Think Crafts Blog - Craft Ideas and Projects - CreateForLess

Congratulations to Eileen P. from Albany, CA, who was randomly chosen as the winner of our National Sewing Month Drawing and a $100 CreateForLess Shopping spree!

Eileen’s Sewing project was…

These two panda softies are my original designs. I drew the pattern myself and sewed them with my machine, adding hand sewn details on the embroidered faces. They are made up of a whimsical mix of coordinating cotton prints with wool felt and vintage button details. They have been lovingly stuffed with polyfil.

Our 2009 National Sewing Month Drawing Winner!

A Few of our Favorite Entries:

Grids & Grommets Bag - Uses large grommets (purchased from CreateforLess). Bag is large and would be suitable for a “carry-on” flight bag or also an overnight bag. Created from a pattern but ‘altered’ to use three fabrics (instead of one). With inside pockets, comfortable wide shoulder straps and double batting used in bottom portion of bag. Fun to carry!

Sandy F.  from Roscommon, MI

My 16 year old daughter wanted a nice deep bag she could carry all her dance clothes in as well as pockets for CD’s, keys and personals. Inside this bag I put a zippered pocket. There are inside as well as outside pockets to find things quickly and to protect the CD’s. I quilted my own fabric and embroidered her name so there are not two bags alike anywhere. The handles wrap all around the bag to give added strength. I used standard rotary cutting tools. I made up the pattern

Robin H. from Union, KY

A quilt that was paper pieced with blocks designed from the Harry Potter books. Two are my own design and others were designed from friends. It was machine quilted.

JoAnn M. from New Iberia, LA 

This project is from the heart. It is my daughter’s wedding gown. It is our own design. I started with matte satin, 54 inch lace and a whole lot of beads and rhinestones. I cut out the motifs of lace and hand sewed them on then I sewed silver accents. Then I started the beadwork. A lot of very long nights and sore fingertips!! I started the dress on Feb 9 and finished on Aug 4. I told her as I was making it that if it wasn’t “THE DRESS” that we would buy her one. She shot that down instantly. She said that she had always dreamed of me making her wedding gown. What an honor that she gave me. I couldn’t let her down.

Brenda C. from Charlottesville, IN

This is a fun trendy Hippo which I called ‘Hot Hippo’. She is made from a sock. It is my own design. She is weighted with sand and stuffed with fibre fil. There is very little sewing but still she is a fun character and I could not have had more fun making her. I laughed all the way through it. Supplies: sock, false eyelashes, a few beads from a broken necklace, felt for lips, stuffing and sand.. and a little imagination.

Deb C. from Venice, FL

I made this dress for my niece. It was inspired by the wedding gown on Marie Antoinette. I sized down Simplicity 3635 and 3637 for her size. The dress is made of ivory antique satin and trimmed with bright green satin ribbon, pink satin ribbon, embroidery, gold colored metal buckles, pearl beads, embroidered flower appliqués which I made, and white lace. I made the mask from paper Mache and covered it with ivory satin and decorated it with hand braided silver trim, feathers, and silver and white glitter. The entire ensemble consists of chemise, stays, panniers, petticoat, gown, necklace and mask. The entire ensemble was made following period techniques of construction.

Alexandria H. from Centerville, TN

 Click here to view more of our favorite entries!

Blog Contributor, Crafty Mom and Writer, Gillian, from the Blog “Dried Figs and Wooden Spools”.

We eat a lot of eggs in our house. This is in part because we are lucky enough to share eight beautiful hens with our neighbors so there are always plenty of fresh eggs just a few steps from our door. But even before we had hens, we were big egg eaters. Our most popular egg meal is probably Egg Soldiers. It’s something I grew up eating on a regular basis and I’ve never met a kid who didn’t love it. It’s pretty basic, soft boil an egg, tap off the top to reveal the runny yolk, cut a slice of buttered toast into thin strips (soldiers) for dipping. My kids devour it, scraping every last drop of egg out of the shell, which leaves me with a lot of stripped clean egg shells.

Now admittedly I throw most of them in the compost heap. Even I’m not crafty enough to think of a use for half a dozen empty egg shells each week, but every once in a while we use them for some kind of craft. A few weeks ago, the kids were eating a pair of particularly pretty brown eggs and I just couldn’t bring myself to toss them in with old orange peels and last night’s dinner scraps so instead, we decided to make a couple of mini planters out of them.

Our Egg Planters

I read somewhere recently that nothing brings out your inner kindergartener like a sprouting seed. I think that’s absolutely true. When I was a teacher we used to sprout Lima beans in wet paper towels and I think I peeked more often than the kids. It’s just one of those miraculous things that never get old. For this seed sprouting experiment we dug out some of last spring’s left over seeds that were both quick germinating and pretty, radishes and chives.

But before we could get planting, we had to get decorating! Because an egg planter isn’t and egg planter without a little something added to the mix!

Pick out your decorations

First, we needed something for our little guys to set in. Egg cups were the obvious, and we certainly have a bunch of those lying around, but they didn’t seem very fun. Instead we turned a couple of bottle lids into mini egg cups by hot gluing a scrap of ribbon around the edge. Next we glued buttons on for eyes, noses and a mouth (my sons has no mouth, it’s a robot egg, and apparently robot eggs don’t need mouths). With that done, it was time to plant.

It's takes a lot of concentration to glue decorations on an empty egg shell!

We packed some potting soil into the egg shell, sprinkled on the seeds and then it was time to wait. The trick here is to give them just enough water, since there is no drain hole you don’t want to flood the egg, but you also don’t want the seeds to dry out. After a few weeks, the seeds begin to sprout, making fun tufts of hair for your egg planter men.

The kids love them and are lobbying for a transfer from kitchen window sill to the playroom and while I’d love to oblige , I don’t think I can give up having those happy little egg faces smiling at me while I do the dishes each day. Good thing we’re having eggs again this afternoon!

 Click here to read more of Gillian’s blog.

Blog Contributor, Crafty Mom and Writer, Gillian, from the Blog “Dried Figs and Wooden Spools”.

I have a three year old girl. A three year old girl who gives Fancy Nancy a run for her money in the dressing up department. Which means I have hairclips. Lots of hairclips. Or at least it means I buy, make and inherit lots of hairclips, keeping them together and in a handy place for our hair taming sessions however, is another story. I’ve tried boxes and baskets but somehow they get tipped, or raided or dumped out into the sink and the clips begin to disappear into couch cushions, car seats and, although I’ve never seen it myself, into the toilet I imagine.

Now that fall is upon us and I’m preparing to restock her wardrobe, both for the body and for the head. I am determined to hang onto more of the sweet hairclips that she insists on wearing each day. Which means I need to get organized. After perusing all of the hairclip holding options out there, I settled on a wall mounted system. It displays what you have (so you dont forget about that oh so sweet clip you couldn’t resist that is now crammed in the back of your makeup drawer, admit it, it happens!) without leaving them out where little hands can carry them off without your knowledge. And since I could a) not find anything that was going to match the bathroom where the bulk of our hairdressing happens and b) I’m too cheap and too into crafts anyway to buy one, I set about making my own version of a hairclip holder.

You can hang the hairclip holder anywhere!

If you look around the house (check that basement!) you’ll probably find most of what you need. An empty frame, a piece of plywood, a staple gun, paint that matches wherever you intend to hang the finished product and ribbon to match.

Remove all glass, backing and art from your frame and lightly sand the surface with a fine grit sandpaper then wipe it down carefully to remove all the dust and dirt. Coat the front, sides and interior edge with the paint of your choice, for my project, I used a black semigloss paint that was close to the color of the frames already hanging in my bathroom.

Next, cut the plywood to fit into the back of the frame. If your frame had a sturdy backer board, this will work too. Here you have two options, you can either paint the backer board with a craft paint that matches your walls or decor or you can wrap the board in a coordinating fabric. Personally I wanted a delicate but graphic look so I chose to paint the board the color of my walls and used patterned ribbon, but a patterned fabric and solid ribbons would be a great combination as well.

Select your ribbon

Cut several lengths of ribbon that are longer by several inches than the backer board and try out a few arrangements, pushing the board into place to check the effect until you are pleased with the look you have created.

Staple the ribbon down

Once the ribbon is where you want it, secure one end to the back of the frame then pull the other end tight before stapling the other end. If your staples are long enough you can staples directly through the board and ribbon and into the setting edge of the frame, securing the ribbon and the plywood all in one go. As you work be sure to check the positioning of the ribbons before you staple each one. This means a lot of flipping but is much better than ending up with crooked ribbons!

Line the back with craft paper

When all the ribbons are secure, cover the back with craft paper and attach a picture hanger to the top and your ready to go! If your daughter is into cloth headbands these can be woven through the ribbons or you can screw a few small cup hooks into the bottom of the frame and hang them from there, keeping all your hair accessories in one lovely spot. Now I just have to figure out how to keep all those stripy tights organized!

Please Welcome Guest Blogger, Annie Authier, from the blog “Thriftfulness”. 

With school starting now is the time of year when the air is thick with promises made in parked cars, deserted beaches, the empty beds of pickup trucks and under the glow of your parents’ motion sensor porch lights. These are the promises of summer lovers and they are, sadly but most assuredly, of the empty variety.

BFs and GFs who met on lifeguard docks, in camp mess-halls, and while holding their roommate’s hair back at house parties all over the United States are, at this very moment, vowing to write, to call, to Facebook chat every day and text sweet nothings every night. Will it happen? Probably not. 

Though the combination of physical distance, ex-boyfriends who forgot how awesome your summer love looks with a tan, and angry fathers waving cell-phone bills is sure to crush your burgeoning romance, I’m one for keeping hope alive. Thus, I give you Goodbye Summer Love Stationary.

Receiving handwritten letters is one of the best feelings ever and making the stationary yourself makes this gift extra personal. Make it for sending your own letters or give it to your summer sweetheart so that he or she can promise to send it back to you chock-cull of XOXOs (though you should know full well you’re never actually going to get that letter). Here are some examples of my own Summer Love Stationary:

Materials:

-Nice paper (splurge on the thick stuff and send your letter in a big mailing envelope to keep your art un-creased)

-Scissors

 -Glue or double sided tape

 -Colorful markers or colored pencils

 -Decorative material: (this can be just about anything) stamps and ink, watercolors, magazine clippings, old greeting cards you’ve saved for no reason, even tiny buttons.

-Perfume or cologne to spritz the paper with (I won’t make a Grease reference; I WON’T make a Grease reference!)

Once you’ve gathered your supplies and ripped yourself from your lover’s embrace, get to decorating. There aren’t many rules to this. Just keep in mind that someone is planning on writing on this so try to decorate on the margins and don’t use paper that is too dark or too bumpy.

For the first sheet (and I like to decorate every page different, although you may want to work in themes) I found a page in a decorating book that I liked and made a color copy of it, then just glued it onto the cardstock and decorated with a fancy “from the desk of:” tab on top.  If you’re low on creativity or time this is probably the best way to go for you.

You can also use pictures from old birthday cards or wedding invitations that you’ve saved for no apparent reason. For the page below (picture is just of the top of the page), I also added some tiny buttons by sewing them to the card-stock. Ordinarily this would mean more money for postage but, because I’m your friend, I’m going to be straight: it’s probably not going to make it to the post office.

Various magazine clippings are also a great decorating tool. This mix-tape I cut out from a magazine ad reads “stories and soundtracks of lost loves” which will most likely end up a fitting irony for whoever receives it. 

In the same magazine, I discovered these lovely mass transit pictures, which I used for decoration in this desperate attempt for a rendezvous cloaked in the lyrics to a Supreme’s song. This picture is of the top of the page and I painted tiny red suitcases down the right side.

One of my favorite ways to decorate is with stamps. Now these can get pricey but they are worth it because they’re pretty and they also last a long time. I use my old-lady-chasing-something stamp whenever I get the chance.

I used my Alice-in-Wonderland stamp to make a final angry plea to my summer lover that he BETTER call.

And finally, for when it’s clear that the relationship has died along with the potted basil plants in the yard, you can pull out the big guns: Tootie. She yelled, “AU gimme back my gold watch” on a hilarious episode of The Facts of Life so that she could remember the periodic table. Your stationary yells it because you gave that slug your gold watch and you want it back.

Make any variation of these Goodbye Love Stationary sets and send them off, you’ll be singing Hey Hey Mr. Postman and crying into your pillow before the last leaves change color. Goodbye summer love. Goodbye summer.

The nostalgic look and feel of an antique is a timeless trend in art and craft. We enjoy the warm, friendly touch that something old brings to our homes. However, antiques can be scarce and expensive. There are ways to take garage sale finds and make the modern objects age in minutes.

The easiest way I’ve found is to use an antiquing gel or rub like Rub N Buff  from Amaco. Make sure your object is sealed (nonporous).  If you need to seal the item just brush or spray on a sealer or finish and allow it to dry.

Add an antique look to your home décor by using Rub N Buff on your frames, hardware, furniture, light fixtures, cabinets and much more. It can be applied to any clean, dry surface as well as over previously painted surfaces. Use for crafts, home decor, frame finishing, stenciling, faux finishing and restoration.

Using a rag, buff on the antiquing medium and allow to sit 1 minute before you buff off the excess antiquing medium with a clean rag. The antiquing medium will stay in the nooks and crannies of your object and leave an aged look.  You can repeat this process one or two more times depending on how old you want your item to look.  Allow the object to dry completely before placing in your home. You can add a coat of sealer if you like, but it’s not a must-do step.

Please welcome our newest blog contributor, Anitra from the blog “Coffee Pot People“. Anitra will be our Recycled Arts Contributor.

Anitra’s motto: “Use it up. Wear it out. Make it do, or do without.” Live with that long enough, and you’ll never want to throw anything away, so best to turn it into art!.

Frazzles!

Feeling frazzled? Lots of us are, with the school year underway and all the fall and winter holidays on the horizon. So let’s make a card, and not just any card, either. Let’s make a Frazzled card!

 Here’s what you’ll need:

• Blank card and envelope
• Fabric large enough to fit the card, front and back (fabric samples work well)
• Button
• Rayon or other embroidery floss
• Glue or double sticky tape

The first thing you’re going to do is choose your fabric. If you have one of those fabric sample books flip through it until you find a piece you like. They’re nice, because they have a paper backing around the edge, but any piece of fabric you like is good.

Take your blank card and open it out flat, and lay it face down on the fabric. By “face down” I mean that you should put the side you’ll write on down, and what would normally be the front of the card facing up. That’s because you’re going to trace around all four sides of the card now, and if your pencil slips you don’t want the marks to show on your finished card.

You can see that my fabric is already nearly the size of the card, but that’s because I had a fabric sample that size. Once you’ve marked your fabric, cut it with pinking shears just outside the marks. You want the fabric to be a little larger than the card. If you have enough fabric, cut a strip as long as your card is wide, maybe an inch wide.

Now choose a button that coordinates with your fabric. Flat buttons work best, but buttons with short shanks can be used, too.

Fold the fabric piece you’ve cut in half, so you’re looking at the front of your finished card. Take the button you’ve chosen, and play with positioning it a bit. Maybe it will look best centered on the card, or maybe near one of the corners. Maybe it wants to sit, centered, near the lower edge. Just move it from place to place until you like what you see.

Thread your needle with the embroidery floss, but don’t tie a knot. Rayon thread is crinkly, and will give shine and a lot of texture. Other option are regular floss, or yarn.

This is where the “Frazzled” part comes in. You’re going to sew the button to the fabric, but not from the back like you’d usually do. Push the needle in from the front, and pull the floss through until an inch and a half or two inches is left, sticking out of the button. Bring the needle through the other hole in the button, and cut the thread, again leaving a tail an inch and a half or two inches long. You can leave longer tails if you like; it’s all up to you.

If your button has four holes, do that twice. Pick up the thread tails and tie them in a knot.

You're almost finished!

Glue the fabric to the card. You can use rubber cement if your fabric has that paper backing. Otherwise, double-sticky tape is the way to go, as the rubber cement may show through the fabric. Glue the extra strip of fabric you cut to the flap of the envelope.

My finished card

Frazzles are really very tactile. You’ll find people want to stroke them, and play with the shiny floss ends.

A few favorite frazzles

I thought an electric, automatic bias tape maker was such a cool idea. I had to learn more!

“With Simplicity® Bias Tape Maker you can fold and press 12 yards of bias in 60 seconds. No more tediously trying to press bias tape into shape and burning fingertips. Several folder sizes are available, depending on the finished width you need, and the temperature of the pressing unit is adjustable for various fabrics. There’s even an auto-shut-off (after 10 minutes of non-use) for safety”.