Crafting with Jane: custom ipod 4th gen Case

I'm pretty sure when Reba said "Screwing up is easy. Some people are skilled at it" she was referring to me. Anyway on monday I ordered a clear case from Amazon.com for my new not-phone. (iPod touch) I was inspired by this video to customize my case. On Wednesday I was talking to my friend Hiro. The conversation went a little like this

Me: Hey do you have imessage on your ipod?
Hiro: Yeah but I don't use it because I already see people so I could talk to them in person
Me: . . . . . . . . . I asked so I could add you as a contact to my new not-phone
Hiro: You got an iphone?
Me: no it's a not-phone. See iPod is not a phone.
Hiro: Oh cool you got the new iPod 5th generation.
Me: No this is the 4th generation.
Hiro: uum no. I have the same one *takes iPod out of purple case* I got it from apple it's the iPod 5th generation.
Me: Crap . . . .
Hiro: Where did you get yours?
Me: THE BASE . . . crap i ordered the wrong case!
Hiro: Wait what?
Me: I ordered a 4th generation case from Amazon!
Hiro: You should probably send it back.
Me: I didn't get it yet.
Hiro: Oh...well it's a good thing you know now right?

Then one night I decided to paint my clear case and sell it for a higher price which leads to today.
Crafting with Jane: Painting an iPod 4th generation case.

You will need
Acrylic Paint (Waterproof ink is better)
A case you want to paint
A very thin brush
Paper (dark colors for a clear case)


Optional:
Black nail polish (I saw on some tutorial they painted the back of the case with the nail polish)
Febreeze (The room smells bad after using nail polish)
A Napkin (In case you're clumsy with paints like me)
Youtube cat videos

 First I put the case over some black scratch paper left from Valentines day. Then I poured some red acrylic paint on to a small dish and then started painting the tree. I messed up a whole bunch which is why the tree turned out so uneven.
TIP:  Draw the design you want on a small paper and put the paper over the case or just tape it to the back with scotch tape. Then go over your design with the paint. I also recommend drawing lessons.

 

Finished Tree Branches

Before flipping over the case make sure the paint is dry. I spent almost half an hour waiting for paint to dry and watching cat videos. I recommend taking that time to study for a test or learn a new skill or write a book or something. After the case dried I used black nail polish even though I should've used black acrylic paint or ink. The smell is horrendous which is why I recommend an emergency febreeze bottle or working outdoors in the sunshine with the boombox turned up.

Nail polish case

While waiting for the paint to dry I painted some trees with the extra paint.

TIP: YOU ONLY ONE OR TWO DROPS OF ACRYLIC PAINT. I learned this the hard way. Then again that's what the crafting portion of this blog is for. 

Red Trees

And here's the finished case. 

I promise it looks better in real life. 

The outcome was okay. Much more gothic than I expected. Well, if anyone wants to buy a custom case from me, let me know. Until then always make sure to buy the right cases for your electronics, don't drop your electronics, and someone please explain to me why apple electronics are pretty much the same.

-Just Jane 

"Reputation is for time; character is for eternity." -J. B. Gough

Crafting again!

Here are the in depth instructions for making a Galaxy themed Journal.

You will need:

Two paintbrushes or one paintbrush and a toothbrush. Make sure the brushes are THICK

Black, White, and Red acrylic paint The wait paint should NOT be new!

Blue or white glitter paint

An old journal that you want to decorate

An old blakent to work on (I used blue paper instead which was NOT the smartest idea)

Clorax wipes and napinks (Unless you used the old blanket)

Tape (If you want to be extremely neat)

Colored ducktape (Optional)

Anything else you want to add like stickers, glow in the dark stars, etc.

A silver sharpie

Step 1. Fold over the covers so you can paint both of them.



I seriously should have used an old blanket because
cleaning up excess paint on hardwood is a pain!



Step 2. Paint it Black



The acrylic paint I used was OLD
so when I tried dumping some out
it EXPLODED and I had to clean most
of it off the floor.



Note: When painting the cover a composition notebook you will notice as the black dries it becomes lighter and the original design shows through. To fix this you could go over the entire notebook in black sharpie before painting but if you're like me and you can't stand the smell you'll just have to deal with painting 5-8 layers of black paint. I actually did that because my black paint exploded.

Step 3. Wait for the black paint to dry. Unfortunately I skipped this step but the journal still turned out alright.

Step 4. Using the sparkly glitter paint, paint over the black and spread it out evenly to look like stars. Another way to do this is dump the paint ON the cover and spread it out with a brush

Step 5. The reason you need OLD white acrylic paint is to make stars. When you squeeze an OLD bottle of acrylic paint it comes out in a pattern. A new bottle just sprays a snake of fresh paint which is what we DON'T want.

This is a video of how you apply the white paint from the bottle

Another way to add the stars is by sprinkling on the paint with the thick brush OR a toothbrush. You put the bristles of the brush on the white paint and run your fingers over the bristles. The excess paint will fly off the brush onto the cover and create a beautiful spray effect.  You can do this with the rest of the colors.



The paint takes about 30 minutes to an hour to dry depending on how much paint you used. Don't let your brushes dry out while you wait. You can also paint the inside. If you want to be neat use scotch tape and a seperate piece of scratch paper to protect the exposed paper.

If you have a broken earring you can use those pieces for a pencil. I stabbed the earring hook into the dead eraser after hooking the earring pieces onto the hook.

"The rest is up to you. Life is an experiment full of possibilities."

-Just Jane

Another craft

I was supposed to be completing some art requests that were made a month ago but I woke up with the strong urge to write in a diary. When I want to write I want to write in an entirly blank notebook. So this morning I decided to use my pink spiralbound notebook that was originally supposed to be used for school but I wanted to save it for a writing project just because it's pretty. I then realized it looked boring. Next I went around the house searching for decorating material. I found stickers and gems and a bow and pretty paper.

Front cover

<- This is what it looks like

Back.

I also had a broken charm bracelet and earring piece. It wasn't easy but I managed to hook the earring piece onto the bent spiral and put the spiral back into place.

 The inside cover  was made with stickers, paper, sharpies, prettytape, and my imagination.

Instructions for this craft if you are interested:

1. Take an old notebook that looks boring

2. Cut paper to cover the boring-ness of the notebook

3. Glue the paper onto the cover

4. Glue random pretty things over the paper and add tape if you wish

5. Glue again because glue sucks

6. Done :)

- Just Jane

"Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change."

-Jim Rohn

Crafts: Composition notebooks

Today I feel like sparkles and decoration. My brain sparked a fantabulous idea! Sparkly composition notebooks. To do this craft you might need the following materials:



Cheap plastic ringS with really cool looking sticker in the middle



Colorful tape (I used Happy tape)

Stickers

Studs or any shiny thing with a sticky back

First use the colored tape to line the edge of your composition notebook. I put the ends of the tape on the inner cover of the notebook so It doesn't come off. You can put the tape anywhere you want. For example I made a plus sign, addition sign, and division sign, on my algebra notebook.

Note: You can cut out shapes from the tape

Second line the edges of the compostion book label with the tape. You don't HAVE to do this if you don't want to but I like the colorful tape.

Third STICKERS! If you don't have any shiny stickers print some pictures and glue them on. OR make your own stickers at zazzle.com.

For my Social studies notebook I used a thai flag that I mysteriously had. I'm sure you can make your own country flag using paper and a toothpick.

Fourth STUDS AND SHINY THINGS!

Take the really cool looking sticker off the cheap ring. If you bend your nail in the process the sticker most likely won't fall off. If the sticker is really easy to take off I gurantee it will fall off your notebook before you get to school.

Stick the shiny sticker where ever you want.

The best thing to do that I haven't actually done yet is take each and every stud and sticker off and put really really really really really really sticky glue on it and put it back. That's what you should do.

What I did was take the stud off my leather belt (that pretty much fell apart) and stuck it on.



Some of the studs didn't cooperate so I just put them in a pile



Now you're pretty much done. You can add whatever else you want but keep in mind you're going to be opening and closing your notebook a lot.

Also guys can do this too. It turns out they've invented Zebra tape and colored sharpies.

-Just Jane

"Imagination is the eye of the soul."

-Joseph Joubert