Furniture Embellishment Ideas

I like to transform ugly furniture into a beautiful piece. I'm sharing a photo
of a table that was really ugly, in the beginning. It has good bones. I added luxurious
upholstery velvet, and transformed the once ugly piece into an Asian influenced end table.

Here's how I did it:
I painted the top and bottom edges black. I stapled dacron to the sides. (You can use spray
adhesive, like upholsterers use). Next, I stapled a luxurious upholstery velvet to the top,
sides and bottom of each section. I added a piece of the fabric cut to fit, to the top. I
hot-glued black feathery gimp around the top part of the sides, and the bottom, to hide
the staples. Next I hot-glued black gimp to the top edges. I added decorative nail
head tacks to to the top corners. I took it outside and sprayed Scotch-guard all over the
sides and top, and let it dry.

I added black talons to the front door pulls, for an added touch. Voila! Now it's
an Asian inspired end table.

If you have any questions about this project, email me : 1fuego11@gmail.com.

Buy Easy Crafts on a Budget here:  https://www.createspace.com/3813688

The postman who built a castle

The photos below are of a castle, built by Cheval, a postman, who
built a castle out of tiny stones, over a period of 30 years.
This was on Messy Nessy's site recently. The building inspires me
to never stop creating.
Enjoy the photos!





For more info: http://www.facteurcheval.com

Buy Easy Crafts on a Budget for Kids 4 to 104 here: https://www.createspace.com/3813688

The Day After Halloween

We had much fun creating a werewolf look for Fugesto last night.
I added the nose with spirit gum, then hair for eyebrows and on
the sides of his face. I painted his face brown and  black to blend
in with the prosthetic nose.

We found some rubber fingers with claws that fit over
the fingers (adult size). I cut an inch off the length of
each finger, so they would fit Fuegesto's fingers. Next
we took a pair of gloves and cut the tips of the fingers
so the claws would show when he put the gloves on.
The gloves held the fingers in place, while keeping his
hands warm. Everywhere Fugesto went, he received
compliments on how scary and real he looked.

When we arrived home and began taking the makeup off of his face,
we encountered a little difficulty removing the fake hair and nose
which were held on with spirit gum. I first tried removing the gum
with q-tips and vitamin E cream, gently going over the glued
areas. That worked fairly well, but was a slow process. The
eyebrows were really stuck. We tried oil (cooking oil), dipping
q-tips in the oil, applying extra amounts on top of the glued area. That
worked great! Fugesto did not enjoy the 45 minutes it took
to remove all the makeup saying next year he'll wear only a mask!

Hint: Use cooking oil or olive oil to remove spirit gum on prosthetics
          to save time!

Welcome to Toys, Gifts, Arts and Crafts!

Hi! Welcome to Toys, Gifts, Arts and Crafts!

This blog is a joint effort with my creative assistant, Fuguesto Fiesta
who is a close family member and 8 years old.

We will share our favorite crafts projects, cool toys, costume ideas,
and painting projects we enjoy.

Since today is Halloween, Fuguista wants to share an idea
on how to make a swamp creature costume. You'll need:

              cheesecloth 2 yards
              green spray paint (light color like mint green)
              safety pins
              long sleeve shirt
              green theatre makeup
              black theatre makeup

Hint: You can find packages of cheesecloth at your local
          dollar store, and often you can find spray paint at
          Big Lots or similar close-out stores for close to $1
          can.

First take the cheesecloth and spray it with the green paint.
Allow it to dry 30 minutes or longer. Pin the green cheesecloth
to a shirt so that it hangs over the arms and front of the shirt.
Drape it over the back of the shirt and pin it at the shoulders.
(Or you can hand stitch the cheesecloth with a needle and
thread).

Take the green theatre makeup and draw scales on your
face and hands (in the shape of simple leaves overlapping).
Add details to your face with the black makeup. Add
plants (fake or real) to the cheesecloth for a realistic touch.
Enjoy scaring everyone out of the swamp!