Call it a compilation of all the crazy projects I've come up with over the years. Call it a how-to for things around the house. Call it whatever you like :) It's what I do everyday. My blog is really just a way for me to share what I've learned over the years about home improvement, interior design, organization, diy, crafting and home repair. And most importantly it comes from always working on a budget and forever wanting to fend for myself when it comes to anything. I hope you enjoy (and learn a few things along the way :)

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Duct tape flower hairbow

My daughter asked for duct tape for her birthday, and now we are duct tape craft crazy! : ) This is a duct tape flower we made, then taped it to a headband.


You start with a rounded petal (fold the tape over about an inch and leave about 1/2" of tape showing.


Slit it up the middle about half way, then overlap the two parts slightly to make it curve. Trim off the corners to make it look rounded. Make 8 of these.

Then do 8 more slightly smaller. We made them exactly the same, but trimmed them 1/2" all the way around.


Then make 8 "halves" (making two petals out of one piece by cutting it in half first.


You are going to simply stack these four per level (4 large, 4 more large, 4 med, 4 more med, 4 small, 4 more small). centering each layer between the previous petals.

We then cut a small piece of red to cover any white showing in the middle.

For the center, we cut a 4" piece of purple, then cut that longways into 4 strips. We folded those over long ways 1/3, so 1/3 of the sticky was still showing. Finally we rolled and rolled those pieces until it made a tightly wound center. We hot glued that to the middle.


To attach it to a headband or barrette, just use a single piece of tape on the back.



It turned out so cute we'll be making lots of these ; )

Our first duct tape flower pen

My daughter asked for duct tape for her birthday, so after her grandmother took her shopping, she came home with 5 rolls of duct tape to craft with...it was a proud moment for a mother who loves a good project :)


She already had a folded petal pen from a friend, so she decided on the folded corner style.  It is actually a very simple project that doesn't require measuring.

Basically you are going to first wrap the pen with your stem color (start where the cap ends so the tape doesn't bunch up when you put the cap on). You end about an inch from the top. You place it on in one piece lengthwise. 


Just eyeball it, cut it to the length and stick it on around the pen.



To start the petals, use the color(s) of choice, and cut a 2" x 2" piece (basically a square) off the roll. Fold the right corner down at 45 degrees to the center point.


Then repeat for the left corner, and you end up with a pointed end and a sticky end.


Simply wrap the sticky end onto the end of pen.


You will repeat this over and over until you are happy with the size of the flower. For us that was about 30 petals.  To determine the placement of each, just try to stagger the points.  We used two colors and alternated them, so we did three of each color per level, spacing the points evenly on each layer and making sure no two petals overlapped identically.


At the end, wrap the base of the flower with a small piece of the stem color tape to give the transition between the two a more finished look (if needed).


As you can imagine we have a lot of tape now, so I'll be posting a lot of duct tape projects :)