Lightbulbs Display Tutorial

This post is inspired by an awesome Pin that I found on Pinterest!

I was looking around for table displays, especially ones with a lighted aspect, and thought this lantern light was too cool to pass up.

Here's how you do it:

STEP ONE:

Grab a flameless electric candle (it's safer) and a glass that it will fit in. 

(Also make sure that the glass fits into the "lantern" jar on step two.)

Put the candle inside the glass.

                                           

STEP TWO:

Find a larger jar or vase to put the glass inside. 

Make sure there is some room along the sides to fit the light-bulbs

STEP THREE:

Find a bunch of light bulbs. 

Night-light light bulbs work the best. (I found a bunch of them at the dollar store)

STEP FOUR: 

Fill the vase with the candle with the small light bulbs. 

Fill and shift around to your satisfaction.

TA'DA!

Stand back and admire your work.

Now you have an amazing display. 

(These pictures don't do them much justice, they look much cooler when its darker in the room)

Try it out! They make pretty cool table decorations, night lights or another piece to your Steampunk collection!

Recycle - Reuse

As a crafter, I have a hard time throwing anything away (you never know what you can reuse).

One of my friends gave me an idea about using Altoid Tins for business card holders. Of course, I took the idea and ran with it!

I made mine to look like a little Steampunk suitcase!

It was super easy to make. Grab some fun scrapbook paper, a few charms, ribbon and modge podge!

To complete the suitcase look, I added a little pocket. 

My cards will be very accessible at my craft table and presentable!

These little guys can be used for so much more than just business card holders. You can use them as change holders (though they may jingle a lot), to hold bandaids, mini first aid kits, draw inside and make your own tic-tac-toe with magnets or secret boxes, etc...

Here's one with metal-looking paper. 

Hats Off To You

I love that Steampunk fashion is an open book. Pretty much anything goes.
Here is my creation of another new top hat.

And the best part about making your own is that you can make it look like whatever you want! 

I took some fun pendants and used them as the center focal point for my hat.

The pendant I chose for this hat is the Owl.

The owl represents wisdom and intuitive knowledge. They also grant you the ability to see what is hidden to most.

I added some fun gears to compliment the owl and add to the Steampunk vibe.

Look through your jewelry box and find anything that is broken or you don't wear anymore. Don't throw it away! Use it to embellish something like an awesome top hat.

Hats, HaTs, HATS!

Lately, I've been going a little crazy over the funnest Steampunk Project. 

Top Hats!

Top Hats can been seen all through Steampunk fashion and movies. Various sizes fit various costumes.

My personal preference is what I like to call, The Mini!

Mini top hats hold a special place in my heart because they can be worn with any hair style and pretty much any costume. 

I've even seen a few mini's made for brides! 

They're everywhere!

So, I put my creative juices to work and made a new batch of Mini Top Hats. 

(They'll be for sale on my Etsy soon ;) )

I make my top hats from scratch. True to my recycling ways, I use things that normally people would throw out. Such as, cereal boxes, toilet paper rolls and scraps of fabric.

It doesn't take much to make a mini hat. I shop at the scrap section of the store and always find more than enough fabric to cover my hats (for a cheaper price!)

                                

Since they are made from anything I can get my hands on, they each come out completely unique!

There are some people who think Steampunk is just slapping a few gears on something and calling it good.

I believe that Steampunk is an expression, and I try to add that expression to every work of art that I make.

Here's an example of a little hat that I made out of a toilet paper roll!

I have a few more toilet paper roll hats here.

Why not give it a try. See what you come up with!

If you're interested in a custom order, please message me.

Steampunk My Gun!

If you're like me, you love watching youtube tutorials to learn something new! You can learn how to do pretty much anything from youtube!

Anyway, the other day I was checking out how to make a steampunk gun.
(Not that I needed one, but I thought it might be a skill that would come in handy later on in life.) 

Needless to say, after watching the tutorials, I wanted to go out and get a Nerf gun and try my hand at this new technique!

Here's the completed version!

Not bad for my first try. This isn't a nerf gun, it's a squirt gun (cost me like $3). I still need to take off the plastic cap and cover it with something else, but I like it!

 Here's what you do to make your own!

Grab some:

Black Paint

Gold/Brown/Silver paint (metallic brands work best)

Sand paper

Your fingers (don't forget those!)

Newspaper

Paintbrushes

Gears (or other embellishments)

STEP ONE

Peel any stickers off and try sand off any toy brand engravings. 

 STEP TWO

Lay down your newspaper to protect the table. Then paint the entire thing BLACK!

This will help with the antique look in a minute.

As you can see, I left the green tank green, I thought it looked cool the way it was.

STEP THREE

Dip your finger in the brown paint and gently rub it all over the gun. It looks like rust!

Be sure to skim over the cracks and creases, makes it look older.

At this point I glued on a few gears because I wanted them to be the same color as the entire gun. 

If you want your gears (or whatever decoration you chose) to stand out more, you can glue them on later.

STEP FOUR

Now dip your small paintbrush into the silver or gold and go to town. 

The cool thing is that you get to decide what colors you want where!

I used both silver and gold, highlighting some key parts in silver and leaving some of the black to show through, giving it more character. play around with it.

(Remember, if you mess up, you can always paint the whole thing black again and start over)

STEP FIVE

Dip your finger in the brown again and go over the top once more (to add a bit more "rust"). 

My gold made it look like a newer gun. To make a more antique gun you can mix a bit of brown into the gold before painting it.

STEP SIX

Touch up.

Remember, it doesn't have to be perfect.

Mistakes add character. ;)

Nevertheless, I'm going to go back and highlight a few more areas.

Don't forget!!!

Have a little fun with it! 

This took me a few hours, because i'm a flipping perfectionist and I was making up a few things as I went. 

If you need a different tutorial for different styles, head on over to youtube!

Now I'm armed and dangerous...with water at least haha

Gear Obsession

The number one feature in Steampunk has got to be gears! Those little guys are present in almost every Steampunk piece I see, especially in jewelry! 

The cool thing, is that they also come in so many varieties, you can put them anywhere. I busted open a few watches a while ago and got out tiny gears. From the store you can purchase larger craft gears and my friend and I took apart a clock to get even bigger gears.

As you can see, the possibilities are endless!

So, you can see why I am obsessed!!! Now I can't just make anything that is half industrial looking; I have to embellish everything with gears, gears, gears!

Steampunk rings are so much fun, because you can wear them in and out of costume. I can easily show off my unique style everyday!

I've made so many rings that I've lost track. I always have loved the stacked look. I could just picture these gears on a machine!

Here are a few that I whipped up within minutes! They were a piece of cake, but the also turned into a piece of art. :)

Gears can just as easily be added to earrings. These are simple, but they still hold enough character to create a statement. I love them! I've gotten a lot of compliments with these. And another plus, they are super easy to make!

I like to take plain chain and embellish them with gears. It gives it such a textured look

This locket is a small size, but the gears show it off perfectly. 

Anyway, I just had to get my obsession off my chest!

Steampunk on You Tube

As I get ready for the convention, I find myself day dreaming about the DIY (Do it yourself) projects that I can make not only for my costume, but as well to sell.

The possibilities are literally endless because I am at square one. I don't actually have anything made yet, but I'm brainstorming. I can't wait to make my mini top hat, It's going to blow your mind! I will definitely post that when I make it this week. 

I was snooping around You Tube earlier today and found some really cool tutorials for things such as: 

"How to make your own top hat out of foam" 

"How to make a mini top hat out of card stock" 

and "How to make a lace mask out of hot glue"!

These are all ideas that I was thinking about for my costume (though I make my top hats out of different supplies that are a bit stronger than foam or card stock).

When I first began to make jewelry, You Tube was a great teacher in the way of that art. You can pretty much learn anything you want from You Tube!

Even how to make a Steampunk Flashdrive!

The only bad thing about typing in Steampunk DIY in You Tubes search engine, is that I don't have enough time to make all those items!

What's a girl to do?!

I hope some of those links inspire you guys to try and make a few of your own Steampunk Accessories. I would love to hear about it!