Tutorial: Duck Tape Rose Pen

Spring is almost here and the flowers outside my window are already starting to bloom, which makes today's craft perfect for, well... today!

Duck Tape Rose Pens are a wonderful craft for girls of all ages.I have taught young ladies as young a five years old and they have caught on really fast, and did a splendid job at making one, if I do say so myself :)...

 With all of the different colors and patterns of duck tape, the possibilities for these pens can be, well... really endless...

Duck Tape

Ball Point Pen

Scissors

Time: 10 to 15 minutes

-Choosing your duck tape-

For step one choose the color duck tape you want your rose to be...

You will need a roll of duck tape the color of your choosing for your rose and a roll of green duck tape for your rose's stem...

Take the color duck tape that you have chosen and cut a strip off that is 2 1/2 inches long...

Take your strip of duck tape and turn it towards you so that the sticky side is facing you...

Fold down the right corner of your strip of duck tape like the picture above...

Now take the left corner and fold it down until it looks like the picture above...

Take your pen and cover the top with a piece of duck tape...

The picture above is a chart of the order to stick your duck tape petals (step five).

The black circle in the middle is the top of your pen, the part that you just covered in duck tape.

Stick on one petal at a time... There are only four rows on the chart above but you will add more rows to your pen (the more rows you add the fuller your duck tape rose will be).

The four rows on the chart are a guide line to help you out with your first few rows, after your first four rows you should be able to finish the rest of the rows without a chart.

When your rose is as full as you would like it to be, take your green duck tape and split the beginning piece in half (but don't cut it off yet).

Lay down one side of the split tape and hook the other side to the top of your pen.

Wrap the green duck tape around your pen until it reaches the end, cut and smooth the tape and patch any places at the top that didn't get covered by the tape.

Your duck tape rose is now complete!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. If you have any questions or comments please let me know by leaving a comment in the comment box below!

Thanks,

Micaela

Afgan, ornamnets and papar stars...

Goodness Micaela, where have you been....?

It's been about two weeks since I last posted, two weeks of crazy busyness for me...

Throughout the last two weeks I never found time to take pictures of some of the crafts I was working on, but of course I was still crafting numerous things. I finished an afghan I had been working on for about six months...

I was asked to teach a craft class on the "Simple Paper Stars"! Here is one of my sample stars I made for the class...

And I have been working on making tons of Acorn Top Ornaments (yea, I know it's not Christmas... :) )...

I have also just finished a soft yellow crochet baby blanket (I just finished it last night so I don't have a picture of it!) and I started a light blue afghan last night as well and a multicolor scrap crochet afghan...

My room is covered in silver glitter, yarn, finished afghans waiting to be put away, paint, and paper stars that I have no idea where to store...heehee

I guess I know what I will be doing this week ;)...

Micaela

Birdseed Heart Ornament- Tutorial

1 package of unflavored gelatin

1/2 cup of hot water

3/4 cup of flour

3 heaping TBSP of corn syrup

4 cups birdseed

Heart molds

Straws

Twine

Scissors

Medium bowl

Spatula

Wax paper

Spoon

Nonstick cooking spray

Time: 30 to 45  minutes

Combine:

1package of unflavored gelatin

1/2 cup hot water

(stir water and gelatin together well before adding the other ingredients)

3/4 cup of flour

3 heaping TBSP of corn syrup

and

4 cups of birdseed

All in a medium size bowl

Mix until all ingredients are combined...

Roll out a sheet of wax paper.

Spray your heart shaped cookie cutters with a non stick cooking spray and lay them on the wax paper...

Fill cookie cutters to the top with birdseed mixture and press down the mixture with a spoon.

Make a hole in the birdseed mixture with a straw (Do not make your hole too close to the top of the heart this will cause your heart to break when it dries.)

Remove cookie cutter gently...

Spray your cookie cutter again with non stick spray and repeat the process...

Once you have used all of your birdseed mixture let your heart shape birdseed

dry overnight...

Once your birdseed hearts have hardened loosen them from the wax paper...

Remove straws

Take a heart and tie a piece of twine through the hole, allow enough string for them to hang on your favorite tree.

Your birdseed heart is now complete!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! Please let me know if you have any questions or comments in the comment box below!

Thanks,

Micaela
P.S. Happy Valentines Day! <3

Embroidery Thread + Clothespins = Organized ;)

Yes, that's right, I spent two hours today organizing all my embroidery threads...totally an exciting way to spend a Saturday, right? :p...heehee.

I've always had a terrible time trying to keep my embroidery thread from getting tangled and lost, so when I saw a picture of how someone wrapped their thread in clothespins, I was like, Whoa!...I so need to do that...so today I did :) ...

But, not only did I just wrap the thread around clothespins, I also wrote on the ends of the clothespins what each embroidery threads' number was...

I have about half a basket done and

still have more to do...

If you want to do this to your embroidery thread... you will need...

Open up a clothespin and place one end of your embroidery thread in between, then close your clothespin. Wrap your embroidery thread around until you have about an inch of thread left and slip it through the tip of your clothespin...

Take a pen and write on the top of the clothespin the thread's number...

Yeah, it's really that easy (you probably didn't even need these instructions :) )...

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Micaela