Faux Zebra Fabric Hat Box
This whimsical piece started out as an old hat box that I had lying around for years. I even used it to store my craft paints at one time. About ten years ago, I got the idea to use some remnant pieces of animal print fabrics I had bought at a clearance sale at Minnesota Fabrics.
I measured this oval-shaped cardboard box and then measured the fabric. I carefully cut the fabric for the (outside) top and bottom of the box. Then I cut one long narrow strip of the fabric to cover the side for the top and a much wider strip of fabric for the side bottom part of the box. I also had some gauze-like zebra fabric that I used to line the inside of the box. This gauze-like fabric was very light and sheer yet it also had a visible zebra print that was very similar to the print on the heavier zebra fabric (that I used on the outside of the box).
I used hot glue to adhere the fabric to the box, yet I was careful to dispense very small dots of glue so as not to make it too bulky. I managed to smoothly glue the heavier fabric onto the outside of the box and the gauze-like fabric to the inside of the box. I then glued a black satin cording on the entire top edge of the box all the way around. I still love the way the box looks and I use it to store my little bottles of perfume that used to clutter my dresser.
Faux Zebra Fabric Hat Box
Faux Zebra Fabric Hat Box Inside Fabric
Faux Zebra Fabric Hat Box Bottom View
Paper Mache Fish
This fish is made of old newspapers and a few embellishments I had lying around the house. This is a simple and fun craft to make with children or just for the fun of recycling some old newspapers into your own art piece. I placed several sheets of newspaper on the table to prepare my work area. In a medium container, I made the standard paper mache paste made of flour and water (2 parts flour to one part water–until you get a pancake batter consistency) and added a dash of salt as a preservative. I then tore up several sheets of newspaper into medium sized pieces.
I made the fish core by crumpling some sheets of newspaper (using my hands) and forming them into the fish shape (as close as possible). I then started to dip the torn pieces into the paste mixture and started applying them onto the crumpled sheets to form the shape. At this point you can start shaping your fish to your preferred style. Once the fish shape dried, I used acrylic craft paints to paint the fish. The tail is made from a scrap piece of interfacing that I cut with my pinking shears and scissors, made a slit on the fish tail end and then slid the interface tail piece (with a little glue) into the fish tail end.
I glued on a half round marble for each eye and used fabric paint to draw around the eyes and mouth. I actually made four fish and painted them all in pretty bright colors, but I gave them all away and didn’t photograph them except for this one. Once you get started, it’s a simple and fun project to make. This makes a very lightweight piece which could also be hung with thread or you can make several smaller pieces and hang them as a mobile in a child’s room.
Paper Mache Fish
Recycling Trash Items
One of the most important craft projects for us is to recycle as much as we can. The house is a great place to start your recycling projects. What objects do you tend to throw out the most in your trash? Is it plastic, paper, glass or metal? In our case it’s paper from all the junk mail we still receive. Since we shred all of our paper scraps we end up with a lot of confetti style shredded paper by the bag full. So we have tried a few creative ways to incorporate this shredded paper into our arts and crafts instead of the recycle trash. In a previous article we talked about using paper mache instead of plaster in your plaster-craft molds. And in future articles we will be using the different kinds paper items you could recycle at home. Not only is recycling great for our environment, but it’s also a fun way to craft with family or friends. This summer we had a very bad start to the spring season in Chicago.
Cola Bottle Flowers by Diana & David Romaxx
We lost a lot of our plants we had kept inside for the winter. One such plant was a daisy tree we had for over four years. It started out fine, but by mid-June we lost it. But around our house my husband and I are always creating something out of throw-away items. Shown are photos of two of the recycling projects we created for our yard. My husband removed the daisy tree from the large center pot and cleaned the dry roots out very thoroughly and let it dry outside for about one month. He then painted the roots purple and the trunk gold. He added two wine bottle caps to the front side of the roots and a ruby round half glass bead over each bottle cap to complete the eyes. He then added an old waterbottle and an old telephone cord. It looked like some strange creature from outer space. He put a metal rod into the base that holds the piece yet allows movement with the wind. The flowers in the planter were all made from forty recycled liters of cola and one-inch recycled dowel rods. They really added a lot of charm to our yard and we can reuse them for many, many years. Re-embellish, reinvent, recycle.
Root Man by David Romaxx