DIY Back-To-School Classroom Folders

It's Back-to-School time again, and if you're looking for a way to brighten up the classroom in a BIG way with a SMALL budget, these DIY Classroom Folders are just the ticket!  

Save $$ money $$ with just a few supplies, since all you need is this fun pack of EXTREME 3D PUFFY™ PAINT and those dirt-cheap folders in bright primary colors that you can pick up anywhere....even the dollar store.

Get creative!  Everybody loves Puffy Paint, and this kit will be so much fun to paint the folders with, the kids will even want to help. 

 "Read Every Day" 

For this folder I used a red colored folder and wrote the word "RED" on one side and then used the acronym to write the words Read Every Day.  Then I cut out green construction paper for the corners and glued them with Aleene's® Tacky Glue.  Next, just add a few fun embellishments and you're done.  It dries super fast, too.

"MINE"

I really had fun with this one!  I cut a funny monster shape from pink construction paper and glued it in the top left corner of the purple folder.  Then painted some crazy teeth, and an eyeball.  The monster outline is in blue, and then I drew the word "MINE" in blue with a black arrow drawn from the monster to the word.  Mine, mine, mine, mine.....  :)

"Writing"

My short stumpy pencil was cut from yellow and pink construction paper and glued to the left side of the purple folder.  I outlined it with red and black paint, and added blue squiggles of writing from the pencil point at the top and right edge of the folder.  To finish it, paint the word "Writing" in white.  

"Bee Smart"

I especially like this one.  The little bumble bee is cut from black construction paper with a circle cut-out for the bee face.  After gluing it onto the folder, I drew the face and antennae with a black crayon.  Then I painted the white stripes across the bee body.  Now write the word "Smart" with red paint.  To finish, paint the wings, ends of the antennae and a bumble bee trail with black.  Bzzzzzz...

"Stuff To Always Remember"

Here's another acronym with the word STAR to use for the words "Stuff To Always Remember".  I started by cutting a star shape from yellow construction paper and gluing it to the green folder with Aleene's® Tacky Glue.  Then I painted the word "STAR" in red along the left side of the folder.  Next I finished the words in blue, outlined the star in white and painted black beams from the star.  How fun is that?

There are so many variations you can create when making your own classroom folders with EXTREME 3D Puffy™ Paint!

I know you'll have tons of ideas and probably better than mine that your kids or students will love and be inspired by.  I hope you have a wonderful school year, and keep being crafty and creative!

See you in the next post! 

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How To Make Tassels - the PattieWack™ Way!

We've been working on a little (and I do mean LITTLE) video that shows all the sizes of tassels you can make with the PattieWack™ Tassel Makers.  Click and see how fun!

 Believe it or not, it takes HOURS for Scott and I to make a 'little' 20 second video like this one.  But with the small social media platforms like Vine and Facebook, this is what people like you are looking for, right?

So, please be sure and click, share, and subscribe to my little YouTube channel over at PattieWack Designs.

You'll get all the new videos we post about my DIY life, and get tons of ideas for crafts and tutorials made just for YOU :)

See you in the next post! 

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DIY - Boho Tassel Necklace

It's summer-time, and this girl's really lovin' the boho style that I'm seeing everywhere.  So, I went to Hancock Fabrics and bought several fun prints to make my own blouses and then I just felt like they needed something else.  This one has such great colors, and I thought it would be fun to match up the turquoise, lime, and lemon colors that are super vibrant with cotton embroidery threads.

I did fudge a little by starting out with a necklace on the sale kiosk at Nordstrom's Rack.  Then I got busy making tassels in each of the colors.  To make my tassels, I grabbed my PattieWack™ Mini Tassel Maker and decided what size to make them. 

I chose the 1 1/2 inch size and wound the embroidery floss around the tool until it was as fat and fluffy as I wanted. I wrapped this heavier floss about 20 times. How many times you wind it depends on how thick your thread is, and how fat you want your tassels.  And in order to make all your tassels the same size,  simply count how many times you wind the first one and then you'll be set for the other tassels. 

For the next step I put a large jump ring through the top of the tassel since it was going on a metal chain necklace. A pair of needle-nose pliers worked great for this. 

Then I inserted another piece of embroidery floss through the slit in the tool and tied it very tightly around the neck of the tassel. 

The next step was to simply cut the bottom of the tassel with scissors and slip it off the end of the tool. I also wound some more floss around the neck to add a little more pizzaz to the tassel. 

I made three tassels, added them to my necklace and that was it!  I had my necklace finished in about 30 minutes...boombadabing!

See you in the next post! 

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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???

DIY eBrush™ Gifts & Decor

 

Just when I thought I'd seen it all, I received a big box of goodness from the folks at CraftwellUSA.  I was squealing with delight when I opened the eBrush® box and saw that it's an airbrush made just for people like me.  The air flows over markers in the tiniest of sprays which makes it perfect for fine art, scrapbookers, paper crafters, and mixed media projects.   

I combined it with some of my favorite Tulip® For Your Home stencils and quickly transformed simple white paper into gift wrap that I think is quite stunning!   

The little eBrush™ went together in about 5 minutes.  I plugged it right in and got started.  Within 15 minutes I already knew I was in love with this fun gadget.  And since I'm a hoarder of all things crafty and has to do with TOOLS, I was extremely excited.

My next adventure was to try the eBrush™ on a hard surface, so I grabbed a frame that I had covered with crumpled tissue with Aleene's® Tacky Spray.  I added some little charms with nails and a hammer.  Then I found these little plastic doilies in my stash and knew they would make great masks for spraying a shadow effect.

The eBrush™ did a great job by air brushing a fine spray of indigo over the doily in opposite corners for a lace accent.  Talk about easy!  Seriously, I was done with the project in no time at all, and the frame is going to make a great little gift for someone that that loves a feminine home dec accent in their home or apartment.

Before you can say "grab some yarn!"  I was making a pom-pom and a tassel to try out my new eBrush® to see how it would work on something as delicate as yarn.

I absolutely LOVE how the PattieWack™ pompom and tassel turned out!  The eBrush™ creates such a fine, delicate spray of color that just dusted the tips of the pompom.  And I was able to aim it right at the neck of the tassel and on the tips to create an ombre effect that is total perfection.  Love, love love.

The eBrush™ tassel looks pretty swell on a simple cobalt blue bottle and adds a bit of whimsy at the feet of one of my mannequins in the studio.

And who doesn't love a fluffy pompom on a pillow!

Thanks again, Craftwell USA for the fun new artsy crafty products.  Stay tuned, because there's lots more to come when I open the cut'n'boss™ and the eBrush™ Siphon Adaptor Kit!

See you in the next post! 

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DIY Sunglass Case

When Scott and I were in Amsterdam this year, we were so excited to go to the Van Gogh Museum.  It was a tremendous experience, with the beautiful works of Vincent Van Gogh including masterpieces such as Almond Blossom, The Bedroom and of course, Sunflowers! 

After the tour, we ended up in the museum store where I found this little fabric rectangle in a plastic pouch for cleaning your glasses.  The pattern on the fabric is a print of Sunflowers, and I thought it would be fun to have, since I probably clean my glasses about a dozen times a day.... I know.  

Neat freak.

 Then I got the idea that the fabric would be perfect to make a little pouch for my sunglasses.  Plus, it would be handy to have a pouch made from the same fabric I can use to clean my glasses.

All I needed was a good adhesive to glue two sides together, right?  So I reached for my stash of super-duper fast and easy to use Aleene's® Instant Tacky 1/4" Double-Sided Tape.

Now if you don't have one of these glass cleaner cloths, you can pick them up in tons of stores, usually by the cash register.  Or, you can cut a piece of fabric or felt into a 6 x 7 inch rectangle with pinking shears.  Step #1 is to apply the tape on one of the short ends of the fabric (6-inches).  Then cut a piece of tape 3-1/2 inches long and apply from the corner, half-way up the longer side. It kinda makes an "L" shape.

Step #2 is to peel off the red liner from the tape.  

So far, so good :)

Step #3 is to fold the fabric in half and press the edges of the pouch together firmly with your fingers to insure the adhesive is set.
That's all there is to it, and I love my simple little glasses pouch.  It fits in my skinny cross-body bag, I use it all the time, and I think it's a great idea for a stocking stuffer or teeny gift for someone.

I hope you are enjoying my DIY journey and keep coming back for more ideas, tips, how-to's, and projects to 

craft, create, and decorate.

See you in the next post! 

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