Project Runway - Hallmark Challenge - Aleene's Tacky Glue!

I'm a huge fan of Project Runway.  And Season 14, Episode 2 had me on the edge of my seat.  Yes, even more than the usual edge!   

Why?  Because my favorite episode is ALWAYS the unconventional materials challenge.  You never know where the Designers are going to be sent to gather their materials like a candy store, the city dump, or a New York corner drug store.  

And this time I was in HEAVEN because they went to a HALLMARK store to grab every card they could stuff in their shopping bags and then create wearable garments with the paper cards!  I mean, this was the dream episode for me.  All I need is a mannequin, paper, embellishments and GLUE to make all my dreams come true, okay?

I mean, have you been to a Hallmark Cards lately? As their Director of Branding said, the cards are "pieces of art with a story to tell", and the cards are covered with glitter, beads, bows, flower cut-outs, ribbon, fabric, tulle, and everything that makes a crafty girl's mouth water and her hands itch to cut, paint and GLUE!

After the designers made it back to the work room, imagine my squeals of glee when I saw that they were using Aleene's Tacky Glue!  Of course they were.  What glue works best with paper, than Aleene's Tacky Glue!

The gold bottle was easy to spot, even with the tape across the label.  And the designs that were coming together were ahhhhmazing!

Tim Gunn was happily mentoring the designers as they sifted through the mountains of Hallmark cards amongst the Aleene's Tacky Glue bottles scattered all around the work room.  I would give up my pinky toe to do just one unconventional materials challenge on Project Runway!

Edmund's wedding dress won, with the Hallmark signature cutouts forming the bodice and tons of shopping bags billowing in petal shapes for the skirt.  Love, love, LOVE!

Which one would you pick to win???

High-Heeled Pilgrim Party Shoe Favors

High-heeled Shoes and Thanksgiving?

Of course!

Who wouldn't want a darling Pilgrim Shoe Favor sitting at their place setting at your Thanksgiving dinner?

I have this Pattiewack Pattern Pak that has a great pattern for a paper shoe that I have been dying to make into a Pilgrim Shoe for a long time, and finally got around to it this year.

 I simply traced the pattern from the original and cut it out.

 I found an black file folder that was white on the inside, and I thought it was perfect for this, so I traced around the pattern onto the paper, and cut it out.

 The lines on the inside of the shoe are the fold lines, so I grabbed my scoring tool and scored all of the lines.

 Next, I folded all of the score lines inward, and the shoe magically started taking shape.

 My little Tacky Glue was perfect for adhering all of the tabs on my Pilgrim Shoe.

 The pattern has a cute little flower on the toe, but I cut it into a square so I could make it into a buckle.

 And it wouldn't be a Pilgrim Shoe without a big gold buckle!

I cut one out of gold paper and glued it on to finish it.

I love how it turned out. 

For the pattern, go to PattieWack.com and make one for everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Pattiewack

Craft on! Click here for today's daily giveaway!

CHA Summer Sneak Peek

I've been working along with the iLoveToCreate designers, on the booth for the CHA Summer Trade Show. I just couldn't help myself when I took a few sneaky-peeky photos of some of the wild and wacky and fabulous projects that show how to use the Aleene's glues. As you know, I'm a glue fiend, and I did an extreme sculpture with an old mannequin, fabric, a table, a recycled veggie steamer, and more things than you'd care to read here in a list. One of our freelance designers made this cool piece of jewelry with the brown bag technique, that I glued to my sculpture as an earring. Of course, there's some outrageous amount of glitter, and my signature zippers. After the show, I'll be able to post the full photo of my creation.

My fellow designer Allee, and I did this statement necklace for our showstopping mannequin. She designed these beautiful robin's blue eggs with of all things, cornstarch and glue and 3-D fashion paint. I love it! We were inspired by the Miley Cyrus video where she can't be tamed. Woot woot! Or should I say, tweet tweet!

Confetti Easter Eggs

Easter gatherings are always a fabulous time to be with family and friends. And if you're looking for something to craft, this is ideal. I made these gorgeous confetti eggs that look beautiful placed inside the paper cones on a bed of shredded tissue.
The eggs are so pretty until you bust them on someone's head and they explode with confetti! Kids love'em and I love'em and adults will love'em too. Confetti eggs, also called cascarones, are a Mexican tradition for Easter as well as other holidays. A cascaron is an egg that is decorated much like an Easter egg and then filled with confetti. Cascarones are broken over the head for good luck.

For complete instructions and a supply list, go to iLoveToCreate.com and you'll be on your way to a fun day!

Junk Jewelry

I love JUNK JEWELERY!
But I DON'T like it when my jewelry is junky, because I can never find what I need to wear with my outfit, without spending time rummaging through 10 boxes, a jewelry box, and 2 travel pouches. I finally decided that this weekend I was going to organize everything so I could it all at once.

So, check out my new jewelry shelves and tray!

These used to be rubber stamp shelves that I made for my book, "The Crafter's Guide To Glue" and when I went looking for something to use for organizing everything, there they were in the garage, empty! Since we moved from Nashville, I haven't put them up to hold my stamps, so I repurposed them again.

I laid one on top of a shelf full of t-shirts, which fit perfectly.

Here's how messy it was before. It was just awful. Poor Scott. He shares my closet and my mess!

Here's the instructions and everything you need to make your own Junk Jewelry Organizers...

Supplies:

Large frames of your choice

Black 1/4 inch foam board

Aleene’s® Original Tacky Glue®

Craft knife

Metal edged ruler

Glass head straight pins

Wire cutters

Steps:

1. Measure opening of frame. Cut foam board the exact same size. This will be the back of the box.
2. Place the frame laying face down on a table. Cut 2 pieces of foam board, 1-1/4 inches wide times the length of the frame opening. Glue to the inside opening of the frame, along each side. (Where the glass would normally be placed.)
3. Cut 2 pieces of foam board, 1-1/4 inches wide times the width of the frame opening. Glue to the inside opening of the frame, along the top and bottom. Also glue the corners together where they meet. This will be the sides of the box.
4. Glue the foam core that you cut for the back of the box, to the sides to complete the box.
5. Turn the framed box over, right side facing up. Lay out your rubberstamps the way that you would like for them to be placed on shelves inside the box.
6. Cut shelves, 1-1/4 inches wide times the width of the inside of the box. Place in the box between the rows of rubberstamps evenly. Glue to secure.

Here's how they looked before I added all my jewelry.


And here's how they look full. I love how my chunky bracelets fit perfectly on the shelves!

You may want to use them to organize your rubberstamps or anything else you collect. I don't know... your matchbook cars, or a collection of your boyfriend's limited series of beer bottles. Just kidding. Oh, and they would look great painted with your fave kitschy color. I almost painted them turquoise, but was in too big a hurry to get them hung.

If you like this idea, there are tons more in my book, "The Crafter's Guide to Glue", and you can get a signed copy this weekend January 22 and 23rd at the Craft Super Show in Anaheim at the Convention Center!

I'll be at the Barnes & Noble booth for my book signing, from 4:00 to 5:00. I'm listed in the Craft Celebrities on the Super Show site.

Ohhh, I almost forgot... I'll be teaching a fabulous workshop, too! It's from 5:00 to 7:00 on Friday. At the end of this workshop you'll have not just a stylin' "Lady Luck" bag, but a crash course in color selection and the knowledge of four different paint techniques that are super-duper easy!



And don't forget to come see me if you attend the CHA 2010 Winter Tradeshow. I'll be at the iLoveToCreate booth and we'll be making all kinds of crafty goodies at the make-it-&-take-it craft bars!

See you in Anaheim!
PattieWack

Steampunk New Year's Eve

What are you going to wear for New Year's Eve parties this year? If you're like me, you always reach for that same little black dress year after year after year. But then the jewelry changes every year according to the styles. And this year is the year of the statement necklace.

I made this amazing steampunk-style statement necklace just in time for the New Year's scene. It's much easier than it looks, and it has a famous Aleene's glue technique:

Burnt Brown Bag!

The butterfly with the houndstooth ribbon across it is truly burnt glue and a paper bag. It honestly looks like antique metal. If you've never heard of it, let me tell you about this crafty technique that's been around for years....

First, grab a paper bag from the grocery store. Cut out three 4 x 4 inch squares. Stack and glue them all together with Aleene's Tacky Glue. Trace the butterfly pattern and cut it out, and now you're ready for the craziness.

Light a candle, since the flame is part of the process. Cover the entire butterfly with glue. I'm talking a nice thick coating of glue on the top and the bottom and the edges. Yes, you're gonna get a bit sticky, but now grab some old tweezers to hold it.

Hold the glue covered butterfly over the candle and watch what happens. If you have the bag totally covered it won't catch on fire, but the glue will start to turn black and get wrinkly. I know, it's crazy! Keep going until the entire butterfly is black and wrinkled, and press out bubbles if they come up.

Then, gently rub the black soot with a tissue and let the glue dry. After that, I used my finger to rub silver rub-n-buff on it to make it look antique. A few crystals glued on the wings finished it off.

The rest of the bib necklace is a collage of trims, buttons, lace, and crystals all glued to muslin or any black scrap fabric, with Aleene's Fabric Fusion and then put together with grommets and chain. You can get the complete details on the iLoveToCreate website on the homepage, or on the Steampunk Socialite Necklace project page.

Don't forget to come see me at Pattiewack.com for more crafty ideas for the most wacky and crafty year ever!

Happy 2010!

Pattiewack

I Can't Believe It's Tacky Glue & Bread!

I know, you're thinking I grabbed some polymer clay and made this darling little leaf bowl, but NO. It is just bread and glue! I had some left-over dough in the frig from a segment we did for the local news station, and you know crafters, we NEVER throw anything away. So, I decided to make a sweet little nut bowl with matchy-matchy wine glass tags for Thanksgiving.

I love how the leaves turned out for the wine glasses. They actually look like fine porcelain in real life. My pics are not the best, but I hope you can see how pretty they turned out.

The leaf bowl is perfect for filling with pistachios or other little snacks to go with the wine while the guests are waiting on that darn turkey to cook!

So, to make your own Tacky Glue Dough, all you need are 3 pieces of white bread with the crusts pulled off, and 3 big spoonfuls of Aleene's Tacky Glue. Pinch up the bread into a disposable cup and add your glue. Mix it with a plastic spoon until it starts to turn into a big lump, and then roll it in your hands until you have a nice ball of dough. Next, pat or roll it out to the size of a pancake.

For the complete steps for Tacky Glue Dough, go to the iLoveToCreate website for the pics and how-tos.

Then grab your scissors and cut a leaf shape about the size of your palm,

Use a spoon to help shape the leaf into a bowl and the press veins into it.

I pinched the edges and softened them with my fingers.

The little leaves are about an inch and a half wide, cut out with scissors, and then a straw was pushed through so I could hang them on the stem of the wine glasses.

To speed up the drying process, I set my toaster oven to 200 degrees, let it warm up and then turned it off. Then I placed the leaves in the oven for about 3 hours to cure. I noticed that the leaves were puffing up with air, so I pressed them with my fingers and placed them back in the oven until they were totally dry. If you can wait until the next day to paint them it will be great.

Autumn leaf colors were what I used to transform the leaves with color. I used paint from my stash. After they were completely dry, they were ready for Scott and I to toast to all of our many blessings.

Happy Thanksgiving!
& Blessings
to everyone!
Pattiewack