Even though the film has been out for over a year now, Frozen is still as popular as ever. This cute Olaf plush is made with velcro pieces that allow you to take him apart and put him back together, just like he's always falling apart in the movie - so, do you want to build a snowman? Watch the video for instructions!
This little guy makes a great gift, and will be loads of fun for kids to play with.
I hope you enjoy this tutorial, and that you are having a lovely holiday season!
These choker necklaces were very popular in the 90s, and have crept back into fashion again. I vividly remember how desperately I begged my mom to buy them for me when I was little, and honestly, now that I'm older, they're just as cool. They're super simple to make, so why not create your own instead of buying one? Watch the video for full instructions! LDP x
I know that everyone is sick and tired of tangled earphones. Somehow, whenever those sneaky cables are hidden from sight, they contort into the kind of knots they don't even teach in boy scouts. So, here's the simplest fix for the age-old issue: say no to tangled earphones by attaching a zip to keep them neat and un-knotted.
I know, I know. It's literally so simple it hardly deserves a DIY. Just stitch the fabric edge of the zip around the earphone cable and voilà. No more tangled earphones! And plus, they look pretty cool, too.
Let me know below if you're also sick and tired of your earphone cables looking like a Houdini-level challenge, and tell me if this life hack helps you solve that problem!
After recently revamping my sock sloth tutorial and turning it into a video, I decided another sock creature was in order. Living in South Africa, rhino conservation is a cause that has become very important to our country. 22 September saw the celebration of World Rhino Day, and the awareness posts floating around my Facebook news feed added to the inspiration to create this little cuddly friend.
This little rhino is a cute addition to any collection of sock creatures, and an adorable reminder to support rhino conservation - don't let the only rhinos left be plush toys.
If you make your own version, be sure to share it with me!
I've always known about Instructables. It's always been there - turning up in DIY searches, hovering around craft sites, offering creation inspiration... But for some reason, I never made myself an account. But then, at the end of August, I did.
Since then, I've posted 10 projects - a combination of previously unpublished projects and some of my old favourites that weren't yet on the site. I absolutely love the site - they host wonderful contests, and seem to have a very active community, with projects featured every day and an incredible number of views and comments on my projects, in comparison to what I'm used to. So far, every one of my projects has been featured (a little star with "100%" beside it on my profile page confirms this), and my challenge to myself is to maintain this feature rate. I'll definitely be posting all of my future projects there, too!
In celebration of my new-found love, here are my 5 most popular projects on the site so far, in order of popularity:
This is definitely one of my favourite projects of all time, and others seem to like it, too. I turned the tutorial into a video, and so far, it's been my most popular on Instructables.
Another geeky t-shirt hack, this is a perfect feature of a simple superhero Halloween costume, and is a great way to make a plain, boxy t-shirt more fun and feminine.
I love travelling, and I've been fortunate enough to see a fair few countries in my life. However, as any sufferer of wanderlust will know, seeing a few only makes one want to see more - there's a whole world out there just waiting to be explored! The idea is to scratch off each country after you visit it, and eventually, one day, scratch it all off. It's a fun craft for any traveller, or a great gift for the wanderlustful.
Let me know if you enjoy this tutorial, and if you make your own! What is your favourite place that you have ever been?
A while back, I created what has become one of my absolute favourite crafts of all time: the sock sloth. Since then, I've made a bunch of other sloths, too, but my sock sloth was the one that started it all. Because I love this craft so much, I decided it would be ideal to revamp into a video, to make a clearer, more interesting and more fun tutorial!
This is only my second attempt at a video tutorial, and while I was happier with this than my first one, it was still recorded with an ancient camera and the narration recorded with a microphone from a PlayStation 2 game. So all that taken into account, I'm pretty happy!
Let me know if you enjoy this video tutorial! If you make your own version of this project, I would love to see it, so don't forget to show me! You can post your own version on Cut Out + Keep, or tweet me a photo!
So, a good while back, I posted a couple of sloth craft tutorials: my sloth scarf and my ever-popular sock sloth. Since then, sewing sloths became something of a hobby, and I made a fair few.
Something else I haven't mentioned here, is that I also started my own Etsy shop, where all of these sloths are available for sale!
Anyway, the real point of this post is that, well, I made a video. Since I was little, I've been fascinated by stop-motion animation - a career at Aardman was always my dream job - and because I now had all these sloths sitting around... Well, why not make a little film?
I hope you enjoy it! Please like and leave a comment if it made your day a bit more slothy.
Instagram has become something of an integral piece in the lives of many, whether we like it or not. Whether it's photos of our pets, our meals or, in my case, our crafts, somehow, little square-cropped photos with vintage-style filters just get us going. However, yanking these pictures from their digital realm make for a cute, fun style, reminiscent of Polaroid pictures. Rather than simply tacking these to walls and notice boards, I thought of what other fun ways could be created to display these lovely photos, and I came up with my photo pocket pillow!
I used fabric and clear vinyl to create a cushion cover that offered spaces to add your own photos. What's great is that this makes the cushion cover customisable, and it can be changed as frequently as you like. Sick of one of your pictures? Just pick a new one! These also make lovely gifts, as they can be personalised with photos of special memories shared with the receiver of the cushion.
Instead of my usual photo-and-writing tutorials, I decided to try something different: a video! Sorry if it's not perfect, but it's my first attempt at a DIY on this platform.
Let me know what you think of the video, and if you give this project a try!
So, earlier this year, I discovered one of the coolest sites: U lala. They're an incredible blogging site for college-age girls, and they focus on a message of "style, substance and spirit", providing a more positive, creative media platform for a demographic almost constantly bombarded by little other than celebrity gossip and negativity.
I fell in love with their site, and immediately applied to write for them, becoming the first international/non-US blogger on the site. For my first post, I put together a tutorial on how to make your own dream catcher garland, using some basic supplies and recycling some old bangles. Keep reading below to see how. (Note: post is image heavy, but super descriptive!)
This tutorial came complete with a mild existential crisis. I've wanted to make a craft project with books for ages now, however the thought of slicing up a tiny universe for my own selfish needs has always been too traumatic for me to bear. I eventually convinced myself that my charity shop book discoveries were only going to sit on a shelf until someone else threw them away if I didn't buy them and use them, so why not turn them into something beautiful?
What you'll need:
Old books (preferably hard cover)
Wood glue
A piece of a plastic bag (like a zip-lock bag)
A craft knife
Start by smearing wood glue along the sides of the book, to secure the pages together. If you plan on using more than one book for the planter, glue them together without putting glue in the area you intend to cut, as this will make it more difficult to cut through.
Mark the area you intend to cut out, where your plant will go.
Use a craft knife to cut out the marked area. It may be hard to cut through the cover of the book initially, but just keep going - it'll slice through eventually. :)
Once the area is as deep as you want it to be, glue the piece of plastic bag into the cut area, and trim the edges to be level with the cover of the book. This will stop water and dirt leaking into the book once your plant is inside.
Put your plant into the book, and look after it as your new pot plant.
Do you have any indoor plants? Let me know. I'm fairly obsessed with having tiny succulents on my windowsill at the moment.
I remember never understanding the Doctor Who obsession so many seemed to harbour. I remember being unphased by blue Police telephone boxes and not knowing why bowties were cool. I remember being able to walk past statues without casting a second glance, as opposed to carefully staring at them, reluctant to blink.
That was before I actually got around to watching Doctor Who.
At some point during the course of last year, I ended up binge-watching the entirety of the new Doctor Who (I admit that classic Who remains too vast for me to watch all of it). After watching the series, I was besotted, and I am now eagerly anticipation the release of season 8. To celebrate my new-found addiction, I made myself a pair of Ten-esque Chucks, decorating the sides with tiny painted Tardises.
What you'll need to make your own:
A pair of Converse (or the cheaper, knock-off kind, like I used)
Small scraps of leather or leather-look vinyl
Acrylic paints
Podge
Some fabric glue (I use Tacky Glue) and thread for attaching the Tardises to the sneakers
Cut out your basic Tardis shape from your leather/imitation leather
If your leather is a dark colour, start by painting a light colour as a base coat.
Build up various shades of blue until you are happy with the colour of your Tardis.
Using a darker blue, paint on a grid to show the panels of the Tardis door, and use black to paint a rectangle at the top to create the "Police Box" sign.
Use white paint to create tiny blocks in the top two panels of the door, on both visible sides, as well as the notice on the door, and the words "Police Box". I used a toothpick and pin to do this painting.
Use a layer Podge to seal and protect the paint.
Glue the tiny Tardises onto the sneakers using fabric glue, and then stitch around the edges to secure them.
I also added the words "Don't Blink" at the back, using acrylic paint, however this started chipping off of the rubber soles - though it still looked cool for a while. :)
Do you watch Doctor Who? Are you as obsessed with the show as I now am? Who was your favourite Doctor? I'm very excited to see what Capaldi brings in August!
Yes, yet another Grumpy Cat project.
Although I’ve already made a Grumpy Cat brooch, as well as a Grumpy Cat
Christmas sweater, I thought another project to protest festive cheer would be great
to remove any remaining joy from the Christmas decorating. If you want to ensure that your festive
season is the grumpiest ever, or even just want to have a year-round reminder
of Tardar Sauce’s eternal grumpiness, revamp a boring bauble to look like the
internet’s favourite Grumpy Cat.
What you’ll need: ·An old, plain round bauble ornament ·Air-drying clay (I used paper clay) ·Acrylic paints ·A small scrap of white chenille wool ·Miniature white pompom
What to do:
1.Shape an ear, muzzle and Santa hat
onto your bauble using the clay. Make the clay as flat as possible against the
round surface of the bauble. Allow the clay to dry on the bauble, and once dry,
slide the pieces off and re-attach them using some tacky glue. 2.Paint your bauble a beige/cream colour,
and paint the ear brown and hat red. Paint the muzzle area white. 3.Using a photo of Grumpy Cat as a
reference, paint the eye patches, eyes, nose and mouth. 4.Glue a small piece chenille wool
around the base of the Santa hat, and add the pompom to the tip of the hat.
And you’re done! Simply hang your grumpy
ornament wherever you think it will remove the most joy and cheer.
For most, Christmas is a joyful season, filled with, I don't know, joyful stuff. However, for others, Christmas carols and flashing fairy lights fast become hard to tolerate, with fruitcake leaving only a sour taste in one's mouth. If you're one of the latter, spread your disdain for the season by coming as close to Christmas spirit as you dare and donning a traditionally ugly Christmas sweater, featuring the face of the internet's beloved Grumpy Cat. Perfect for glaring at Mariah Carey-blaring speakers in.
What you'll need:
Felt in Grumpy Cat-esque shades (cream, dark brown, white, light blue, and a tiny scrap of pink)
A small scrap of white fleece
An old sweater that you're willing to sacrifice for your hatred of the season
What to do:
Cut out the basic shape of the face from cream felt and the shape of the eye patches from brown felt. Sew the eye patches onto the face.
Cut out the muzzle area from white felt and stitch it onto the face.
Cut out the nose from pink felt. Attach onto muzzle.
Cut out two eyes from light blue felt and stitch onto the face.
Stitch on two black felt pupils and stitch a grumpy mouth with pink cotton.
Cut out an ear from brown felt and stitch it onto the head.
Cut out a red hat shape and stitch it onto the other side of the head. Add an extra flap to the top of the hat to create the point.
Stitch on a strip of white fleece to the bottom of the Santa hat.
Cut out a circle of white fleece and sew tacking stitches around the edge.
Pull the tacking stitches tight to create a more spherical shape.
Attach to point of Santa hat.
Sew your Grumpy Cat onto your old sweater and spread the disdain for the season!
As usual, this project is also posted over on Cut Out + Keep.
Hope you've all had a fun festive season, and expect a few more Christmassy crafts over the next few days - starting the 2014 decorating early, remember? Nothing to do with my laziness about posting. Nothing at all. *mumbles*
