Easy Duck® Brand Craft Tape Frame

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Duck Brand for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.
Duck Brand Craft Tapes are just a wonderful creative tool. They have created all these neat tapes like Duck Prism®, fabric tape, washi tape and glitter tape. My picture frame is made using Duck® Fabric Tape, but any of the craft tapes will work just great to make it.

Duck® Brand Fabric tape is easy to use. It comes with a liner on the back so the fabric doesn't get tacky, and the backing has a pattern that makes it easy to cut neatly.

To make this frame you'll need:
Duck Brand Craft Tapes, paper frame template, non-stick scissors, narrow ribbon

Download and print the template on card stock. Pick your size- at 100% it makes a 5 inch frame with 2.5 inch opening. Making it smaller would make a cute gift tag or small gift. Cut out the template, and the inner window. Score and fold in side tabs and main fold. Crease well.

Now start covering the outside with tape. Using the Duck® Brand Fabric Tape, you can cut length to the right size and take your time to get them placed, until you burnish it down, it's pretty positionable. Cut slits to fold over the edges in the inner edge of the window. Get the whole outside neatly covered.
Now it's time for the ribbon. The ribbon holds the frame closed. You'll put a small open loop on the inside of the back of the frame and a longer closed loop on the inside of the front of the frame.


So to put the picture in, you'll put it behind the window, then fold the side flaps over, then fold up the back flap. Slip the long ribbon loop through the small ribbon loop to close.
I follow @TheDuckBrand on Twitter- do you? If you do, and you make things with Duck Brand® Craft Tapes- share it and hash tag it #DuckCraftTape, and don't forget to Pin it too!
Now I need the Glitter Duck Brand® tape. Because everything is better with glitter.

Duck Tape® Kisses

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Duck Brand provided by ShurTech Brands, LLC. All opinions are 100% mine.

Well, you all know I'm wild for Duck Brand® Tape Crafts, and so is my daughter. This holder for candy kisses is very easy to make using Duck Tape® in colors and patterns, or even the shiny metallics and some scrap plastic.

What is scrap plastic? It's the stuff from blister packs, or the sides of milk jugs. I cut down a lot to useable flat peices that are stored in a drawer for when they would be handy, then recycle the scraps in the usual way. If you don't have a spare blister pack or an empty plastic milk jug- plastic needle point canvas would work as well.
Duck Tape® has designs for a lot of holidays, for Valentine's Day there are Cheetah Kisses which is the pattern I used in my project and Wild Hearts which my daughter used very well in a project of her own (photo at the end of the tutorial of her project!). The patterns inspire Valentine’s Day craft ideas.
First you'll need to cut 3 squares from the plastic. At least 1.5 inch squares. Mine were a bit bigger and my Kiss holds a lot of candy kisses. Just work with the plastic you have available and how big or small you want the finished project to be.
Cover those squares with tape on both sides.

Now cut 2 lengths of tape long enough to cover one side of a square. Cut those two pieces in half lengthwise (like a hotdog!) and tape up 2 edges on 2 squares.

Trim tape edges neatly if you have any overhang. Cut 2 more strips and cut them in half lengthwise. Now it's time to put in the back/bottom piece.
The first piece tapes in very easily. You'll tape the untaped edges of one square to the edges of the backing square.

To finish, you'll tape the last piece into place on the backing square. The plastic will give enough for you to be able to do it.
To open, just squeeze the corners where the two open pieces meet the back piece. In larger sizes, there maybe a noticeable gap, but it does hold the candy kisses nicely.

Follow @TheDuckBrand on Twitter for so lots of great ideas, links and new product information.
Do you have a favorite Valentine project? Pin it and share it with Duck Tape® fans around the world using #DuckValentine
This is what my daughter made using Duck Tape® for Valentine's Day. She used a water bottle as a mandrel to create the quiver.

Duck Tape® Index Card Case Tutorial

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Walmart for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

You expected cute little owls maybe? *grins* I actually thought about it and you can absolutely find my Retro Owls tape when you go to buy Duck Tape at Walmart. But there are so many prints available from Duck Tape®, lots of licensed prints including Mickey Mouse, 1 Direction, Despicable Me and the Avengers, plus a lot of their own designs (and Retro Owls! yeah, that's still amazingly cool to me) ... well, my family are pretty serious comic book geeks. So AVENGERS ASSEMBLE! (I think that's out of my system now)

You will need:

• Duck Tape®
• Non-stick scissors- I recommend Westcot
• hook and loop dots, squares or tabs - I used Velcro
• Index cards

Start by making a Duck Tape® sheet- I do my work on an old room service tray, but a self-healing cutting mat works too. It just needs to be a surface that won't be damaged by the tape and that you can pull the tape off.  Just put down a strip sticky side up, then another strip over it sticky side down, and flip back and forth until the sheet is big enough. Make it a bit wider than the index cards so you can trim down to nice neat sides.

Make the sheet twice as long as the cards are tall, plus a couple inches for the flap. In the photo below, I've already folded it up and placed a card over it so you could see the flap length. I've also trimmed the sides. Leave a little bit of room for the depth of the cards- at least a quarter inch.

Rub all the folds with the scissor handles to crease them well.

A lot of tapes are directional. Like Retro Owls has the design horizontally aligned. Avengers is vertically aligned. Alignment  will help you decide your decoration. In this case, I decided on a band down the center.

Because it would be upside down on the back if I wrapped it, I cut it off. It's folded over at the top and bottom.

Then lined up the design for the top flap. 

See how pretty that's lined up?

Now it's time to finish it up. Start by putting tape on the back. I picked a contrast color, but you could use the same color you used for the base color. Leave a small amount to fold over the front.

Repeat on the top, and put a piece of tape in the middle where the gap shows.

Then cut short lengths to tape up the sides, most of the tape will be on the back to create the bordered look for the front.

Repeat on the flap, then put another piece of tape on the back of the flap for the last border piece.

Now it's time to add the hook and loop closure. To get it to line up perfectly, take the backing off one side, then press it down to the flap. You can either put one in the middle, or do what I did and use 2.

Take the backing off the other side, and press it down to close it. The sticky will stick in the right place!

Duck Tape® comes in so many prints and colors that it can be used to personalize all sorts of things for school. You could tape up a 3 ring binder to match this card case, make a pencil case in a similar style, use it to show your personal style. It comes in enough colors that it's also possible to show your school spirit with Duck Tape®.

Plus, Retro Owls! Which I didn't actually show in this post. But thank you all for telling me where you are finding it and what you are doing with it. If you want to email me pictures, I'd love to do a photo post of all the really neat things people are doing with Retro Owls Duck Tape®.

Follow @TheDuckBrand for lots of great ideas.

 

It's My Birthday- Retro Owl Tape Giveaway

It's my birthday today! So I'm giving away presents. 5 people can win one roll each of Retro Owl Duck® Brand Duct  Tape. I'll even autograph the rolls. I'm sorry, but because of shipping costs, this is USA only. 

So how do you enter? Leave a comment. It's that simple. Make sure you give me some way to get in touch with you if you're the winner. Email address or Ravelry name will do nicely.

Extra entries? Sure. Leave a comment for each one of these that you do-
Follow me on Pinterest
Like Shala's Beadwork and Printables on FB
Share this giveaway on Twitter, Pinterest or FB (link to this page, leave a comment with the link of the page you shared it on)
This giveaway will start today, May 16, 2013 and end on my husband's birthday- June 12, 2013.
Winners will be drawn randomly by The Amazing Turnip Girl.

Good Luck!!

Duck Tape® Prom Queen (Mini Crown Tutorial)

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Duck® Brand for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

I remember when my daughter was little and she discovered Duck Tape®. She created clothes for her fashion dolls and stuffed animals, purses, bags and covered notebooks. She's still making purses, accessories and notebooks even though she's (mostly) outgrown fashion dolls.
Duck Tape® has an annual scholarship fashion contest for with great prizes for people who attending their proms. Stuck at Prom® is open to students from U.S.A. and Canada except for Maryland, Vermont, Colorado, Puerto Rico and the Province of Quebec. You need to be at least 14 to enter and going to an school sanctioned prom of some sort. You can find the full rules HERE and an f.a.q. HERE. Check out the gallery of previous winners and entries!
I was talking to a reporter about Duck Tape® after winning the contest, and he was surprised to find out that there were patterns for Duck Tape®. I'm sure he would be really astounded to know just how many. Like Duck Tape® on Facebook (I do!) , right now the cover image is a whole bunch of different designs and colors of tape. The Duck Tape community on there is helpful and supportive.

Here are just a few patterns and colors just to give you some idea what's available.
The metallic  Duck Tape®  that I used for the base is also available in silver.
To make a mini crown you will need:
Duck Tape®
Non stitck scissors- These things are the best thing in the world for Duck Tape® crafting! I like Westcott Titanium Coated Scissors
my pattern for a crown
ball point pen or permanent marker
elastic- cord or narrow elastic
bobby pins
optional- parchment paper (a tip that I got from Cathy who designs applique bags and purses, look for DuckTapeVillage on FB)

The basis for almost all Duck Tape® crafting is making a sheet, and you can find instructions on their site for doing that. You'll start by making a sheet big enough to fit the crown pattern. Click the pattern for a larger version, print and cut out.

After you make the sheet and check it on your crown pattern- outline the pattern with the pen.


Cut out the crown. Tape it closed. You don't actually need the tab, but it does make it a little easier. One of the nice things about Duck Tape® is that seam allowances aren't necessary! You can just butt edges and tape them.
After you cut out and assemble the crown, you can tape over the edges to make sure they are all covered, or use a marker on them or just leave them plain. I taped over them.

Tape a  piece of elastic inside the crown across the diameter at the bottom . This provides a base to clip it into your hair.  You could also do an X in elastic if you want to pin in down in your hair with more security.
Then the fun part, decorate it. There are all sorts of tapes, all sorts of ideas. This is where the parchment paper can come in handy. If you lightly adhere tape to the slick side of parchment paper, you can cut out appliques and motifs from tape to decorate your crowns and other items more easily.
Even if you aren't the official Prom King or Queen, you'll have your very own crown from your prom.
Go get Stuck at Prom®

My other entries for the Duck Tape contest

A few people has asked if I submitted other designs to the contest. Yes! I did. Only one design per designer could make it to the finals, but you could enter every day. I didn't enter quite every day, but did draw a few designs and enter them. Click on the images to see larger versions.
The other question I get asked a lot is when is the tape coming out. I have no idea! None. But when I know, I will announce it here!

Which one is your favorite?

Crayons! Everyone loves crayons right?

Spirals, stripes and dots. A recurrent theme around here!

Cookies! I think there should be a tape to celebrate home cooks.

Eyelet lace

Strawberries! (I'm really looking forward to summer and my strawberry patch)

Rainbows are just fun!

Moons, swirls and stars. Also something I draw a lot. Mostly because my friend Melissa loves anything celestial.

Scrappy Flowers with button centers

So what do you think? I love the owls, and it's my personal favorite. My second favorite is the baking design.  But it's close, because spirals, dots and stripes are one of my favorite things too.

Owls Duck Tape??

Yes! Owls Duck Tape! Coming out sometime in 2013!

Thank you everyone who voted for me and encouraged me.

YAY! Haven't stopped smiling. Normal postings will resume soon.