panophobia:
We all love a good time crunch, no? I need help thinking up a craft.

Next Friday I'll be hosting our annual photography fundraiser - a huge event, the biggest for the school that I teach at. We do a silent auction of donated professional work from all over the world.

Every year we sell along with the photographs, a small, gimmicky item for those who don't win or for the kids that come that aren't interested in buying artwork, just a little booster for our sales.

So, this year I've been toying around a few ideas but nothing solid has come up and now we're out of time! I had my students cut up their old contact sheets* so we have handfuls of these interesting little photographs - about the size of a stamp. Originally we were going to make buttons, but don't have the time to order supplies (and also we have rectangles, not circles).

Any ideas that we can transform our cut outs into a fun, easy, fairly fast and inexpensive craft that we can sell for maybe $2 a piece?


*for those of you that don't know, contact sheets are positive previews of strips of film, and in our case, 35mm. example.

shahar_amar:
I discovered this craft/art about a year ago and just had to try it myself. My focus is on using materials I already have (paints, glue, embellishments) and incorporating lots of cut-outs from magazines and advertising broshures I get in the mail. The book is far from finished, but the journey so far has been fun. Here is a sample page with a picture from a magazine and borders from old chocolate wrappers.


You can find more in my journal under http://shahar-amar.livejournal.com/tag/altered%20book.

shahar_amar:
Since we are approaching giftgiving season with big steps, I thought I'd share some tips for wrapping and decorating. It's never too early to save some throwaway items and turn them into something new.
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perthro:
I have tonnes of stuff. I've accumulated craft items over 10 years, and haven't usually had the time to use them as I like. Some of it is new, some vintage, much of it given to me or bought at flea markets or taken apart from broken items.

Here's the thing: I've since moved to a very, very small one-bedroom apartment with another person and four cats. The craft stash is overtaking half of the living room.

I have paper items of all kinds, ribbons, yarns, charms, beads, fabrics, etc. to get rid of. The local thrift stores don't take items like these, and I don't want to throw them out. I've already sent a huge donation of wanted items to a local domestic violence shelter, and given some to friends, but I still have much of it left. I don't have the $30 required for a booth at the local flea market... half an hour away. I'm selling all of it off for far less than it's worth. Is anyone looking for some cheap supplies? Let me know what you're into so I can search the stash for anything related!

I have a few photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nigatsu_bebe/sets/72157618177830919/ . Don't worry about most of the "HOLD" stuff- some people never paid/picked up the items. Just ask what's left until I weed out stuff and add new!

shahar_amar:

Some years ago I stood next to a girl with an interesting shoulderbag on the bus. Upon closer inspection it turned out to be made from a pillowcase and some patterned fabric for the strap. I really liked the idea and luckily had just the things at home to make my own.

The body of the bag is a velvet case for throwpillows, the strap is an old bathrobe belt and the flower had been waiting in my embellishments stash of a new use.

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perthro:

Some of the beads come from my aunts' vintage jewellery stash, or from other items she's bought over the years- even some beads formerly attached to dresses. Not all beads come from those pieces, but I mixed them in for these cute cell phone straps. <3

I became fascinated with cell phone trinkets when I was in Japan and saw so many girls collecting them. It was a cheap, easy way to show off loyalty to cute characters like Hello Kitty, Doraemon, even some famous bands! There were also some very cute non-character charms, like stars and hearts, and even the logos from some famous designers! The idea is to show personality, often in a way that doesn’t become too obvious because most schools require uniforms, and many don’t allow makeup or dyed hair at all. People can carry cell phones, however, and use them on the way to and from school! Obviously, cell phone straps were a sensible choice.

Photos can be seen here and charms are available for purchase!

shahar_amar:
I had this twenty year old necklace among my forgotten costume jewelery and decided to experiment a bit. It was once light blue with an iridecent coating, but the plastic "beads" had yellowed over the years and the coating was all but gone. Not much lost if I completely ruin it, but I wanted to try a makeover before throwing it out. Luckily it turned out quite nicely.

Materials used:
necklace with plastic beads fused to the thread
brown nail varnish
clear nailvarnish with goldglitter
tray from a box of chocolates
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perthro:
My friend had a Tibetan mala (like a rosary) for a long time, and has recently decided that it should no longer be a mala. So she cut it up and we traded off beads! I also have a bunch of hematite beads from a broken necklace someone gave me. It was obvious what I had to do: make a rosary chaplet.




The beads are actual bone, but I think it's yak or cow bone from Thailand, where my friend got the mala from (imported). The hematite is from South Africa, where the original owner bought her necklace, since she used to live there. Everything else is stuff I had on hand, either bought or traded. I'm still not sure what to do with the "fan" hematite beads- I've never been a fan of the "fan" style necklaces. lol. Should I re-sew them into other stuff? Trade them?

I've got the chaplet up for sale at http://nigatsubebe.etsy.com ; I sent my aunt one like it- she's a Christian lady, but she loves it! I'm selling a LOT of stuff to try to raise money for my cats' vet bills. You can read about it at my new crafting blog, nigatsubebe.blogspot.com , if you like.

leucotheasveil:
Hi all,
I've enjoyed lurking and looking, but I haven't done a lot of crafting this year.
I'm going to redo my den/guest room/office this summer, and am trying to keep the costs down.
I fell in love with this: The Stratton Daybed with baskets (in mahogany) with the Duncan Stripe Daybed cover. This is a pricey item, so I need to get crafty and sneaky to get the rest of "the Pottery Barn" look, without spending a lot on the rest of the room. I want the room to be earthy and cozy. I also want to bring in some natural fibers or textures like in the baskets under the daybed. The room is a muted mustard yellow. (Sounds awful, but it's actually pretty)

I realized I have a bunch of stuff in the garage and basement I might be able to use, but of course, none of it is the right color for the new room.
I have:
• an ikea dresser and shelf in white laminate, probably mdf
• a few Target shelves in mdf with a papery faux wood finish
• a metal filing cabinet in black
• an old steamer trunk from college in black. Looks like leather, probably is plastic. Was bought from army/navy store.
• 2 unfinished wooden wine crate halves

x posted to craftgrrl
Any suggestions or tips on how to repurpose that stuff? I was thinking spray paint, fabric, wallpaper or fibers (like cheap bamboo roll up blinds or something?). Have any of you redone anything like that? What did you use and how well did it work? Anything fail miserably? Thanks!

mincekitten:

i found this old bin/trash can thing in my basement and i think i want to use it to recycle junk mail/papers. well it's green and plain, so i thought about painting a tree design on the side.

it's made of this bendy plastic. is there any specific paint i should use to paint it? i'm sort of a noob at painting so i don't want to mess anything up, but i do love sketching and charcoal (:

thanks in advance!