Hair! I have quite a bit of it and it’s always getting in my face, especially when I’m trying to craft! I’ve had to struggle to keep it from getting in paint, glue, or anything even remotely sticky! This week I finally broke down and decided to make myself a headband out of a recycled t-shirt so that I can craft in piece! Do you have hair that likes to make an appearance in everyone of your crafts? Or would you just like to make a super cute headband out of one of your favorite shirts you can’t wear anymore? Well, follow along with me this week as we make one!
Check out my blog to see the full post with pictures: http://theimpulsecrafter.com/2018/09/10/tubular-t-shirt-headband/
How to Make a Tubular T-shirt Headband:Materials:
Old seamless t-shirt
Ponytail holder
Sewing thread
Tools:
Rotary blade / Scissors
Sewing machine
Cutting board
Tape
Step 1: Make like a director and CUT!
Once you’ve chosen the t-shirt you’re going to sacrifice, lay it out nice and flat on your cutting board. Use your rotary blade or scissors to remove the hem of the shirt. Next, cut the shirt into approximately 1 inch strips. How many you need depends on what kind of braid you’ll be doing, but the below instructions are for a 7 strand braid.
Once you’ve cut enough strips for your headband, you’ll notice that they’re currently a bit loopy. Just cut one side of the loop so that you have a long strip of t-shirt and you’re ready for the next step!
Step 2: Weaving til the sun comes up
This step depends on what type of braid you’ll be using to make your headband, but if you want to make one like mine just follow the below instructions for a 7 strand braid. :)
Tape all 7 strands together (you can even tape them to your cutting board if that will make it easier for you)
Start with the strand on the far left and weave it over one strand and then under the next two
Next, take the strand on the far right and weave it over one strand and under the second strand. Then weave it under the strand that you just pulled from the left side.
Repeat this process for the entire braid: Left over one, under two. Right over one, under two.
Once your braid is long enough to make a tight headband, then it’s time to move to the final step!
Final Step: Sew now what?
Now it’s time to stitch those ends up so that they don’t come undone! You can do this a few different ways, but I chose to use a ponytail holder so that the tension of my headband doesn’t loosen too much as the t-shirt material gets worn out. Attach the loose end of the braid to the ponytail holder by looping it around and stitching the braid down. I went over the line of stitches multiple times to make sure that it wouldn’t come undone. Then trim the back end at an angle so that none of the loose strands show when you’re wearing it.
Repeat this step on the other side of the braid to fully secure the headband to the ponytail holder and you’re good to go! The best part is that you can customize your headband in so many ways!
Did you enjoy this week’s craft? Did you make/customize a headband? Let me know in the comments below!
It’s been a bit since I last posted! I hope you all had a great Memorial Day weekend! I got to spend a day crafting with friends and I learned how to crochet! Unfortunately, I won’t have a craft post for you until this weekend but I can show you what I do in between DIY crafts to relax and keep the creativity flowing! I specify DIY crafts because I still do a lot of crafting in between, but mostly smaller projects that I don’t really count. Like painting a pre-printed picture with watercolors or a Halloween prop for my work desk.
Check out the blog for the full post with pictures: http://theimpulsecrafter.com/2018/09/07/a-little-rr-between-diy-crafts/
Painting:
Watercolors are so much fun to paint with. I love the airy feel that a watercolor painting has and I absolutely adore how pretty something as simple as a heart makes this picture pop! Pre-printed card stock makes for quick and easy crafting! And it looks fantastic when added to the other items I've made to decorate my desk at work. It's personalized but not messy or overcrowded.
While laser cut wood crafts from Michael’s or Joann’s allow me to paint something more 3 dimensional than a piece of paper. Fall is actually my favorite time of the year and I love the laser cut wood pieces that I can relax and paint. Other than picking out the colors, not much thought really needs to go into crafts like this so I can really relax and unwind while I’m working on them. They’re also great for crafting days with friends!
We can sit and gab over whatever easy craft we’re doing and not worry about whether our lack of attention is going to damage something irreparably. I finally finished the light up cat coffin and next I get to work on this really awesome Welcome sign for my craft room.
Both crafts were so much fun to do!
New Skill:
Crochet is a skill that I’ve never been able to figure out, until now! Thanks to a friend and her fantastic explanation and visual walk through, I’ve finally managed a bit of super simple crochet. My mother tried to teach me years ago but it never clicked. Then I taught myself how to knit and that made the basic idea of learning crochet even harder to me. How can you do with one hook what you can do with two needles, is what I thought. After this weekend, I seem that trying to put them in the same skill bucket was what was throwing me off. They are similar, but I had to make myself stop thinking in knitting terms and that was super hard! Finally it managed to stick, now I can practice my new skill and crochet all the things!
I also managed to reteach myself how to finger knit and I'm working on a scarf for this winter. I hear it's really cold in Georgia between Christmas and New Year's Eve so I definitely want to be prepared! If this works out, I might even make another and do a DIY post for it!
Hanging with the Pets:
Now that my craft room is on it’s way to being fully organized, I spend a lot of time just hanging out. I’ve even had coloring sessions with my cat Potato too.
Honestly, I think she might get a little jealous that I spend so much time doing things other than loving her. She and Sakura love to hang out in the craft room with me, while Odessa likes to bounce back and forth between whatever room Matt and I are in.
Watching TV:
Lastly, another way I like to relax in between crafting sessions is hanging out in the living room watching Netflix or Hulu. I’m in love with Making It and am seriously considering applying for season 2! If you haven’t checked it out yet then I highly recommend it! The season finale was so good it made me cry!
Sakura is usually my lap companion for anything that I'm watching, from Supernatural to The Great British Baking Show. It's all fun and games until my legs start to fall asleep because she won't let me move, lol!
That’s the behind the scenes look for this week! What do you do to relax during your down time? Have you learned a new craft skill and, if so, what is it? Let me know in the comments below!
This weekend was supposed to be a food craft weekend, but the plan changed last minute! It’s still kinda food related, it’s just not food centric. Instead of focusing on something that can be eaten let’s focus on something we can do with the leftover pieces instead!
*No avocados were wasted during the making of this craft.
Mmm, I do love avocados. Well, it’s better to say that I love the foods that avocado is used in or can be made into. Plain avocado isn’t really my thing, but once they’re peeled and pitted, did you know you can use the skins and pits for dyeing fabric? It’s true! Let me show you how in this week’s craft!
Check out the full post with pictures: http://theimpulsecrafter.com/2018/08/27/decorous-dye/
That’s right, peel those avocados! I’m going to make a delicious guacamole once I get home from work tomorrow, so I’m going to set mine aside, but you can use your’s for your favorite recipe. Or a face mask! Whatever you decide to do, put it to the side for now and focus on the skins and pits that are left over.
I used two avocados because I’m not dyeing very much this time, but I’d recommend between three to five at least if you’re going to be dyeing a large batch. Once they’re all peeled and you’ve removed as much avocado as you can from the skins, give them a good rinse with cool water to remove any leftovers. Rinse off the pits as well if you plan on using them too, they’ll intensify the color of the dye.
Step 2: It’s cooking time!
After they’re rinsed well toss the skins into the pot and fill it with water. Bring the water to a boil and cover. I let the skins boil for an hour to really bring out the color and then I added the fabrics!
Next, I boiled the fabrics with the skins for another hour, stirring occasionally to make sure the fabric was fully covered. Then let the fabrics soak for a while after the heat is turned off.
Final Step: Rinse and dry
Once I’d let the fabric soak as long as I wanted it to, I drained the pot into the sink, finally tossing out the avocado skins and pits, and rinsed everything with cool water. Depending on your fabric, you can either leave it to dry overnight, or you can toss it in the dryer like I did (my patience finally ran out). Overall, the entire process took about three to four hours to complete. The main piece I was focusing on is the doily and it turned out perfect! For the other items I dyed, some worked better than others. If you’re using vintage fabrics/lace just know that natural fibers will take the dye waaaaaaaaaaay better than polyester.
Have you ever used food to dye with? If so, what have you used and how did the end product turn out? Let me know in the comments below!
I’m back this week with a super fun craft that’s going to look amazing on my desk. Btw, I’m totally not making things just for work, I promise! I can’t help the fact that I have such great ideas when I’m at work looking at my barren desk! Lol, this particular craft would work for any space depending on what materials you choose.
Another thing I love about this calendar is that it’s dry erase! No more flipping pages to change the months, now I get to write the dates in at the beginning of every month! (Wait, doesn’t that mean more work?)
Check out the full walk through with pictures at http://theimpulsecrafter.com/2018/08/19/colorful-calendar/
How to make a Colorful Calendar:Materials:
8x10 glass front picture frame
Scrap book paper
Circuit vinyl
Duck tape
Dry erase marker (any color)
Tools:
Fiskar craft knife or rotary cutter
Craft cutting board (with measurements)
Pencil
Other supplies I use and recommend:
Step 1: What are your measurements?
First things first, we need to figure out what size our scrap book paper needs to be cut down to. If you’re lucky and find paper that you like that’s the correct measurements and fits in your frame right off the bat, then you can skip this step. If you’re like me, and have specific tastes that mean you can’t use a precut sheet, then I suggest using the backing of the frame to get the right size. Just trace around the backing with a pencil and then use your craft knife to cut off the excess.
Repeat this process with a blank sheet of paper (I used some from my sketchbook because of the sturdiness) and the vinyl you’ll be using for the background.
Step 2: Cutting windows
Next, I used my craft cutting board to measure and draw out the layout I wanted for my calendar on the back of my paper. When planning the layout you want, be sure to account for six weeks, this way you have enough space on the fromt for the full month no matter what day it starts on. For individual windows, make sure that there’s space for cross sections built into your plan. I made the space for Saturday bigger than the rest of the days of the week because I usually do waaaaaaaay more on Saturday. Continue cutting very carefully until you have all six ‘weeks’ cut out.
Step 3: Sparkles and rainbows
Now that the windows are ready, let’s set something up to show through. I absolutely adore rainbows, glitter, and all things sparkly and shiny, so I chose the Cricut vinyl pack that best suited my tastes. You can use a solid vinyl, or even another piece of scrap book paper if you’d rather, but I like how the vinyl looks in the finished product.
Apply the vinyl to you sheet of paper and fold any excess vinyl onto the back of the paper (I apparently can’t cut a straight line to save my life). Your background is ready!
Time to decorate! I used some very glittery duck tape for the front of my calendar to separate the month and the days of the week from the background. I feel like it makes the text stand out a lot better when the calendar is finished. Also, who doesn’t like glitter?
Final Step: Putting it all together
Put the front paper, the one with all the windows, into the front of the frame pressed up against the glass. Place the paper with attached vinyl behind the front piece then , while holding everything in, turn the frame around for a preview. Does it look like your calendar is missing anything? If so, add whatever it’s missing, if not, then let’s seal this baby! Just reattach the back of the frame and use your handy, dandy dry erase marker to get your calendar up for the month.
There you go! Now you have a colorful dry erase calendar for your work desk, craft room, or anywhere else you want to put it! I hope you enjoyed this week’s craft! Have you made a dry erase calendar before? If so, how did it turn out? Let me know in the comments below!
Welcome to the first behind the scenes post! Have you ever wondered what goes into being an impulse crafter? If so, then you’ll absolutely love this week’s story! This week I’ll be replacing the normal craft with this post, but after this week it will be a new section added to the site so that you can get to know more about me and my crafting process.
Check out the post with pics; https://wp.me/p9Ivmj-bh
Organizing the Craft Room:
We have a spare bedroom in our town house that is supposed to be my craft room, that way my mess is contained, but it was filled with piles of books, craft supplies, plushies, and anything else that doesn’t have a designated spot somewhere else.
It isn’t a very large room so the messy state made it very hard to get from the door to my desk, and it was impossible to craft anything in it! Today, my personal project was to get this room organized and ready to be used for heavy duty crafting. Progress has been made thanks to the wonderful people that came over and prevented me from sitting around all day until it's too late to do anything.
It's not finished yet, but I’ve found endless inspiration online and on Pinterest, now I have to get my butt in gear and start getting more storage for the craft supplies that I have!
Shopping Trips:
Organizing my craft room would be so much easier if I didn't go shopping as much as I do, but that's like asking yellow to not be...yellow. And no shopping trip is complete unless I stop by the craft section!
Matt and I usually go to Walmart when we need to get the household necessities and he visits the electronics while I head straight to the craft supplies. Sometimes he’ll join me and we’ll take funny pictures in the flowers (ok, it was only once but I want to do it again). It’s amazing what you’ll find when you’re just browsing without anything particular in mind. I’ve made myself some cute, and shiny, magnets from some random things that I’ve picked up before. They’re really useful since my desk has built in, magnetic white boards!
So this was a brief look behind the scenes here at The Impulse Crafter blog. Let me know if you have a craft hoard as well, or if you have any organization tips, in the comments below!
This week I wanted to make something that I could display at work to give my desk a little more personality, so I decided to decorate a beautiful B instead!
Check out the blog post for the walk through with pics: http://theimpulsecrafter.com/2018/08/05/ingenious-initial/
Step one: Prep for operation!
That’s right! The first step for this craft is prepping your work space. I decorated my letter at a friend’s house and I definitely didn’t want to mess up her table so we used an empty box as protection. You can use anything that you have on hand to protect the surface you’ll be working on.
Step two: Get your brush wet!
With this craft there are so many things you can do to truly personalize it! I selected a shiny gold for the base color of my letter, one of Folk Art’s metallic golds in fact, and I’m so happy that I did! This is probably one of the best gold acrylics I’ve ever used but it did take three coats to get the coverage that I was looking for. (Still loving it though!)
Once your initial is completely dry it’s time to move onto the next step!
Final step: Decorating time!
The final step is to decorate your initial. For mine, I found a gorgeous stencil by Waverly that I felt needed to be used and, because I’m secretly (not really) a magpie and love shiny things, I found the best Folk Art glitter paint to pair with the gold base. You can also decorate with floral stickers, cut outs of ravens from your favorite magazine, or anything else that really resonates with you!
If you use a stencil like I did, arrange the stencil on the front of your initial until you’re happy with how it looks. Next, paint over the stencil making sure to cover all spots of the letter that are exposed. Then remove the stencil from your initial before the paint dries. This is to make sure that the paint doesn’t get removed from the initial when you take off the stencil.
After it’s fully dried you can replace the stencil, making sure to align it properly, to do a second coat if needed.
How to Paint Seashells: How do you paint seashells? What type of paint should you use on shells? Find out how to create beautiful colored shells for your mermaiding events and crafting projects with this short DIY tutorial video. PLUS! See some of my favorite color combinations that are sure to look simply magical! You'll need only 3 materials for this, and just around 3 minutes too.
How to Paint Seashells: How do you paint seashells? What type of paint should you use on shells? In this blog post I will show you exactly how to go about adding color to your ocean treasures so that you can use them to pass out as gifts to children at your Professional Mermaid events, use them for cute beach crafts, or simply keep them around to deck out your mer cave.
Painting seashells is super easy and will take you less than 4 minutes. On the blog post below you will find a video tutorial teaching you how to DIY your own painted shells PLUS I have also included some of my favorite paint color combinations to help you get your imagination going.
I hope you enjoy this quick and easy craft. It’s a gateway to many more nautical projects!
XOXO- Mermaid Phantom
Welcome to the last craft of May! I wanted to go a little over the top with this week's craft so follow the steps to create your own seaside inspired jewelry box that any mermaid would be proud of!
When I think of the ocean and mermaids, I think of salty air, seashells, and sea glass. With that in mind, I wanted to make something that would be reminiscent of the gorgeous material, but with a twist. Today’s mermaid craft is edible!
