Saiwai Crafts

Swan Paper Folding

2013-04-14T07:30:00.000-07:00

What does this box of folded triangles mean? It means I'm going to make a swan! Called swan paper folding or 3-D origami, this is an easy way to make some impressive modular origami. For this project I followed the directions found here

I personally find it easier to just fold paper when I have spare time (commercial breaks are great for this!) and once the box is full I will make something.

I assembled my pieces

Look at em in a row!

Started joining them together:

Tada! A base!

Keep adding rows:

And more rows:

And lookie! Wings! Word of advice (which I totally didn't follow) work on both wings at once. Then you have a better chance of making them match up. I made these one at a time and as you can see, they don't match up at all.

Make the neck:

And attach!

He came out pretty cute even if his wings are a bit lopsided. Hope you like!

DIY Liquid Soap

2013-03-25T12:37:00.000-07:00

So I am a girl on a budget. So naturally I love saving money and I also love making my own things so DIY liquid soap seemed right up my ally!

Plus, did you know FUN TIMES are ahead when you stick a bar of Ivory soap in the microwave? No really, LOOK!!!

It blows up into this airy cloud of soap! And yes, this lead to WAY more excitement than it should have. I have always heard that it would do this, but was skeptical. I now may or may not have an extra bar sitting around for days I need a pick me up....maybe. lalalala Moving on!

If you are using something other than Ivory soap, you will need to grate your soap. But, the microwaved Ivory soap is so airy it melts easily (and is fun!)

So add the soap to a pot of warm water and melt away!

I added more water, came back and....well...I now had a pot sized bar o soap. So added more water!

In the end it came out to one gallon water to 1 bar o soap. It is pretty runny, so next time I think I will use a cup or two less and play around. You can always add more water if too thick.

But as you can see, its a bit, well, lumpy.

So I beat it! (was kinda thankful the boyfriend was not home as he would think I was a tad odd for using the mixer on soap...)

Then tada! You are done! I was able to make a gallon of liquid soap for about $0.25 since I got the bar soap on clearance. Not too shabby! Next time will try a little less water to see if I can get it thicker, but overall I am very happy.

And making more means more soap in the microwave which is SO FUN. ^___^

Pillow Case Attempt #2

2013-03-18T15:51:00.002-07:00

So now that I had recovered one of the seats in my chair, the other one was looking downright gross and needed to be covered too!

Yay....Nothing like a good old mystery stain to inspire a pillow cover right? So I learned my lesson last time and invested in some very handy sewing tools...pins! Concept right? Like I said...NEVER claimed to be able to sew...

So once again I wrapped the cushion with the fabric and pined the edges. I was also super carful to make sure I put the finished seams on the right side. See? I can learn!

So I sewed it and wrestled with the pillow to go into the case...and it came out...full of fail. So the odd shape of the cushion totally surpassed my sewing ability. You can see the corners are a bit wonky.

BUT when put back on the chair it is not too terrible! It isn't great, but it is good enough to share a room with a somewhat destructive 4 year old boy. Someday I will stain the chair to match the rest of the dark wood in my place, but that is a project for another day!

Felt Shamrock pin

2013-03-10T06:00:00.000-07:00

I love my grandma. She is who gave me the crafting gene. I love her because she is a total enabler. She tells me she found "a little" felt and wanted to know if I wanted it.

Here is "a little" felt. Oh the projects I will have to make!

With St. Patty's Day coming up I pulled out some green

Now what to make? I was inspired by this pin I found on Pinterest. I started with cutting strips then cutting little pieces with my pattern.

I then string them together...

Cinch up the string and TADA shamrock!

Popped it on a pin

Cute and tiny!

And it was lonely so I made it some friends

But I had more felt. Much more felt. SOOOOOO layers!

I like this one even more. I think this is the one I will wear on St. Patty's. mwhahahaha no one can pinch me now!

Pillowcase Attempt #1

2013-03-04T06:00:00.000-08:00

So the fact I have to put making a pillowcase as an "attempt" should really call out to my lack of sewing skills. This is the most involved sewing project of my life! Usually I just attempt to hem my pants (a required life skill for the uber short)

So, why would I make a pillowcase on my own if my sewing skills are so abysmal?

Well this is what happens when you have an older chair in a room with a four year old. The cover starts to rip. Then is helped along with little hands. Then those little hands discover how fun picking apart foam is.....

Luckily I had a random flat sheet from Ikea sitting around. Think at some point I was going to make curtains with these. You know, five years ago....

First I wrapped up the pillow case and cut off the excess fabric. It was kinda like wrapping a present, yay! Something I'm good at!

Then I pinned the edges. Again, you can see I don't sew since I don't own sewing pins. Sooooo safety pins it was!

Then the other side...(notice how I made the pretty hem on the top. So when I turned it inside out it would make the inside pretty? Yeah....lack of planning....)

Then I sewed it! Turned it inside out, and fought with the foam to get the stupid thing back into the pillowcase. But! I won! woohoo!

The lovely inside hem that should have been on the inside but like I said...lack of planning.....

Is it beautiful? nope. Even? nope. Does it kinda actually resemble a pillowcase? YES! Will it prevent little child from picking apart foam? Maybe....lol

All in all not a total complete fail! I actually got to use my sewing machine! (yes, I have a really nice sewing machine for no good reason. Maybe I thought buying it would somehow create sewing ability....if you look above...yeah not so much lol)

Polymer Clay Elephant Pendant

2013-02-25T09:00:00.000-08:00

So one of my boyfriend's friends got a big promotion and he wanted me to make him an elephant pendant as a gift. In Filipino culture, an elephant with an upturned trunk is a sign of good luck (according to the boyfriend, don't quote me on this one!)

I used Sculpey Premo! Accents polymer clay in grey granite for this pendant. First I conditioned the clay. This can take a while with this color as the granite effect clays seem to be a bit stiffer than solid colors.

Once I was done conditioning the clay I used a chunk and made it into a rectangle that was a bit under a half an inch thick. I then made a dent in the top to start forming the head.

I then took my blade and cut into one end of the rectangle. I then started working this part to lengthen and shape it to look like a trunk.

I then cut out a notch in the bottom of the rectangle to form the legs. Its starting to look like an elephant now!

I kept smoothing with my fingers to make the edges rounded and to make the trunk and legs the shape I wanted. I then used one of my tools to make the eyes and ears. A toothpick would work great for this too.

Once I was happy with how the little guy looked I baked him per the directions on the package. Once he was baked and cooled I added a bail to the back of him and put him on a simple cord. I didn't get a picture of the finished product as of course the boyfriend needed it same day. What is it with men and last minute things? lol

If you haven't tried polymer clay you should! The best part is it doesn't air dry so you have plenty of time to play around and if you mess up you can just start over again and again.

Cinnamon Ornaments

2012-11-25T15:37:00.003-08:00

I saw some cute cinnamon ornaments on Pinterest and so I started poking around the web to find more recipe. I found this great one at McCormick. What I liked about it is that it is just cinnamon and applesauce. That's it! Totally safe for pets and kids who may wanna gnaw on your ornaments =P

Here is all I need!

I mixed them together and made a dough. It smelled SO GOOD

Then I rolled them out to about a quarter inch in thickness and cut them out with little cookie cutters. I used a small straw to make the holes in the top. I baked them for about an hour at 200. My whole place smelled so good! They should be rock hard when they are done. After they cool I'm going to use some simple cotton twine as hangers.

My tree will smell extra yummy this year. They will also make really cute gift tags =)

Flea Market!

2012-11-02T11:54:00.000-07:00

Can't believe its November already!! Where in the world did the year go??? New month means its flea market time! If you live in the San Francisco south bay you should check out the De Anza College Flea Market. I will be there selling crafts with the awesome ladies of Fox and a Parasol. We will be in Row B spots 26 & 27

Hope to see you there!

October De Anza Flea Market

2012-10-08T10:06:00.003-07:00

This past Saturday was the De Anza Flea Market and it was a blast! I have been helping out Mel from Fox and a Parasol for about a year and a half now, but this month was the first time we had a giant booth and space for me and Krystine to set up. It was a blast even if we got there WAAAAAAY before the sun decided to rise. 5:30 am early. I'm a morning person and this was EARLY lol.

Our set up (with Krystine's pretty car in the back)

Krystine and Mel made the bags on the left, Krystine also did the awesome painted mason jars and the mini mannequins.

Here you can see the fabric pins Krystine made on the left. They were awesome! Wish I got a pic of em!

Stamped polymer clay pendants by me

Ribbon necklaces by me and stands by Krystine.

Nail polish jewelry!! Aka my way of justifying my nail polish stash

Origami crane earrings and matching pendants

More origami earrings

More ribbon necklaces

Overall it was a blast! Early start and all lol. Can't wait for next month and need to get started making more stuff to sell! gotta get ready for that big holiday push!

Ribbon and Bead Jewelry

2012-09-18T15:16:00.000-07:00

What happens when I find ribbon on sale and have way too many beads at home? I make ribbon and bead jewelry! Totally in love with these, to me they seem like a nod to the collar trend this fall. Hope you like!

Glitter Plates

2012-07-14T15:31:00.000-07:00

I. Love. Glitter. lol. Its just so fun! (the boyfriend on the other hand gets scared when I'm in glitter mode lol) About a month ago I tried to make a glitter plate to make a cake plate using the glitter Martha Stewart craft paint.

It looked to promising! Glitter!

But...when I held it up to the light...it was far from opaque. I was sad. And motivated!!

Enter my new set of supplies! MOD PODGE!!! I mixed in A LOT of glitter into the mod podge to make my paint for the plate.

I put the plate on waxed paper so it would be a bit easier to remove the paper from the plate if the mod podge went over the edge.

Layer one! I ended up doing about 4 layers letting them dry at least a half hour in between.

Look! Glitter! OPAQUE glitter! lol

With flash

Up close!

After letting it dry for three days, I glued on my candle stick with E6000 to make my cake plate.

The finished product at the DeAnza flea market!

Am I totally in love? Sadly...no. Why? The finish is a bit too bumpy for my taste. Think my next idea is to go back to the Martha Stewart paints and do a gradient effect so it won't be as hard to get an opaque finish. Woohoo! That means more glitter! lol

New Life Goal!

2012-06-21T10:24:00.001-07:00

You ever have a craft idea that seems AMAZING but when you try it...it comes out...well...less than amazing? That's what I'm going through right now! Soon I will have updates on what I am dubbing "Operation Glitter Plate"

On a side note...it is really really not safe to allow me to have glitter and modge podge!!! Oh the things I want to glitterfy!!! (and I'm just going to pretend that's a real word!)

Paper Bows

2012-06-10T21:32:00.001-07:00

I love doing things with paper and when its paper that I already have on hand, all the better! I love reusing magazines since I already have plenty on hand. Today's idea I found on Pinterest aka my new addiction!! Oh many an hour I spend on that site!!! Found the instructions here, it is in Portuguese, but Google translate fixed that!

So, I take a magazine apart and cut 6 by 6 inch squares

And a few folds later you get this!

Now I will attempt to show you how I got there!

Fold in half and repeat in the other direction

Open then fold in half on the diagonal, open and repeat on the other diagonal

Open

Then fold in on itself to look like this

With the open end on the bottom, fold down the folded tip

Open and it will look like this

Fold in on itself so the box in the center folds down. It should pretty much fold in on itself with a bit of help

Fold the top edges down and repeat on the other side

Open up

Turn over

Cut along the seams

Fold the top flap down

Fold down the first part of the bow and repeat on both sides

Cut down the middle seam

Fold the edges into the middle

Fold the inner edge to the outer edge

Turn over and tada!

I have made...a lot of these today. These will be great for gift wrapping, scrapbooking, decorating, or for me...killing time!

Lemon Curd!

2011-08-11T23:45:00.000-07:00

Pop over to my foodie blog to see my adventures in making lemon curd!

I'm a little teapot!

2011-08-11T23:24:00.000-07:00

Remember the teapot from my last post? My very plain teapot? Well...it's plain no more!!

I got ready with my pink ceramic paint and my little brush and took a deep breath before I started painting my flowers!

Next thing I know, look! Flowers! I then added in some white flowers to add a fade effect (I have to learn how to take more pictures...promise I will get better really!) After I the paint dried I had to bake them. This...was way more stressful than it should have been!

Why was it stressful? Probably because I had images of something exploding. This is pretty common with me in the kitchen...nothing explodes..usually. Moving on >___<

They came out so well! I would have taken more pictures, but I ran out of time before the De Anza flea market (I also have to learn not to do things so last minute) I will get better about pictures really I will! More ceramic painting coming up soon! Then, its back to my roots with paper!

New project!

2011-07-31T22:31:00.000-07:00

Hmmmm a white tile. Bathroom remodel? Nope! Not when you have ceramic paint!

Have a few design ideas I'm playing with.

#1 is using a liner paint for ceramic...its a bit too thick for my taste

#2 is using a liner paint for glass....a little better!

#3 using liner paint tinted with regular ceramic paint. Used the end of a paint brush to make the dot pattern. Still not too happy with it

#4 We have a winner! Same paint as #3 but with the brush end of the brush now lol its just right! (I sound like Goldilocks picking porridge!)

But thats not it! Next project....teapot! stay tuned!

Why Saiwai?

2011-05-05T22:20:00.000-07:00

The most important person in my life is my Bachan (grandmother in Japanese) she is the rock I stand on and my best friend. She is also where I got my crafting bug from. This woman can do pretty much anything. She can sew, paint, knit, quilt, fold paper like no other, macrame, list goes on and on! Not only do we share our love of crafts, we also share a character in our Japanese names. This character means happiness, quite fitting for us two who are constantly cracking jokes! It is pronounced saiwai. I create my crafts with joy to bring joys to others.

The sign she has in her kitchen....pretty much sums it up!

The Beginning!

2011-05-05T21:58:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my little blog! This is the place where I will share my adventures in crafting. I will do my best to show a bit of what I do as often as I can. Right now I am folding paper as fast as I can creating flowers to sell at the De Anza flea market this weekend with the amazing girls from Fox and a Parasol. Its great not only having long time friends, but when they are also crafters its even better!

Hope to check in again soon! Wish me luck!