Last-minute costume idea: Make a mask!

Need a quick costume for a Halloween party or New Year’s Eve masquerade? Want to look like less of a muggle at Comicon?

Few items transform your look as instantly as a mask.

Pick up a some supplies at the craft store (or hunt around your house), and you can be in disguise in an hour!

Basic supply list (this is what came in the Brit Kits we used to do this project at CraftHack):

Blank mask
Stiffened felt
VELCRO® Brand Sticky Back for Fabrics (so you can change up your mask for different costumes!)
Glitter glue

Additional supplies (people also added stuff from their stashes):

Patterned paper
Ultra-fine tipped Sharpies
Feathers
Paint

Tools:

Scissors
Foam brush (to spread glitter glue)

I forgot to bring the scissors to our CraftHack meetup. So everyone had to share this small pair that Eileen happened to have. And I felt the wrath. Even though I brought cake.

Moral of the story: Do NOT come between crafters and their scissors. Cake will not save you.

There are instructions on Brit + Co, but there are so many possibilities with this project!

Here’s what the creative minds at our CraftHack group came up with.

Erika finished her Cleopatra mask at home and snapped a selfie for us!

Check out our mask inspiration post for more ideas!

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Final photo by Erika Hunt.

A big thanks to Brit + Co and Velcro Companies for providing the Brit Kits with supplies for this project!

October 13, 2014January 3, 2018

Mosquitoes may be stalking me.

The Sonoran Desert isn’t known for mosquitoes, but after an unusually wet September, they’re everywhere. It seems like I get new bites every time I leave the house – or don’t.

I finally resorted to pulling the bug repellent (ick) out of the cabinet, but that didn’t even work. Maybe it’s old. I’d like to find a natural (or at least less chemical-y) solution that works.

My great grandmother used to swear by Avon’s Skin-So-Soft for pretty much everything, including keeping mosquitoes away during humid Indiana summers. I also found an article with some interesting DIY natural repellent ideas, like putting baby oil or cider vinegar on your skin.

Have you tried any of these or found something else that works for you?

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This is my Microblog Mondays post. More quick reads at Stirrup Queens!

October 9, 2014November 9, 2014

Re:Make Festival: A celebration of making

So what is the deal with this Re:Make thing I keep mentioning?

Re:Make is Brit + Co’s two-day maker event held a couple times a year. Day 1 is an invitation-only conference with awesome speakers and demos by startups. Day 2 is a festival open to the public with tons of handmade products and DIY project stations.

I was able to attend September’s Re:Make in San Francisco, largely due to a Brit + Co contributor travel stipend from Lowe’s (also a conference sponsor).

Even though the festival day happened after the conference day, I’m going to start on Day 2 at the festival.

The Living Room of the Future

With all the fabulous festival happenings, you know what I did first? Hunt for an outlet to charge my almost-dead phone. I figured my best bet would be the The Living Room of the Future. (Feel free to read that in a deep, echoing voice like “The Living Room-oom-oom! of the Future-uture-uture!”)

The Living Room of the Future was a whole room constructed just for the weekend to demonstrate Lowe’s IRIS line of smart home products. It had sturdy walls (holding artwork and a pretty massive monitor), a full set of furniture, a door, and (thankfully!) working outlets.

One of the Lowe’s reps moved a plug down to make room for my charger. Turns out it wasn’t just any plug, it was a smart plug. (Did you know plugs could be smart?!) It’s basically the updated version of those timers you plug your lights into when you go out of town. Except it you can control it from your phone. The only “installation” required is plugging it in to an outlet. That piqued my interest, because we rent our place, so we can’t get too crazy in the home improvement department.

Since I was hanging out waiting for my phone anyway, I asked what else they had that would work in a rental. Turns out most of their stuff would. There are sensors that can text you if there’s motion in your house or just if someone opens the door. (Of course, I had travel on the brain, but it’d be nice if you’re at work all day too.)

I didn’t notice it when I walked in, but the door to The Living Room of the Future (Door to the Future?!) had one of those cool keypad doorknobs. The house where I Airbnb’ed in July had one too. So. handy. Think about not having to coordinate a key handoff for houseguests/pet sitters/a friend stopping by while you’re stuck in traffic/etc.

In case you’re wondering, yes, Lowe’s bought my plane ticket. But I did not expect to get this excited about a smart home system. I’m really not into tech for the sake of tech, but if it makes my life better, I’m in. And their stuff turned out to be pretty neat.

Walking through Pinterest boards

Once I got my phone charged up, I needed a recharge too. I headed over to get some handpoured goodness from the Philz Coffee crew, who had become my BFFs during the conference.

From there, the hall opened up. There was a booth with Luna Bar samples in apothecary jars (Because this was Re:Make. And even the granola bars needed to be cute.), a mini version Brit + Co’s community maker space MakeShop with Brit Kits and 3D printers, a Michael’s “Raw Bar” with projects inspired by the same raw-look trend as our cork vase Make Break the day before, and handmade cornhole games in progress (Can someone explain to me why cornhole is suddenly everywhere?)

There were also lots of photo booth backdrops (also very Brit + Co) for selfies. I snapped a quick one in front of a Lowe’s backdrop, and then someone asked me a question, and I got totally sidetracked and forgot to take a better one.

Sprinkled throughout the hall were DIY stations where you could do things like paint your own tote, make a Lego house, or decorate a Lowe’s paint cans to hold your purchases.

100 vendors were there with handmade and artisan products – messenger bags, ceramics, jewelry, cards, soaps. I basically wanted to buy everything. Combined with all the DIYing going on, it really kind of felt like my Pinterest boards had come to life. Seriously. You can check out the merch in the B+C Shop.

An impressive 4,000 people made their way to the festival by the end of the day. It was overwhelming but so amazing!

I’ll fill you in on the first day of Re:Make (the conference day) next week! In the meantime, check out my Make Break post or Instagrams from the trip.

October 6, 2014November 24, 2018

DIY Mask Inspiration and Microblogging

Microblog Mondays

Melissa of Stirrup Queens had a fabulous idea to help people get back to blogging called Microblog Mondays. Basically, you post something to your own site/blog that you’d normally just post to social media. It can be short and sweet – the key is to get something posted and not overthink it. (Read more and join up on her site.)

Even though I do blog regularly, this made me think about all the content that ends up scattered across my social sites and never ends up here. I’m going to experiment with using Mondays for this type of quick reads, starting today with a roundup of masks that otherwise would’ve just lived on my Pinterest.

Mask decoration inspiration

At CraftHack next Monday (10/13), we’ll be decorating Halloween masks courtesy of Brit + Co and Velcro Companies. That sent me looking for mask decorating ideas. Here are some I found.

Example masks made with the Brit Kit.

Matching swirl masks from Masque Boutique.

Nature masks from a BHG contest.

Venetian masks from Carta Alta.

Downloadable mask template on A Subtle Revelry.

August 22, 2014September 3, 2014

DIY Embroidered Watches and Ribbon Backdrop

First: orange or lime green?

They’re both bright, citrusy colors, so I don’t know what – if anything – each person’s color pick said about their personality. But, by the end of the night, everyone at our Craft Hack gathering had a chance to put their own creative stamp on their project.

You may have seen our craft for this month on our Facebook page. This time, it came in Brit Kits, provided by Timex and Brit + Co (who I am a contributor for). After choosing their color, each person received a kit that included a Timex Weekender Slip-Thru watch with a band that was either orange or lime, coordinating embroidery floss, needles, and instructions with sample patterns.

Everyone could work at their own pace. We shared tips and drew ideas from each other. The kit patterns got the creative juices going, and then I think all 9 of us ended up coming up with our own designs.

Shannon and her fiancé (the lone guy of the group) teamed up, mixing and matching thread colors. He was also the one-man research team. Anne wanted to base her pattern on the traditional Russian Orthodox cross symbol, and he found one to reference. Inspired by nature, Jo Ann created a beautiful leaf pattern, and Vesna embroidered flowers. Crystal has been hand lettering a public art project, so she has ampersands on the brain lately. One found its way onto her watch.

Ribbon backdrop

Since I knew we’d be meeting in the dark-walled conference room, I wanted to add a little color. I threw together a last-minute ribbon backdrop (inspired by these) by looping random colors of gift wrap ribbon over baker’s twine and securing with tape.

What I learned about making backdrops:

You can use Washi tape to secure your twine to the wall without making holes, but you’ll need tape every few inches to keep it up. Pushpins may be a better bet.
Make sure to put your backdrop in an area with enough space for the subjects and photographer to stand in front of it!
Don’t be afraid to tell people to move over to be better centered, etc.

A few people had to leave before the group photo, but most of us managed to cram in, showing off orange watches, green watches, and products of our imagination.

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Group photo by a passerby at Gangplank. Last watch photo by Vesna Taneva-Miller.