Pop Shop pics & DIY Corks

This weekend was amazing, we went out and did our very first workshop at Pop Shop Houston. We made over 1,600 cork discs for some stamping fun. The workshop was free and we only asked people to be creative! We had a HUGE turn out, we made over 600 cork creations with people and got a lot of feedback with fellow local artists. If you never checked out Pop Shop Houston, be sure to check out their site over here. They really did put together an amazing craft and design fair!

Houston really is the best~!!

You can view more photos here. Just in case you missed out on the fun here is the tutorial for those who want to do it at  home!

Supplies
– Regular Wine Corks (not wax corks)
– Acrylic Paint – various colors
– Stamps
– Quick drying pigment ink pad (dark and light colors)
– Saw & vice (make sure an adult is helping)
– Safety gloves and glasses (cork dust can get in your eyes)
– Sand paper
– Screw posts
– Twine or key rings
Optional
– Pipe cutter (ONLY if you have some wax or plastic corks to cut)

We start by sawing the corks into discs, 1 cork will usually make 4-5 discs. This is our main base for stamping. We use our sand paper and smooth down the side we want to paint on. You could just simply dye the corks but that can take up dying time and resources – we found it easier to use acrylic paint instead! We like acrylic because of its quick drying action. Drying usually takes about 15-20 minutes. After painting one side of our piece we let that dry. Our next step is the stamping! We love using a quick drying pigment ink pad. You can use large flourish stamps or simply use a small letter stamp to make your very own monogram piece. The pigment ink only takes a few minutes to dry! To finish the piece, we like using screw posts into the cork to allow us to string the cork or even make it into a key chain. The screw posts are so easy to put in the corks!

Be creative and use different colors of paint and inks! There is no right or wrong way to make these and they make the perfect gift to swap with friends.

Tips:
– Old corks tend to be very dry and may fall apart when sawing. Use fresh corks or “young” corks.
– Use a blending gel to help mix white with your color paint – the gel makes the blending smoother. Add white to your colors to make dreamy pastels!!
– Use more than one stamp and ink pad color! You can layer by adding a light color stamp with a darker color stamp on top! We did something similar on our heart pendant.
– You can also leave corks un-painted for a more natural look!

Corks are so versatile and so easy to work with!

This post was written by:

MIJA VERA - (view all posts by Mija)
Mija has been a designer for the last 15 years. She is a paper obsessed fiend and loves working on new projects while listening to her kids and Maine Coon cat chatter around the house. You can email her at mija@mind-speaks.com

Tea for Two

Have a tea fanatic in your life? Then this is the craft idea for you.

Great gift for Valentine’s, birthdays, or even anniversaries. This simple yet adorable gift will be sure to melt the heart of your loved one. Warm them up with a spot of tea. <3

Here are the materials you will need:

• teabags or tea leaves
• coffee filters
• Scissors
• needle
• Thread
• Craft Paper
• Chalkboard labels (optional)

I just bought a box of different tea samples, and deconstructed the bags. I then cut hearts out of the coffee filters and then sewed them up, filling each with different tea leaves. I love how the peppermint tea smelled. After sewing them closed, I left a long thread tail and then added a tag so that I could label each tea. In the sample box there were at least three of each type of tea, and there were I believe five different flavors.

Honey Chamomile, Sleepy Time, Lemon, Peppermint, Chamomile 

I also knitted a heart as an added decoration, along with a necklace that I had bought for my boyfriend to wrap around the jar. The artist is named Yamin, and you can find his work here. He is amazing. I also opted for a dollar chalkboard labels, obviously the chalk will rub off when the jar is handled. But it was just too cute to pass up, I’ve boarded the chalkboard train. XD  Hope you enjoyed my version of the heart teabags. Let me know if you tackle this project. Would love to see your take on it.

Until next time, thanks for reading and commenting.

This post was written by:

KIM VERA - (view all posts by Kim)
Kim works as a museum Copywriter and helps out with events from time to time. When she isn’t working or blogging, she is probably off taking a nap. Feel free to email her at kim@mind-speaks.com

Paper Source love!!

Paper Source posted about my wedding in their newest blog post! They accidentally put Austin instead of Houston but regardless I am honored. They asked me to write a small description about how they inspired our theme and which products that I used. I’m really happy to see the post, and I was able to revisit my wedding a bit. Our first anniversary is coming in October and I am just really happy for all of the love this year has been!

This post was written by:

MIJA VERA - (view all posts by Mija)
Mija has been a designer for the last 15 years. She is a paper obsessed fiend and loves working on new projects while listening to her kids and Maine Coon cat chatter around the house. You can email her at mija@mind-speaks.com