Beautiful Upcycled Butterfly Art

A CRAFT A DAY 2013

DAY 3

So here we go onto the third craft of the year! Boy I cannot wait till I get to day 300... 

Today's craft is from my daughter. You see last night during our trip to the Hobby Craft January Sale I purchased a half price 2"butterfly punch. As soon as my 4 year old had wrestled it from its packet she informed me that she needed to make a picture from the butterfly's. Well I thought about this last night and came up with this idea today I hope you enjoy it.

Beautiful Upcycled Butterfly Art

Materials:

PVA Glue

Old papers

White Card

2" Butterfly Punch

STEP 1: 

Punch some butterfly's out of some coloured paper. You need about five or six.

STEP 2:

Now punch some butterfly's out of some different paper. You will need about 9 or 10.

STEP 3:

Place the coloured butterfly's wing to wing to create a flower shape in the bottom corner of the sheet of card. Stick these down.

STEP 4: 

Fold the wings of the butterfly over so that they stick up to make a 3D butterfly. You need to repeat this for every butterfly.

STEP 5: 

Stick one of the folded butterfly's on the flower.

STEP 6:

Now stick the rest of the butterfly's on like they are fluttering away from the flower. Voila! A beautiful yet simple piece of art that even the kids can do.

We will be using these in a future craft... can you imagine what were going to make with them?

You could do this on card and frame it, you could do it on canvas or even use it as a card embellishment. You can use any colour card, paper or other recycled materials you like to make this piece its fully customisable. 

Have a go and then let me know how it goes! I would love to see your own pieces and how you customise them. Happy crafting!

E-mail           upcyclingbritain@hotmail.co.uk

Etsy Shop           www.etsy.com/shop/upcyclingbritain

Website           www.upcyclingbritain.co.uk

Upcycled Formula Tin Organiser Tutorial

A CRAFT A DAY 2013

DAY 2

Well here we are on day 2!

 I never thought I was going to make it, after 3 hours sleep due to my discontent children (bless their little cotton socks!). An eight hour work day, a busy evening mooching round the Hobby Craft Sales with my four year old daughter (who came back with an enviable supply of crafting goods courtesy of her Christmas money) a trip to my sisters house to meet her new dog Oscar... well can we just say I'm gob smacked that I managed to do this as well today. 

So without further a do please read on for my second craft tutorial of the year!

Upcycled Baby Formula Tin Desktop Organiser

 

Materials: 

Patterned Paper
Pen
Glue Gun
Scissors
Baby Formula Tins
Ruler

STEP 1:

Measure the width of the strips of paper you need using the tin itself. Draw marks at intervals along the paper.
 

STEP 2:

Once you have the marks join them up using your ruler. 

STEP 3: 

Now cut along the line, this will leave you with a strip of paper big enough to wrap around your tin.

 

 

 

 STEP 4:

Using the hot glue gun stick the paper down once you have wrapped it around the tin.

STEP 5:

Now turn your tin upside down and glue around the bottom edge to fix the paper to the can so that they don't slip apart. Repeat steps 1-5 for all the tins you will be using to make your pyramid

STEP 6:

Stick your bottom row of tins together with a line of hot glue. they will not be very steady at this point, but don't worry we are going to make them more stable as we go along!

STEP 7:

Turn the row of tins around where the bases of the tins meet you need to use the glue gun to seal over this join. This make your structure far more stable.

STEP 8:

Put one of the next row of tins in its position and mark the points where this tin touches the bottoms tins. Use these marks as a guide for where to put a line of hot glue, then before it cools stick on your next tin. Repeat this process for all the remaining tins.

Don't forget that after you have glues the tins together you need to turn it to the back once again and glue all the connecting points of the tins together as you did before. Now you should have a stable tin organiser that has plenty of room for anything you like... in my case PENS!!!

Now you can make this as big as you like with anywhere from three tins to a ten tier pyramid! (although you may need a rather large desk to put it on!) You can even use any sized tins you like large office sized coffee tins, small tomato puree sized tins... the only limitation is (as it is with any craft) your mind!

Please comment on this blog and let me know what you think! Every ones views are welcome. Have you had a go at this project? Or have you got any questions? If you have please get in touch!

E-mail     upcyclingbritain@hotmail.co.uk
Etsy Shop     www.etsy.com/shop/upcyclingbritain
Website     www.upcyclingbritain.co.uk

I will see you here tomorrow for our next craft... and its even going to be a surprise for me... my daughter has told me she is showing me it. Yes she is 4 (going on 40!).

Now I am ever so sorry to leave you but it's beddy byes for me now... my lids are closing as we speak... *snore...*

Happy New Year 2013!!! Upcycled To Do List Memo Board

A CRAFT A DAY 2013

DAY 1

Welcome to UpcyclingBritain's exciting new craft tutorial  series "A Craft A Day 2013" 

Can we really post you a craft tutorial a day? 

365 crafts all taking at the least an hour at a time to make, photograph and blog about? There is only one way to find out and to do that I'm going to have to get organised... VERY organised! 

Thinking about this gave me an idea for my first craft tutorial of the year. 

Upcycled To Do List Memo Board

Materials:

Unwanted Patterned Paper (I have used wallpaper Samples)
Marker Pen
Post It Notes
Picture Frame Missing The Glass
Ribbon
Cardboard
Glue Gun
Scissors
Double Sided Sticky Tape
Ruler

STEP 1:

Use the frame to measure the size of the piece of patterned paper you need. Remember the paper needs to fit perfectly into the back of the frame so measure it from behind (you don't want it too small so it falls through the front!). Mark your paper out with a pen and cut it out with your scissors. Be careful not to cut your fingers!
 

STEP 2: 

Take your scrap cardboard and cut a piece the 
same size as your patterned paper you have just cut.

                                          STEP 3:

                                          Line the edges of the cardboard you have cut 
                                          to size with double sided sticky tape. 
                                          Now stick the patterned paper onto the     
                                          cardboard to give you a sturdy surface to 
                                          work  with.

STEP 4:

You can now put your covered board into the frame. It's looking good already! Use the metal tabs to hold your cardboard in place if the frame has them. If it doesn't, don't worry! Use your hot glue gun to secure it into place.

STEP 5:

Now using some different patterned or plain paper cut a rectangle to use as the background for your header. Don't forget to use a pen and ruler to plot your rectangle so it is nice and straight. I have chosen this hot pint wallpaper sample as it really pops against the pale delicate blue background. You can even make it match the colour scheme in your home!

STEP 6: 

Now you need to line the back of the rectangle of paper with double sticky tape. Then you can arrange your post it notes on your board. I used a large note for the header and smaller notes for the 'to do list' as I always have so many things to do! This is where you can really customise your piece and make it just right for your own lists.

STEP 7:

I drew (using a black marker pen) around each of the post it notes and the edges of both the patterned pieces of paper with dotted 'stitched' effect lines to give it a more personal look. You could use any type of border you like.

 STEP 8: 

Once you have finished your borders you can write your title in. Go crazy with your font make it really personal.

STEP 9: 

Now you can write in all your jobs! I wrote the dates  from the day I made it to the last day I have to complete my jobs on the large post it note at the top. I then wrote all my jobs on the little post it notes. I added little pictures for each job just because I can!

STEP 10:

Using the glue gun fix the ribbon to the back of the frame so you can hang it. I ran a line of glue under the ribbon then sealed right over the top of it to make sure it wont be falling off any time soon. Better safe than sorry!







And there you have it, your very own to do list board. All you need to do is change your post it notes for fresh ones every time you get new jobs and finish the ones on the board. If your feeling extra crafts why not glue a pouch of card onto the back so you can store your post its and a pen so your next jobs can be ready when you are? I really hope you have enjoyed this tutorial. Please comment on this blog every comment (the good and the bad) will go towards improving future tutorials I write and that can only be a good thing for you!

I would love to see your to do lists if you take on this project so please email upcyclingbritain@hotmail.co.uk with any pictures you may have of your own designs!

Please feel free to check out my Etsy shop www.etsy.com/shop/upcyclingbritain or our website which is currently being improved www.upcyclingbritain.co.uk and again our email is upcyclingbritain@hotmail.co.uk 

See you tomorrow for our tutorial on making a brilliant upcycled desktop organiser!