Think Crafts Blog – Craft Ideas and Projects – CreateForLess

K&Company is our Kit Club feature.

As National Craft Month ends, I thought I’d surprise everyone with a cool Kit Club review.  This is a journal kit from K&Company. It’s subtle blue tones remind me of old blue jeans and restful moments of daydreaming. The kit comes with a journal, extra decorative papers, transparancies, and dimensional stickers.

It would make a great What I Did This Summer or Grandma’s Babies journal. Or you could create a travel or gardening journal with all the stuff in the kit. I think K&Company does a fabulous job with all their products lines and you can find all your K&Company products on CreateForLess.com. You can find this kit to purchase on CreateForLess.com too.

WIN THIS KIT!

I’m giving this kit away to the 31st person who sends me an e-mail at: maria@thinkcrafts.com, please put March Kit Club Contest in the subject line of your e-mail and feel free to send as many e-mails as you like, I’ll let you know when the contest is closed.

Two weeks in a row CreateForLess products have appeared on television! This week our products were featured on AM Northwest for a “Fun with Shrink Plastic” by Shelia Rufener. This fun craft project is great for kids to do over spring break. The segment showed how easy it is to use shrink plastic to make colorful and shiney designs for keychains, necklaces and more.

Supplies Used for the Shrink Plastic Project:

Grafix White 8 1/2″ x 11″ Ink Jet Shrink Film
Dual-Point Paint Markers
Dual-point Permanent Markers 
Top Boss Tinted Embossing Stamp Pad
Melt Art UTEE (Ultra thick embossing enamel) powder
EK Success dual-temperature Coloriser heat tool

AM Northwest is our local morning news show here in Portland, OR, on KATU our local ABC affiliate. AM Northwest reports on topics of interest to the NW residents, such as home & garden, recipes, and crafts and is hosted by Helen Raptis and Dave Anderson. Shelia Rufener is the craft expert for AM Northwest. Shelia is a professional TV demonstrator for the craft and hobby industry. She has worked for craft manufacturers writing books and magazine articles, and demonstrated their products on TV. Her craft projects have also appeared on The Carol Duvall Show and The Creative Life. For more craft ideas from Shelia, visit her website.

To view the “Fun with Shrink Plastic” segment, click here.

There’s quite a buzz about Indie Crafting and I love it. Although many of the Indie crafts are crafts that I did in my youth (oh, man am I old!), I like the new spark this generation of crafters is bringing to our creative world.  There was an Indie Craft display at the recent CHA Winter 2009 Show.

The designs of the Indie crafters was innovative and inspiring.

I love the color and sparkle used in Indie craft projects.

Learn more about Indie crafting:

Craftster.org

Indie Delights

Indie Craft Shows

Vintage Indie

Handmade Nation

The buzz around the CreateForLess office is…..One of our products was featured on The Today Show! We have been anxiously waiting to share the news! This morning during the 9:30AM Fashion & Beauty ”Bobbie’s Style Buzz” segment on The Today Show, Bobbie Thomas featured our zipper for a Do-It-Yourself spring trends segment. The featured zipper is a heavy brass separating zipper that ranges from 18″ to 22″ inches long. These zippers can be found here. The zippers come in a variety of colors to suit your item of clothing.  Bobbie demonstrated how easy it is to update an outfit using zippers, turning old items into high-fashion pieces. The new trend is exposed zippers to accent your outfit, and adding these zippers couldn’t be easier – no sewing skills required.

Bobbie Thomas is the Style Editor for NBC’s Today Show. Her featured segments topics are makeovers, do-it-yourself craft projects and style spreads. Bobbie also writes a weekly column called “The Buzz” for InTouch Weekly.

If you missed The Today Show this morning, you can watch the video The Today Show DIY Spring Trends. For more information about the featured zipper segment, read this article from The Today Show website.

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
And rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

- Traditional Gaelic Blessing

Happy St. Patrick’s Day To All!

Hopefully you are wearing a little green today (whether you are Irish or not) and doing a little jig of joy. 

Why not make a traditional St. Briget’s Cross?  You can find 3 methods of making this simple cross here.

Or maybe you’d rather crochet an Irish Doily and you’ll find instructions here.

I thought the Leprechaun made of pony beads was so cute on Making Friends (a nice project site).

I found some very clever kid’s St. Patty’s Day crafts here.

Irish Crafts is a very inspiring website and perfect to browse this St. Patrick’s Day!

Save some green on your craft supplies, visit CreateForLess.com

In honor of National Craft Month, CreateForLess is giving away a $100 shopping spree to a clever crafter for their favorite craft tip. Ever realized how much more time you saved by doing something this way? Or improved the look of your creation by doing it that way? I want to hear about your scrapbooking layout ideas, time saving ideas for sewing projects, or any craft tip that you can’t craft without!

My favorite craft tips are using the laser side of an old CD as a paint pallet. It has a finger hole to hold it and colors mix well, and wipe or rinse off easily. Also by rubbing a fabric softener sheet all over your hands before using paint or glue, makes cleanup easier. These sheets are also handy for cleaning glue guns after use. Such simple and easy ideas!

CDs are just as easy to hold and to mix paint on as this pallet.

Just by sharing your favorite craft tip, you will be entered into a drawing for a $100 shopping spree at CreateForLess. Limited to one entry per person, the winner will be contacted via email. Drawing deadline is March 31, 2009. The winner will be randomly chosen and will receive a $100 CreateForLess e-gift certificate. The winner will also be announced in our upcoming eNewsletter and their craft tip will be posted on our website.

Click here, to submit your craft tip! Keep on the look out for your craft tip to appear in a blog post or weekly newsletter!

I’m half Irish (the other half is German).  I think as Americans  we like to describe ourselves using our family heritage roots. 

I found these fun plaques on Irish Stuff. I love hanging plaques in my home. Reading the sayings always makes me smile. It also makes me wish I was a better painter and I know I need much more practice with my lettering skills.

I love the history of family crests and coat of arms.  Some day I hope to design a modern coat of arms for my family. The image above is the coat of arms of the Given family.  The process of making or creating coat of arms is rooted in the 8th and 9th centuries.  The art is called heraldry. Everything within the coat of arms symbolizes something including the colors, shape, and images.  For example I learned the swams on this Given coat of arms symbolizes music, poetry, and harmony.

As a proud Irish person I wear a Claddah ring.  The Claddah ring has three parts: the hands, the heart, and the crown.  I found different meanings, but the most consistent is love, friendship, and loyalty. There are different ways to wear this ring.  On the right hand with the heart facing away from you means your heart had not yet been won!  On the right hand with the heart facing towards you means you are considering seriously that you might have found the person to give your heart to.  On the left hand with the heart facing towards you means your heart is joined forever with another. The photo shown was found here.

It’s good to be Irish!  Wishing you a very Happy St. Patty’s Day!