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How to Make a Shot Glass Candle

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If you're at a loss for what to do with your growing shot glass collection, get creative and turn them into interesting candles. It's a great alternative to letting them gather dust in a cabinet, allows you to show off your collection, and helps create atmosphere with a funky flare.

Things You'll Need

- A Shot Glass

- An Old Measuring Jug

- Pan

- Wax

- Wax dye in various colors

- Wick

Steps

1) Break up all your old, half burned candles into a measuring cup. You can use discolored wax if you are planning on adding some wax dye.

2) Place the measuring cup into a pan of boiling water until the wax melts.

3) Watch to see when the wax has almost melted completely so you can add your wax dye.

4) Cut lengths of wick to fit the shot glasses.

5) Place the wicks inside the shot glasses. Make sure you only use glass shot glasses.

6) When the wax is melted down, pour the wax into each shot glass, but be careful not to submerge the entire wick.

7) When the wax is almost completely set, move the wick into the center of the glass and then leave it to fully set.

Tips

- Wax crayons are pretty good for dyeing candles, although they can stop it from burning if you use too much.

- Use different dyes or colors for different types of glasses. Use some green wax to form an olive, and put a toothpick through it while it is melted. Add this to the Martini glass wax, and allow it to set along with the wax inside the glass.

- Tie the wick around a toothpick. When you lay the toothpick across the shot glass the wick will hang down in the middle. Trim away all but 1/4 inch of the wick before you light it.

- Thicker shot glasses make safer candles.

Warnings

If the candle burns all the way to the bottom of the glass or the flame touches the sides, the glass could crack.

Don't use plastic shot glasses. They may melt away.

You should really use solid and heavy glass for this. Be very careful as some glass will break from heat and this is a fire hazard.

Puzzle Piece and other Game Earrings

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Game pieces are great for making earrings. Try using chess pieces, dominoes, or whatever your favourite game is.

Equipment

• 2 x Earring Hooks

• 2 x Small Jump Rings

• Pins

• Jewellery Pliers

• 2 puzzle pieces

Steps:

1) Pierce a hole through the puzzle piece with a needle.

2) Open a jump ring using pliers and slip it through the hole on the puzzle piece.

3) Slip the jump ring through an earring hook and close. All done.

How to Stencil Fabric

Stenciling is a great way to customize curtains, table linens and even bedding as well as clothing and accessories. It's an easy way to duplicate a design several times without printing and requires no expensive equipment. It's been a popular household craft for over a century.

Supplies:

- Fabric (without a stain resistant finish)

- Purchased stencil or if making a stencil, Exacto knife, design/drawing, and a sheet of glass

- Textile paints

- Paintbrush

- An iron

Steps

1. Choose your fabric very carefully. Make sure it does not have a stain resistant finish. If you can pre-wash your fabric, you will be sure that it is clean of any surface treatment that will keep the paint from adhering. Do not use fabric softener. For your first project, try to avoid any soft or floaty fabric that will be difficult to keep straight. The color of the fabric will affect the color of the paint so try to avoid dark colors, unless you want that "velvet Elvis" look!

2. Prepare and gather your supplies.

o To cut your own stencil from acetate, you will need a drawing or photocopy of a design, a sheet of glass and a small, sharp matte knife like an Exacto™ blade.

o To paint with a custom or purchased stencil, you will need textile paints, specifically designed to be both washable and dry cleanable. These paints will need to dry for 24 hours and be heat set. Nontoxic water-based textile paints are commonly available at crafts stores.

o If you are adapting a design, make sure it will work as a stencil. Take time to plan how you will cut and try to plan only one overlay. If you have complex interlocking lines, you will need at least two stencil overlays, which will require careful pattern matching.

3. Tape the original to the glass with the design facing down. Turn over the glass so that you can see the design and tape the plastic to the glass over the design.

4. Carefully cut out the stencil, following the lines of the original. You will probably find that it is easier to cut accurately if you pull the blade slowly towards you. Turn the glass as necessary. If you make a mistake, you can repair it with a small piece of masking tape.

5. Lay out your paint colors on the palette. Do not thin the paint unless it is very, very thick - watery paint will bleed under your stencil edges. If you want pale colors, add white or use a very dry, transparent stenciling technique.

6. Test the colors and practice your painting on a piece of fabric. Make sure your brush is evenly covered with paint but do not load it. A loaded brush will spread paint under the edges of the stencil. Your goal is a nice, even dry brush technique with color that is smooth but not thick.

7. Apply the paint with a gentle pounding motion, holding the brush straight up and down. Do not use a stroking motion. Again, this will keep the paint from seeping under the edges of the stencil. If your design has delicate bits that seem to be lifting as you paint, use an awl or chopstick to hold them down as you paint.

8. Paint all the colors in your design before lifting the stencil - once it has been moved, it is almost impossible to replace it exactly in the same spot.

9. When you are finished, lift the stencil carefully. The paint should be dry to the touch, but let it dry for 24 hours.

10. After 24 hours, iron your fabric on the back to set the color, using the hottest possible setting.

Tips

• Natural fiber fabrics with a fairly smooth surfaces work best. Be sure to buy a little extra fabric to test colors and practice on.

• Try blending colors. For example, paint the center of a rose with a pale gold and blend in orange at the petal tips with a dry brush technique.

• If you see small areas where the paint is too thin or the edge of the design is broken or blurred when you lift the stencil, you can touch it up with a small brush. This works best with minor problems, as the paint will look different when it is brushed on.

• If you get paint on the fabric where you don't mean to, wash it out immediately and dry it with a hair dryer. In fact, if your stencil colors are not too dark, you can usually wash the whole stencil out and start again, but don't wait!

• If you notice a small drop of paint after you're done, let it dry thoroughly and very carefully scrape it off with your matte knife.

• The thinner the acetate you use for cutting your own stencil, the easier it will be, but the stencil will be more fragile. Use thinner acetate for your first project.

• If you get really involved in cutting stencils, you may want to invest in a stencil cutter. It has an electrically heated tip, somewhat like a ball point pen, that cuts through the heavier plastic faster and with less effort than a knife.

• As a cheap and easy solution, you can print your pattern using a household printer and normal paper an then laminate it before cutting.

• If you can't find any fabric paint, or don't like it, acrylic paint works great, and you don't need to heat set it or anything.

Warnings

• The basic straight up and down painting technique for stenciling is simple to master, but can be tiring with a big project. The number one cause of paint blobs is fatigue. Take a break!

• Don't be tempted to heat set your fabric too soon. The paint may feel dry but it can smear when heated if not allowed to set.

• If you use acrylic paint instead of fabric paint you must be very careful, because you can't wash out your mistakes.

How to Make a Duct Tape Wallet

Everybody needs a wallet, right?

Things You'll Need

- Duct Tape

- Ruler

- Knife or scissors

- Piece of Wood Or Cardboard

Steps

1) Rip a strip of tape at least 8.5 inches in length and place it sticky side up on your working surface.

2) Rip a second piece of equal length and place sticky side down halfway over the first strip. Fold the rest of the strip facing up over the second strip.

3) Flip over the two strips and place a third strip sticky side down covering the remaining sticky part of the second strip. Flip the sheet again and continue extending the size of the sheet until you've created a 4) Trim the edges.

5) Fold the wallet in half and tape the sides to create a large pocket to hold bills.

6) To create credit or business card pockets, make another sheet that's 4 by 3.5 inches.

7) Fold 1.5 inches over. To create two more pockets, repeat the step above and then tape the two pieces together, taping the second pocket a little lower on top of the first piece.

8) Tape the edges of the pockets and then tape the whole piece to the large pocket. To create another pocket, leave the inside part untaped.

9) Make a sheet of tape (as in the first step) larger than your ID card. Cut the sheet so the outside part of the frame is slightly larger than the height and width of the ID. Cut the inside .5 centimeters (big enough so you can see your picture and info, but small enough so the ID can't fall through the opening). Now trim the outside so it is slightly larger in all directions than your ID. Tape three sides of this window to the inside of your wallet, or on top of the credit card holder. It'll take a some trial and error to get it right, but it will be a great addition to the wallet. When you're done, the ID should be able to slide into the untaped side of the holder, and once in, not fall through the open window.

10) Tape the completed pocket to the large pocket and again, you can create an extra pocket if you wish by leaving the inside part untaped.

11) Put your money, ID, and cards in your wallet and go show off your new creation!

Tips

- There are many ways to personalize this design. Some other ideas are coin pockets within the large bill pocket and placing flaps on the credit card holders so business cards don't fall out when the wallet gets dropped.

- Use a sheet protector and cut out a piece of the clear plastic to cover the open window over your ID

- Index cards can be used to give it some structure. It also gives something for the duct tape to stick to. Of course, then it won't be made of only duct tape.

- According to the people who sell professionally done duct-tape wallets, at first, they used normal sticky duct tape. But after using them for a time, the glue melted, rendering them useless. Hence, they had to order special glue-less duct tape to make them.

- Duct tape comes in colors too. Better yet, find gaffers' tape.

Warnings

- Measure carefully. If anything is too small, it might not fit all of your money and you'll have to start all over. Make it bigger than you think it needs to be.

- Be very careful with the blade, or use scissors!

How to Knit an iPod Cozy

An iPod cozy can be both useful and pretty! Depending on how well you knit, your iPod can have a new sweater in as little as a half an hour. An Ipod cozy is for beginner to moderately good knitters as it is pretty simple to make.

Things You'll Need

• Lion Wool Ease Thick & Quick, Charcoal (partial skein)

• Size 10 needles

• Large crochet hook

• Button

Steps

1. Cast on 8 stitches.

2. Knit in garter stitch (K each row back and forth) until the piece is long enough to wrap all the way around your iPod and leave a flap.

3. Cast off.

4. Sew up the sides.

5. Sew on a button. The fabric should be loose enough to just push the button through without creating a button hole.

Tips

• Try not to make your stitches too tight or too loose and your stocking will be just right!

How to Start a Scrapbook

Scrapbooks are terrific presents if people have loads of photos stashed away that they keep “meaning to do something with” and haven’t gotten a chance to yet.

Things You'll Need

• Scrapbooks

• Photographs, memento items

• Scissors, glue, stamps, decorative stickers

• Anything else that you would like to see on the page

Steps

1. Organize the photos and mementos. A scrapbook can contain pictures, movie tickets, programs, anything that will lay flat when the book is closed.

2. Separate by date, or vacation site, or holidays, depending on the photos found.

3. Count them to see how many you have in order to determine the size of the book you will need to buy.

4. Buy a scrapbook based on your theme, or just a regular inexpensive one, and mark it to reflect the theme. You will need stamps, cut-outs, stickers, scissors and glue. Construction paper is colorful and often cheaper than "specialty" papers made especially for scrapbooks.

5. When you get ready to begin, carefully measure and "plan" each page before you start gluing. You can write your plan down on a piece of paper, so you will not forget how you want to layout each page.

Tips

• Some craft stores sell scrapbook-making kits to help you get started. If this is your first time making a scrapbook, this may be the way to go.

• Scrapbooks can be found in various styles and colors at most stores, Supermarkets, craft stores, as well as larger drugstores.

• As you get more acquainted with scrapbooks, you will want tools that save you time and frustration. Two very useful tools are the Xacto knife and a pair of tweezers.

• Acid-free products can keep your pictures from turning yellow.

• Be careful you don't the cut the only copies of your family photos. You can get color prints of them instead.

How to Make a Set of Devil Sticks

Devil sticks are a set of three sticks. Two 'control' sticks, and one 'main' or 'devil' stick. The two 'control' sticks are used to lift and control the 'main' stick. In some ways, using devil sticks is similar to juggling, requiring balance, control and a good sense of humour.

Things You'll Need

• Saw (to cut dowels, if needed)

• Scissors

• One (1) two foot long, 1 1/2 centimetre wide hardwood dowel.

• Two (2) two foot long, 1 centimetre wide hardwood dowels.

• One (1) roll of either friction tape or hockey tape.

• Optional: Coloured friction or hockey tape for decoration, or markers.

Steps

1. Cut or trim your dowels so that all three are roughly two feet in length (depending on your size and preference). The 'main' stick should be 3-6 inches longer than the 'control' sticks.

2. Coat all three sticks with your tape in a descending slanted pattern (so that the tape doesn't overlap the turn above it).

3. Wrap tape around both ends of the 'main' stick, to create weights on the ends of it (not much is needed). This will slow down the rotation of the stick in the air.

4. Optional: Decorate, if desired.

5. Try out your new devil sticks!

Tips

• Devil sticks have nothing to do with the devil. The name comes from the greek word "devil" meaning "to throw across".

• You can also follow the same steps, but instead of using dowels, use hard rubber sticks. Just add 1/2 centimetre diametre to all three sticks. This gives your sticks a bit of a bounce, and makes for some fun tricks.

• Using a softer rubber for the 'main' stick and either hard rubber or wood for the 'control' sticks will work as well but only once you know how to control the 'main' stick on a normal set. It's a bit harder than with a non-flexible stick.

Warnings

• Remember, these sticks can break if hit too hard, resulting in very sharp splintered ends. If this happens, immediately discard the broken stick.

How to Stencil a T Shirt

Ordering custom t-shirts is expensive and usually requires a large order. With these instructions you can make your own for next-to-nothing and have them look exactly the way you want.

Materials you need:

- A design

- Contact paper

- Exacto knife

- Sponge brush

- Fabric paint

- T-shirt

Steps

1. Print out the design you desire to stencil in black and white only (not grayscale).

2. Staple the piece of paper with the design to the back of a piece of contact paper (clear book covering) so that the design is visible through the contact paper. Make sure the contact paper side is up (as opposed to the peel-off backing).

3. Cut out the black areas of the design on the contact paper with an exacto knife, in the same way you would if you were tracing something.

4. Peel the backing off of the contact paper and stick the stencil firmly to the surface to be stenciled.

5. With a sponge brush, cover the cut-out areas with fabric paint using an up-and-down motion.

6. Wait until the paint dries and then peel the stencil off.

Tips

• Make sure you save any islands (white parts of the stencil that aren't attached to the rest of the stencil) so that you can stick them on separately.

• To create a stencil from a photograph, open the photo in Photoshop or other picture editing program and adjust it so that it is only black and white. This can be done in Photoshop by going the Image menu and selecting Adjustments, then Threshold. High contrast photos work best.

• See if you can get a hold of Stencil Adhesive, which is basically spray on sticky stuff from the back of Sticky Notes. This will prevent paint from going under the paper and making a mess of the details.

• To avoid ripping the stencil, use the contact paper as was preiviously mentioned, or a cheaper method is using packaging tape and layer it over the entire stencil before cutting it out.

• Apply paint with finger tips when possible, especially first coat. This creates a seal that prevents paint from leaking under and also strengthens the stencil as you paint later on.

• When making shirts of multiple colour prints always 'fix' the paint of the last print before doing the next.(the instructions will tell you how to do this, it usually involves ironing it)

Warnings

• Make sure the stencil's bum is stuck firmly to the t-shirt or the paint will bleed.

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