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Printed Custom Tote Bag (With Attitude!)

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What is it with summer and tote bags? 

I love me a good tote bag. I think people like great big tote bags in the summer because carrying a large bag makes their butt look teensy by comparison.

Okay, by people I mean me, but whatever.

A big bag is a good bag, but a big bag is a boring bag. Let’s snazz that sucker up!

Okay. Now that the totes and butts talk is over, let’s talk about something important: printable craft decals.


I know this has been concerning you. And I’ll confess here, my previous history with do-it-yourself printed decal goods was not great. The ink was never stable. It would bleed or warp all over the place. It never transferred evenly. One time, years ago, I made t-shirts that said HAPPY BIRTHDAY DOUG and the big portions of the print didn’t transfer so it came out reading APPY IRTHDA DO G.

People went around the party saying “Happy Earthday, Dawg!” in a British accent. It sounds cuter than it was. Doug was not impressed. And printable craft decals and I parted ways, forever…

…BUT THEN! Then I met up with one of my favorite people, Jonathan Fong, at the CHA show last summer and he showed me the light. This is it!

Craft Attitude is different than the other printable decals. It’s probably wrong for me to call it a decal. It’s like a cross between a super thin decal and a fruit roll up. Instead of printing to paper and hoping it transfers, you print to a super-thin, jelly-web-like sticker that you can stick to whatever you want; fabric, wood, plastic, metal…anything.

The sticker-like thingy comes pre-stuck to standard letter size paper, so all you have to do is run it through any desktop ink-jet printer, no big whoop.  It sounds easy, and it’s easier than it sounds. Just load it in there like regular copy paper. My friend, you can handle this!

For this project I am adhering the Craft Attitude to fabric using fusible webbing, but Mod Podge or plain white glue would have been fine. When I first saw Jonathan’s demo, he was using a simple kid’s glue stick to adhere it to sneakers. Nifty much?

I have big plans for this stuff down the line, but I wanted to start out with a simple summer tote (see above credit in regards to butts). This bag was one of those things they give-away at the store when you buy too much makeup, which meant it was free. Boring, but free. I see this very same bag in thrift stores allllllll the time. Spanking new! A plain canvas tote bag would also work. You can even adhere Craft Attitude to leather (the procedure is a little different than the one I’m going to show you here). Let’s get started, okay?

Okay!

First I started out by printing images of vintage stamps. You can find those all over the internet or scan your own. I wanted a little Patriotic Americana here so I went with this image of a 6cent American stamp I found over at The Graphics Fairy. I reversed it in my computer  (easy) and loaded my printer with the sheet of Craft Attitude. Boom. There it is! I also printed some other stamp images to play around. I’ll show you more in a sec.

After it prints out, you let the ink stabilize by not touching it for two hours. Two. Waiting is hard.

Then after that, just trim away the extra paper and peel of the paper backing. Again, it’s like a sticker. A really thin, slightly transparent, not-unlike-a-fruit-roll-up, sticker.   

Now for the fusible webbing.

A note on fusible webbing: If I wanted to be able to pull off the sticker at a later date, all I would do here is iron. No webbing. But because I want it to be permanent, I went ahead and adhered it with fusible webbing. I could have used glue but something tells me glue and irons don’t mix. People who sew always have fusible webbing around the house, but as I am not much of a sewer, so I made do with a few strips of stitch witchery (also called hem tape), which comes in a roll at the grocery store (the laundry section, by the shoe polish). It’s cheap and I don’t have to wait in the cutting line at the fabric store.

After sandwiching the webbing between the sticker and the bag, I covered it with a cotton rag and ran a hot iron over it for 30 seconds, moving in smooth circles along the way. Magic. Sticks to the fabric and melts in a tiny bit. It’s not like those shiny decals that sit on the surface. It looks professionally printed — like this is how the bag came from the manufacturer. NEATO.

I liked the results so much I did the same process in reverse with a different stamp image. This stamp is from Switzerland. Might not be patriotic enough to make it for the 4th of July, but I love the colors next to the gold.


Then, I liked that so much, I had some fun and added some Craft Attitude to an old bracelet. This time no iron. Just a glue stick and I rubbed it on with my fingers and a pencil.


Need to get your hands on some Craft Attitude of your own? Click here to order! Shipping is FREE.

Intrigued? Want to see more crafty niftiness that can be made using Craft Attitude? Check some other bloggers who are making fun stuff this month: June 10: Jonathan Fong & Candie Cooper, June 13: Terri Sproul, June 17: Eileen Hull, June 20: Cindi Bisson, June 24: Jen Goode, July 1: Lorine Mason.

Full Disclosure: This is a sponsored post. The opinions and actions reflected in this post are my own. For real, you guyz. I wouldn’t be telling you about this stuff if it wasn’t awesome. And you can’t find it at every craft store on the planet, so who better to let you in on the secret but me? The nice people at Craft Attitude sent me a boat-load of the stuff as samples, so I didn’t have to pay anything to try it, but if I did, I wouldn’t mind. It’s that good. When my samples run out I’ll be ordering more myself. Thank you, Craft Attitude!     







Custom Lampshade

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I know what you are thinking; What this room needs is another pattern.

I think you are right.

In my epic quest to become comfortable with reupholstering furniture, this time I turned my attention to a lampshade. It’s not exactly furniture, but it made for good practice and funkified a thift store lamp. Win-win.

The last time I tried recovering a lamp it was with one of those double-sided adhesive kit things and came out awful. Every bump and lump showed up. Blech. This was totally different. It came out great.

Here is the tutorial not-really-a-tutorial: Spray an old shade with glue, cover it with fabric, trim off edges, go over rims with a bead of white glue followed with double sided bias tape. Bam!


Three helpful tips:

1. This removable spray adhesive is amazing. Sticky-yet-forgiving. It let me smooth out the fabric just the way I wanted it. It’s non-permanent, which is why I followed up on the rims with regular glue.

2. Make sure your fabric is ironed FLAT before starting. You might think it’s not wrinkled, but yeah, it is.

3. Big abstract style patterns cover wrinkles and bumps more than flat color or stripes. 

I have no idea why I decided this room needed a lime green lampshade, but here it is. I like it.

Next up, pillow talk. Get excited, people!   

Patriotic Cocktail Wreath

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Two years ago, Camilla made the most amazing wreath featuring a paper cocktail umbrellas. You should see it. It’s awesome.

After seeing her wreath, I made a mental note to pick up umbrellas at the party store so I could make my own, but for whatever reason, paper umbrellas and I never crossed paths. Until this weekend. And they weren’t yellow and pink – they were flag umbrellas. Did you hear that people? Tiny, precious flag umbrellas. To put in your tiny, precious, utterly delicious, mixed rum and patriotism cocktail. 

‘MERICA!!!!

I don’t know about you, but I like stuff with flags that are not official flags. Real flags make me nervous.
I grew up in one of that one house in the neighborhood that never flew the flag on holidays. Ever. Not because we were anti-patriots but because my dad thought they were too high maintenance and “Having a flag is like having a dog.” …Bah-yankeedoodle-humbug. He was one of those Boy Scout types who grew up with major flag rules; the flag needed to be taken out in the morning and in at night, taken down in rain or in bad weather, or hung at half-staff out of respect of the fallen….not to mention burning it if it touched the ground or became damaged in any way…not to mention folding it in seven perfect triangles. Drove him up the wall to see neighbors flying it 24/7 year-round.  One time, when one of them let their flag get so tattered, we staged a midnight raid, stole it, and burned it in can in the garage with the door shut. The heat above the flame got so hot it melted the plastic casing on the garage door opener thingy and we could never get in to replace the batteries after that. So we parked outside. For years. In the name of patriotism.


I’ll bet all this fuss about flag etiquette must seem weird to people reading this post in other countries. I forget that other countries have other rules until I watch the Olympics….before you know it, some hunky swimmer from Argentina gets up on the podium wearing his flag as a loin cloth…and nobody flinches but us. Way to be uptight, America.



So. Flags or no flags, you should look into this. Be sure to check out Camilla’s original post. 

Also, here’s a tip for next time you need a wreath base – check your local thrift store. Thrift stores always have wreaths for a buck or two. So what if you have to yank off some old scragle flowers from 1983? Do it for your country!

PS: I found my umbrella picks at my local Party City store in the Fourth of July section, $1.99 for 24 (they don’t appear to sell it online or I would provide a link here). If you have a hard time finding umbrellas, this wreath made with flag toothpicks is pretty darn awesome too.
 

Funk Your Junk

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Happy Thursday!

I’m guest blogging over at ElizabethBanks.com with these nifty bracelets. Check it.

Simple stuff. Just a little silicone from the hardware store and some broken earrings, buttons, and beads. You can handle this one, I promise. Then after you make a bracelet, make yourself some nifty matching  shoes! 

Admit it, you need this.

PS: Hunger Games fans, while you are over there, check out the premiere issue of Capitol Couture. Swoon! 

Two Dollars of Awesome: Polka Dot Label Vase

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I’m bored.

Let’s make nifties with office supplies.


Round labels + dollar store vase/drinking glass = polka dot vase.

BAM.

And here is some more math: $1 vase/glass + $1 labels + Free lilacs (snipped off tree) = Two Dollars of Awesome

BA-BAM-Bop-BAM. BAM!

You’re welcome.


I love having a vase full of lilacs on the table. They don’t last long but it makes me feel like Patty and Selma from The Simpsons are over for dinner.

Also, if/when you decide to take the labels off the vase, just fill the vase with ice cold water. Condensation will take affect in a few minutes and loosen the labels from the inside out. That’s a nifty trick worth remembering in general when it comes to labels on glass. Wax on glass is a different trick.

PS: This craft was inspired by these polka dotted jars from Lemon Jitters. Check her out!

Newsprint Cabinets

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So, this thing happened last spring wherein I decoupaged my kitchen cabinets with newspaper.

BAM!

You didn’t see that one coming did you? Newspaper and ready-made cabinets dancing together in some unorthodox swirl of muskrat love. How’s that for a Wednesday?

Okay, okay, this opens up two lines of questions…

1. Dude, wtf? Why would you want to decoupage your cabinets like some reject TGIFridays? Couldn’t you just paint them like a normal person?

The cabinets were melamine front (essentially plastic). Painting would have been awesome, but painting required sanding the melamine indoors, which is highly toxic and would be a pain in the butt, not to mention a major respiratory risk to Lola (mi gatita). No go. I tried some liquid sanding products and neither one were adequate products in my book. One wasn’t aggressive enough, the other was too aggressive, smelled awful, and left an uneven surface.  So I said aloud to nobody in particular, “Screw it, let’s Mod Podge this mo fo!”
 
If I hated it, I had a plan B. It was called Ikea. This room will likely get a larger overhaul down the line, but for now, this is fun way to bring the funk to a boring old kitchen.

2. This is from  a year ago? Why are you telling me about it now?

I wanted to be sure it would stand up to a year of cooking and cleaning before I recommended this method to anyone else. You know? That’s important sometimes. It annoys the crap out of me when DIY bloggers post about stuff knowing that the results won’t withstand the test of time. I mean, okay, that’s one thing when it’s some crafty doo-dah, but kitchen cabinets are the real deal. I don’t know that anyone reading this will actually attempt to decoupage their cabinets, but if they do, I don’t want some chunk to fall off in their spaghetti sauce. Quality counts.

One year later…

They have been splattered, scratched, picked at, roughed up and scuffed up non-stop for one year and they are just as good as ever. A month after the paper went on I sealed with outdoor Mod Podge, but that was it. I kept some newsprint as scrap in case I need to patch something someday, but so far it has not been necessary. The one thing that did change was the newsprint – it went from grey to yellow in just a couple of months – which is what I wanted, so that’s fine, although it made me switch the hardware to brass a while back. Yes, I’m a fickle one. 

The Glue

This is what I used to adhere newsprint (highly porous) to melamine cabinets (non-porous) and make it look slightly aged at the same time:

  • Two parts Mod Podge
  • One part Wood Glue
  • One part Diet Coke (could swap for Dr. Pepper or Coffee or whatever, you could swap for water) ….Why Diet Coke? I wanted the acid in the soda to set off the acid in the newsprint and make it yellow faster. Initially I wanted to have old-looking newsprint with new-looking hardware. Then that looked weird, then I tried some stuff, then I settled on old-ish brass. Well, aren’t you glad that got sorted out?
Prepare for this project to take over your entire kitchen for at least two days.

The Doozing
This is the same as any other decoupage project only bigger; slap on the glue, slap on the paper, slap on some more glue. If you are not familiar with basic arts and crafts decoupage, please, for the love of sequins, start there there before you embark on a major project like cabinetry. It’s easy but don’t bite off more than you can chew.

Tips

  • Use your fingers to smooth things out after the brushes are done. 
  • Use a lightweight paper and crumple it up beforehand (the crumples will allow the paper to absorb the adhesive better and give a smother finish). 
  • Use a finishing sealer. I thought mixing the woodglue into the adhesive mix would stand up to wear and tear — and it did on the fronts, but around the edges it started to get a little frayed.  After the cabinets cured for a few weeks I used outdoor Mod Podge (–it’s easy to control, but you can get spray-on finishes just about anywhere).

I realize 99.999995% of the people reading this will never do this, but, IF YOU ARE REALLY CONSIDERING DOING THIS…

If you really do this, the adhesive is everything. Everything. The adhesive recipe I use to attach paper to melamine front cabinets might be different than the one you use to attach fabric to poly-sealed wood cabinets, or glossy magazine paper to metal. Stuff varies. Do a test patch and let it set a week before doing the whole thing. Okay, okay? And if you do try it, send me a picture!

Easter Bonnets Part Deux: Coffee Filter Flower Hats

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So, as you may have seen in my earlier post Easter Bonnets Part Un, a few weeks ago, I was fixin up some fascinator style hats the Saturday before Easter (yes, last minute is my middle name). Anyway, so I am sitting there feeling very self-congratulatory about how cute those little hats looked when WHOMP I get an email from Michelle showing off Easter Bonnets made from using leftover coffee filter flowers she made using my tutorial.

Well crap. How was I going to not make some great big kahuna hats like Michelle?

Facinators be darned, it needed to happen!

Before you read anything else, click over to check out Michelle’s hats.

I just love it when this happens — one person puts something out there, then another person takes it in a another direction, then the first person grooves on it all over and again and tosses it back out. If Michelle and were musicians, I think this would make us a jam band.

If you saw last week’s tutorial, this is just a variation on that. Instead of fringing and stapling one color of coffee filter to make chrysanthemum-like flowers, this uses layers of multiple shapes and colors to make peony-like flowers. Once you get an assembly line going, it’s easy to crank out a dozen of these suckers in no time flat.


Materials:

  • Hat Base. I am using a sculpture wrapped in a dish cloth to protect it from the hot glue, but a roll of paper towels wrapped in an old T-shirt will work just fine. 
  • Baseball Hat. You probably have one of these in your closet, or pick one up at a thrift store for 50cents.
  • Hot glue.
  • Scissors.
  • Stapler.
  • Pre-dyed coffee filters. Click here for directions , it’s very easy. All you need is food coloring and water. To make the turban below, I used 13 flowers, each made of 7 filters. That’s 91 altogether, plus a few green leaves, so let’s call it an even 100. You can buy 100 filters for a dollar at any grocery store.      

Start by cutting off the bill of the baseball hat. If you are left with a ragged edge, or just like the look, trim off the bottom with some green filters cut into leafs shapes. Or use some leaves cut from fabric or taken from a silk plant. Your call.

Using whatever combination you see fit, layer 4-8 filters and staple four times in the formation of a square in the middle of the flower. One by one, pull and pinch each layer of filter toward the middle of the flower. Using the square of staples on the back as your base, draw a circle of hot glue and attach to the hat, starting at the outside perimeter and spiraling toward the center.


There you have it. The flower turban to end all flower turbans! I decided this needed a little ooumph so I added a few red poppies I had sitting in my drawer-o-flowers. And while I was in there, I pulled out a bunch more flowers and attached them to a big floppy beach hat. 

Actually, this is the way I made in the flower turban seen in my profile pic and the Matte Stephens portrait. One of my favorite long-time readers, a therapy pig named Stella Dora Von Swineburg, has been asking me how to make this for months now. I know Stella loves a good hat because she keeps a whole Pinterest board devoted to them. Stella, I hope you like this turban because it is now in a box and headed your way!

Easter Bonnets Part Un: Coffee Filter Fascinators

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So I’m at home last Saturday morning minding my own business when what do you know, a Judy Garland movie comes on the color TV: Irving Berlin’s Easter Parade. Honestly, who is going to do laundry and vacuum when Judy Garland is there all fresh faced and stomping her little heart out with Fred Astaire to When That Midnight Choo Choo Leaves For Alabam. Ain’t nobody got time fo that.

Let’s be honest, Judy Garland always takes priority, but Judy Garland in hats is like the ultimate trump card. You can’t turn away.

What’s that? Your college basketball team is two points away from winning the elite 8? You’re going to click over to ESPN to see the end of the game? NOT WHEN JUDY IS ON YOU’RE NOT.

Judy’s headgear in this movie was so awesome, so chic, so frilly, I was inspired to make some last minute Easter bonnets. Seven to be precise. Do I need an Easter bonnet, much less seven Easter bonnets? No.

This is the power of Judy and Irving Berlin. This!

Modeling provided by my beautiful friend, Kiki Bird.

I decided to split this up into 2 parts: This week, Fascinators. Next week, full out Easter bonnets. Get ready people!

Note: I have covered coffee filter flowers on this blog a lot. For fear of being redundant, skip ahead to the assembly part.

Materials

Tools on hand:

  • Scissors.
  • Stapler.
  • Hot glue gun and 5-10 glue sticks.

The base:

  • 6oz paper cup. I’m using a cup/bowl used for serving frozen yogurt. If you don’t have one laying around, use a regular paper cup and trim off the top 2” or so. Free.
  • 10” of elastic trim. If you don’t have this in your sewing kit, use one of those elastic headbands, or trim off an inch thick tube from an old pair of nylons. Under $1.
  • 10-15 hot glue sticks. Under $1.

The flowers:

  • 50 dyed and dried coffee filters.  I’ll do a refresher on how to dye coffee filters with a few drops of food coloring below, but you might want to check the archives for alternatives. 50 cents.
  • Green paper cut into rough leaf shapes. I’m using crepe paper, but tissue paper or green filters works fine. $1.

Total cost: Under $5
Total time: 30- 45 Minutes, minus drying time

Dying coffee filters pastel colors is easy as can be. Start out with easy-to-achieve pastels and work your way up to more saturated colors.

1. For every 100 coffee filters, you will need a few drops of liquid food coloring and one cup of water.
2. For a basic pastel color, squeeze 4 drops of color into the water and mix (see dye recipes below).
3. Keeping them in a stack of 30  (or so, this is very approximate), insert the filters in the bowl and let them soak up the color. You may want to punch on them with your fingers a bit.
4. Squeeze out excess liquid.
5. Divide into stacks of 5-10 filters and hang them over your shower rail to dry over night. You can speed the process by throwing them in a dryer, or a warm 200F oven for 10 -15 minutes (check frequently). There is no reason to separate the filters into individual pieces, in fact, it will make the next part harder so I would discourage it. Short stacks are best.

Note, same as with Easter eggs, dye formulas can be found on the side of most boxes of liquid food coloring (usually found in the spice section at the market for around $2). Here are some basic formulas to get you started:

Aquamarine = 2 drops of blue + 1 drop of green
Chartreuse = 1 drop of green + 1 drop of yellow
Magenta = 2 drops of red + 1 drop of blue
Gold = 3 drops of yellow + 1 drop of red
Deep Purple = 4 drops red + 7 drops of blue
1.  Working in stacks of 5-10 filters, fold the filters in half and cut 2″ fringes around the perimeter. Leave the center 3″ (or so) uncut. Sharp, heavy-duty scissors are going to be helpful right about now! If yours are dull, try cutting a folded up piece of tinfoil to sharpen them a bit.
2.  Form a stack of 5 filters and a lay a leaf shape on top. Staple FOUR TIMES creating a box like shape in the center.
3. Turn the stack over so that the underside of the staples is facing up.
4. Use your fingers to pull the filters up toward the center and pinch them slightly. Some people like to twist a bit, but for simplicity sake, only pinching is needed for the filters to keep their shape. If you have never worked with filters before, you will be surprised how easily they hold their shape.
5. Grab the next layer down, and pinch toward the center.
5. Grab the next layer down, and pinch toward the center. You get the idea…
6. Tada! A coffee filter flower.  Repeat as desired. Both hats here feature 9 flowers. I could have gotten away with five, or packed as many as 15. But 9 seems a healthy bunch to me.
 1. Turn on your hot glue gun. If you have never worked with hot glue before, relax. Keep some ice water nearby in case you burn yourself.  If you are doing this project with kids, you might want to look into a low-temperature glue gun. They run around $15 whereas standard mini glue guns like mine run $3-$5, and glue sticks average around 10 cents a piece.
2. Squirt a quarter sized patch of glue toward the bottom of the cup. 
3. Quickly adhere the bottom of a coffee filter to the glue, hold ten seconds, and move on to the next. Assembly will be a lot easier of you work from the bottom, forming a lose spiral along the outer wall of the cup.
4. Wear on a slight forward angle. Because you are jaunty like that.
How cute is that?  And easy too. Once you have the filters dyed and ready to go, it’s easy to form an assembly line and make a bunch! 

I really want someone to make these for their bridesmaids. Or have your bridesmaids over and let them make them. Maybe at the bridal shower. Maybe everyone makes them as a bridal shower craft activity. Oh Hell, screw the bridal shower and have your pals over for pizza and margaritas AND HAT MAKING. Y’all can watch The Real Housewives of Somethingorother and take pictures of how cute you look wearing these awesome things. I mean really, is that the cutest thing you ever did see?
Now you say, Why yes, yes indeed, that IS the cutest thing I ever did see!

And don’t restrict yourself to the ladies. Gentlemen love a good hat too, as do cats. My Lolabelle loves a good hat. Can’t get enough.


Stay tuned next week for Easter Bonnets Part Deux: The Big Kahuna.
 


 

Disco Giraffe

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Why is there a glittered disco giraffe in my living room?

Why the Hell not?

Giraffes are great. Glittered giraffes are especially great. They lend a certain Out of Africa meets Leslie Hall je ne sais quoi.

Plus, they look just like Donna Summer.

See what I mean?
I made this giraffe last fall but I neglected to tell anyone or take pictures because I thought she was missing a certain something. Turns out that something was false eyelashes from the Jamaican beauty supply store. So obvious. I didn’t even see until after the package was open that they are made from human hair. So now I have a fake eyelashes made from real hair on a fake giraffe. Awesome.


The giraffe is originally from Cost Plus World Market. I wish they would decide if it is called Cost Plus or World Market. The bags say the latter but I know five people who call it the former. It’s confusing. Anyway, this giraffe was hanging there on a clearance wall. Originally she was $85 but on sale for 60% off, then I saw one of her ears was damaged so I asked for a display model discount and boom…I walked out with a $25 giraffe. Not bad.

She started out this sort of  glossy newsprint looking thing, so I decided she needed to be painted gold…


But then the gold just didn’t do it for me.

As with all things in life that don’t do it for me, the answer was glitter.

Side Bar Tutorial for people who fear glitter, aka: The Herpes of Craft Supplies, aka:

How to Glitter Something So the Glitter Never Comes Off

  1. Cover the thing in a heavy coat of white glue then pour over glitter, same as always.
  2. After it dries, shake off excess glitter.
  3. In a disposable cup, mix; two parts white glue, two parts glitter, one part water. Mix with a plastic fork and paint the liquid all over the desired surface with a soft paint brush. When it dries, that glitter isn’t going anywhere.  

Here is a glitter tip from my friend Ann: Mix two or more sizes of glitter in the same color to achieve extra depth and sparkle. Ol’ Donna here has extra fine, extra chunky, and star shaped glitter covering her skin. Now she is ready to disco!

 

Confetti Cake Toppers

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Cold evenings in late February. Cottage pie with friends. King cake for an appetizer. Chocolate cake for dessert. Paper valentines on the walls. Mardi Gras beads on the door. Paper hats on our heads. There is so much to celebrate…

Cake Logic

I have a five minute rule about cake decorating. It goes like this: No spending more than five minutes on decorating a cake.

I really built the lead-up on that one, didn’t I?

See, I don’t think I, or anyone for that matter, will spend more than five minutes eating a slice of cake. And by that logic, that means I will spend less than five minutes appreciating a cake. And by that logic, why would I, or anyone else for that matter, spend a whole afternoon making something that will be consumed and destroyed in a speck of moments.

This is what I call cake logic.

This is why I like about cake toppers – they dress up any cake and you get a keepsake at the end of the night. And in this case, even if you toss the topper out, nobody has to feel bad about it because it did not cost any time or money to make. Huzzah much?

The idea for these cake toppers piggy backs on THIS tutorial for hot glue hearts I made for Elizabeth Banks’ blog last week. If you saw it already you can probably skip this post. If not, click here to check it out yourself.

You saw the first tutorial? Okay. Great. (Temporary Update Feb 2014: Sorry if that link does not work right now. Elizabethbanks.com transferred to a Tumblr site and the URL was never transferred. I’m told they will update it, but in the meantime, just read the rest of the post. I think you’ll get the crux of it. Thanks guys!) (Another update March 2014: click here to find it courtesy of the wayback machine)

Can you see where this is going?

Materials:

  • Parchment paper (buy a roll at the grocery store by the tin foil – NOT WAX PAPER)
  • Confetti shreds (click here for directions)
  • Hot glue and hot glue gun
  • Toothpicks

Let’s get this party started, shall we?

Lay your parchment paper on a flat surface and start drawing with the glue gun. Need a template? Use a pencil to write down any number or shapes first.

While the glue is still hot (read: work quickly) insert a toothpick in the base. Then go back over it with another round of glue and dump the whole thing with confetti. See any bald patches? Go back with more glue, more confetti. Lather, rinse, repeat. Assuming you already have some confetti ready to go, this will take you 90 seconds tops.

So that was easy. But why stop at numbers? How about letters? For you initials…or maybe a secret message?

Next birthday I’m going to spell out my whole name in confetti and cake. Who is with me?