October Craft-a-thon

Hey! I have exciting news! All throughout October, the craft posts on Summer Sky will be technique, basic posts that will help you get started with all kinds of crafting categories without spending a lot of money.

We’ll have knitting, watercolor lettering, and working with polymer clay, just to name a few. Each post will contain the basic supplies you need (under $10!) as well as the steps to complete a basic project. By making the project, you should learn some easy and simple techniques you can use to get started with that medium/category.

I am so excited for this month! As a little disclaimer, I am NOT an expert in any of these mediums; I am merely experimenting with expressing myself, and want interested people to be free to learn how to craft! I hope you will enjoy the Craft-a-thon!

Love, Holly

DIY Decorated Composition Notebook

So for everyone just starting school, you probably have all those clean, fresh school supplies ready to go. But they’re also probably very generic, and very unpersonalized. Decorating your notebooks in a more personalized way is so easy, so why not do it?

Materials:
-Composition Notebook
-Scrapbook Paper
-Index Card
-Washi/decorative tape
-White Glue
-Sharpies, Stickers, or any other decorative items

1. Trace any tag shape on the index card and cover with strips of washi tape. You could also just cut a shape out of scrapbook paper. This is the area you can write your name, class period, etc.

2. Trace the front and back covers of the notebook onto the back of the paper you want, and cut it out.

3. Glue the paper to the covers and trim any excess paper.

4. Lastly, glue your tag on, and tape over the spine with washi tape. Decorate further however you want.

I’m so happy with how my english notebook turned out! This is the front, and the back matches with yellow paper with white polka dots 🙂 So cute!

I’d love to see any designs you guys make- email me or send them to me on Pinterest! 🙂

DIY Washi Tape Phone Case

Here’s a quick, easy DIY that’s perfect for a gift! Everyone needs new phone cases, right?

Materials:
-Plain white phone case
-Washi tape of your choice
-Craft knife & cutting surface)
-Mod Podge
-Stickers, gems,  or other things for decoration

1. Put strips of washi tape straight onto the case, slightly bigger than the case. Be sure everything is lined up, and leave the wash tape edges hanging free on the top and bottom.

2. In the best angle you can get, trim off the excess washi tape with the craft knife. When you get to hard-to-reach places like the volume area, the same process applies, it just takes a little longer.

3. Put any additional decorations straight on the washi tape, unless it’s something that needs more preparation (in which case, do that).

4. Once everything is how you want it, paint 2-3 thin layers of Mod Podge over it to help it last longer. I only used one layer, but would definitely recommend more!

That’s it! What craft trends are you interested in now? I LOVE the gold, which I tried to incorporate through the stickers on this case. 🙂

Also, guys please comment on this: Do you like reading these easy DIYs, or would you rather all of my crafting posts be more difficult?

DIY Magnets

Here’s another SUPER easy DIY. More to give you inspiration than tell you how to do it. You can really make a magnet out of almost anything- shells and corks, like in my picture, beads, charms, rocks, whatever!

All you need is:
-craft magnets (these are super strong!)
-Hot glue
-Acrylic Paint (metallic is fabulous)
-Washi Tape
-Glitter
-Shells, Corks, etc. to be the focal point of your magnet

Seriously, all you do is decorate and prepare your focal point by painting it, covering it in wash tape, etc. Then, hot glue it to the magnet. Wow. So. Hard. Right? 😉

I hope this post kinda inspired you to just do a simple craft this week, whether it be for a birthday or other occasion, or just because!

DIY Adventure Notebook

Hiiiii! Whew, I’m so glad I’m back! Hopefully I won’t be MIA again…like ever.

SO! Let’s get started! Over the summer, I logged my adventures in a little notebook that I made. The notebook is super easy because it’s so small- simply cut out pieces of paper double the size you want your notebook to be, then sew up the midline (the spine of your book) with a needle and embroidery thread. That’s it! Seriously, you just made your own notebook!

Hiiiii! Whew, I’m so glad I’m back! Hopefully I won’t be MIA again…like ever.

SO! Let’s get started! Over the summer, I logged my adventures in a little notebook that I made. The notebook is super easy because it’s so small- simply cut out pieces of paper double the size you want your notebook to be, then sew up the midline (the spine of your book) with a needle and embroidery thread. That’s it! Seriously, you just made your own notebook!

Now, for awesome decorating:

Supplies:

-Thin markers & Pens
-Scissors
-Tape (Clear Scotch tape & Washi tape)
-Stamps and Stamp Pads
-Colored Pencils
-Stickers

Of course these are just the things I used; you could get so creative with this project! If you’re using media like thick markers and paints, just keep that in mind as you’re making your notebook so you can create the pages with thicker paper!

Here are some of my pages, just to give you inspiration:

I’m not sure if you can see it in the pictures, but the markers I had tended to bleed through the pages. I just used white printer paper and some gridded/lined paper for the pages, so if you love markers, you may want to use light colored construction paper, at least.

Yay! Guys, I’m obsessed with notebooks and office supplies. It’s so bad. But this is a great way to creatively journal and use up my notebooks!

Darby Smart!

How cute is the box?!

If you go to my “Fun Stuff” page, you’ll see a link to Darby Smart. I made a comment there about their blog and also their monthly craft box, “To DIY For.” I finally decided that a 6 month subscription to the box is worth $100, so I subscribed and began my agonizingly eager wait for my first box. It came mid-March, coincidentally, the same time my violin was delivered! So much excitement! So much anxiety over which box to open first!

Anyway, I opened my first “To DIY For” box aaaanddd… yarn. and needles. and plastic. Umm, can you say anticlimactic? I know, I know, some of you may be super into harm crafts, but it just wasn’t anything fancy, ya know? In fact, my box was missing the postcard that has the password to unlock online instructions. “Needle”ss (XD) to say, I was extremely confused and slightly disappointed, so I contacted Darby Smart. They were extremely helpful and gave me the password and directed my to the right site. Once I saw the instructions with pictures, my excitement shot up again! The March project was a needlepoint sunglasses case! And look how cute it turned out!

Contents of March’s box

Finished March project

April’s was even better! The first thing I saw was the postcard that said, in big letters, PERFUME. Make my own perfume? Um, yes, duh! In this box, I received two gorgeous glass bottles (I decorated them later), three fragrance oils, a base oil, and a dropper. In short, Darby Smart gives you everything you need to make amazing projects every month! They always give more than enough, so you end up with extra materials to make your own thing!

Materials for April’s To DIY For box

My finished April projects!

If you have $100 to spend, I would totally say spend it on a Darby Smart To DIY For subscription! It is a surprise, though, so the suspense is killer!

 I was not paid to write this post. All opinions are entirely my own. 🙂