Art Dolls by Du Buh Du Designs

{ Halloween 2013 }

Halloween 2013 has come and gone and so it's time to wake up from this creative hibernation I've been in and start posting again. For those asking if I'm still creating dolls, yes I am and I'll be having a shop update in December with doll ornaments. More on that as the time comes.

In the meantime..I always post our Halloween costumes and this year Andres wanted to be the character  Sam Flynn from his favorite movie Tron Legacy. We found his outfit online but Andres also wanted a light cycle and so Mark went about creating one using foam, shelf liner adhesive, EL wire, glow sticks, reflective tape, a plastic soda bottle and lots of glue sticks. Needless to say Andres was thrilled with the outcome..and already thinking about next year's costume.

And since it is El Dia de los Muertos, I thought I'd also share some Day of the Dead decorations we made for our home (instead of traditional Halloween ones). They're a little nod to our favorite Dia de los Muertos video "Viva Calaca" byRitxi Ostariz.
 

Have a wonderful weekend !

{ Rocket Valentines }

Candy Rocket Valentines

Valentine's Day, like most holidays, always seems to sneak up on us. I like the idea of making our own cards but we always seem to run out of time and end up getting the inexpensive store bought ones. This year, I decided not to go that route and, instead, design ones for my son to give out to his classmates. Pinterest has some great ideas for Valentines and the one that caught our attention were the Candy Rocket Valentines so I created a version (loosely) based on my son's favorite Saturn V rocket. These were designed to be used with the large or small rolls of Smarties candies. You can use the rockets as cards if you'd rather not give out candy. I've included PDF's at the end of this post if you wish to use them. These would make great party favors all year round ( I included flames that do not have the Valentines message for that reason).

Candy Rocket Valentines/ Rocket Party Favors for kids

 

•  Photo Paper ~I used Epson Matte finish ink jet paper.
Use whatever you already have or prefer. Photo paper is sturdy and gives the rocket a
crisp, vibrant look, but regular printer paper will work too.

• Smarties Candy (4” roll)~I also have pdf’s available for the smaller size. This would also work as a great Valentine's "card" without candy.

• Scotch Tape

• Roll of 3/4”  Vinyl electrical tape

• Regular size Silver cupcake liners. Whatever solid color
you have on hand or aluminum foil will work as well.

•  Low temp. glue gun

•  Scissors

•  Pen

Step one: Cut out the Rocket body and center the candy inside. Tape down the side that has the gray stripes to the Smarties roll. Roll the other side over and glue along he inside edge using the glue gun (use tape instead if you are using regular printer paper). Press down and hold until dry.

  Step Two: Take one of the Silver Cupcake Liners and cut off approx. 3/4" of the trim. Add glue to the base of the rocket body and place the silver trim over it and press down as you go. Just loop around once and trim off the excess silver liner.

 

Step Three (above): Cut out the rocket top shape. Using your fingers, bend the paper so that it's slightly curved. This will help as you try and bend the paper into a cone. You can see where I labeled the edge that goes on the inside. Roll that side inwards and take the outer edge and line it up with the faint gray line. Once you have the cone lined up, take your glue gun and give the inside flap a dab of glue and press it down. This will set your cone in place while you glue down the outer edge along the gray line.

Step Four (above):  Cut off a 3" strip of the Black Vinyl Electrical Tape and wrap it around the base of the cone (half of the tape should be on the cone and the other half stickng up). Loop around once and trim off any excess. Gently press down on any parts that are creased. Then take the tape that is sticking up and fold it over inside the cone and press down. The once should fit nice and snug over the top of the rocket body (line up the seams of the cap and body as that will be the "back side").

 Step Five:  At the base of the rocket, you will see that the candy wrapper 's end is sticking out. Take a dab of glue and glue that down as flat a you can. Take your flame shape and bend the tab at the end so that it's at a 90 degree angle. Place a little bit of glue on the back of the tab and press into the base of the rocket body. Be sure that the back of the flame is also where the rocket body seam is.

And there you have your Valentine's Rocket:)  Since the rocket top is removable, all you have to do is take it off, untwist the candy wrapper and give it a bit of a shake. The candy will come out and the kids can keep the rocket in tact and have fun playing with it (we tried it and it works).

P.S. If you wish to make these as cards, sans the Smarties, may I suggest building the cone first. This way you can roll the rocket body and see that it fits well with the rocket top before you glue/tape the body into place.

Here are the PDF files that you can download for  your own personal use:

 

For the Large Smarties Rockets

Download Rocket_Body_Large

Download Rocket_Flame_Large

Download Rocket_Flame_Large_alternative *

Download Rocket_Top_Large

 

 

For the  Small Smarties Rockets:

Download Rocket_Body_small

Download Rocket_Flame_small

Download Rocket_Flames_Alternative_small * 

Download Rocket_Tops_small

 

* Valentine's message left off

{ El Dia de los Muertos~Arañas }

Spider (Araña) decorations hanging from the loft

Andres has been enjoying the past month of Kindergarten, however he often mentions that his least favorite /most frustrating part of class is when it comes time to cut and paste. So we've been practicing at home and, since El Dia de los Muertos is fast approaching, I thought this might be a fun project for him to try based on the spider in this video by Ritxi Ostáriz  (1:15). We used the look of the spider in the video as a starting point only.The next ones we make will have our own look to it. I'm already thinking of butterflies and other creatures or insects in addition to calaveras (skeletons).

Supplies we used:

bristol paper for the skull, construction paper, ultra fine glitter (eyes and nose), tacky glue

masking tape (to attach legs to the back), chenille stems (for spider legs and mustaches)

Rhinestone flowers and markers for decorative touches

 

 If you're looking for Day of the Dead crafts for kids, here are a few tutorials you might want to try:

* Calavera Catrina by Kathy Cano-Murillo, The Crafty Chica (Kathy's site has lots of tutorials)

*  Sugar Skulls by Mexican Sugar Skull

* Calaveras Masks by Scrumdilly-do

* Papel Picados "Making Magic Windows" by Unschool Me

* Various projects/ideas~by One Pretty Thing (lots of additional links to check out)

 I can hardly believe that October is almost halfway over. I'm a bit behind on my decorations but working away on the second batch .The first I tossed out as I wasn't happy with them..yes, I do that from time to time. Mark has already started building part of Andres' over the top costume; he's the one who ought to do tutorials on the things he builds. And we're looking forward to bringing home pink apples and pumpkins in the next few days..only then will it feel like Fall:)