Pret-tea

Okay, so I've been spending too much time on Pinterest, pinning things, so I forced myself to get off my butt and do some easy-peasy art stuff. I've seen these ones done allover the internet, but still decided to make my own tutorial. I do not take credit for the idea, I just felt like making my own tutorial. Because it was fun to do. Hehehehe.

Alright. I'm a tea drinker--I love them all. I love the pretty colors, the teacups, the teapots, and everything about tea. There's just something about it. Je ne sais quo. Anyway, I saw people prettying up their teabags in all sorts of manners and I decided to pretty up mine too. Seeeee?

The hearts were cliche, so I made a whale. Hehehe. Anyway, here's how to pretty up your own tea bag--fast. This idea is great if you wanna get your kids or friends and do something fun and fancy. I'm planning to do this on my own upcoming sleepover, although I dunno how many of them are tea drinkers.

Yes. Creative fuel is dearly needed. Instructions:

1. Rip off the boring tea tags.
2. Cut out two pieces of whatever shape you like. I did hearts here, but I'll show you the whales later. <3
3. Stick the string on one heart with glue.
4. Cover with the other piece.
5. Tada! You're done! Enjoy your tea and your creative fuel. <3

Told you it was easy-peasy. Here are the others I did.

And my favorite:

Happy drinking! <3

Artsy Fartsy

You know those days when you just feel so inspired and relaxed that you practically fart art? Okay, maybe not fart, but I like those words. Art Fart. Fart Art. Artsy Fartsy. Fartsy Artsy. Ha, I'm cracking myself up here. Anyway, just some stuff I made:

Accordion circles--yep, I googled 'em, that's what they are called. I've been seeing them allover pinterest and allover the scrapbooking blogs I always go to, and I thought they were cute. So I grabbed the left over pages from the repurposed books and made these accordion circes. Then I grabbed some left over paper, stamped them with doilies, put them in the middle, and put a small plastic gemstone right at the middle. They came out quite nicely, if I do say so. They're lovely for scrapbooking, packaging, table runners, or even one's hair, as my brother suggested.

These are the other things I did today. Upper left corner, I decoupaged a matchbox and stamped it with a pretty key. Yes, I know, this is probably one of the most useless things I've ever done, but I don't know, I find it pretty. I'm thinking, I'll slap some encouraging words inside to make it a little more useful, since I love them matchboxes so much.

Upper right corner, I made some travel-themed envelopes. I opened a random envelope, traced it onto old maps I found lying around, then cut them up and folded them. Then I grabbed some of my colorful memo pad and slipped them in to make envelope liners. They lacked a little ooomph, so I stamped them with a cute little airplane inside. Great for travel-themed parties.

Okay, you already saw the accordion circles, and now the unusually colorful paper bag:

Tada! <3 Love 'em art-farting days. <3 I hope to have one everyday, but then again, if I have one everyday, I'd probably die of starvation, as I'd never go out to find work that actually pays me enough. :P

An Art A Day 30-Day Challenge: Teru Teru Bozus!

According to Wikipedia, the great, Teru Teru Bozus are

little traditional hand-made doll made of white paper or cloth that Japanese farmers began hanging outside of their window by a string. In shape and construction they are essentially identical toghost dolls, such as those made at Halloween. This amulet is supposed to have magical powers to bring good weather and to stop or prevent arainy day. "Teru" is a Japanese verb which describes sunshine, and a "bōzu" is a Buddhist monk (compare the word bonze), or in modern slang, "bald-headed"; it is also a term of endearment for addressing little boys.^[1]

Teru teru bōzu became popular during the Edo period among urban dwellers,^[2] whose children would make them the day before the good weather was desired and chant "Fine-weather priest, please let the weather be good tomorrow."^[2]

I've never really felt strongly about them, I mean, yeah, they're kinda cute and what not, but I'm not crazy over them. But I kinda promised my little brother I'd make them for him one day, and with the heavy rains today, I had no escape from him. So we picked up some styro foam balls, found and old t-shirt, some two-toned string, and made the rainy blues go away with Teru Teru Bozus!

I had some fun editing these pictures. <3

Weirdly enough, the rain stopped once we were done making these.

Total Cost: 27 pesos.

10 styro foam balls- 7 pesos

Two-toned yarn- 20 pesos

An Art A Day 30-day Challenge: Stamped Memo Pads

OH. MY. GOD. It's been ages since I've put up anything here. I tried to make another art blog 'cause I made this blog supposedly to help out polymer clay-ers to find cheap replacements, but now I'm expanding to other arts. I tried to start another blog, but then I got lazy, then I got busy. I'm graduating college! Finally, finally, finally. So yeah, that got me busy, but now I wanna go back to what's really important--arts and crafts. And so, to kick start my life as a bum er, as a college graduate, I've decided to go on a thirty day art challenge. I've missed doing art so much.

Recently, I've been into rubber stamps--and by into, I mean driving myself bankrupt. I saw a sale online, got the stamps, and went absolutely crazy with it, and now I'm hooked. Unfortunately for me, my parents have cut off my allowance now that I'm supposed to be getting a job, so I can't afford to buy a new stamp set every three days. I've done a few with the new stamps I've bought:

I found that fountain pen--in mint condition! I remember it from my days of playing with my mother's office stuff--so I can attest that that pen is viiiiintage. <3

I really like these circus-themed note cards I made. I mean--it's the circus! It's one of my frustrations--I really, really, really, really, really badly want to run away and join the circus. I mean, I'm pretty flexible--but not yet that flexible. But I'm not losing hope that I'd be able to join it one day.

DOILIES. Lace or knite doilies--meeeeeh. I mean, they have their charm, but I've grown up with my grandmother's lace table runner doilies and I'm kinda turned off by them-- although I'm not saying I won't like them soon enough, never say never--anyway, paper and stamp doilies--FTW. I'm in love! It's just so beautifully intricate. 

Okay, bad photo, bad printing--I was just figuring out how to use them stamps here. But I kinda like the look of this--reminds me of the Phantom of the Opera. Hehehe.

Anyway, back to cheapness--what this blog is all about. I can't afford rubber stamps right now, so aside from begging my friends and relatives to pick me up some rubber stamps--any rubber stamps, I googled stuff up and came up with some tutorials on how to make your own rubber stamps by carving them out of erasers! Nifty, eh? Cheap--heck, I just scavenged around our house for some. A little cutting here and there, some inking, and I got these: Fiesta-themed memo pads!

I can't tell you how much I love the effects--kind of a water color-y children's book effect. These are the stuff I used:

-A kid's colorful inking stamp pad-- got it for like 42 pesos. I didn't like the stamps--cheesy animals, but the inking pad was too colorful to pass up on.

-A random pencil that still had a good eraser tip. Cut a triangle shape into it. Voila--my stamp.

-a colorful memo pad. It's about three inches thick and was only 33 pesos--with seven colors! Not exactly ROYGBIV, but I loved the turquoises, oranges and pinks.

Oh the things I could do with all these colors! And it's just the perfect size--I don't have to lug around huge folders to make sure the paper doesn't get folded too much.

I added a little piggy here--I love pigs, and it does suit the whole fiesta thing. Now it sort of reminds me of the Festival of Fools in The Hunchback of Notredame.

Anyway, that's it for the first day of the art challenge. Personally, I don't think I'll use this memo pad at work just yet--I mean, I wouldn't want anyone thinking of me as the crazy crafty lady at work. Perhaps when I cannot hide my weirdness from people any longer. Oh wait. That ship has long sailed already.

Total Cost: 75 pesos, or roughly two dollars. Not bad. :)