Think Crafts Blog – Craft Ideas and Projects – CreateForLess

Enter to with the C&C Dual Duty XP Thread Assorted Pack All Purpose 50pc! C&C Dual Duty XP Thread Assorted Pack is filled with a variety of solid and variegated colors. General purpose Dual Duty XP Thread is a medium weight thread sized for most hand and machine sewing. It can be used on all fibers, knits and wovens.

The new and unique manufacturing processes applied to the polyester-wrapped, core-spun construction of Dual Duty XP creates a thread that provides enhanced seam appearance and makes sewing trouble free. All Purpose 50pc- Each spool has 125 yards of thread. White to Black and lots of colors and shades in between. There are nine variegated colors.

Every Friday we’ll post a giveaway on Think Crafts and all you have to do is comment on the blog post answering the question of the week. We’ll pick the winner and contact them via email. Deadline is midnight tonight and the winner will be announced Monday. One entry per person please.

Question of the Week: What movie can you always watch? You know the movie that whenever it’s on TV you always watch it!

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”.

While the evenings are warm enough to be outside but not filled with swarms of biting bugs, we have been eating as many meals as possible out at our backyard picnic table. It’s hard not to love eating under the stars. No need for fancy table settings, the dog eats anything we drop on the ground, anyone who gets bored can go take a few turns on the swings to shake out any wiggles. The only fly in the ointment is that it still gets dark early and we have no outside lighting.

Someday our table will be under a sturdy pergola draped with strands and strands of twinkle lights. But until then we’ll have to make do with candles. Although now that I’ve made these, I’m in much less of a hurry to bring in the electrical lighting. These pretty little pots make even hot dogs on plastic plates seem like a romantic evening. And bonus, it’s practically free.

Here’s what you

Old glass jars and cups – look around the house, you probably have some, if not, check out the local charity shop – the cut glass church goblet variety turn out very pretty and are generally less than 50 cents at most Goodwills.
Paint - two colors, one bright, one white (you can have different colors too but varying shades of one color make an especially elegant look)
Tea candles
Old spoon for stirring
Extra cup

Start by filling up the extra cup with the colored paint (I used yellow exterior latex house paint, acrylic would work too) pour two or three tablespoons into the bottom of one or two of your jars. Add a little white to the cup and mix to get a lighter shade. Now add some of the lighter paint to a few more jars. Continue lightening the paint, adding some to your jars as you go, until you run out of jars or paint.

Next, swirl the paint up the sides until the inside is completely coated, stopping just as you get to the rim. This can be time consuming but isn’t difficult. In fact, it’s a great, sit in the sun and watch the kids play kind of activity.

Once you have all the jars coated, pour off any excess, wipe any drips and allow the paint to dry before popping in your candles and switching out the lights.

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

When I was a kid there was a comic book character named Dot. True to her name, everything she owned was covered in polka dots. She loved them that much. Dot popped into my mind the other day when I realized there was no reason on Earth my kitchen floor shouldn’t be polka dotted, if I wanted it to be. This is a picture of my flooring.

Needs a little something to perk it up, don’t you think?

One nice thing about doing polka dots is you don’t have to do them all at once. However many you have time for in a day, do those, and walk away. Another nice thing is that you can get a new look for your floor without going to the expense of an actual new floor, something a lot of us are concerned about right now.

Okay, so my floor is fifty-four year old vinyl. You might think there’s some special paint you’d need, but I’m using regular acrylic paints, just like you’d use for most crafts.

Choose your paint colors, and decide how big you want the polka dots to be. There are at least two methods to use to get nice rounds. One is to draw around saucers, lids, jars, etc., and then paint in the circle. Another is to cut a circle stencil, and use a roller or stippling brush to paint the color in one step.

My daughter-in-law cut a large circle in a vinyl placemat, and used the mat as a stencil to do this in our granddaughter’s room, which was actually the inspiration for my floor:

For my kitchen floor, I chose to go with multiple sizes and colors, and also do some overlapping.

I liked the look of some of the floor’s pattern showing through the paint, so I opted not to put on a second coat. Where circles overlapped, I painted the overlapped areas in the color you’d get if you mixed the two colors together.

Here’s a shot of the kitchen’s entry, showing what I’ve done so far. I’m really liking the way it looks so far, and hope I know when to stop!

After painting on the color, and letting it dry, it’s important to put on a clear, protective coating. I use Duraclear.

The stuff is amazing. I’ve coated painted rocks with it, put them out in the yard, and had the paint stand up to the elements literally for years. Without that coating, the paint is going to scuff and wash off, with it…well, just be sure the floor is really clean when you paint it on, because any dirt under it is there forever. On the plus side, so are your dots!

By General Crafts Contributor Amy, from the Blog “Mod Podge Rocks!”

I’m so excited for spring!  I was sprucing up my apartment the other day and realized that I needed some additional spring-like decorations.  Something pretty and fun just to liven up the place.  I decided to jazz up some white towels using paper stencils and fabric paint.  The great thing?  You can also give these as gifts – and you won’t believe how easy they are to make.

First you’ll need to gather these supplies:

White cotton towels

FolkArt Fabric Paint

• Flower Towel – Red Violet,  Lavender,  Coastal Blue,  Yellow Citron 
• Bird Towel – Azure Blue,  Teal,  Pure Orange,  Coastal Blue 

Plaid Paper Stencils

• Flower Towel – 6.75″ x 8″ Houndstooth
• Bird Towel – 6.75″ x 8″ Vase Silhouette

Stencil Brush(es)

Wax paper

Wash and iron your towels.  Fold them so that the side is showing that you want to paint on.  Tear a sheet of wax paper off and place between the layers of towel – then your paint won’t seep through as your are completing your project.

Think about your design and even sketch it out on another piece of paper.  Punch out the paper from your first stencil and lay it down on the surface.

You have two options – you can hold the stencil down with your hand or secure it with tape.  My preference was to just hold the stencil down since the paper didn’t slip on my surface.  If you have a more slippery surface, you should definitely use tape.

Start painting.  Stenciling works a lot differently from regular painting.  With stenciling, you will “dry brush.”  This means to dip your stencil brush in paint and then remove most of it by tapping it onto your plate or paper towel.  Once you are ready, dry brush a light layer onto your fabric surface.  Keep repeating until your shape is filled in.  DO NOT put too much paint onto the brush or it will seep under your stencil design and ruin your project.

Move to the other side of the project.  Paper stencils are nice because you can cut the elements apart (or if you are a slob like me, tear).  Repeat the dry brush process.

If you are completing different parts of the same design element like I did above, you’ll want to wait until the first part you paint dries.  That means paint the top of the flower (petals and center) first, and wait 15 – 20 for it to dry.  Then go back and lay the stencil back over and paint the stem and leaves.

Keep going until your towels are completely painted with your stencil design, then allow to dry.  Follow the finishing instructions listed on the bottle.  Save your paper stencils by wiping them off and putting them back into the bag for later.  They are completely reusable!

Congratulations to Esther Chruch who was randomly chosen as the winner of Free Stuff Friday and the   Autmn Leaves Scrapbook Design Books!

“Designing with Paper”,  “Designing with Notions”,  and  “Designing with vellum”  includes all manner of techniques and treatments, plus fun projects, clever page layouts, and a potpourri of gift ideas. If you’ve got the notion, Autumn Leaves has the know-how. Now you can use all those treasures you’ve been saving—beads, charms, ribbons, etc.—to create charming, contemporary projects like scrapbooks, cards, and gifts. Explore over 150 new ways to use dozens of embellishments and enjoy hours of experimenting with ideas and designs of your own!

Ether’s winning answer to “What is your favorite animal” was…

“My favorite animal is a Moose! I just think they are so beautiful, Mothers are devoted to their babies and I think they are so misunderstood”.

Enter to win these scrapbooking idea books by Autumn Leaves! “Designing with Paper”, “Designing with Notions”, and “Designing with vellum” includes all manner of techniques and treatments, plus fun projects, clever page layouts, and a potpourri of gift ideas.

If you’ve got the notion, Autumn Leaves has the know-how. Now you can use all those treasures you’ve been saving—beads, charms, ribbons, etc.—to create charming, contemporary projects like scrapbooks, cards, and gifts. Explore over 150 new ways to use dozens of embellishments and enjoy hours of experimenting with ideas and designs of your own!

Every Friday we’ll post a giveaway on Think Crafts and all you have to do is comment on the blog post answering the question of the week. We’ll pick the winner and contact them via email. Deadline is midnight tonight and the winner will be announced Monday. One entry per person please.

Question of the Week: What is your favorite animal?

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”.

My three year old is a skirt girl. She ones exactly one pair of jeans which she will only condescend to wear if it is very very cold and her brother asks her very very nicely (forget it if I ask!) She will, when the mood strikes her, wear yoga pants, generally with a skirt over the top, but at least they are pants, which between our cold winters and buggy summers, are just a necessity some of the time. The problem is that they rarely fit her. She’s long and thin (I know, boo hoo,poor her, tall and skinny, and with long eyelashes to boot!) and even fitted cotton pants like yoga pants are generally long enough and too big, or they fit at the waist but are too short.

Last week I was cleaning out her winter clothes when I came across a pair of pants that have been hanging around for a good year and a half. They finally, finally stay on her waist but are way too short. And not even “cute capri” short. No, these are more like “My mom can’t bother to find clothes that fit me” short. But it’s April and I’m in the “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” mood, so instead of sending them on to Goodwill (well, not yet, I’m sure in another year they’ll still end up there, as all our outgrown clothes do). I decided to give them a little more life and lengthen them with loops of ribbon. She was so excited she could barely wait for me to clip the threads when it came off the sewing machine and I have to say that I’m a little in love with them too, in fact, I might have to go through the Goodwill hamper and search out some more too-short pants and make a few more pairs!

To make these cute, loopy pants you’ll need:

One pair of too short yoga pants
Ribbon, any width works, I used a combination of three widths that I had in my stash which kind of matched each other
Sewing Machine and coordinating thread

Remove the front piece of your machine so that you have a narrower surface to work with. This way the cuff of the pants easily goes around and you wont accidentally sew the leg hole closed (it happens!)

Cut the ribbon into equal lengths, I found that 7 inch long pieces were ideal, but it will depend on the height of your child and the look you want. You’ll need enough pieces to evenly go around each cuff.

Pinning (or eyeballing) the ends of the loops along the underside of the cuff, stitch around the bottom of each pant leg until the ribbon loops go all the way around.

For fun, I also replaced the faux drawstring with matching ribbon by snipping the old one out and rethreading a new one in place. And since I still had ribbon left over and we can never have two many hairclips in our house, I used the extra to make a few bows as well.

She’s been running around ever since I pulled them on, leaping and laughing at her new (old) and much more girl approved pants. And mom is happy to not have to buy an new pair for the summer. Rock on recycling!