It’s bike season again, and when I pulled out my ol’ ride from the garage, I felt it needed a little more than grease on the chain.

I used spray paint to make my bike two toned: rust red on the left hand side, and baby blue on the right. I painted the wheels yellow. To do this, get someone to help you hold the bike up, and spray in one spot as you spin the wheel.

Note: Be careful not to get paint on the metal frame of the wheel, as this can mess with your brake pads! I learned this lesson the hard way. If you get paint on it, no biggie: just use paint thinner and a cloth or sponge to rub it off; or, as it was cleverly pointed out to me, the paint comes off just as easily if you scrape the wheel with a rock. To avoid painting the chain, use a towel or piece of cardboard as a cover.

The Dog Show

My final for Animation I, an academy leader.

These fabulous collars were worked on the runway at Miu Miu this spring. They cost in the hundreds, but as we all know, there are cheap and fun ways to get around that, and to make something a bit more unique.

White Lightning shows us how she made hers for only $6.99:

I can’t wait to make my own!

I found this great site all about feminist crafts. There’s lots of more cool stuff from Radical Cross Stitch, where I found this awesome dress.

My sister sent me this photo of the cute stuffed penguin she knitted for a friend’s baby. She said that the baby reached out and smiled when the gift was presented to her, which she considered a success since the baby seemed like she didn’t give a crap about most of her presents. Any way, she dug herself into a hole because now I and some of her other friends are begging her to make them for us! My knitting skills are far less advanced than hers. The pattern is at knitty.com, and my sister Katie just started up her blog again, which has photos of some of her beautiful knitting and sewing projects. Needless to say, we grew up playing with dolls and doing crafts.

iWorry about my iPod getting scratched. Instead of buying an iPod sock from apple for 30 bucks (ummm yea, I can’t even talk about that) or stealing one from a baby, I utilized my amateur knitting skills to create this sleeping bag shaped cozy to keep my mp3s warm and safe.

What you need:

• an iPod or something, otherwise this is pointless
• yarn
• scissors
• knitting needles
• a needle if you don’t have tiny agile fingers

The Steps:

I simply knit a long panel and stitched it up. I cast on a dozen stitches of wool yarn onto size 6 needles, to a length just slightly smaller than the ipod’s height when folded over. I decreased stitches at the end to make a curved top that would hook over the top of an ipod, like a mummy sleeping bag.

Stitch up the sides, flip that bad boy inside out, and slip your headphones through the yarn to plug them in.

This case does the job, but here are some awesome cases other people have made.

Gameboy case from Make zine:

Cassette from craziest gadgets:

Sneakmove’s case made from my favorite gum:

Even wood, like these shown on unplggd:

Love music? Love drinking things? Here’s a way to protect your table from those dreaded water marks that make moms and Larry David so angry. You can also put your old scratched cds to good use.

What you need:

• cds
• paints (we used both spray and acrylic)
• paper/ cardboard for stencils
• sciz

The Steps:

• Sketch out your ideas for the deco. We stuck with the music theme for our coasters: gramophone, f holes, a cassette and piano keys.
• Paint the first layer, let dry.
• While you wait, cut out any stencils you need for your design. Sticky tac made for sticking posters onto walls helps to hold the stencils flat against the cds without ruining the first layer of paint.

Spray paint works well for some designs, but for the minor details a brush and acrylic paint do the job best. The gramophone stencil didn’t turn out so well, so we stuck the cut-out to the wet paint and drizzled paint over the top for a more cohesive look.

• After the paint dries, apply a lacquer to protect paper and paint from chipping.

Now all that’s left is to kick back, listen to good music and enjoy the beverage of your choice.

For some time now I’ve been intending to make a something cool out of recycled plastic bags. I usually shop with my backpack or reusable totes, but alas like every other American I have millions of plastic bags in my pantry. There are lots of cool ideas on the interwebs for putting these things to use! Any although I don’t have any I’ve created myself to share with you today, here’s some awesome stuff some of our fellow-DIYers have created.

• Josh Blackwell’s plastic bag work I found on designsponge:

• Make Magazine’s video on how to create a messenger bag out of trash bags:

• Here’s a whole list of plastic bag crafts from craftzine:

“Hey, buddy, you’re not pretending anymore. You’re plastic. Cold, shiny, hard plastic.”

                   —-Mean Girls.

Had to do it.

Whether or not you celebrate Easter, eggs are everywhere this time of year! My mom sent me a photo of these adorable eggs she made with her friends. Every year her friend has an egg dying party. Her secret for these intricate designs? Silk fabric.

What you need:

• Eggs: chicken, hen, ostrich, what have you.
• Pot to boil eggs
• scraps of silk fabric
• rubber bands

The Steps:

• Acquire an array of silk scraps with different patterns. Silk ties work great because they usually have small patterns that would repeat well on the eggs. They are also cheap and easy to find at thrift stores.
• cut the fabric into small squares, larger enough to cover the surface of an egg. Wrap them around the egg. Have a bowl of water handy to dip your finger into to help smooth the fabric over the curved surface. Wrap rubber bands over the fabric to secure it.
• Boil eggs as usual: let eggs sit in hot, covered pot about 20 min. after bringing water to a boil.
• Remove from hot water, rinse in cold to stop the heat process.
• Unwrap the eggs and dry. The dye from the silk should have transferred beautifully to your eggs. Throw them in a bowl (throw metaphorically, of course. These are eggs we’re talking about) for a great centerpiece.

Here are some other cute egg deco tactics I found on the interwebs.

Martha Stewart’s lace eggs.

Family Fun’s eggimals.

Martha’s egg shell vases. She also made these candles by placing tea lights in the shells instead of des fleurs.

Connie Ayer’s Pysanky Easter Eggs.

Une Fille et Une Abeille

A Girl and A Bee

In my animation class we worked on a project in which each student morphed a picture they selected into a picture that someone else brought to class. I chose a Kate Spade ad that shows a girl standing in a room with black polka dots on the wall holding a black balloon. I had to make this into a bee. It’s only 3 seconds long, but it’s 36 individual drawings. I don’t know how real animators do it. Lots of patience required!