Wax Paper Diamond Inspired by Arkansas' Crater of Diamonds State Park

It's time to check in on my progress toward creating at least two crafts inspired by each of the 50 states. Back in March, I shared my chart showing 32 states with two or more projects. In four months, I've brought the total up to 42 states, leaving just eight to go. Actually, only seven remain because today's craft, a wax paper diamond, is inspired by Arkansas. 

Did you know that Arkansas has one of the only places in the world where anyone can search for diamonds from their original source? People come to Crater of Diamonds State Park from all over the world to search 37 acres for diamonds that are theirs to keep. We haven't traveled to Arkansas yet, but when we do, I hope we're able to include Crater of Diamonds on our itinerary. 

Wax Paper Diamond

Materials:

• lined paper
• mechanical pencil or ballpoint pen
• ruler
• wax paper
• scissors
• black construction paper
• glue
• toothpick

Steps:

Draw an elongated hexagon on lined paper. Divide the bottom line into three equal parts. Draw a quadrilateral (specifically, a trapezoid) extending down from the middle section. (I didn't use a ruler, but you should. You should also draw in pencil so you can make adjustments. I did mine in Sharpie so that it would show up better in the photos.) 

Add four more quadrilaterals below the initial hexagon. 

Make a point directly below the center of the hexagon, then connect each of the bottom points of the quadrilaterals to that point. 

Place a piece of wax paper over the diamond you've drawn. Retract the lead of a mechanical pencil (or retract the tip of a ballpoint pen) and use it to trace over each line of the diamond. A ruler or other straight edge is essential. Press firmly.

After you've traced all the lines, remove the wax paper. Carefully cut around the outside edge. If you want to display your diamond vertically, mount it to black construction paper by using a toothpick to place the tiniest amount of glue possible along the underside of some of the traced lines. 

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Out of curiosity, I checked to see if you can buy real diamonds on Amazon. What was I thinking? Of course you can. You can buy (almost) anything on Amazon. In fact, there were so many diamond options that I ended up in a bit of a rabbit hole. Here are affiliate links for the most expensive diamond ring I could find, as well as the most expensive diamond watch. (Interestingly, I found watches that are more expensive but don't have diamonds on them.) Either of those would give me a pretty nice commission, lol. If you're looking to waste time, poke around and see if you can find a more expensive diamond ring or watch and let me know in the comments.

Wax Paper Window Card

I have well over 100 scraps of paper sitting in a pile on my desk, each with a craft idea sketched on it. Every once in a while, I sort through the scraps and make one of my favorites. This time, I challenged myself to reach into the pile and pull out a random idea and make that. Here is my Wax Paper Window card:

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Wax Paper Window Card

Materials: 

• cardstock (white, grey, blue, brown, pink, green)
• scissors
• craft glue
• wax paper
• silver washi tape
• brown ink

Steps: 

Cut the following items: 

• 8.5" x 5.5" from white cardstock (fold in half to make a card base)
• 4.25" x 5.5" from grey cardstock (cut a square from the center to make the window
• 4" x 4" from wax paper
• 4" x 4" from blue cardstock 
• 5.5" x 1" from brown cardstock 
• a pink flowerpot
• green leaves (ink the edges to give them dimension)

Glue the wax paper to the back side of the window, then glue the blue paper over that. Turn the card right side up and add 5 strips of washi tape to form the grilles and then the rail of the window (yes, I had to look that up).

Cut the ends of the brown cardstock on a diagonal so that it matches the width of the window rail. Glue it in place. Glue the leaves behind the flowerpot, then glue the flowerpot to the window sill. Finally, glue the entire card front to the card base.

You can add any message you'd like. I think this would be nice as a 'Thinking of You' or 'Get Well Soon' card.

Ice Cream Sundae Craft

Last week, I shared the recipe for a delicious PB&J sundae. Today's sundae isn't edible, but it's a fun project for summer. I've had the idea of using wax paper to make a sundae glass for awhile and finally got around to trying it out. I've decided wax paper is underrated as a craft supply. Most people have it on hand and there are a lot of ways to use it. Unfortunately, it doesn't scan well. It looks much better in person.

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Ice Cream Sundae Craft

Materials: 

• construction paper or patterned paper
• scissors
• wax paper
• craft glue / tape runner

Steps:

Cut out ice cream scoop(s), chocolate sauce, a cherry, a stem, and whipped cream, as shown below. Of course, you can change out the ice cream and sauce flavors and add whatever other toppings you'd like.

It is difficult to cut a symmetric shape without folding the material you're cutting, which you want to avoid with wax paper. Instead, make a template. Fold a piece of scratch paper in half, then cut out the shape of the glass. Open it and see if you like the shape. If not, fold it and make small cuts until you are satisfied. Place a piece of wax paper on top of your template and cut it out. 

Now, glue everything together EXCEPT the glass. Because the wax paper is transparent, you need to be careful how you apply the glue. Directly below is Trevor's sundae. He used a tape runner to add small bits of adhesive to the glass. If you look carefully, you can see the adhesive spots in the ice cream area, but they're virtually invisible everywhere else. 

By contrast, I used craft glue to attach my glass. It is virtually invisible on the ice cream area, but shows a little bit on the glass. Worse, I didn't notice the wrinkles in the base of my glass until the glue had dried. 

Based on our experiments, I'd suggest testing the various adhesives you have on hand to see how they behave on the papers you use. Or just don't worry about it, as most people won't scrutinize the work for tiny flaws. Enjoy!

Rose Diamond Art and a Queen Bee

Have you gotten into Diamond Art yet? I absolutely love it. I find it so relaxing. And despite my aging eyes, my awesome magnifying lamp means I can see actually see what I'm doing, day or night! I recently finished Leisure Arts' gorgeous Rose Diamond Art. I cut away the background and temporarily set the rose down onto a piece of blue cardstock to get an idea of how it would look for a project I'm considering. 

I love the rose against the sky blue and will probably proceed with the project I have in mind. But in the meantime, the rose makes the perfect accessory for my latest kids' craft, a Queen Bee. 

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Queen Bee

Materials: 

• construction paper (yellow, black, pink)
• silver cardstock
• wax paper
• microtip scissors
• black Sharpie
• craft glue

Steps: 

Use the scissors to cut the following pieces, as shown in the picture:

• large yellow body
• small yellow head
• pointy black stinger
• thin pink wand
• small silver star
• silver crown
• 2 wax paper wings

Set aside the pink and the black scraps. You'll need them later.

Use the Sharpie to draw vertical stripes on the body. Curve them as shown. 

Assemble the bee by gluing the head in front of the right side of the body. Glue the stinger behind the left side of the body. Glue one wing to the front of the body, pointing toward the back. The other wing goes behind the body, pointing toward the front. Attach the crown to the head and the star to the end of the wand. 

Draw eyes, eyelashes, and a smile on the bee's face. 

Cut six very skinny legs from the black cardstock scraps and glue them to the body. Three go in front (the bee's right side) and three go in back (the bee's left side). I positioned the right legs to match up with the black stripes. 

Cut 3 tiny diamonds from the pink cardstock. Cut one in half vertically, then add these 'jewels' to the crown. Cut an even tinier heart to make the queen's lips. 

Note that I temporarily added black paper behind the wings in order to get them to show in the photo. In real life, they are just wax paper and look good, but they simply wouldn't photograph or scan well. 

Another project for my Invertebrates page!

Twisteezwire Critters

I was browsing the Twisteezwire website while writing up my review of their Mask Kit when their Puzzle Piece Bug tutorial caught my eye. I'm always on the lookout for fun crafts using puzzle pieces! (You may recall the ridiculous situation with a puzzle purchase awhile back that resulted in me having a large stash of useless puzzle pieces.) I showed the tutorial to Trevor and he was totally onboard with the idea of making puzzle piece Twisteezwire bugs. Affiliate links below. 

We each started by choosing a puzzle piece and Twisteezwire. We followed the steps to make three sets of legs to create a basic insect. We continued with the antenna. Then we used Glue Dots to attach googly eyes. With the basic technique mastered, we were able to use our own creativity to make some totally cute (if I do say so myself!) critters. Introducing....

  

Dot, the Ladybug

(by Cindy)

To make Dot, you need a red puzzle piece, 3 Twisteezwires (red, black, and white), six red beads, two googly eyes, glue dots, six black sequins, glue, and wax paper. Make a basic bug with the puzzle piece, red legs, and black antenna. Slide a bead about 1/2 inch up each leg and twist to secure. Add eyes. Create wings by looping the white wire, sliding it through a set of legs on the underside of Dot, then forming another loop. Tear two small pieces of wax paper that are slightly larger than the loops. Put glue on the back of the loops, then attach the wax paper. Let the glue dry completely, then trim the excess wax paper away from the loops. Glue the sequins to Dot's back.

Buggy, the Bug

(by Trevor)

To make Buggy, you need an orange puzzle piece, two Twisteezwires (green and orange), six orange buttons, two googly eyes, and glue dots. Make a basic bug with oversize antenna. Thread each leg through the button holes, then twist to secure. Add eyes.

Chesapeake, the Blue Crab

(by Cindy)

To make Chesapeake, you need a neutral-colored puzzle piece, Twisteezwire (blue and black), eight blue beads, two black beads, glue dots and googly eyes. Start by making a basic bug. Add a bead to each of the middle and back legs, twisting to secure. Add two beads each to the front two legs to form claws. Cut a small length of black wire for the eye stalks and attach like you would antenna. Glue googly eyes in place.

Spinner, the Spider

(by Trevor)

To make Spinner, you need a neutral puzzle piece, tan Twisteezwire, a large black pom pom, a medium black pom pom, glue, glue dots, and googly eyes. Begin by cutting the tan Twisteezwire into fourths, not thirds like usual. Attach the first three sets of legs as usual, and add the final set of legs opposite the third set, using the same technique. Bend up the end of each leg slightly to allow Spinner to balance. Glue the large pom pom onto the back of the puzzle piece and the medium pom pom onto the front. Use glue dots to attach the googly eyes to the face.

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What do you think? Any favorites? Trevor is already talking about the next set of critters we're going to make!