Saint Patrick’s Day Lapel Pin Tutorial with Rhapsody Letterpress

This Saturday is Saint Patrick’s Day, and Katrina from Rhapsody Letterpress is here to share an awesome lapel pin tutorial using shrink plastic and sharpies.

I just discovered shrink plastic, and it is so much fun! Even better, it is really easy and kid friendly, and you could even use recycled materials with great results. So, clean and save those recycle number 6 take out boxes, or buy some Shrinky Dinks on Amazon. For this craft, you will need shrink plastic, sharpies, super glue, and pin backings.

Begin by sketching your design on the plastic with a sharpie about 5x the size you want your pin to be. When working with transparent material, it’s a good idea to work lightest colors to darkest, and build by layers.

After you have finished coloring in your design, use black to outline and detail your drawing. (My daughter drew a few too!)

Preheat your oven to 325°F, and carefully cut out your designs. Cut all the way into the outline unless you are going for a clear edge.

Line a cookie sheet with foil (smooth for best results), and lay out your cutouts so that they don’t touch. Place them in the oven and watch the magic! They curl up and then shrink. It only takes about 2 minutes, but leave them until they flatten out. Pull them out of the oven and allow them to cool.

Use super glue to mount the pin, and let it dry. If you don’t write on the front, you can flip the piece over for a shiny, transparent effect.

I hope you enjoy working with shrink plastic, and feel inspired to make all sorts of fun stuff. Tag us on Instagram @etsydallas and show us what you make! Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!

DIY Halloween Costume - Monarch Butterfly

It is October! If you are the crafty type like me, it officially means you have been scrolling Pinterest for costume inspiration. Well, I have some happy news for you. Etsy Dallas is pulling their creativity together to share a homemade Halloween costume with you every week this month!

To begin, I’m sharing this show stopping Monarch Butterfly! This was my daughter’s costume last year, and you would not believe how many compliments and responses we had walking down the sidewalk. Some people even crossed the road to get a closer peek. She loved every second of it, and just beamed from door to door.

Now, I won’t lie to you and tell you this was fast and easy. It took some time to create, but the end result was so worth it and the supply cost was modest. If you have a Silhouette Cameo, these cut files (orange and white) will speed things up. If you don’t, print this file twice, and stick each to the backs of your scrapbook paper to cut out the shapes by hand. Our butterfly was about 2’ tall and just under 3’ wide.

Here is what you need: 

Silhouette Cameo 

or Scissors and Patience

4 Sheets Orange Glitter Scrapbook Paper - 12x12

2 Sheets White Glitter Scrapbook Paper - Letter Sized

A Pencil

Glue

Black Foam Core Board

4 Black Elastic Headbands

And, this Reference Photo

Here is how you do it: 

Use Silhouette Studio to cut out the wing shapes. There is a glitter paper setting, but you may have to play with your settings to get it right depending on the brand and weight of your paper. In the file, I have included the upper wing shapes and lower wing shapes. Cut two of the upper wing shapes. Then move the lower wing shapes to the cutting area, and cut two of those. After those have finished cutting, open the dots file, and cut two using the white glitter paper. 

It is a good idea to keep the shapes separated because they add up very quickly. So, use piles or baggies and label them to keep things organized. Once you have separated your shapes, use the reference butterfly to jigsaw the shapes together on top of the foam board like this.

Once you have everything spaced properly, glue the orange pieces down, and lay out the white pieces. This part is a bit tricky, but even if they aren’t an exact mirror, they look real.

Glue those down as well, then use your pencil and reference photo to draw the outline of the butterfly around the pieces. Remember to leave an inch+ border, and add the wavy details! (My pencil outline is a little hard to see in the photo, look towards the bottom left.)

Cut the butterfly outline from the foam board. I had best results with a serrated knife. Follow the steps on the other side with the remaining glitter paper.

Poke two holes in the center top and bottom for the straps. Inserting the knife or scissors and twisting is a good way to do this. Knot the end of two elastics together then string the loops through the hole to make straps. For stabilization, repeat on the second hole.

Pair the wings with a black outfit and shoes, and use pipe cleaners for antennae. 

We would love to see your Halloween crafting on Instagram, tag us @etsydallas.I hope to see you back next week for another handmade costume!

Full Moon Rug IKEA Hack

Hey friends, Katrina from Rhapsody Letterpress here with a project for you sky watchers and DIYers. My family loves astronomy. I shopped for a moon rug before my son was born but never found one quite right, so we decided to stretch our creative muscles and make one ourselves this week. I put together a short video showing how we did it below using a 51" IKEA ÅDUM rug, a bottle of black liquid Rit dye, bleach, a squirt bottle, and a cloth rag.

We are so pumped about the upcoming eclipse on the 21st, my five year old especially. I hope you fellow moon lovers enjoy!​

Creativity Camp: Faux Agate Sun Catcher

I have had so much fun doing projects with my family and sharing with you all Summer! I can't believe we only have two weeks left. This week we made a magical little sun catcher out of glue, food coloring, and glitter. I have to say, the finished product looks much more sophisticated than the $5 I put into this. Chances are, you already have the supplies around your house, too. Gather your school glue (clear for more transparency, but white will work too), food coloring, glitter, wax paper, skewers, small plastic cups, dental floss or thin string, a stick, and twine. Read on for the tutorial!

Lay out your wax paper, and draw the outline of some organic blobs with your glue. 

Sprinkle on your glitter, and move the bits that fell in the center towards the edge. 

Mix some food coloring and glue in your plastic cups. Stir with a skewer. 

Squirt or pour your colored glues inside the blob, alternating colors. You can reuse an old bottle, or an old nose bulb like we did. (Lol) Careful not to fill the center higher than the edge, or the glue will leak over.

Allow your slices to dry 24 hours or more, then slowly peel them from the wax paper.  They will look hard, but still feel flexible.

Lay out your pieces in the way you would like to hang them, and poke holes in the top and bottom as needed.

Cut your floss to the proper lengths leaving enough room to tie onto the stick at the top.

String the floss through the holes being careful to maintain the correct distance as you tie.

Tie the floss to the stick. Knot a piece of twine at both ends of the stick to create a hanger, and find a sunny window to enjoy your colorful creation!

Be sure to tag us on Instagram @etsydallas #EDCreativityCamp if you give this project a try. We would love to see! 

Creativity Camp: Jolly Rancher Lollipops

I have a super easy and fun treat for you all today! This was a five star project as rated by my five year old. There is smashing, and sprinkling, and candy licking! You will need foil, skewers (halved) or lollipop sticks, a stapler, Jolly Ranchers, sprinkles, plastic baggies, and a hammer. Gather your supplies, and read on for the tutorial!

Sort your candies by color/flavor, and preheat your oven to 275°F.

Smash them with a hammer inside a plastic bag. 

Roll out several squares of aluminum foil to make the molds, and line a pan with another sheet of foil.

Fold your foil up by half inches all the way up to make a sturdy, pliable mold.

Staple the ends together, being careful to line up the bottom edge of the foil. 

Round the foil molds and fill them with the smashed candies.  Put them in the oven for 5-7 minutes. Pull them out once all the candy has melted. Add sprinkles if you would like them inside your lollipop.

While the candy is still hot, slip the sticks under the foil and twist it into the candy to coat both sides. 

Once the candy has cooled and hardened, break apart the foil mold where you stapled it and peel it off around the sides of the lollipop. Then peel the foil off the bottom.  If you would like to add sprinkles to the outside, dampen the lollipop with water to make it sticky, add sprinkles, and allow it to dry again.

Gift or enjoy! Get creative, and share with us on Instagram @etsydallas #EDCreativityCamp! 

Creativity Camp: Basic Shibori Dyeing

Welcome back! This week, we are making over some old white cotton shirts with shibori, a Japanese folding technique to create dyed patterns in fabric. You can use this folding method with any type of modern dye, or the beautiful, traditional indigo vat. For simplicity's sake, we are using Rit Dye on the stove top this time.

Gather your supplies, and keep reading for the tutorial. We need a bottle of dye, half a cup of salt, a squirt of dish soap, a gallon of water in a large pot, tongs, fabric or clothing, and rubber bands/clips/pipe cleaners/popcicle sticks.

First, let's do an accordion fold on your item of clothing. Fold your item in half. Then fold the top half back to line up with the edge. Flip over your item and fold the other side back and match the edge again. Now fold the sleeves back. The goal is to make all the edges line up evenly for the next step. (You can stop here, And move on to rubber bands or keep on like the photo.) Now, fold one bottom corner to the edge to make a triangle. Flip the item over, and fold the triangle up along the edge. Flip and fold, flip and fold triangles all the way to the end. 

Use rubber bands, bottle caps, clips, pipe cleaners, and popsicle sticks to create resist patterns. Now let's prepare the dye.

This part is for adults or older kids. Be careful! Turn your stove on high to boil, and add the salt. Once dissolved, add the dye and a small squirt of dish soap. (We are using black on small items for saturated colors, so we only used half the recommended water.) Reduce your stove to medium heat, and dye your items for 30 minutes.

Use your tongs to remove your folds, allowing the dye water to drain as much as possible.

Rinse your items in the sink until the water runs mostly clear, then remove your rubber bands and clips.  (Don't use dye in porcelain or porous sinks, it will absolutely stain! You can take them straight to the washer, but your whites may not be as white.)

Wash your items on cold with detergent, and dry them. From left, the patterns are the square accordion fold with popsicle stick resist, the pipe cleaner resist, the triangle accordion fold with bottle cap resist, and the binder clips resist.

I hope you enjoyed this project! Now you can make tea towels, napkins, pillow cases, wall hangings, and all sorts of good stuff! Be sure to tag us @etsydallas #EDCreativityCamp if you try it! 

P.S. Use gloves! Lol! 

Creativity Camp: Faux Watercolor Painting

Hello! Welcome back to our Creativity Camp. I hope you are enjoying this series, and that you and your kiddos are feeling inspired! Today, we are beating the rainy day blues with some colorful faux watercolor paintings. All you need is some watercolor paper (or heavy paper), tissue paper, tape, washable markers, and a water spritzer. Follow along!

Wrap your watercolor paper with the tissue paper, and tape on the back. 

Use the markers and tape to draw circles in all different colors around the paper. Leave a little bit of white space for a more interesting composition.

Once you have finished, it is time for some color theory magic! Use the water spritzer to lightly spray the colored tissue paper.  Watch the colors merge and change!

Try not to over-wet the paper, or it will muddy the vibrancy of the colors. Tap it down, and allow your piece to dry. 

Once the water has dried, you get to unwrap your painting like a present.

Surprise! Check out your abstract watercolor painting! The areas where the tissue paper was lifting off the paper remained white. 

This is an easy technique for such sophisticated results. You can frame it as is, use it as a background for drawing, or use shaped punches to make scrapbooking or card making elements. I decided to frame mine, after she signed of course. Pretty good for a five year old!

If you give this project a try, be sure to share with us @etsydallas #EDCreativityCamp. See you next week!  

Creativity Camp: DIY Superhero Costume

Happy Monday! This week's craft takes minutes, and costs nothing. Yes! That is my kind of crafting! It also brings up an important topic with your kiddos... recycling. Getting creative with something old is a wonderful way to recycle. Rummage through some colorful old t-shirts, and grab your scissors. This afternoon, we are becoming superheroes! BOOM!

First, use chalk to draw out lines on the back of your shirt, and around the neckline where you will cut. WHACK!

Next, cut along the sides and those chalk lines. Be careful not to stretch the jersey or the edges will curl. BAM!

Now, find the longest length in your remaining fabric, and chalk out a strip for the mask. We used the design from the front of the shirt to create some interest. You can also use the design on the cape instead! SWISH!

Cut out the mask, and chalk and cut the eye-holes as well.  Tip: it's easier to cut circles if you fold them in half. BANG!

You could stop here, or take it to the next level with a little fabric paint and a sponge.

My daughter came up with a clever super hero name, The Galigator! So, we picked a green shirt, and I cut a sponge into a triangle so she could stamp spikes down the back.   It may help to mark out the design in chalk first to keep things straight. SPLAT!

Let the paint dry, and your imagination run wild! You are brave, and strong, and bright! KA-POW!

Thanks for joining us! See you next Monday for another fun project. We would love to see your little superheroes in action, so tag us on Instagram! @etsydallas #EDCreativityCamp

Join Us Every Monday for Creativity Camp with Etsy Dallas

Summer has finally come again! The kids are out of school and excited about their relaxed routine, and spending more time with family and friends. To celebrate, we would like to officially invite you all to participate in a weekly project all Summer long! Each Monday, we will post a fun for all ages tutorial to help you put away the screens, learn something new, and make some memories. We can't wait to see your pics, so be sure to share with us on Instagram, @etsydallas #EDCreativityCamp.

To begin, let's get out our paint and brushes, and collect some smooth rocks to make some cutie painted rock family portraits! We found a bag of river rock at At Home, if you can't find some in nature.

First, paint your rocks white so we have a solid base for your colored paints. 

Once they have dried completely, take a sharpie to carefully draw the hairline and chin line. I used semi transparent acrylic paint. Choose or mix colors for your hair, skin, and clothing, and fill in those areas.

Depending on what paint you use, the sharpie may show through, so be conscientious of your lines.  This is a great way to add visual texture to hair and clothing.

Our rocks are starting to look familiar! Use a small brush or paint pens in white to create clothing details. Allow each side to dry before working on the other side.

Use a fine tipped black paint pen, or liner brush and black paint to draw the eyes and mouth. If your family member has glasses or facial hair, paint it on next.  Use the back end of your paint brush to dot on tiny pink dots for the cheeks.

Paint your rocks with a clear sealer, and place them in your front garden to enjoy for years to come.

Thanks for crafting with us! See you next week for another fun project!

DIY Personalized Notepads with Katrina

Katrina of Rhapsody Letterpress here with a little paper tutorial this morning! Looking for a fun, inexpensive and personal teacher appreciation gift? These homemade monogram notepads are an easy and pretty project you can make with relatively basic supplies you probably already have at home. Pair it with some cute pencils and a nice thank you note, and you will have a personal and practical gift that your kid's teacher would actually use. Check it out!

First, set up your monogram layout on your computer using Word or a design program and print 50 sheets. Remember to print on paper the size you want to make notepads, or cut it down after printing. 4x6 or 5x7 are good standards sizes that most printers can print. I have a guillotine cutter, so I printed on letter paper and cut it down to 4x9 after binding. 

Gather the remainder of your supplies. You will need binder or bulldog clips, cardstock that is cut to the same size as your paper, and rubber cement.

Collate your paper, sandwiching the card stock on the top, the printed paper in the middle, and two pieces of card stock on the bottom. Tap the end of the stack on the table to create a flat edge, then use the binder clips on both sides to secure a tight binding. 

Brush on a liberal layer of rubber cement, and place more binder clips over the area you just glued to keep the edge tightly bound. Allow the rubber cement to dry, and do another layer, placing the binder clips on again to let it dry once more. 

Repeat on each notepad. Allow the cement to dry until it is no longer tacky to the touch, about two hours.  

Once the rubber cement has dried completely and set (overnight or twenty-four hours), carefully peel off the top and bottom layer of card stock, and there you have it! (I used my guillotine to cut mine down in this step.) 

Pat yourself on the back for being so thoughtful and crafty!  Your teachers are going to love it!

Cheater Quilt Tutorial with Katrina

Today, I'm going to share a post from my own blog with you. I am no talented seamstress, but this still came out beautifully, and would make a fantastic handmade gift for those new babies in your life. The whole project took me about 2 hours. Be sure to tag us @etsydallas with #etsydallascrafts, if you try it! 

I have slowly been finishing the baby's nursery one handmade project at a time.  I had very good intentions of completing everything before he arrived, but I didn't even manage to have his crib assembled.  It's funny how different everything is with the second baby.

I finally made some time to work on his cheater baby quilt, so I took some pics to share with you all how easy it is to do something custom and special.  This fabric actually inspired the color palette for the whole space. I bought two yards of the Kona Cotton from Spoonflower (search cheater quilt for different designs), and one package of crib sized batting from amazon. This process is very simple, and the results look much more impressive than it actually was to create.

First, fold your fabric in half, and lay it with the print side face to face, matching the printed areas.

Next, roll out your batting, lay the fabric on top, match the corners, and pin all the way around to hold everything together. Trim the excess.

Roll up the stack to make it more manageable, and sew one side at a time, almost all the way around. Use the printed area as a guide. Leave a hole large enough to turn the quilt right-side-out.

Trim the excess in a margin around the seam, and cut the corners at an angle so you can make a nice point.

Turn the piece right side out.

Use a hidden stitch to close the hole. Knot your thread, and begin your stitch from the inside. Go through the other side and back out again, and repeat until you've reached the end, occasionally pulling it tightly to bring the sides together smoothly.  Be consistent with the size of your stitches.

Using the pattern as a guide again, carefully sew straight lines all the way across the quilt. Repeat for the other two sides of the triangles. Roll the quilt as needed to feed it through the machine.

Trim any threads, and there you have it!

The secret ingredient...

to marbling Easter eggs is olive oil!  Make your standard dye with hot water, vinegar, and food coloring.  Then, add olive oil to the mix and stir!  Simple and magical, and makes a variety of effects!  Wishing you all a wonderful holiday, and happy Spring!

Make Kawaii Bunny Charms with Katrina

Hey friends!  Katrina of Rhapsody Letterpress here today to share a fun, easy Spring project that you can do with your kids.  My daughter and I had a blast making these little Kawaii inspired bunny rabbit charms!  Now she wants to make all sorts of little characters!  Check out the tutorial below, and if you try it, show us on Instagram by tagging @etsydallas with #etsydallascrafts.

Purchase oven-bake clay like Sculpey and necklace chains at a craft store, and follow these simple steps.  You can place the hoop on the top behind the ears to have the charm lie flush.

Bake, then paint with fingernail polish, and dot the eyes and x the nose with a fine tip sharpie.