I was flipping through some Japanese craft books lately and found a few cute uses for yo-yos that I thought were super cute for the home.
The lampshade is my favorite and I have to try it. What about you? It’s like a yo-yo chandelier.
I’ve always loved yo-yos for some odd reason, a blanket of yo-yos in an array of candy colors and polkadots really makes me drool like no other. These ideas gave me the same reaction!
Need a new, tiny photo model but don’t want to shell out cash for dolls and vinyl figures? Try a paper model, paper or not, I’m in love. (My husband says I’m like Michael Scott now because I’m in love with paper.)
Toobusytobreathe. I’ve opened back up my web design studio and have gotten so many exciting projects (did I mention we’re moving?) that I can hardly fit in the time to update Miseducated like I should — soon newnewnew. So much new you’ll bounce to the moon!
Speaking of bouncing to the moon, these printable toys make me so happy I could fly. I knew someday this would catch on again and I’m too excited!
Jessica and I have collaborated on a cute new surprise for Miseducated, her pandas in PRINTABLE FORM. Print them and you can have your own designer toy as soon as the paper cools. Put some pandas into your own world~
3 Eyed Bear
Macula
Fantastic Toys
Speakerdog
Chelstastic
mundosopa!
ROMMY
Shintaka
Sal Azad
CUBOTOY
We Are Paper Toys: Print-Cut-Fold-Glue-Fun
Paper Wonderland: 32 Terribly Cute Toys Ready to Cut, Fold & Build
Karakuri: How to Make Mechanical Paper Models That Move
Papertoy Monsters: Make Your Very Own Amazing Papertoys!
What makes you happier than a kitten at a sushi carnival? Is it a super special gift in the mail especially for you? Handcrafted and prepared with love?
It’s almost like a holiday everyday that a package comes in the mail, packages from friends stuffed with glitter, tissue paper and sweet smelling fragrance.
Shake it and it almost sounds like candies are inside.. small trinkets rolling around under larger, sweetly wrapped gifts stored in cupcakes and hearts. When you open the package the smell of perfume and a cloud of glitter dust fills the air. When you look inside you see bags, paper and stickers decorating the precious gifts inside.
Packages, and even envelopes stuffed with surprises, are a favorite past time of many friends who have ever experienced a long distance relationship or taken a trip from home. There was nothing I loved more than stuffing packages with gifts of cuteness when in Japan, so excited when my best friends would recieve the silly gifts and laugh.
They’re as fun to send as they are to recieve. Try it.
Package decorating and stuffing is a bit of a crazy obsession in cute land. I know many girls use character tape (myself included), markers and more to make a statement before the box is even opened. If you’re sending a package, why not make it really special miseducated style?
You can make package contents as well as buying them. I have friends whom I swap kitschy antiques with and friends whom I share all of my ‘oldskool’ saved stationary with.. (I might as well use it before I die, right? What point is there in hoarding all of this cuteness??)
It’s easy to try. Start by sending your best friend a letter stuffed with some cute trinkets next time you go on a trip — chances are you’ll inspire her as well! Send a letter filled with stickers and stationary, it doesn’t have to be quite so taxing in these crazy economic times.
Who said you have to grow up and leave penpals behind? Slipping in a letter is sweet too, in the world of emails we all appreciate to see a little handwritten note every now and again!
An ezine about this and other new features was sent to all fans on Facebook, if you would like to receive these rare but important messages and are not a member of Facebook you may also submit your email address.
Stay tuned for another exciting giveaway coming up soon!
[Giveaway Closed: Sep 24th]
Hello and welcome to the second ever Miseducated Giveaway! We plan to have these much more often, it’s been way too long! Check out the details here.
We wanted to especially thank our readers and guests for being so creatively cute and wonderful to us everywhere we go. The truth is giveaways are a great way to find new friends and readers and to expose them to new and seasoned artists. We select our giveaways from our favorite handmade art shops, antique shops and more.
You can win a Hello Kitty tote bag filled with handmade and diy goodies from great sellers on Etsy!
1. Sweet Star and Strawberry accessories from Strawberry Latte
2. Limited Edition Miseducated Deericorn pendant
3. Victorian Spats by Mademoiselle Mermaid
4. Paper glittery macarons by PaperCakes
5. Postcard set by Amber&Co with cupcake pencils
6. Bag o’ kitsch charms, beads and goodies to get your DIY tastebuds wet especially from Miseducated
To enter simply leave one comment below, make sure to include a correct email address in case you win. This giveaway expires in a week on Friday, September 24th and the winner will be chosen at random and will be announced on Monday, October 4th. All readers, including international readers, are welcome and encouraged to participate!
All entries will be checked for accuracy!
+1 Entry: Become a fan of Miseducated on Facebook and add a comment below announcing you’ve done so.
+1 Entry: Subscribe to our blog by using Google or another reader and let us know by leaving a comment below.
+1 Entry: Link to Miseducated on your blog and comment with the link here.
+1 Entry: Feature this giveaway on your blog (or tell others about it) and let us know here.
If you would like to be featured in a future giveaway, let us know and Miseducated might purchase something from your shop for our next goodie bag!
Thanks so much for all of your support.
Remember in the past when I had spoke of tutorials lasting several articles, learning to do things together and tackling more wonderful worlds of expression?
Well..
that time is now and I need *you* to suggest your absolute best and worst ideas for things you’d like us to learn to do together.
Please make suggestions here, by email or on Facebook.
I’ll keep all of your ideas, add my own and soon we’ll be sucking up a whole new rainbow of creativity!
I’ve been meaning to update things here for quite awhile! I had an extremely long checklist and had to actually go through each and every one of our old entries.
Whew!
As you know the thing I love about Japan and modern Japanese design is that absolutely anything can be decorated and that even the most minute task is done with the utmost care.
After scanning through a collection of Japanese deco books I decided I would clip out my favorite ideas.
Are you inspired?
This perfect summer craft originates from the Bahamas and other tropical places where they are blessed with beautiful sandy beaches. Die-hard jewelry makers will use just about anything to make jewelry with, even the beach itself! If you are lucky enough to live by the beach and have access to any department store or craft store, then you can make your own sand beads from scratch. It is a bit time-consuming to roll and shape all of your own beads, but its worth it in the end when you have tons of colorful beads to make all the jewelry you want!
Fine sand (from the beach or from the store)
All purpose flour or papier-mâché
Elmer’s Glue
Wax paper
Vegetable oil
If you got your sand from the beach, sift it through a cheese cloth or a window screen to separate the larger grains from the fine stuff. Pour the fine sand into a bowl and mix in the flour or papier-mâché and mix it together well. You need to use equal amounts of flour and sand. Coat your hands lightly with vegetable oil so the sticky paste that you’re about to make won’t stick to your hands. Pour in your Elmer’s Glue slowly and knead it with your hands like bread dough. If it starts to harden before you’re done mixing, add more glue. If your hands get too crusty as you work, rinse your hands off and apply more oil. Also, if you are using beach sand and you want to add color, mix in some acrylic paint.
Break off pieces of the sandy dough and roll them into your beads. This is where you use your imagination to create the beads you will use for your jewelry. Make many different colors and sizes, or make a series of the same kind for a long beaded necklace. You can also make short tube-shaped beads, square ones and irregular shaped beads.
Set your beads on a piece of wax paper and let them dry overnight. Use a large sewing needle or any other sharp metal skewer (be careful!) to poke a hole through the middle of each bead. You need to do this while the beads are still slightly tacky, but not so soft that you squish the bead. Let them dry all the way.
Coat them with clear acrylic varnish to make them glossy and protect them, if you want. Now you can make your homemade jewelry for yourself and your loved ones!
Substitute half of the sand (or less) with fine glitter to make sparkly beads.
Swirl different colors of the sandy dough together to make multi-colored beads.
Make beading kits with your left-over sand beads and give these kits away as gifts.
Add other natural beads like shells and tiny pieces of drift wood to make a real beachy necklace.
Sell your sand bead jewelry to people at the beach.
Miseducated has been bestowed the One Lovely Blog Award by Rachael from Glass of Win.
Of course I had quite a blast rummaging through new and old blogs alike looking for a great list a favorites that you would enjoy. I’m really excited about this award because it gets bloggers communicating with other bloggers and that’s always a great and positive thing! Hurrah for all of the wonderful ladies out there that are creatively blogging. This one’s for you!
As acceptance of this award, the following criteria should be met
Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award and his or her blog link.
Pass the award to 15 other lovely blogs.
Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.
1. Thompson Family Blog
2. Twinkiechan
3. Shrinkle
4. PaperCakes Finds
5. Pugly Pixel
6. Print & Pattern
7. Retro Plants
8. Gnome-N-Birdy
9. Liefgeval
10. Pink Bow
11. Bakerella
12. Smile and Wave
13. Vol.25
14. The Pink Couch
15. Polka Dot Robot
Hello everyone!
So sorry for the lack of updates lately, I bet you’ve been wondering where we are! We still have lots of DIY goodies (summer DIY!) coming, new articles and of course our super special giveaway is still in the works for you. You’ll be able to join in shortly!
Just so you know I’ve had my baby — she was premature but she’s doing pretty well. Learning to eat and breathe at the same time! She’s staying in a children’s hospital, which is TORTURE, but we’re hoping she’ll be home in a week or less! We visit her all day everyday which explains for the lack of updates around here — but I have not forgot about Miseducated (you’re still one of my top priorities!).
If you’d like to stay updated you can follow me on twitter or join the Miseducated fanclub on Facebook. We’ll keep you posted!
Stay tuned for many more rainbows in the future! Thank you for understanding!
xox
Oomph! It’s time to start looking into my very-random schedule and see what we can do here to inspire and improve!
After much thinking (pregnant women think a lot) I decided that I would create a loose posting schedule (think DIY Tuesday and Weekly Roundups) that you could look forward to and I could make sure I’m meeting my personal quota. I feel I’m going to have to tighten things up way before Colette makes an appearance outside of my womb! She’ll probably be just the inspiration I need to soar through deliciously sweet and tasty articles. I cannot wait.
Back to the issue at hand!
Things may look a little bit different around here, a little more orderly perhaps! (Although this is Miseducated and orderly is not always our forte..)
Not only will DIY projects, printable patterns and tutorials be featured here but we’ll also soon be adding projects which go on for many weeks. Right now we’re working on an art journal set especially for you (I know how much you love art journaling, you tell me all of the time! ^_~) — this DIY project will go on through many weeks of articles to keep you inspired.
I absolutely adore all authors, contributers and guest writers here. I’m changing around the system just a bit over the next few weeks — I adore receiving occasional articles but cannot imagine stressing to already-busy authors to keep up with weekly article quotas here. Especially not until I can offer a nice compensation which is a definite goal in the future.
So, as you might have noticed, I’ve been filling in a lot of the cracks but I still support all of our contributers from occasional to one-time. I appreciate every little gem of inspiration and information you would like to offer us!
You might have already heard some talk about the upcoming giveaways — what better way to promote delicious artists and crafts than to let you have the goodies for yourself?
If you’re interested in participating in a giveaway, simply contact Miseducated with your shop url or information and let us see what you can do! If you are chosen for a giveaway we’ll scoop up our favorite wares that you’ve created, you will be featured on Miseducated and readers will get a chance to win your stock.
Stay tuned for our second giveaway — I’ve collected creations from a few artists this time to sweeten the pot. When we recieve all participating artist’s goodies you’ll have a chance to win it all right here.
T-shirts will be back soon, so sorry to have you waiting for another stock! Our paint stock is low but we’ll be creating some more soon! These are hand-painted one-by-one keeping with original indie artwork and will be sold here as they become available.
