5 a Week: Sandals for Dolls

It’s Sunday, so it’s time for week 5 of…

 

 

The Five a Week Pledge

 

If you haven’t been around here, it’s where you pledge to do five things each week of your choice (see the first week for more info).  I pledged to make five small crafts each week.  Feel free to grab a button and join me.  If you already have, post a comment or a link to share what you accomplished.

 

This week’s craft:

Sandals!  For Dolls!

Another craft for dolls, but this will probably the last for a little while.  My bjd shouldn’t get all the fun.  Plus with these she now has enough clothing to officially be considered fully dressed (see her reaction on the doll blog). 

I made the shoes based on this cute bjd sandal tutorial.  There’s just a few differences.

I only used one layer of foam instead of two because if I had used two layers I would have ended up with platforms, not the look I was going for exactly.  I just attached the straps to the sides of the foam really well letting the lace on the edge re-enforce it.

Instead of making ankle straps like in the tutorial, I just added ribbon to tie on the sandals.  It makes it easier to fit and looks really cute.

One problem I had was that the lace I used was wider than the foam.  When I attached it to the edge of the foam I had to trim off the excess at the bottom.  I tried to just glue it down instead with the first pair of sandals, but it looked terrible.  Trimming was the better option indeed. 

Since it’s been five weeks since I started this challenge, I thought it best to recap what I’ve accomplished.

I’ve made:

• 5 Beaded Bracelets
• 5 Lace Brooches
• Plus 1 Lace Appliqué Brooch Tutorial
• 5 Ball Jointed Doll Sized Circle Skirts
• 5 Ball Jointed Doll Sized Lace Tank Tops
• 5 Ball Jointed Doll Sized Lace and Ribbon Sandals

25 plus one bonus is 26 crafts completed in five weeks.  Not too bad.  A very helpful person left a lovely comment referring to this as a “productivity challenge”.  Looking at these numbers I’d say it is a pretty accurate term.  I’m feeling optimistic about the next five weeks of “productivity”.  Look forward to it!

Update:  I made more doll sandals that are even better than these, plus I made a tutorial for them! Check it out!

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Pretty Pens: A Tutorial

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I’ve already made a zippered pouch, I just need a little something to put in it.

Like pens.  These pens were ones I snagged from work, with permission of course.  They were for promotional use and we had way too many.  Who could pass up a freebie?  They just needed a personal touch so I tweaked them. 

You can try it too, here’s the tutorial:

You will need some boring old pens, some thin ribbon, scissors, and a warmed up glue gun (like this one).  Heat resistant gloves would help too, I burnt myself twice.

First remove the cap so it won’t get in your way.  Dab a little glue on the pen just before where the cap would go in order to glue the end of the ribbon to the pen. 

The ribbon should be at a slight angle since it will be wrapped around.  Don’t worry about the raw edges yet.

Proceed to wrap the ribbon around the pen dabbing glue as you go.  It is a good idea to pull tightly on the ribbon as you wrap to ensure it stays nice and smooth.  Just don’t pull so tightly that you rip the ribbon off.

When you get to the end, it sort of resembles the stripes on a candy cane.  If you like it like that, just skip down and finish the ends.  Otherwise, let’s continue.

You need to make sure the end is securely glued down for this part.  You need to fold the ribbon toward the writing end of the pen and then at an angle.  Kind of like how it was when we started gluing and wrapping.

Then you just have to continue wrapping and gluing until you get back to where you started.

Carefully cut the ribbon and glue down the end.  To finish, you can wrap a smaller piece of  ribbon around the pen a couple of times to cover the raw edges, then glue it down.  Trust me, this looks a lot better than leaving the raw edges as is.

What you have now is a pen that’s uniquely yours, comfortable to hold, and really cheap to boot.

It took me a several minutes to make my first one, but after I got the hang of it I was able to make a set of them very quickly.  You will be able to too.

Here’s the updated list:

• Slippers
• Handkerchiefs
• Cases
• Pens
• Binder
• T-shirt
• Skirt
• Bag
• Background

Five down, four to go.  The next should be up by Monday.  Of course knowing me, it will probably be up by Tuesday.  :(

Give it a try:

• ArtMinds Fashion Mini Glue Gun
• Celebrate It 360° Double-Faced Satin Ribbon

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Glue Gun Coronation

My old glue gun’s reign has come to an end.  It has held out for over 6 years, not too bad for a dollar store glue gun.   But now the stand is bent, the wiring is shot, the trigger is busted, and it has even shot off sparks.  It is definitely time to retire.

 

Here’s the successor to the throne.  I wanted to get another one form Dollar Tree, but they didn’t have any although they did have the glue sticks.  I got this at Wal-Mart for about $2.50.  I look forward to seeing if it will last any longer than the other one.  At least it has a 2 year warranty, that’s a good sign.  Long live the new glue gun.

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