DIY: Marbled Glass Ornaments

Has the panic mode set in with Christmas only two days away?  Having a holiday party and need a few more ornaments to make everything perfect?  We have just the tutorial for you!  These wonderful marbled ornaments are so easy you can whip them up in a few minutes and in any color theme you want!  This tutorial comes from Save On Crafts and we can't wait to give them a shot.

How to make Marvelous Hand Painted Ornaments with Clear Glass Balls.

Create Marvelous Ornaments™ with Delta Ceramcoat® Acrylic Paints! It's hard to believe that these luxuriant ornaments are so very easy to create. All ages can enjoy the fun of making elegant swirls of Ceramcoat Acrylic Paints inside of clear ornament balls. Just pour in your favorite colors and swirl away. metallic! MATERIALS Delta Ceramcoat® Acrylic Paints 3 or 4 colors Other Supplies: Clear glass ornaments    Paper cups or empty egg cartons INSTRUCTIONS Remove hanger and cap from the ornament. Rinse inside of ornament with alcohol. Let dry thoroughly. Start with one color of Ceramcoat® paint. Squeeze just a small amount of the first color into the ornament so it runs down the side (see photo A). Rotate the ornament and squeeze a little more paint down the side in another area until you've added about three or four lines of paint with only a dime-size amount of paint pooling at the bottom of the ornament. Add the next color, squeezing out a small amount of paint in between the places where you added the first color (see photo B). Continue to add one or two more colors in the same fashion. Rest the ornament on its side for approximately five minutes. (Place it to rest in the ornament box it came in, an egg carton or a paper cup for easy handling.) Rotate and tilt the ornament a quarter turn every five to ten minutes until the paint covers the entire inside of the ornament. Pour out excess paint. Then continue to rotate it every few hours over the next day. This helps the paint to coat the ornament evenly. The color will continue to move and change with each turn. When the desired effect has been achieved, drain out any remaining excess paint. It may take up to four days to dry completely (a hair dryer will speed drying time). Replace hanger and cap when dry. If desired, decorate with ribbon and hang on tree.

Other creative variations: For horizontal marbling: coat ornament with your choice of colors and let the ornament dry on its side, rotating one side to another, avoiding an upright position. For vertical marbling: coat ornament with your choice of colors as in steps 1 and 2 and prop ball upside down in a paper cup to drain. Let dry. For variegated, irregular marbling: drop in one color of paint, swirl, then add another color. Continue adding or repeating colors and swirling until the entire ball is coated on the inside. Follow step 3. Important Notes: Use Ceramcoat paint only-other brands of paint may not be compatible! Also, if paint pulls away from glass, add more paint after original paint dries.

All you need are

Clear Glass Ornaments and Acrylic Paints!   Here's what you need to do: 1. Remove hanger and cap from the ornament. Rinse inside of ornament with a mixture of 1 part vinegar, 3 parts water before adding paint. Let dry. Start with one color of Ceramcoat paint. Squeeze just a small amount of the first color into the ornament so it runs down the side. Rotate the ornament and squeeze a little more paint down the side in another area until you've added about three or four lines of paint with only a dime-size amount of paint pooling at the bottom of the ornament. 2. Add the next color, squeezing out a small amount of paint in between the places where you added the first color. Continue to add one or two more colors in the same fashion.

3. Rest the ornament on its side for approximately five minutes. (Place it to rest in the ornament box it came in, an egg carton or a paper cup for easy handling.) Rotate and tilt the ornament a quarter turn every five to ten minutes until the paint covers the entire inside of the ornament. Pour out excess paint. Then continue to rotate it every few hours over the next day. This helps the paint to coat the ornament evenly. Drain out any remaining excess paint. It may take up to four days to dry completely.

DIY: Upcycled Watermark T-Shirt

U Create's blog has a great DIY that we honestly never would have thought of - who knew that just using some glue could make a t-shirt look so much more fun!

Check out their blog for more DIY!!

What I love about this project is that it's completely customizable. I used favorite quotes to decorate my shirt but you could also use song lyrics, bible verses, favorite book excerpts, etc. You can also choose whatever color you like. I think it would be a very kid-friendly project as well. There are so many possibilities!

 Materials:

Elmer's Blue Gel Glue (it must be the blue gel, white won't work)

Fabric Dye (RIT is my tried and true brand)

A white cotton Tee, Tank, Dress etc.

 Tutorial:

If you're unfamiliar with Batiking, it's a method of dyeing fabric in which you create a design with a dye- resist. When you dye your garment in cold water, all will be colored except where you've placed your dye resist. In traditional batiking, you would use wax as a resist. I tried this out and found it to be messy and difficult to control. Using store bought glue is much more convenient and very easy to control.

Step 1: Prepare

Wet your tee with cool water and place a water resistant board between the layers of fabric. I used the lid of a bin.

Step 2: Design

I'm not much of an artist, so what worked best for me was writing favorite quotes right across the front of the shirt.

This quote was found via Pinterest

Source

You could also try drawing a simple design like my very amateur sailboat:

Let dry completely. This will take several hours.

Step 3: Dye 

Your dye bath should be prepared using cool water. Experiment with different amounts of dye until you find the right concentration. Keep in mind that the color that comes out of the dye bath will be a couple of shades darker than the dry, finished garment.

When you get the color you want, lay your tee flat to dry.

Step 4: Wash

When your tee is dry (to let the dye set) soak it in cool, soapy water for about 15 minutes. This soak washes the extra glue out. Throw it in the washer and dry as you would normally.

Step 5: Wear and Enjoy!

DIY: Ombre Tassel Necklace (Hand Dyed)

Oh The Lovely Things has created a tassel tutorial that took us by surprise.  This one is loveable because of not only its simplicity, but also its ability to make you go..."oooohh, pretty!"

She has taken so many wonderful pictures, that it looks like a long tutorial, but really I don't think she could have made it any easier to understand unless she was in the room with you while you were making it!  We appreciate that...

Happy Tuesday! I hope you had a lovely (long) weekend! I've been meaning to make a tassel necklace and share the tutorial here for about a month, and could never find time to do it. But it's finally here and I'm excited to share the simple how-to. I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did!

You will need :

- White embroidery thread (100% cotton). 5 sets of 30 strands, each strand measuring 24" + 6 extra strands, each measuring about 4" + 5 extra strands, each measuring about 12"
- Scissors
- 4" long piece of cardboard (width doesn't matter)
- Dye (RIT dye is available at Joann’s or Michaels for around $2.50)
- Table salt
- A bucket of cold water
- Hot water
- Rubber gloves
- 5 small recipients, plastic or metal. If you can't find 5, one will be enough. They need to be bigger that your tassels (i.e. at least about 2" in height).
- Teaspoon or small syringe
- Chain necklace
- Needle


STEP 1 : MAKE FIVE TASSELS

1. Start with a set of 30 strands, each strand measuring 24". Wrap the thread tightly around the cardboard.

2. Gently pull the thread off the cardboard.

3. Tie the center with an extra piece of thread (about 4" long).

4. Cut the loop ends at both sides.

5. Pull down the fringe and shape your tassel.

6. Take an extra strand, about 12" long. Wrap it around your tassel (about 0.4" from the top), knot firmly and trim.

7. Trim to make the fringe on the bottom clean and straight. Notice that I haven't been very successful at that ;)

8. Cut the top thread (the one we used to tie the center at step 3).

9. Repeat all these steps to make 5 tassels. Dont' worry : once you've made the first one, you'll be able to whip a bunch out in no time.
STEP TWO : DYE THE TASSELS

If you have five recipients, you can dye your five tassels simultaneously. If you have only one recipient, just dye your tassels one by one.

1. Fill each of your recipients with about one table spoon of salt. Salt will help drive the dye onto the fabric.

2. Put your rubber gloves on, as you're going to pour the dye. If you have a syringe, you will be able to be very precise measuring the quantity of dye, but using a spoon will work very well too. I tried both and both went fine!

3. In the first recipient, pour just a few drops : about 0.5ml or 1/10 teaspoon. Pour dye in all recipients at an increasing progression, at a difference of about 0.5ml each time. The last recipient should have a quantity of dye of about half a teaspoon.

4. Now fill each recipient with hot water and wait a few seconds for the salt to dissolve in the water. 

5. Place each tassel in each recipient, starting by the last recipient (the one that contains the largest quantity of dye) making sure the tassels are fully immersed.

3. Wait just a few seconds before starting to take out the lightest shade first. Wash out the excess dye in your bucket of cold water. Then take out the next tassel, and repeat until all five have been washed out. Let them dry (mine took about 3 hours to dry).

STEP THREE : MAKE THE NECKLACE

Insert an extra piece of embroidery thread through the eye of the needle, and tie it to the chain, or the clasp of the chain. Use the needle to guide the chain through the top loop of each tassel.

You're done, enjoy your new necklace! Let me know if you have any question and I'll try my best to help you :)