WannaMakeSumtingCool? Photo Album on a Kilt Pin

Got cute kids to show off and need a sparkly eye catching way to do it? Maybe you need to make this:

I got this craft idea from a great book called Crafty Mama Makes 49 Fast, Fabulous, Foolproof Projects pg. 223. This is my interpretation and showing all the steps.
First, your supplies:
Some small photos: any small photos will do, aim for faces about half an inch wide. I took some pics, shrunk them in photoshop and then sent the order to walgreens for printing. Wallets and mini wallet photos work well too, so will any crayon or pencil drawings.
Small charm sized photo frames: I found mine at the dreaded HobbsterLobbster, but most good art or craft stores will carry them.
Beads: Any kind you like. Special glass ones saved from broken antiques, alphabet beads for names w/pics, metal beads for balance. Visit a bead store and really find some you like, you don't need very many beads for this project and they should be small so you can splurge and get some you'll be proud to show off. Let you imagination run crazy!
Kiltpins: buy a pack of at least 3, after you make the first one, you'll want to make some of these for friends or family.
Headpins: get some that end with a pin head and some that end with a loop.
Jumprings: get a couple of sizes, figure 8 connectors will work as well.
Tools: a 3-in-1 jewelers pliers (with the rounded tips) will work fine, but a full kit would have some very small needle-nosed pliers, a flush cutter, and a pair of jewelers pliers (round tips).
Something to seal in the photos: Anything that will become transparent when dry will work well. The frames may come with some small clear plastic disks for this purpose, but these seem to gather dirt and eventually get lost, taking the photo with them. I like Liquitex Glazing medium, but plain clear nailpolish will work fine.

Making your photo charms:


The charms come in 3 pieces (usually). A frame, a small white backing piece, and a clear plastic piece. When you have your photos ready, use one of the small backing disks to trace a circle around the face of your subject.

Cut out the photo, insert it into the frame. Add all the pictures to all your frames now.

Now very carefully, dip a paintbrush into the glazing medium/clear nail polish/sealant of your choice and drop a big glob on the middle of the picture inside the frame. Carefully spread it around so that it covers the entire picture and fills up the frame a little bit. The stuff will be cloudy, but after a few hours that will change.

Add another smaller glob if you need to. Later after this coating is dry, you can add more coats for protection. A few thin coats is much better than one very thick one.

Useful stuff, pricey but lots of applications.

Creating the beaded danglers:

Now for the fun! You should have several nice little "cameos", a kilt pin, some loose beads, headpins, and some idea of what you'd like to do. Here is how to make the little hanging bits that add personality to your personalities in the frames.

Add your beads to a headpin with a loop.

Bend the headpin wire around the round pliers, leaving a little room between the beads and the pliers. We will need to wrap the wire around this area to finish the loop.

Using your fingers, wind the end around the wire between the loop and the beads.

Holding the loop with your pliers, use the cutters to nip off the extra wire as close as your can to the wound part. If you have a 3-in-one tool, you can hold the charm with your fingers while you cut, just be extremely careful.

TA DA! Finished your dangler!

Headpins are handled the same way, just go back to step one and you'll end up with a very similar lovely thing.

Attaching with Jumprings:
First off, if you need really securely attached charms. No judgement on your personal habits, just saying. . . Anyway, they make wonderful double rings that are made and work very similarly to tiny keychain rings. These take a bit more patience, but could be worth your time. Also, there are figure 8 connectors that can be more secure. Look around the shop where your buy your supplies, ask for help. Learning is growing.
Here is how to attach with a simple jumpring.

Open the jumpring by twisting it sideways, not by pulling it apart.

Add your charm, place the charm and the ring onto the pin and then twist the ring closed again. I usually overlap my ends, but there are lots of schools of thought on this. IF you can make your rings ends meet again with no light shining through, then by all means, work your magic. Its easier to attach the charms to the dangles before attaching the dangles to the pin.

Now you should have a well-attached, handmade, sparkly charm.

Check that the ring is on well before going on to the next dangler or charm. The charms could be attached with rings, or added to the danglers during the loop making shown a few steps back.

As you practice these techniques you'll soon find shortcuts and new creative ways to highlight your beads and your talent. These simple charms will make nice necklaces, dangle-y bracelets, keychains, or just about anything that you'd like to add your favorite beads too.

GOOD LUCK!

WannaMakeSumtingCool? Magnetic Chalkboard Calendar

Busy? Kids keep getting dropped off at the wrong activities? Then this may be a good little weekend project. It combines the flexibility of a magnet board with the style and simplicity of a chalkboard. Here's what you need (basically):

a large magnetic bulletin board I found one at Walmart for about $7. Size does matter, get one as large as you dare. You'll want lots of room to write.

Chalkboard paint This is available at Home Depot or even most craft stores. I bought the rustoleum brand because it seemed the most durable. You will need a few coats and probably a little extra for other projects you think of while working on this one
Paint pens Get whatever color you'd like your grid and numbers/letters to be.

Something to make a frame out of I just used some old molding I had (painted yellow in the pic). Then used some 1/2" square dowels to keep the board in the frame (painted red).

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Magnets To use for your dates/months. You could just write these in with different colors of chalk if you wanted to, or draw the days in with the paint pens. I used some old wooden decorator elements and then glued them to blank magnets. The numbers and letters were done with stampers and paint pens.

How to start:
1. Paint your board, it should take 3 or 4 good coats to get a thick coating that will stand up to use. Follow the directions on the can for drying times. If you've bought a metal board with a dry erase coating, you may need to wipe it with mineral spirits or use some fine grit sandpaper to roughen the surface so that the chalkboard paint will adhere better.

2. While the board is drying, start building your frame. Use a miter box and saw, the inner dimension of your molding frame should match the outer dimension of your board. Measure twice, cut once! A few good staples on each corner from a staple gun will be enough to hold together. Try to square your frame up as much as possible, the board will help with this. I left the molding open to the front, glued in the board, then glued in the square dowels to hold the board inside the frame. Paint the frame and set it aside when you are happy with it.

3. After the paint on the board has dried, mark out your grid. You will need 6 rows(5 weeks and room for the month name) and 7 columns(days of the week). FIRST, measure how much of the board will be covered by your frame or dowels and mark this off. Now measure the board that will be inside the frame. Divide those measurements by 6 or 7 , and that should tell you how far apart to make your guide marks. You can do this as a portrait view or landscape, whichever you prefer. Use a yardstick and a pencil and draw out your grid completely. Make sure the spacing looks even and that you are happy with it.

4. Using the paint pen, trace the grid lines. Use the yardstick or a quilting ruler. Go slowly so the lines will be nice and dark and even. Let one direction dry before drawing the other direction. After the paint pen grid is good and dry, cover the entire board with chalk lines, then erase. This is an important part of "seasoning" the chalkboard.

5. Work on your date/month magnets. These can be simple or elaborate, but they do seem to give this board its personality. Put some real thought into how well you can fit this into your decor. You can make magnets for kids names, or chores, or icons for birthdays, holidays. Make your days or months in spanish or sign language symbols. You are the designer and this is where your personality can really shine.

6. Glue the board into the frame. I used tacky glue for this, choose a durable glue that has worked well in the past. I wouldn't use hot glue because it will probably cool before you can get everything stuck well. Make sure there is enough of a "lip" on the frame for the chalk to rest.

7. Once the board is dried in the frame, you can add hangers and a wire to the back. I usually use soda can tabs, nailed into the frame and a wire strung between them.



If you stuck with it, you should now have a gridded board, glued to frame, ready to hang on the wall. STOP, add your magnets and your notes now. It's just easier now than after its on the wall.

This system works well because it can be hung in a central location where all family members can see what is planned for the day and week. Things can be easily added and cancellations can be erased.

Good luck!

WannaMakeSumtingCool? Nuts and Bolts Chess

This project should result is an easy, fun, and durable chess set with pieces that can be easily replaced. This one is for use on our outdoor chess table and was made specifically for my 8 yr old boy.

To make things easy, I will give you my shopping list. When you get to the hardware dept. you will find a huge array of pieces. Let your creativity run wild. This is just what I used to produce this set and when you get to the store you may find other things you like better, and be prepared to spend some time finding and fitting things. The assembly stage will be much quicker than the gathering of materials. I based my set off 1/4 in. coarse thread pieces of hardware.

At least 32 1/2"-13 coarse thread hex nuts
At least 32 1/4" cap nuts
4 - 1/4"-20 3" round head machine screws
4 - 1/4" 3" eye bolts
4 - 1/4" hooks (clothesline hooks work well, these will have to be cut with bolt cutters to size)
4 - 1/4"-20 1 1/2" round head machine screws
16 - 1/4" 1" course thread hex bolts
4 - #12 finishing washers
4 - smaller flat washers
2 - wider flat washers
box of 100 coarse thread 1/4" hex nuts
8 - 5/16" lock washer, ext. tooth
4 - 1/4"-20 coarse thread wing nut
Good epoxy, use the two ingredient kind that dries fairly quickly. You should only need one package of this.
Spray paint

First step:
Insert a cap nut into a 1/2" hex nut. Turn the nut over so you can see the round part of the cap nut and apply a small amount of epoxy.

A note about Epoxy: It is nasty nasty stuff, smells bad, toxic as heck, not for use by any child, no matter how competant. Use it outside, away from any pets or where small children can get at it. Mix your epoxy very well or it will not set up hard enough.

Mix up a little bit of epoxy at first, it will become hard to work with quickly. Do all cap nuts and 1/2" hex nuts this way. These are the bases for your pieces and will keep them from toppling over while you play. Be neat with your epoxy and don't use to much or your pieces will not stand up straight.
ALLOW THE EPOXY 24 HOURS TO SET UP BEFORE YOU SCREW THE PIECES INTO THE BASES.



Second step:
Creating pawns. Pawns are made from a 1" hex bolt and a few nuts. The exact number is up to you. I used 1 nut per bolt. Do this for 16 bolts.


Third step:
Creating Rooks or Castles. Take a 1 1/2" machine screw, add a finishing washer. If you want it to look like mine, put the washer on upside down. Add a nut, skip some space, add 3 more nuts. Do this for 4 bolts.


Fourth step:
Creating knights. Knights could be just about anything. I really liked the idea of the hooks as horse heads, but feel free to use whatever you prefer. I bought clotheline hooks and then used a bolt cutter to make them slightly taller than my rooks and shorter than my bishops. For easier threading of nuts, before you cut the bolt place a nut all the way up the bolt. Then cut, then use a wrench to remove the nut. This will repair the bolt threads after the cutting. Once I cut the hooks, I added a wing nut and a hex nut. Do this for four hooks.


Fifth step:
Creating bishops. I used eye bolts for my bishops because they reminded me of bishops croziers, but you could use any bolt that had a sort of imaginative head on it. Bishops are powerful pieces so they can get a little more "arty" than rooks and knights. I used a 3" eye bolt and even though my royal pieces were 3", this gave the bishops a better proportion than using shorter bolts. Put a hex nut on, then a lock washer, then another hex nut. Do this for four eye bolts.


Sixth step:
Creating the royals. I used 3" round head machine screws because I wanted to be able to screw pieces all the way to the top. You should have 4 of these type screws. For kings I added a smaller flat washer, wider washer, smaller washer, then a hex nut. Skip some space, add 2 more nuts, skip space, add 2 more nuts. You should make 2 king this way.
Queens call for more panache. To your machine screw add 1 upside down finishing washer, one lock washer, and one wing nut. Skip some space, add a nut, skip more space add a nut and so on. You should have 2 queens.


Seventh step:
After you assembled your pieces and waited a good 24 hours for your epoxy to harden, you can begin screwing all the pieces into the cap nuts glued into the 1/2" nuts that form the bases. You may have to adjust some of your hex nuts to get the right look. In the end you should have 32 pieces that stand up fairly well to hard use, outdoor play, and offer adequate representation of a finer chess set.

Eighth step:
Decoration. I just spray painted mine with rustoleum according to what my son suggested. But the options are really limited by your imagination. Craft stores sell all types of paints that can give your set any look you wish, aged, precious metals,
pearlescent, and if you don't like that set, make another!