DIY | whollyKao

DIY // bleach pen tea towels

January 22, 2013

1 Comment

I’m a pack rat, especially when it comes to craft supplies. And I’ve got a basket chock full of fabric scraps squirreled away for some undetermined future project. Well, I decided to do something about that.

Check out my DIY bleach pen tea towel tutorial on the Whimseybox blog, where I show you how to transform those scraps into something fun. It’s my first post for them, and I’m excited to share it with you!

If you haven’t heard of Whimseybox, they’re a craft subscription where you get a box of awesome craft supplies every month. Check them out when you get a chance!

DIY personalized tie clips

By: whollykao

December 17, 2012

5 Comments

Seems like guys these days are really into what I call the gentleman hipster look: vests, bow ties, trendy leather briefcases, and a quirky mustache, if they can swing it. Since we’re nearing Christmas, I thought I’d share a few ideas for Handmade Gifts for your Guy (whether he’s a gentleman hipster or not)!

First up? The personalized tie clip.
I love how simple and classy this is. And it takes all of 5 minutes to make.

What you need:
*I got the tie clips here on etsy; you might also be able to find them at the craft store.

Also:
-black acrylic paint
-paper towels

Steps
Start off by lining the edge of the tie clip flush to the edge of the steel block. The part of the clip that hangs over onto the steel block is how big your personalization area is. You can fit up to 4 letters, depending on how closely you space them together.

Carefully line up your first letter stamp and hold it firmly in place. Make sure your letter isn’t upside down before hammering! Hammer the initial into the tie clip. You may need to do this a bunch of times, since the metal is pretty thick. Do this for your remaining letters, being careful to line them all up so they’re not crooked.

Once the letters are done, you’ll want to darken them with some paint so they show up better. Put a dab of black acrylic paint onto a paper towel, then dab it onto the tie clip. Rub the paint in, so that it fills the crevices of the stamped out letters. Then use a clean paper towel and wipe off the excess paint.

Buff up the tie clip, and put that awesome tie clip in a box. Now all you have to do is find a bow for the top!

I’ll be posting a couple more ideas for Handmade Gifts for your Guy throughout this week, so stay tuned!

DIY glitter stickers

By: whollykao

May 21, 2012

16 Comments

I can’t remember the last time I used glitter. But I recently saw a really cool (and easy!) tutorial on Creature Comforts that showed how to turn stickers into glitter stickers, and decided to try it out for myself. And this craft sure brought back memories of grade school days with Elmer’s and construction paper. This time, I was too far from home to hang my artwork up on Mum’s fridge…so I mailed it to her instead!

Here’s what you need:

You want to use ‘extra-fine’ glitter. The particles are teeny tiny, compared to regular glitter, which makes the project look more sophisticated when you’re done. I found this brand at Michael’s; Martha Stewart also makes a line of extra-fine glitter, if you’re interested.

Here’s what you do:
one
Peel off the outer edges of the sticker sheet, so you’re left with just the stickers.

two
You will need two brown shopping bags: one for spraying the glue and one for the glitter. This makes for a super-easy cleanup. Place stickers in one bag, then evenly spray the sticker sheet.

three
Carefully transfer the sprayed sticker sheet to the other bag, then liberally sprinkle glitter on, till the sheet is evenly coated. Then take it out of the bag and let it dry. Once the adhesive has dried, your stickers are done and ready to go!

When I did this, I could still see the sticker designs through the glitter after my first round, so I sprayed and glittered twice. The second round gave them a solid coating, but the downside is that the spray glue solidified into a single sheet and made the stickers hard to separate from the non-sticky area. That meant messy edges on my stickers. It’s just something to be aware of.

So now that your stickers are done, you can use them to add a little sparkle wherever you need it! I put mine on cards, including this Mother’s Day one (embellished with markings from my pencil eraser stamps.)
The animal stickers were my faves.