Dorothy from Wizard of OZ

We can't have Wizard of Oz without Dorothy. Our Dorothy is a part of the Hollywood collection released in 2009, The Wizard of Oz Rocks!

I found her in TJ Maxx right before the Christmas and couldn’t resist. Since, she’s been my daughter’s favorite; I’ve decided to keep her as the only ready-made character for my upcoming kids party. The rest of them I will have to make myself:)

Look for my DIY projects on Wizard of OZ characters on www.cutoutandkeep.net

Characters from Wizard of Oz: Toto, Scarecrow and the Cowardly Lion (DIY project)

OK. Let’s begin. The idea for my characters came from dltk-kids.com. They have great and easy projects for kids and I am going to use their patterns for my DIY project at the party, but meanwhile the idea of using toilet paper roll had triggered my imagination. It’s brilliant!

Toto project:

You’ll need 1/2 toilet paper roll, cardboard, Black felt, wiggle eyes, pink felt for Toto’s nose and leftovers from your craft projects for decorations of Toto’s collarJ and hot glue gun.

Directions:

Slice toilet paper in half. Cover in Black felt. Cut the shape of Toto’s head out of cardboard, cover in Black Felt.

Glue Wiggle Eyes, nose, collar, tail – you are done!

Scarecrow Project:

You’ll need 1 toilet paper roll, cardboard, 1 chenille stem for hands, wiggle eyes, 4 tiny white pom-poms – 1 for the nose, three other for the hat decoration. Blue felt for the hat and belt, light blue felt for the scarf, red felt for the mouth and wristlets, 1 string of raffia for the hair and small size pom-poms for the buttons and hat decoration. I’ve used old sample of textured wall paper to cover his face and body, but you can use Beige felt or burlap to be even more authentic.

Directions:

Cover toilet paper roll in material of your choice to create face and body.

Dress up your Scarecrow using hot glue. You are done!

The Cowardly Lion Project:

You’ll need 1 toilet paper roll, cardboard, 2 chenille stem in brown color for hands and hair, 2 wiggle eyes, 3 tiny white pom-poms –for the nose and cheeks. Orange color felt for the body, head, tail and hands; white felt for the chest area.

Directions:

Cover toilet paper in orange color felt to create body. Glue on white felt for chest area, glue on tail and chenille stems as hands. Cut out circle shape out of cardboard and cover in orange felt. Apply wiggle eyes, nose and cheeks, ears.

Lion’s hair – twist chenille stems to create a flower type pattern. Glue to the head. You are done.

I am providing each character with very detailed pictures. I hope it helps to understand the process even more.

I am working on a Tin Man right now and that is the most difficult character of all. So far three of my fingers burned by hot glue, but…. I am not giving up. I am creating all of it at night and to see my daughter’s reaction in the morning is the best reward.

I will post my other characters hopefully tomorrow…. See you then.

Ruby Slippers DIY Project #5

First things first! Ruby Slippers, of course. I couldn't start with anything else but shoes - love'em!

OK. You'll need Spray Paint, Craft Glue, Glitter and any plastic shoe shaped object:)

In my case, I've used my leftovers after our Home Production of Cinderella Story.

I bought them in local discount craft store 25 cents each. They are 3" long.

I've used Spray Paint by Krylon in Red Pepper Color. I didn't do any prep work - no sanding, no primer, nothing. It worked well... If you are using any other paint and you don't want to mess up the final result, you should try it first.

After paint had been dry, it took 1 hour, just because in some areas I sprayed too much :)

I covered the outside of the shoe with Martha Stewart Glittering Glue (leftover from X-mas crafts). Note: The glue is great, the applicator that comes with it awful - I am always using my own brush - it will save you your time and product.

You can use any other craft glue, I am sure it will work just fine. I am not spending any $$$ I am using what I have, do the same if you can - it's more fun.

While the glue is fresh it's time to glitter. I have used, again Martha's Garnet Glitter, but you are free to use whatever glitter you have (I've experimented with different glitters from different companies but it seems that Martha knows a . Shake any access off and let you Ruby Slippers dry.

Now, you are ready to follow the Yellow Brick Road.

Emerald City. Recycling Project #4 Part 2

God Bless weekends. I am so excited to finally see my Emerald City completely finished. If I would of worked on this project during a week it would of been for ever but because there was a weekend and my husband was nice enough to take our daughter in the park for few hours I was able to complete my project.

Here is my recipe: a pile of boxes from various foods

Few sheets of Green craft paper, home made glue,

various scraps from your old craft projects and the main ingredient is your imagination:)

You've got it!

My daughter is so excited already, she knows the story of Wizard of OZ and this "real" Emerald City makes it even more believable:)

I was able to find cute idea on how to build characters from Wizard of Oz (that will be my next project) and I am pretty sure that by Saturday, I will have a complete set ready for my kids party. So excited!

Oh, I almost forgot, Birds of Beginning got a very nice respond from Baby Shower attendees and that made me think..... Well, will see.

Emerald City. Recycling Project #4 Part 1

I have decided to build a castle. I knew it is not going to be an easy task but i didn't realize it will be so intense... Well, may be all the difficulties are coming from me but I can't help it, I have a vision in my head on how my Emerald City should look like and I don't want any short cuts. When I pledged not to spent any dollars I decided to do what I said, but when I decided to start and Emerald City construction project, I din't realize I have no glue.... Thankfully, I remembered my Grand Ma's recipe for glue - mix 5 table spoons of all purpose flour in 1/2 cup of cold water and when 4 cups of water will start boiling gradually add flour mixture into boiling water. Reduce the temperature and let it cook for 5 more minutes - your glue is ready..... Earth friendly too - right?

Take a look - that's how far I went during my first day..... I am not giving up. Talk to you tomorrow:)

Birds of New Beginning Project #3

Hi, there.

Yesterday, I've posted my project #2 Crazy Crayons, which was such a break through for me, well I guess I was few years behind. I do connect my Blog to Cut Out and Keep where you can find lots of DIY projects, so when I posted my tutorial on Crazy Crayons I came across few more of the same nature :) One tutorial I liked the most. It's called "Draw rainbows everywhere you go, it only takes one stroke!". So cute!

Today I was working on my project #3. I am going to a Baby Shower tomorrow and I have decided to make something in addition to my main gift. I knew that the baby room decor is all Nature inspired, they are using bedding from Pottery Barn with birds, and I've got an idea to make some birds for Baby Room Decor. I have plenty of Fabric (trust me - I do) and Felt. It took me an hour and 45 minutes to complete this project and I feel pretty good about the final result. If somebody out there reads this blog, please let me know if you like my "Birds of New Beginning".

I have to get ready for project #4

I already know what it is going to be - I am going to be building an Emerald City from Wizard of OZ for my upcoming kids party. I am pretty nervous - I've never built any Castles before, we'll see.....

I'll be back tomorrow

Crazy Crayons Project # 2

I've seen an episode on Today Show on MSNBC how to make crazy crayons out of old ones. May be some of you already know about this technique, but for me it was a break through and this tutorial for people like me, who had no idea that something like that could be done.

This is a very easy project.

Peel crayons from any paper. Break them into pieces and put them in muffin baking form.

Set your your oven for 300F. Bake your crayons for 10 min until melted.

That's how they looked right out of the oven. I was worried that I've done something wrong because I couldn't see any blended colors. Don't worry they are there:)

Let your crazy crayons cool and when you'll get them out you'll see all crazy colors blended together.

I am having a kids party soon and my theme will be "Wizard of OZ". I thought it could be great to have a competition on who can color the Rainbow first using Crazy Crayons. One rule: all colors on the rainbow have to be in order:)

OK. Time to think about project #3