Wednesday 24 October 2012

The Kool Aid Twist


So, it's no secret that every month I love to get a kit of scrapbooking supplies and see what I can do with them. I like it when I find something a bit different inside that pizza box. Fabric with skulls on? Now that's a bit different; and it came with the latest Quirky Kit. 

It gave me a chance to try something I've had in my head for ages: sewing fabric to a page and then creating a bit of dimension by adding some stuffing behind it. It's sort of basic trapunto for scrapbooking.



I sewed the fabric down with a zigzag stitch to echo the shapes on the skull and then I cut a slit in the paper behind and used a pencil to push in a little wad of polyester stuffing. A bit fiddly, but it worked and now I'm wondering how it would look on a bigger scale. I only wanted one little stuffed square here as part of a border to my layout; and the inspiration for that came from a page I tore from a magazine a couple of weeks ago. Here is the original alongside the border I made

Ooh, if you look too closely you'll be able to see a few little pencil crosses I haven't rubbed out yet. There's a good reason for that. I can't find the good eraser, the one that actually works..

for a layout about the Kool Aid Twist:


During the summer holidays The (Not So) Small One and a friend decided to dye the ends of their hair by dipping it in concentrated Kool Aid. I can't even begin to tell you what my Mum would have said if she had come into the kitchen one bright summer's evening and discovered me with the ends of my hair dangling in a mug of hot lemonade. So I won't. I didn't say much. Mainly because I didn't think it would work.

It didn't work. And, of course, that just made them more determined. After another trip into town for further supplies and several hours in front of youtube, they tried again. This time they got lucky. They changed the colour of the bottom three inches of their hair by several startling shades two days before school started. That's against the rules. Big time. But their luck has held. That big brother with the detention slips in his Prefect-ly, power crazed hands? He hasn't got hold of them. Yet..

pink bottle cap from the previous Quirky Kit




33 comments:

alexa said...

Now that's a lovely dimensional look/feel, and beautifully done. Vision and determination - T(NS)SO has inherited much from you, and hoping big bro can keep er out of trouble!

humel said...

Oh my gosh - that's brilliant :) Their determination, the story, and the layout - wow, you are SO creative! :)

Jimjams said...

What a great story - well done on using such quirky fabric on your pae.

Jimjams said...

*page* LOL

debs14 said...

Great page, love the way you have lifted those pieces of fabric, how effective that is.
So pleased that the hair experiment worked before they got frustrated and bought a bottle of bleach! It sometimes amazes us at our school how different students interpret the words 'no extreme hair styles or colours' ;-)

furrypig said...

oooh Kool page! I think the fabric works well as a padded embellishment and I love that they got the colour to work in the end!

Ruth said...

What a clever idea ~ it's worked so brilliantly! I like the effect on the tips of TNSSO's hair so I do hope she manages to avoid detention ...

Denise said...

Fantastic idea and page Sian - and what on earth is Kool Aid?

Ladkyis said...

Lovely page, brilliant story. I remember detention... oh yes. If it can do that to hair, who would ever drink it again?

Carmen said...

Love everything about this! LOVE the skulls, love where you got the inspiration and love the image of brother chasing down sister with detention slips waving in the air :D

Barbara Eads said...

OMG! I completely forgot about trapunto---that was so long ago---back in the day---and certainly never thought about using it on a page. I've got to try it.

I love the crazy things kids do to their hair. We ironed ours and rolled it up on juice cans. To change the color, we used lemon juice and sat in the sun. Those were the days....

Melissa said...

What a fun layout & story. I don't think it ever would have occurred to me to try to dye my hair with Kool-Aid (or anything else really). LOL

Elizabeth said...

I like your dimensional skulls--it's a different look for scrapbooking. The Kool-Aid coloring is also new to me. Who would have thought you can not only dye yarn with Kool-Aid but also hair!

scrappyjacky said...

I used to do trapunto....would never have thought of using it on a page....a really cool idea.
Hope TNSSO manages to keep on evading capture....she deserves full marks for initiative.!!

Susanne said...

Very cool - I learned what trapunto is today. So is TNSSO or her friend the instigator here - or are they both equally "brave"?

Jennifer Shaw said...

What a great idea for an original embellishment. It is perfect for this funky teenage LO. A beautiful LO! Love the story of this one. Oh I do remember the days of my girls at this age with hair experimentation. Yes, I found it better to say nothing and just be there to fix the problem when things went drastically wrong. My eldest was usually using hair dye and there were a couple of "emergency" trips to the hairdressers which cost me a small fortune. In Canada the kids can wear their hair any colour to school even in elementary. :(

Sue Althouse said...

I love the way you experimented on a scrapbook page about the great hair experiment. This reminds me of the story of the mother and her brother trying to melt root beer barrels on the stove top, thinking they could make root beer. What a mess!

Lythan said...

squishy skulls - what an awesome idea and a fabulous layout!

Nathalie said...

Very cool indeed!!! Your idea and your page both look very very cool. I could totally see those skulls into a frame (more like a shadow box actually... Enjoyed the story too!!!

Missus Wookie said...

Kool aid dying does work wonderfully well on light/white hair, laces for trainers too :)

Your way of stuffing is so much more sensible than the way I was shown/taught at a scrapping Bonanza a decade ago - sounds easier and you didn't end up tearing the paper either. But then perhaps you are more patient than me? Wonder what happened to mine? I was a determinedly flat scrapper way back then so didn't use it on a page.

We did felting to add to the page too. I'd forgotten those!

Karen said...

What fun! The layout and the story are great, and your new technique is so clever!

Becky said...

Love the layout and the skull. Didn't know you could dye your hair wtih Kool Aid!

505whimsygirl said...

Hi Sian,

I wondered how the kids were coloring the ends of their hair - and now I know! Mine is spikey short and maybe, just maybe, I should give the spikes a personality of their own!!

Your layout page looks great! I love Day of the Dead stuff!

Thanks for visiting my blog. Your daughter and her friend would have so much fun making the bracelets.

Hugs,
Kay

Kirsty.A said...

I thought that skull was an owl at first! Love how they loojk on the page

Alana said...

Oh yes, nice skull! Great elements on that page Sian. I'm loving the colours. Ooh, what a rebel the SO is...only a matter of time before she's in boots, checking out the hair colours.

Scrappi Sandi said...

Wow!! Love this ...& now I know what trapunto is!! Great method to achieve it too...I would have been wondering how I could stitch it down with wadding in place doh!! I really love how you took the inspiration & adapted it so perfectly onto the page! I have to admit I've heard of Kool Aid, but don't know if it's a juice, squash or fizzy drink...whatever it is, I guess it has a similar effect to the food colouring I used on my fringe in my teens!! :D

Amanda said...

This made me smile for so many reasons.......I like the fact that the not so small one is still experimenting. I love your layout and what a brilliant idea just my kind of thing. Isn't it amazing where ideas spring from.


.....and the one and only time I ever got sent home from school was for having pink hair :)

Nikki said...

Fab LO, love the trapunto but I don't know how you could bear to chop into that lovely fabric, well done! I shall be hoarding mine ;) xxx

Jo said...

That is a great story and a great layout, I love how you've embellished it x

ComfyMom~Stacey said...

That is a great page with a great story behind it

Maria Ontiveros said...

Clara and her cousin tried that with no success. Love the skulls - they're dia de Los muertos decorations, I think.
Rinda

Anonymous said...

What a great idea you had. Hmmm, I knew you could dye yarn with kool aid but didn't know you could dye hair with it too.

Unknown said...

I have used fabric on layouts before but I LOVE the twist you added with the stuffing! Although i probably would have cheated and used a tiny piece of quilt wadding under the fabric first and then stitched around the whole lot at once. Knowing my luck I would have ripped the whole layout doing it any other way :-)
I recently joined a kit club with a friend and I am very glad that it is only for six months as this club is not for me. I want something quirkier :-)

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