Who knew that penne pasta was the perfect shape for making chevron patterns? Now, I experimented with different necklace bases – I used jersey fabric pretty successfully, but I settled on a knit i-cord for the strap, which let me control much better how they hang. I’m sure if used an actual necklace chain, you could also get pretty good results.

Simply paint the pasta with acrylic craft paint and string onto whatever you’d like to use as your necklace strap. If you have four rows like the photo above, you will need four lengths of fabric/chain/i-cord to attach onto the necklace base.

Large ditaloni pasta makes for great bracelet beads. Just string a few painted pieces of pasta on a strip of jersey and tie around your wrist.

When I was having doubts about using pasta, I tried to recreate the shape using fabric, stiffened with glue and rolled into a bead. Then I cut the bead at an angle to achieve the same look. I’ll probably explore fabric beads a little more, it was a fun experiment.

So what do you all think? Is this something you’ll try?

When Janet asked me a couple weeks ago to do some project illustrations for the December box of For the Makers, I jumped with excitement at the chance. I absolutely love the concept that her and Katie have come up with – a box of goodies shipped right to your door to get all crafty with. The projects and tutorials they provide are cute and stylish. Getting the box each month has been so fun – it’s like opening a little box of treasures.

Creating the illustrations was great. I can’t wait to do it next month! If you haven’t signed up yet, you can do that here. They make a great gift for the creative person in your life.

Photo courtesy of For the Makers

Yesterday I mentioned that I got a box in the mail filled to the brim with all kinds of crafty things from For the Makers. For the Makers combines DIY tutorials with hand-selected materials delivered to your door so you can discover new projects and create and share your projects with others.

Here is what I got:

I can’t wait to create with this stuff!

Simply sign up for $29 and every month you’ll receive supplies for four to six projects. They source the coolest materials and deliver them straight to your door, letting you skip straight to the fun part. They’ll walk you through each project with a fun how-to on their website but they also encourage you to explore the creative potential in each package.

The most exciting part is that once you make something, whether it’s one of their projects, or your own, you’ll be able to post it and share it with friends and fellow Makers.

This would make a great gift for the creative person in your life!

All you need is a stapler and photos. I used 4×6 photos developed from Walgreens at $0.10 each – which made the grand total of this dramatic photo wall a mere $7.50. I applied the same black and white filter on all of them to achieve a uniform look.

All you do is staple them together length-wise and hang as many as you want. Stapling them holds up really well, surprisingly. I plan on snipping off the top and bottom of the photos and reusing them in his memory book.

Imagine how amazing this idea would be using hundreds and hundreds of photos!

Here is what you need: fabric, fabric stiffener, hot glue gun, scissors

Here is what you do.

Step 1: Cut out different size circles out of fabric. I used different objects to trace the different size circles onto the fabric.

Step 2: Coat all your circles with fabric stiffener. Allow to dry.

Step 3: Cut a slit mid-way into your circle. You may also at this point wish to scallop the edges of your circle to create a look more like a petal, or trim away any frayed edges that were created when applying the stiffener.

Step4: Overlap the two cut edges that were created when you cut the slit and dab hot glue in the center to hold in place. This will create a dimensional cone shape.

Step 5: Starting with the largest size and working your way to the center of the flower, layer the different sizes and dab hot glue in the center to build your flower.

Now you can use these for pins, hair accessories, bags, pretty much anything. I used mine for a yarn wreath to hang on my front door. Let me know if you make it, and leave a comment with any questions!

Months ago I happened upon this font on dafont.com called Punched Out. It’s a free download for a set of cut-out layouts with which you can build 3-D, pixel style letters.

Just cut along the solid lines, fold along the dotted lines, put some glue on the shaded flaps, stick them together and that’s it.

I printed each letter individually on 8.5 x 11 paper. For the letter “I”, I modified it a bit so it didn’t have the handlebars at the top and bottom of the letter. I also printed out the letters in light grayscale, just enough so you could see the lines, but they wouldn’t stand out once the letter is completed. You could add your own color or pattern to them in Photoshop or Illustrator to customize them.

They make great props, and would be a cheap easy solution for a party or event. Just keep in mind, they are a bit time consuming, so you might not want to tackle a word like, Honorificabilitudinitatibus. :)

All you need is wool.

I used Lion Brand Yarn’s Wool Ease Thick and Quick yarn in Fisherman. You need six strands of it.

Divide the six strands into thirds – so two strands each for your 3 braid sections. Knot the top, secure it under something heavy, and braid all the way down the length of your yarn. Finish with a knot at the end to secure it. You can make it as long or short as you want. Then just use thumbtacks at either end to secure it on your wall.

Play with variations of this idea, the sky is the limit. Make several of varying lengths and stack them. You can hang earrings, clip on hair pins, bobby pins, clip on earrings, and even brooches.

It’s such a lovely and inexpensive way to display your jewelry, and it’s so accessible! This one hangs above my bathroom sink. Go try it!

I had this idea to make chains from cut up plastic bags. You really only need two materials and one supply – plastic bags (I recycled my Target grocery bags), a branch or piece of wood and a hot glue gun. You also may need a martyr mindset, simply because you are bound to get burnt a few times by the hot glue that melts thru the plastic. Sorry.

I think I used about 7 grocery bags for the one you see above. This project is virtually cost-free, it’s just a bit time consuming and boring. Here is how to do it.

The size of the strips don’t have to be exact, just ballpark it. And another note, when you are hot glueing the ends together, do a rolling motion with your fingers to meld the ends together really well.

So, there you go friends! Let me know if you make it or evolve the idea into something else. And as always, Please Steal My Ideas.

I taped off the edges to paint the widest part of the frame a very light mint color.

Then I took off the back cover of the frame and just stretched some new white cotton canvas fabric over it. I secured it to the back of the frame with a heavy duty staple gun. Then I just created fabric flowers using this concept (but made mine slightly flatter) and hot glued them on. Very simple! I love the results.

It will give my otherwise flat wall some dimension.

What projects have you been up to this summer?