29.3.11

:D Plastic bottle beads!

Found a tutorial on making plastic bottle beads, so I decided to try it out! :D I took step by step photos, since most people on craftster used a heat gun, and I used a candle.. because I don't have a heat gun. ;D Anyway, a few tips from my experience, water bottles work the best and coke bottles are INSANELY thick. I couldn't find my needle nose pliers (they're somewhere in my jewelry making supplies..) so I used a variety of different pliers. Did I mention I roped my brother into helping me? He made some pretty rad looking beads too. I like to try new projects with other people, so we can come up with new techniques. :D Alright, here goes nothin'

Supplies:
plastic bottles (seriously, water bottles work the best.)
sharpies in a variety of colors
pliers (needle nose would probably work best, but I used my jewelry pliers and clampy pliers.
candle!
 Cut up a strip of plastic bottle. (this was the coke bottle)
 Color it up all purty
 wrap it up and clamp that sucka with your pliers! If you have needle nose pliers, you now see why this is easier.

See? wrap it up tight! (PS Sorry about the state of my nails/hands. black nailpolish chips insanely fast.)
 heat it over the flame. DON'T LIGHT IT ON FIRE. Just hover it over the flame. In the other tutes they don't talk about the noise, but your plastic will make cracking noises as it gets smaller.. don't freak out, nothing is sparking. If you have rough edges, you can quickly pass it through the flame to melt the sides and even it out.
 here is matthew working on his with my jewelry pliers (see? needle nose would be so much better.)

 when its all melted up, dunk it in a cup of cool water (it will sizzzzzleeee) and you're done! :D put them on a plate to cool off!

VOILA! Beautifully cheap beads. some of them look kind of busted, but it's a learning process. as you can see, they can come in all different sizes depending on how you cut the bottle. I did some in a triangle shape and some in a rectangle... Coke bottles are thicker, so make your rectangles/triangles smaller so they'll melt evenly. :D


Now I'm on a mission to find other things to melt. watch out legos!

Happy Melting!
XOXO
diZZ <3

28.3.11

list commenced.

Alright! Its been a busy weekend. I've been diligently semi-working on some of the projects on my list! <3 They've been coming out pretty good.. so I'm really proud of the way they're looking right now. the only one i'm unsure of is my T-Rex skull. I'll go back to working on that later.

After the jump, it's going to get picture chubby! xD

26.3.11

Earcuff Insanity.

I'm not marking the check on my list, because these were made before I had the idea.. plus I want to get better at it. i figured I'd share some rad pictures of my new gnarly earcuffs.

warning, it will be picture chubby. ;D

25.3.11

50 Projects in 2011

Alright, I posted about this on my facebook page, but it will probably be easier for me to keep up with my list if i also blog about it. This will also remind me that I should be blogging about things. xD I tend to forget about this thing. When I craft something on the list, I'll blog about it.. and include some step-by-steps/pics of what inspired me.. or a link to the tutorial I used. :D I have so many craft tutes bookmarked & saved!

Picture related: I am THAT excited about this project.  I have my battle axe ready to go. This, along with the ongoing cooking project my mom and i have going on, is going to be a blast. <3

21.3.11

MENU

Okay, I was struck with a genius idea. Mom & I have been planning our meals weekly in an effort to cook new things & to make shopping easier.  There is nothing more frustrating than buying a bunch of ingredients.. and then not knowing what to make with them. So, for the past few weeks our recipes have been planned, and it has been delicious. That's when my idea happened.


read about this beast after the jump. xD

16.3.11

HOLY CRAP

I want to apologize for not blogging in several months. I really want to try and get better at it. I'm constantly on twitter, so if anyone needs to keep up with my life second by second in 140 characters or less, you can always follow me. Of course my Twitter name is sweetdizz. That's who I am.