IC 26: Camp Crafts

This week over at Iron Craft, the theme is camp crafts.  I did several crafts this week.

T-shirts

I found these color change paints at the store last week and knew I had do make my daughters t-shirts with them.


So, I printed out some Hello Kitty coloring pages, put them in the T-shirt and then using regular black fabric paint, I traced the design.  Then, I took the color changing paints and filled in various parts of the t-shirts.

I'm a little disappointed with how light the color change is, but reading their website, it says that the paint needs to be applied thickly, so maybe I didn't put it on thick enough and need another coat.

Sand Bottles

When we were at the beach earlier this month, we collected sea shells. Most of the shells we found were really tiny and a number of them broke on the way home.  My daughter saw bottles with sand and sea shells in at the souvenir shops but thought they were too expensive.  So, I offered to make her one.  Due to not having a whole lot of seashells and not being able to find any good sized bottles I opted to use some mini ones.  I then labeled the jar with the name of the beach and the year.

Tajar pins

One of the last years that I went to camp as a camper (and not a counselor/aid), our leader told us one of the Tajar tales about an animal that is part tiger, part jaguar, and part badger. In the story she told, his tail came off and he used tape, string and a pin to fasten it back on with.  Then, we each received a tajar pin. While I was looking up this story to go with the Tajar pin, I found that other people are actually using tape, string and a pin to make theirs.  Ours were made by wrapping wire around the closed side of a safety pin. I'm sure she explained the symbolism behind it, but that was a long time ago.  I've still got my pin though!

IC25: Scan This!

They're popping up everywhere.  I saw them on my cup from a fast food restaurant, I see them in ads, on the cover of my phone book, even on signs at the zoo and a concert.  What are they?  QRCodes!

I'm a little behind technology wise, right before we went on vacation, I got an app for them.  Unfortunately, my beloved Centro is getting to be old technology, so I could only find one app and it worked fine the first few times then refused to recognize the codes, furthermore, it messed up my camera app, so I've unfortunately had to remove it.  (just one more pro in favor of an upgrade!)

I haven't done too much with QR Codes until this round of The Iron Craft Challenge.  But the inner geek in me, was intrigued.  It turns out that to allow a lot of devices to read these codes, there is a lot of redundancy and error checking built in.  What does that mean?  It means that some people have started to exploit that by doing custom QR Codes that incorporate an image, or a style to help convey their message.  So I decided to give it a try.

I started with QRStuff.com and generated a QR Code that just has text (it turns out there are different types of information that a QR Code can contain, in addition to just URLs).



This code has the text of John 3:16.

Then, I decided to modify it a bit and changed it to have a cross:


Due to the redundancy in the codes, you can change them some without breaking them for most QR Readers.  Now, the software tester in me kicks in here and wants to point out that they're no longer up to the 'spec' for a QR Code so it's very possible that there are readers out there that will not scan them correctly.  But what's the fun in that?

Now that I've got the code, what should I do with it?

It'd be cool on a T-shirt, even just on a piece of card stock.  It's an interesting outreach method.  As a geek, I'd scan it to at least see if it's a valid code.  Some websites are selling QR Code temporary tattoos for people to use to exchange info at trade shows.  (It'd be an interesting twist on the kid tattoos for contact info too)

I decided to follow the directions here and transfer it to a piece of wood to make a necklace.  Can you say fail? LOL



Next time, I'll try to paint the wood first that will hopefully make it more distinguishable and will keep the ink from soaking into the wood so much.

So, I was back to what to do with the code after I made it. I originally was going to try to print it on shrink plastic but wasn't sure it would still be scanable afterwards. So I thought I'd try it. I tried to print on a small piece of shrink plastic I had left from another project. Fail again! My printer jammed LOL.

By this point I had a number of the codes printed out in various sizes, so I decided to just frame one.



I've got a smaller version that I printed out that I'll probably attach to the wood with modge podge to make necklace.

Can you think of other creative uses for QR Codes?

IC23: You Are Here

Actually, no I'm not "here", I'm on vacation, but I left after the challenge was posted, so I was able to complete it before I left!

This week we were to craft with a map. Recently, when my husband and I were planning our vacation we were talking about all the states that we've visited and that our girls have visited.  We decided we should start keeping track.  So for this week's challenge, I made a map of the US and colored in the states that my daughter has been to.



First, I found a simple map of the US via Google images.  I printed it out to the size I wanted it to be (mine was half a sheet of paper).  The map I picked had a boarder around the edge, so with the paper on top of the fabric, I sewed the border.  This helped to keep the paper from sliding around later.  Then, I very slowly just sewed around each state until they were all done.  I messed up Maryland a bit as you might be able to tell, I might go back and fix that.



After all the states were outlined, I very carefully tore away the paper. I used regular old white printer paper this time, but I'm thinking next time I might use something a little lighter, like onion skin or tracing paper. When I was tearing it away, some of the stitches pulled out.

Lastly, I took a non-washable crayon and colored in the states she's been to.

Iron Craft 20: To a Tee

T-shirts are pretty much a staple in my wardrobe.  I wear them well over half the time.  So I've got a number of them and I've also got a number of them that are sitting there unworn because they have holes in or are stained.  So, I was really looking forward to this round.  I just needed to decide what to do.  I googled a lot and found this site.  Perfect the shirts there actually look a little more dressy afterwards.  So I gave it a try.  I took a blue t-shirt, put it on, marked where I wanted to cut it and then broke out the scissors.    I encountered a few problems in the process. One, I only ended up with enough "yarn" to go half way around the shirt's neckline, but fortunately I was able to finish the front.

 Two, my stitches don't look nearly so smooth as the ones in their picture, I don't know if it's something with the way I cut the strip or if there's something else I did wrong.


 The neck opening it a little larger now than I really am comfortable wearing. I knew it would be wider when I made the decision on where to cut, but I was planning on having several rows of crochet.  My daughter tells me how much she likes the shirt every time I have it out though so maybe I'll try wearing it some time.

I really would like to try the one at this site too.  I've got a shirt in mind, but need to double check that it fits right.  Or, maybe one of the other Iron Crafters will submit something even better!

Iron Craft 19: Spring Craft Challenge

Over at the Iron Craft site they had a Spring Challenge.  We could do anything related to spring.  Well, around here, we broke out the flip flops as soon as spring hit.  But, my youngest had out grown hers from last year.

So, I found some for $1 and decided to embelish them.

Materials:
Ribbon (less than a yard)
Two buttons
Thread and needle
Hot glue
Fabric paint.



I cut 4 lengths of Hello Kitty ribbon (from Target's Dollar spot!) just slightly longer than the length of each side of the straps.



Then, I hot glued the ribbon on each side, just to hold it in place for the next step.


Next I took a thread and needle and made a small stitch in one side of the ribbon, ran the thread under the strap and made another small stitch in the other side of the ribbon, essentially whip stitching the ribbon to the flip flop. (click to see a bigger version of the pics).


Then, I was afraid that the thread would break and the ribbon would come off, so I took some fabric paint and painted the inside of the straps with it.  I think it gives it a bit more finished look too.  I also sewed a flower button at the point.


I've done every challenge since I started the IC Challenge, but haven't blogged about them all. I'll try to do a post for the others a little later.

Iron Craft 16: Taxman

This weeks Iron Craft challenge was to create something dealing with money.  I took the opportunity to knock out one of the other crafts that I've been wanting to do, but haven't taken the time.  We use a lot of gift cards and I'm always struggling to figure out if I have one for a particular restaurant. So, I decided to keep them in their own wallet.

Start with two rectangles of fabric that are about 6.5 inches by 4.5 inches and two rectangles that are 2 inches by 4.5 inches. (You'll also need about 1.5 inches of elastic and thread).

Turn down a narrow hem on the long edge of both smaller rectangles and sew.

Lay one big rectangle down (right side up) then lay the two smaller rectangles down at each end of the bigger rectangle (right side down with the hemmed edge towards the middle), lastly lay the other big rectangle on top right side down.

Sew a seam around the outside edge making sure to catch all three layers where applicable and leaving a place to turn it.  Clip the corners.

Turn, close the opening and then top stitch the whole way around.  Take a small piece of elastic, form it into a circle and sew it to the middle (I closed it up to see where that was).

Then, I put in a mini Sharpie and a set of Wallet windows that I bought.  I'll get another set for the other side.

Now, I'll have my Sharpie handy to mark the gift cards and I wont need to search through my wallet for them.

WFMW - Keeping Track of Gift Cards

We use gift cards quite a bit around here.  The schools do a fundraiser with them where they get a portion of the profits from the sale.  Our credit card gives us rewards in gift cards.  I'm a member of MyPoints.com (interested in joining? let me know, I can refer you and we'll both gain!).  And Oh yeah, I get gift cards as gifts!

With all these gift cards, it's pretty much impossible to remember the balance on each one.  It's even worse when you consider I've got some for my kids as well and I try to let them choose how they're spent.  I tried keeping the receipt that they gave me with the balance on them wrapped around, but a lot of the receipts would fade over time.

Finally I came up with the idea of using a Sharpie to write the remaining balance on the card right away so that way I knew what was left on the cards.  Here's where I'm going to start keeping them.

For more great ideas check out the Works for Me Wednesday post over at We Are That Family.