DIY Diva: Five Things I Wanna Make

Lego scarf by Tally of I Could Make That!

Heyo – the MIA DIY Diva here.  Between computer blow-ups, work and the stomach flu it has been a rather craptacular couple of weeks over here.  Bright side, as I’ve been mostly stuck at home on the couch, I’ve been crafting my little fingers to the bone.  (Seriously, I’m typing this with nubs.)

Aside from knitting madness I’ve begun to make a list of crafts that I really think are cool and that I would like to make in the coming weeks.

I don’t know about you, but I’m always really impressed at the crazy and cool things that other people come up with to make.  Once my computer was fixed, I took a break from knitting to check out some friends and their craft blogs online and came up with a “wish list” of crafts for myself…

#1 – The Lego scarf (pictured above) by Tally from I Could Make That!

This scarf is so cute and so easy (no sewing, just knots!) — I would totally rock it while out on the town OR playing with my Star Wars Legos ™!!  The scarf is made out of old t-shirts, of which I have a-plenty… you know, being an urban hipster, I have at least 20 old, ironic t-shirts I don’t wear anymore… Ironic t-shirts being a pre-requisite of being allowed to live in the Mission.

This cool box was made by Slacker-Generation.com

#2 – Punk rock decoupaged memory box

Ever since my friend Rosie gave me a big wooden crate that she had decoupaged with photos of all sorts of musicians cut out of magazines, I have wanted to make decopaged “punk rock” memory boxes (ha, I said “boxes”) for all my friends.

For those of you who don’t have a bloody clue what decoupage is: Though it sounds le Franchhhe (Franchhhe fries, Franchhhe bread, Franchhhe dressing…), decoupage most likely has Japanese origins.  In fact it was called “Japanning” in 18th century England.

Decoupage involved gold leaf, painting and a lot of varnish, sanding and gluing in ye olde times… today?  Not so much.  Mostly white glue and a hearty covering of Modge Podge does the trick.  Though if you take a little more and make an effort beyond just slapping some cutouts onto a shoebox, you can actually decoupage a really nifty keepsake box for someone.  (IE: take a little more time, make a little more effort – you slacker.)

Easy decoupage directions can be found all over the ‘Net.  The best (so easy a 5 yr old could do it) directions I found were from Kaboose.com.

Jack McBrayer and Kristen Schaal model the "Smitten"

#3 The Smitten

What is it?  Muff (ha, I said “muff”) meets mitten = Smitten.  It is a double love glove (…) perfect for holding hands with someone you’re a little smitten with on  a cold day.

The Smitten pattern was designed by Julie Weisenberger of CoCoKnits.

Though it says that it only requires a “general knitting knowledge” – I’m going to have to say that the Smitten is, at the current moment, yet a wee bit outside of my personal knitting learning curve.  (After all I have only mastered potholders, coasters, baby blankets and scarves.)

Which is fine: my Mom is in town this week and I’ll prompt her to figure out how to knit the Smitten first, so she can show me.

By Savvyseams.com

#4 Recycled Ironic T-shirt throw pillows

Okay, this one is much easier for those of us who are crafting impaired.  It only involves a whip-stitch, stuffing and some straight pins.  When you’re done you have a smooshy pillow to lay your tired little head on.  I accidentally shrank my Doctor Who t-shirt, so I think I’ll be whipping up one of these cute pillows in the next few weeks using that t-shirt.  Who wouldn’t want to rest their head on the Doctor?  (Uh, anyone who is not as geeky as I am, I suppose.)

#5 Homemade shea butter lotion

I bought my aforementioned Mom some homemade shea butter lotions for Christmas this past year.  They smelled yummy and made the skin exceptionally soft.  I question how hard it can really be to make these lotions and potions… I have yet to try it, but trust me, I am going to.  Nothing would please me more than to be able to quit buying lotions commerically – they are hella expensive and usually don’t work quite as nicely as the homemade, organic types do.

So those are the five things I wanna make… what’s on your craft “to-do” list for 2010?