Five Back to School Ideas/Cool and Creative (Part 1)

I finished school some time ago, but I remember that every year before it would start, I really enjoyed going shopping and getting prepared  and I used to personalize my school supplies to get more excited about it.
I invested a lot of time in finding the perfect ideas, and creating this tutorial, and because I thought so much about it, I will even make a part 2 ! that will be out on my Youtube channel next week. So stay tuned!

Before we begin here is something to pin:

Idea number 1 : Pencil Toppers

Supplies:
-pom-poms (big and small)


-pencils
-felt (black and white)
-glue (gel type)
-scissors
-double sided tape and some printed paper or washi tape (optional for decoration)

Steps:
1.Stick together big and small pom poms to recreate bunny or bear shapes
2. Cut out eyes and noses from the felt and stick them on the faces
3.Remove the eraser from the pencils and stick the animal pom poms in there, by applying pressure with circular moves
4. For decoration cover the pencils with washi tape or create your own washi tape using the printed images


Idea number 2: Panda lunch box

 

Supplies:

 -A lunch box

-White and Black felt

-A glue gun

-Some fabric of your choice

-2 liter plastic bottle

-sticky tape

-scissors

-double sided tape

Steps:

For the panda figure:

1.Draw a rough panda sketch on a piece of paper to figure out what you will need

2.Based on my sketch I cut out 2 semi-circle shaped ears, 2 black egg shaped eye circles, 2 white circles, an oval shaped nose, and an upside down "Y" shaped black mouth.

3.I glued the ears on the top and the ears,nose and mouth on the front using the glue gun.

For the handle:

1. Cover the plastic bottle with one row of sticky tape and cut around it.

2.Leave a semicircle shape and bend the edges.

3.Create a fabric tape like here, and cover the handle in it. 

4.Stick the handle on top with your glue gun and you're done

Idea number 3 : Apple pencil holder

Supplies:

-a round jar

-red acrylic paint

-white string

-some leaves from some fake flowers

-glue

Steps:

1.Paint the jar inside with red.

2. Add glue on the top edge

3.Wrap around some string, along with the leaves

4.Leave everything to dry and you are done!

Idea number 4 : Puzzle Notebook

Supplies:

-a notebook

-a printed table, you can download this table for free here 

(You can also create your own table if you don't have a printer. Just mark the middle of the edges of a white sheet of paper . Then mark from that point ,towards right and left half a inch in steps until you get to the corners. Join points from opposite sides .)

-you will also need some double sided tape.

Steps:

1.Stick on the edges of the notebook and in the center stripes of tape. 

2.Reveal the sticky sides and place on top the printed table.

3.Complete the boxes with letters and form words of your chose like "science is cool" . 

4.Color those words with crayons or markers so you won't lose them

5.Complete the rest of the boxes with letters ,randomly or hide some secret words 

6.You can also decorate the edges of the table with washi tape if you like

Idea number 5 : Vintage Camera Sharpener / Crayon Box

Supplies:
-a big match box
-a sharpener
-very strong glue
-2 bottle caps
-acrylic paint (black and silver)
-marker
-x-acto knife

Steps:
1.Glue the sharpener to an inside corner of the matchbox
2.Using the x-acto knife, create two holes on the outside corner , to match the holes of the sharpener.
3.Applying pressure with circular moves, enlarge the holes with a crayon, until you are apple to sharpen it.
4.Draw two lines parallel with the longer edges 
5. Glue the bigger cap on the front of the box and the smaller one on the top.
6.Paint the middle with black and the margins with silver
7.Add details to make it look more realistic : like painting the edge of the bigger cap with silver and tapping a little paint in the middle with your finger. You can also draw some rectangles in the left top corner with a black marker

And you're done
Add in there some crayons and you're ready to draw some photos :)


If some of the steps above are not clear enough watch video bellow to understand better all the details:

How to paint a Universe T-shirt- With Planets and Galaxies

Every time I see new photos from NASA I feel so tiny , and so amazed by the beauty of the Universe.It's silent, mysterious and so abstract with all the merging colors on a deep black background. It is truly a great source of inspiration and a very cool theme to use on your products or clothing.

There is a trend circulating lately , with Galaxy DIYs, where it shows you how to obtain those abstract patterns and colors of galaxies, so I thought I would show you a more complex design with a piece of the Universe, that includes planets, stars and galaxies.

So to make this very useful for you , I thought of a T-shirt with Universe design, because clothing with designs like that can be very very expensive.

Let's get started! But before we begin here is something to pin :

You will need:
1.A black cotton T-shirt. Don't invest too much on this one. buy something simple and comfortable, so in case your design doesn't work out, you can wear the shirt as a PJ
2.Fabric Paint- I bought the cheapest ones - that include only basic colors- and that's ok because I'm going to show you how to mix them to obtain diversity.Here is a suggestion:

3.A sponge- again- nothing fancy- I'm using a dish washer sponge

You will also need a paint brush and some water.

 I'm not going into details with the whole process of painting because it's very well illustrated in the video down bellow. But here are some tips and tricks :

1. Since the T-shirt is black , don't paint colorful planets directly because they will not stand out. First paint some white circles  and use color on top of that.
2.Choose one of the circles to be a source of light -like a sun or a star-and paint the circle with a very light light yellow/orange. After that don't draw lines around it like in preschool.Use the sponge and tap around it. Use one layer of the same light color, one layer of white and again a layer of light color- but one on top of the other and not one next to each other.
3.If you have your source of light, imagine that it spreads light on the surrounding planets as well- so the light will touch the other planets perpendicular.
4. To illustrate that , paint the planets in blending shades of color.
For example if you want a green planet  :
       -First mix green with yellow or white and paint the top edge where the light from the sun "touches" the planet
       -Go further and paint bellow that an other layer of simple green
       -Mix green with blue and paint an other layer bellow the the anterior one.
       -Paint the opposite side of the lighted area (like the dark side of the planet) with a mix of black and green
       -Try to blend a little these layers where they touch each other

This advice is for 4 layered color planet but you can stick to basic of 3 layers :
-white + color
-color
-black + color

And that's about it. I hope you find this useful. Here is the video I promised :

All Natural Lip Balms DIY- Yummy and Cool

A lip balm or a lipstick is something that every woman should have in her purse. It happens many times to have pale or cracked lips, because of weather or dehydration and it's important to take care of them and use all natural ingredients. That part is very important , and not only because chemicals can worsen the aspect of our lips , but also because we inevitably swallow lipstick components and that may cause some stomach problems.
Nowadays it's easy to find organic and BIO lipstick and lip balms but I personally find them very expensive. Also, the recipe for making one is very easy, and as for containers, you can recycle old ones.

Working on a lot of craft projects has made me realize that the glue sticks we use for paper crafts have the same principle as lipsticks, so why not recycle them?

Here is my recipe + instructions for the glue sticks.

I made 3 lip balms with 3 different flavors. Please watch the video at the end of this article to see my impressions for the final product.

Ingredients (for 3 lip balms):
-2 tablespoons of jojoba oil
-2 tablespoons of coconut oil
2-tablespoons of beeswax

Where to find them:


You can use any type of oil, as long as it's organic, with lots of vitamins, and with no strong odor or taste. Just remember that the oil : beeswax ratio is 2:1

For color and flavoring I used :
-honey
-cocoa
-pink or red jam - I used homemade rose jam
-mint essential oil
-lemon

For containers I recycled some glue sticks. You can also find containers to buy, but usually they come in a large pack. Here are some suggestions:




For decorating the containers I used
-Nail polish
-A container full of water that you don't mind throwing away after

This part is optional. You can leave them  white and simple or you can decorate them with washi tape.

Instructions:
-Remove all the glue from the glue sticks, then leave them to soak in hot water for about 10 minutes
-Wash them with hot water and dish soap until all the glue is dissolved and all the wrapping is gone
-Let them to dry
-Pour in the container full of water that you don't mind throwing away stripes of nail polish of different colors
-Put on the lid of glue stick container and dip it in the nail polish mixture. The nail polish will stick on the glue stick and you will create a marble effect. Leave them to dry at least 30 minutes.
If you want to skip this step you can do so, and decorate the containers with washi tape.
-Next prepare the 3 flavors.

You can use 3 plastic cups to mix the ingredients in them :
In the first cup add half  teaspoon of cocoa and 5 drops of mint essential oil
In the second cup add 1 teaspoon of jam
In the third cup add half  teaspoon of honey and half teaspoon of grated lemon peel .

- Next it's time to melt and mix all the ingredients.
If you are using a stove, add in a little pot the oils and beeswax and then put the pot above a bigger pot filled with water. Don't put the mixture direct on the flame. Just wait for the water to boil, and the heat from the water will melt slowly the oil or the beeswax.

If you are using a microwave, put the oils and beeswax in a bowl safe for microwave and let them for about 1 minute. If still not melted after 1 minute , leave them for more time.

-After everything is melted and mixed pour the mixture evenly in the 3 plastic cups and stir.
-Pour the 3 mixtures in the 3 glue stick containers and let them cool for about 15 minutes

You will have to act fast at this step because the mixture doesn't stay liquid for long time.


Please watch video bellow to understand better the steps: