DIY Resolutions

Forget the same old resolutions that you’ve been meaning to accomplish for the last few years, this year, resolve to DIY your way through 2012!  Focus on five essential crafting techniques that will keep on giving throughout the new year. 

Like knitting, one of the most functional crafts out there. With a bit of yarn and time, you can cover your apartment, pets, and loved ones in snuggly projects.  Craft Snob has a super helpful Knitting 101 tutorial to get your new year and new hobby started on the right foot.

Preschool teachers everywhere hit the nail on the head with this one. Making candles is easy enough for a kid to do, and utilitarian enough to fit in any grown-up home. You can pair any number of scents or waxes with the molds or free-form shapes of your choice.  This tutorial from Mom in Madison uses a craftily cut orange peel for the candle base. 

To get started on this one, plan on ransacking your local thrift shop and upgrading some old furniture with modern twists. With this thorough tutorial from Peony & Pear Tree, you should be sitting (on) pretty (things) by spring.

You probably haven’t thought about the crafting potential of paper-mache since that miniature version of Frog and Toad are Friends you made during summer camp. But this year, you may start seeing new takes on the process pop up everywhere from local trinket shops to upscale home goods stores. These teacups from Ann Wood could be just the project to get you back into chewed paper.

If Read More has landed itself again in your resolutions list, you’ll probably be excited to see this bedside bookmark abode from Curbly, which will help satisfy both your DIY and bookish bents.  You may want to start by reading up on the proper technique for using a handsaw and rotary tool.  

Christmas Candles – DIY

A cranberry tinted soy wax candle inside a plain glass oval container, painted and embellished with a glittery seasonal message.  Perfection, via CentsationalGirl.

Supplies

• Plain glass heat safe container
• Microwavable soy wax
• Chip board letters (or stickers)
• Pre-waxed wick
• Frosted glass spray paint
• White spray paint
• Glue stick
• Painter’s tape
• Glitter

Step One

Attach chip board letters with just enough glue from a glue stick to keep them in place.  You could also use stickers or Cricut letters here. 

Cover the top of glass with painter’s tape (or simply turn it upside down) and spray with two coats of frosted glass spray paint.  Allow to dry for 30 minutes in between coats. 

Note: Most ordinary colored spray paint’s are not designed for glass, but frosted glass spray paint is, therefore it acts as a good primer for any subsequent colored spray paint you choose. 

Step Two

Once your two coats of frosted glass paint are dry, spray paint your color coat of choice (seen here is Rustoleum’s Heirloom White).  After you’ve sprayed your glass with your colored spray paint, sprinkle glitter into the paint while the paint is still wet.  

Step Three

Remove chipboard letters. 

Melt your microwavable soy wax in the microwave and add any colored tint you choose. 

If you want to have a white wax but colored letters underneath, then use colored paint designed for glass to paint the inside of the glass before you add your white wax. 

Remove your letters and scrape away any residue from the glue stick or paint with a small flathead screwdriver or similar tool.

** I recommend doing the wax last, after you paint.  

 Step Four

Melt your microwavable soy wax in a microwave safe glass container (like a Pyrex measuring cup) about 2 to 3 cups at a time.  Add tint, then pour into heat safe glass container with a wick.  Use a chopstick or similar tool to support your wick as your candle cools. 

Once your wax is cooled and your paint and glitter have dried, your candle will look like this.  Lovely.

Knitt ‘Em

I learned knitting from my mother.  Unfortunately I tuned out the details and can only knit a never-ending scarf with no idea how to finish it.  So I’ve decided to now relearn the steps and commit to completing one scarf which I started… in High School. 

Luckily I found Knitting Help, featuring videos to help me achieve this procrastinated project.