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The Crafty Chica DIY Project Library: a collection of fabulous handmade ideas by Kathy Cano-Murillo, the Crafty Chica! Sunday, June 28, 2009Fireworks Serving Tray This is a scrapbook project, believe it or not. You create a scrapbook design and seal it between two clear plastic serving trays. You can make one original, and then make color copies. Seal the edges with red or silver tape.You can also do this with clear plastic plates for your 4th of July BBQ. Add a little visual sizzle to your meal! ** MY NEW BOOK: "Crafty Chica's Guide to Artful Sewing: Fabu-Low-Sew Ideas for the Everyday Crafter". See the new line of Crafty Chica products at HERE Amazon.com!! All content/photos copyright, © Kathy Cano-Murillo, 2009. Labels: summer/4th of July Ceramic Star Box Recently while at Duncan Enterprises/ILoveToCreate.com, I was able to play around in the ceramics department. Can you say good times?To make this, I started off with a round bisque box. I took the "la estrella" card from the Crafty Chica Loteria set and blew it up about 10%. I then cut out the shape and used it as a template so I could paint the design on the box. I used orange for the bottom and white to add polka dots all over. Here is how I could have made it better - and I'm sharing this so that next time you go to a paint-on-pottery place, you'll remember my words of wisdom. The goal in ceramics is to end up with a smooth, even texture, almost free of brush strokes. In my case, you can see my strokes all around the shape of the star. It still passes as a gift for my nana or best friend, but for a truly professional look, I should have added an extra coat in an opposite direction to make it all blend in. Plus, blue is a color that REALLY shows the strokes. My little star box is not in traditional red, white, and blue colors, but I think it is cute for any star-spangled theme fiesta! ** MY NEW BOOK: "Crafty Chica's Guide to Artful Sewing: Fabu-Low-Sew Ideas for the Everyday Crafter". See the new line of Crafty Chica products at HERE Amazon.com!! All content/photos copyright, © Kathy Cano-Murillo, 2009. Labels: paint, summer/4th of July Patriotic Puppy  Special for ILoveToCreate.com!Show your patriotism this Independence Day with the help of a "paws"itively adorable friend! Create a spirited display with Crafty Chica Little Chica Paint Packs and Aleene's Original Tacky Glue. Add super sparkle with Aleene's Paper Glaze and Crafty Chica Chunky Glitters.
Instructions
 ** MY NEW BOOK: "Crafty Chica's Guide to Artful Sewing: Fabu-Low-Sew Ideas for the Everyday Crafter". See the new line of Crafty Chica products at HERE Amazon.com!! All content/photos copyright, © Kathy Cano-Murillo, 2009. Labels: summer/4th of July Monday, June 22, 2009iPhone case still in progress!CLICK HERE IF YOU CAN'T SEE THE VIDEO ** MY NEW BOOK: "Crafty Chica's Guide to Artful Sewing: Fabu-Low-Sew Ideas for the Everyday Crafter". See the new line of Crafty Chica products at HERE Amazon.com!! All content/photos copyright, © Kathy Cano-Murillo, 2009. Labels: glitter Tie-Dye Inspired Cupcakes: Round Two  Here is my second attempt at tie-dye cupcakes! I made these for Father's Day and they were a big hit! I made a separate batch for my dad's party, but they were gobbled down before I could snap a picture. The set pictured is from the party at my in-laws. I put pictures of the different dads in attendance.This time I drizzled the batter colors on in a random style, instead of glopping them area by area. MUCH better effect, more rainbow-y and tie-dye-y.  I'm a messy baker!  I love the color combo of light blue and red! I wish I could save these and use them for something! What made my whole day is when my little nieces, Bella and Sarah (4 & 9), followed me around, nudging and whispering to each other "YOU ask her! No, YOU ask her!!" Finally Bella says shyly, "Auntie Kathy, can we have another cupcake?" I giggled and said YES, help yourself!! I wish I had a picture of the look on their faces as they ate them, they practically oohed and ahhed in between each bite. The bottom picture is from the cupcakes my dad ate. He said, "Wow, even the paper looks like tie-dye!" SCORE! ** MY NEW BOOK: "Crafty Chica's Guide to Artful Sewing: Fabu-Low-Sew Ideas for the Everyday Crafter". See the new line of Crafty Chica products at HERE Amazon.com!! All content/photos copyright, © Kathy Cano-Murillo, 2009. Labels: food crafts Sunday, June 21, 2009Virgin of Guadalupe Wrist Cuff I made this project from my glitter fabric (scroll down to see earlier post). I cut a swatch for my wrist, sewed on a fabric image of La Virgen and seamed the edges with a tight zigzag stitch. I added rickrack, and stitched on some matching elastic. That big yellow piece is not a button - it is a vintage clip earring. I glued the clasp down and then stitched through the opening. I added a milagro charm too. I am 100% smitten with this bracelet. So much that I plan to make more of these with all kinds of different images. The glitter is sealed down, but still so sparkly!** MY NEW BOOK: "Crafty Chica's Guide to Artful Sewing: Fabu-Low-Sew Ideas for the Everyday Crafter". See the new line of Crafty Chica products at HERE Amazon.com!! All content/photos copyright, © Kathy Cano-Murillo, 2009. Labels: fabric, glitter, jewelry, sewing, wearable art Saturday, June 20, 2009Glitter fabric PHOTO: Gift box I made with my very own glittered fabric!It's no secret that I'm addicted to the sparkly stuff. To me, glitter is a metaphor for life. The more sparkle the better. Especially when it comes to crafts! Last year while working away at Duncan Enterprises headquarters, my co-workers turned me onto huge rolls of glittered canvas. These colorful backdrops have become regular fixtures in our house. I use them for all kinds of photos, but it's been hard to even consider cutting them for craft projects. I was determined to make my own! I found a successful method and I'm divulging it here, only if you promise to only use my Crafty Chica glitter because it looks the best (IMO!!!). This is a small piece, but you can coat huge pieces as well to make amazing, flexible, sewable, durable, not-very-flaky fabric.   TIP: I used a heavy white craft glue. I experimented with different types, and Aleene's Tacky worked best. Very thick and ultra sticky. While the glue is still wet, pour a thick row of glitter across the top and then move the fabric so it flows down and covers the rest of the wet canvas. Let it dry for an hour, and then take it outside and seal with HIGH GLOSS SPRAY VARNISH. This is what makes it usable and keeps the glitter sealed in. You can also use Aqua Net Hairspray if you don't have high gloss spray varnish. Here is a little video so you can see how cool it looks! Here is an applique I made with my glitter fabric. Stay tuned because I have other projects coming up. ** MY NEW BOOK: "Crafty Chica's Guide to Artful Sewing: Fabu-Low-Sew Ideas for the Everyday Crafter". See the new line of Crafty Chica products at HERE Amazon.com!! All content/photos copyright, © Kathy Cano-Murillo, 2009. Frosted Loteria Tags I've always loved to buy and make little artful hanging tags for my paper and mixed media projects. Stamping is cool, so is sewing little fabric charms. This time around I used my Crafty Chica Loteria Game.I also used this project as a chance to test the video feature on my new iPhone 3G S. So far, this phone is more that I expected, I'm really happy with my upgrade. As for the video feature, the colors are a little muted, but what can I expect? It's a cell phone! Let me know if you like this format, if so, I'll use video more often. It is so easy - you simply record and then upload straight to YouTube! Click here if you can't see the video. ** MY NEW BOOK: "Crafty Chica's Guide to Artful Sewing: Fabu-Low-Sew Ideas for the Everyday Crafter". See the new line of Crafty Chica products at HERE Amazon.com!! All content/photos copyright, © Kathy Cano-Murillo, 2009. Tie-Dye Inspired Cupcakes (Contest too!) Life is too short not to use food coloring in cake batter. I'd seen these crazy kaleidoscope cupcake ideas floating around online and wanted to give it a try. It took a bit longer than making normal cupcakes, but it was worth it! Here are the supplies you need. Make sure to get primary colors AND new the new neons that McCormick Spices has out now. You'll make the white cake batter and then sort it into bowls. Add the color to the shade you want. Spoon into the cups. Next time I will use a toothpick to swirl the colors. I only used four colors, next time i'll go with six or even eight!This is a great project for 4th of July! CONTEST! Leave a comment and share your DREAM cupcake from your favorite bakery, or your favorite cupcake experience. I'll draw TWO names to win this prize pack! Need some inspiration? Here is my Cupcake Chaos story from a while back!  ** MY NEW BOOK: "Crafty Chica's Guide to Artful Sewing: Fabu-Low-Sew Ideas for the Everyday Crafter". See the new line of Crafty Chica products at HERE Amazon.com!! All content/photos copyright, © Kathy Cano-Murillo, 2009. Labels: food crafts Thursday, June 11, 2009Masking  Here is a project Patrick was working on. He took blue painter's tape and cut it into pieces and then sponged watered-down Crafty Chica paint over it. You can use this technique on all kinds of fabric projects, or use Crafty Chica markers for hard surfaces. Peace, love, and glitter! Kathy :-) ** MY NEW BOOK: "Crafty Chica's Guide to Artful Sewing: Fabu-Low-Sew Ideas for the Everyday Crafter". See the new line of Crafty Chica products at HERE Amazon.com!! All content/photos copyright, © Kathy Cano-Murillo, 2009. Labels: paint Wednesday, June 10, 2009Festive Flower Vase Here is another project I made for ILoveToCreate.com!Give your flowers a colorful home! Creative this festive vase with Crafty Chica Mojito Papers and Paint Packs, and don't forget to add lots of colorful embellishments like beads, ribbons and crafty little charms!
Instructions1. Clean vase; let dry. Cut strips of paper 7" L by 5/8" W narrowing at the ends to create points. 2. Apply glue to backside of papers and apply to vase in each section, press down. Continue process with each piece of paper, until vase is covered as desired. Let dry. 3. Paint around top edge of vase and bottom (we used pink at the top and green at the bottom). Let dry. 4. Cut beads to fit around top edge of vase. Adhere to vase with Liquid Fusion. Gently tape down to secure to the edge until the glue dries. 5. Wrap bottom with ribbon and attach charm. Kathy :-) P.S. Check out my new book and product line! ** MY NEW BOOK: "Crafty Chica's Guide to Artful Sewing: Fabu-Low-Sew Ideas for the Everyday Crafter". See the new line of Crafty Chica products at HERE Amazon.com!! All content/photos copyright, © Kathy Cano-Murillo, 2009. Crafty Beach Drawstring Tote
Instructions
** MY NEW BOOK: "Crafty Chica's Guide to Artful Sewing: Fabu-Low-Sew Ideas for the Everyday Crafter". See the new line of Crafty Chica products at HERE Amazon.com!! All content/photos copyright, © Kathy Cano-Murillo, 2009. Labels: fabric, summer/4th of July, wearable Wednesday, May 27, 2009Glittered Canvases at Maker Faire I am leading a massive make-and-take glitterfest in our ILoveToCreate.com booth at Maker Faire! I outlined designs on 300 blank canvases for this event. I hope 300 people come by! If you are reading this, chances are you are not attending Maker Faire, so why should you be denied a fun project? It looks super easy, but there is a trick to it for maximum sparklyness.  Supplies:Blank canvas Crafty Chica Glitters Tulip 3D Fashion Paint, black Crafty Chica Tango Markers Decoupage medium (Collage Pauge or Aleene's Paper Glaze) Brushes Typing paper (to catch glitter overflow) Directions: 1. Draw your design on the canvas, the bigger and bolder the better. 2. Use a marker to color in the area you want to glitter. DO NOT color the entire picture - only the first area you want to glitter. For example, for the heart picture you see above, you would color the crown yellow and stop. 3. Use your brush to coat the yellow crown area (example) with decoupage medium, and then pour the gold glitter over it. Tap away excess. Move on to the th next section, staying in the lines you drew. 4. When the entire design is covered in glitter, use the Tulip 3D Fashion Paint to draw over the outline. This will make the design POP out. The picture at the top doesn't show how cool it looks, so just trust me, okay? TIP: You don't have to glitter the whole thing. You can glitter the main design, and then color patterns in the background with the markers. You can also sub paint for markers! Have fun! ** MY NEW BOOK: "Crafty Chica's Guide to Artful Sewing: Fabu-Low-Sew Ideas for the Everyday Crafter". See the new line of Crafty Chica products at HERE Amazon.com!! All content/photos copyright, © Kathy Cano-Murillo, 2009. Labels: glitter Sunday, May 17, 2009Textured Canvas Art This is a project from my Crafty Chica's Art de la Soul book. These are 8x10 canvases that I painted, and then cut out my own stencils for the words, put them over each canvas, and then used dimensional paint over the stencil to give the letters a "raised" look - almost like stucco!You can do the same concept with an image or other words or any other kind of design! ** MY NEW BOOK: "Crafty Chica's Guide to Artful Sewing: Fabu-Low-Sew Ideas for the Everyday Crafter". See the new line of Crafty Chica products at HERE Amazon.com!! All content/photos copyright, © Kathy Cano-Murillo, 2009. Labels: home decor, paint Chain & Paper Collage Necklace These are some earrings I made a while back. I get gobs of smiles from them because people always ask where I scored the charms. I love to say - "I made them!"The charms are simply small wood discs that I glued pictures to, drilled, painted, and then coated with resin. I then used contrasting shapes of beads, eye pins, chain, and jump rings to put assemble them. I've really been digging sky blue and bright red lately! ** MY NEW BOOK: "Crafty Chica's Guide to Artful Sewing: Fabu-Low-Sew Ideas for the Everyday Crafter". See the new line of Crafty Chica products at HERE Amazon.com!! All content/photos copyright, © Kathy Cano-Murillo, 2009. Labels: jewelry Monday, May 11, 2009Painted Suitcase I painted this suitcase in June 2007 and it is still holding cup strong!I photo blogged about my suitcase recently and how it stood ot in a sea of bland bags. Seriously, this is a GREAT idea. Recently I had to change flights minutes before departure. The attendant had to call the luggage people to retrieve my bag. What does it look like? she asked me. It's purple! And covered with paint and glitter! I replied. She speaks into the phone receiver to the luggage person: It's purple and has glitter... and then she looks up at me and says They found it! See? It also is perfect for when you are waiting for your bag to come out of the conveyor contraption. You will be able to spot it right away! Not only that, but traveling is about letting loose and relaxing, so why not add that bouncy energy to your wheelie wares? It doesn't mean you have to go all funkadelic on your Samsonite, but you at least could take a rubber stamp to it. If you have a red suitcase, imagine how cute shiny white polka dots or swirlies would look all over it? Or maybe the names of your favorite cities around the world. If you want to give this idea a try, but don't want to touch your pristine designer set, visit a local thrift store and pick up a small carry-on bag for those little excursions. This is also a wonderful project for kids to take on to help burn off pre-trip excitement. I also added Crafty Chica varnish to the painted areas, and accented everything with a Tulip Crystal Icycle 3D Fashion Paint. To top it ALL off - I sprtized the whole thing with Tulip Glitter Spray. Here is a crafty chica secret: If you want to add a layer of sparkles to your paint projects - Tulips "Crystal" line does the trick. I usually use Icicle, which dries clear, but if you use other shades, it will dry with just a hint of color - plus the sparkles, of course. You just squeeze some out and rub it (or brush) it on over the painted surface. Argh, it kills me to give up these little tricks, but oh well, if it works for you and makes you happy - it makes me happy too. Besides, there are lots of other Crystal crafty secrets in my bag of tricks, but I'll share those another time... Painted SuitcaseSupplies Optional: Fabric images and fabric adhesive, foam stamps, stencils, patches 1 bottle of water-based polyurethane varnish Directions: Tape off the areas that you do not want to get paint on. Using a wide paintbrush, cover the suitcase with a coat of the white paint. If you are going to be painting it red, or another strong color, mix a bit of that color with the white. Let dry. Brush on the desired paint color all over the suitcase. Let dry. If you want to add fabric images, brush on a layer of fabric adhesive and affix to the surface, let dry. Otherwise, add painted accents using paintbrushes, stencils, stamps or anything else you might want. Let dry. Brush on a layer of varnish, let dry and repeat. Remove the tape. Let your freshly painted suitcase air out in your garage for a few days before you take it on vacation. Variations: Before you add the varnish, brush on a layer of water-based glitter varnish for a sparkly sheen. ***STORE * BOOK * T-SHIRTS * MY SPACE * FLICKR * All content/photos copyright, Kathy Cano Murillo, 2006. Photos property and courtesy of Arizona Republic and AzCentral.com. For more artsy goodness, check out CraftyChica.com * Labels: wearable art Friday, May 01, 2009Empanada Pin Cushions This may be my kitschiest project yet: Empanada pin cushions! After seeing so many fiber artists have their way with cupcake pincushions, I thought I'd throw a little needle love to Mexican puff pastries.Empanadas are basically fruit turnovers. My Nana Cano used to make them every weekend - cherry, pumpkin, pineapple, lemon, apple and even mincemeat for my dad. Puff pastries are also popular in other countries as well  , but my design is inspired by the ones I've grown up with here in Phoenix.I actually made these last Saturday night at The Dirty Devil nightclub where Patrick's band was performing. Under the light of my iPhone, I stitched away. I used white felt, and then painted it to give it a realistic look. It worked. The next day, both my kids picked these up to take a bite and were mad because they were fake! I would call that a success! NOTE: Yes, you can use a sewing machine on these, but because I knew I would be working in a dimly-lit area (the nightclub), I chose contrasting embroidery thread to hand sew. Here's how to make them!  Supplies:1 piece of white craft felt stuffing, like batting needle, embroidery thread brown, yellow and white paint Scissors 1. Take a piece of white craft felt. Fold it over from the short side, and cut out the shape of the empanada. Keep the fold at the bottom. Now cut the other end of the felt into a strip that is about 3" wide. 2. With the felt still folded in half, stitch the empanada about half away around the curve. Stuff with a lot of batting. 3. Take the strip, fold it lengthwise and stitch it with the embroidery thread along the edge of the curve, gather it here and there to make it ruffled. 4. Tuft the empanada in the center with three stitches. Cut the edge in a curvy design. 5. Add a bit of white and yellow to the brown paint until you get a nice baked look. Use the paint brush to stipple all over the empanada. Let dry. 6. Insert pins! ** MY NEW BOOK: "Crafty Chica's Guide to Artful Sewing: Fabu-Low-Sew Ideas for the Everyday Crafter". See the new line of Crafty Chica products at HERE Amazon.com!! All content/photos copyright, © Kathy Cano-Murillo, 2009. Labels: fabric, Latin-inspired Swine Flu Mask: I couldn't resist! I just HAD to make a mask. Hey, don't laugh! A friend of mine is sending me shard glitter from Mexico, I should wear this when I open the package! I'm just kidding. But after seeing so many other people get creative with their masks, I just had to make my own for the pop culture factor. I used watered down acrylics and glitter for the lips.Peace, love, and glitter! Kathy :-) ** MY NEW BOOK: "Crafty Chica's Guide to Artful Sewing: Fabu-Low-Sew Ideas for the Everyday Crafter". See the new line of Crafty Chica products at HERE Amazon.com!! All content/photos copyright, © Kathy Cano-Murillo, 2009. Labels: Latin-inspired Mother's Day Art Crowns This project started with a dollar store plastic tiara like this:  I picked up a few of them and transformed them into Mother's Day art crowns! First thing - cover the cheapie plastic. For the one that says MOM, I wrapped it with colorful yarn, using white craft glue to seal it down. I bought some blank wood letters and painted them in all kinds of contrasting colors and accents and then hot glued them to the top of the crown. For the other, I hot glued silk leaves around it. I used the "Forever a Queen" card from the Crafty Chica Inspiration Deck and glued it to a circular piece of wood, which I then trimmed in glitter. It needed height so I used some snowflake ornaments leftover from the holidays and glued those behind the circle. I glued rose buds at the bottom and wow, the crown is amazing! These are just two ideas!! Here is the trick - if you wrap the base in fabric strips or yarn - something to make it smooth, you can then glue away to decorate it! Make one for your mom to wear while she opens her gifts, she will truly feel like a QUEEN!! ** MY NEW BOOK: "Crafty Chica's Guide to Artful Sewing: Fabu-Low-Sew Ideas for the Everyday Crafter". See the new line of Crafty Chica products at HERE Amazon.com!! All content/photos copyright, © Kathy Cano-Murillo, 2009. Labels: mother's day, wearable art Thursday, April 30, 2009Embossed Tin Planters Add a dash of tin to your pottery collection! Embossing tin, a pen and a magazine is all you need. Cut tin into strips, draw on the tin on top of the magazine. Glue the tin strips around the border of the pot! ** MY NEW BOOK: "Crafty Chica's Guide to Artful Sewing: Fabu-Low-Sew Ideas for the Everyday Crafter". See the new line of Crafty Chica products at HERE Amazon.com!! All content/photos copyright, © Kathy Cano-Murillo, 2009. Labels: garden, gifts to make Mexican Motif Tea Towels Embroidery work by Jenny Hart for my second book, | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
