DIY Pop Can Roses!

Here is lovely article my grandmother saved for me from April 1977 issue of 'Woman's Day' magazine. It teaches you how to make a charming bouquet of roses from aluminum pop cans!

Bob-omb Earrings

Check out this army of Bob-omb earrings I made and I will be selling them on my Etsy store soon. Here is a tutorial to make some of your own.

Free Pattern: Felt Cake Slice

Diy Felt Icing and Strawberry

DIY Felt Cupcake and Rasberry

More dolls please

Here's a little freebie 8x10 printable for ya. Would look cute in a frame, or modge podged onto a wood plaque. For modge podge you have to use a laser printout from a printshop printer or a color photocopy. If you use a printout from your home printer you will get streaky color bleed when you brush on the glue. I have stopped the bleed quite a bit by spraying the paper with several light dustings of clear spray paint, or workable fixative spray intended for paper. Better, but still not great results.

DIY Cauldron Creep: Halloween Stirring Cauldron Prop

After searching the web I found the best looking DIY stirring animated Halloween prop at Haunt Forum. The stirring motion is very realistic.

DIY Fraggle Style Puppet

"Dance your cares away, down in 'Fraggle Rock'!" 

It's a blast from the past with this great tutorial on how to make your very own Jim Henson style "Fraggle" or "Muppet". Fraggle Rock was a tv show from the 1980s from the same creator as The Muppet Show, and beloved characters like 'Kermit the Frog', 'Miss Piggy' and 'Elmo'. You can learn to make this classic pupet design that can be modified to create a ton of neat characters.

Thanks user 'ragu1975' from Instructables. Tutorial here.

Free Pattern: Toothless Dragon Plush

I came across this amazing pattern for the Night Fury dragon from the Dreamworks movie "Toothless". The pattern is by deviantART member nooby-banana. It's a rather complex plush and super realistic. A number of people have made it with handmade resin eyes and claws which look stunningly real. There are quite a lot of links to visit to get all the pieces so I copied them all here for your convenience. If you have any questions about construction you can direct them to her. :)

Free Pattern: Snail

Source: Pretty Toys

 Hello little snail. Please stay away from my vegetable garden or I will get out my salt shaker. You are very cute... and a bit alien. I hope you are not an alien brain slug. 0_0  In that case I better switch to an anti-dandruff shampoo. :)

Free Pattern: Tiny Bear

Source: Pretty Toys

Sew a tiny bear for your doll.

Free Pattern: Draco The Dragon

Sharpie Paint Markers for Doll Customizing?

Sharpie oil based markers work on plastic and can be used on plastic dolls, HOWEVER the ink will bleed deeply into the vinyl and over time spread out much father then you ever intended.  Never ever use these markers for a doll's make-up. The only option I can see is using these is for complete recolors as the paint drys flexible, resistant to scratching, and does not get sticky or chip. The coverage is not very even though which makes a vinyl spray paint the best solution for complete doll repaints. I still have yet to find a supplier who carries more then the regular colors of vinyl paint, like white, black, red and tan. I contacted a custom auto painter and they can only get the paint in large bucket quantities, not in spray can form. :(

I have experimented using Testors model paint (intended for plastic models) with does work on the hard plastic bodies, but has a chemical reaction with the doll hair. (It transfers onto the hair and stays sticky.)

Most doll artists use acrylic paints or chalk pastels as makeup then top with clear sealers. This method is the safest solution for modification as it does not have long term plastic breakdown.

Here is a photo of a vinyl Blythe scalp that has been colored with a sharpie paint pen. You can see the flexibility and color cover of the ink. After removing the paint with acetone you can see the deep ink bleed. When the paint was removed the color bleed eventually faded away after 11 months. But results will vary based on the type of plastics and rubber.

Bitty Baby Bunny & Kitty: Free Pattern

Photoshop Tutorial: Digital Collage Victorian Pet Portraits

 This is a 8x10 digital collage I made using a computer program called Photoshop. This makes the PERFECT gift for any animal lover, and especially perfect when you use your loved one's pet. You can make your own collage with a few photos gathered from around the internet, a photo of your pet, and the computer program 'Adobe Photoshop'. Read on to learn how I made mine.

DIY Printable Scrabble Board

I love Scrabble and am making a custom Scrabble board on wood. I needed the exact dimensions of the regular board and made up these images to help me. You can flip the images and print them backwards and create a paint on image transfer medium. Available at 'michael's craft stores'. These 4 pages are 8"x10" and can be printed on your printer. You can then match them up and assemble them. This is the exact dimension of the regular scrabble board that came in my game box. It fits regular wood tiles. You can also print out your own tiles (images found here), or make your own tiles from small pebbles, glass tiles etc.

Blurb: Make your own Books

 

Blub. What a great site. Make your own books, just one even. Some wedding photos maybe, a children's book for your kids, a book of your artwork or photography. At such great quality and prices and short printing time you can make some wonderful gifts for family members and friends. You can even sell your books on Blub as well. I defiantly am going to try this out! :)

Tutorial: Windup Paper Butterfly

This tutorial is from You Are My Fave

How to Sculpt and Mold a BJD Doll Head *Best*

Free Pattern: Lambskin Doll Wigs

Tibetan Lambskin or lamb fur (also know as Mohair) can make really soft realistic wigs for dolls. It can be dyed different colours and sewn into different sized doll wigs. It is great for doing many hair styles and squares can be purchased on ebay for under $10. For wig patterns in head sizes 8.5, 7, and 5.5 visit Antique Lilac.