Think Crafts Blog - Craft Ideas and Projects - CreateForLess

Leaf Pin/Pendant by M. Isabella for CreateForLess.com (Jewelry Creations, Issue No. 2) 

Materials:

Feltworks wool felt leaf embellishments

Blue Moon mini bead mix: light and dark amber

Ladybug bead or button

Large eye beading needle or beading needle

Green Floss

Scissors

Felt glue

Plate for beads

Pinback

Instructions:

1. Select a leaf (you have a variety of hues). 

2. Mix light and dark amber mini bead mixes together on a plate.

3. Thread needle and knot end. Bring needle up through back of a leaf (I started near bottom at center of stem). You want to leave about 1/8 allowance as you bead around the leaf edge. String on 6 mini beads in random order and bring needle down into the felt.  Bring needle back up between third and fourth bead and bring thread through fourth, fifth, and sixth beads again. String on 6 more mini beads in random order and repeat the backstitch. Continue until you’ve outlined the leaf with beads.

4. Now bead on the center vein of the leaf with same process as used in Step 3. The backstitch secures the string of beads making it more stable. When done knot off.

6. Adhere ladybug to front. Adhere pinback to back of felt leaf.  You can wear as a pin or use the pinback to attach leaf to a necklace!

Published with permission from CK Media.  This project and many more are all available in Jewelry Creations magazine available at craft stores and newsstands now.

I’ve been very lucky in my career in crafts to have opportunities I never even dreamed possible.  I’ve sold my original crafts to the public, sold designs for publication in magazines, written books, and even developed a few product lines!  One of the most rewarding jobs is when I’m asked to be an editor.  I was the original editor of Stamp It!, a magazine for rubberstampers and card makers.  And recently I was asked to be the Editor of Jewelry Creations, a magazine filled with wonderful jewelry projects. 

It’s amazing to start with an idea, gather projects, edit the project instructions, be a part of the photography shoot, and do some final edits before the magazine is sent off to the printer for publication.  When I was asked to be a part of this great jewelry magazine issue, I turned to my friends at CreateForLess.com for some jewelry submissions and got some fabulous ones!  Jewelry Creations is now available where you buy your favorite craft magazines. 

I’m doing a little bragging because I wanted to share my joy and I also wanted other creative people to know that if you want a career or a part time income from your art and crafts- anything really is possible.  I have no formal training in putting together a magazine.  I just took every opportunity to learn new aspects of my love of crafting and worked hard to earn a reputation of being reliable.  I learned (and continue to learn) all I can about the craft industry.  When I first started the reference librarian at my local library was my best friend helping me find trade organizations, today much of that same information is now available online!  I believe it is possible to have a job you love and earn a good living from your creativity.

Here’s a peek at the cover!

Hello, I’m David the IT guy at CreateForLess. At CreateForLess we make sure and celebrate each employee’s birthday and some times that includes funky gifts. Last year Jennifer received a custom bobblehead to keep Dwight company. To create the bobblehead Kim had to find a sneaky way to get a front and side shot to submit to the site. It took a few weeks for the processing of the order but the result looked great!

This year I received top honors for my birthday with a new pair of CFL themed NIKEiD shoes.

The back of the shoes remind me of who I work for and who I am .

It is amazing how many customizable products you can get online now.

Here are just a few sites I know of that allow you to create your own custom product:

• Keds
• Converse
• NIKEiD
• Cafepress shirts, buttons, coffee mugs, …
• Despair, Inc. custom calendars.

Everyone at work is jealous of me and my shoes now.

I love fall and best of all, Halloween.  There is nothing better in life than getting to dress up as you please and get candy at every door you knock on!  Come on, that’s just “sweet”!

As a child my whole family got involved to celebrate Halloween.  My older brothers dressed up as policemen, women, and werewolves!  They went to school parties for Halloween, but I got to go with my friends door to door collecting treats. We carved pumpkins, spun spiderwebs from polyfil, hung pillowcase ghosts on the front yard trees.

I remember my homemade costumes well.  My mom used to help me.  One year I wore lederhosen and pretended to be a German gnome.  That one was easy as my mother was German and even made me a felt mustache! Another year I went as a hobo with my treat bag attached to a long wood branch.  I also was a princess one year and the scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz. But the best was a fairy with a magical wand of dowl rod, construction paper star, and glitter.  I loved waving the wand as neighbors dropped a piece of candy or two in my fairy dust bag!

CreateForLess is having a Halloween Costume Contest! Here’s the scoop!

What’s your all-time favorite handmade Halloween costume you’ve ever created?  That one you’re most proud of because you made it by hand, instead of buying it at the costume shop?  From kids to adult costumes, funny to scary, we want to see your creativity.  Enter our Handmade Halloween Costume Contest for your chance to win one of these amazing prizes…

• 1st Place: $150 CreateForLess Shopping Spree 
• 2nd Place: $100 CreateForLess Shopping Spree 
• 3rd Place: $50 CreateForLess Shopping Spree

Click here for details on how to enter.  Contest deadline is Nov 2, 2008.  I’d love to see some handmade costumes posted here too!  Come on, share!

Did you know that 63% of all U.S. households have a pet?  That’s the highest percentage ever and makes up over 69,000,000 households!  It breaks down to 73 million dogs, 90 million cats, 139 million fresh water fish, 9 million saltwater fish, 16 million birds, 11 million reptiles, and 18 million small animals.  Holy cow!

There are a few dos and don’ts when crafting for your favorite pet.  Most of the rules are some of the same things you would think about when crafting toys, treats, and wearables for small children.  It’s very important to keep your pet safe while you have fun creating playthings, pet collars, or those cute little winter booties!

Do use only non-toxic materials.  Pets tend to chew on everything and you don’t want anything toxic to come in contact with your pet.

Do think glow-in-the-dark for your pet if you walk your pet at night or if your pet is outside when the sun goes down.  There are some great glow-in-the-dark products that can be brushed onto materials or adhered to materials.

Don’t have anything dangling that can get caught on corners, twigs, branches, or other objects.  Your pet can get tangled up in a hurry and might be hurt.

Don’t use anything with harsh dyes. If you want to dye materials use food safe products like Kool-Aid!

Don’t use anything that might pinch your pet.  Watch for sharp ends or rough metals.  Use a file and sand any rough edges smooth.

Do make sure any “wearables” fit properly.  You don’t want a collar that is too loose or a sassy sweater that is too tight.  Make sure your pet is comfortable (other than the embarrassment of wearing hot pink around the neighborhood!).

Do make sure any toys are well constructed.  You don’t want a small button to pop off and your pet to end up swallowing it. Use materials that won’t break under heavy pet chewing, tugging, or playing.

Here are some great sites with pet friendly projects:

Dog Projects

Cat Projects

Bird Projects

Don't let that sad face fool you, Mr. Bee is a happy camper!

Pets Make Life Grand!  It’s amazing how much our pets enhance our lives!  I’ve been a pet lover since I was a kid and currently have 4 sassy dogs (2 basset hounds and 2 dachshunds). Two of our dogs are rescues, but I’m not sure who rescued who!  Recently one of our dogs lost a battle with glaucoma.  This disease is hereditary in many basset hounds.  So our Mr. Bee is now completely without sight.  My first reaction was deep sadness for Mr. Bee, but he adapted so well that I couldn’t stay upset for too long.

I immediately turned to the web for help.  I wasn’t disappointed.  A quick Google search lead to two great websites that help owners and pets learn more about how to adapt to the change in routine.

Blind Dogs, Where Dogs See With Their Hearts!

Helping A Blind Dog Navigate

Living With A Blind Dog For Dummies

One tip that helped lighten my heart was that a dog owner should wear a bell or other noisy object so the dog can hear where the owner is.  I found that Mr. Bee did get a little panicky if I left the room and he wasn’t sure where I was.  No problem at all!  I got out my beads, Stretch Magic elastic, and jingle bells.

In minutes I made a bracelets for my wrists and ankles!  Mr. Bee can hear me coming and going! It’s amazing how crafting can be such an intrical part of our lives. In so many ways crafting can bring some uplifting light to the dark situation. I felt better after making that noisy jewelry. I felt like I’d done something very positive to help Mr. Bee’s adjustment to blindness a little easier. Has crafting helped you cope?  Please leave a comment and tell us how.

We recently had this question sent to us at Ask A Question, the third button just below our Think Crafts! title banner,  ”Help! I love making jewelry, but my crimping skills are terrible, how do you crimp so that your jewelry wires don’t end up slipping away from the crimping tube or crimping bead? Is this a skill I can learn? What’s going on?”

Okay, that’s several questions, but the most important answer is that crimping is a skill that anyone can master with the right tools and practice. I can understand this crafter’s frustration because I’ve been there and crimping can be overwhelming.  There is nothing worse than putting in a few hours for a great necklace or bracelet only to have it fall apart the first time you wear it!

If you are going to make jewelry, you have to learn to crimp.  Crimping is done with a crimping bead or crimping tube, a crimping tool, and your beading wire (wire is a generic term I use for any stringing material). 

Crimping beads and tubes come in different sizes, but always do the same job, which is to secure your bead wire to your clasp.  Clasps vary too.  But no matter what type of clasp you use, the process of securing the clasp to the “body” of your jewelry piece is the same. Crimp beads and tubes are tiny, usually around the size of a seed bead. Use larger crimp beads and tubes if your finished jewelry piece is on the heavy side.  A tip if you are in a pinch and need a larger crimp bead/tube is to double crimp with a smaller crimp bead/tube!

A crimping tool is in the plier family, but has a unique “mouth”.  As you can see in the photos, the tool has several indentations along its mouth.  It’s within these indentations that you will center your crimping bead/tube, press the crimping tool mouth closed, firmly press, then release.  For some crimping beads you’ll do a second squeeze on another of the indentations to round out the crimp for a more appealing look.  You can also use crimp covers to hide a crimp bead.  You need to apply just enough pressure to crimp the bead or tube around your clasp securely, but not so much pressure that you break the crimping bead or tube.

I found some great crimping tutorials for you:  Video &  Step-by-Step Photo

My best tip for crimping is to practice.  Buy a package of crimping beads or tubes and just practice the skill over and over until you feel more comfortable with the technique.  Do you have a crimping tip to help others?  Let’s hear it!

Here are some photos of different crimping tools.