Salt dough jewellery

Hi guys! 

Today I'm going to how to make so cheap and easy jewellery,using salt dough. Salt dough is like a biscuit that goes hard when cooked and wont go off. You can put stamps on it, or paint it with nail varnish.

You will need:

1/2 cup salt

1/2 cup water

1 cup flour

Stamps

Nail varnish

String

1) Mix together the flour salt and water. Next roll it out and cut out the shapes. Poke holes in your shapes for the thread. Make the holes bigger than they need to be, as the holes shrink in the oven.

2) Put your pieces onto a plate and put it in the microwave. They should be cooked for roughyl three minutes. Take them out every twenty seconds, to see if they are hard yet, and to make sure they don't bubble.

3) if you are stamping them, do this after two minutes or so, so the stamp will keep it's form. After three minutes, take them out. If you like, paint them with nail varnish, and then thread them.

There you have it. Some easy jewellery you made yourself.

By annie

Paperson

Hello!

Are you in need of a small companion? Then look no further, because today you will learn how to make a paperson in a few simple steps. As well as being great decoration for rooms, these nifty things make fun presents too.

You will need:

-1 sheet of paper/card

-pens/pencils for drawing

-colouring pens/pencils

-1 black biro/fineliner

-1 pair of scissors

1. 

Draw a person - any person - about the height of your index finger. Draw them in standing position, adding as much detail/colour as you want. Then, with a black biro/fineliner, draw around the edge of your person to make them stand out, and also to make it clear where to cut. If you want to have more clarity, you can also draw along the lines inside the outline (this has been done in the picture).

2.

Carefully cut out the person you have drawn, along the black lines.

3.

Now for the folding part. This takes some judgement but is not too hard - you can use the picture here as a guide. First, estimate where the knees would be, and fold the lower half of the legs back behind the person. Then fold the shoes upwards, at 90 degrees to the lower legs. Then fold the waist by lifting the legs towards the stomach. Then fold the elbows - how to do this will depend on the angle at which you have drawn the arm.

4.

Your paperson is ready - now all you have to find is a corner for it to sit on. This can be the edge of a table, the edge of a chest of drawers, the edge of a stack of books, or many other places. If you want, you can design a paper bench or chair that folds around the corner for the paperson to sit on. Be creative!

I hope you enjoy the company of your paperson! You could even make a few more to keep your paperson company when you're not around. How about experimenting and making different paperthings to sit on your corners, such as paperanimals!

By Issy

Candy Cane Scrub

Hi guys!

Do you find that you always have loads of candy canes left over after Christmas? Well, here's a fun and useful way to use them up.

You will need:

-900g caster sugar

-250ml olive oil

-a few candy canes

-30-40 drops of your favourite essential oil

-a jar

1) Put 900g of sugar into a bowl. Stir to get rid of any lumps. The sugar works as a gentle exfoliant.

2) Put in the olive oil. It should now have the consistency of wet sand, and not be too soggy. Olive oil is best, with skin soothing properties, but sunflower and almond oil are good as well.

3) Add in 30-40 drops of your essesntial oil. I used tea tree oil.

4) Smash up the candy canes. Put then in a zip lock bag, then crush them with a rolling pin. Stop when it's a similar size to the sugar.

5) Put a large amount of the sugar in the bottom of the jar. Then sprinkle some candy cane on top of that. Put in alternating layers of sugar and candy cane until it's all used up.

There you have it, you have finished your scrub. It's really nice as a present or you can 

keep it for yourself

By annie

Draw-string bags

Hi guys!

This post it going to teach you how to make a simple drawstring bag, which you can use to hold anything.

You will need:

-fabric

-ribbon

-thread

-needles

Lay out your fabric and cut it to the right size of the thing you want to hold. Turn you fabric inside out, and running stitch around three of the sides, leaving a little gap at the top of the two vertical sides

Turn the bag inside out. We are now going to sew the drawstring part. Fold the excess fabric down, the fold it again slightly to create a small seam. Sew the folded down fabric to the rest of the bag. Repeat for the other side.

 Now we have to thread the ribbon through the hole. I find it easier to put the ribbon on a safety pin first, then thread the safety pin through the hole. Make sure the ribbon has gone all the way through the bag, then flat the bag and tie of the ribbon. Cut off the ends. 

There you have it, your bag is finished. Try making your bag in different sizes for different things.

By annie

Super Easy Friendship Bracelet

Hi Guys!

Today I'm going to teach you how to make a friendship bracelet. They are super easy and you can either make them using four or two colours.

1) If you are using four colours, cut each of them around thirty cm. If you are using two colours, double the length, cut it, then fold it in half. Line up all the threads next to each other, then tie them all together at the top.

2) Take the first thread. Cross it on top of the second thread.

3) Put the first thread under the second thread, then pull to tighten. Complete steps 2 and 3 for all the other threads in the row.

4) Pick up the first thread again. Complete steps 2 to 3 for this row. Do steps 2 to 4 until the bracelet is long enough to go around your wrist. Tie it off, cut of any extra thread, and wear!

By annie

How To Make Lipbalm

Hi guys,

Do you always use lipbalm and ever thought it might be fun to make your own? Well today we are going to teach you how to make your own lipbalm. All of the ingredients are very common, and you probably have them all at home already.

You will need

-petroleum jelly (vaseline)

-other lip balm or lipstick (if you want colour)

-lemon juice, chocolate or other flavour, if you want it

-container*

1) Put some vaseline in a bowl and microwave it. After thirty seconds see how melty it is. If it is still quite hard put it in again for another thirty seconds.

2) Mix in some existing lipbalm or lipstick for colour. Lipstick will produce a stronger colour than lipbalm.

3) Add in your spices or oils. I used ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon. Lots of things will work such as vanilla, chocolate powder, honey, lemon juice or mint oil.

4) Put it in your container. Warning: this part can be tricky and a bit messy. Then, you are done!

*- they sell good containers at Muji, or could could use an old lipbalm container. You can also make your own container if you cut the lid off a bottle, then superglue celophane to the raw edge. The top will act as a lid.

By annie

Decorate Your Keys

Hi guys!

Now I am sure you'll all agree that keys are a little boring. But this post is going to show you how to liven them up a bit. There are two methods, using washi tape and using nail varnish.

Washi Tape

1) Put a piece of tape on your key, then cut it to the right size. Trim around the edges so it looks neat.

2) Put a hole through the tape where the key is, then cut out the excess tape.

3) Repeat for other side.

Nail Varnish

1) Cover the key in nail varnish, then wait for it to dry.

2) Do another coat of nail varnish. Wait for this to dry.

3) Do steps one and two on the other side.

By Annie

Ten Uses for Washi Tape

Hi guys!

Okay, so we both are really obsessed with washi tape, and we decided to do this so you know what to use it for. Washi tape is great because it's actually quite strong, it doesn't leave any marks, and you can get it in so many patterns. We have other posts on washi ideas too, so make sure you check them out!

1. Decorate your keyboard in tape. Just cut out squares roughly the right size and stick it in.

2. Put it on all your cables so you know which one is which on is which and you don't get confused.

3. Similar to number two. Decorate your charger with it.

4.  You can put it on your light switches to make it look more cheerful.

5. Make little bookmarks out of a paperclip and some tape. Simply thread the tape through and cut it. These are good as they are not valuable if you lose them.

6. Put it around your glue sticks, pens etc. so you know which one is yours and people don't take it.

7. Decorate boring notebooks.

8. Put it on your coat hangers, to make them more happy.

9. Wrap it around pencils.

10. Make mini bunting out of it.

NB: the picture for number 10 is Issy's, so it looks slightly different

By Annie

Projects: (top) 10,1,3
(middle) 2,5,4,8
(bottom) 6,9,7

Personalised Washi Phone Case

Hi everyone! 

Do you like washi tape? If you do, then this post (and our other washi posts) is for you, because we're going to show you how to make a personalised washi phone case. They take ten or less minutes to make and the result is really cool. Enjoy!

You will need:

1 transparent or mostly transparent phone case

1 pencil

1 ruler (optional)

1 plain sheet of white (or a different colour of your choice) paper or card

1 pair of scissors

2 rolls of differently patterned washi tape

All of the above items are easily obtainable - you can purchase clear phone cases, pencils, rulers, paper, scissors and washi tape on online stores such as Amazon, and in most real shops.

1. Lay the phone case on top of the paper, with the back of it facing downwards and the open side facing upwards. Next, pick up your pencil to draw the perimeter of the transparent part. If this is a completely transparent case, you can simply trace around the outside of the case onto the paper, remembering not to include the camera section in your outline. However, if you have a case that is not completely transparent, like the one we used for this tutorial, you will need to trace as accurately as possible around the transparent area. We did this by lifting up the case, estimating where an edge would be, then putting the case back down and seeing how close to the edge it was, moving the line if it wasn't very accurate. Keep doing this draw-compare-move method until you have an outline that is more or less accurate.

2. Cut out your outline along the lines so that you have a paper template of the transparent part of your phone case.

3. Time for the fun, creative part! First, make sure your template is the right way round - you don't want to create a cool design only to find that it has to face your phone because of where the camera hole is. Take your two rolls of washi tape and decide which is the paler, or slightly less vibrant, one. Hold onto this one and put it near your template, scissors at the ready. Unpeel it slightly and stick this end at the very top of the template, horizontally. Then unravel the tape gradually, sticking it down as you go along, until you reach the other edge, when you need to cut this strip off with your scissors. Keep doing this in neat horizontal rows until you reach the bottom. If there are any ends of tape that don't quite fit on the template, simply fold them around the other side and no one will know!

4. Some might be happy with the way the template looks at this stage (it does look a lot better in real life than in photos), but since this is a tutorial for personalised washi phone cases, we will show you how simple it is to make it special to you. Take your other roll of washi tape, the more vibrant/darker one and work out how many initials you want on the case. We did it with just the first letter of a first name, but it would also work with two initials if you were prepared to do a little more fiddly work, which could involve splitting tape in half lengthways. Once you know how many initials you will do, figure out how you will make the letters out of washi tape. If you have a letter that is all straight lines, like the 'I' we put on the case we made, these are not too difficult, but if a chosen letter has a curve, you might like to overcome this problem by turning the curves into corners (for 'S', imagine a '5' on a digital clock) or by cutting a few small squares of tape and arranging them, in mosaic fashion, in a curve.

5. When you know what letter(s) you are doing and how you are doing it/them, you can start sticking the second type of tape onto the horizontal stripes, in the way you have just planned. 

6. You have now finished the template! Congratulations! The last, and easiest (hopefully) step is to insert the template in between the transparent part of the case and the phone, with the pattern facing outwards. The transparent plastic should make your pattern shine and really stand out. You should be proud of your personalised washi phone case!

We hope this post has been helpful and that you've enjoyed making your quick and easy, but very professional-looking, phone case! Now your design will last forever, because the plastic protects it from scratches or peeling. One of the really good things about it is that, once you have your plastic phone case, you can change the design inside at any time if you fancy something new.

Variations:

-use different patterns of washi tape

-try a different number of initials

-have a picture instead of an initial

-try having the stripes going vertically

-put stickers on top of the washi tape

-try using more than two rolls of washi tape

-...the possibilities are endless! Have a wander in your imagination and think outside the box!

Little note: sorry about the bad pictures of the making of the phone case. If you have just scrolled down all the way here, reading the instructions before making it, then don't let it put you off - the real thing looks a whole lot better!