Tag: diy

Today I Tried Something New

sunnysidewithsiri4 Comments

Hey Sunny Siders, today I was in a super crafting mode and spontaneously headed to Michael’s to buy supplies for my new project. I wanted to make shrink plastic keychains and potentially start selling them if they turned out well.

Spoiler, I have a lot to learn so I won’t be selling anything yet, but I’m really excited to keep practicing and see where this journey takes me!

I started off drawing out what I wanted to make for the keychains. Since I’m not really great at drawing, I wanted to get all my mistakes out on paper and have a template that I could trace using the shrink plastic.

I wanted to make some cute ghosts since October is right around the corner, and I also had an idea for some animal themed parfaits.

Once my designs were sketched, I headed to the craft store to pick up some of the extra supplies I needed to make keychains.

Then, I got to drawing on the shrink plastic. I had a a lot of fun picking colors and coming up with cute items for the ghosts to hold. I also found some solid white shrink plastic which I tested a second version of ghost on.

Once I’d finished making some designs I baked them in the oven at 325°F until then completely finished shrinking. A tip for anyone crafting with shrink plastic is to be patient, they’ll curl up on themselves but eventually with enough time in the oven they will lay completely flat.

Once they were shrunk I tried using UV resin to add a nice shine and secure the drawing in place. This is definitely the step I need more practice with, but I also may opt for using a different product. For the ghosts I made with sharpie, the UV resin caused all three to bleed which made me very sad. I also ended up with a lot of bubbles even though I spent a long time trying to clear them away. I think I’m going to opt for dimensional magic next if I can’t figure this resin thing out.

The one thing that’s great about the resin is that they cured in just 2 minutes under my UV lamp that I use for doing gel manicures! Once they were cured I made keychains out of the two of them that I liked most and also felt I could give as gifts.

A ghost holding a pillsbury cookie and a ghost grape parfait
Three ghosts using white shrink plastic, the sharpie bled 😦
My other two hand colored ghosts, I think I like the already white shrink plastic for these guys

My next step is to keep practicing with the UV resin and figure out how to make the sharpie not bleed. I think with some more practice I might be able to craft some cute gifts/sell some kawaii keychains 😊

Current Things I’ve Been Making

sunnysidewithsiri2 Comments

Hey Sunny Siders, I’ve been tapping in to my creative side lately and wanted to share some of the things I’ve been making with you all lately. It’s been really fun spending time doing things that don’t involve a phone screen and O hope this may inspire you to take up a new hobby!

Minecraft Flowers

I recently started making Minecraft flowers as wall art for my room. I’ve seen these online and decided to give it a try myself and I have been having so much fun! I’ve made three so far, but my goal is to make all the flowers as a really fun wall art design for my office space!

Cell Phone Straps

I have also been really in to beading and I tried my hand at making a cellphone wrist strap. I love cottage core and fall, so this mushroom and green themed strap has been my absolute favorite thing.

Beaded Bracelets

I’ve also been making lots of bracelets lately. These are my two favorites I’ve made, they’re inspired by the eye colors of my loved ones. I made matching ones for my family and I love that we all have this subtle piece of jewelry to wear.

Baking

I don’t have any photos for these baked goods, but I wanted to share a bit about a few recipes I’ve baked lately!

The first one I want to discuss is brown butter chocolate chip cookies. I found this recipe online courtesy of Samanttha Chen on Instagram. I’m not exaggerating when I say these are the most phenomenal chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever tasted. The use of brown butter makes these cookies taste like toffee and it’s amazing. Highly recommend checking out her recipe and making these for yourself because wow I’m never making another kind of chocolate chip cookie again. Cookie Recipe

The next item I’ve baked recently is my grandma’s white cake with homemade buttercream frosting. This has always been my favorite cake and the only buttercream frosting that I like to eat. I always asked for this cake for my birthday growing up and this year I tried my hand at making it for my brother’s birthday. it wasn’t a good as grandma’s, but I had a lot of fun making it and it still was delicious!

The last thing I’ve been baking a lot of is homemade breads. I love making Japanese milk bread, as it’s my favorite bread. But I’ve also been making regular sandwich bread too. Homemade bread is so much better than store bought in my opinion, and nothing beats a slice of fresh bread with butter right out of the oven!