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Remold Oil Pastel into Colorful Star

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As I cut and fill the pastels into the mold, it creates lots of waste debris on my table, very small and can hardly pick up by hand. So, I collect them and pour into one of the molds. Surprisingly, it turns into a star dust with all the colors I have used. One glide at the tip will give stripes of colors, my daughter shouted out: “Mommy, it is like a rainbow! So beautiful!”

Kids will be kids, they just like to fight over the same thing. When I remold the star pastel, I kept in mind to make sure that 2 stars must be identical in color and shape. Even with all my hard-work to try to duplicate the twin-star pastel, they still fight, sigh….. “Mom, I want that piece she is using, it has more red in it”, “Mom, not fair, my star is smaller…”, “Mom, sister used my star…”, “Mom…..” …… What can I say? Just love my kids the way they are… even sometimes they really made me steaming mad with all the mess and fights around. If you have kids like mine, welcome to my MOTHERHOOD….

Get the tutorial on how to make the Colorful Star Pastel after this:

Remold Oil Pastel Or Crayon Into Colorful Stars

Materials & Tools:
1. Broken Oil Pastels or Crayons [Non Toxic]
2. Star TPE or Silicon Rubber Ice Mold
3. Petroleum Jelly (Vaseline) or mineral oil or butter
4. Cotton Swab (Q-tips)
5. Craft Knife
6. Tweezers
7. Oven

Note: 100% oil pastel is soft and fragile, so the star might break during the process of pushing it out from the mold.
A 70%/30% mixture of oil pastel and crayon produces a stronger bond, the success rate is higher with mixture of crayon. The higher the % of crayon, the higher the success rate in remolding.
When Crayon melts, the color pigments will set to the bottom while the wax float to the top. The color pigment at the bottom resemble the texture of oil pastel.

Get ready all the materials and tools. I stole my son’s oil pastels and crayons where he stripped them to naked, that’s why you can see that they are all coated with all sorts of colors.

Wipe a thin layer of petroleum jelly on the star mold with cotton swab. Pay particular attention to all the tips of the star.
You can skip this step if using 100% crayons, but no harm lubricate the mold, since it will make the stars come out easily.

Cut and chop the oil pastels and crayons into smaller pieces.
Place bigger chunks of crayons into the mold first, especially the tips of the star. Fill the gaps with smaller pieces and remaining debris.
It can be a color for each tip, or a random mix.

To get the shades of tones for your star pastel, you can premix some color shades before putting them into the mold.

Press the oil pastels and crayons down, fill the mold slightly higher.

Place the mold into a cold oven, heat it up to 100°C / 212°F for 10 minutes.
Keep an eye on the oil pastels and crayons while they are melting. You will be surprised how fast they start to melt.
Don’t increase the heat and thinking of melting the oil pastel faster, it is dangerous as you might cause toxic fume to release from them.

The oil pastels and crayons start to melt and sunken into the mold to fill all the gaps in between.
You can add some pastels to fill in for the height.

After they are fully melt, they form a shinny molten.
A layer of transparent wax will float to the top if crayons were added into it.
Keep the mold in the oven with door open for about 10 minutes to let the bubbles release from the molten. Poke bubbles when they surface to the top.

Let them harden by either transfer the warm mold into the freezer or leave it at room temperature to set for about 2 hours or overnight. 100% oil pastels harden quite fast.
Gently separate the sides of the star by pulling the mold away. Push the star out from the mold.

Some of the perfect star pastels successfully molded.

Sometimes it is not easy to remold a 100% oil pastels, it is soft and fragile, breakage can happen especially on the thin tip of the star.

But if some crayons (at least 30%) are added into the oil pastels, it will improve the success rate in no time.
The wax will float to the top (the thin opaque layer) that enhance the bond, while the color pigment sink to the bottom.

Enjoy doodling and scribbling with the star pastels!

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Freezer Paper Stencil is so easy, we made this for daddy with a little help from mommy!!!

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Father’s Day is just around the corner, if you need to make a quick father’s day craft with the kids, this “We Love Daddy” with hand prints stencil T-shirt would be a perfect gift for the daddy that he would want to wear it everyday. It is a freezer paper stencil method, the stencil design can be done very fast if coupled with computer and printer. You can either download the stencil pdf pattern I made or create your own, the font I used is “American Typewriter”. If you can’t find freezer paper locally, you can always substitute it with sticker paper, like the one I used on skeleton Halloween costume I did for my son last year.

For those with only 1 kid, I have prepared another letter for you with an “I”, so you can make a ” I Love Daddy” Stencil T-shirt instead. For the hand prints, simply print both left and right hands on it. For those has more than 2 kids, adjust the hand prints position so that every kid has his/her share to touch the daddy’s “heart”. You can always enlarge the heart shape when printing to cater for more hands. Cool!!!

Last year, I sewed a boxer shorts for father’s day and he loves wearing it till now. This year the kids made him a great T-shirt, he sure is one of the luckiest daddies in the world to have 2 consecutive handmade from his loved ones in 2 years and more to come lol…. In fact, seeing him wearing them makes me so happy and dying to make more for him!!! Next year, I have to get prepared earlier for 2 father’s day crafts, one for the kids and one for me to make.

Get the detail tutorial on how-to make this stencil T-shirt with freezer paper after this….

Material:
1. White plain T-shirt (pre-wash)
2. Freezer paper, cut 2 sheets of letter size (8 1/2″ x 11″).
3. Fabric paint or acrylic paint (permanent), black, red, blue and green

Tools:
1. Printer (inkjet or bubble-jet, not laser printer)
2. Craft knife
3. Cutting mat
4. Iron
5. Soft paint brush
6. Paint palette plate or some swallow containers
7. Cardboard as backing to prevent paint from penetrating to the back of the T-shirt

Pre-wash and dry the T-shirt if it is new to remove any sizing added by the manufacturer.
Gather all the tools & materials to get ready for this quick craft.
I used permanent acrylic paint which is good for fabric painting. The texture is a little stiff compare to normal fabric paint but it is fine for this project because the coverage is not a lot and won’t irritate the wearer if he is particular on comfort clothing like my hubby.
Otherwise, you may add textile medium to the acrylic paint to provide softer texture if it is available at your local store [Read instruction on the bottle on how to use it].

Download the stencil design in pdf document and print it with your inkjet printer.
Feed the letter size freezer paper into your printer and print the artwork / pattern on the paper side of the freezer paper.
{the pdf download will either open in new tab or open a small window asking you to save it as file. If you can’t find the saved file in your computer, the default folder usually is in “/downloads”}
{If you can’t download the pdf pattern, probably you don’t have acrobat reader, download the latest version for free, here.}

Slowly cut the letters out with craft knife (place a cutting mat at the bottom to protect your table). If you kids are too young to handle the knife, help them with it. I did it for my kids, for their safety and also for the beauty of the work .

Place the cut freezer paper on the T-shirt with shining side down and position them as you like. Trim off excessive freezer paper so that it won’t block the letters when overlapped. Maximize the coverage area on the T-shirt to protect them from being soil by paint when the kids work on it.
Set your iron to medium heat setting. Press the hot iron starting from one corner, then glide it slowly and firmly across the freezer paper. The freezer paper will bond on the T-shirt. Continue gliding the iron on the entire freezer paper. Pay attention on the edge of the stencil letters and the heart pattern, make sure they are bond to the T-shirt without leaving any gap to prevent paint bleeding.

Insert a cardboard inside the T-shirt and fold the sides and sleeves under it. The cardboard acts as a barrier to prevent excessive paint from penetrating to the back of the T-shirt. It also helps to smooth out the T-shirt to make stenciling easier.

Squeeze some black acrylic paint on a paint palette or a swallow container. You don’t need a lot of acrylic pain for stenciling, so squeeze a little at a time if you don’t have enough to prevent wastage.
Dab the paint with a flat tip brush on the letters.

I let my daughter to do the “daddy” word after I demonstrated to her on the “We” word. Check the stencil to make sure that the paint has fully covered the letters, touch up if necessary.
After finish all the letters with black color, repeat the same to the heart with red acrylic.
Wash the brush and hand while the paint is still wet.

Wait till the paint is about to dry, stretch the T-shirt at the corner a little to free the freezer paper from bonding and slowly peel it off entirely.

A closer look on the stencil work before peeling off of the freezer paper.

It gives a very clean and crisp outline on the stencil. Another thing I love about freezer paper stencil (apart from it convenient and easy to use), the wax on the backing really helps to prevent paint from penetrating through from the paper side. No staining or bleeding happened even my daughter painted them quite wet.

The “We Love Daddy” stencil T-shirt before hand printing.

Brush and cover the whole palm with blue acrylic. Press the palm onto the T-shirt immediately. Acrylic pain dries quite fast, so wash the hand with soap after the print.

Repeat again with a left hand on the left side with another color.
Always, print with darkest color first, and lightest color last.

Set it aside to dry for over night. Laid a clean cloth on the stencil work and press with warm iron. Wash it before before wear.

The kids woke up the next day, the first thing they want to see is this T-shirt… their first “big project” for their darling daddy. See, they don’t even want to brush their teeth and change their pajamas before taking this photo, so embarrassing!!! The kids are so happy with their work and cannot wait to see his daddy wearing it.

When we celebrate Chinese (Lunar) New Year / spring festival, we decorate our house to make it look RED and GOLD. There are stories behind the reason, but I am not good in story telling, so I leave it to About.com, and Wikipedia who give better pictures and details if you are interested to know more.

This is a quickie project and the only time consuming is waiting for the paint to dry. The gold nuggets are only at the top layer of the pot, and not filling inside the pot. Let’s get the method and details of how-to…..

Materials:
1. River stones (rounded edges), the quantity needed depends on your pot’s size. Mine is about 1 lbs.
2. Gold metallic aerosol spray paint
3. Newspapers
4. A pot
5. Rubber gloves
6. Facial mask
7. Red ribbons
Remark: spray at well ventilated area, preferably outdoor or spray booth.

Instructions:
1. Wash the river stones to get rid the mud and sand. Soapy water is needed if the stone is greasy.
2. Dry them under the sun or hot air (for instant: from hair dryer)
3. Cover your work space with some newspapers.
4. Spread and spaced the stones on the newspaper.
5. Wear gloves and face mask. Shake the gold spray paint as directed on the can.
6. Spray a thin layer of gold paint on the stones (8-12″ away) by swinging your hand zig-zag across all the stones. Wait for them to dry.
7. Repeat step 6 another 2 – 3 layers or until you are satisfied with the metallic gold they present.
8. Turn to other unfinished area and repeat step 6 & 7 until the whole stone is covered with gold paint.
9. While waiting for the paint to dry completely, stuff the pot with crumple newspapers.
10. Fill snugly until it is almost full, press it down a little and start putting the stones on the top portion of the pot.
11. Tie a red ribbon to decorate.

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Skeleton Costume With Sock Skeleton

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Running out of time to sew a Halloween costume for your kid? Don’t worry, here is a quick way to transform a footed pajama into skeleton suit…. If you can get a black color footed long sleeve body-suit, it is even faster because you don’t have to dye it into black color like I did

Want to make it spookier, add some glow-in-the-dark powder in the white acrylic and your kid will sure “boooo” in the dark!!!!

I even prepared the skeleton stencil artwork for you, just print it out onto sticker papers or freezer papers (the non-waxed side), cut it out and stick onto the black footed pajama, and you are ready to paint it up. If you are using freezer paper, you need to iron with the wax side down and stick it on the pajama. It is fast and easy to do! Get the how-to with photos for stenciling method after this jump.

By the way, there are few more photos above, take a look by clicking the “next” button. Also, if you wonder how to make the sock skeleton in the photo, click here.

Mean while, if you don’t like to paint, this skeleton costume is also perfect to be done in applique technique, here are the steps:
1. Applique Technique
1. print it on the paper side of the fusible web or heat ‘n bond,
2. fix the fusible web on a piece of white fabric (must be thick enough so that it can cover the black background) as per instruction
3. cut all the “bones” out from the white fabric
4. arrangement the “bones” on the black pajama,
5. Iron to stick them

2. Stencil Technique

Material:

1. Footed Pajama (preferably plain without any applique, printing, embroidery etc)
2. Dye, Black ( I prefer cold dye + dye fix)
3. A4 /Letter size Sticker Paper or Freezer paper (6 pcs)
4. Acrylic Paint, White (thick type so that you can cover the black background)
5. Acrylic Paint, black for touch-up and cover the metal button to black
6. Some cardboards
7. Glow in the dark powder (optional)

Tools:

1. Printer (inkjet or bubblejet or even dot matrix, but not laser printer please)
2. Craft Knife + Cutting Mat
3. Brush (about 1″ wide)
4. Small container
5. Spatula/spoon
6. Well ventilated room

Print the stencil artwork onto either sticker papers or freezer papers. Print only the 6 real-size pages, not the cover page.
This original size is for 2 year-old toddler, resize it to suit if needed.

Get ready the materials and tools. The photos didn’t show all the materials, please refer to the list above.
Dye your footed pajama in black according to the instruction attached in the dye tin. I prefer to use cold dye, it is easy and hassleless, do remember to include the cold dye fix (2 sachets for black).
Wash and dry the pajama.
While waiting for the pajama to get ready (need at least 3 hours for the dye to set), print out the stencil artwork on the sticker papers or freezer papers.
Tip: if you intend to do it for toddle other than 2 year-old, I would suggest that you print on the plain papers to check for the correct size that able to fit into your pajama.
Cut the outlines with a sharp craft knife (use a new blade). This is the most time consuming because you have to do it slowly to get the perfect outlines.
Cut some cardboards and insert them into the pajama. This will not only smooth out the fabric but also to prevent staining the back of the pajama when you paint.
If your buttons are not in black color, paint it with black acrylic to cover.
Arrange the stencils on the pajama, stick the stencil artwork if you are absolutely satisfy with the position.
Raise a corner of the sticker and peel off the backing slowly. Don’t take the whole sticker up, maintain it in the correct position while you peel and stick portion by portion.
If you are using freezer paper, just iron them (with wax side down) to the pajama to stick it.

Make sure all edges at the outline are adhered properly, otherwise the white paint will leak out and stained outside the intended area.
Use a heavy body white acrylic paint. Scoop about 1 table spoon of acrylic paint to a small container, add in glow-in-the-dark powder if you have, stir evenly.
Apply the paint to the pajama by using stippling or dabbing method with a dry brush.

Start with a small amount of paint for the first layer, just dab all over the stencil area. It won’t make the whole area white immediately, the whiteness will increase gradually, layer by layer.
Take note on the button area, leave the buttons open so that you can paint the inside.
Wait for the first layer to dry, take about 30 minutes. Touch the painted area lightly to check if it has dried.
Scoop and mix a fresh acrylic paint for each layer.
For the second layer onwards, you can put more paint on it because the first layer already sealed the edges of the stencil to prevent any smearing or paint leaking out.

Always remember to wait for the paint to dry before stippling the next layer.
After 4-5 layers, you should be able to get a satisfactory whiteness.
Wait for it to dry before stripping off the stencil sticker.
Acrylic paint is rubbery when dry, so when you remove the sticker do it slowly to prevent tearing off the edges of the paint.
Apply touch-up if needed.

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Light Bulb Angel Ornament

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Light Bulb Angel Ornament, click here for the tutorial!

From now on, don’t throw away your burnt light bulbs. You can recycle them into beautiful Christmas tree ornaments!

I was so delighted when I saw these at “Craft By Amanda” where Amanda posted the first Angel ornament made out of a burnt light bulb. She made them in Dec 2000 and they still look brand new although they have been put on, taken off and put on a total of 9 times.

You should look at her another 3 light bulb ornaments by clicking the “next” button above. The links for the individual tutorials are at the bottom of the photos!!!

Try this out for this Christmas

P/s: You can use a good light bulb if you don’t have a burnt one…. shhhh…. don’t tell my husband that I am going to get them from the lamps and told him that they are burnt!!!!