DIY | Mini Canvas & Chalkboard Stand {From Popsicle Sticks}

Popsicle sticks are made from trees; it’s such a huge waste to throw them away! What to do with them? They’re fragile and you can’t do something serious with them… unless it’s a miniature, like a mini stand for your cute little drawings, or handmade chalkboard signs to be used at craft shows.

Materials needed:

• 4 Popsicle sticks
• 2 Tooth picks
• White glue – I used Bic White Glue
• Craft knife or X-acto knife
• Cutting mat or cardboard to protect your work surface
• Some book pages to cover the cracks on the Popsicle sticks

How-to:

• I initially wanted to create little holes in 3 popsicle sticks to insert a toothpick – to bind the three “feet” and to keep them free to fold and move. The Popsicle sticks cracked but did not break, so I inserted the top toothpick where the wood cracked… and quickly added a generous amount of wood glue to fix it in place and to prevent the three feet from breaking. It took some patience to engineer the tripod and balance the “feet.” The rear “foot” can swing back and forth if you want it to, and it’s safe to do so since the model is well glued and the paper strips kind of toughen up the miniature stand.
• I glued the “shelf” on by adding a huge amount of wood glue. I decoupaged some strips of paper that came from an old book using a lot of white glue. This worked perfectly as extra support and as a decorative touch to hide the cracked wood.
• I then added an extra tooth pick at the base of the mini “shelf” for extra support, again by applying a lot of glue.
• One thing to remember though, you need to let the glue dry a bit before you move into the next step or the whole thing will fall apart. Patience is a virtue :  – )

This mini stand actually has a function other than being utterly cute and adorable:

You can use it in craft shows to place your brand name on it… or, if you make a few more stands, you can place cute little chalkboard signs on them to identify your craft work, homemade cookies, or handmade jewelry (bracelets, rings, earrings, etc). You can also display your miniature canvas (or cardboard) drawings and paintings with this stand. In your kitchen or dining room, if you have a corner for homemade olives and oils, sandwiches, cookies… you can place this stand with a sign that tells your dear ones “yummy things are served here.”

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Related Recycling/Packaging/Display Articles:

• A glimpse into my atelier
• Packaging Jewelry 101: Upcycling Matchboxes
• Craft show: Table Display & Handpainted Pencils
• Inspiration: Ideas for recycling vintage book pages
• Inspiration Board: Cork bulletin boards & display ideas
• Inspiration Board: Chalkboard trends & DIY
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O That’s Lovley: 1 day special offer TODAY to promote your crafts

To all the artisans, handmade jewelry designers & makers, and home decor crafters & companies – Please join me to a 1 day special offer TODAY to promote your handmade products at O That’s Lovely.

I had the great privilege of being approached to promote Karboojeh Handmade Jewelry over at othatslovely.com. I’m so excited about this!

Today (Tuesday- May 1, 2012)  Oh That’s Lovely are doing a Special Offer where companies & artisans alike can upload 1 image for Free instead of the usual 99p.

“If you work within the arts, crafts, jewellery and home decor fields then you are more than welcome” to the offer & the website. To contact othatslovely.com for the offer, you can go here.

This website seems to be quite new, and I love the aesthetics. They have a pretty straightforward interface, and in my opinion, “descent” Terms of Service, which you can view over here.

With the tagline Discover. Promote. Share, Oh That’s Lovely seems to be doing it the right way. They upload an image of your work that takes readers straight to your website, Etsy shop, or blog. You do the talking. This means your image has to be extra inviting to get more hits!

More about othatslovely.com?

There is a straightforward Q&A on this page that answers all your questions about the website.

I’m so looking forward to seeing my jewelry on the website, and I do hope to see your work, too!

Have a great day all,

Karboojeh

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UPDATE: I am now being featured on Oh That’s Lovely in the Jewelery section here. I also included a mention about that on my Featured page.

An Artisan’s Tipping Point: The Critical Mass of Crafting

Thoughts By Karboojeh Handmade

Today I entered my craft room and made something I didn’t know I was able to make. It was my first draft, but it looked like I knew what I was doing. I finished the project at hand & it looked too good to be true! That’s when I knew I reached the tipping point of my skill as an artisan.

The Tipping Point - via widro.com

Have you read the book? The Tipping Point (by Malcolm Gladwell)? Well, you should. This book is probably the most cross-cutting, cross-sectoral book you could ever come across. It suits everyone: cooks, artisans, managers, high-up executives, students, mothers, crafters, teachers, pilots… everybody!

I watched the Tipping Point law work for me when I was a musician, and now that I am crafting, I am seeing it happen all over again.

What the tipping point is all about boils down to one thing: When you build up a skill, a project, a campaign, a life together, etc… it starts at the bottom of the hill, and as you go up it becomes harder, and it gets too tiring as you push up your know-how: you read, learn, attend seminars, learn, err. It’s like pushing a huge mass up the mountain… until you reach critical mass; the mass enough to bring your up-hill snowball rolling back down, easily and smoothly. That’s the Tipping Point… when it basically tips.

The darkest hour comes right before the dawn

let’s linger a bit here and talk about what happens before it tips, before the ball starts rolling when you reach critical mass and become a pro. You basically have the hardest time of all times; you put all your frustrations & energy into what you are doing but you feel insufficient – not there yet. And you feel a bit lost, and aimless – “where am I going with this, I don’t see results?” You feel like you’re reading all of these tutorials (books, papers, etc), and you are completely lost as to where to go from here. As an artisan, you spend hours on Pinterest, pinning things that are relevant to you, to your dream project, but you don’t know when you will be the DIYer you want to be!

And then one day you walk into your craft room (office, kitchen, classroom, etc), and you just do things like a pro. “Where did this come from,” you ask. “Last week I sucked at this, now I’m putting this beautiful thing together… effortlessly?”

Yep… that’s the tipping point.

In spirituality, there’s a metaphor that is based on the fact that the darkest hour at night comes right before the first streak of dawn; just right before the sky cracks open with a slight, thin thread of light. That’s the most difficult hour for us as people journeying through life. Right before any dawn on any level: work, love, spiritual growth, psychological maturity… there comes the darkest hour.

But after that very dark place comes the tipping point, the dawn.

P.S. If you’re in a place of uncertainty right now, brace yourself, be patient… the tipping point might be just around the corner.

 

 

Inspiration: Ideas for recycling vintage book pages

See this Anthropologie painting? It’s to blame for my vintage-paper-crafts-craze lately. I pinned it on Pinterest some time ago, hoping that with time I will build up the creative force to go in this direction.

I’m the kind of gal who likes to sleep on things. I started to arbitrarily collect photos and tutorials from around the net with ideas of how to recycle vintage/old paper. I noticed you can do a lot of things with pages from old books: Decoupage, handmade tags, envelopes, scrap-booking, garlands, and so many other ideas.

In a previous post, I spoke about “Recycling, upcycling vintage books”. It was about sketching illustrations while using vintage paper as your canvas.

Here are a few ways to re-use an old book in so many other different ways…

Source: etsy.com via Karboojeh on Pinterest

Envelopes look so chic when they are obviously from some old book.

Source: sherlonkahkai.tumblr.com via Karboojeh on Pinterest

Tags: Who would have thought? They look so romantic.

Source: 1bellehistoire.canalblog.com via Karboojeh on Pinterest

Butterflies: Can be used as mobiles and garlands, and in scrapbooking.

Source: elfenpulver.blogspot.com via Karboojeh on Pinterest

The idea (above) is so cool. Cardboard boxes can look much prettier when decoupaged with old pages from an old book. Add a little bit of lace and you got yourself a romantic storage unit that can really add a touch of beauty to your craft room.

Source: recycledcrafts.craftgossip.com via Karboojeh on Pinterest

More romance… with this recycled vintage-looking envelope, using old pages from a book.

P.S.  If you have a recycling idea that you’d like to share, please post the link to your project in the comments box :)

Take care,

Karboojeh

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The Source of the first pic in this post is: anthropologie.com via Karboojeh on Pinterest

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Related Articles

• Inspiration Board: Recycling, upcycling vintage books
• DIY Illustrations: My Botanical Garden | Recycling Old Book Pages

Inspiration Board: Recycling, upcycling vintage books

I just found this Etsy shop called Carambatack Design with original illustrations, prints, postcards, stickers and more – by Norwegian artist, Annette Mangseth. Instead of cardboard, or plain old primed canvas, the artist is using a different medium as her drawing board: Vintage paper.

The artist draws her illustrations on vintage paper from old books that carry some really cool fonts, such as the one above. The illustrations are dreamy, simple, and quite inspiring.

Although Mangseth draws faces of little girls besides the Scandinavian nature motifs, I find myself drawn to the trees, leaves, and deers, more than anything.

I love these post card trees, below; very dreamy. The worn-out, yellowed color of the pages adds to the whole upcycled/recycled vintage look and makes the designs look a bit Shabby Chic.

I have been integrating pages from old books in some of my crafts lately, a step that I have been contemplating for such a long time. It does look easy at first instance, but I think you need to develop a ‘vision’ for what exactly you want these pages to do for your over-all design. The type of color you use with the vintage pages is also crucial to the end product. Last year I tried watery-water color with yellowed book paper, but the final product looked like it missed something.

The designs that are offered by Annette Mangseth, on the other hand, look very “together,” and her designs transmit a clear message, a very strong feeling... that’s why I think she is an artist to learn from!

Thank you for the inspiration, Mangseth!

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Related Articles

• Inspiration: Ideas for recycling vintage book pages
• DIY Illustrations: My Botanical Garden | Recycling Old Book Pages