Baby Elephant Card DIY

I made this elephant card for a baby shower.

Materials:

• Card stock
• Pencil, eraser, black sharpie, black ink pen
• Pink, gray and yellow watercolor paint
• scissors

I cut out the card stock to approximately 10" x 6" and folded the long side in half.

The card stock was glossy on one side, which is the side I drew on.

I drew in pencil first, drawing broad strokes, mimicking a picture I liked.  I erased the lines that were off until it resembled my inspiration drawing.

I traced over the finished pencil drawing in sharpie.

I erased the pencil and painted the star balloon, ears and stars in pink and yellow respectively.

For the inside of the card, I draw a ladder with lines in pencil to designate where each letter of my well wishes will go and keep it level:

I begin drawing in black ink pen:

I add an exclamation mark with a heart, outline in black, paint the heart:

And that's all!  I love making cards for milestone events.  There's a certain pleasure that comes with making it myself, like giving a work of art on top of the gift!  I've experimented with different card types in the past, but I find that what works is drawing an illustration with sharpie and coloring it in, keeping it simple.  

Lamb Nursery Illustration

I made this Lamb Illustration as a gift for a one year old's birthday party:

The illustration is done on matte white card stock paper folded over a piece of cardboard.

Materials used:

• White glossy card stock, approximately 9.5" x 15" rectangle with flaps at outer edges, width of flaps bordering rectangle measuring approximately 4.8".
• Pencil, eraser, black sharpie
• Oil pastels (beige and pink), Q-tips and oil (I used canola oil) or alternatively, paint
• Lamb inspiration drawing
• Thin malleable wire
• Whole puncher
• Scissors
• Cardboard cut to approximately 9.2" x 14.7" (slightly smaller than the rectangle of card stock) to serve as support

I drew the lamb on the large rectangular face of the card stock (9.5" x 15").  I drew in pencil first, drawing large broad strokes until the drawing resembled the inspiration drawing, erasing lines in pencil which did not resemble the inspiration drawing.

I traced over the pencil drawing in sharpie when I was pleased with it:

I mounted the card stock over the cardboard before I started coloring to prevent smearing of the paint.  I folded the card stock over the cardboard according to the fit I wanted.  I used a hole puncher to make holes in the card stock and punched overlapping holes in the cardboard with the pencil tip.

I  laced the metal wire, from the cardboard up, and once the card stock was folded down over the cardboard, twisted the metal wire to press down the cardboard.

  I make a hook with the excess wire which I would like to use to hang the illustration.

Flip the illustration over, face up.  Erase the pencil marks once you have completed the sharpie outline and begin coloring in with the oil pastels (or paint if you prefer) I first fill in the illustration with white pastel as a base, to keep the final coloring from appearing too dark.  I color over with my colored pastels.  I am heavy handed with the pastel, to so as to not remove the pastel completely when I begin to smear it around.

Place a small amount of canola oil in a paper cup and dip the Q-tips in it.  Use this to smear the pastel and give it the effect of looking like paint.

I write in the name of the birthday girl, imitating typography I find online (that includes letters from A to Z to be able to have the complete letter set to imitate).  I draw a line in pencil to write the letters on and keep them level which I will then erase.  I write the letters in sharpie, though you can write in pencil first, as is done with the lamb, if you would like to practice before selecting the look you like:

You can color in the letters as you did the lamb.  I added in the numerals corresponding to birthday girl's birthday:

And there you have it!  I used pastel because I did not have adequate paint, though paint works just as well.  Find an inspiration picture you like and go with it!  Then it's ready to hang up in a nursery or toddler's room.  Enjoy!

Kraft Queen

Tiger DIY Finger Puppet

I discovered this unfinished puppet and decided to go ahead and finish it.  I had started making this tiger based on a request and remembered how straight forward and easy they are.  See my finger puppet blog entries for a more detailed account, but the gist is, using:

-White cardboard

-Pencil (to outline drawing)

-Black sharpie (to trace outline)

-Markers (of desired finished product colors)

You can create any finger puppet.  The trick is mimicking a drawing you like in pencil, to allow for error and then to go over the final product in sharpie.  This is what I made and the visual:

The Finished Product

And that's all folks, there you have it!  Put your own spin on it :).  

LJR, Kraft Queen.

Bunny Rabbit Balloon DIY for Little Boy Birthday Card!

I made this card for a little boy's birthday:

I found an illustration online and used it as inspiration to draw the bunny with balloon.  The illustration is so cute, it makes the card.  This way, I simply draw, color in with pencil crayon et voila!

Materials I used:

• White card stock, approximately 7.5' x 10.5'.
• Pencil, eraser, pencil crayons of desired colors (here I used brown, grey and blue).
• scissors.

I cut white card stock to the desired size, folding it on the longer side.

I drew in pencil, to match my inspiration drawing, first, using large strokes to decide how everything would fit (and to make sure it fit the card), then faint strokes approximating where the final drawn lines go, and finally, drawing darker lines, selecting the main outline.  The progression of the drawing is shown here:

When I am pleased with the pencil drawing, I proceed with outlining the rabbit with brown pencil crayon.  For this, I use single strokes per line, to keep the lines clean.  You can choose a simpler inspiration drawing if you're more comfortable with something else:

I can now erase the pencil for the rabbit portion.

You can begin to shade in the colored part.  I first used light grey, then went over with brown pencil crayon.  For the balloon, I make sure the letters I would like to use fit:

Now, go ahead and erase the balloon's pencil marks.  Shade in the balloon with your color of choice!

Now, you can go ahead and write your well wishes on the card and you're done!  I looked at fonts on Pinterest and mimicked the style I liked most.  This doesn't have to be perfect.  Sometimes, the charm is in the quirks of your style.  Enjoy!

Please write in the comments section below if you have any :).

LJR, Kraft Queen.

Upholster a Box for Storage with a Recycled Poster - DIY

I "upholstered" a box using the back side of a poster destined for recycling.  I liked the glossy sheen of the poster and thought it would look nice on the outside of the box.  This is the box I made:

For this tutorial, you will need:

•  Some form of glossy, durable and flexible paper (here, a poster).  You will need enough to cover the box.  Try to have at least one complete sheet per box side around the perimeter and for the height, match the height of the box with at least 2 inches extra to hang over the inside of the box and avoid unsightly cuts being visible from the outside of the box.
• A whole puncher
• Scissors
• A box (desired size matching that that you would like your final container to be.  Have a look at your space and decide which size you would like!)
• String (here I used string I made from plastic drinking water bottles.  I cut in a spiraling motion, making 1.5 cm wide "string").  Any string will do.  Consider what will look good on your container.  Ribbon would be pretty, if you have enough.  You need approximately 2.5 times the height of the box in string per edge (so 4 strings).

I used this box (below).  I trimmed the top flaps, leaving 2 inches hanging over into the inside to help keep it sturdy.

I placed my glossy white covering around the box, cutting a distance of one and a half times the box height.  I folded the poster (I needed to use two sections to cover the whole perimeter) around the horizontal and vertical (pictured here) edges, then pressed down on the folded edges, flattening it to help it keep its shape.  I cut along the horizontal edge for the portion that would fold over the box and be on the inside.  I then cut about an inch in from the topmost part, cutting a curved lines inwards to converge at the inner flap hinge (to prevent overlapping of the poster covering the flaps on the inside of the box).

I folded the poster edges with the upper flaps tucked under and used a hole puncher to make holes 1.5 inches apart along the edges.

Here is my string and the folded posters I will use:

I then placed the poster along the box as I would like it to sit, then piercing the box through the hole-punched holes, until I had pierced through the whole cardboard layer (or layers, where there is the inner flap too).  If the inner flap poster section doesn't line up, you can go over it with your hole puncher again, to line it up with where you pierced into the cardboard, or simply pierce through the inner layer of poster with the scissors, from the outside.  Watch out for your hands!  I sometimes use a pencil too, to create a cleaner hole after I've pierced first with the scissors.

After I've made all appropriate holes for any one edge, I lace the string through it to keep it there and then move on to the next row of holes.  The whole time, make sure everything is lined up evenly to get your desired look.  For my plastic string to fit cleanly through the holes, I folded it in half to strengthen it and narrow it down.  Sometimes, if the hole was tight, I went back in with my scissors or pencil to widen it.

It's a little trickier when you have an overlap of two poster sections.  Here, you can simply punch through double the poster, or keep only the top and bottom sections (2 inches each) and cut out the middle to make it easier (as long as the part you cut out is hidden by the poster section over it!).

Make sure you have the inner box flaps and poster covering inner flaps lined up with the holes on the outside.  You can be flexible with it and cut new holes as needed.  As long as the outside is clean, it will still look nice.

Here is the final product:

Please let me know if you have any questions or comments in the comments section below.

Enjoy!! 

LJR, Kraft Queen.