ILoveToCreate Teen Crafts: Felty Good Pencil Toppers

ILoveToCreate Teen Crafts: Felty Good Pencil Toppers
Copyright Margot Potter
"Mom crafted, kid approved."

I can't believe it's almost back to school time around here! Avalon is excited to get her school supplies together. I love felt, and I always have a pile of felt scraps waiting to be used in projects. This pencil topper idea popped into my head and I'm really happy with how it turned out. Avalon squealed with delight when she saw these. You can, of course, make these uniquely yours using different colors, shapes and embellishments. Googly eyes are always fun! Aleene's Fast Grab Tacky Glue makes quick work of this project.

If you're knee deep in the dog days of summer and the choruses of "I'm bored" have driven you half mad, this is a great project to give your teens so they'll have something to do and something fun to take back to school..

Materials
Aleene's Fast Grab Tacky Glue
Various felt scraps in black, hot pink and white

Tools
Fabric scissors
Small disposable paint brush

1. I cut two different length strips of felt for the base of the toppers. The black strip was 4.5"x1.5" and the black strip was 3 1/4"x 1 1/4" (remember these will be folded in half.) Cut out your shapes for the faces, arrange them on the felt strips to size and plan your designs.

2. Use a thin paintbrush to paint a strip of glue on the inside edges of the felt, fold over and allow to try. The center opening needs to be large enough to slide over a pencil top.


3. Use paintbrush to paint glue on the backside of your shapes and apply to felt. Fingers get sticky fast, so wash between embellishments to prevent fuzzy felt or glue splotches. Allow to dry.

ILoveToCreate Teen Crafts Have Your Cake Jewelry Box

ILoveToCreate
Teen CraftsHave Your Cake Jewelry Box
Margot and Avalon Potter

It's been hotter than h e double hockey sticks around these parts so most of the activities that don't include a swimming pool have been indoors. Avalon has been helping me in the studio with the new book and my various and sundry design project deadlines. Yesterday we put our heads together on a decorative decoupaged box. She had mentioned needing a place to keep her jewelry and this is a pretty solution to that dilemma. Since we all know how much she loves the Cake Boss and decorated cakes, this box fit the bill for a faux cake project!

Avalon selected the tissue paper from a pile I keep around for craft projects and gifts. She did the decoupage and after it dried I added the coordinating floral embellishments. I am loving these felt buttons from Blumenthal Lansing, you can use them for so many crafty projects! Aleene's Tacky Glue makes quick work of stacking them up and Traci Bautista's Collage Pauge in 'Sparkle' was simple and safe for Avalon to use without my supervision. There are all sorts of shapes you can buy and decorate with decoupage, this is a great way for teens to personalize their decor.


Materials
Paper box
Decorative tissue paper (save this up from gifts for crafting!)
Coordinated Favorite Findings felt floral buttons
Craft flower with wired double stem
Traci Bautista's Collage Pauge in Sparkle
Aleene's Fast Grab Tacky Glue

Tools
Foam brush
Non-stick craft sheet
Wire cutters
Pointed tool (I used a clay tool)

1. Shorten the stems on your wired flower to about 3" using wire cutters.

2. Tear sections of tissue paper. Apply decoupage medium to the section of the box you're decorating and apply paper, then put a thin layer of decoupage over the top. Don't oversaturate everything.

3. Keep building layers of tissue paper until the box bottom and top are completely covered. We used two different papers, you can do the same or use all one paper or combine papers. You can also, if you like, decoupage the interior of the box. Allow decoupage medium to dry.

4. Use Aleene's Fast Grab glue to adhere each layer of the the stacked felt flower buttons around the edge of the box lid. Allow to dry.

5. Use a pointed object to poke two holes in the top center of the box lid, these need to be spaced to accommodate the flower stems.

6. Slide the flower stems into the hole and twist underneath to secure.

ILoveToCreate Teen Crafts: My Dad Rocks Father's Day Card

ILoveToCreate Teen Crafts
My Dad Rocks Father's Day Card
Margot Potter
"Mom crafted, kid approved."

School's out for summer around these parts and Father's Day is coming up fast. Where does the time go?! Phew! Here's a great "I'm bored" project for your teens to do that will rock Dad's socks off on his special day. The cost of store bought cards has skyrocketed, this gives Dad a personalized work of art for a fraction of the price of a generic card from the grocery store. Ya gotta love it!


Materials
8.5"x11" card stock in turquoise and acid green
Rock Star stack or similar themed papers
Printed phrase "My Dad Rocks" using Jellyka Castle's Queen Font in 48pt. from www.daFont
Vintage paper (we used an old typing manual)
7 Gypsies numbered gaffer's tape
Scrapbook Adhesives three dimensional stickers
Aleene's original Tacky Glue or Tacky Glue Stick
Tulip Fashion Graffiti Big Phat fabric marker in black
Tulip Fashion Graffiti Paint Cannon fabric paint in black

Tools
Fiskars 2" circle punch
Scissors
Bone folder
Paper cutter

1. Print phrase.

2. Fold blue card stock in half and use bone folder to sharpen crease. Cut folded paper to 6.5w" on a paper cutter.

3. Cut green card stock to a 2"wx5"l. Cut paper with phrase to 1.5"x4.5"l. Adhere phrase to card stock using a VERY thin layer of glue. Allow to dry.

4. Punch circles. I featured the skull and some nautical stars.

5. Hand cut recycled paper circles so they are slightly larger than the punched circles.

6. Use marker and stencil to put chain link pattern across card diagonally from top left to bottom right, you will have to slide the stencil overlapping it to get the full coverage.

7. Use a paintbrush to drip black paint cannon paint on front of card. Use a stylus or other pointed tool to scratch the ink around. Allow ink to drip. Layer this as much as you like, but be mindful that this ink will create texture in the card, so less is more.

8. Adhere circles using a thin layer of Tacky Glue or Tacky Glue stick. The recycled circles first followed by your punched circles set off center, they need to be about 1.75" apart in the center to allow room for the phrase.

9. Attach gaffer's tape to left edge of card.

10. Use dimensional stickers to add phrase to front of card in between the circles on an angle pointing from upper left to lower right corners.

iLoveToCreate Teen Retro Christmas Photo Frame

iLoveToCreate Teen Retro Christmas Photo Frame
Grandma’s Gift Idea
Copyright Margot Potter
“Mom crafted, kid approved.”

I’ve been collecting vintage goodies for over 26 years now. Much of my collections have been pared down due to the lack of storage here at our little school house and my many moves. The one collection I can keep expanding and justify for my work is my ephemera. That’s a fancy word for vintage paper. I just scored a little stash of 1950s era Christmas cards and I knew I had to use them for an iLoveToCreate project. (Truth be told these aren’t much older than me...which of course makes me vintage but I’m in denial.)

This frame cost a buck and the rest of the supplies are very affordable. You can find lots of vintage cards on Etsy or eBay. They’re super cheap and super fun for your artwork. My daughter finally fessed up to knowing the 411 on the jolly old elf, but we’ve known for a while she had it figured out. I just wanted to keep that Christmas magic alive as long as possible. This is a great holiday pic of Avalon from a few years back and I thought it could make a terrific gift for one of her Grandmothers or for us to use in our regular holiday décor. Teens can have a lot of fun with this project, and they get to enjoy a little bit of Christmas past if you use vintage cards. (Note: Don’t scan and copy the images from the cards and use them again, these images are under copyright. You can cut them out and use the physical card, but you can not reproduce the images. US copyright protection lasts 100 years.)

Materials
One wooden frame with heart shaped opening
Wired tinsel
Image from vintage greeting card
Text from vintage greeting card
Green cardstock
Aleene’s Fast Grab Tacky Glue
Aleene’s Liquid Fusion
Crafty Chica Little Paints White
Tulip Fashion Glitter White Pearl
Archival ink jet black
Adirondack ink red pepper
EK Success clear snowflake stamp
Inkadinkado flourish stamp
Dimensional foam stickers
EK Success metallic writer pen in silver

Tools
Martha Stewart lace edge punch
Scissors
Paper cutter
Tracing pen or pencil
Paint brush


1. Paint frame white. Sprinkle a fine layer of glitter over paint. Shake off excess. Allow to dry.

2. Randomly stamp snowflake over frame (try not to overlap) using archival ink in jet black.

3. Randomly stamp flourish over frame (try not to overlap) using Adirondack ink in red pepper.

4. Select image you like for bottom right corner of frame and cut it out. Use writer pen in silver to accent parts of image.

5. Spread a thin layer of glue on parts of image you’d like to coat with clear glitter. Sprinkle glitter on image and shake off excess. Allow to dry.

6. Cut out words you want to use. Using cardstock make a frame for the words. Use the scallop edge punch to decorate the edges of your frame. Adhere words to paper frame using two dimensional foam stickers.

7. Run a thick bead of Liquid Fusion along edge of frame. Place tinsel on edge, cut off excess. You can put some small glue bottles on the tinsel to secure it while it dries.

8. Adhere Santa to bottom right of frame using dimensional foam dots with a layer of Liquid Fusion under them.

9. Adhere text to top left of frame using dimensional foam dots with a layer of Liquid Fusion under them. Allow glue to dry overnight on images, text and tinsel.

10. Select and size a picture to fit the frame. Keep the cardboard insert to trace and cut image to fit inside of frame and to secure image inside of frame.