Recycled Business Envie Tutorial

It's time for another easy sleazy tutorial from your girl, La Sacred Snatchy! I was inspired to write this tutorial after participating in an altered Business Reply Envelope swap, hosted by my homegirl, Juli of Swap-bot. I have thrown away countless junk business reply envelopes that always annoyed the scrap out of me! Anyhoo, after altering just one envelope, I was hooked and now I am actually telling the peeps at my office to give me all their junk envies! I will never buy envelopes again and I have a something to do with all the scraps of paper I feel to guilty to throw out! It's a win, win, situation, I tell you! (Not to mention the "Green" aspect, either!)

So today, we are going to turn this hot mess,
all my bits and pieces of ephemera a.k.a. scraps of this and that,

and these basic supplies. (Junk Business Reply Envies, scissors, and glue sticks)

Into this! Wonderful artful pieces of mail to send to those you love!

I highly recommend a good quality glue stick. You don't want your masterpieces falling off en route to your lover or Sancho. (shhhh) You can actually use any glue, I just love glue sticks at the moment and I have even used them successfully gluing fabric to paper. (that is another tutorial in the works)

Anyhoo, cover the front of your envelope real good with glue. Especially the edges of your envelope. Note, if your envie has a window that is not covered. I simply stick a piece of paper on the inside of the envie, and when I get busy with my gluing, it will eventually adhere to the decorative papers I stick on the outside.

Then turn your glued envie face down on the back of your paper of choice and burnish real good. If you are using scraps , just lay your scraps all over your envie and burnish from there.
Like I said, burnish, or smoosh with your hands real good! Don't worry about trying to align your papers within the envie, because you can always cut around your envelope after gluing to remove any extra papers.

I just cut around my envie. See how it looks all nice and even?

Ohhhhhhhhh, here is the fun part, Embellishing! Sky is the limit. For real, you can not screw up this project. Ok, well, maybe a little. Make sure your embellishments are flat and not bulky. You don't want them getting ripped off in the mailing process! I use pics, glitter glue, fabric, ribbon, rubber stamps, inks, crayons, oh who am I kidding, I use everything!Don't forget the backside either!

Tada............ Finito. For real, you can spend a whole lot of time on this project or you can whip one of these out in no time! I think this would be a great project for the kids too!

Please give this craft a try, and when you do, post a link to your artwork!
Viva La Arte!

Senorita Spool Y Spool Doll Tutorial

I was cruising my 10,000 blog subscriptions and I noticed my sisters in craft, Lauren of Goody- Goody, Tammi of Roxycraft and Missy of Crafty Carnival all posted a super sweet spool doll tutorial. Well guess what, I happened to have a vintage spool that a friend from one of my art groups gave me, and like a tweaker I finished this lil "Mija" around 3:30 am this morning! lol. Really, she didn't take me that long, but once I started, I couldn't stop!

Meet, Senorita Espool!



Isn't she cute? I had so much fun making this doll, and believe me, the possibilities are endless. All you need is a few scraps of this and that, and before you know it, a doll is born!

Take a look at this flickr group that show cases these spool dolls and clothespin dolls.

Here is the tutorial that I jacked from Missy who jacked it from Lauren. hee. But whatever you do, make sure you visit their blogs and add them to your favorites. Trust the Snatch, they are so worth your time!

I'm hijacking Lauren's blog for a minute to bring you this quick and easy spool doll tutorial! Of course, you can use this to make those ever popular clothespin dolls as well!

Supplies:

Different Size Wood Knobs for Heads (cheapest at Wal-Mart, but also available at any craft store)

Spools (Vintage, or craft store spools both work great!)

Wood Dowels to fit the holes in the knobs (I always purchase the variety pack at Wal-Mart so I always have the size I need.)

Paint, Brushes, paint pen in black

Clear Acrylic Sealer

Glue Gun (Optional)

Let's Get Started:

Place the knob on the dowel and I always secure it with a little bit of wood glue, all though white glue would work fine, or you skip the glue all together. But when I know I will be shipping the doll, it needs that added stability. Placing the knob-head on the dowel makes it easier to paint!

Cut the dowel down to about a 4 inch length or so. I use OLD scissors to score the dowel, and then just break it in my hand…. There’s no need to bring a saw into the house for this little project! J This is a good workable length, and we’ll cut the dowel down again later.

Now that the knob head is on the dowel, it’s time to paint the hair. Using acrylic paint, hold the head by the dowel and design your doll’s do! Once you’ve painted the hair, stick the dowel into the floral foam to let it dry. When painting the hair, I always like to look at my knob head and decide where the best place for the face would be. Sometimes there is an ugly spot, or the grain of the wood wouldn’t look nice. If you toll painted in the 80’s with your mom, like I did… this will be very nostalgic for you! LOL! Use your own judgment, but I find that it takes at least two coats for the hair to look grand. Let the hair dry.

Now that the doll hair is all dry, it’s time for clear acrylic sealer. I just take my whole floral foam block outside, and spray the doll heads all at once. Every sealer has different directions, so you’ll have to follow the directions on the sealer you choose. I use spray sealer because we always seem to have a can handy around here, and I like to do at least 2-3 coats.

Once the sealer is dry, it’s time to “paint” the face. Because the wood is knobs are dry, they suck the paint right up. When painting small details, like the face, the paint tends to run, and this is why you should seal the head BEFORE you paint the face. It took me HOURS to figure this out with my first round of dolls. I have very shaky hands, and so it’s a lot easier for me to use a paint pen than a detail brush and paint. But doing the face is the most fun part! So you do what you like!! I chose to make my faces like the 70’s Fisher Price Little People dolls. I did this for several reasons… it’s easy, I loved those toys, and I think this is a very 70’s kitschy crafty, so it lends well to that type of face!

Once your face is done, it’s time to match your knob-head to its spool body. I love the aesthetic of big head – little body. So I always try to match them up that way, but obviously, that’s not for everyone J So you do what you like! If you use a spool from the craft store, I always like to seal those with the sealer first. You can also use a vintage spool of thread

Once your body and head are matched up, it’s time for finishing details!! Place the head to the body, and make your final cut on the dowel. You’ll most certainly have to trim it down from the original 4”. I use a little glue to glue the head to the body for shipping reasons, but you can also leave it unglued, so it’s interchangeable! Wrap some vintage trim around the spool, stick it with an old pen and you’re done!!

Some optional finishes: add paper flowers or bows to the hair with a hot glue gun, trim a piece of felt to glue to the bottom of the spool for a nice finish, make a sad face for that grumpy person in your life, or a boy with a mustache! The possibilities are endless! Now that you are done! Take pics and add your dolls to the spool and clothespin doll flickr group!!

Footnote:

Since it was 2:30 in the a.m. when I started, I had to work with what I had. I didn't use the dowel because I was using round wooden balls that didn't have a hole in the bottom. No worries, I used E6000 and glued her head right on top of the spool! It worked. yay!

Do give this lil project a try, it is so much fun! Oh, and be sure to check out Pimp Stitch. They have the coolest patterns for sale and for a limited time, they are giving away a few adorable stitch patterns. Andale!

A Day of Frida, Shopping, Arte and Crafts Galore

Ok, pobrecita, Frida, I had no idea she wore butt huggers!

So last month, ( I can't believe it has almost been a month already) Krissi and I jetted on over to the MOMA in San Francisco to A, celebrate Krissi's 32nd birthday, ::cough, cough::(she is six months older than me. Trust me, she loves to point this out) and B, Go see our girl FRIDA!
I know, I know, I talk about her all the time, but hey, what can I say, she's tight like that.

Anyhoo, if you get a chance, that show is running through the end of September and it is so worth the visit. I am even more in love with her paintings and her humor! OMG, this woman knew how to get her clown on, mmmkay? She was sick and twisted just like me! Ayeeeeeeeee!

I tried to take some pictures, but trust me, they had regulators ALL over the place, and I wasn't about to get bounced out of there before getting my fair share of Frida. I did however gank a whole bunch of postcards and programs! :-).

Hey, I look at trash with a whole new perspective. I feel it is my small contribution to being green, because the Santos know I have done my share of waste and then some. I am working on being better though. I am forever sifting through my trash and telling my friends and neighbors to give me their empty pasta and cereal boxes. (Great for book covers and postcards)

Ok, back to our awesome dia.

After our tour de Frida, we went to the gift shop where we got suckered into buying all kinds of Frida gear. I walked out with postcards, Frida paper dolls, stickers, a children's Frida Coloring book and some cards. Krissi bought a gang of gear too.

From there, we were STARVING, so we headed out to the Mission. This is Krissi's old stomping ground and she took me on a serious stroll down memory lane. I got to see "her" Mission, lemme tell you, it was bright, colorful and beautiful. Reminded me of my days back in San Jo.

We got our grub on at this taqueria, and then we checked in an awesome bakery. Remember those horns, Girl? AWESOME.

We also peeped inside Dog Eared Books, one of my favorite stops, followed by visiting this this cool little shrine, voodoo store. (I forgot the name) I bought some resin incense. I love the smell of frankincense.

After a few more blocks, we headed back to Krissi's ride and drove to Berkeley, for a quicky stop at Paprus They have a great selection of hand dyed and specialty papers. I am telling you, we were on a roll. From there, Krissi took me on a cruise down Telegrah for some herbal brownies. I AM KIDDING!. haha. I told Krissi out of all the times I had been to Berkeley, I never took the time to check out the famed Telegraph Avenue. She told me that was a complete shame and took me out for a drive by. Thank you Krissi!

From there we started our descent back home, but of course, we spied a Michael's craft store on the way, and we just couldn't pass by without stopping, right? lol

I tell ya, we got our shop on and then some. We left at 9 am and didn't get home till about 10:30 pm. It was such a great day and I really wanted to share it all with you.

After all that Fridaliciousness, I became inspired and had a lot of swaps to complete. Guess what who I sent out to all my partners?.....................

Picture time.........

this was a card I made for Krissi's birthday. It was made of recycled materials, and alcohol inks. (My latest and current favorite medium)




This was a small matchbox shrine I made for my partner. It was an actual Frida themed project. I h

This is an oldie but goodie, I made this doll last year for a fundraiser. She is an altered doll, that I hand panted and dressed up. She even came with a back brace and her body cast was made out of polymer clay. I altered the box she came in to look like one of her rooms.
I made this ornament for a recycled project. I have to still give it to my partner and since she lives in town, I plan on delivering it to her. I used alcohol inks and recycled cd's, bottlecaps and beads and charms.
This was made for a altered CD swap. I learned these techniques from the wonderful Cyndi. She tought us this class on board the Crafty Chica Cruise earlier this year. By the way, the Cruise in happening next march. If you are looking for a quick retreat of Crafts, Chica's and good food, be sure to join us. I will be teaching a class on next year's cruise.

The next two pics are ATC's I made for another swap. (Yes, I am a swap addict)





This last picture is a Frida matchbox shrine paper doll I made for Cyndi of Santa Clarita Craft Lab. Good Gawd, wait till you see what she sent me. (stay tuned)
and that concludes your daily dose of Frida. hee. My next blog will be a few features, tutorials, and upcoming events. be sure to check back.

Orale Pues,

Yoli

Recycled Postcard and Mexican Tin Tooling Tutorial

Looky here, you get a twofer today! Yep, got mi own tutorial to share and a WONDERFUL tutorial given by Kristen of Pepper Paints!

First up, is making postcards out of all your junk mail and paper scraps. Truly, the possibilites are endless, and it also makes you feel good to know you are creating and recycling at the same time! I made the cards below for a few swaps, and had so much fun, I just wanted to share, because, well, that is how I roll, Chicas!

Materials:
Junk mail, catalogs,newspapers,bills, paper scraps, left over ephemera, etc
glue stick
scissors
card-stock (preferably recycled, from existing post card ads or cereal boxes and or packaging .

Directions: Really, do you need them? lol, cut away and get to gluing all over. Here are a few I made today!

One card is made from San Francisco handouts, maps and coupon book. Another one is made from a Nordstrom's catalog. I haven't shopped there in a while, but they have the best catalogs!

These two were made from paper scraps and I included quotes to give it a more mysterious element!

Ok, this is a given!

Can you feel me? I like these because they are super easy to make, you can complete several at a time, and you can go crazy or keep it simple. Either way, they will still be the bomb, because they are handmade and ready to send out. There is a huge movement on hand written postcards and being that I am old school, I am really digging these trades!

Ok, and for the grand finale! I ran across this blog and I was floored at the simplicity and the bang this craft put out!

Mexican Tooling Project

(copied and pasted with Kristen's permission, of course)

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This weeks Unplugged Project is Metal. The long weekend threw me off a bit so I am posting a day late-but better late then never! This Mexican Metal Tooling project is super easy, no mess.

You will need some heavy aluminum-we cut cake pans apart-scissors, stack of newspapers, paint brushes, permanent markers. Optional materials list to follow.

Place your aluminum square on your newspaper stack and use the back of a paintbrush to draw a picture/design. You can flip your square over and draw on the other side too so that some of your drawing sticks out and some is concave.

Now use your permanent markers to color in your picture.

The next part took longer than anything. I punched holes in the corners and used jewelry wire to string the tiles together and tied them to a dowel rod. We hung some beads off the bottom for weight. This is optional but I think it really looks great. Because we used permanent markers I plan to hang this on our back patio but tonight could not find a single place to hang it to get a good photo. This was the best I could do.

Note–after cutting the pans up the edges are a bit sharp, you may want to use masking tape and tape the square down to the newspaper while working on it. Be careful!

Here is a photo I took this morning outside-looks a bit better!

How fabulous is that? I am already doing a progect (Big Ass Matchbox Shrine Swap) using her technique! Awesome. Please be sure to visit her inspiring page and tell her Snatchy sent you!