I used a few videos on YouTube to refresh on my ole' square knot (for hemp bracelets).
I know it's not perfect but for less than a dollar in materials, I'm happy with it.
Waxed Linen: $2 for a huge spool (used about ~14 feet?), thinner is better. you can experiment with other string options.
Silver square beads: $2 (22 pc, used 12 here), bigger holes are better. The bead will need to go through two carrier strings.
Next round, I'm going to try pink embroidery floss and metal beads. I want a whole stack of 'em.
Instructions:
1. Make a loop by tying a knot in two equal length pieces of waxed linen, about 3-4' each, halved to 18"-2'. Do a square knot to start the bracelet.
2. Then place your first bead on the carrier strings. square knot it to secure it.
3. Leave about 3" empty space (no knots) then make a regular OH knot. This is where your 10 beads will start.
4. Square knot, bead, square knot, bead til you get your 10 beads threaded. Finish the 10 beads with a square knot.
5. Leave another 3" with no knots to match the beginning of the bracelet. This is the end of the bracelet and the beginning of your slider closure.
6. After the 3" blank area, leave another 2-3". This is where your adjustable area will be (it needs to be bigger than your wrist in order to get the bracelet on/off).
7. Thread your final bead into your last square knot. Trim edges.
To make the slider closure, view the Slider Knot closure tutorial. You can use a contrasting color or stick with the same color. Either way! I left the ends a little straggly on the slider closure.
The Little Miss Sunshine card is my favorite that I've made. It references a scene where a character learns he is color blind. Check it out here.
I also made a Golden Girls card. It doesn't compare to color blind. But. Oh well!
I made more cards (3) that I didn't snap pictures of: one was a 42 utility towel , one was a rainbow (it was frenzied and very busy.) and one was a "Y" card, which had "You may rely on it." like a Magic 8 Ball. I just sealed up the envelopes without even thinking!
Seattle ("A City Near You") and "13" :)
A neat wooden box from the craft store. I decked it out with craft paint and glossy ModPodge. She selected the quote. It's from a Vitamin C song.
Click to see it bigger. The dark behind the words is my cardboard. I love the rainbow effect of the text. I hope my partner does too! Those rainbow stars were a BITCH. They are VERY temperamental. Iron just so, iron from the reverse...many steps. But it came out cute, I think! I'm really pleased with it.
So that's what she's receiving. I also made a few small bookmarks. They didn't take much time so I didn't photograph them but I think they came out cute too. Bookmarks are an easy project!
Here's a little makeup pouch (it's Clinique, green, graphic) that I found at the thrift store. It was a dollar!! My partner said she likes kiwi green. I like it too!
The lyrics are from a song called The Engine Driver by the Decemberists.
It's a lovely song.
Here's where I got my powerlines idea (I was going to stencil but it's too complicated).
Remember: you can always click on a pic to make it bigger!
I shipped out my tin earlier this week.
I am going to start on my Decemberists projects this weekend. I'm thinking a Decemberists hoodie (grey) with a huge stencil on the back and mermaid zipper pull (I'll be hitting the bead store today).
The goal is one medium and two smalls. I think the hoodie will be a "large" and I have no clue for my smalls. Maybe a set of a few glasses, etched.
My other swap is a cookie swap. I'm making just chocolate chip, I think, for one of the dozens and I'm not sure on the other. We have to craft a small item and my partner is into zines too, so I might construct another small zine.
Free PDF of my first zine!!
MegaUpload Link
It's legit. I have used it for uploading albums to share with friends.
Free Word (2003) of my first zine!!
MegaUpload Link for Word Doc
Of course, this is an original work so don't copy anything without permission. Believe it or not, I spent a lot of time on this.
You are welcome to offer critique, laudings (ha!) or general thoughts on the pieces. I appreciate all comments. I tried to keep it pretty light but some things terrify/horrify me and I get kind of pissy.
My first bookmark is a sugary girly themed one! It's really cute!
Finished my Zombies Bookmark!
It says, "Reading makes your brains taste yummier!" with a picture of a brain. It looks nearly identical on the back. Turned out very cute, IMO. The recipient for this is Samantha, as you can see by my gift tag.
I made a few bookmarks tonight. I am nearly done with this swap and I just got my partners. The themes I chose to work with are:
-zombies
-jane austen
-music/polka dots/dogs
-fantasy/nature
Zombies is all the way done. I bought some heatless laminate @ michael's and I'm laminating the marks when they're complete. I think zombies turned out great!
Because Rachel is a scrapbooker, I went over yesterday to use her papercutters and nifty tools to start my zine. I have a few ideas for the contents, but so far I've just been working on getting my paper ready. Then I will type up (or handwrite) my short essays, lists, etc and print (via compy or hand) on the fun paper. The whole idea for me is to look very DIY, very unfinished, raw and kind of sloppy. But Fun! I will post some pics later of my zine. I have a really cute type-set stamp set that really made the cover look cute, it says "zineswap" in a funky broken typewriter/"Problem Secretary" font.
I finished a project for my good friend Rachel who told me she likes "fruity" fragrances. This definitely qualifies. It's uber-sweet, thick and def DEF fruity. She also is going to be receiving a solid fragrance from me (all natural but not vegan friendly d/t beeswax). It might be the most richly scented candle I've created so far. It has a good cold throw and obvi I don't know about the hot throw. It's in a repurposed old POM tea jar. And it's an awful photograph. I have two really nice cameras: one is on non-rechargable batteries and my other needs some autofocus repairs. So I've been using my camera phone for all my pics. Not such a great idea but you can get the jist.
"Do You Know What I Love The Most?" (She loves turquoise and brown, as I do)
(excuse the crappy phone pictures without adequate lighting)
The set has four candles. Two 10 oz candles and two 8 oz candles.
We have:
- Rocks Tonic Juice Magic (lemon and palm trees)
- Coconut (strawberry, coconut, palm trees, ocean breeze)
- Morning in the Moonlight (jasmine and ocean breeze)
- She (melon, breeze, lemon)
Morning in the Moonlight (Jasmine and Ocean Breeze)
"Coconut"
A little explanation of the scent using the lyrics of the song. Each candle has one of these.
She and Rocks Tonic Juice Magic
I finished his shirt tonight. It came out ok. I think he'll like it. I feel ok about it. I'll take a picture later.
I got my undies back from my partner. She chose pandas and zombies. Someone pointed out that I had a "cute" and a "scary" theme. The zombies were kind of adorable. The butt of the one pair say, "BRAINS!" and the panda set (we sent out two tops and two bottoms, new of course) had the WWF panda model. On the butt it says, "save the pandas!"
So cute.
I finished my top #1 (Anchors Aweigh) tonight. It turned out G-R-E-A-T, especially for me, but really for anybody. I'm really happy with it.
I tried a new method (that's the idea with the swaps for me, trying new things) that involved multiple layers of stencils. I started with the pink as a background then added the blue (the hardest layer; it involved a lot of hand-painting to fill in small spaces.
The anchor came from Microsoft Word's clip art. I just searched "anchor" until I found one that looked feasible. I tried to match the turquoise to the undies, but I sort of failed.
My partner said she likes turquoise and red but I didn't have any red paint. To make red, do I mix pink with black? That wouldn't make red. Yeah, I don't know much about color.
Then I added the black Old English on top. It was "LAMB"-inspired. I just love those Old English letters. Maybe I'll monogram part of her package in some way. Just love it! But I am not sure if I like those A's or not. . .they kinda freak me out. I make them like this-- 'a' -- with the upside down looking g type a, not just an o with a hook. But at any rate, I feel really good about this send out.
All I have left to do is make a cute "owl" top. I think I'm gonna stencil "ORLY" or maybe stencil a super cute owl on the front and do ORLY on the back. Idk.
But I feel super proud of this!
