Mason Jar Pencil Sharpener

Hi guys! Randomly, how are you? Today I decided to make a mason jar pencil sharpener for the studio today. Here is a little video on how to make it.

Mason Jar Pencil Sharpener: http://youtu.be/0TQceCu6Png

You will need:
-A mason jar
-A lid ring
-A lid
-A drill/rotary (Dremel) tool with a drill/rotary bit to make a hole through the lid
-A metal washer with a hole large enough to match up with the pencil sharpener hole.
-a hand held pencil sharpener
-Hot glue gun and glue
-Scissors
-Exacto knife
And
-A piece of cardstock (optional)

Optional decorations should be done first:
A. Lay the lid on the cardstock and trace around it. Cut out the circle from the cardstock. Make sure you cut a little bigger than the traced circle.
B. Center the washer in the middle of the circle of cardstock.  Trace around the outer side of the washer and use the Exacto Knife to cut out the traced washer circle. When the sharpener is finished, this will just rest in between the lid and ring when it is screwed onto the mason jar.

How to make the actual pencil sharpener:
1. Place washer on top of jar lid. Center it so that the hole in the washer is in the center of the lid. Mark where the hole is as this will be where your pencil will go through the lid. Remove the washer and drill out the hole in the jar lid.
2. After drilling, glue the washer on top of the jar lid so that the hole in the washer and the hole in the lid line up.
3. Now flip the lid over and glue the pencil sharpener to the bottom of the lid. The hole in the lid should line up with the hole in the pencil sharpener where the pencil will go.
4. Now, hot glue around the edges of the sharpener, except where the shavings come out, so that the glue will hold the sharpener to the lid when the pencil is being twisted.
5a. (Optional) place the cut out cardstock on top of lid. The washer should slide through the hole in the cardstock.
5b. Put the lid on the jar with the washer facing upward. Screw the ring on the jar and viola... you have a mason jar pencil sharpener.

Upcycling For Organization

Hi there guys and gals of the random interweb!! This is going to be my first really random post. 

Today I woke up in a very constructive mood. After looking all over Youtube for a good project to start on, I began watching one of my favorite Youtubers, thefrugalcrafter. She has amazing tutorials on watercolor paintings. I love it. I was actually looking for some watercolor inspiration but what I found was even better!

Anyways, she does a series called Ask A Crafter(click to go to the video). In the recent video, someone had asked about upcycling tin cans. She showed one that she had decorated and added wire to hang craft supplies. This got my motor running. 

My computer/ drawing desk in my studio has seemed a bit cluttered in the past week and I have been trying to find a way to remove the clutter. I had been saving green bean and corn cans for a while now. I have a hoarding issue. I can't help myself. I also have an awesome boyfriend who brought me a really eclectic coat rack/mantle that someone was going to throw away. Obviously genius struck when I realized that I had all these things.

I ran to my studio, which is in my house, and drug out my cans. I had plenty enough for each peg on the coat rack. My hoarding had paid off! I hung the mantle/coat hanger on the wall and began working on my cans. 

Next I removed the silly labels and replaced it with decorative and pretty scrap book paper. I cut the scrap book paper at 4" x 10.5" strips. This gives enough overlap to glue with a glue stick. I wrapped it tight and glued down the overlapping top.

I must give a shout out to We R Memory Keepers for this paper. It is a 12" x 12" 24 sheet pack called Nonsense. It had very bright and beautiful colors and patterns that I couldn't pass up. The green is the back of the Nonsense-Zig Zag and the blue paisleys are Nonsense-Ding Dong. 

After attaching the paper, I wrapped the top in twine and hot glued it down. (Please note, that this is what I had but you could do it with ribbon, rope, or yarn.) I left a loop of twine for it to hang on the pegs and made sure that my knots were secure and glued so that they wouldn't come undone. Gluing the knots are optional but it does help when you have heavy things hanging in them.

Once the glue cooled and dried and after I tested the twine at the top, I began filling it with all my desk cluttering randomness. On top of the mantle, I placed bigger things that wouldn't fit in my upcycled cans.

 So far, I am pretty pleased with how much room I have on my desk and how functional and eye pleasing that the cans and coat hanger turned out. After adding my Blog Schedule board and what other things I need close to my computer, I feel like I have a beneficial social media work space. 

I hope this has inspired you to upcycle products around your house that may give you some random organization. Please go check out thefrugalcrafter and subscribe to her. Her videos are amazing. Also check out We R Memory Keepers and all their neat crafting products. Have a randomly happy day, guys. and check back soon for more random crafting and product testing greatness. 

The beginning of randomness!!!!

Howdy to all you random people out there! Welcome to my random life!

I hope you all are doing well in the random and vast outer space of the world wide web. I hope your own random life is going in a randomly happy direction! I know what you are thinking, "ENOUGH WITH THE RANDOMS YOU CRAZY GIRL!" 

Okay, calm down! Geesh! You should know by the name of the blog that it's going to be RANDOM. Hahaha okay, seriously, I will try to keep my randoms at a minimal. 

Anywho, I guess I just wanted to start a blog about all the things that I am interested in and bring forth a collective review and DIY area to the madness that is my life. 

Here is a few examples of my chaotic life. I am an artist, crafter, jewelry maker, and polymer clay artist. I am an avid reader and writer. I like all things books. I am even guilty of making my own books. I love to cook and try new recipes. I love doing product testing for #BzzAgent and giving my most honest opinion on the product. I love music in all sounds and forms. I am interested in sci fi and fantasy. I won't lie, I'm a geek. I love fan-domes. Walking Dead, vampires and werewolves, Harry Potter, Hunger Games, anything to do with medieval times, Dungeons and Dragons. I am addicted to Puzzles and Dragons. Who is with me? Shew, that game takes up a lot of my time. And to add to all that, I'm a mail artist with a major pen pal addiction. I love getting things in the mail! 

So pretty much, to tie all that random info together, this will be a place where I review things like products, tv shows, books, or games. I will also try to add some tutorials on how to make things. I will be sharing some of the awesome mail art I get from my pen pals. Hopefully you all will enjoy the craziness and join in. 

Thanks for your time. Hope you come back soon and see all the random things I have going.