Things I've Made Archives - Page 73 of 136 - Ashley Hackshaw / Lil Blue Boo

DIY iPad Cover from Composition Notebook (A Tutorial)

July 12, 2011 by Ashley Hackshaw

We recently bought a new iPad 2 for work and I was floored at the prices of covers…..I just couldn’t bring myself to spend that much. My husband’s friend Walker jokes that his composition notebook is his “low-tech iPad” because it is exactly the same size…..so it gave me an idea. I would make a cover for our new iPad out of one of the old composition notebooks I had sitting around. Turns out it was pretty easy using the box my iPad came in, some hair elastics and a notebook with the pages removed.

Here is how I made an easy, inexpensive iPad cover:

Photo 1 & 2: I took a razor blade and cut out the pages…..this composition book was on its last leg so they basically fell out.
Photo 3 & 4: I removed the plastic insert from the box that the iPad came in and marked the height of the notebook for reference on the side.

Photo 5: I continued my height measurement all the way around the insert.
Photo 6 & 7: Using a razor blade I carefully cut out the top of the plastic insert.
Photo 8: I cut off one side of the remaining plastic.

Photo 9: I cut out the 2 corners on the plastic.
Photo 10: I scored the outside of the three edges using the height measurement that was marked (make sure not to cut all the way through).
Photo 11: I carefully turned the edges under at the scored line and trimmed the pieces so they wouldn’t overlap.
Photo 12: I place the plastic piece on the edge of the notebook and to make it fit perfectly I had to carefully rework one of the edges to the curve was a little bigger. (Note: the plastic is the exact size of the iPad so you have to make it about 5mm bigger this way so that it sits around the iPad edge).

Photo 13, 14, 15 & 16: I took 2 black elastic hair bands and sewed each onto one corner at two points using needle and thread. Make sure to sew through the elastic to keep the band in place and you’ll have to stretch the band enough so it is pretty taught over the edge as shown in photo 16.

Photo 17: I cut off the excess hair band once it was attached securely.
Photo 18 & 19: Using a black elastic headband I sewed one end near the inside of the spine and the other end opposite to it (you’ll have to stretch it tightly so it will keep the iPad in place when you insert it).
Photo 20: Lastly, I cut off the excess band.

An iPad cover for $2.99. Can’t beat that.

A Stuffed Frog Prince (A Tutorial and Download)

July 11, 2011 by Ashley Hackshaw

I’m slowly updating some older Lil Blue Boo patterns to make them easier to download. This is an updated version of the Stuffed Frog Prince Toy Pattern with both the frog toy/beanbag and frog prince crown pattern combined into one PDF. The very first frog I made was a VERY OBESE frog….but we still have him and he makes a great doorstop.

So many options….here’s just a few:

[Read more…]

“Spin-spiration” Folk Art (A Tutorial)

July 11, 2011 by Ashley Hackshaw

Spin-spiration DIY Folk Art using a Lazy Susan via lilblueboo.com

When I first found a used lazy susan at the thrift store, I envisioned making it into a piece of “spin-able” art….but the first one was way to large and heavy to hang safely onto the wall (so it was turned into the wine-barrel lazy susan). I bought a slightly smaller 18″ lazy susan, and made this fun piece of Sticks-inspired art. On the Lil Blue Boo Facebook page I asked people to fill in the blank “I am____” and got some great words and phrases to use (Boo’s contribution was “Iron Man”):

The lazy susan was painted to be a fun piece of wall art that Boo can turn every day and pick her mood:

Today I will be……awesome.

This was a fairly simple project that took about 3 hours in total. The carving was easier than I thought it would be with my new rotary tool and accessory kit:

I also had my expert painter Boo as my helper. The key to painting with a 4-year-old is letting them paint freely and then just fix any large mistakes after the fact….when they aren’t looking.

Here’s how the art piece was made:

Photos 1, 2 & 3: I used a pencil to sketch my design out.
Photo 4: With a rotary tool, I started carving. I found that it is easiest to carve a faint line to serve as a guide and then carve deeper on your second pass.

Photos 5, 6 and 7: I carved all the designs out. They don’t have to be perfect…..I like slightly imperfect!
Photo 8: I used a block sander to clean up any rough edges.

Photos 11 & 12: I blocked in the main colors using basic acrylic craft paint. I like to paint “imperfectly” for character. I let Boo paint the black and white border.
Photo 13: After all the colors were blocked in, I let the piece dry.
Photo 14: I used gloss varnish…..

Photo 15: …..and painted a light coat over the whole piece to protect the colors from the glazing step.
Photo 16: I carved out excess paint from the designs.
Photo 17 & 18: I made a glaze of black liquid acrylic and added some water. I worked it into the designs, quickly wiping off the excess with a damp cloth.

The finished painted piece!

Using my Silhouette machine, I cut out the words “Today I will be” and applied the quote to the wall above where the lazy susan would hang:

Some heavy hanging hardware was used to attach the lazy susan to the wall:

Today I will be……on cloud 9.