International Talk Like a Pirate Day

 

Ahoy, maties ! Happy International Talk Like a Pirate day . You think I am making it up. Aye! Don't you ?  But I am not. Check Wikipedia or do some google search yourself . Here are some fun facts I found online. The idea for this day was born in 1995 in Albany, Oregon. Two friends named John "Ol' CHumbucket " Baur and Mark "Cap'n Slappy "Summers came up with this idea .This movement or made up holiday or whatever you want to say it is has grown over the years. So I thought today will be just the perfect day to share some cool pirate related craft activities. Easy DIY things to dress up as a pirate. Before our rickety ship sails let's get ye educated . Avast ye ! As I work on my pirate literacy why don't you try these crafts ? Yo ho ho !

Materials -

1. Black cardstock

2. White cardstock  (optional)

3. White paint

4. Black thread 

5. Jute twine 

6. Kitchen towel paper tube 

7. Scissors, glue, tape 

Pirate Eye Patch -

1. Cut a circle from black cardstock . Size it such that it will cover your eye. Chop off less than 1/4th part of the circle across. Draw a skull picture with white paint . Add black thread to the back of your eye patch . Tie it on matey !

Pirate Hat -

1. Cut a 2'' wide and very long strip out of black cardstock. The strip should be long enough to cover the entire circumference of your head . Glue the ends together to make a crown/ring to fit around your head .

2. Make 2 cut outs from the black cardstock . The cut outs should look like this picture .

3. Using white paint draw a skull on one cut out and crossbones on the other. Add cutouts to the long strip such that one is in the front (sitting above the forehead ) and one in the back of your head sitting below the crown of your head .Your pirate hat is ready.

Hair Extension -

1.Cut jute twine in 3 pieces depending on how long your hair is. Match it to the same length or just a bit shorter . 

2. Braid the 3 pieces together. Use a hairclip to secure and wear the braid. Your hair extension is ready .

Lastly the kitchen paper towel tube can be used as a telescope. All Hand Hoay !

DIY Cake Bunting

I just love decorating for all occasions . You just name it- festivals, birthdays, parties, baby showers . And  I love DIY decorations more than store brought ones. I know my kids could care less if their mom made decorations or brought them from store for their birthday . But I enjoy every bit of the process of making decorations. During the Pandemic was my birthday. We were in the initial phase when there was a lockdown. All the quarantine talk, social distancing measures  and scary news everyday felt so depressing.  I wanted to do something to cheer me up . So I decided to make a cute little cake bunting. Arts and crafts activities are my stress busters. With the materials on hand I started working on this project. In less than 30mins I finished it too. A cute little bunting was a perfect addition to my home baked eggless date cake. I love the contrast of mint twine against the pink colored triangles. The 3D green flowers were a perfect addition . The green color was so fresh that it brought a smile on my face and heightened the much needed positivity. After all adorable and handmade is what I love and it makes me happy . Did you like my bunting ?

Materials-

1. Cardstock paper 

2. Twine

3. Popsicle sticks

4. Scissors , glue and tape

5. Embellishments (optional )

Step by step instructions -

1. Cut little triangles(or any other shape you like ) from pink cardstock. 

2. Cut the alphabets in white cardstock . I used my Cricut machine to cut the alphabets .

3.  Glue the letters onto the traingles .

4. Using a tape add the triangles onto a baker's twine.

5.Wrap the twine over the popsicle sticks at the edge tying a knot to secure the bunting .

6. Add embellishments to cover the knot which secured the twine to the popsicle sticks. I used the 3D flower stickers .

Tips -

1. Wooden skewers or drinking straws work well to make a bunting . I used popsicle sticks since I did not have anything else at hand . 

2. Spacing is the key to fit the bunting on the cake .

3.You can punch holes and thread the twine instead of using tape. 

4. Replace pre made embellishments with shapes cut from cardstock. Stars, balloons, hearts to name a few . Get creative. 

5.Instead of cutting alphabets from cardstock you can hand write or stencil the letters. 

Fall Decor Ideas

Fall to me means family, guests, get together. I love to decorate in sync with the season. With the pandemic this year we will not be inviting people over. But that is no excuse to not decorate the house. I love fall and I love decorating the house. Pumpkins, buntings, wreaths , warm knit blankets and so much more. Freshening up the front porch or a change in mantle decor or just setting up the dinning table with a new runner sets in the mood for the season. 

Instead of buying new things for decor I always raid the basement or my craft room. I love arts and craft . So creating new projects for home decor is like my favorite thing to do and a good stress buster too. I recently made a fall bunting from cardstock. it was so much fun and a quick project with my kid K.  I already had the autumn leaves SVG saved on my Cricut Design Space from that project. So I decided to use the same SVG images and create something to co-ordinate with the fall bunting. For this new project I used scraps of paper from the previous bunting project (go green and recycle ). This pandemic has surely taught me to make the most use of all that I already have, buy less and reduce clutter.  I had previously purchased a blank wooden plaque from Michaels. It was just gathering dust in the basement. So I made a small hanging card (if that is even a real word ) and added it to the wooden plaque to make a wall sign. I used Cricut Explore Air 2 to write the words as well as cut the tiny autumn leaves. I had some orange baker's twine that I used to sort of look like hanging leaves on display at an oval window.  I just love how the beige card looks against the color of wooden plaque. What do you all think ?

Pinterest Projects - DIY Fall Bunting

Fall is here. I love fall season. The air, the weather and of course the pumpkins. Give me bread or cake or cookies or chai...just about anything with pumpkin spice flavor in it and I will happily savor it. I also love fall crafts( any crafts for that matter ).  Buntings, wreaths, mantle decorations. It is so much fun to change/update decor as seasons change. So I decided to make an easy fall bunting. Given the pandemic all I had was cardstock in my craft supply basket . So decided to put my creativity and the Cricut machine to use. And this is what I came up with. 

Materials -

Cardstock paper -beige, orange, red, green, black

Orange ribbon

Glue stick

Scissors 

Cricut Explore Air 2 (optional to use it )

Step by step instructions -

1. Cut the bunting pattern. Here i went with a basic triangle shape.

2. Cut the fall leaf shapes in various colors and patterns 

3. Cut the alphabets F-A-L-L

4. Glue the letters to the triangles using the glue stick 

5. Add the triangles to the ribbon. I used a hot glue gun for this 

6. Add the fall leaves in between the triangles in a pattern you like 

7. Cut the ribbon to desired length once all the decor pieces are added 

Tips-

1. You can change the banner shape to any pattern you like

2. Feel free to write or stencil the letters onto the bunting instead of using pre-cut paper letters

3.You can add pumpkin or acorn shapes instead of the leaves or along with the leaves

Paint/write/draw/cut/stencil...use your imagination any any materials you have at hand . So what are your ideas to make a bunting ?