Introducing: myDIY, an Online Crafting Party!

One question I get asked all the time is, “How do you find inspiration?” And even though I know it’s not what people want to hear, the 100% truthful answer is: everywhere! While I know that I am lucky to have been born into a family of creatives, I do think it is possible to learn creative skills. I have a friend who insists she has absolutely no right brain, and I really think it just isn’t true! Crafty or artistic skills may not come naturally to everyone, but anyone can think creatively!

So that is why I wanted to start myDIY! myDIY is a collaborative online crafting party designed to inspire creative thought and interpretation. Each month, a material or topic will be posted along with several bloggers’ interpretations of the idea. We offer our own projects to show how one idea can be interpreted in so many different ways!

Here is where you come in. We invite you to gather inspiration from our projects and link-up your own interpretation. myDIY is meant to be an exercise in creativity – rather than reading a tutorial online and executing it exactly as specified, we hope to truly encourage and develop creativity through this project!

myDIY will take place over one month, allowing plenty of time for all of you lovely readers to post and link-up your own projects. At the end of the month, we plan to showcase our favorite projects, as well as host a giveaway in which all participants will be automatically entered.

This month, the co-hosts are myself, Esther from Wholly Kao, and Lindsay from Shrimp Salad Circus. The material is…

Flip flops!

Everyone’s got some flip flops, right? If not, you can buy them anywhere for just a few dollars. We thought they would be a great raw material to be inspired by for our first project. Read on to see my project and for instructions on how to link-up your own project!

For my interpretation, I decided to make “friendship bracelet flip flops.” I saw some artists in Mexico making some amazing wrapped and woven bracelets when I visited last year and I just had to give it a try! Making sandals instead of jewelry is just another twist on the inspiration.

You will need:

• Plastic flip flops
• Embroidery floss: 2 skeins of a main color (16 meters) and 4 yards each of 3 accent colors
• Cardboard bobbins
• Double-sided tape
• Regular tape (not pictured)

Start by unwinding one skein of your main color and winding each half of it around its own bobbin. This will help to keep the string from tangling while you are working with it. You should also cut your accent color strings into 1 yard lengths – you will need two strings of each accent color for each sandal.

Tie all of your strings around the toe part of your flip flop. One main color + two of each accent color = 7 strings, the photo here is wrong, sorry, math is hard!

Tear a length of double-sided tape that is about the length of one “arm” of your sandal. Affix the tape to the bottom of the arm, where we will be wrapping the string. This will take a little adjusting and trimming to get right, but it will really make things so much easier for you!

Arrange your accent strings along the arm of your flip flop in the order you want them to lay – I wanted an ombre pattern so I placed the lightest shades on the sides and the darkest in the middle. Use a small piece of tape on top to temporarily secure them.

Begin wrapping your main color around the arm of the sandal, pressing the string to the double-sided tape each time. Wrap tightly and closely so the color of the sandal does not show through. Keep wrapping until you want your pattern to begin (I did about 20 wraps here).

Now we’re ready to create the pattern! Remove the tape that is holding the accent strings and remove the center two strings, then tape down the others. Wrap your main color under the center strings two times. Then remove the next two strings, wrap two times, then the last two strings, and wrap two more times. You are creating the arrow pattern by weaving the strings. Lastly, pull your accent strings back down onto the arm of the sandal and tape them down again.

Continue wrapping your main color and repeat your woven pattern as you like. I did about 15 wraps before repeating the pattern each time.

Once you reach the end, tie the end off with a small knot.

Flip your flop over and push on the arm so the little plug thingy pushes out slightly.

Using a pointy tool (this is a plastic darning needle), push your strings through the hole so that they come out the bottom of the sandal. It is helpful to poke them through, then use tweezers to pull them through from the other side.

Tie all of your strings in a knot around the plug, then trim off the ends and push the plug back into place.

Enjoy your cute new flip flops!

See all the hosts’ projects here:

Esther • Lindsay • Kira

If you would like to participate in myDIY (and we hope you do!), complete the following steps:

1. Create a DIY tutorial that uses or is inspired by this month’s material and post it on your own blog. (If you don’t have a blog, you can still participate by posting your project on the Her New Leaf Facebook wall and linking up from there.)
2. Include the myDIY button (code below) and tell your readers a little about myDIY.
3. Add your link using the link-up tool below.
4. Visit other participants’ projects! Share the comment love and find some great new blogs to follow.

A special thank you to The Ink Nest for sponsoring myDIY by donating their beautiful clip art for our graphics.

Tagged as: craft, diy, link-up, linky party, tutorial