Active Arts & Crafts Posts
How To: Make paper look vintage and aged with tea dying
The modern, sleek aesthetic is so overrated. If you're an arts and crafts aficionado, you know that adding vintage and old world touches to your craftmaking creates results that are whimsical and beautifully antique.
How To: Turn old jeans into a figure flattering pencil skirt
We all know we should dress for our body type, and that there are different cuts and fits of clothing specifically tailored to enhance our shapes, but there exists one universally flattering piece of clothing out there that we believe flatters all: the pencil skirt.
How To: Recycle old jeans into an embellished mini skirt
It's so easy to toss an old pair of jeans into the trash or to donate it to the Salvation Army, but if you put your mind to it you can still reuse your musty jeans, just not in the same way you used to use them.
How To: Make origami leaves for kawasaki roses
Don't leave your precious kawasaki roses exposed to prying eyes! Cover your flowers with a sheath of modesty by attaching them to origami rose leaves.
How To: Fold a sweet origami flower with Jo Nakashima
We're not quite sure what kind of flower this is - perhaps an iris? - but we do know it's really pretty! Craft a couple to make an everlasting boquet or just make one as a sweet present to give to a loved one by watching this video and getting the how-to.
How To: Make a delicate origami lotus flower
Buddha doesn't just sit on a lotus flower because it's kind of fun sitting on a flower throne. In many Asian traditions, the lotus flower represents sexual purity and non-attachment, which are the core tenets of Buddhism.
How To: Create a tetrahedra origami with five intersections
Origami purists will argue that all origami creations, no matter how complex, should be folded from one single sheet of paper, but the rules were made to be broken, right? If you've already mastered the art of one-sheet origami projects like frogs and cranes, challenge yourself to this project: a tetrahedra composed of five intersecting pyramidal shapes.
How To: Make a plump origami goldfish with Jo Nakashima
This plump goldfish requires even less maintenance than the real things, and will look adorable as a conversation piece on your desk or a countertop. Composed of orange origami tissue paper, this fish stands up all on its own despite its rotund belly.
How To: Fold an origami flapping bird/crane for beginners
Prized by crafty elementary and middle schoolers, the origami flapping bird, or crane, is a relatively simple origami project to complete but requires a bit of origami folding experience beforehand to do well.
How To: Origami an advanced Toshikazu Kawasaki rose
The kawasaki rose, named after famous origami folder and theorist Toshikazu Kawasaki, is known for its innovative geometric folds and mirror-symmetric crease patterns.
How To: Origami different styles of Japanese kawasaki roses
Origami paper roses come in as many shapes as real roses. Some are easier to fold, some are harder. This particular rose series shows you seven different ways to fold origami roses.
How To: Fold a modular origami business card cube
Got a seriously large number of business cards stashed in your basement due to ordering several boxes full only to have the company mess up on your phone number? Make use of these otherwise extraneous and superfluous cards by watching this video.
How To: Fold a simple origami ivy leaf
Ivy leaves seem to be naturally suited to origami imitations, since they're delicate, angular, and are a lovely kelly green hue.
How To: Fold an upside down origami flower/flower bud
This origami project is called the "upside down flower," but when you actually put it together you'll see it resembles more of a rosebud or even a lotus flower. These upside down flowers can be folded in minute sizes and stashed in a jar for a potpourri-like effect.
How To: Fold a delicate origami rose leaf
Origami flowers, whether they're roses or hyacinths, are gorgeous on their own, but even more realistic when a stem and leaves are added. Unfortunately, the art of leaf folding in origami circles is usually othered in favor of folding the actual pretty flower.
How To: Create cobra design friendship bracelets
Don't worry, this cobra won't lurch up and, well, kill you. Composed of three different string colors but only revealing two shades, this pattern is a nice way to create a multifaceted friendship bracelet.
How To: Braid a cute cupcake patterned friendship bracelet
Friendship bracelets symbolize the strength and longevity of the bond between you and one or more of your best friends, so make your friendship bracelets last as long as your friendship will (which is forever, right?).
How To: Fold a cheap and romantic rose out of a napkin
Stuck on a mindblowingly boring date at a restaurant, or simply want to impress your potential mate with impromptu romance? Then whip out your napkin and fold her a chivalrous paper rose.
How To: Craft a magazine cutout woven magazine tote bag
Living organically and eco-friendly can be chic if you know how to play your cards. If you're a magazine reading fiend who has more issues now than can fit in Carrie Bradshaw's closet, then you can craft an environmentally friendly magazine bag to hold all your stuff.
How To: Make a girly and elegant ribbon and pearls bracelet
Pearls need not look stale, aged, and only appropriate for your great aunt Margaret. Add some youthfulness and pizazz to pearls by learning how to make a cute ribbon-tied pearl bracelet.
How To: Make a very fast paper origami airplane
Think there's only one way to build a paper airplane? Add some more air foil lift to your plane crafting by watching this tutorial, which teaches you how to fold an origami airplane designed to provide greater speed, lift, and accuracy.
How To: Create whipped ice cream cone soaps for summer
Need a summertime craft to do with your kids to keep their sundazed, lackadaisical minds occupied for a few moments? Then these ice cream cone soaps are just the thing!
How To: Deal with persistent thread breaking while sewing
Solve your persistent thread breaking problems by watching this video and getting advice from fashion designer Natalie.
How To: Make melt and pour Valentine's Day cupcake soaps
Despite appearances, these Valentine's Day cupcake soaps take almost no time to make and are easy to assemble. Craft an entire batch for friends as a Valentine's Day present or gift them to a conversation heart-addicted niece.
How To: Make cute shaped multicolored melt and pour soaps
These multicolored heart and square shaped soaps are so cute and pretty you may end up grudgingly giving several to friends before you can try them out yourself!
How To: Make heart-shaped soaps for Valentine's Day
Take a luxurious, lingering bath with your boy toy while smoothing and cleaning his skin with this heart-shaped melt and pour soap. Composed of pastel pinks and purples, the soap is hyper feminine and probably shouldn't be a gift to your y-chromosomed loved one, but it can be an excellent treat for the both of you during sexy time.
How To: Create summertime girly yellow and purple soapsicles
This is yet another Go Planet Earth soap that looks and smells like the real thing. Made up of clear soap embedded with girly pink pastel soap cubes and a dipped purple tip, this soapsicle screams summer fun.
How To: Make pretty melt and pour jewel toned soap loaves
Breads get made in loaves not because bakers find the shape aesthetically pleasing, but because it saves them lots of time, energy, and effort.
How To: Make melt and pour sea salted watermelon taffy soaps
Combine lathering up and exfoliating in the shower with these salted watermelon slices. Crafted to resemble and smell like deliciously scented watermelon taffy, these melt and pour soaps are piled with sea salt to give your skin a good, thorough scrub.
How To: Make melt and pour Japanese sushi soaps
When it comes to art and design, the Japanese believe in tasteful minimalism. Never is this "tasteful" part so true than with their sushi and sashimi, artfullly arranged in little cubes or cylinders and punctuated with small bursts of radish red, tuna orange, and green spinach.
How To: Create retro '60s geometric flower cut-out soaps
Thanks to pop artists like Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, hallucinogenic geometric shapes and psychadelic use of color dominated absolutely everything in the '60s, from lunchboxes to earrings to dresses.
How To: Craft brown and white snail soaps using melt and pour
These melt and pour soaps kind of look like Belgian chocolate seashells, so be careful when you leave them lying around that no curious hands get to them and think they're food!
How To: Craft a beginner layered PB & J sandwich soap
Layered soap is an effect used in everything from the simplest two-colored soaps to complex rainbow-hued and even checkerboard patterned soaps. Layering soap is actually a beginner's soapmaking method, so learn how to do this aesthetically interesting technique by watching this video.
How To: Craft molded designer soaps with intricate templates
When soap making, soap molds save you a lot of time, allowing you to produce prettily shaped bathtime goodies in less time and in greater quantities. Designs (decals) can then be added on top of these soaps for a personalized effect.
How To: Make anti-inflammatory Asian adzuki bean soaps
Asian women have cultivated the adzuki bean for thousands of years and swear by them to keep their skin youthful and smoothe. Harness the anti-inflammatory properties of the adzuki bean by watching this video on how to make melt and pour adzuki bean, glycerin, and goat's milk soaps.
How To: Make melt and pour fudge soap treats
Make sure you attach a note to these fudge soaps saying they're soap and not fudge bars before you give them out to friends, because they look exactly like the real thing!
How To: Make a sparkly ninja star origami storage box
These origami ninja stars have been modified to include a small box for storing everything from candy for a celebration to your keys. Made out of a square piece of foil origami tissue paper, these storage boxes are perfect for summer celebrations or birthday parties.
How To: Make a cute pink origami bowtie for beginners
Origami bows are handy for times when you're wrapping a gift last minute and the closest thing you have to a ribbon is a roll of packing tape.
How To: Make a customizable origami Hello Kitty face
Folding quality origami doesn't have to involve years of painstaking practice and lots of paper cuts. Watch this video to learn how to quickly origami yourself a Hello Kitty face.
How To: Make an origami body for a person for beginners
Are you an origami fan who's just starting out in this paper folding and molding line of work? Are you tired of folding nothing but paper lucky stars and tired cranes? Well, look no further than this origami video, which immediately throws you off the deep end (just kidding) and teaches you how to make the body of a person.