Cereal Box Letters

NMPL Craft Rating: Intermediate (can be a challenge)

What you need:

• 1 Empty Cereal Box
• 1 letter template
• 1 Pair of Scissors
• 1 Roll of Tape
• Scrap fabric, yarn, paint, scrapbook paper of other material you to use to cover your letter and hot glue or other adhesive to make your embellishments stick.

Time needed to complete: 30- 60 minutes

Step One: Take your empty cereal box and open it up flat.

Step Two: Place you letter template on one large side of the cardboard and trace it. Flip it over and trace the mirror image on the other half of your cardboard.

*We made our letter template by using Word Art on Microsoft word. You can stretch your letter to be any size. Ours was made to fit nicely on an 8.5"x11" paper.

 

Step Three: Cut off the the two sides of your box and save them. We will be using them later to create our 3D letters.

Step Four: Cut out your letters.

*We used regular scissors to do this, but if you have a letter with a hole, like our P, you will need an X-acto knife to make your life easier. You could try to use scissors if you do not have a knife available, but it's not recommended. 

Step Five: Cut your box ends (that you put off the side earlier) in half. When you have finished you should have 4 strips of cardboard.

Step Six: Now for the tricky part. Take a strip of cardboard and start taping in onto the edge of your letter. This creates a wall around the letter. Once this is finished you will tape the other letter on the wall that you just created. Making your letter a 3D letter!



Step Seven: Now for the fun part. Pick the items you want to use to embellish your letter. Wrap it, Paint it, do whatever! We picked scrap fabric, that we tore into strips and yarn.

Step Eight: You are all finished! We created fabric flowers to embellish our letters. Look for a how-to on creating these great fabric flowers soon.

Re-purposed T-shirt Bag

NMPL Craft Rating: For Beginners (Super Easy)

What you need:

-1 Old T-Shirt

-1 pair of scissors (make sure they are sharp, or this project will be a lot harder than it has to be)

-1safety pins

Time needed for completion: 10- 15 minutes

Step One: Lay the t-shirt out flat and cut the sleeves off. These will be part of the bag handles. After the sleeves are off. Save one of them. You will be using it later. 

Step Two: Cut the neck of the t-shirt out. To make this easier, we used a simple square cut. Start your cut about one inch from the neck seam. There is no need to measure the exactly one inch, so your guest will be enough. 

Step Three: Use the sleeve that you saved and cut it into strips. This will be used to keep the bottom of the bag closed. 

 Step Four: Cut the circle once to create a long strip of fabric. Once this is finished, you will need to stretch the fabric to create a long string.  Place your safety pin on the end of the string.

Step Five: Once you have finished creating and pinning your string, you will need to make a small cut at the bottom seam of your t-shirt. Please be careful not to cut through the seam, but just up to the edge of the where the seam has been sewn. 

Step Six: Put the safety pin through the small hole you just cut at the bottom seam of the t-shirt. Run the safety pin all the way through until you reach the hole again. 

Step Seven: Pull the strings tight and tie the strings in a bow. This will create the bottom of your bag. Keep in mind these bags are made for the purpose of reusable shopping bags and if the bottom hole is too large, small items may fall out. 

You're all finished!

 Take this with you the next time you go shopping. Don't forget to brag and let them know that you made the bag yourself!

WELCOME!

Welcome to the North Manchester Public Library Craft blog! We will use this blog for our monthly craft hour. Visit the blog to get tips on upcoming crafts and more ideas using the same materials from craft hour.