Back 2 School Cool: Spruce Up Those Boring No.2 Pencils!!!

Hey Everyone!!!

Here is the second post to my Back 2 School Cool series. Below you will see the corresponding Youtube video should you prefer to watch my DIY tutorial instead of read about it. Be sure to like and subscribe so you don't miss out on more awesome DIY projects coming up! Today's tutorial is an update of a previous post I published last August or September. We are sprucing up our boring, old pencils in time for the school year. It is a super cheap and easy project to do! Let's talk about what you will need!

Things You Need:

-pencils

-washi tape (make sure its the paper tape and not the more sticker-ish tape)

-scissors

THAT'S IT!!! LET'S GET STARTED!!!!

Step 1:

Take your preferred washi tape and your pencil. Lay the pencil horizontally and unravel some washi tape next to it. Go from the bottom of the metal eraser holder to the end of the pencil. Cut the washi tape.

Step 2:

Slowly smooth the washi tape onto the pencil. I find that doing one of the flat surfaces first and then the next and then the next is easiest. Turn the pencil over and repeat Step 1 and Step 2.

Step 3:

Once you have completed wrapping the pencil, you can now sharpen it and use your snazzy new pencil. Using the paper washi should make sharpening the pencil possible. Using the sticker-ish washi doesn't work so well and makes the whole thing look like a disaster (Yes, I am speaking from experience!)

Wasn't that easy!?!?! I hope that you enjoyed this updated post and the video to go along with it. Be sure to like and subscribe to my channel if that is what you prefer. I would love to have you in my Youtube family. If you are more of a reader, that follow me on Google Plus. I'd love to have you in my Google Plus Family as well! Be sure to leave me comments either here or on Youtube showing me your creations. I'd love to see them! Until next time, xoxo!

Deck the Halls with Brittany: Holi-DIY #2

Hi Everyone!

Merry Christmas Eve! I hope everyone is having a great day today, despite the dreary weather. Today, I'm coming at you with a simple little project that you can do if you are looking for a last minute gift or if you need to add a little Christmas to a corner in your house. Today, we are making a little Christmas/winter scene placed in a lantern. Let's get started!

Things You Will Need:
-glue gun
-glue gun sticks
-mini lantern (can buy at Dollarama - had mine from my Spring wedding)
-mini Christmas village figurines and trees (Dollar stores and Walmart)
-fake Christmas snow

Step 1:
Make sure you take all stickers and tags off all the things (if you needed to buy them). Make sure things are clean.

Step 2:
Open up the lantern and place your figurines and trees into the lantern to get a sense of where you want things placed. Once you have settled on placement, plug your glue gun in and wait for it to heat up.

Step 3:
Once the glue gun is ready, start gluing your figurines and trees in. I had to place mine on top of the rim for the tea light candle. Once you have everything glued into place, take your bag of fake snow and carefully sprinkle it into the lantern. If you have a little tea light holder in your lantern, be sure to put enough snow in it to completely cover that up. Once you have done that, your little craft is complete.

As you can tell, this craft is super simple. I made four of these before my Christmas party to give as an extra little gift to my girlfriends. It's also a nice little craft to make with some older kids. You may need to handle the glue gun though. If you had a bigger lantern and wanted to get more crafty with it, you could put those bigger houses in it to get it to light up and you could make a whole scene. It is entirely up to you. Anyway, I hope that you all enjoyed this quick little craft post. It's been awhile since I posted on here so I figured I would post a few little things. Until next time, Happy Crafting! xo

Deck the Halls with Brittany: Holi-DIY #1

Hi Everyone!

So today I have decided I'm going to kick off my new series of Holiday posts. It will be purely Christmas related as I live in Canada and have already celebrated Thanksgiving. If you are looking for Fall DIY's then please look at my I Love Fall series.

Today's Holi-DIY is going to be very simple and is not time consuming at all. You can even do this with kids at home or in a classroom. Let's get into it, shall we?

Things You Will Need:
-old picture frame
-Christmas themed paper
-ornament(s)
-glue gun
-glue gun sticks


Step 1:
Take your Christmas themed paper and the back of the frame and trace around the back of the frame. Cut out what you have traced. Remember to cut inside the lines to make sure that the paper will fit in the frame.

Step 2:
Once the paper is cut out, place it in the frame and put the backing back on and secure it shut. Turn the frame around so you can see the paper you just placed in there.

Step 3:
Plug in your hot glue gun. While you are waiting for it to heat up, decide which ornaments you would like to place on the paper. I decided to keep it simple and only put one ornament but you could get creative with it and do more than one. It's entirely up to you.

Step 4:
Once you have decided, take your glue gun and carefully place glue on the back of the ornaments. Remember, try not to wait too long because hot glue dries quickly. Stick the ornament onto the paper. Keep doing this step until your frame is how you like it.

Step 5:
Once you have finished gluing the ornaments onto the paper, place it somewhere in your house or apartment to add some festive cheer!

So that was a very easy DIY for Christmas decor. I found similar things on Pinterest and Youtube so you can look there for more ideas of what to do with different ornaments. I hope you have fun doing this little project. Be sure to leave me pictures in the comments section. I would love to see what you all come up with! Until next time, Happy Crafting! xoxo

Spruce up those boring Notebooks!

Hi Everyone!

I'm back again with another post I had originally wanted to do back in September, but due to slacking on my part, it is going up now. Personally, I like to have a notebook on hand when I'm in class so I can jot down notes for each day. I always go to the Dollar Store to get my notebooks, but sometimes the covers are kind of ugly. So I figured I could spruce it up on my own. This project is easy and won't take too long to do, depending on how creative you get with it. Let's get started, shall we?

Things You Will Need:
-scissors
-notebook
-different things to decorate the notebook
-full sheets of sticker paper (the kind that isn't pre-cut)
-pencil


Step 1:
I didn't have anything else to use to cover the notebook, so I used sticker sheets. I traced the one side of the notebook. Then, I cut out the sticker paper and after peeling back the backing on the sticker paper, I stuck the sticker paper to the front of the notebook. (Note* You may have to do this a couple of time depending on how opaque or transparent the paper is). You may also need to do this to the back of the notebook.

Step 2:
Next, decorate the notebook as you see fit. Get creative with this part. I kept mine fairly simple. I may add to it, but I haven't fully decided what it will be used for yet. You can use all sorts of things for this. Use things like washi tape, scrapbooking paper, scrapbooking stickers, stamps, materials, ribbons etc. Once you are satisfied with your notebook, you can begin using it. Enjoy!

I hope that you enjoyed this DIY project! If you do these yourself, be sure to share them with me! I would love to see what you all create! I hope you have a great afternoon! Happy Crafting! xoxo

Spruce Up Your School Pencils!

Hi Everyone! 

It's Brittany, and I'm back with another DIY project! I had originally planned on posting this project back at the beginning of September for Back to School, but I never got a chance. Anyway, this is a simple and budget-friendly project to revamp those boring Number 2 pencils for school. Let's get started! 


Things You Will Need:
- Pencils
- Washi Tape
- Scissors

Step 1:
The first thing you need to do is choose a washi tape that you wish to use. Once you have chosen a washi tape, take the tape and start to unravel it from the roll. Do this slowly. You only want to unravel enough for the length of the pencil. 

Step 2:
Place one end of the tape underneath the silver metal part that holds the eraser. Match the other end of the tape to the end of the pencil. If there is some excess, you can cut that off with your scissors. 

Step 3:
Repeat the last step until you have covered the pencil. Cut any excess off the bottom. Press down on the tape to make sure that it is all sticking to the pencil. When you are ready to use, you can sharpen it! 

And that is it! You have spruced up your boring old pencils with just a couple of materials. This is such a fast way to do this and you will have some pretty fun pencils to use for school. Happy Crafting! xoxo

Little Ghosty Friends

Hello, my fellow crafters!

So sorry I haven't posted recently. I have been super busy, preparing for wedding and starting to think about Christmas. I hope you all have been well and have been busy crafting! Today's craft is a super simple one, and you can do it with little kids. They are little tissue ghosts. Let's get started!

Things you will need:
- kleenex
-marker
-string or twist ties
-cotton balls
-needle and white thread

Step 1:
Lay the kleenex out flat on a hard, smooth surface. Place 3-4 cotton balls in the centre of the kleenex.

Step 2:
Gather the cotton balls in the kleenex so that you have formed a head. Use the string or twist tie (whatever you have laying around) to secure the cotton balls in the kleenex.

Step 3:
Take the marker and draw whatever kind of face you wish on the head of your ghost friend.

Step 4:
Take the needle and thread and use it to attach the thread to the top of ghost's head. What i did is fed the one end of the string through the hole in the needle. Then I cut it to the desired length. I knotted the two ends and stuck the needle through the top of the head. I looped the needle through the end of the string so that it would catch and stay in place. You don't want to pull to tightly as it is kleenex and it rips easily.

And voila!!! You are finished! I hope you enjoyed this easy little craft. It can be something really fun to do with children around Halloween time. In a classroom setting, you could have them even created a whole story about the little guy they have created. Happy Crafting!

Geometric Butterfly

Hello, all my fellow crafters! Sorry I have been MIA this summer. It's been pretty a pretty busy season! Anyway, I will be posting a few more posts in the near future. I will also start posting DIY ideas for wedding stuff as well, as I am now recently engaged. With that being said, let's get started.

This afternoon's DIY project is a great one for kids. It crosses Math with Art and is fun for the kids without them realizing they are doing Math. I did this with my students during my second placement at Teacher's College. It is easy and turn out really pretty.

Things you will need:
- white construction paper (this will be the wings)
- black construction paper (this is the body and head)
- crayons, markers and/ or pastel
- geometric shapes (squares, rhombus, triangles, hexagons etc)
- a pencil
- a template for butterfly wings (optional)

Step 1:
Kids will receive one piece of black construction paper and one piece of white construction paper. Tell them to fold them both in half. Demonstrating this might be helpful. Once the pieces are folded, have students draw out a body and head on the black piece using a pencil. **Note: Make sure they are aware to have the body and head attached.

Step 2:
Next, take the white folded construction paper and while folded, draw one half of the butterfly wings. They may want to use scrap paper first to practice their wings before drawing it on the construction paper.

Step 3:
Once the body and wings have been drawn, keep the construction paper folded in half and cut out the wings and the body. Next glue the body of the butterfly where its fold meets the fold in the wings. Let this dry.

Step 4:
Once it it dry, it is time to draw the shapes on. Take the shapes and trace them where you want them to sit. It doesn't have to be symmetrical like mine is in the picture. This was for a culminating task for my students who had a critera for their butterflies. Yours can be done however you like. Once you are done, start colouring them in.

Step 5:
Once you have coloured in all the shapes, you may want to colour in the area around the shapes. This helps the shapes pop. You can also decide to leave it white. It's up to you. Get creative! Happy Crafting!

DIY City Maps

Hello my fabulous crafters!
Today's craft is one that is totally kid-friendly. There could be many uses for this craft. The kids could make treasure maps or scavenger hunt maps or you could even have them create their ideal city. I did this craft with three children I babysat during the summer a few years back. They really enjoyed doing this craft and being creative in designing their very own cities.

Things you will need:
-white computer paper
-markers in several colors
-tape

Step 1:
The first thing you will need to do is tape several pieces of paper together, depending on how big you want your city to be.

Step 2:
This is the fun part. This is where you create your city. Put houses, roads, stores etc. Use your imagination.

Step 3:
After the city map is complete, you can hang it up or you can give it to the child to send them on a scavenger hunt or treasure hunt. All depends on what the child is up to.

After we made the city maps, we re-drew them on the driveway in chalk so the kids could use their hot wheels cars in the city map. Kids have a lot of fun with this. Hope you enjoy! Happy Crafting!

Colorful Coffee Filter Snowflakes

Hello my fabulous crafters!

First off, I would like to say Happy Belated Canada Day to my fellow Canadians, and if there are any American readers out there, Happy 4th of July! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! For today's craft, I'm going to do something fairly easy to make. I know summer has started and so I thought this would be a great craft to do if you have kids or are babysitting. I call this craft " Colorful Coffee Filter Snowflakes", but honestly you can make whatever shape you want.... perhaps flowers?

Things you will need:
-Coffee Filters (I got mine from the Dollar store - you can get a lot for cheap)
-Scissors
-Markers (Washable works best)
-Spray bottle filled with water
-Newspaper (to lay on the table to avoid mess)

Step 1:
Lay down the newspaper. Color the Coffee Filter with all of your preferred colors. Once it is done, it will look weird but don't worry because those colors will be faded.

Step 2:
Take the spray bottle and spray the coffee filter until it is wet and the colors are bleeding into one another. Once complete, set out to dry. It might help to have a designated area of newspaper that is dry so the coffee filters can dry. You can also take a hair dryer to them if you don't want to wait.

Step 3:
Once dry, cut out desired shape and decorate if you want to. I decided to do colorful snowflakes. We cut out patterns to make the snowflakes. Then for extra bling, I glue tin foil to mine.

It is entirely up to you how to finish off the project. I hung mine in a window and when it was sunny, the tin foil would catch the light and sparkle. This craft is easy to do with kids! If you wanna get really creative, you can try making fake flowers with them. I do not have a post for this but perhaps sometime in the future. Happy Crafting!

Splatter Art Canvas

Hello my fantastic crafters!

Again this week, I am doing a double posting because I have been so busy doing things that need to get done that I have been slacking on posting! Anyway, today's craft is called Splatter Art Canvas. It is fairly simple and cheap to do and makes great decorative pieces if you are a student like me and can't afford to go out and buy art for my place.

Things you will need:
- Canvas (can get these cheap at a dollar store, sometimes in multi-packs)
-black paint
-different colors of paint that will be visible on top of black paint

Step 1:
Paint the canvas black. You may have to do this twice as sometimes you will still have white showing through after the first coat. Let it dry!

Step 2:
Take a paintbrush and a color. Get a bit of paint on your brush and flick it towards the black canvas. You may want to do this outside as it will get on more places then your canvas. Repeat this step with however many colors you want.

Step 3:
Let it dry and if you want you  can modge podge it so that it has a shiny protective layer on it! Also if you dont have a canvas that is stretched over a piece of wood, you will want to find some way of hanging it. I used some extra ribbon I had lying around and a hot glue gun to glue the ribbon on.

Hope this was as fun for you as it was for me. This craft could make a great gift for a friend or relative as you would have to use a black background. Play around with it and make it unique to you! Happy Crafting! xoxo

Paint Smudge Butterflies

Good Morning Crafters!

Hope everyone is having a great Thursday morning and isn't melting in this sweltering heat! Today's craft is something a little more kid friendly, so if you have young children or are in need of an activity for babysitting, this one is for you. They are called Paint Smudge Butterflies and are incredibly easy to do.

Things you will need:
-Various colours are paint (preferably bright, colorful ones)
-cardstock or computer paper (Computer paper is a tad easier to fold fyi)
-newspaper
-scissors

Step1:
Cut out a template for a butterfly ahead of time. It doesn't need to be detailed or perfect. A simple one will do. Also lay down newspaper as this craft can get messy, especially with children.

Step2:
Trace around the template on the cardstock or computer paper. Then either you or the child(ren) doing the craft can cut out following the lines you made while tracing.

Step 3:
Once the butterfly is completely cut out, fold it in half carefully. If the child(ren) are super young, you can do this for them.

Step 4:
Have the child(ren) or yourself put paint in the colors they want. Try not to use too much so the paint doesn't mix together and the butterfly doesn't turn completely gray. 

Step 5: 
Once one side is completed to satisfaction, fold it in half again so that the paint smudges onto the other half of the butterfly. Carefully open it back up and allow it to dry. 

Presto! You have a colorful and beautiful butterfly. These can be used to decorate a child's room, door, or another spot in your house. It's a good spring/summer type craft! Happy Crafting!