Here is a fun Crafting From Your Stockpile project perfect to post in early December!  I actually got these cupcake liners from a coupon deal awhile back, and just saved them for some sort of craft project.  After brainstorming and figuring out the most fun project (in my opion) to make with cupcake liners, I chose to make an origami kusudama Christmas ornament!

Whether you love origami, or you just can’t stand trying to read origami instruction diagrams – I would still advise trying this project because it’s not hard and I think they turn out really cute!

First flatten out the cupcake liner, and then fold it in half.

Then fold it in half again into fourths.

Open it back up to the half circle, and fold over one of the quarters so that it lines up with the center crease.

Then open up that fold, and fold over an eighth until it lines up with the quarter crease.

Here’s the tricky part – but doable.  Open up that eighth fold into a circle and then flatten that circle.  You will now have an eighth of the fold tucked into the inside.

Now fold over that last eighth until it covers the “z” shaped fold you just made.

This design forms one side of the “petal” of the Kusudama flower.

Guess what?  Now you get to do the same exact thing on the other side!

Fold over an eighth until it lines up with the quarter crease.

Open up that fold into a circle and flatten it like you did on the other side.

Now that both sides of the petal are done, you need to glue them together.  I believe this is why this is technically not just origami because we are using glue to produce the final product.  I used a glue stick to glue both of the sides and then fold them over so that they line up together and press.  You may have to hold it it a minute for the glue to dry a bit so that it sticks.

Now you have one full petal complete!  If you want to make a full flower – you need to do this 5 more times to make a 6 petal flower.  When you have all 6 petals complete, I would advise using tape to hold each of the petals together.  The glue stick  just wasn’t working to hold them together the way I wanted them too.

Add a string to the top or you can even just place them on the branches of your Christmas tree if you’d like.  I kind of wish I had metallic liners to make these with so that they seem more festive.  Red liners could even look like poinsettias!

Let me know if you try this.  Send over pictures of yours on your tree!  I’d love to share them with the rest of my readers!

If you have any brilliant crafts you’ve made from items you get dirt cheap/free using coupons, send them my way for possible posting!!

I’m linking up to: Sunday Showcase Party, Made By You Monday, Tip Me Tuesday, Tutorials & Tips Tuesdays, Get Your Craft On,  The Frugal Girls, Mommy Club Wednesday, & One Creative Weekend!

Melting Crayon Art!!

Have you gotten some ridiculousy cheap crayons in recent days because of all of the back-to-school sales?

I know I have! Of course my 3 year old loves them – but she can’t use 10+ boxes! Some I gave to a friend for her upcoming wedding (to use as kids entertainment during the reception.) A few boxes I kept for myself for this fun project I’m going to show you for today’s Crafting From Your Stockpile project. I was inpiried by some similar melting crayon art I saw on Pinterest.

Here is what I did:

I ordered a couple of 8X10 blank canvases from Amazon.  I chose a color scheme of blues, blacks, white, gray & silver for my melting crayon art.  I hot glued the crayons to a piece of cardstock in the order I wanted them.

I used a heat gun (not sure if a blow dryer gets hot enough or not.  Anyone try it?) and just held the crayon palate over the canvas, and let the wax ooze and drip down the canvas.

The crayon wax wasn’t evenly spreading across the canvas, so I started shaking it, swirling it, dripping it, and other random movement “techniques” to make the canvas completely covered with the melted crayons.  The entire time though, I held the crayon palate in the horizontal place, just moved it up  and down vertically so the same color would make a “strip” down the canvas.  The shaking/swirling created a much more fun design than just a strip of color, and I love the way they turned out!

It was a fun project – as you don’t really know what the final design will be when you are done.  I was able to make 2 using the same crayons.  Not sure if there would be enough crayon wax for a third or not.

A note of caution – if you attempt this – be sure to cover the area you are working on well as melted crayon wax as a tendency to end up in places that it shouldn’t!  Just ask my carpet!  :)  (don’t worry, I managed to get it cleaned up though.)

I took advantage of this Photo Canvas deal not too long ago.  I couldn’t resist after the awesome pic I got of my hubby and me watching the sunset on our recent camping trip.

This trio of wall art now hangs in our bedroom.  I just love it!  And I love coming up with creative uses for items I get dirt cheap/free from using coupons!

Have any ideas similar to this melting crayon art of your own?  Please send them my way for possible posting!

I’m linking up to: Sunday Showcase Party, Made By You Monday, Tip Me Tuesday, Tutorials & Tips Tuesdays, Get Your Craft On, Works for Me Wednesday, The Frugal Girls, Mommy Club Wednesday, & One Creative Weekend!

Are you ready to learn about a cool craft idea you can do using shaving cream and food coloring?

I will show you how to make a colorful print on blank paper with these materials!  We had tons of fun at our house last night doing this.

Here’s what you need:

*2 cookie sheets

*2 spatulas – one for spreading and one for scraping

*Shaving cream

*Food coloring

*blank paper or cardstock

* Skewers or toothpicks

I recently posted about this deal you can get over at Wegmans:

Pure Silk Shave Cream – $1.79
use $0.80/1 Pure Silk Shave Cream 07/08/2012 RP Insert (exp 09/30/2012)
Final Price = $.19 after doubled coupon!

Because we all can get this shaving cream so cheap, I decided this would be the next project in my Crafting From Your Stockpile series!

First what you need to do is spray on the shaving cream/gel onto a cookie sheet.  Spread it around until its even like frosting.  Add a few drops of food coloring as a background color for your print.  I chose yellow as it is the lightest.  You will layer other colors on later, so start with a light color first.

Then I added on some drops of blue and used the skewer to swirl around and make a fun pattern with the color.

Here is the fun part!  Place a piece of paper onto the shaving cream and press down until all of the paper is touching the shaving cream.  Then slowly peel off the paper.  The color on the cookie sheet will be left smeared, like in the picture above.

 Ready to be mind blown???

Scrape off the shaving cream that is on the paper, revealing the pattern print.  You will be amazed at the design that appears under the smeared shaving cream!!

Trust me – you gotta try it!

After we made a print with just blue, we went back and added more colors and made many more prints of fun food coloring swirls.  My 2 year old is having a blast helping me swirl the colors.

Is this messy?  You bet!  We did this project outside, and just hosed off anything that was covered in colored shaving cream when we were done.

Is it a blast!  Absolutly!  Who cares if you get a bit messy!  Have some fun with your kids with this inexpensive and cool craft that can be done outdoors.

When your prints are done, use them in photo framing, as homemade notecards, scrapbook pages, wrapping paper, or however else you want to show off your creative art!

This is a super cool craft that is fun for the whole family!

If you try this, come back and share some pictures for possible posting! If you also have an idea or craft you’ve completed using an item you’ve gotten dirt cheap/free using coupons, send them my way as well!

I’m linking up to: Sunday Showcase Party, Made By You Monday, Tip Me Tuesday, Tutorials & Tips Tuesdays, Get Your Craft On, Works for Me Wednesday, The Frugal Girls & Mommy Club Wednesday!

Anyone remember my New Use for Dental Floss post?  Well I wasn’t done then when I was brainstorming ways to uniquely use the free dental floss I’ve gotten with coupons.

My newest idea combined dental floss and a potholder loom to make an upcycled photo frame!

This “Crafting from my Stockpile” project is very simple.

1.  Get a potholder loom.  Maybe you have one laying around your house that no longer gets used.  Maybe you can find one at a yard sale.  I actually just grabbed this one from Amazon.

2.  Spray paint the loom a different color if you’d like.

3.  Get your (hopefully) free dental floss you’ve gotten from using coupons.

4.  Wrap the dental floss on the room in a random pattern and tie off when you are done.

5.  Find the pictures you want to display add them to this upcycled photo frame.  I used colored paperclips – but you may want to use clothespins or other types of clips.

Does anyone have other upcycled photo frame ideas to share? How about other unique uses for dental floss? Send them my way for possible posting!

(I’m linking up to Made By You Monday, Tip Me Tuesday, Get Your Craft On, Works for Me Wednesday,Mommy Club Wednesday!)

Are you ready for a new craft using an item I got for dirt cheap/free using coupons?

I’ve already used toothbrushes, toothpaste and toothpaste cardboard boxes, the toothpaste tube, and now dental floss!  I guess no one can complain about not being able to afford to take care of their teeth, since I get toothpaste, toothbrushes, and dental floss for FREE all the time!

With the recent Reach floss coupon, or even the Target coupon (NLA), I’ve gotten a lot of pretty much free floss.  I’ll keep a few, donate most, and craft with a little.

Here is my new use for dental floss:  enhance a vase with dental floss and beads.  This project is SUPER easy – probably the easiest one I’ve posted yet!

Materials needed:

-vase

-dental floss

-beads

I have a bunch of these vases because I used them for part of my centerpieces for my wedding. I have some scattered throughout my house, and I decided to spice them up a little bit with this idea.

This is really easy – ready??  String beads on the floss.  Tie and then wrap the floss around the vase in a random pattern, and spread out the beads as you do so.  That’s it!!

Since the floss has a waxy coating, it sort of sticks to the glass so you don’t have to worry about securing the floss to the face – the random pattern you form just stays in place.

Here is the finished product – keeping it simple with just one large pretty while flower.

Do you have any unique crafting ideas using items that you get for free/dirt cheap?  I’m offering a $25 guest post right now if you do!  Just e-mail me your ideas for possible payment and publication.

Let me know of other crafty uses for dental floss!