Pinterest DIY #8

Original pin: http://www.instructables.com/id/CD-Art/

CD art! Finally something that seems easy enough to attempt. I was browsing through Pinterest when I stumbled upon (and tripped over) a CD art pin. It looked way too good to be true but for you, I gave it a try. I already had some CDS lying around so I
took up the chance to have a go at it.

Materials you'll need:

1. A CD you do not plan on using again for its intended use

2. Black acrylic paint

3. Paint brush

4. Sharp tool (toothpick, skewer, etc.)

5. Pencil

6. Design

How to Do it!

Step 1: I bet you can guess by now. Gather your materials!

Step 2: Start with painting your shiny side of the CD with the black paint.

The amount of coverage you would like (covering inner ring, sides of the CD, pre-design).

Step 3: Let the paint dry (watching it is optional). I let it dry overnight in my garage since it rained during the night.
Step 4: I searched through my cabinets for toothpicks but couldn't find a single one. Even my dishwasher didn't seem to contain one. My last resort was a meat skewer. To my luck, I found a plethora of skewers.

Step 5: Next I picked out a design. Since I am not the slightest bit creative, I copied one of the original poster's designs with slight variations. After understanding what I wanted to carve out, I drew the design onto the dry acrylic paint in pencil.

Step 6: The calm and soothing part of this DIY is carving the design out. Using slight pressure on a pointed tip and dragging the point along the design seemed to work best. Periodically wiping off the tip of the tool you are using, and the painted part of the CD ensures you don't miss any spot or press too hard resulting in a deep scratch in the CD (which you do not want.)

Step 7: After carefully etching your pattern or desired design into the CD, blow off any remaining "acrylic dust" off with a high powered air compressor.

Oh? Do you not have access to that? Silly me; I don't either though, so I used a wet paper towel.

At this point I wish I had a high powered air compressor. Apparently acrylic paint comes straight off of CDs when any moisture is introduced. But frivolous me decided, "A water soluble paint wouldn't come off such a smooth surface with water and hard scrubbing." So... I redid it. Just for you! I redid the whole process for you! 

Step 8: Wipe off the finished product with a DRY paper towel and correct any imperfections left. 
Step 9: Put it somewhere! Hang it in your dining room, or possibly a museum!

The Perfect Cup of Lemonade

Hello my beautiful readers! I was spending some time outside in the scorching sun watching all the blooming flowers and lemons sway in the wind. This is when I came to the realization that if I didn't make lemonade now; I couldn't after the sun's rays burn them to ash, and I would have to wait a whole year for citrus season to come once again.
As I walked into the garden I snatched some eggs from our coop and noticed the bright orange oranges.
At this point I was ready for the most magnificent cup of lemonade. With a bag filled with juicy citrus and a couple fresh eggs

The small yellow things are loquats, had them as a snack!

I proudly marched in through the kitchen door and started setting up.

Heads starting popping from every window and corner requesting a cup of the freshly squeezed bright colored juice. I knew I had to quadruple production.

To keep up with the demand, I washed and cut a bunch more. That ended up not being enough either, I had to go back and pick a couple more lemons and oranges off the trees.

Using a citrus squeezer and a funnel,

 I filled two glasses: one of lemon juice and another of orange juice.

Now it was time for the final step.
I had to combine the lemon juice, with orange juice, and dilute it to PERFECTION. This step was to ensure everyone was enjoying their amazingly fresh lemonade.

I was not underwhelmed by the final product. It turned out to be one of the best drinks I've ever tasted!

And that is how I made the perfect cup of lemonade! You should try it yourself too. All you have to do is: plant a couple trees, wait around 10 years for them to grow and start producing the most juiciest fruits there ever was, harvest them, and follow the same steps I did in this wonderfully laid out picture tutorial. (I had that whole 10 year tree thing taken care of, thank you grandma!)

Hologram!

Yes, you read the title right. I made a hologram -- kinda.
I had purchased some cds which came with cd cases which was just what I needed for this project.

Oh boy was I excited!

Materials you'll need:

1. CD plastic case

2. Smartphone or tablet with Youtube

3. Exacto knife or other cutting tool

4. Hot glue gun

5. Pen

6. Pencil
7. Ruler
8. Scissors

How to Do it!

Step 1: Gather your materials ^_^

Step 2: Draw a 1 cm x 3.5 cm x 6 cm isosceles trapezoid

and cut that out to be your template.

Step 3: Break off the cover flap of the case

and snap off the sides.

Step 4: Trace the template onto the flat plastic.

Step 5: With your cutting tool either score the material or if you are using a tool that grates away material, cut straight through. (A grating tool would be like a high speed rotary tool.)
This was where I went wrong. I stupidly tried to use a pair of scissors to cut it out, this is what happened.

Step 6: For me, scoring the plastic with an exacto knife 

took about 30-45 minutes per trapezoid.

Snap out the piece.

Step 7: Use your first piece as your new template. Trace and cut 3 more trapezoids.

Step 8: If needed sand down the sides to make sure they are the right size. (I just shaved the sides with an exacto knife.)

Step 9: Arrange the pieces into a 3D square pyramid with top and bottom corners touching.

Step 10: Hot glue each piece to the other until you are left with your hologram maker thing.

Step 11: On your phone pull up youtube and play one of these channel's videos:

Hologram Videos!
And put your hologram maker small side down in the middle.

Nail Polish Cup Decorating

For you my friend, I decided to try this out: Nail polish-water-mug-dipping-thing!
I headed over to the thrift store; no luck finding a plain mug. Next I went to the 99 cents store; wasn't anything different. Last resort was Dollar King, There was not a SINGLE mug.
But there were some clear glass cups. Glass cups and mugs are practically the same thing.
Good enough I guess. Next was nail polish.
I personally don't own any so I had to purchase some. Two bottles: one pink and one blue seemed plenty.

Because it was a large cup, I found it necessary to use a big bucket for the water.

Hypothetically, I'm supposed to drop nail polish into the water and let it bead up to form a cool design.
I'm not entirely sure if I was doing it right or if the water wasn't the right temperature. Possibly the quality of the nail polish?
But then again, the whole set of instructions was in Italian.
And the only Italian words I know are baguette, curly mustache, and Eiffel Tower-- that isn't even Italian is it?
Anyways that just added to my struggle of this all. What ended up happening is the blue polish created a weird film on the water

which just was not attractive on the cup when I swooped it down into the water.

It looked like a complete mess. But no one wants to keep that around.
I went back to Dollar King and bought another glass. And a more expensive ($5) pink polish from CVS. This time when I dropped the polish in it beaded up, and then created a film layer.

At this point I didn't really care, so I swooped it back down into the water to pick up the stuff.
It... it didn't look too great, but it works.

 I was broke from the $10 DIY so I had no choice but to call it a day.

Simple Tutorials: Walking

Hey guys! I thought it would be a good idea to make a mini-series on simple tutorials just for fun. This inspiration came from a close friend of mine, so shout out to her ^_^
Anyways in this series I will be sharing with you basic instructions on simple tasks for your enjoyment! So without further ado, lets get on with the tutorial.

Step 1: Know your goal,
Your goal is to progress and slowly master the art of walking. By keeping your goal in mind you will become a walking master!
Step 2: Prepare.
Prepare for your goal by keeping your mind set on it with no distractions. Planning will result in the best outcome!
Step 3: Get ready.
Have a flat area prepared and your best walking shoes on.
Step 4: Stand.
The first step to successfully walking is by starting the session with a good standing posture. To ensure you have a straight back, try balancing an automobile atop your head. This will signify that your spine is straight and that you may carry on with your preparation for a stride.
Step 5: Begin.
Failure is always acceptable when you are trying to learn a new skill, start off with just picking up your foot and replacing it onto the floor, Repeat this circuit on each leg until you are comfortable with that process.
Step 6: Continue.
Proceed forward cautiously placing your foot in a straight line onto the floor ahead of you. Try maintaining balance so the automobile does not fall off your head.
Step 7: Keep it up!
You can't stop now! This is your real crucial point. Try your hardest to maintain balance and work your way forward through the repeated motion suggested in Step 6.
Step 8: Turns
Turning will require full focus and dedication. Start by placing your outside turning foot at a 45 degree angle towards the way you wish to be turning. Put your inside foot parallel to that and continue walking. Starting off with a smaller angle turn will be easiest, you may slowly start increasing how sharp of a turn you would like to make over time.
Tips:
1. Keep focused and don't give up! Practice makes perfect!
2. Walking while swinging your arms makes you look more human like, so do some of that.
3. By keeping a straight back, you may look professional from the start.
4. Try investing in a good pair of walking shoes. It will increase your performance by a lot.

Cons:
1. You may trip and fall and break your neck.

Pinterest Diy #7

The cutest Diy for a little boy's birthday  (or girls, I don't judge). These adorable Dino plates will have you wanting to decapitate plastic toys! It can be used as a food platter or as storage. In my case, I'm using it as split storage for my loose items. For this project you are supposed to use a hacksaw, but I didn't have a hacksaw at the time, so I just brought out my handy dandy Dremel.

Materials you'll need:

1. A plastic or rubber toy with stable legs

2. A plate or something you would like to attach it to

3. A cutting tool of your choice

4. Hot glue gun or an adhesive to attach the the pieces

5. Something to sand the rough edges of the cut pieces (Optional, if cut doesn't come out entirely clean)

How to Do it!

Step 1: As you may have guessed, gather your materials!

Step 2: Trace a line on the toy that you will proceed to cut out.

Step 3: Split the toy into two down the center 

and sand of any rough edges.

Step 4: Wash the plate and remove all labels. Trace the dinosaur onto the center of the plate to know where to place the hot glue.

Step 5: Whip out your hot glue gun and place glue onto the trace line and press the part down. Do this for both parts of the toy,

Step 6: Let it dry and then place whatever you would like into it!

Step 7: Set it out for display and enjoy!

Another Pendant

Oh look at this. I decided to have another go at making a pendant.
The other day I went to a small electronics recycling shack to recycle some lithium and lead acid batteries. I spotted a nice board once belonging to a server. It had very little copper traces (which I learned to avoid from my last experience), in a decent sized area. So I thought, "Why not try and ask the guy if I could take it." To my surprise he was happy to give it to me, and offered to save all the boards he comes by for me! He was so nice about everything, so expect more posts about making things with boards!

When I got home I noticed there were a lot of capacitors and resistors all over the area I wanted to use. With a hammer and two pliers I was able to take out many of the surface glued parts.

At this point there was nothing more that was possible to take out with a hammer and pliers (they were soldered).

All that was left to do was make the pendant. But to do that, I had to figure out a shape less complex. A rectangle was most likely my best bet. I free handed a rectangle onto a part of the board which had little to no copper deposits

Top left has no deposits

 with a fine tipped sharpie.

Now it was time to cut it out. I take a trip to Home Depot to buy some extra blades, sanding pieces, and an extra mandrel to replace my other one with a stripped screw.

With my safety gear on, I proceed to make 3 straight rough cuts on the drawn lines.

 

After that popped out, I used my new sanding piece to smooth the edges.

Since the Dremel is slightly hard to handle when working with small detailing work, I used a drill instead. I drilled a 5/8" hole for the necklace chain to go through and wore it proudly for the remainder of the day.

That sums up my second attempt at creating a pendant from a board! Thanks for reading <3 Love you all ♥