Think Crafts Blog - Craft Ideas and Projects - CreateForLess

Our question for Free Stuff Friday was: Since Valentine’s Day is around the corner, what is your favorite love song?

The winning answers came from:

Portia - ”Let’s Make Love” by Tim McGraw and Faith Hill… almost all of their duets make GREAT love songs. <3 <3 <3

Portia’s prize is the 50 Fabulous Paper-Pieced Stars. With this book you can create beautiful, elaborate Star blocks in a snap with the simplicity and accuracy of paper piecing. Bestselling author Carol Doak is back with 50 original paper-pieced Star blocks, all broken down into easy steps that any quilter can complete.

By Kid’s Craft Contributor, Gillian from the blog “Dried Figs and Wooden Spools”.

Remember back to the Valentines days of our youth? All those little Scooby Doo and Barbie Valentines cards with their perforated edges and strangely sweet envelope glue? Yeah, they were cute, I’ll admit it. But somehow now that my kids are school aged, I find myself shying away from the cards that my classmates and I stuffed into shoebox “mailboxes” each year. Maybe it’s the fact that most of them are covered with kind of scary looking cartoon characters or maybe it’s the fact that I know all that paper will just end up in the landfill. Or maybe it’s just the crafter in me that hates the idea of sending my son off with something store bought (he’s going to hate me when he’s a teenager -What? No I will not buy you that shirt! I’m sure we can MAKE it for less honey!)

The problem is that now that he is seven and almost a half, the cutsie valentines that we’ve made in years past ARE NOT COOL MOM. No more puffball hearts or hand drawn red and white cards. No more talk of love or be mine. Sigh. So how on earth do you do a non lovey-dovey, boy approved, kid make-able valentine? Well, I’ll tell you, it took some serious thinking.

Actually, I’ll be honest; my son inspired the idea when we were eating lunch at our favorite Chinese restaurant last weekend.

“Fortune Cookies! I love Fortune Cookies!” He said “Hey mom, can we make fortune cookies this week?”

Humm, well, yes, I think we can.

These are really simple and very kid friendly and let’s face it, who doesn’t love a fortune cookie?

Here’s what you need:

Felt - 1 sheet will make three large fortune cookies

Tacky Glue

Small treats (Hershey Kisses work great!)

Paper and pen

Fabric and paper scissors

Trace a five-inch diameter circle onto your felt. You can either cut a template from cardstock or find a bowl or lid that’s around five inches. You can also go bigger or smaller but I found that a five inch circle was the best size for holding a few treats and being handleable for little fingers.

Cut, or if your child is old enough, allow them to cut the circle out carefully. Try to keep the edges as smooth as possible.

Cut a strip of paper 1 inch long by 1/4 inch wide and write a message on it, leaving one third of the strip blank. Run a bead of tacky glue around the circle and lay the strip of paper just above the halfway point on one side. If you want to insert treats, put two kisses end to end (or other small candies) in the middle.

Fold the circle over and press to close, keep pressing the edges down until the glue has a good hold on it. Allow the glue to dry completely.

Using your thumb, push the center of the flat edge (between the two candies) toward the seam.

Dab a dot of glue where the two halves of the “cookie” meet and hold it closed for a minute to allow the glue to set.

And you’re done! How cute is that? My son is gung-ho to make these for all of his friends this year, which is good because I really don’t think I could have given in to the Power Rangers Valentines, no matter how anti-lovey dovey his seven-year-old self is!

Enter to win 50 Fabulous Paper-Pieced Stars by Carol Doak. Use this book and create beautiful, elaborate Star blocks in a snap with the simplicity and accuracy of paper piecing. Bestselling author Carol Doak is back with 50 original paper-pieced Star blocks, all broken down into easy steps that any quilter can complete.

Every Friday we’re posting a giveaway on Think Crafts. All you have to do to enter is comment on the blog post answering the question of the week. We’ll pick the winners and contact them via email. One entry per person please.

Question of the Week: Since Valentine’s Day is around the corner, what is your favorite love song?

If the comment box is not below, scroll to the top and click “comments”.

By Kid’s Craft Contributor, Gillian from the blog “Dried Figs and Wooden Spools”.

So you know the expression “It’s not the destination, it’s the journey”? Well, that applies to crafts too. The doing is just as much fun, if not more, than the satisfaction of the finished product. And sometimes, making the stuff to make the stuff is the best part of the whole thing. This is one of those projects.

At the end of this project your going to have yarn. Yarn is good. There are lots of things you can do with yarn. But, you know, it’s yarn. Granted, this isn’t your average yarn, but it works in just about everything that regular yarn does. The fun part about this, is making the yarn.

Here’s what you need:

• An old (or new) t-shirt, Preferably one with no side seams but an old T will work
• Good, sharp fabric scissors
• Someone who likes to stretch things (hint: your kids would be good for this job)

If you want to be precise:

• A ruler

Lay your t-shirt out on a flat, clean surface.

Cut just above the hem line and just below the armpit line so that you have a nice rectangle of uninterupted t-shirt fabric.

With one of the folded edges up, fold the fabric in half, leaving a one inch space at the top uncovered and then fold it in half again, still not covering that one inch area.

Either measuring evenly across the folded fabric or, just eye-balling it (it doesn’t need to be perfect) cut even strips through the folds to the edge of where the one-inch margin is. (DO NOT CUT ALL THE WAY ACROSS!) If your kids are of the older and/or trustworthy sort, let them do the measuring and cutting. One inch strips works well but you can go wider or narrower to produce a thicker or thinner yarn.

Once you have the fabric cut all the way across and have unravelled the whole thing, lay the uncut portion out flat.

Cut at an angle from one end of the first loop up to the opposite end of the next loop up. Continue this until you have cut them all through, trimming the ends so that you have one long strip of jersey.

Now for the fun part. Working along the length of the strip (or really, in any direction your little pullers want) firmly pull on the fabric to stretch it as far as it will go without breaking.

The jersey will curl in on itself creating a thin, rounded yarn like material.

So what CAN you do with t-shirt yarn. Well, like I said, just about anything you can do with yarn. It’s also a great material to make braided rugs or pot holders, both great kid projects. I taught my son to finger crochet and he happily used up an entire t-shirts worth of yarn making a long chain which he promptly carried off to do something with, I’m not sure what, but since I remember making finger crocheted chains long enough to go all the way around my room when I was seven, I’m not too worried. As for the rest? Well, I’ll confess that I rolled up five t-shirts worth of yarn and stuck them in a big bowl on my dining room table. Just because it looked so darn pretty.

Congratulations to Katie W. from Enterprise, FL who was randomly chosen as the winner of our New Year’s Craft Resolution Drawing and will receive a $100 shopping spree!

Katie’s New Year’s Craft Resolution is…

My twenty ten plans are to open my eyes… and let loose! I want to look at things in a new and creative way… explore possibilities… and expand any bonds that may keep me from the “go for it” thought in all sorts of arts and crafts! Thank you for your facebook posts… I’ve enjoyed learning through the things that you suggest!

Happy New Year! Katie

Thanks to all who entered!

By Recycled Crafts Contributor, Anitra from the blog “Coffee Pot People”.

If you’re a crafter, and you must be, since you’re here, there’s a good chance you sell what you produce. Some of us sell to our friends, some online, some in stores, and some at shows and sales throughout the year. And some us do all of the above!

January, for me, is a time to regroup. Like a lot of other people, I’m using the first few weeks of the year to get organized, and one of the things I’ve done is look over my list of things I take to shows. It might seem like a long list, but a lot of what’s on it takes up very little space, and having these items with me helps me feel like I can handle just about anything that comes up.

This is my list. Alter it at will to suit your art and venue.

• Canopy
• Canopy weights
• Table(s)
• Table cover(s)
• Carpet squares
• Perforated round wire table
• Snacks & water
• Signage
• Wire display racks
• Coffee Pot People banner
• Stool to sit on
• Paper for wrapping
• Bags
• Coffee Pot People Album
• Email signup list & clipboard
• Credit card slider & clipboard
• Small sledge hammer for pounding stems into ground
• Coffee Pot People, and Tea Kettle Characters
• China & Mega Blossoms
• ALL China Blossom Stems
• Tub for cooling my feet
• Sweater, clean shirt
• $100 change
• Fanny pack for cash/checks/credit slips
• Camera
• Project to work on
• TV tray

SMALL PLASTIC THREE-DRAWER CHEST TO HOLD:

• Paper & pens
• Deodorant
• Make-up
• Receipt books
• E-6000 (because people always ask what I use)
• Credit card slips
• Business cards
• Masking tape
• Scissors
• Gardening gloves
• Pliers, screwdrivers, glue
• Packet of moist towelettes, because you Will get your hands dirty
• Cellophane tape
• Clothes pins
• Safety pins
• Extra tags, string, labels

You, of course, would take your merchandise, and not my Coffee Pot People, Tea Kettle Characters, or China and Mega Blossoms! There are other things on the list you won’t need, and things I don’t take that you’ll want.

The three-drawer chest has become indispensable for me. It holds all the little stuff in one place. Putting it on the TV tray means, usually, that I can tuck it behind my big table, out of the way, but still accessible.

The small tub is worth its weight in gold on hot days. I put cool water in it, put it on the ground behind my big table, slip off my shoes and stand in it. It’s a real life saver.

Always have something to do, a project, preferably something to make that you’re selling.  It keeps you from being bored during slow times, and draws onlookers. Never, ever read in your booth. It sends the wrong message to your shoppers.

Always take your camera. Photograph your booth, so you can work on the layout later, or remember what you did that was great.

One thing not to worry about: Taking something you don’t need.

Our question for Free Stuff Friday was What is the one craft tool you couldn’t craft without?

The winning answers came from:

Christine P. - This is very difficult! There’s always at least one tool for every craft that I wouldn’t want to be without,  but, I would hate to have to give up Photoshop. I’ve used it to design images for Halloween costumes, creating funny postcards, and a mobile for my son. I haven’t tried beading yet, but there’s an earring craft using shrink plastic and beads that I’d like to try!

Christine’s prize is The Beadlon Tool Kit that comes complete with all the tools you need to begin beading, and the Craft Mates Snappin’ Organizer and it’s perfect to store all your small objects for beading, scrapbooking, sewing and more.