Too Cute Tuesday: Can Light Switch Cover

February 15, 2011 Nicole Ouellette

We love a nice, recycled craft as much as the next group which is why this Readymade idea was perfect to do this week.

We all crashed Dorrie’s house, even though she’s away for the week and even left her a little present. More on that in a bit…

The materials, ready to go. By the way, this pocket screwdriver with interchangeable bits is handy for light switch removal. Thanks for the swag on my last visit, Mom!

Materials

Sam folds like it ain’t no thang. Watch out for those sharp edges!

Can (aluminum)
Scissors
Can opener
Exacto knife and cutting board
Screwdriver

Cocktail of the Night: Anything involving selzer or other canned beverage

0. Make yourself a drink to empty the can and relax a bit.

1. Use the can opener to cut the top off the can. Cut a slit down the side of the can and the bottom off the can using scissors. You essentially want a flat piece of metal.

Dorrie is on vacation. We put this in her house to see how long it would take her to notice… Bonus is this also checks if she reads my blog.

2. Hold the switch plate you want to use under the metal piece. Where the screw holes are, tap a screwdriver to make small, appropriately sized holes in the metal.

3. Bend the corners at 45 degree angles to fit around and over the switch plate. See kids, geometry does come in handy!

4. Keep some excess metal to bend around the four sides of the switch plate but cut off the excess before folding.

Note: Soda cans were fine for small switches but the wider ones (two holers) will require a beer can, which is wider.

Double note: Watch out once you cut the can, these edges are sharp!

So for a few minutes of effort, you too can have a conversational light switch. Aren’t you crafty, with rockin home accessories!

Sarah C. showing off her final product. I told her to give me her best ‘tada’ smile!

Use the light switch for the pattern. I tried to freestyle this craft and ended up with an epic fail.

Too Cute Tuesday is a weekly craft night involving a cool craft, a fun cocktail, and good friends. To learn more, see www.facebook.com/toocutetuesday and www.toocutetuesday.com.

Too Cute Tuesday: Fused Plastic Bibs

January 12, 2011 Nicole Ouellette

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Too Cute Tuesday

Every Tuesday, it’s an easy craft, cool cocktail, and fun friends. To learn more check out the archives at www.toocutetuesday.com or the Facebook page.

I may not have a kid, but I have a small cute model willing to try on my bib. Go Gidget go.

You may remember our first foray into fused plastic last year. This year, we did a specific baby related craft (dedicated to new mom Michelle and soon to be new mom Sue) with the fused plastic and ignored the extra step that could have involved stitching on bias tap as piping. Oh well, can’t do it all.

Don’t have a baby in your life? You can use fused plastic bags to create bags, placemats, snowflakes, shower curtain, tablecloth, pouch, wallet, and much much more. Clearly you could fuse plastic bags all day long and come up with some fun stuff. Voila our original inspiration: http://www.homemademamas.net/2010/02/fused-plastic-bib.html

This week we were joined by Sarah and her daughter. Passing crafting onto future generations…

Dorrie took the plastic bags her newspaper comes in everyday and fused a few different colors. Ooohhhh, shimmery!

Materials
Plastic bags (3ish)
Iron and ironing boar
Scissors
Bias tape, needle, and thread (for the optionally motivated)

Cocktail of the Night: Gin and juice… laid back….

1. Heat iron to rayon setting. This is apparenly not 3 on Dorrie’s iron. We recommend starting on the one setting and slowly increasing the temperature if the fusion isn’t working. Too hot and the plastic puckers. Eww.

2. Cut into desired shape. If creating a bib, you can use a bib as a template. We made ours with a pocket and thick wrap around the neck.

3. Fuse the pocket onto the bib on three sides. You can inside out the pocket to hide the fusion.

4. Add velco for closure. Add piping with bias tape if you are feeling super ambitious.

Other variations of the craft also happened (see photo gallery below) and a good and recycling filled time was had by all. Aren’t we crafty, and kid friendly!

Too Cute Tuesday: Paper Beads

June 23, 2010 Nicole Ouellette

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Too Cute Tuesday

Every Tuesday, it’s friends, a craft, and a cocktail. Want to get involved? Start your own TCT chapter, read old Too Cute Tuesday posts, or join the fun on Facebook.

Christie: Official DJ, bartender, and beadmaker... all at once. Dorrie found this paper bead craft awhile back but we were waiting for our wallpaper connection to come through. Tonight, Dorrie had to work late and other people were gone, so it was just Christie and I.

No doubt we have all made these paper beads a million years ago when we were in elementary school but with more grown up materials, they are still fun now.

Linked here is the original post. (You have to click through and see how these beads could come out. Inspiring!) That said, we did ok.

Materials
Wallpaper book
Scissors
Glue (Elmer’s is fine- squirt glue preferable)
Takeout chopsticks (or some other disposable round wooden object)
Twine/string

Cocktail of the Night: Christie’s Mix: Some mixture of grenadine, lemonade, rum, orange juice and/or triple sec

1. Have the longest week ever. Get to the point where you are almost dellerious with stress. But wait, it’s time for Too Cute Tuesday!

2. Have friend (Christie) show up at Craft Central and make you a cocktail and remind you that it’s time to craft! Stick nachos in the oven and take out the wallpaper book Dorrie got from an interior decorating friend. Note: Primitive patterns would be something my sister would enjoy.

I'm finally relaxing... just what my doctor would have ordered had she known I was going insane this week. Thanks Too Cute Tuesday! 3. Cut a piece of wallpaper out of the book. Fold in half four times, creating thin strips of the same thickness.

4. On half of each strip, make the strip pointed. A straight edge would help if you could find it. Walk around the house looking for it and, when you can’t find it, take the nachos out of the oven and decide to ‘wing it’.

5. Starting at the thick end of each strip, roll the paper around a chopstick, using glue to hold it together.

6. Sip cocktail and watch Youtube music videos while rolling your beads. Trade beads with your fellow crafting friends for variety.

7. String the beads on the twine, knotting where you want the beads to stay. Depending on the length, you can either end up with a necklace or a beaded curtain. Decide the original posts beaded curtain must have taken forever to make so settle on a necklace.

Thanks Too Cute Tuesday for getting me out of my stressed out funk. Aren’t we crafty…. and relaxed!

Christie showing her final product. We exchanged beads with each other for a variety of colors.

Too Cute Tuesday: Can Camping Stove

April 14, 2010 Nicole Ouellette

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Too Cute Tuesday

Too Cute Tuesday is a weekly event involving a craft, a cocktail, and friends. To join the fun, visit our Facebook page or see all the TCT posts in one location here.

I was at a party a couple months ago when my friend Joe told me he could make a camping stove out of two cans and a utility knife. I of course made him do it on the spot. What a perfect craft for Too Cute Tuesday and a great way to recycle a couple of cans! (Remember, we are trying to make all our crafts earth friendly since Earth Day is this month.)

Since I apparently don’t drink anything out of cans, I had to buy some beverage, in my case generic store brand diet coke, so I could craft. Rum, cola, knives, and fire? We have a fun and potentially dangerous night on our hands.

Materials
2 cans
Utility knife
Scissors
Nail or thumbtack and hammer
Liquid fuel and lighter

Safety stuff: Fire extinguisher, Place to burn safely, trained firefighter (optional)

Cocktail of the Night: Rum and Coke (might as well use the Coke, right?)

Sue and I tried to follow the instructions and make 32 holes around the outside of our can. We gave up after about half that because pushing the thumbtack through the can was actually kind of hard on our hands!

For those of you wanting really exact directions, Instructables has a very specific tutorial. As you know, here at TCT, we like to make it simpler if we can (which means sometimes it doesn’t work… but then sometimes, it does!)

1. Pour cocktail right away, since you need two empty cans to attempt.

2. Poke holes around the bottom of one can, and a few in the middle. This is where the fuel will get poured in and where it’ll burn off.

My camping stove worked well (gasp). I know, I'm as shocked as you are.

3. Cut the holey can so only the bottom and about 1 inch of the body of the can remain. Cut the bottom off the other can the same way. You’re going to fit the two pieces together eventually.

4. Fringe the other can so you can fit the holey can bottom on top of the fringed one. Both can bottoms will be facing outward.

Andrew brought utility knives and the goal of making this craft way simpler than it was. Here he is 'fringing' the bottom of the second can.

5. Go someplace where you can contain a blaze. Pour in liquid fuel and set on fire. Boom, you have a stove (well, hopefully not ‘boom’ but you get the idea.

So these can stoves are lightweight, which makes them great for backpacking, and small which means they won’t take up too much room in your pack. Aren’t you crafty, outdoorsy, and earth friendly at the same time?

Too Cute Tuesday: Morsbags

February 24, 2010 Nicole Ouellette

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Too Cute Tuesday

Too Cute Tuesday involves fun friends, a cheap craft, and a cool cocktail. To get involved, check us out on Facebook or contact Nicole.

Who doesn’t love it when crafting is part of a larger movement? When Meg (friend and craft enthusiast on Vinalhaven) alerted Too Cute Tuesday of the Morsbag movement (‘socialable guerilla bagging’), we wanted to join in.

Morsbag seeks to empower people to create their own bags in an effort to cut down on use of plastic shopping bags. You make them and give them to people (and yourself if you want).

Materials:
Fabric (18″ by 4″ sections, 18″ by 20″ sections- 2 of each)
Sewing machine
Iron and ironing board
Thread
Pencil
Tape measure
Straight edge

Click here for the pattern! (a one page, relatively easy to follow .pdf you can print off or pass on)

Cocktail of the Night: Seadog Wild Blueberry Wheat Ale (Sorry folks, getting my sewing machine down from the top of my closet was challenge enough for the evening)

1. Gather supplies. Observe that this may take the longest time of anything you are going to do this evening. Print off pdf of instructions. (Sorry environmental folks, easier to pass around the table that way! I’ll write on the back of the paper though, promise.)

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Too Cute Tuesday: Newspaper Crafts

February 9, 2010 Nicole Ouellette

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Too Cute Tuesday

Too Cute Tuesday is a weekly event that involves a craft, a cocktail, and a friendly get together. Join us each week for a different inexpensive craft. Currently there are TCT chapters in Bar Harbor, Maine and Saint Louis, Missouri. If you want to join in on the fun, check out Facebook or contact Nicole.

It’s so funny that in the past week, about five people have told me how great Too Cute Tuesday crafts are for kids (minus the alcoholic beverage, of course). Turns out Jessica (she’s crafted with us before) is going to do some of these crafts with an after school program at the Reach School. Now that’s what I’m talking about!

Tonight’s craft has been requested by Dorrie’s nieces and, since it was done by me solo (and badly) about a year ago, we thought it was worth another more fun attempt. Dorrie, Jen, Izzy, and Sophie joined Nicole for the fun this particular Tuesday. Here’s how it went:

Izzy has a modified version of the cocktail...in a disco glass. Fun!

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recycle