How It's Going

There is a reason you won’t be hearing Guru Girl tips for the good life this week. And that reason is small, round, packed with sugar & has taken up every spare minute this week. (No, it’s not the 9 year old;)

It’s a gumball. Specifically 6,160 of them.

Why did I think this was a good idea again?!

Elementary school crafting day is going to be epic. Either epically great or an 

epic disaster. Not quite sure which… 

Cutest DIY Stocking Stuffer. Ever.

I like DIY projects as much as the next girl. Unless that girl is my friend Lisa who takes DIY to a whole new level. Lisa once renovated an entire bathroom. With the skill of a real plumber!

I also once renovated a bathroom – just the floor part. But instead of lifting the toilet up so I could tile under it, I simply cemented those suckers in place around the toilet’s base.

Clearly, I enjoy the idea of DIY, but in practice -- if it's to be successful --  the project had better be easy. And immediate gratification. And include no complicated plumbing.

Today I have just the thing: Gumball jars! These are stocking stuffers that are cute, easy and fun to make. The trifecta of great, and all for under $5.

For the kiddos in your life, personalize the jars with a flower or sports figurine on top. For the adults, think of their passion or an inside joke and personalize with an action figure (a la Star Wars), tiara or any plastic doo-dad you can find at Party City. 

You could even swap out the gumballs for gummy bears or coffee beans, according to your friend’s personal taste &/or addiction.

You can procure all the items you need, most inexpensively, at Walmart (or online at Walmart.com). Here’s the list:

-         Mason jars (usually sold in pack of 8 or 12)

-         Gumballs

-         Silk flowers

-         Sports gear toppers (sold in party favor packs of 12)

-         Labels

-         Washi tape

-         Rubber Cement

I think festive labels make the project so I added ones that said “cheers” and “score”. I typed these up on the computer since my handwriting’s atrocious, and I’m all about cute labeling.

This is also why I added the washi tape around the lid. (Washi tape is usually used for scrapbooking. It comes in many a fabulous pattern and makes the gumball jars extra cute. Totally worth the extra step.)

This is a great project to do alone or with kids. In fact, next weekend I’m going to do it with kids. 154 of them. At the elementary school’s craft fair. 

What could go wrong? Guru girl, a glue gun and gumballs. So, so many gumballs. Wish me luck!

Happy crafting, guru girls & guys! 

Make A Gallery Style Photo Collage: For Less Than $25

Spring break is in the air, guru girls and guys! And you know what that means. Tequila slammers!

Sorry, 90s flashback. Spring break means pictures. Lots of pictures. Not pitchers.

Many of you are escaping somewhere tropical or snowy or, in my case, scorpion-filled.

And on vacation you’ll take some really great pictures, which will then languish on your phone or Instagram account.

Unless you try this great new display I just saw!

Make yourself a gallery wall of vacation pictures. For less than $25. For realz.

Here’s how:

1.      On vacation, make sure to take pictures of more than just your friends and family. Take random shots of cool scenery. Think street signs, flowers, iron gates, funky looking storefronts. Zoom in as tightly as you can so the object fills the entire frame.

2.    Back at home, print out 25 of the best shots, including lots of your scenic ones. The scenic ones are key to giving your display that modern look. Walmart and Walgreens both print pics on the cheap. (Walgreens’ prints are as low as 20 cents per print.)

  

3.    Get thyself a giant sheet of foam board. You can get medium sized ones from Target and big ones from crafting stores like Michael’s or Hobby Lobby. (The 20 x 30 foam board retails for $6 at Hobby Lobby.)

4.    Glue your 25 chosen pictures in rows onto the board.

5.     Frame it up! In a ginormous frame that you’ve picked up from Ikea.  There are dozens of sizes – the Nyttja style fits the 20 x 30 foam board perfectly and sells for $9.99.

Voila! You have yourself a gallery-worthy art piece that doesn’t make you scratch your head and wonder what in the heck just happened.

Uh oh. There goes that pesky 90s flashback again.

Try this photo display and the only thing you’ll be flashing back to is the great vacation you just took.

Happy spring break, guru girls & guys! 

3 Easy Steps: Conceal Your T.V. Remote

As a committed fan of both DIY and clutter busting, you’d think I’d be all over the project Country Living magazine labeled “Fresh Plotline For Used Book”. It’s basically the old-cleverly-conceal-the-t.v.-remote-in-a-book ruse.

But no, I am not into it. In fact, I am the opposite. I am actively against this project. Because this plan seems like a perfect way to lose the remote control forever.

And I need no help with this. The guru crew loses the remote regularly. In fact, the remote is currently lost – I mean, cleverly concealed – in a box. The problem is… which box?

 

Once I find the damn thing you can bet I am not going to willingly hide it again, anywhere, ever, even in an antique book, whose presence on my coffee table makes me look readerly instead of junk-television-addicted.

This disguised remote project doesn’t make me as mad as some of my other pet peeves (see getups in the Sundance catalogue). But it gets me a little bit riled up. Clearly, I need to relax with some mindless television.

Except I need the remote to do that.

If you are not as bitter as I am, and you want to tackle this project, google for instructions. Or go to the library for the May 2013 edition of Country Living.  

Happy remote-control concealing, guru girls & guys!

Enrich The Swear Jar: Make A Duct Tape Garland

What’s not to love about a festive, summer garland? Especially one that’s made from duct tape, something we have in plentiful supply around here.

So when I read about this great and easy-to-do craft, I was in!

I pilfered 3 rolls of the 10 year old’s duct tape, and I got busy.

 

The magazine said it was easy.

1.      Cut piece of rope to desired length.

 

2.    Drape a long piece of duct tape over the rope so the tape’s ends meet up. Snip a “v” into the end so the section hangs in an attractive point.

 

3.    Repeat with alternating duct tape colors until your garland is done.

 

Like many things in life (break ups, child birth, living carb free), these directions are easier said than done.

For one thing, duct tape is very sticky. So when you drape it over itself onto the rope, the tape sticks together in irritating clumps that are impossible to smooth out because they’re so darn sticky.

And it’s not like you suffer through this process just once. Instead, you must repeat it for every single point you make for the garland (which is typically 10). Basically, it’s Greek Crafting 101, and you’re Sisyphus.

 

I gave up after making 3 points. My failure was partly due to the fact that my 10 year old photographer was laughing so hard that her pictures were blurry. But the failure was mostly due to my skyrocketing frustration with duct tape that refuses to lie and craft magazine editors who do nothing but lie.

Easy project, my a$$, lying magazine editors. This project did not put me in a festive or patriotic spirit at all. Tune in later this week to see what did!

Loopdedoo Friendship Bracelets: Embrace Your Inner Girl Scout

Summer is fully under way here at chez guru girl. And the craft-a-thon has begun. We’ve made clay animals, funky textiles, duct tape clothing and splatter art that would make Jackson Pollock proud. (It was actually Grandma who oversaw the splatter project. You know my stress-induced eye twitch? Splatter painting with the Dynamic Duo = recipe for total face twitch. A fashion "don’t" if ever there was one.)

But the runaway winner of our crafting sessions has been the friendship bracelet. Based on the amount of time the 10 year old spends hunched over the bracelet-making machine, you’d think I was running a friendship bracelet sweat shop. Completely voluntary. With lots of bathroom breaks, unlocked exits and delicious snacks.

So the environment is less sweat shoppy and more Brooklyn artisan-y. The results are Brooklyn hip too. The bracelet weaving machine -- the Loop De Doo -- makes some great looking friendship bracelets.

Here’s what’s even better: the Loop De Doo is so easy the 10 year old can operate it herself. The entire shift! I mean, crafting session. With not one “Mom, can you…” request.  Unlike the sticker making machine we once had, whose inner workings required a certificate in machinery to manipulate. I donated this damn thing on the sly. If “donate” means threw away in a fit of sticker machine fury.

But the Loop De Doo earns none of my ire and all of the 10 year old’s praise. Get one for the child laborer in your life. Available on amazon.com for around $33 and also at local toy stores. (Click this link to go to amazon.com to learn more about the Loopdedoo.)

It Is The Experience

While crafting with kids, repeat this mantra “It is the experience.”

It’s not the final product.

 

The condition of your sink.

 

Or the fact that every flat surface of your house has been frosting-bombed.

It is the experience they will remember.

4 Rules For Crafting With Kids

 

In her magazine this month Martha Stewart shared how eager she is to bake and craft with her grandchildren, who are 1 and 3 years old respectively. I’m pretty sure my attention span and attention to detail would drive Martha batty. Am sure it will go much better with grandchildren under age 5.

There are some things to remember about crafting with kids (or an ADHD crafter like guru girl):

1.     You’ve got to value the experience, not the result.

2.     You’ve got to prominently display the result. Even if it’s questionable.  

3.    You’ve got to embrace the shortcut. Hear that, Martha? No churning of your own butter or plucking tail hair from your own horse and braiding it into a Christmas ornament. I am not lying. This last one Martha actually did this year. Tail hair plucking and braiding is too time consuming to be fun. Plus the result is not at all sparkly, which is gonna be a total deal breaker for any little girl crafter.   

4.    You’ve got to spend more money. Yes, you can get a gingerbread house kit at the store for $10. You have to assemble the walls of this house with frosting, wait for them to set up and then curse under your breath when they fall down.

 

      All of this takes time. And you have to do it while your kids rampage around the crafts table, whining about the wait and eating all of the decorations. This is not a fun experience. (See the above pic of my grandma doing a retro gingerbread house with the Dynamic Duo. Note how annoyed even great grandma looks, as well as the number of Diet Pepsi cans she was using to try to stabilize the walls.)

Spend more money on the kit where the house comes already assembled and ready for the fun part: the candy decoration. Yes, the kit costs twice as much, but the experience is twice as fun. And at the end of the day that’s what crafting with kids is about: the fun time, not the 4 letter words uttered by the adult in charge.

 

 (Click this link to see a pre-assembled kit at World Market, available for $19.99, free shipping.)

  

Big Art, Cheap!

So it’s summer vacation, and the Dynamic Duo are making Pablo Picasso – with his daily sketches – look like an underachiever. Let’s just say, the art output at our house is as high as Adam Lambert’s pompadour.

How’s a proud parent to display so many artistic treasures without going broke at the frame store? Mod Podge is your answer. At our house Mod Podge has a cult-like following. As the X-P90 workout is to you & your guy, Mod Podge is to the elementary set. Positively addicting! (Confession: I am actually not an X-P90 devotee. It looks incredibly hard and painful, and you know guru girl’s attitude toward pain.)

Back to the artistic display method… Buy a big canvas at an art store. You can get one for around $10. Pick 3 of your kids’ art pieces. It looks better if they are somewhat related in theme or color. Tape the art onto the canvas and slather on the Mod Podge. Mod Podge will glue the art pieces to your canvas and provide a nice gloss too. Voila! For roughly $20 you have an enormous art piece, ready for display.

Even better? You know the artists. Heck, you made lunch for them earlier today. When they make it big in the art world, they’ll remember their first supporter – she who made their lunch and purchased their supplies. And they’ll keep you in style in the old folks’ home. Or will at least keep you supplied with Mod Podge.

Duct Tape Purse/Makeup Bags

Craft It Up: Duct Tape Purse/Makeup Bags

“Now it’s your turn to sit on my face!” These words will strike fear into the heart of any parent, especially when you hear one of your children shriek them, and they are followed by the howling cry of her 6 year old sister.

Nothing good comes from face-sitting. So what’s a parent -- in the middle of the undisciplined orgy that is summer vacation-- to do?  The answer, ladies, is duct tape. No, not to wrap up your warring offspring. Duct tape art projects! Duct tape is not just for your favorite fella to use when he’s putting together bookshelves and can’t figure out where the screws go.

You know the cute clutches sold at those retro, hip stores where the salesclerks sport more art on their body than you have on your living room walls? That cute, little clutch that retails for big bucks? That’s what you’re gonna make.

You’re actually going to oversee your people making it. So you get the added bonus of being able to brag that your 6 year old made your fabulous clutch for you. Additionally, it’s an art project your kiddo will make for you that you’ll actually want to be seen with (as opposed to other craft projects, see Exhibit A: Pioneer Candle).

You only need 2 things for this project: a little patience and a Duct Tape Kit. Only $17.99 at Target, this kit comes with 3 different duct tapes. Drum roll, please – the tapes are not boring grey but striped with fabulous, pop-arty designs.  The kit also comes with 2 tote-style, paper bags.

Bust out the tape & let your little handbag designer go crazy wrapping the tape around the bag. All you have to do is snip off the tape strips when your kiddo tells you the desired length. Once the bag is wrapped with the many different designs of tape, it’s a pop-art creation worthy of Andy Warhol himself. And you’ll walk around, sporting your new bag, with a little Warhol swagger yourself. Sure, it’s just the grocery store you’re visiting, but your swagger says Studio 54’s the next stop on your list.

Bonus: you can use the leftover tape to fashion cute makeup bags from the Ziplocs in your kitchen drawer, as shown in the picture below.

What They're Making At Summer Camp These Days

Will Make You Smile Or Delete Me From Your Browser: Pioneer Candle

The Dynamic Duo, a.k.a. our 9 year old and 6 year old, attended Homesteading Camp last week. Much butter-churning, wagon-riding fun was had by all. Even more epic? The crafts.

This candle, created by said 9 year old, was my favorite. Because it says a lot about the pioneers. It says, yes, illumination is important, but we’ll take our light with a little bit of boom-chicka-chicka on the side. Plains ain’t gonna populate themselves.

And really, who doesn’t need a little boom-chicka-chicka inspiration? Not our house. We’ve got it in spades now. Every time we look at this candle.