Diwali Workshop at Itsy Bitsy

Hi Folks!! Diwali is here and Team Itsy Bitsy wishes all of you a very happy Diwali!

Itsy Bitsy conducted a free Make & Take workshop last Sunday! The response was overwhelming and we would like to thank all the participants for making this workshop a huge success.

People came into our stores, painted & decorated diyas and had lots of fun doing it. Our little friends enjoyed the workshop immensely and posed enthusiastically with their beautiful creations!!

Please note that we are conducting another free Make & Take workshop for kids this Saturday, 14^th November. It will be an all day event and will commence at 11:00am. So walk into our stores this Saturday and be prepared to have loads of fun J

Here are a few pictures of the Diwali event:

Easy Scrapbook Layout for Beginners!

Hi Folks! Welcome to our Tuesday Tutorial!

Scrapbooking is a beautiful & creative way of treasuring your photos and memories. You can add embellishments, comments and sentiments along with the photos in a page. Altogether you end up with a lovely collection of memories to look back upon, and relive the moments on a later date.

If you have been wondering how to start scrapbooking, here's a handy tutorial by Juhi Khanna for beginners. In her own words, Juhi is a hardware verification engineer by the day and an obsessive crafter by the night. Do join her as she takes you through the process of making a beautiful scrapbook layout using Itsy Bitsy supplies and embellishments!

A handy link for supplies:

Pattern Paper:
http://www.itsybitsy.in/store/scrapbooking-card-making-paper/pattern-paper-12x12/double-side-pattern-paper-12x12-uncharted-water-strips-0670-1sht-glitz

CardStock:

http://www.itsybitsy.in/store/paper-boards/cellulose-card-stock-12x12

Floral embellishments:

http://www.itsybitsy.in/store/floral-embellishments/stocking-cloth-embellishments/escenta-mesh-flower-pink-4pc-ib

http://www.itsybitsy.in/store/paper-flowers/handmade-paper-flowers/camden-cottage-french-carnival-4pcs-pbci-ib http://www.itsybitsy.in/store/paper-flowers/handmade-paper-flowers/jewelled-florettes-french-carnival-80pcs-pbci-ib

Twine:

http://www.itsybitsy.in/store/jute/jute-twine

Kraft Embellishments:

http://www.itsybitsy.in/store/embellishments/kraft-expressions/kraft-printed-birds-8pc-pbci-ib http://www.itsybitsy.in/store/embellishments/kraft-expressions/kraft-printed-flower-8pc-pbci-ib

Inkpads:
http://www.itsybitsy.in/store/index.php?main_page=advanced_search_result&search_in_description=0&keyword=color+box+ink

Stamps:

http://www.itsybitsy.in/store/stamping/foam-stamps-token/foam-stamp-token-baby-girl-13mm-x-49mm-1pc-pbci-ib

Adhhesives:
http://www.itsybitsy.in/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=2200_2204
http://www.itsybitsy.in/store/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=2200_2210

Cascading Quilled Necklace

Hi Folks! It’s Tuesday and we are back with a fabulous quilled necklace tutorial!
Quilling is a very popular craft right now and quilled jewellery is quite sought after. It can look traditional or trendy depending on what you want. You can customize jewellery pcs to your liking or to match your dresses and at a very low cost. To make basic quilled jewellery, you do not need much practice, like the necklace below.

Of course, for a great final result, you do need good quality quilling strips. Itsy Bitsy carries a very wide range of quilling supplies and quilling strips. You can find 10mm, 5mm, 3mm, 2mm and even 1mm strips! These strips are made with superior quality paper with consistent Colour and GSM.

 Today we are going to make a necklace which is perfect for beginners and fun for pros. 

So let’s get started. Here is a list of supplies required:

·         Quilling Strips 5mm – 21 strips in your choice of colour or colours

·         Spacer beads 4-5mm – approx- 55 pcs

·         Cotton cord -In your choice of colour

·         Eye pins -11 pcs

·         Jump rings -22 pcs

·         End pieces -1 pair

·         Lobster Clasps – 1 pc

·         Ear wire – 1 pair

·         Itsy Bitsy Craft glue

·         Itsy Bitsy Decoupage glue

Tools required:

·         Quilling tool,

·         Jewellery cutter

·         Round nose plier

·         Flat nose plier

·         Scissors

METHOD:

So let’s start making the coils! Each coil needs to be made using half of a strip. So cut every strip in half before you start making coils.

Use the quilling tool to make the coils, since the resultant hole at the centre of the coil is important to thread the coils. Secure the end of the coil with a dot of craft glue. Make 41 such coils.

 At this point you can apply a top coat with the decoupage glue to give a glossy finish to the coils. Decoupage glue also protects the quilled coils from wear and tear.

Once they dry, we will use these coils as beads

.

Let’s assemble the necklace.  To make the necklace we will need 25 coils.
Thread a spacer bead onto the eye pin followed by a coil, a spacer, another coil, spacer and so on to make the Hangings.

To finish the hanging, trim the eye pin with jewellery cutter, leaving about ¼” to make a loop. With the help of round nose pliers make a loop. We now have a loop at the top as well as the bottom of the hanging.

Thread a jump ring through a spacer bead and attach it to one end of the hanging. Attach another jump ring (without the spacer) to the other end of the hanging.

Make the hangings as shown in the image below:
5 coils – 1pc

4coils – 2 pcs

3 coils – 4pcs (2 for necklace and 2 for earrings)

2 coils – 2pcs

1 coil – 2pcs

Thread the cotton cord though coils and hangings alternating them to form the design as shown below.

Measure the cord as per the desired length of necklace and trim. Attach the end piece to both ends of the cotton cord by fold the end piece as shown with the help of flat nose pliers.

Attach a jump rings to both the end pc and the lobster clasp to one of the jump rings.  Your fabulous necklace is done!

To make the earrings, attach the jump ring of the hanging to the loop in the ear wire. Repeat for the other earring.

Your beautiful Cascading necklace is ready!

 Its fun to experiment with this design and you can come up with your own ideas and make jewellery to match your dresses! You can also try different variations with different colour/size of the strips, using different spacer beads or by changing formation of the hangings.

Do let us know what you think of this tutorial in the comments below. Happy Crafting!

Itsy Bitsy in Pune!

Hi Folks!!!  Great News!! Team ITSY BITSY is now in Pune!

Last Sunday we opened our latest store in Pune. It was fantastic and Pune welcomed Itsy Bitsy with great enthusiasm! There were free craft demos and activities, lots of free gifts.

The inauguration ribbon was cut by Master Samuel with his mother Mrs. Donna.

We would like to thank Pune for a warm welcome and making the grand opening a success!! It is our goal to bring the fantastic range of our products to all corners of country. We already cater to entire country with our online store. However, browsing through an Itsy Bitsy brick & mortar store is a wonderful experience. J

If you haven’t already visited, we would like to invite you to stop by. The store is located in Inorbit Mall, Pune.

ITSY BITSY PVT LTD

Shop No. S-234,

2nd Floor, Inorbit Mall,

Survey No.35, Opp. CTR factory,

Wadgaonsheri, 

Pune Nagar Road, Pune – 411 014

We would also like to request your help in spreading the word regarding our new store. Please let your friends and acquaintances residing in Pune know about our new outlet. And do write to us with your feedback and suggestions at info@itsybitsy.in

It will be our pleasure to serve you at our new location with the same quality and service you have come to expect of us. We hope to see you there.

Do check out some photos here:

Team Itsy Bitsy in Pune

Craft Workshop

The Busy Hive Magnet

Hi Folks, Welcome to another Itsy Bitsy Craft Tutorial. Today we are going to make this super cute beehive magnet with little busy bees! A great weekend activity or a perfect gift J

Supplies:

1. Yellow Cardstock (A4 or 12”x12”) – 1 sheet
2. Orange Craft Foam
3. Yellow Pompoms (8-12mm) – 3 pcs
4. Black Chenille sticks – 2 pcs
5. White Pollen/Stamen- 6 pcs
6. Tempera Paint – Black
7. Silicone Glue or Craft Glue
8. Google Eyes - 1Pair
9. Magnet

Here’s How:

Cut a piece of cardstock – 13.5cm X 10.5cm. Refer to the diagram below. Score on the dotted lines and then cut on the solid lines. You will have 9 paper strips – each measuring 1.5cmX10.5cm, scored at every 1.5cm. (Scoring is important to fold the hexagons later.)

 

Make hexagons from the strips by gluing the ends as shown. Make more hexagons if you want a bigger hive.

Glue the hexagons together and make the hive. You can make some cells open or make it completely symmetric.

Apply glue to the edges and stick it to the felt piece.

Trim the excess felt. You hive is ready

To make the bees, cut a 2- 3” piece of chenille stem and coil it. Stick the pompom on one side of the 

coil.

Paint the pollen black, trim them to size and glue them to make the antennae. Stick the google eyes, and a small piece of cord for the mouth.

Make as many bees as you like and house them in your hive J. Just apply a little glue so they do not fall off. 

Stick the magnet at the back and proudly display your awesome creation!!

Do let us know what you think of the tutorial in comments below. Happy Crafting :)

Flip Flop Octopus

Good Morning Everyone!! Welcome to another Itsy Bitsy Tutorial! Another fun-filled tutorial for kids and anyone young at heart. Kids will just fall in love this cute little octopus. With eight swinging arms, big google eyes and a such a friendly smile, what's not to love?

It’s very easy to make and a perfect craft to do with young kids. Not only will the kids enjoy making it; once made, it has some serious potential to become a favourite toy! 

So let’s get started. And you only need following 4 supplies!

1. Yarn (we have used two colours but you can use more or less or even make a multicoloured octopus!)
2. Red Yarn for mouth
3. A 2” thermocol ball (take a bigger ball for bigger octopus and accordingly take more yarn)
4. A pair of google eyes
5. Craft Glue

Method:

Apply glue on the thermocole ball and wrap the yarn all over the ball.

Make sure that the ball is fully covered and trim the yarn.

Take a few lengths of yarn and wrap it around the ball as shown.

Tie at the bottom with a piece of yarn.

Divide the bunch of yarns in 8 bunches of roughly equal thickness. Braid all the 8 bunches to make 8 arms 

Tie off the braids with yarn of another colour.

Glue the eyes and the piece of red yarn for the mouth.

You flip flop Octopus is ready!!

You can also try out other variations, other creatures or even raggedy style dolls using the same technique. Try using fuzzy yarns or ruffle yarns for a more fuzzy and fun look.

Do let us know what you think of this tutorial and send us pictures on our Facebook page if you do try it. 

Happy Crafting :)

Oil and Chalk Pastels on paper - Part 2

Hello again! This week I will be continuing my post on using pastels on paper.
Chalk pastels are the simplest form of soft pastels that contain more pigment and less binding material ( like oil in oil pastels).Hence giving out brighter colours as compared to oil pastels.

Chalk pastels,as they are very dry and chalky, tend to leave behind a great amount of  dust after writing just like how the blackboard chalks do. So having them in the form of a pencil not only makes our lives easier, it can also be used for sketching the fine details which is very hard to do with pastel sticks. However, it is still a colored chalk and one must be careful not to rub off the sketch while resting the palm on the paper.

I’m using the Montmarte black paper sketching pad , the paper quality is exceptional for all types of sketching and Montmarte AUTUMN pastel pencils for my sketch. This pack mainly consists of great autumn shades i.e. tones of orange, red, green and blue. I have chosen to sketch a kingfisher bird to show that you can sketch anything with the autumn pack pencils and not just landscapes!

I have started off with a basic sketch using a graphite pencil. The autumn pack contains two great shades of blue and green, which I have mixed to get the below shade of the bird. Chalk pastels are very easy to blend, either by hand, a neutral colour or blending stumps .White pastel can be used to modify the shade to a lighter tone. 

I have also started the sketch from the top of the page, so I can avoid resting my hand and smudging the surface. 

The chalk pastels leave behind dust on the paper, so always blow the dust off instead of using a paper towel or your hand. You may also have to reuse the color several times to achieve a dark and bright shade.Since I have used pastel pencils, I'm able to bring out the details of the feathers of the bird and the fish its holding. 

The completed sketch is as below. I have added some green shading, so the background isn't  jet black anymore: 

Chalk pastels are very hard to preserve unless they are protected with a glass frame or have a protective coating on the surface. Make sure to spray the picture with a fixative. But due to the chalk property of the pastels, its better to be cautious, as fixatives may impact the color or texture of the sketch. 

Pastels are a great way to start, so grab your set and start sketching! 

Let me know what you think of my tutorial in the comments below.. 

Oil and Chalk pastels on paper - Part 1

Hello Everyone, This is Pooja here and I am back with my third art tutorial for Itsy Bitsy! This time I will be talking about using soft oil pastels and chalk pastels on paper. I will use both black and white paper to show the effect of both media.

Part- 1 : Oil pastels on white paper:

Oil pastels are usually buttery and contain more oil content, so they can be blended more easily either by hand or with a neutral colour pastel. Oil pastels work great on good textured paper, for a smoother blending effect we can use our normal sketching paper which is less textured. I have used MontMarte A3 size sketch book and MontMarte Oil Pastels. Since oil pastels work differently than paints, it is important to start with a good quality pastel that works and blends smoothly.

There are many techniques to use oil pastels. In today's sketch, I am going to use a technique called Layering, where you gradually build up the layers of pastels to achieve the colour and depth you want in your sketch.

I have sketched a scene of a small café in Europe, using a graphite pencil. Once the initial sketch was ready, I started with the basic shades in the picture. In this case, I start with pink/peach for the walls and tables, grey and black for the door, floor and parts of the background.

Its necessary to start with the basic shades as we can blend in more colours to produce gradients and we can also use contrast shades to highlight. You can either blend with your fingers or use blending stumps. I have used blue to highlight the chairs & tables and light/dark shades of green for the bushes and yellow for the flooring and door. (It is important to wipe your fingers and the pastel sticks in between so you do not end up transferring one colour to another)

Make sure not to use too many shades in the same area, as the colours stop blending at one point after which the pastels start to stick . So plan for the shade you require and work towards achieving it with less than 3 colours.

You can notice the shadow of the window grill on the wall and shades of yellow on the right part of the sketch which indicates that the light source is on the left top corner. Paying attention to light sources and their effects on the object can bring about a great difference on how the finished sketch looks.

The final part of the sketch is the flooring. I have used shades of yellow to show the light on the ground and the shadowed areas are dark brown. The blue highlights are used to break the monotony of browns on the tiles. 

After the major areas are completed and blended, I have outlined the details of wine glasses & plates on the tables. The completed sketch is as below. 

Since oil pastels are of oil medium, the sketches don't stick to other surfaces and hence don't need to be sprayed with a fixative. Though you could spray fix it if you like. 

Oil pastels can also be used for 'Underpainting' of water colours or for making patterns by scraping into built layers with a sharp tool, a technique called 'Sgraffito'. Another great way of blending oil pastels is by using a solvent medium like turpentine or linseed oil just like an oil painting. But this requires a oil sketching paper to hold the oil content.

Do let me know what you think in the comments below!