Tag: diy

DIY WWII Era Wall

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Last year I made High Castle themed shelf (which grew and took over an entire wall of my dining room!).

In that same spirit, I’m working on a WWII/1940s era display. I’ve started posting work in progress (wip) photos on Instagram with how and where I got everything I have so far.

You don’t have to break the bank to make something unique. It doesn’t even have to actually be from the era you’re going for (although that would be nice). I am posting my progress in the hopes that it helps someone else out there who is trying to create something similar.

Uncle Sam & Wooden Crate

The tin U.S. Army recruiting poster is a replica, but it was only $8.99 on Amazon (who can beat 2 day shipping?). I got the crate at Home Depot for almost the same amount.

Awesome Fanta & Coke bottles

I picked these tasty gems up from the import aisle at the grocery store. They look antique and were only $1.25 each. Did I mention that they were delicious too? If you’re going for a 40s/50s vibe, these are a cheap and easy to get prop. These ones were imported from Mexico, so check the Hispanic aisle if your store doesn’t have an import one.

Giving the Crate a Makeover

I did a quick google search to find ideas for the crate to make it look and feel like it belongs in that era. Once I had a good idea of what I wanted, I opened up Word and used the Stencil font to type everything out and arrange the words. Once I was done, I printed it out.

I flipped it over and rubbed the charcoal pencil (orange) on the backside of the letters. I flipped it back over and laid it over the crate. I traced the letters with the regular pencil to make a charcoal imprint onto the crate.

Now all I have to do is paint over the imprint! Just remember, charcoal smears easily, so if you’re going to do two sides of something, you’ll have to fully complete one side (ie, finish the paint job) before starting the other.

Thanks for tuning in! I’ll be back again with more updates.

DIY – Your own Star Trek Redshirt

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A quick costume for the Trekkie at heart. Wear it at parties, incognito, and at conventions!

It’s not an authentic Star Trek uniform, but it will do the job if you just want something simple. What you will need:

1 Redshirt – You can either recycle an old T-shirt or pick one up at the store. They run relatively cheap. I got mine for less than $10. Pick a shirt that fits the way you want to fit it (I am not a fan of the droopy, over-sized awkward angle 80s flair that’s coming back in style. A regular V-neck T-shirt worked just fine!). 

1 Stitch Witchery Roll – These run under $5, and you will have a lot leftover to use for other projects. Stitch Witchery beats hours and hours of hand sewing any day!

2 Black Strips – Considering that 80% of my wardrobe is black, I had no trouble finding an old slip to butcher for this project (I never wore it anyway). You can use anything so long as it’s black.

Minor Sewing Supplies – Pins and a needle & black thread.

Step 1
Lay out your shirt and measure the length of the front neckline. For brevity’s sake, I’ll pretend that everyone has a V-neck–You will have a happier time with a V-neck…Trying to worm a black strip around an oblong collar is not my idea of a good time.

You will also want to measure the width of the neckline as well. Multiple it by two to leave room for the underside.You want some of your black cloth to be on the underside so that you can fold it over onto the front.

Tip: Measure the length from the point of the V to the tip on each side.

Step 2
Cut out two strips of black cloth using the measurements from step 1. I wanted mine to have a little pizazz, so I used the bottom section of my slip (the part with the lace on it).


Step 3
Cut four identical strips of Stitch Witchery. These will be used to attach the collar.

Step 4
Place one strip of Stitch Witchery on the half of your black cloth that is going to be on the underside of your collar. Flatten and pin it to the underside of your collar.

Step 5
Follow the instructions on the Stitch Witchery package to iron it together.

Step 6
Repeat steps 4 and 5 three times (once more for the underside of the second strip, and twice for the front sides). When you are ready for the front, take extra care when you are folding it over and pinning it. Make it as flat as possible.

When you are about to iron the final front strip, you may have to cut a few tiny pieces of Stitch Witchery to get the fold at the tip of the V right. 

Step 7
Once it cools down, make any necessary adjustments with your needle and thread. If you did a perfect job of ironing, you won’t need to venture into tedious waters like I did! I had to mend the point at the V shape.

Optional
 Step 8
If you want to go the extra mile and do the back part of the neckline, repeat the above steps. The back neckline is always slightly rounded, so tread those waters at your sanity’s risk!

 Add a badge, and you are done! 

I Love Cardboard

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Day 4: Post a talent you have. 
 I found a Post-A-Day prompt for September on Pinterest (there is much more to that site than food and Mrs. Cleaver’s favorite picks). Here is a link to the pin: Pin me!

 Since it is obvious to anyone who visits my blog that I write and draw, I had to go digging for something else. I can’t sing (you do not want to hear it. It’s like a wailing cat or screeching eagle). I am an okay dancer, but it’s nothing to boast about. I don’t do magic tricks, so this left me in quite a pickle! 

Then I remembered that I used to build things out of cardboard. I haven’t done it in over a year, but it is something I’m good at. All of the cardboard creations you see in this post decorated my cubicle at my old job. I ended up giving them away to coworkers right before I left. I sometimes do wonder if they are still around.

 

Make your own animated space gif – DIY

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We are going to do something fun today! Nothing is more exciting than a flashing space cat gif!

** It is strongly recommended that you view my other photoshop tutorial before jumping into animated gifs. You can find it here: Make Your Own Space Cat – DIY. **

Don’t want to hunt around for awesome space images? Look no further. Actually, scroll all the way to the bottom of this post. I’ve included them at the very end.

Make your own fancy animated space gif:

1.    Using your epic photoshopping skills, make yourself a base image (you can cut an object and slap it onto a transparent background, or you can go the fancy route).

I cut the cat out and pasted it into a new document. I created a nifty blue brick background for it.

2.    Use the shape tool and insert a radioactive symbol above the cat’s head. Rasterize the layer (rasterizing it will allow you to punch a hole…you’ll see later on!).

3.    Use the Polygonal Lasso Tool to cut out the cat’s super hipster glass lenses (you will later punch a hole with them). Create a new layer by going to Layer>New>Layer Via Cut.


4.    Select the new radioactive and hipster layers by pressing Ctrl as you click them. Right click and select “Merge Layers.”

5.    Here is where it gets a little tricky! We are going to paste the 4 space layers onto the image and use the hipster and radioactive layer as a hole punch.
      a.    Open the 4 space layers and paste them onto your image (make sure they are above your base image).
      b.    Select the merged hipster & radioactive layer.
      c.    Use the Magic Wand Tool, click on the background (do not click on either of the shapes in that layer). You will see a dotted outline around the radioactive shape & hipster glasses.

6.    Punch the hole!
This step is also a bit tricky because it is very easy to forget what layer you have selected as you are punching holes in the space layers.
     a.    Do not click anywhere in the image (you want that dotted line around the two shapes as you work).
     b.    Select your first space layer. Press the “Delete” key on your keyboard. This will punch a hole through the layer so that it only appears where the 2 shapes are.

      c.    Repeat this process for all 4 space layers. If you ever lose the dotted lines, go back to the merged layer and repeat steps 5b and 5c. Just make sure you select a space layer before deleting anything!
      d.    Delete the merged radioactive & hipster layer when you are done.

7.    Animation time!
Tip: Once you get to this stage, you want as few layers as possible. Merge or Group your base layers (keep the space layers separate).
      a.    Click  “Window” from the top menu bar and select “Animation.”

      b.    You will see an animation work area appear below your image.

You can see that I grouped the base layers (Group 1) and kept the 4 space layers separate (Layer 1, Layer 2…etc). 
 

      c.    The dark green bars represent each layer. Dark green = visible. Since we want to animate this and give it a cool space spaz attack effect, each space layer will only be visible for a fraction of a second. The base layer will always be visible.
     d.    Drag the green bars (you can drag and pull from either end).

     e.    Here is how you want the green bars for the space layers to look:

As you can see, they look like a set of miniature stairs. You don’t get to the 3rd step without using the1st and 2nd steps first. The light green represents when each layer is not visible (see how some of them have a delayed visibility?). In order to animate the image, we need to think of the space layers as a series of steps on a staircase. Step 1 is visible first. As soon as you leave it and climb to Step 2, Step 1 disappears while Step 2 suddenly appears. Rinse and repeat as you climb up this fantastic staircase!

      f.    Work Area End (Labeled in the previous image–the light grey space between the two blue ends). This tells the animation to stop. If I left it the way it was in the previous image, you would see the space images filter through and disappear, leaving only the base image.
     g.    Drag the right blue edge of the Work Area End Tool to the end of your final layer (it should be the last “step” in your staircase).

      h.    Test your image (press the play button shown above).

8.    Save your animation!
      a.    Don’t use Ctrl S or “Save.” If you do, it will save it as a still picture with whatever space layer you have visible at the time.
      b.    Go to File>Save for Web and Devices.

      c.    A new window will appear with your image on it and some colored boxes. Select “Forever” in Looping Options (bottom right).

      d.    Save!

9.    View your animation!
      a.    How do you know if all of your hard work…worked? You test it, of course!
      b.    Go to the folder where you saved your animation. Right click on the file.
      c.    Select “Open With” and then select “Internet Explorer.”
            i.    Queue the IE jokes…but it is good for testing animated gifs! 😉
            ii.    Apple users: Safari is the inherent browser on Macs, so you should be able to follow these steps and use Safari instead of Internet Explorer.

 ~FIN

I hope you enjoyed the tutorial!  If you don’t want to bother with the hole punching process, you can skip that step and make something like this (just paste the space layers below your base images):

Space images for animations:
All space images were taken from the free places I mentioned in my previous tutorial. Some of them were then edited to make them “pop.”
If you are going to post these online, please reference this blog and do not hotlink. Thank you!

Make Your Own Space Cat – DIY

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So you want to make a space photo with epic clips of cats, planets, and your favorite things in it, do you? Remember this? Here’s how I made the base image.

The first step is to gather your images. Wikipedia, NASA, and US government sources are my favorite resources. Why? Wikipedia lists the copyright information when you click on an image (plus, it’s a great way to find images), and most NASA/GOV images are in the public domain because they are usually taken by a government employee while on duty.

 All right! We have our background base image, a beautiful image to enhance it with, and our items (astronaut, planet, and cat).

Open photoshop (or your graphics program of choice). Create a new document with your desired dimensions. World Domination Cat and Flying Astronaut is 1,000 by 800 pixels (or 14in by 11in) with a 72 resolution (you won’t need to worry about that; 72 is the most common for web images).

Open your images. Select the image you are going to use as the background and press the Ctrl and A keys. It will create a dotted line around the image.  Press the Ctrl and C keys to copy it.

 Paste that image onto your blank document by pressing the Ctrl and V keys.  If your background image doesn’t fit properly, resize it by selecting the Rectangular Marquee Tool (the dotted box) on the left side of your screen. Once the tool’s options box appears, select Free Transform.

 Lines with tiny boxes at each corner of the image will appear. Pick a corner and drag it around until you get the size you want. Tip: If you press the Shift and Alt keys while you drag a corner, it will keep the image’s original ratio intact. Wut? It means that your image won’t end up having a stretched or squished appearance!

Now you have your background!
If you are going to use an image to enhance the background, follow the same steps and paste/resize the image over the background. The cool thing about most graphics programs is that they allow you to modify the transparency/look of individual layers.

 Play with the options shown in the picture above until you are satisfied with the look. I started out with Lighten.  You can change the look of the second layer anytime. I usually go through several changes throughout the entire photo manip process before I am happy with it.

Adding the astronaut, cat, and planet
Select one of the add-on images (we are going to start this off with Socks the cat).

Select the Polygonal Lasso Tool and, using your mouse, start clicking and dragging it around Socks. It’s sort of like cutting something out of a catalog. Drag, click, drag, click. DO NOT DOUBLE CLICK! I cannot stress that enough! Double clicking will close off your selection, and you’ll have to start over.

Once you’ve dragged and clicked your tedious way around Socks, you may give into your mouse’s urge to double click. If the selection disappears on accident, go to “Edit” then “Undo,” and the selection will reappear. Follow the copy/paste procedure and paste it onto your background.  Repeat this process for the other objects.

 Bring Socks to the front. Since we started with Socks, he appears under the Earth layer (as shown). To bring him above that layer, just click and drag his layer to the top (as shown below).

 Oh noes! Socks doesn’t look right!

We want Socks have his paws over the world, but it doesn’t exactly work when the rest of his body shows up.  Position him where you want him, select his layer, and change the opacity from 100 to 50 (as shown above).

Now that you can see where the Earth curves, you can start erasing the area between his paws.  Select the eraser tool. I usually like to use one of the softer brushes (if you make a mistake, it’s harder to spot!).  With your finger pressing the mouse’s left button, drag the brush over the areas you want to erase. When you are done, change his opacity back to 100.

Link the Socks and Earth layers (this comes in handy when you start moving objects around. Linking them allows them to be moved with one stroke).  Select the Earth and Socks layers at the same time by holding down the Shift key and clicking on them. Once they are selected, right click and select Link Layers.

 Notice how I toggled the appearance of the background again? I do this a lot before I’m satisfied!

Once you have all of your objects in place and cleaned up, it’s time to mess around with styles and special effects! Give that background an awesome makeover! You can add patterns, gradients, colors, and much more (to change layer styles, go to Layer > Layer Style > Pattern Overlay/Gradient Overlay/Color Overlay)! The pictures below give you an idea:

When you are happy with the background, start adding some shapes, text, and other odds and ends. Photoshop has some nifty pre-made shapes at your disposal.

Select a shape and put it onto your picture by clicking and dragging (photoshop will automatically create a new shape layer).  Play around with the opacity and properties until you are happy with it.

 Make the background even more epic by adding new layers. In the above image, I added a a shape (the halo/circle behind Socks) and a new layer (Layer > New >Layer). For the new layer, I used a large, soft black brush in areas I thought were too bright. I then toggled with its appearance.

Using the techniques in this tutorial, I added another brush layer to give it a grunge feel, another shape with a low opacity, and some text. If you want to add text, just click the text tool (the large T) on the left side of the screen. It will allow you to change fonts, sizes, and colors.

Once you are happy…

You can even take it one step further if you like exploring the options in graphics programs!