Monday, April 8, 2013

'Handy' Craft

Hello People,

Today I am sharing about my love for DIY gifts. I love to make hand presents for friends, family or bf or anybody who needs a present. I really enjoying doing all this little things for people rather than buying tangible stuff for them because I am a sentimental person! So I prefer using 'effort' to do something up (usually if time permits).

The boyfriend has been out sailing for 1.5months already. Haven seen him since February till now. Apparently, he is now near Singapore Coast just waiting to move back to dock. So while waiting for his return, I have been writing letters for him everyday. This is second sailing so here's the second box of letters i did for him to read till sian. HAHA. Anyway, the main topic today is the box not us. XD

So I did this is on the 24March after my appointment (I will share this again on the next post cause got free complementary treatment).
Saw the brown empty box, which i brought from Daiso? I chose the plain design over those with patterns on it, just so I could DIY the box. The letter 'A' brought it from spotlink @ less than $2. The wooden clips are from Daiso as well. As for the rest, I collected it from different places over the years. HAHA! They are usually from Daiso, spotlink or Art friend. I love love LOVE these three outlets because they have good and cheap stuff there! Art friend will be another good place for modern, pretty, instant materials, but items are over-rated for me though. =X Saw the alphabet stickers? That was from Paper market.

So the cover was the main thing. Painted it black and painted the letter 'A' with a tiffany green (close to I assume). I am using the normal kid's painting materials and got to mix green and blue and white all at once. Hence manage to get to this shade after adding a little amount here and there. Try playing with colours! Its so fun!!! ^^

See the fabric flower on the top right corner. I did that from scratch! Im so impressed by myself too! HAHA! Like really! Because while I was sourcing for materials in Daiso, I saw packs of fabric roses @6 for $2. I mean like this... 6 small roses for $2 in a pack. In other words, $2/pack. But the roses look very flat. No volume??

Something like this....

So I have to give it a no go because not worth the 2 bucks. Then I observe how they sew the roses. An idea stuck me and was telling me that I can made these myself wat! I did roses in all sort of materials back in secondary school for my friends on V. DAY! HAHA! Plus I got the so-call fabric I have to head start. ^^ Also the leaves were kept when I did the roses for my friends. So definitely comes in handy! I think you could find them over at Art friend or spotlink.

p/s: Maybe I should DIY hand bouquet for my wedding next time. HAHAHA!

(Okay. I really like them a lot! XD) I used the leave's stem to tie the rose's stem. To allow the shape to hold. When handling fabric materials is always tricky! So to me the only way is by using a hot glue to glue the fabric roses on the cover. Hot glue is like the best glue to stick anything materials tgt. However one con is after prolong period, your item might just be ripped apart if you knock or pull / pluck it. 

This is hot glue gun, has to be run on electricity. Dasio do sell the hot glue (in colours) but not the gun so far. On the other hand, Art friend and spotlink do have it. Handle with care please!!! Its really hot!!!

After everything was glued onto the cover, I sprayed a layer of lacquer over. As the painted cover was not waterproof. If you realised from the photos that there are some light stretches here and there. So by spraying lacquer over, it could protect the colour as well as 'hardening' the fabric rose. This could hold the shape of the roses more firmly.


Im using Nippon brand instead. Lazy to take a photo of my spray, so just  Crlt C+V from the web.

Ta-da! The final product! ^^ 
I am loving my skills. HAHA!

I hope it did help you to gain bits of information/sources that you might not know. ^^

So far, there are quite a few items I (we) made for my friends over the years that I could remember with pictures:

On her 21st we did muffin and Scrapbook for her.

Did up a mini cupboard for vivien on her 21st as well.

Manage to get the rest for a small gather for E BD.
Last minute decor on the tarts and cakes. hahaha!

 Did muffin for Vanessa (another bro of mine. haha!) before she flew off for a 6 months exchange in Germany. My uni mate here btw.

On the bottom right, DIY a wooden holder as V.day present for him.
Still a student back then so not much money to buy him anything.

Hope you enjoyed this post! ^^
Loves, wena

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