Discovering 2014: No-Sew Crayon Wrap

Discovering 2014 is a personal goal to complete a daily project throughout the year!

My day 25 project was a No-Sew Crayon Wrap. The project came from seeing this pin by Small + Friendly. Her full tutorial is quite excellent and should be able to help with making your own!

For differences: I didn't have a disappearing ink pen, I didn't stiffen the felt (though afterward I think it would have been better stiffened), and I used scissors more than my exacto knife. There wasn't a size listed for the ribbon, but I estimated that it was 3/8" grosgrain.

Craft Room Organization, Part Two

Did you miss Part One of my craft room organization? Be sure to check it out here!

My crafting storage needs have expanded a lot over the course of the past year. Not only does my bead collection continue to grow, but with me adding in other projects such as hair clips and activity boxes, I seem to acquire more and more varying items every day.

More IKEA Organizers
While looking around for some storage ideas on Pinterest the night before my last IKEA trip (it's a 4-hour drive downstate to the closest one, so you make sure it is worth the time!), I saw a few rooms that used magnetic boards and pails hanging on rails. I cross-checked them on IKEA's site and figured out which would be best suited for my corner of a room.

In the end I settled on a Spontan magentic board paired with Grundtal containers. The board is just large enough to evenly fit 21 of those containers, which is seven packs of them (they come in packs of three). These containers hold a respectable amount in them! I fit every single one of my embellishments for hair clips and bottlecaps, and even extra buttons and some other assorted items inside of the containers.

Next I looked into the Bygel rails and containers, and even decided on a basket and a couple packs of S-hooks while I was at the store. The smaller rails (21 3/4") were all that would fit into my area, but I was able to get three of them squeezed in. Color selection for the containers was lacking at my state's IKEA: there was only red, pink, and purple, while I was hoping for black and/or white. I ended up settling on the purple, which did does look quite nice in the room. The containers are holding various longer items such as my bottlecap hole puncher, beading tools, Sharpies, Exacto knife, epoxy, and more.


I wasn't sure what I'd use the basket or S-hooks for when I bought them, but they ended up being a handy spot for some hole punches, countertop samples, and mandrel. These were items previously crammed into a box thrown on a shelf, so it's nice to finally have them out in the open!


Bead Tamers.. errr... Containers!
I mentioned in my first room organization post that I obtained my Crop in Style containers (rolling bead holder) from Jo-Ann Fabrics. Over the years I eventually ended up with two of them, after being patient and waiting for them to be at least 50% off with free shipping. They're still pricey even at that point, but are well worth it, especially if you work on your beading during craft shows.

I also picked up a few more smaller bead cases from Michaels last year. These include a seed bead holder (with twist-top tubes inside), a holder dedicated to my pony beads, and a holder with all my random beads from the three Mr. Kitty's Bead Bonaza mixes I've purchased. No joke on the Mr. Kitty's mixes--it's an actual item you can buy on Amazon (though I doubt a cat is involved, but you never know with our feline overlords), and it's a blast finding out what you get each time. Usually there's even one small length of ribbon or elastic (about a yard?) or some such in it. The first ribbon I ever used to make a hair clip came from one of these mixes.

Ah, I'm rambling. Here, enjoy a few more pictures of my beading collection before I move on!

Everything Else..?
This isn't *quite* everything else, but I doubt the world is interested in what I have in every nook and cranny. Heck, I forgot to take a picture of the basket holding my massive artificial flower collection that's awaiting being transformed into hair clips.

I've picked up random containers from all over, really. Three things appeal to me: price, look, and usefulness. If I think it meets all of those qualifications, then it's likely coming home with me. Thanks for reading through my crazy craft room organization project!

All things Michaels: Wicker basket: part of a 3-pack of baskets. The blue glass jars were part of Michaels 2013 summer collection and I nabbed them on clearance. The silver tin held flower petals (which are on the bottom row of my magnetic board now) that were on clearance as well.

Closetmaid Mini Fabric Drawers
(2 pack) from Target. 
They hold a LOT of tins!

$1 apothecary jars from Michaels.

Thrifty Thursday: Activity Boxes

One of my newer projects this year has been Activity Boxes. These boxes are actually repurposed tin containers; in my case, I use Altoid tins when my husband is done with them, but any tin container should work well, depending on what purpose you want it to serve. The containers can be used to make travel games (pick up a set of magnets and you can make tic-tac-toe!), a portable drawing station, or simply just a fun way to hold some crafts or other small belongings.

Supplies:

• Tin container (empty and rinsed out). Mints are usually a good source of these. Since this is being re-purposed, $0 cost.
• Acrylic paint. I picked up some $0.99-$1.19 bottles from Michaels, various brands.
• Foam brushes or paint brushes. One for each color you're using; an extra one for Mod Podge if you're using that as well. A value pack of the small foam brushes runs about $5 and should be 8-10 brushes.
• (optional) Mod Podge. I use this not only for the finished appearance it gives the boxes, but also as a bit of extra protection from the paint being scraped off too easily. A large bottle is $11-$12, but many craft stores frequently offer 50% off coupons and that's a great time to buy this item.
• (optional) Foamie stickers. These tins usually will have raised lettering on them, so this is a fun way to hide as much of that as you can. The large value packs have a variety of many stickers and are often on sale at Michaels ($5-$7 typically). One or two value packs would likely decorate hundreds of tins.
• Whatever items you want to use inside! Crayons, golf pencils, magnets, paper, scrap cardstock, etc. Cost varies.

Altogether you can anticipate spending under $25, as long as you already have empty tins on hand and depending how many paint colors you get and what extras you pick up to fill them with (if anything). The cost isn't solely for one tin... each paint will cover around 5-10 tins, the Mod Podge can easily do 100 tins (if it's not being used for any other projects), the stickers can be used on 100+ tins, and the brushes are re-useable (though foam ones will eventually break down from heavy use). If you or someone you know goes through a lot of candy tins (like my husband--he buys Altoids in bulk from Sams), you can be making these for months off of one shopping trip!

With these tins you can simply paint the lid, but if you want to completely transform it, you can also paint the bottom and even inside. If you are painting the bottom I highly recommend pulling the lid apart and painting them separately. Before putting them back together, allow the two pieces to dry an extra 12-24 hours. You may need a small flathead screwdriver to push the tin hinges back into place after fitting the top and bottom back together.

This project is pretty straight-forward. Choose your color(s) of acrylic paint, grab a foam brush (I prefer foam) or paint brush and smooth on your first coat. Make sure you get the edges, but be careful not to apply it to the hinges or slop over onto the bottom if you didn't pull the top and bottom apart. Allow it to fully dry.. depending on how much was used it can take anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes to get a good dry in, if not longer. If you want to ensure it's really dry all over, give several hours between coats. I've taken to getting many foam brushes and rinsing them out between applications, then using a different dry brush once the paint coat is dry. The wet brushes I dry in front of a fan or over a furnace grate, depending on the season.

Not all colors are created equal: as seen in my picture below, both of my paints are the same brand, but the orange is clearly thinner than the pink. By the end of this project I ended up having to use 2-3 extra coats of orange to get the coverage I wanted. Sometimes mixing in a dab of similar paint that you know applies thicker will help (which I eventually did on my orange tin).

Start adding in your second and third coats. Ensure nice, even coverage. If previous coats have tiny spots that seem to not get covered well, it means it needs to dry longer. Come back to it later in the day or let it set overnight.

By this point the pink tin had its third coat, and aside from a few minor touch-ups, it was ready to be finished. The orange was on its fourth coat, which was the first coat that I mixed in a drop of peach that I had to it.

One you feel the paint is at a nice thickness (all metal covered, no tin color bleeding through, non-raised lettering obscured) let it dry for 12-24 hours.

Once the tin has been allowed to dry its final coat (preferably overnight), you have the option of jazzing it up a bit.

Michaels had a sale on their "foamie" stickers a while back and I picked up a couple value packs, which were $5 each on sale. These had a nice variety to choose from and I have a gallon zip-lock bag full of the stickers even after splitting them with my kids. Before removing the adhesive back, lay out the stickers until you're happy with their placement. I try to obscure as much of the raised "Altoids" as possible on mine, and on later tins started adding stickers on the inside of the lid as well. Once you're happy with their placement, remove the backs and carefully stick them to the tin. If you place it should be okay to unstick and re-stick them, just do it slowly.


Once your stickers are in place you can kick it up another notch and give it a nice finish. This is where I use my Mod Podge (I use a matte finish, but whichever you like should work fine). The bottle I got with a 50% off coupon at Michaels, costing me only $6, and is large enough that I will be using it for many, many months. A foam brush works best with Mod Podge, so grab one and smooth it on the lid. If you separated the lid and bottom to paint both, keep them separated while using the Mod Podge on both. Try to keep it out of the hinge area, but if some gets in there carefully remove it with fingernails or toothpicks.

Here are both of my tins with wet Mod Podge on them still. It dries clear and gives an awesome finish. If you used the foamie stickers you'll notice that, like above, it collects around the stickers. You can fix it with the foam brush by simply pushing it out from the edges, or grab a smaller paint brush and brush it out that way. If you don't mind the excess there, just keep it and let it dry for a more natural and handcrafted look.

Once everything is fully dried and your tin reassembled, you have a cool activity box! They make great gifts for when your kids want to go to a last minute birthday party, can occupy time on a road trip, or help with organizing your smaller items. Whatever you use them for--enjoy the savings!

Some finalized tins. The dinosaur tin on the left I allowed the Mod Podge to dry more thickly, and also painted the bottom section a different color. On the right I incorporated some glossy magazine pages; the middle tin is a hybrid of the paint and page styles, while the tin on the right only had the page Mod Podged onto it.