you should be able to use as many colors as you want to, just keep in mind you have a possibility to make brown if you mix too many together.

When using more than one color, it's usually best to start with the lightest color. When tie-dyeing with two or more colors, plan to put adjacent primary or secondary colors next to each other. In the areas where they run together, they will create a third, great-looking color. For instance, red and yellow will produce orange; blue and green will make cyan; fuchsia and blue will create purple.

I thought the curbs would be helpful for the kids to be able to step up and tie dye w/ help. 

Here I am giving a quick dye lesson on choosing colors.

So many color options

Annette @TasteePastree shown dyeing a tote pictured below

Once the attendees finished adding their colors and dyed all parts of their items they wanted to be dyed we wrapped the item up in a trash bag and secured it with masking tape.  This helps the items sit and the color to cure properly. Participants can write their name with the marker on the tape and pick up their items at the end of the party this way too so that the mess is minimal.  Keep in mind that while the buckets have the dye in them you can dye all kinds of things in the dye baths.  Here is an example we did before where just dumping buttons into the dye baths can refresh boring and simple buttons.

After the item has set for a full 24 hours it can be washed.  Read the instructions paired to the type of dye you use to make sure of the best washing instructions for the colorfastness of the dye - however, I like to suggest that you rinse with warm water first until it runs clear then shifting to the same with cold water before adding any additional soap and cleansers. Do keep in mind that the item has been dyed when laundering it after the initial cleaning.  Treat the items like all other laundered items that may bleed by washing separately OR with like colors.

Here is some totes we dyed at the Etsy Craft Night at CRAFTED:

Great way to freshen up all those tote bags!

Note: I love using natural dyes as much as possible and I want to put it out there that I have no statistics or figures on what the impact of using Rit or other dyes waste water does to our ecosystem... I like to think of tie dye as a method to bring second life into old t-shirts or shopping bags.  If you can have a more intimate party that involves a heat source you should totally have a natural dyeing tie dye party using methods like these.

XOXO, KC

How-To's Day: Make a Crafty Party

We had such a wonderful response to our Etsy Craft Party at CRAFTED last month and wanted to share some project tips to include in your own craft party.

For a Paper Craft Party

Always perfect for a paper party - rubber stamps & ink, paper punches and craft paper.

Project ideas:  Make your own DIY gift wrapping paper, Tags, Embellishments, Wall Art, Stationery

Also fun to have on hand - Postage Stamps!

Here is more details to get your stamps ready. 

By adding some bottle cap magnet blanks attendees have the option to make magnets along with the paper crafts super easily. 

Simple instructions can be found here.

Fabric Fun Party
Grab your girlfriends and update your wardrobe with a craft party :)

Sewn Fabric Bows can be a great wardrobe addition & easy for all levels of sewers.

Fabric yo-yo's

Add to shirts, purses, brooches, earrings, necklaces and all kinds of things.

Buttons

Even covering things with buttons is enough to make something new again!

Fabric + More Sewing  

Add some Lavender for some great gifts:

Heat Pads / Ice packs

Gather up your dryer sheets and make some fabulous sachets!!!

Around the House Party

Corks

Project ideas: Cover Votive Candles, Make Cork Boards, Wreaths, Mini Planters

Green Cleaning

Easy to make - DIY Laundry Detergent with 3 ingredients 

Don't forget every party needs some food and a signature cocktail :)

Check out some fun cocktail ideas from our Pinterest Vault

What is a celebration without some decorations?!?

We love finding party ideas on Pinterest! Check out our Weddings & Party Board to figure out some ways to decorate your party utilizing all kinds of fun themes.

Do you have any projects that are a craft party hit? We would love to see your party fun and hear any tips for our next party :)

XOXO, KC

How-To's Day: Paper Decorations for a Craft Party

I love making things out of paper!!! It is one of my absolute favorite materials to work with. One of my favorite materials to have in the studio are maps.  Thomas Guides are especially helpful since there is so many pages of maps inside each one.  The warehouse is so vast down at CRAFTED that basic paper garlands are a must to help add to the decorations.  We recently did a demo using the small tubular ornament template by Martha Stewart Crafts as seen here, and it is the perfect tool to crank out some massive decorations.

For the paper lanterns we are using this time saving tool, but you can also create the same result by folding a 6.5" square into a rectangle, then cutting slits in 1/2" intervals making sure to leave at least a 1/2"  border on the raw edge.

Always an easy favorite when making paper decorations is the classic paper chain.  We have been using the scraps leftover from the lanterns to make paper chains to add to our decorations.

Another awesome paper decoration is these great mini suitcases to reinforce the Wish You Were Here theme as well as decorate their booths. Using a rectangle box and some imagination you can make a super mini suitcase too! Check out this great example from Desiree B-

Off to keep making paper lanterns for our decoration meeting tomorrow ;)

XOXO, KC

Fireworks and Fun for the 4th

Hope your 4th of July was explosive!!!

We had a very low key celebration our way.  I am still figuring out my schedule and normalizing after our big push for CRAFTED and what that means for my Mon. - Thurs. schedule. We tore up the house getting everything for the port and I think it is going on 4 weeks neglecting laundry.  All this is put on hold until I make some more pin cushion rings since we sold out of a lot of them last weekend!!!

We celebrated with Lavender x3 cocktails for the 4th. Why "x3" you ask? If lavender were fireworks, then this drink would be the grand finale! It  was definitely  a lavender explosion made with Lavender Lemonade, Lavender Infused Vodka, and Lavender Simple Syrup. I also tried making the spiked lemonade with infused vodka and San Pellegrino Limonata... I am completely torn on which I liked better.  Making the actual lavender lemonade took some time so mixing with the Limonata makes WAY more sense in the taste to easy ratio.

Once the cocktails and food had been started on, logically we had to play some guitar hero for entertainment. I don't care how old this game is, I love spastically trying to keep up with the music!

To sweeten the day Annette and her culinary expertise brought some wonderful food over including this amazing peach + raspberry cobbler. With homemade vanilla bean whip cream mind you ;) So flippin' tasty it is no wonder she makes sweet treats for a living!

Alas, the holiday is over and work is calling...
Hope y'all have a wonderful rest of the week!
XOXO, KC

West Elm's Customer Appreciation Night

Last night we had the opportunity to highlight a few ways to add some fun handmade touches to an outdoor Garden Party for West Elm's Customer Appreciation Night. Rolling Greens did a terrarium how-to downstairs and upstairs we showed off a banner/garland made from fabric scraps and yarn.  It is a fun and easy no-sew way to have a fabric garland over a table or gathering area at  your party.  We also had upcycled punched-can lanterns with flame-less candles since we were indoors. It was a little bright to see the full potential of the glowing lantern, but even as a faint dim it was awesome to have a bride come through the set up and declare that she is inspired and wants to try them at her wedding!

We will be showing off how to make both the banner and the tin can lanterns next week in our tutorials so stay tuned for all the fun details.  

Another great part of the evening was that we got to talk to all kinds of people about CRAFTED and other events coming up we are involved in.  Everyone was so excited to hear that once CRAFTED opens there will be an amazing permanent place to get handmade goods!   Pretty much everyone we spoke with were major fans of Unique LA and are very excited that the Spring Show is just 2 weeks away!!! 

So exciting! We look forward to seeing everyone there :)

Have a super weekend! XOXO, KC & Kevin