Newspaper Nails

I have been dying to do this ever since I saw it on someone's Pinterest! After I did it, I totally wanted to redo it, because you kinda have to do it one time to get the hang of it. So I KNEW I could do it better the next time. But I have two very small children who barely allow me to get ready in the morning...so one shot is all get :)

What you will need:

~Light or bright color of nail polish (I chose Vintage Blue from Avon)

~Clear polish

~Rubbing alcohol (or I've heard other types also work :)

~Bowl

~Ten pieces of cut out newspaper with print

1. Cut out ten one by one inch pieces of newspaper. Make sure they have print on them :)

2. Paint your nails and allow them to dry fully.

3. Dip your newspaper clips in alcohol and press onto each nail for about 15 seconds holding very still.

4. Paint a coat of clear overtop to preserve the print. (Put a lot on your nail brush or it will smear the ink. I learned that the hard way).

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Comic Strip Bracelet

This is an awesome kids craft or a craft you could make for a child!

What you will need: 

-sunday newspaper comics section

-about 10 small beads, various colors (small bracelet)

-stretchy jewelery cord

-Mod Podge

- Scissors

1. First you will need to cut about 10 strips of newspaper from the comic section. They should be about 4"x1/2". A little hint: if you look for an image that you would like to have on your bead, (ex. Garfield's face or letters from a comic title) cut that image out at the very end of your strip of paper. This way, it will be on the outside of you bead.

2. Start rolling up your strips of paper with the image you want to show on the outside. Glue the last inch down and then Mod Podge the whole bead.

3. Wait about 20 minutes for your beads to dry and then string them on your cord alternating them with colorful beads! Tie it off with a lobster clasp or other jewelery fastener.

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Newspaper decoupage - my attempt at being organized.

Ok, Nicholette is probably laughing right now, as she sees this post.  She has seen my "craft room"/"dump"  and I told her I had a goal to organize it my April.  Well it's March, and I haven't done a thing about it.  I can't even take a picture to show you all how bad my craft room is, for fear of all you dear followers leaving me.

I should have made a tutorial, but this really is just simple.  I used empty cereal boxes and an empty oatmeal container. Mod Podge is my friend! :)  I just used some newspaper to cover these up and some black grosgrain ribbon to decorate the edges.  Cute labels to organize things, and that's all!

Hopefully this means I'll reach my goal to finish my craft room in April.

Keep your fingers crossed for me!

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Newspaper covered frame - Awesome project!

Here is the crazy fun frame I made for my girls' bathroom.  Now all their hair bows are pretty and organized!  And this project was made out of an old frame and some newspaper.  Very cheap!  I love it!

What you'll need:

1. An old frame that you have around the house collecting dust... this was sitting in my garage for over a year!
2. About 60 newspaper rolls.  For instructions on those, follow this link.
3. Mod Podge
4. Ribbon of your choice (mine was on sale at Michael's for $1.00)
5. Water-based wood stain (I used Rosewood - $4.75 at Home Depot)
6. Staple gun
7. Brush and a sponge applicator

1. Start out by stapling the skinny end of your newspaper roll on to the back of your frame, then apply mod podge to the front of the frame and start wrapping your newspaper around it.  Once a roll ends, put some glue at the end of a new roll and insert it in the previous roll, so they become one, and you can keep wrapping it around the frame.

2. Keep wrapping all the way around the frame, adding glue to the frame as you go.  Staple the end of the newspaper to the back of the frame, trim off if you need.

3. Here is the frame completely wrapped in newspaper.  Let it dry for about 10 minutes.

4. Once it's dry, paint the front of your frame with your wood stain.  Let it dry for a couple of hours.

5. Once it's dry, apply a thick layer of mod podge to the entire frame to protect your paint and the newspaper as well.  Let it dry for another hour. (I hated waiting for it to dry!)

6. Now decide how you would like to place your ribbon and staple it to the back of your frame.  Trim off any edges that are too long.

7. There you have it! I made some flowers out of newspapers for embellishment, you can add whatever you like, or leave it plain, whatever works for you!  I just love how this turned out, and I hope you'll give it a try.

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Business Card Holder

Those of you who have been keeping up with our posts know what this is made of....

 ...newspaper!!

I made each individual circle just like Vanessa made the newspaper rings!

You will need:

-11 newspaper rings (check Newspaper Rings tutorial), on hand

-acrylic paint (mine is in Espresso), $.87

-Mod Podge, $3.97

-Paint brush, on hand

 Just glue your newspaper rings together with Elmer's or Mod Podge exactly how I did in the picture. Paint and let it dry. Mod Podge a thick layer to create a clear coat.

You have a hand crafted business card holder!

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Newspaper ring - very cool!

This really funky ring is made out of a newspaper tube.  Actually, the technique I'm going to share with you today can be used for so many different things!  Don't be surprised if a lot of my next projects involve newspaper, I'm just fascinated by how much you can do with it.  This is going to be a long tutorial, so here we go.

You will need:

-newspaper

-skewer

-glue/mod podge

-scissors

-a small piece of felt

-acrylic paint in your favorite color

-small sponge applicator

-an old elastic

-hot glue gun

1. Divide the pages, you only need one sheet.

2. Fold it in thirds

3. Run a knife through the sides and divide it into three pieces.

4.  Take your skewer and fold over the very tip of the paper.  The sheet is horizontal on the table right now.  

5. Slowly start turning the skewer so the paper wraps around it, and make sure to keep it nice and taut, so the paper doesn't unravel.  Keep going till the very end.

6. Apply some glue to the very end of the paper, and fold it over so the sheet won't open up on you.  (Sorry about the blurry picture)

7. Again, sorry for bad picture.  You have a really long skinny tube you made with your sheet of newspaper.  Make sure you remove the skewer from the bottom of your tube.

8. Start folding the edge in, applying glue as you go, so you can make your circle.  

9. Keep wrapping it around, all the way to the end, applying glue as you go.

10. Color your paper disk in whatever color you like, I coated it on thick then went back and removed some of the excess with a paper towel.

11. Mod Podged it, to protect the color and the circle itself.  It takes about 20 minutes for it to dry completely.

12. In the meantime, cut an old elastic to fit around your finger, and a little piece of felt to make a nice finish on your ring.

13. Using your glue gun, attach your elastic and your piece of felt to the back of your circle and let it set.

14. There you have it!  A very cool looking ring!

Here are a couple of colors, don't they look different?  You can make a ton of them, for dirt cheap!  I had a lot of fun with this project, and I hope you'll try it.

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