Archie Comic Book Art

I just wanted to show off my latest art piece, I created. Lately my daughter has been really into the Archie comics. Since we have moved, her walls have been pretty bare so I wanted to make her something special. I created these 4 pieces of art from pages I found in the Archie comics. My daughter wouldn't let me touch any of her comics, so I had to go to the store to buy some more.  I had to get doubles of everything, so she could read them. Once I had modge pod the comic pages onto the canvases, I drew black and white images of Archie, Jughead, Betty, and Veronica on marker paper with a black sharpie. After I had the image all drawn out, I modge pod them also to the canvas. I'm pretty happy with the result and I hope she will enjoy them.

DIY Newspaper Art

Have I mentioned how addicted I am to Pinterest? I love it! There is so much inspiration there, I could spend hours on it.

When I saw this piece of art below I knew I had make one for myself.

source

It was really simple to do, but I did change a couple of things up, instead of using book pages, I used newspaper pages. With the newspaper I was looking for pages with lots of black and white all over it. Don't use anything with a color on the other side because it will leak through. I learned this the hard way.

Once I had all my newspaper I modge podged them onto my two canvases and let them dry over night.

Once it was dried I used pictures I printed out of real birds that I cut out to use as a stencil, just like the original one, and free hand the tree branches. I used a jumbo size and regular size sharpie for the design. If you mess up on something you can always add more newspaper and modge podge to that spot, but you will have to wait for it to dry before moving forward.

Overall I'm very pleased with the result and have this hanging in my bedroom now.

If you would like to see some of the other awesome things I have been pinning lately click here.

DIY Hula Hoops

I've been very interested in hula hooping for a long time. I used to be one of those people who could hula hoop nonstop. When I started seeing tutorials for handmade hula hoops, like the ones here and here, I got very interested. I knew that I really wanted to make some. So, for my first try I made some for my daughter, nieces, and nephews for Christmas. I made mine by combining the two previous tutorials I mentioned before and made a few changes.

First thing I had to do was to make a trip to my local hardware store for supplies.

You will need:

• Irrigation piping/poly tubing
• This is the stuff that is used for under ground sprinkler systems. I found this was a seasonal item in my area. This item was found in the garden center. This usually comes in 100 ft rolls. This tubing comes in different sizes of 80 psi - 160 psi. The larger the number the heavier the hoop. 80 psi was all that was left at the end of the season, when I went. This worked out okay for kids. Anyone older or if you want it as a workout hoop you will want it heavier. A big thing of piping is usually between $12-$20. You are going to want to clean the tubing when you get it home, mine was pretty dirty. I just used a basic cleaner. Also this will help the tape to stick better.
• Insert-connectors 
• Make sure they match the opening size of your tube. My tubing was 3/4" so I got 3/4" connectors.
• Ratcheting PVC cutter 
• This cost around $12 to $15 as well, but if you plan on making a lot of hoops this will make it easier on you. 
• Colorful tape 
• You can use duct tape, prism tape, and electrical tape. You will need to have electrical tape if you want to use duct tape or prism tape. This is because you will need to put the electrical tape around the edges of the prism tape or duct tape to make sure that those tapes stay put or they don't fray when you are using your hoop.
• pot and boiling water
• a knife
  Remember the below picture from this sneak peek post? These are all the supplies I picked up at Home Depot. I ended up ordering pink electrical tape and prism tape online. Now lets get to making that hula hoop.

Since I was just making this for kids I made each one 9 feet and 6 inches long. For an adult you would want to make them longer. For an adult they say you want the hoop to reach somewhere between your bellybutton and your shoulders. This is where I used my ratcheting PVC cutter to cut the tubing up.

All my connectors seem to have had these little tab things sticking out that was stopping me from pushing my hula hoop tubing completely together. You can see it in the below picture on the left side of the connector. You may or may not have this on yours.

I took a sharp knife and cut them off of all of mine. 

You will want to dip the ends of your tubing into boiling water. Putting heat onto the tubing allows the tubing to expand. This will make it easier to put the connectors into the tubing. You are only dipping the ends in for 15 to 20 seconds.

You will insert the connector into the side that you have heated up and then heat up the other side to put the connector into the other end. Once the tube cools down it will tighten onto the connectors. Make sure you push the tubing as close together as you can.

At this point I take a little bit of duct tape to help seal the hula hoop into place, where it is connected.

Now it is time for the fun part, tape!

 You will want to first start with either your prism tape or duct tape. You will want to angle the tape using your thumb as you are going to smooth out any creases. Quick note here, prism and electrical tape is a lot more forgiving then duct tape if you mess up, especially if the tape happens to stick together.

 After you have applied your prism tape or duct tape you will want to take your electical tape and wrap it around the edges of the prism or duct tape. You are doing this because the duct tape tends to goo up on its sides and the prism tape doesn't seem to stick as well after long periods of time. The electrical tape will keep it all in place and make it behave.

Once you have all the tape on, you are done. Enjoy and have fun. If you want your hoop to make noise you can put rice or dried beans into the tubing.

My daughter with her hula hoop on Christmas. She can hula hoop pretty fast with this.

Matchbox Mario Question Bock

I joined a matchbox swap a little while back ago with some of my friends. What is a matchbox swap you might be asking. It is where you take little match boxes and decorate them and fill it with all kinds of things like buttons, stickers, earrings, rings, beads, pins, ribbons, letters, drawings, or whatever you can think of. Basically think of it of a really cool decorated box with mini gifts found inside. Check out here to see more examples.

For the matchbox I made for my partner I decided to do something that had to do with games since she is a big gamer. I decided to glue three matchboxes together and make a Mario question block filled with goodies. I measure the box and then created my design in Illustrator. Once I printed it I cut it all apart and used mod podge to glue it all on. Once it was dried, I then filled the box with all kinds of little goodies.

Today, I would to share with you my design I created, so that you can make your own. If you aren't able to get your hands on matchboxes you can always make your own. There is a template located here for them.

You can download the design to use to create this Mario question box here. If you do make any please send me links to see them. Enjoy and thank you.

Christmas recap in pictures

I hope everyone one had an enjoyable Christmas. Today I would like to do a little recap of our Christmas in pictures.

The stocking

Clothes, clothes, and more clothes

Mustache Mug

Nyan Scarf made by my friend Heather

Christmas wouldn't be complete without a little Star Wars

A Vampire Crab for Christmas?

This year my daughter got a very unexpected present from someone, that even we were taken by surprise. At about 6:30 P.M. on Christmas Eve my daughter came home with a new pet. This pet is known as a Vampire Crab. Imagine our surprise! We had to make a quick dash to the last store that was open on Christmas Eve before they closed. We had to try to get a tank and supplies for this little fellow. It is easy to imagine that our Christmas was thrown off a little bit, especially since we had no knowledge of this little creature's existence. I didn't even know there was even such a colorful crab out there like this.

This picture I have included is actually a very zoomed in picture of my daughter's vampire crab. This little guy is actually a youth and is no bigger than the tip of my thumb. From my research they never get bigger than 2 inches and that includes the legs in this measurement. Their claws cannot open large enough to pinch a finger.

Right now we have this little guy in a very basic tank, with a Tupperware container filled with water for it to swim in. We still need to build him a new tank. This little guy is a freshwater crab and needs to have both land and water to go in. Our plans is to make one of those half water half land tanks, like a frog tank. From our research we found that this little guy is very social and needs to be in a group, so it looks like we will have to get more if we want it to survive.

My original plan was to find out where it was native to and release it there. Turns out they come from Indonesia, so that doesn't look like it will be happening.

So, it looks like we will be in this for the long run. The things I do for my animal loving nature and my daughter.

Unfortunately there isn't much out there on these guys, so it is really hard to find out much on them. So if anyone has more information on them or the best way to build a half water half land tank I would love to know.

My Special Christmas Tree

It's that time of year, where it's Christmas tree time. I've had mine up since a couple of days after Thanksgiving. I actually have two trees in my house. A big one that has all kinds of different ornaments on it and a smaller one that has nothing but star ornaments on it. Looking at my trees I realize that the store bought ornaments are nice and all, but they just don't compare to the handmade ones. I have ornaments made from my friends from around the word, past co-workers, my daughter, and ones I made on my trees. They may never look like one of those fancy looking, perfect trees you find in a magazine, but I don't care. I love my trees just the way they are. I have come to realize that I cherish these special one of a kind handmade ornaments more than any store brought item.

Today, I would like to share with you little pieces of what makes my trees so special. Below you will view just a small fraction of some of the beautiful and wonderful handmade ornaments on my tree.

This is my big everything tree

This is my little tree that holds all my star ornaments

An angel ornament an old co-worker made for me years ago

Little snowman my daughter painted for me when she was 4

Felt Polar Bear Ornament made by my friend Zina

Angel my daughter painted for me at a pottery party

This is the other side of the angel. My daughter painted it as a vampire because at the time I was very crazy for the Sookie Stackhouse book series about vampires.

Felt ninja star ornament made by friend, Sug

Cinnamon apple sauce ornaments made by my friend, Rachie

Perler bead ornament made by my daughter for me

Spider ornament I made. I saw this ornament at Bronner's, which is the world's largest Christmas store. There is actually a legend about a Christmas Spider that brought good fortune. After seeing it I wanted to make one too.

Mini cookie, pie, cupcake, and smore ornaments made by my friend, Sug.

Toilet paper penguin made by my daughter

Jack Skellington ornament I created for the tree