Category: Craft

Valentine’s Freebie!

On By CarynIn Craft
Valentine Minecraft Hexaflexagon

I love hexaflexagons. I first learned about them when I saw Vi Hart’s video on flexagons. Turns out they have been magical mathematical fun since 1939 when Arthur H. Stone was playing with cutoff strips of paper in class. (My kids do this too. Good to know it is not new.)

We do the obligatory elementary Valentine’s cards for the kid’s classmates (and everyone gets one, no singling out!) But I do like to give toys instead of candy (my youngest isn’t a fan of candy anyway, so bonus). And since there are usually at least 20 kids in class, I like paper toys because they are inexpensive. I also love origami, so crafting with paper is no hardship. And introducing more people to the joy of hexaflexagons? Priceless!

So this year I put my Photoshop skills to the test and made a Valentine Minecraft Hexaflexagon. I admit, I played Minecraft when my kids were at school to get the screenshots (my oldest wouldn’t do it for me, bummer). FYI, computer screen shots are much better than xbox screen shots. Just saying. Then I used frames in Photoshop to set up the hexaflexagon. The frames gave me stable shapes, but also the flexibility to adjust the image within the frame to get the final picture to line up nicely. I did have to adjust and tweak while to get everything where I wanted it, but now that I have, it should be easier the next time I want to make a custom printed hexaflexagon! (Want your own customized hexaflexagon? Contact me!)

And here is the freebie! Feel free to print the following image (I recommend getting it as large as possible on your paper using your printer settings, mine worked with 93% without cutting bits off).

Valentine’s Minecraft Hexaflexagon Freebie

And here is a video explaining how to get it folded up and flexing!

Enjoy!

Now for some crafting.

On By CarynIn Craft

I love the pantry in our house, but there wasn’t an area to put spices that made them easy to find. I recently sorted the spices and discovered three containers of garlic salt. Apparently I thought I was out because I couldn’t find any so bought more. Three times.

I decided to make my own spice rack for the pantry door. I’ve tried the wire racks screwed to the door, but they tend to fall off when accidentally bumped. (And I often forget my edges and bump into things! Ugh.) Not to mention cleaning up glass and wasted spice from the floor is not a preferred activity. So I measured my space and my largest containers and made my plan.

I went to the lumber store and picked out 1x4x8 select pine, and found some beautiful embossed pine trim. There are several ways to construct spice racks; I could use rabbet and dado joints, biscuit joints, or mortis and tenon joints. I decided to work on my chisel and hand saw skills and do mortis and tenon joints. It took me a while, but the last mortis was much cleaner than my first! Here is a picture of the side boards with all the mortises cut.

The saw I used is a Marples hand saw, fine cut double blade pull saw, which I absolutely love for fine cuts. (Especially when my band saw is buried at the back of the garage. Cleaning out the garage will take a couple stages and the chicken coop comes first!) I also used a 1/2″ straight chisel that I made sure was nice and sharp before I started.

I was pleased when I glued everything together how well it came out! I was planning on painting it white, but the wood looked so pretty I changed my mind and put on a couple coats of clear. After filling the nail holes and a few gaps with wood filler. (Have you tried the color changing wood filler? I haven’t used it before, but it worked well. A little shocking to spread bright pink paste on my project, but when it was dry it faded to a nice natural color, and sanded well.)

So here is the final project all ready for my spices! I’ve made the mistake of putting items on a finished shelf before the recommended 24 hours, and have had things stick to the shelf. So I’ll give it a good 48 hours then load it up! Yay for pantry reorganization!