Martha Moments - The Martha Stewart Blog» Martha Stewart Crafts

Homemade Watercolor Paint- Martha Stewart’s Homemade Art Supplies

admin — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 12:58:08 +0000

Children love to make paintings out of watercolor paint – heck, even adults like to play with watercolor paints (even if they are not willing to admit it!). How fun would it be to make your own Homemade Watercolor Paint set? You can customize the paint colors, plus save a ton of money with Martha Stewart’s DIY Homemade Art Supplies! Another major advantage of making your own watercolor paints is that if your children puts the paint in their mouths, it is non-toxic!

Martha also gave tips for making Homemade Sidewalk Chalk. Maybe it was the glory of my mother hanging my watercolor paintings on the fridge as a child (something you cannot do with sidewalk chalk drawings) – or maybe it was the disappointment of spending an afternoon making a gorgeous sidewalk chalk drawing, and then after an evening of thunderstorms, waking up the next morning to see my sidewalk chalk art destroyed – but I am definitely much more in the group of watercolor paint lovers than the group sidewalk chalk lovers.

Here is how Martha Stewart said to make the Homemade Watercolor Paints, but keep in mind that you can (and should) use your creativity to make lots of fun colors! Aqua, fuchsia, lilac… you get the idea…

Plus, did anyone see that Martha Stewart will be at the Norwalk, CT Costco tomorrow for a book signing? I will be there with an armful of books for all of my friends and family members (think about how perfect of a Mother’s Day present a signed Martha book would be)! I am sure a bunch of my readers will be there, so please let me know so that we can get together and I can say hello!!! I will be wearing a navy nautical themed button down sweater (new from LL Bean this season – love them!)

Martha Stewart’s Homemade Watercolor Paints:

What You Need:

- baking soda

- white vinegar

- light corn syrup

- cornstarch

- mixing spoon and bowl

- 1/2 dozen egg carton

- food coloring

- popsicle sticks or skewers

Directions:

1. Mix together 4 TB of baking soda and 2 TB of vinegar. You will see it fizzing.

2. After the fizzing stops, add 1/2 tsp corn syrup and 2 TB cornstarch. Mix well.

3. Pour this into your egg carton, but only fill the cups 1/3 to 1/2 of the way.

4. Add between 5 and 10 drops of food coloring to get the color you are looking for. Here are some tips for making certain colors of watercolor paints (this should remind you of elementary school a bit!)

Red / Pink – 10 drop red

Orange – 1 drop red, 6 drops yellow

Yellow – 5 drops yellow

Leaf Green – 3 drops green, 7 drops yellow

Sea Blue – 5 drops blue

Violet – 4 drops red, 2 drops blue

5. Let the paints sit overnight so that they can set and become firm.

6. Paint away with a wet paintbrush and your new Homemade Watercolor Paints!

Martha & Kristy Boucher’s Vinyl & Paper Wallet Templates

admin — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 19:12:14 +0000

Martha Stewart had Kristy Boucher on her show today to teach us how to make wallets out of Clear Vinyl and paper (like this gorgeous Glitter Cardstock Paper… glitter wallets!!! how much fun is that???). I have so many gorgeous books of card stock, but that just don’t fit into any of my scrapbooks… but would be PERFECT for making adorable wallets. I am also thinking about holiday gifts for teachers… presents for birthday parties… this could be a great money saver for a very cute present, especially in this economy! The only thing I am missing is a non-stick presser foot for my sewing machine, because apparently if you use a regular presser foot on your sewing machine (instead of a plastic “non-stick” presser foot) then the foot will get stuck on to the vinyl.

: leather wallet from Crestock Creative Photos

Martha & Kristy Boucher’s Vinyl & Paper Wallet Templates

Here are the two wallet templates: Wallet Pockets Template and Main Wallet Template

1. Pick your card stock and trace the template onto the cardstock. Either all of the cardstock can be the same pattern, or you can use different patterns or solids that look good together.

2. Take your vinyl and cut it large enough so that you can cover the entire front and back of the piece cut from the Main Wallet Template. You should fold the vinyl at the bottom (the straight edge) rather than on the top with the rounded corners. Sew around the edge (1/4″ from the fold or crease in the vinyl) using your non-stick presser foot on your sewing machine.

3. Do the same thing with the vinyl for the pockets cut from the Wallet Pockets Template.

4. Do yet again the same thing for the vinyl for the closure tab, but this time sew around all of the sides except for where the vinyl is folded.

5. Line up all three pockets in descending size order and so that the side where the vinyl isn’t folded is at the bottom.

6. Carefully mark a line down the center of the pockets so that you can where to sew to make sections for your credit cards.

7. Line up the pockets on the bottom of the “outside” side of the main wallet. Attach the pockets to the wallet and sew down the center to make sections for the credit cards.

8. Attach the closure tab to your wallet.

9. Fold the bottom portion with the pockets for your credit cards up to form a pocket for your dollar bills (and $100 bills!) to go. Sew along the two sides and around the rounded side of the main body of your wallet (but make sure not to sew close the section for your dollar bills).

10. Trim off any extra vinyl of course to tidy it up and attach snaps so that the closure tab will hold your wallet closed.

Grey’s Anatomy Chandra Wilson & Martha’s Tied Children’s Quilts

admin — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:08:37 +0000

Chandra Wilson, from Grey’s Anatomy, was on the Martha Stewart Show to teach us how to sew quilts for Children. Chandra is a spokesperson for Downy’s Touch of Comfort cause, which raises money to give sick children colorful and gorgeous quilts… what a beautiful idea! I wish they would give an address where we could make our own quilts and send them to be distributed to sick children.

: Pink Quilt from Crestock High Quality Images

The quilts were a very basic quilt (one solid piece for the front and back of the quilt, some batting, rick rack and yarn or thread to tie the quilt). Here is the diagram for how to place the ties … the brilliant “Martha Moment” to me was that she put her needle in and out at each “x” to anchor the thread, and then moved on to an adjacent “x” until she formed a square shape out of thread. Then Martha cut the squares in the center of each side of the square, which made it very easy to tie the two thread tails and form knots for the quilt!

Martha Stewart’s Holiday Craft Sale

admin — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 05:01:33 +0000

For anyone in NYC who was lucky enough to make it to the holiday craft sale this year on December 5, 2009, you know how unique and fabulous all of the items were! If you did not make it though, do not fear… here are links to photos and information about how to purchase items that were sold there:

Kirsten Earl’s Quilled Paper Snowflake Ornaments (Martha Stewart Holiday Craft Sale)

Adorable Holiday Cookies (Martha Stewart Holiday Craft Sale)

Vintage by Crystal Review (Martha Stewart Holiday Craft Sale)

Couture Clips (Martha Stewart Holiday Craft Sale)

Craft Punches (Martha Stewart Holiday Craft Sale)

Tasty Treats (Martha Stewart Holiday Craft Sale)

Centerpieces & Holiday Decorations (Martha Stewart Holiday Craft Sale)

Kristin St. Clair’s Pearl Necklaces (Martha Stewart Holiday Craft Sale)

Bottle Cap Pendants (Martha Stewart Holiday Craft Sale)

Crocheted Baby Shoes (Martha Stewart Holiday Craft Sale)

The Jewels of New York Hand Decorated Cookies (Martha Stewart Holiday Craft Sale)

Sustainable Magazine Christmas Tree (Martha Stewart Holiday Craft Sale)