Crafting Rebellion: 11/1/12

Make Your Own 3D "Queen Bee" Phone Case - First in a Series

I am starting a fun iPhone case project series. Each phone case project will have a different look and style with complete instructions on how to create your own. We will have a new iphone case project at least once a month so check back often. The first in my series is the "Queen Bee" iPhone case. I have a thing for bumblebees so when I saw this queen bee pendant at Michaels I knew it had to go onto a phone case. The great thing about this particular project is that it is made with supplies found locally at Michaels. While you can find lots of inexpensive embellishments on Etsy and Ebay, sometimes its nice to start a project without having to order and wait for supplies to be shipped. You can use this same project for any brand phone cover as long as it's hard plastic. You can also make ipod covers this way. For those of you who don't want to make one, I will be selling my iphone cases on Etsy. The link will be on my site shortly.

For this project you will need:

Blank hard plastic phone case- I found mine at the Dollar Tree store. I used a black one for this design. I also saw them at the local UPS store. You can also purchase blank cases on Etsy.com, and Ebay.com.

E 6000 Glue or GS Hypo Cement- I personally use E6000 so it is what I recommend, but some crafters prefer GS Hypo. Give both a try!

Bee Pendant- The pendant is Art-i-Cake brand found at Michaels. (I used my 40% off coupon on it). You can use any artsy pendant of course. Just make sure it has a good flat back for gluing.

Flat Back Plastic embellishments- This is where you get creative. I found the button and clock plastic dimensional stickers from Archivers scrapbook store. Check the scrapbook aisles at the craft stores for similar. You peel the adhesive strip off the back before gluing.

I also used Artminds brand silver glittery plastic cabochons found at Michaels. They have a ton to choose from. They were in a whole different area than the stickers and rhinestones however. You may have to search the store a little to find them.

Flat Back Acrylic Gems- I used clear colored Jewelry Essentials Brand from Michael's.

Gem Pick Up Tool- I use a waxy pencil (the gems stick to the tip), but they also sell a gem pick up tool in the scrapbook section.

Toothpick

*Artminds brand plastic embellishments from Michael's.

*Many styles and colors to choose from.

*The bee pendant is Art-i-cakes brand from Michael's. I used my 40% off coupon on it. You can see they have lots of other cool pendants to choose from.

To get started remove the bale from your bee pendant. Use wire snips. If the edge is still rough (mine wasn't) use an emory board to smooth it.

Angle your pendant across the front of the phone cover and glue it down.

Add your plastic embellishments and glue.

*Lay your embellishments out on the phone cover before you glue down. This way you can change your mind before it is permanent. For example I changed my mind and didn't use the flower.

If you are using any plastic stickers as embellishments (the clock for example) remove the adhesive back so you are gluing the plastic back directly to the phone cover (and not the adhesive sticker).

Once you are satisfied with the placement of your embellishments you can start filling in the rest of the case with acrylic flat back gems.

Take a toothpick and spread a couple inches of E6000 glue. Work in small areas as the glue dries quickly.

Use a gem pick up tool (I use a wax pencil) and carefully pick up and place the gems onto the glue. You can move the gems around for a few minutes if you change your mind, but they will set within 5 minutes.

Continue doing this until your phone front is covered. Let dry one hour before finishing the sides.

Try out gem sizes along the side until you find an arrangement you like. I used medium sized gems straight down the middle, and little on the sides for this particular case.

Just like the front of the phone case work only a couple inches at a time.

Once you have your main row of gems fill in the remainder with tiny gems.

Let your case dry 24 hours before using. Enjoy! They make great gifts!

More iphone case projects to come. Sign up by email so you never miss one.

XOX,

The Rebel Crafter

I use Nerium.
Check out the video, it is a great night cream:

Labels:3d bling,3d phone case,bling,bling craft ideas,bling phone,bling phone case,cool crafts,craft,craft tutorial,hip crafts,how to,iphone case,phone case crafts,phone case ideas,teen crafts,tutorial | 8 comments

Hip Gifts To Make

Posted by Punky Prep

Have a teen or hip relative and need some inspiration on what to make them this holiday? Look no further, here are some fun ideas.

Add studs to a notebook. Instant cool.

http://www.barefootblonde.com/search?updated-max=2012-04-30T21:16:00-07:00&max-results=5&start=65&by-date=false

Make some trendy rings to give and keep.

http://dollarstorecrafts.com/2012/03/three-awesome-teen-girl-craft-night-ideas/

Create a woven map notebook.

http://dollarstorecrafts.com/2012/05/make-a-woven-map-notebook/

Awww knit up a monster kit.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/94772880/penelope-monster-knitting-kit-in-pink

Make a recycled water bottle holder.

http://www.rockabyebabymusic.com/blog/tag/crafts-for-kids/

Recycled earrings craft.

http://www.steppingthrucrazy.com/2011/04/recycled-bottle-earrings-super-easy.html

Paint recycled lightbulbs with pearlescent and gold paint.

http://pinterest.com/pin/278449189432025862/

I want to make this ruffled scarf in gray-off to the yarn store!

http://www.tipjunkie.com/all-crafts/shimmer-yarn-tutorials/

Hand paint some leggings.

http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/galaxy-leggings

Make a Lego necklace.

http://www.tonyastaab.com/valentines-day-crafts/

I love it spray painted silver.

http://simplyjstudio.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2011-06-16T04%3A00%3A00-06%3A00&max-results=7

Paint a pair of cheap tennies.

http://pinterest.com/pin/278449189431733151/

Great arm warmers to knit!

http://www.amazon.com/Pretty-Punk-Rock-Knitting-Projects/dp/0811857441/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1224228702&sr=8-1

XOX,

The Rebel Crafter

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Happiness and Crafting

Posted by Punky Prep

With Thanksgiving just a couple days away, I wanted to share a little about a book I recently read named "The Happiness Project". The book is about the author Gretchen Rubin's year long journey to try to be happier. While she is actually a pretty happy person to begin with, she realizes that "the days are long, but the years are short", and that she was drifting through life instead of living it. While the book can be a little convoluted, and random, I was left pondering the many ways I too could bring more happiness to my life. The one resounding part of the book I most enjoyed was the authors decision "to just be Gretchen". This sounds so simple, but yet it was actually amazingly deep. When we think about "who we are" we often find we try to be someone we are not. The author made me think a lot about the things I truly love to do. This is not always an easy task for us to unearth parts of ourselves that may have been buried over the years. So often we pick things to do that seem practical, or make good gifts, or seem like the right things to be working on, (when in reality they are more like chores). In the Authors case she felt she "should" be in her current intellectual book club (she was after all an author), when in reality her guilty pleasure was reading children's literature. Her "aha" moment was to embrace "just be gretchen", give up her current book club and start her own "kids literature" book club. That alone brought her so much more happiness.

So I sat down and thought long and hard about things that I have done that truly made me happy. One thing the author suggests is to think back to when we were young. So often what we really like to do is also what we liked to do as young girls. While I like to do all sorts of crafts (trying things makes me happy) I realized that I had long been ignoring one that used to bring me happiness. It was my love of creating old fashioned cross stitch samplers. When I had worked on them in my past, people who knew me thought it was a very peculiar craft. Coworkers who saw me stitching at lunch would kind of shrug in a way that made me feel it was very uncool. I loved it however. I loved the challenge of learning new stitches, as well as the quiet detail work. (Maybe I was born in the wrong century). I soon found I couldn't give them away as gifts because no one seemed very interested in them. It seemed wasteful to spend so much time on something for myself that I couldn't wear, and couldn't share, so eventually my cross stitch box got put in the basement.

It wasn't until I read this book and I was forced to write down all the things I really loved to do, that it occurred to me I had let other peoples perceptions influence my hobbies. With that realization I went on www.everythingcrossstitch.com and ordered some holiday themed cross stitch sampler patterns. I plan on making a new seasonal one every month or two, and make them just for myself. Forget giving them as gifts. Now I am sure my Husband and Daughter will scratch their heads when I sit stitching them (especially after one) but thats OK. Seriously just getting online and ordering patterns was invigorating!

Don't worry my blog will still remain a 100% variety of crafts (I love that too). But to those of you who have been ignoring an old, well missed hobby I am encouraging you to rekindle that love. So on that note what do you really love to do? Not what you might be good at, or used to doing, but something you used to love? Cooking, knitting, tennis, reading vampire novels?.........If you haven't been feeling 100% satisfied with your hobbies why not write out all the things you have loved to do in your past...then decide on that list what would make you really smile today...and give it another try!

Happy Thanksgiving!

XOX,

The Rebel Crafter

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