Animal Jam Perler Beaded Reindeer, Fox and Owl

This is how my Animal Jam perler beads came out:

My daughter loves Animal Jam so when I found the pattern for these on their blog I had to make them. 

Click on the animal for the pattern:

Reindeer

Owl

Fox

DIY Snow Globes

I found this great DIY snow-globes instructions here that I copied.

Materials needed:

Epoxy - I used Gorilla Glue

Glass jars with lids - I re-used salsa and sauce jars

Glitter

Glycerin 

Figurines

 

For the first step epoxy the figurine down on the lid. I specifically didn't center Mickey because of the view I wanted for the completed look. Let that dry.

Next add 1-2 tablespoons of glitter to the empty jar. I did a mix of small and big glitter. Then fill with water and add only a drop of glycerin.

Afterwards screw on the lid. The jars didn't leak but I still hot glued the surrounding edge just in case. I topped the lids with fabric so you couldn't tell which salsa jar was which. 

They turned out really cute!

I can't find the finished photos but they exist and turned out great. 

Christmas Presents for under $8

$Eight dollar Christmas present for 6 people

This can be a child involved, thoughtful and cheap present.  Without a child it is just a cheap present.

Items needed:

Dirt, Pot, Paint, Paintbrush, Plant, and child labor

Notes for the “items needed” can be found at the bottom of the post. 

First create an area for your child to paint, think how “Dexter” staged the apartment of his first victim way back in that first season. 

Please note your child will get paint somewhere they weren’t supposed to no matter how much newspaper or wax paper you lay down.  I believe this concept is considered Murphy’s Law.  Just accept it as fact and move forward with life.  A little color never hurt anyone.

Use the child labor to paint however many pots you will be using as presents with the paintbrushes.  While this is in progress, pour yourself a drink and relax.  You deserve it.

We turned the pots upside down but my free labor didn’t understand that the pots would be in the opposite direction afterwards.  If you go this route let the labor know which direction the art will be viewed from once completed.

Once the paint on the pots is dry, fill them with dirt and plant your plants.  Depending on the age of your slave you can even have them complete this portion as well while you have another drink. 

Dirt – Which can be taken from outside (you know that place we used to go before the internet) or purchased.  I advise purchasing so that you don’t have to till or fertilize the outside stuff.  Mine cost $3 from Wal-mart.  I believe it to be discounted because it was winter.

Pot/Pots – [insert marijuana joke here].  Get what pots are available from the Dollar Tree but terracotta with a drainage hole in the bottom would probably work best.  Mine cost $5 because I bought five.

Paint/Paints – I used the Acrylic variety because I already had them so I consider this another “free” element of this craft.  You can use whatever type and color you want Sparkles.  Yes I called you Sparkles.

Plant/Plants – I used spider plants because they are fairly hardy indoor plants.  Another bonus is mine propagated and I didn’t have fork over any moola on new ones.  Another idea is to also get these from that outside place but only if you know what in the hell you are doing.  No person would appreciate receiving poison ivy except for possibly Poison Ivy.

Paintbrushes - Finger painting will also work if you aren’t such a control freak that you dictate how your child makes art. 

Child labor – This is optional but vital if you want the receiver to actually enjoy your present.  Not a single soul cares how good your macramé necklaces are now that you are grown.  If you are doing crafts after the age of 13, you better be bringing some serious art or function.  What’s that you say?  I am hypocrite because my site is dedicated to DIY crafts.  Not so, Sparkles, not so. My site is dedicated to documenting my alcoholic activities which is the distinction. 

DIY Soap

Christmas is terrible.  You always spend too much and people don’t want the crappy scarf you bought them for $50.  No matter what they say.  Instead spend time with your family and friends and stop buying crappy presents, unless you are rich.  Then indeed buy away.  I will gladly take a diamond tennis bracelet for a present.

As Christmas time was rolling around this year I decided I didn’t want to focus of the material value and commercialization of what Christmas normally is to people nowadays.  In place of buying things that leave much to be desired in my loved ones life and leave my bank account empty, I was going to create items that would make this time of year less stressful for me.  With less stress I may actually have some holiday spirit instead of spending obscene amounts at the mall with worry. I decided I was going to place a value on what I created for the time that I put into them. 

TLDR: Christmas sucks now so I handmade all of my presents this past year for under $60 total.

So let’s get to crafting

Items needed:

·         Glycerin Soap

·         Essential oils (fragrance)

·         Molds

·         Small toys or inserts

·         Microwave safe bowl

I bought pre-made soap bars that you can melt in the microwave.  Simply cut in cubes and toss in a microwave safe bowl.  Then microwave for the time indicated on the instructions.

Once out of the microwave add whatever fragrance you choose.  I picked vanilla and grapefruit essential oils as I already had those on hand.

Add inserts/toys into molds and slowly pour soap over them.

Once dry you will be able to pop out.

Drunk Proof It or ways it could have been better.  This is drunken arts and crafts not artisanal arts and crafts.  These are crafts that I try and sometimes fail at.  I am not a professional.  Please try it at home; results may vary if you are sober.

1.       Most of the soaps seemed “bubbly” probably from stirring in the essential oils too quickly.  Go Slow

2.       If I wasn’t trying to keep the budget so low I would also have also sprung for some soap dye / coloring.  The vanilla did tint the soap.

3.       These molds were tipsy.  If I had it to do over again I would have purchased a completely flat mold.  It would have also been doable if I had a sandbox or something along those lines to set the mold in while pouring and drying.

4.       I found that while microwaving the sides quickly became hard while stirring in the essential oils.

5.       I didn’t check the size to mold ratio on some of the inserts. This meant that Woody’s hat stuck out the back of his soap mold.

6.       Last tip don’t wrap these in tissue paper as it will stick.  Wrap in wax paper or put in an cellophane wrapper.

I hope this helps.   This was probably the most expensive of the Christmas crafts as I had to buy the soap, molds and inserts.  The mold was about $5, the soap around $9 and the inserts were less than $1 each.

You can see the rest of the cheaper sets from this past Christmas to come on the blog later this month.

Btw:  I only went to the mall once during the Christmas season to get photos taken with Santa.  This made me happy.

How to cut fabric when you live with cats

Step 1 - Layout the fabric you want to cut for your project. Adjust the fabric so that it is as flat as possible.  You may want to use a cutting board depending on your project.

Step 2 - Your cat or cats will immediately lay on the fabric. They allow you to live with them so you simply must obey at this point.

Step 3 - Re-adjust the fabric so that it lays nicely again

Step 4 - Your cats will now claw at the fabric.

Step 5 - Re-adjust the fabric to avoid the parts that now have holes.

Step 6 - Your cat will now run around over top of the fabric.  Enjoy the show.

Step 7 - Give up and have a drink

Step 8 - Re-adjust your fabric. At this point if your project calls for you to pin the fabric to a pattern do so now.

Step 9 - Give the cats catnip

Step 9 - Cut as fast as you possibly can while they are distracted.

Voila you are done

Sally Hansen Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips Review

Crowd Surfer

This is going to be a short one. These are my overall thoughts on Sally Hansen's Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips. I wanted to share because I hemmed and hawed over whether I should purchase these and in the end justified it because I could at least share my experience.

I found it initially hard to stick the nail polish strips on. After the first couple of nails I was able to manipulate the strips more efficiently. I believe this is something that just has to be learned by working with them. I found that once I had trimmed down the stickers to fit my nails they were much more manageable.

I am by no means an expert on nails but I thought that I did a fairly good job with only a few bumps and blemishes.  Note the bubble on the my pinky finger and thumb. They weren't as slick as it looked on the packaging, but then again, what is?

For me the strips only lasted a few days (3-4). Granted I am a bit rougher on my hands than most.

In sum they are worth a try but I wouldn't suggest them if you work with your hands as they won't last the 10 days as the package suggests.

Which DIY Kinetic sand is better?

 
 I originally bought a sand art kit from the Dollar Tree. I realized I hate the idea of sand art. This lead me to re-purpose the sand from the kit. I do not hate but rather enjoy the Kinetic sand sold at Brookstone so I tried smaller sized versions of 2 different “Kinetic” sands from Pinterest. I used whatever I had at home at the moment so it wasn’t exactly by the book. I thought I would share my results for the betterment of society.

 First Trial- ¼ cup flour Less than an oz. of safflower oil Sand packet (purple) I put the flour and sand in a glass bowl and stirred with a Popsicle stick. The DIY recipe I found on-line calls for baby oil. I only had cuticle oil which is mostly safflower oil. I figured this was equivalent enough. The plan was to squeeze in about a tablespoon of the cuticle oil into the flour. This didn’t happen. The cap popped off while squeezing and out came the majority of the bottle. I was actually almost happy about this mishap because it meant that I didn’t have to find some other use for this oil. I never actually thought its intended purpose was needed. I don’t care about the condition of my cuticles much less do I imagine anyone else care’s about my cuticles or judges me by them. I asked the opinion of those close at hand. These were the results. 5 year old Nevera: “I didn’t like it.” Adult : “I don’t know. What’s it supposed to be?” My thoughts: The oil sticks to my hands too much. Could it be that there was too much oil used? Overall it is okay to play with but it is no kinetic sand.

Second Trial- ¼ cup corn starch Water Sand packet (green) I also found this recipe on the interwebs. Admittedly the author of the post states it isn’t meant to be kinetic sand, even though her click bait says otherwise. Once again I used the trusty glass bowl to stir the corn starch and green sand with a Popsicle stick. The water was much more forgiving than the oil and I was able to slowly continue adding until I got the desired texture. 5 year old Nevera: “I didn’t like it.” Adult: “If the stuff stays on my hands, it is no good.” The stuff stayed on his hands. “Back to the drawing board” My thoughts: Gook with sand. Overall this is fun but it is not kinetic sand.


 My conclusion is that the first trial would be closer to the store bought kinetic sand if human error wasn’t involved. The second trial could still be used for sensory play but the sand isn’t needed and makes it less fun. I think that (though I haven’t researched) actually buying a large amount of sand as the original recipe calls for would be the same the cost of the kinetic sand. If you “do it yourself” you would have much more amount wise but it wouldn’t necessarily have the same texture. For now I will just buy the expensive stuff from Brookstone. Additional notes: Nevera seems to no longer like sensory play items.

Up-cycled Wine Bottle Bird Feeders

I originally saw a DIY wine bottle bird feeder on Pinterest. However it was just an image of the finished product and didn't link to any instructions. I recently did find some instructions, after I completed this project (always happens like that).  I thought I could do it without instructions and I did.

Items needed:

·         Wine bottles (keep corks)

·         Wire (I used aluminum)

·         Drill

·         Glass cutting drill bit (diamond tip)

·         Small plates – saucers (from thrift store)

·         Epoxy

·         Safety glasses

·         Thick gloves

·         Bird Seed

If you don’t know that you should first drink the wine from the bottles before starting this project, we can’t be friends in real life.  Keep your wine corks after drinking because you will want to use them as a topper.  Mine went missing but was able to get free replacements from the liquor store after their wine tasting.

Suit up with the safety glasses and thick gloves.  This will keep you pretty in case of breaking glass from drilling.  You will fill up a sink or a tub with enough water that it will fully submerge the portion of the bottle you will be drilling.  I filled my sink about halfway up with water.  The water will keep the tiny glass debris from being blown around while drilling.  I wasn’t able to “start” my hole in the water as the drill kept slipping from the clean empty bottles.  So I first laid the bottles horizontally and used the drill to get a small divot in it.  Once I had that I was able to then place it under the water and continue drilling.

Once I was satisfied with the hole size, I dried and drained both bottles.  

Donovan inspects all of my work.

Next I put the epoxy on the saucers.  I did not center the epoxy as you want room for the birds to perch on the plate. 

After mixing the epoxy on the plate, place the bottle with the hole facing the wider side of the plate.  Let dry – mine stated 24 hours for a full cure

If you don’t want to hang it in a tree then you are basically finished.  Simply funnel in some bird seed, top it with a cork and place it on your patio.

If you want a hanging one you have to stay with me for one more step. Tie the wire around the neck of the bottle to make a “hanger”.  You can secure in several different ways.  I am no girl-scout but I did a fine enough job that I didn’t even have to use hot glue. 

Back

Front

Then viola; funnel in some bird seed and top with a cork.

Go hang in a tree and wait for birds or naughty squirrels.  I have yet to replace the bird seed but I imagine that it will be as easy as removing the cork and funneling in more seed. 

Ta-Da

On another note I learned that wire is filthy.

All in all this project cost me around $20.  Half of the cost being the drill bit as I didn’t already own one of that type already.  The plates were a dollar each from the thrift shop (even more reuse yay).  I tried to find the best plates for the job that weren’t in a set.  The wire and bag of bird seed was around $3 each.  The rest of the items I already owned. 

Drunk Proof It :

While this project came out great, it could have been cuter if I had taken the time to sharpie some little bird prints on the saucers or etched the wine glass with a saying.  I figured the birds didn’t care so neither did I.  I have also thought that since this will be outside there may be some way to improve the topper so that it won’t get all funky after being in the rain…possibly by attaching a plastic bottle cap.

Hope this helped you in some way.

*Do not do this project inebriated!  Anytime a drill is involved you should be sober or hung-over like I was.

How to Make a Bed while Living with Cats

Some people say that cats are assholes.  They may believe that cats, which can be independent, are cold and unloving.  This has never really been the case with any cats I have ever owned.  Currently I live with two very loving, curious and active males.  They often follow me from room to room to help with a multitude of daily activities.  My day typically starts with a wake up from Shamus who enjoys eating promptly at 6 am. This is followed by extra love in the morning from both to ensure that I have enough cat hair on me to last the day.  Lastly I am welcomed home and helped with any chores such as making the bed.

Step 1 - When making a bed while living with cats, you may find it best to start with a fitted sheet.  Once you have the fitted sheet partially on the cats will be more than happy to interrupt this process with a game and hide and seek. 

Continue as you normally would and smooth out the sheet once the game has ended with all players off the bed.

Step 2 - Next as usual is the bed sheet. 

Yes my sheet is wrinkly when it comes out of the dryer.  Some cats like Shamus may decide they are finished helping at this step; luckily Donovan is reliable and will stay until the job is done. At this point you may need to coax out your helper as shown in the video.

Step 3 – Blanket

Give up at this point and leave the blanket on top of the cat.  They will find their own way out.

You may find that cats will double the amount of time needed to make a bed but it will be damn cute every step of the way.  Enjoy your cat or cats everyday because unlike people only some cats are assholes.