Tag Archives: DIY projects

For the Makers May Review

What I made, ,

This month’s For the Makers kit was called Toketee.

For the Makers Toketee

I looked it up on Wikipedia and found that Toketee is a Chinook Jargon word meaning “pretty” or “graceful”.

Here’s what was included:

For the Makers ToketeeThere was a necklace, earrings, tea towel, and wall pegs.

I probably had the most fun with the tea towel.  You needed to first cut out foam shapes and attach them to the ends of a cork.  I decided on a triangle pattern, a chevron type pattern, and two parallel lines.

For the Makers Toketee For the Makers ToketeeThen you mix up some paint and paint the foam and stamp it on the tea towel.  Here are some designs I made.

For the Makers ToketeeFor the Makers Toketee For the Makers Toketee For the Makers Toketee

Whole tea towel:

For the Makers Toketee

The other painting project were these wall pegs.  I made these using blue painters tape to form the lines.

For the Makers Toketee

Of the two jewelry projects, I really liked the necklace and have already worn it with a red maxi dress.

For the Makers ToketeeFor the Makers Toketee

Overall this was a pretty cool kit and I had fun making all of the projects.  Can’t wait to see what is in store for June!

 

Darby Smart May Review

What I made, ,

This months Darby Smart DIY kit was not my favorite.

Darby Smart MayIt was a kit to make lip and mustache candies on a stick.  Clever, but I don’t really like white chocolate and wouldn’t bother making these again.

They turned out okay, but as I said I wasn’t a fan of the actual candies.

Darby Smart May

Since I had cancelled my Paper Pumpkin subscription, I went ahead and splurged on a second Darby Smart kit this month that had caught my eye.  It was a canvas bag that you decorate with gold studs.  I love the design and the bag itself is pretty great.

Darby Smart MayI can’t wait to use the finished product!

Darby Smart May

For the Makers March: Hello Trouble

What I made, ,

I really liked the March kit from For the Makers because it was very 80s themed and reminded me of things I would have liked as a child of the 80s.  Here’s what it came with:

For the Makers Hello Trouble

The vibrant neon yellows and hot pinks remind me of pop-beads and charm necklaces.  I also remember a small faux leather purse I had in that same shade of hot pink.

For the Makers Hello Trouble

The four projects were a key chain, a bracelet, a necklace, and a t-shirt applique which I have yet to apply to anything.  I need to find a T-shirt I don’t mind adding the applique to.

For the Makers Hello Trouble
3 finished projects

I already wore the necklace today with a yellow and tan sweater that matched perfectly.  I think I might wear the bracelet tomorrow.

For the Makers Hello Trouble
Reminds me of candy.
For the Makers Hello Trouble
The strawberry looks like a charm I had on a plastic necklace.

For anyone interested in learning more about “For the Makers” you can sign up here.

For the Makers – January review

What I made, , ,

This month’s For the Makers box arrived on the same day as Paper Pumpkin and I was really happy they got here in time for the weekend.  I ended up spending Sunday morning doing crafts.  Here’s what came in this month’s box.

For the Makers Sedona SunsetFor the Makers Sedona Sunset

This month’s collection was called “Sedona Sunset” and consisted of a chunky necklace, a stretchy bracelet, a faux leather notebook cover, and a clay bowl.  All of them were fun to make, and the degree of difficulty was pretty low compared to the necklace from last month with the super thick chain.

Here are the finished products:

For the Makers Sedona Sunset
Chunky Necklace

This one was fun to make, but the metal beads that hold the rope together were rather stubborn and again my jewelry pliers were too delicate to really close them so I borrowed a pair of heavier pliers from the toolbox in the garage.

For the Makers Sedona Sunset
stretchy bracelet

This one was super easy but really cute.  I will probably end up wearing it quite a bit.

For the Makers Sedona Sunset
Notebook cover

It’s hard to tell from the pic, but it’s a lavender faux leather notebook cover.  You sew the edge then attach the metal piece that holds it shut.  Pretty straightforward but I had to cover a notebook that already had a cute cover because it was the only one I had that fit.

For the Makers Sedona Sunset
Clay bowl

For this one, you needed an oven safe bowl to shape the clay and bake it in the oven, but I wasn’t sure if any of my cereal bowls were oven safe so I found the only thing that was specifically labeled as oven safe, and it was a small ramekin used for fondue.  The shape is a little weird, and the clay wasn’t quite as swirly as I had been hoping for, but it was a fun little project.

Overall, I think I liked the December kit best with all of the sparkle, but these were great projects for a slow Sunday afternoon.  I really like this subscription service!

For more about For the Makers, learn more here.

For The Makers – December Review

What I made, ,

I got my first “For the Makers” kit this month and absolutely loved the projects!  The degree of difficulty varied between projects, but it kept me occupied during my time off and I had a ton of fun with the glitter.

Here’s what was included:

For the Makers

For the Makers

For the MakersThere were 4 projects total and here they are in the order I made them.

Chain necklace

For the MakersThis was by far the most difficult of the projects, and the most fun!  The chain was super heavy duty and none my jewelry tools would cut it.  I had to borrow a cutting tool from my husband’s tool kit and even with that I needed to wriggle the tool back and forth for some time in order to get the link apart enough to slide the other two sides off.  Later I even tried bolt cutters which  STILL didn’t cut through that chain!  It is seriously hard core.  I followed the tutorial online using my Surface so I could work at the kitchen table and finished the project in one night.  I really love the finished project and have already worn it twice.

Sparkly earrings

For the MakersThese were the simplest project of the bunch.  All you do is fill the center of these posts with glue, then dip them in the container of glitter, and voila!  Sparkly earrings.

Sparkly Votive holders

For the MakersThese were also relatively easy.  The instructions guided you through the one on the right, but I decided to try the one on the left using scotch tape to make the glitter stripes.  Fun and easy and I like the way they look on our sideboard.

Sequined Monogram

For the MakersThis one was also a bit challenging.  I found a “K” stencil online and traced it using tailors chalk on this velour hoodie I had then proceeded to fill it in with the sequins, beads, and rhinestones.  I ran out of the beads long before I was done and had to fill in the rest of the space creatively with rhinestones.  It took a good part of the afternoon to finish this one.

Overall Impressions

Overall, I really liked this kit.  It had projects of varying degrees of difficulty and it was nice to make things I wouldn’t normally do on my own.  So far I really like this subscription service and can’t wait to get my January kit!

More about For the Makers here.