Think Crafts Blog – Craft Ideas and Projects – CreateForLess

I’ve noticed over the last few years that I am seeing the word GREEN more than I usually do in an average day.  Green is my favorite color so I notice any shade of it, even words.  Most people think I like green because it symbolizes money, but I picked out the color green way back in kindergarten so I don’t think money is my inspiration.  No, I like green because it always reminds me of fresh mown grass, mossy hills filled with wildflowers, and walks through gardens and woods.  Green is nature and in nature is my favorite place to be!

But back to my original thought, seeing the word GREEN being tossed about!  This type of green means being kind to our earth.  It means recycle, reuse, reduce, and refuse!  At first I thought it might just be another celebrity cause that would last about as long as a popcycle on a summer day, but I think I’m going to have to put my slightly jaded assumption in the trash!  Living green is becoming part of our daily lifestyle and it’s a wonderful thing.  Especially since green crafting is coming into its own!

Check out these Green Crafting Articles, Blogs, and Websites!

Green Crafting, Can It Make A Difference?

Crafting A Green World

Needlepointers Going Green

Green Options

Going Green With Crafting

Green Crafting Ideas to Do with Your Grandchildren

RecycleCindy On Green Planet Crafting

Green Craft Projects

My green pledge is to be wise in my purchases, recycle materials instead of just tossing them, reuse what I have on hand, refuse to use harmful products, and make a point of complimenting others who are doing their part in keeping our planet safe and beautiful.

Please share your green craft sites with us!  And let us know what you are doing to stay green in your creativity!

The first thing I do Christmas morning is run to my stocking hung by the fireplace!

I love stocking stuffers!  It might be because I love digging into my Christmas stocking each year with the glee of a five-year old!  I have such wonderful memories of finding oranges, apples, chocolate bars, and also a little piece of jewelry left just for me in my stocking.  I still have my childhood Chistmas stocking.  It’s seen its share of time passing (49 years!) and rough handling, but my mom stitched my name across the top and it will always be a precious keepsake for me.  What kind of stocking do you have and what do you enjoy stuffing into Christmas stockings? I’d love to hear what you’re putting into stockings this year!

Here’s a list of my favorite stocking stuffers for my creative family and friends!

Scissors!  Creative people never have enough scissors.

Cat’s Eye ColorBox Inkpads!  These small little ink pads are so easy to use and come in amazing colors.

Blue Moon Bead Mixes!  Every color and size you can think of these mixes are used to embellish everything.

Craft Knifes! Sleek and slim craft knifes slide right into a stocking! And don’t forget the refill blades!

Hand Drills! Very handy for so many creative uses plus perfect size for any stocking!

Floss! Needle artists always love an addition to their thread stash!

Stitching Needles!

Paint Brushes! Brushes are used in many craft techniques and nothing beats a perfect new brush!

Happy Stuffing!

CreateForLess is having a great drawing and all you have to do is submit your very own Dear Santa letter!  The Dear Santa Sweepstakes ends 12/15 so get your entry in today! The winner gets a $100 CreateForLess gift certificate. I thought I’d share my wish list letter with you:

Dear Santa,

It’s been a whole year since I last wrote, but I’ve been quite busy crafting away for myself, family, and friends so I know you’ll forgive me for being out of touch.  I’ve been very good sharing my joy of crafting with everyone I meet and I’ve kept you, Mrs. Claus, and all the elves in my thoughts and prayers.  I’d really appreciate a few little creative goodies under the tree and in my stocking this year.  Here’s the list:

• EK Sticko Stickers Sea Animals for my dive log (I love adding embellishments to it!)
• Any of the great American Crafts cardstock would be appreciated, I love the new colors.
• Bo Bunny Album Clearly Mixed Up Serendipity, it’s so cute!
• Blue Moon Charm Lost & Found Metal Ocean Assortment for a bracelet I’m designing.
• The Clover Puff Quilting Clip Set, any size will do, or maybe you’ll bring the whole set of them?
• AlterKnits Felt Book filled with great projects to knit and felt!
• And last but not least an Ott-Lite TrueColor Lamp since my eyes aren’t as sharp as they used to be!

I hope I didn’t ask for too much, but this is a wish list after all and I’m always wishing for more craft supplies!  Take care and drive safe, Santa!

Maria

P.S. I’m leaving a little something for you under the tree!

The last 4 weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind for me.  I’ve been diving in Turks and Caicos (get out your world map!) aboard the beautiful Turks and Caicos Aggressor II which is a 120′ yacht designed for taking scuba divers to some amazing dive locations.  I saw reef sharks, stingrays, turtles, octopus, and so much more.  I saw some great trends and interesting combinations of color and texture on this trip and will share my impressions with you soon.  We were home only two days when we were off to China!

We spent 12 days in China going from Shanghai to Beijing spending 6 days on the Yangtze river.  It was an amazing trip filled with seeing some very impressive hand crafts and some even more impressive designs from Mother Nature.  I’ll be very honest, China was not at the top of my list of places I wanted to visit, but I’m glad my mother-in-law picked it as our family vacation destination. 

I never pictured the people of China as creative, I don’t know why since I know that many, many of our traditional crafts here in the United States have roots going back to China, yet in my mind I just saw factories pumping out cheap imports for the U.S..  After this trip, I have a new appreciation for handcrafts.  You’ll be seeing some great photos and videos from our trip to China in the weeks ahead!  Hand sewn embroidery, hand weaved silk rugs, and Chinese brush stroke painting are a few of the treasures I enjoyed and am so excited to share with you.

Once back we prepared for Thanksgiving.  It’s a tradition of ours to go to a family friend’s home for Thanksgiving.  It’s a big crowd of family and friends all bringing a special dish to add to the table.  This year I’m thankful for so many things including this wonderful blog! I hope each of you had a great Thanksgiving too.

This wonderful whirlwind of traveling has given me some great inspiration for my crafts.  I look forward to incorporating all the sights, colors, textures, motion, and emotions into some jewelry pieces, needlepunch designs, and some brush stroke art.  And I’ll get started just as soon as I can catch my breath!