July 31, 2010Mable CraftsalotcloseAuthor: Mable CraftsalotName: Mable Craftsalot Site:http://www.Facebook.com/CreateForLess About: The name says it all! Mable Crafts-alot is an avid reader of craft blogs & magazines and has aspirations to improve her crafting skills. Mable has never met a craft she didn’t like! Mable spends her free time attending craft classes at local community centers, and even teaches a few. When she is not crafting she enjoys cooking, reading, photography and gardening. Mable loves to connect with other crafters to share project ideas, discuss craft trends and chat about favorite crafting tools and techniques. To learn more about Mable, become her friend on Facebook!See Authors Posts (48)Crafts, Needlearts, Projects, Techniques and Mediums2 Comments
By Crafts-a lot Contributor, Mable who is an avid reader of craft blogs & magazines and has aspirations to improve her crafting skills.
My grandma has the most beautiful tea towels in her kitchen that are hand embroidered by her grandma. There are used for decorations and have become an antique over the years. All the towels have their own design of a flower, tea pot or piece of fruit, with a detailed, scalloped edge. My grandma has had these towels in her kitchen for as long as I can remember, and I’m sure they will make it to my Mom’s kitchen sooner or later.
I wanted to decorate my own tea towels. My great, great grandma is the last one in my family who knew how to embroider, so I had to teach myself! I went to YouTube and watched tons of videos on beginning to embroider. The video I found most helpful was from Threadbangers. They interviewed Jenny Hart, the designer of Sublime Stitching and she explains how to get started with embroidery.
Jenny gives step by step details on how to get your pattern on your cloth, setting up your embroidery hoop, picking out needles and floss and a beginning split stitch. The video finishes with some DIY ideas from their Austin, TX viewers. I really like the Sublime Stitching Patterns because they are very modern and fun. I think I’m going to try the Sushi Bar patternfirst…
The Janlynn Pretty in Pretty Kit includes crazy lace agate stones mixed with crystals and sterling silver balls. Extra 4 mm sterling balls are included to make bracelet larger than average size, if necessary. Bracelet is finished with silver plated lobster claw and earrings are finished with silver plated leverback earwires. Wire & flat head pins for stringing along with instructions are included.
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. Contest opened to all US residents, no purchase necessary.
Question of week: What is your favorite breakfast food?
July 29, 2010GilliancloseAuthor: GillianName: Gillian Grimm Site:http://driedfigsandwoodenspools.blogspot.com/ About: Gillian Grimm lives in Charlottesville, Virginia where she balances writing, cooking and crafts with eight chickens, two kids, a dog, a cat and a husband. As the daughter of a Journalist, she grew up all over the United States, switching schools, towns and newspapers every few years and loved every minute of it! She now works as a freelance writer, primarily in the craft industry but with a few forays into travel writing, narrative non-fiction and educational matters. Gillian was recently published in the literary journal the “The Northville Review”. You can find more of Gillian’s work at “Dried Figs and Wooden Spools”.See Authors Posts (152)Crafts, Needlearts, ProjectsNo Comments
Last winter I went through a felting stage, turning old sweaters into flowers and coffee cup wraps and all sorts of things. But it wasn’t until I’d emptied our local charity shops of all their wool sweaters that I realized that you can also felt felt! Well, you can felt wool felt. And it doesn’t even need to be 100% wool to be feltable. Look for felt with at least 35% wool content for this project and run it through your washing machine on it’s hottest setting, repeating if you think it could shrink up a little more, then allow it to dry flat. Because of it’s thickness, the felt is great for protecting things like cell phones and glasses and cameras (it also helps to keep them dry at the pool, but don’t think that means you can drop it in the water!)
Cut the felt to be just bigger than twice the length of your camera and a bit bigger than the width.
Using the other color of felt, cut a basic camera shape and a small circle. Stitch the circle onto the “camera” and then sew the whole thing onto one side of the felt square using a whip stitch.
Fold the square in half and, starting at the bottom corner, stitch with the yarn needle and yarn using a blanket stitch.
When you get to the top corner, tie the yarn off in a loop and trim off the tails.
July 28, 2010AlliecloseAuthor: AllieName: Site:http://www.createforless.com/ About: I am the marketing assistant for CreateForLess and manage our blog Think Crafts. I'm always looking for new guest bloggers, email me if you are interested in! info@ThinkCrafts.comSee Authors Posts (502)Contests1 Comment
What’s the biggest blunder you’ve ever made on a craft project? That project gone wrong that still makes you laugh? From two heeled socks to glue accidents, we’d love to hear your funny stories. Send us your craft blooper and you could win a $100 CreateForLess Shopping Spree! Click to Enter!
Read the winning Craft Blooper from last year…
“A friend and I had organized a scrapbooking day to benefit the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life. We called our event the ‘Crop for a Cure’. I was working on a small thank you card for one of our sponsors of the event. I had all the right papers, and stamps and inks, even embellishments. I was happily assembling each piece (between various event interruptions) and then came time to write my message inside the card. I was drawing each word out in a beautiful curly script. Each letter fell into place: ‘Thank You for Supporting the Cr…’ but then; the swirl of my ‘o’ in the word ‘crop’ turned down instead of up and suddenly I was thanking people not for their support of an enjoyable day of scrapbooking, but for a crass bodily function that apparently had mythical healing powers. My friends will never let me forget the day they attended the ‘Crap for a Cure’.”
Contest deadline is July 31, 2010. Limited to three entries per person. Submitting a photo of the craft blooper is optional. The winner will be chosen by the CreateForLess staff and will receive a $100 CreateForLess e-gift certificate. The winner will be contacted individually via email and posted on our web site. After the contest ends, some of the craft bloopers will be showcased on CreateForLess.com, our Think Crafts blog and Facebook page.
July 27, 2010GilliancloseAuthor: GillianName: Gillian Grimm Site:http://driedfigsandwoodenspools.blogspot.com/ About: Gillian Grimm lives in Charlottesville, Virginia where she balances writing, cooking and crafts with eight chickens, two kids, a dog, a cat and a husband. As the daughter of a Journalist, she grew up all over the United States, switching schools, towns and newspapers every few years and loved every minute of it! She now works as a freelance writer, primarily in the craft industry but with a few forays into travel writing, narrative non-fiction and educational matters. Gillian was recently published in the literary journal the “The Northville Review”. You can find more of Gillian’s work at “Dried Figs and Wooden Spools”.See Authors Posts (152)Crafts, Home Decor, Projects1 Comment
I’m a menu planner, in fact, I have a hard time functioning in the kitchen without a solid plan. I even plan our meals when we are on vacation. It saves time and money and helps us to keep from wasting food because generally, we only buy just what we need for the week, so there’s not much that has a chance to waste away on a back shelf.
For the past year I’ve been using a cute little notepad to keep track of what we are eating and when, but this week when I sat down to write up our meals and our grocery list, I found that I had only two pages left. I could, of course, go pick up another one, but I love a challenge, so I decided to make my own.
The hardest part of this was designing the template so I’ll save you the trouble and give you a few versions of the one I made todownload, but if you’re handy with Adobe Illustrator, the possibilities are endless! Design away!
This version is sized to fit an 8 x 10 inch clip frame but you could resize it at a copy shop very easily to fit whatever frame you want. I like the clip frame because it’s easier to write on.
1. Print out your card and trim to fit your glass. My printer was a little low on ink so mine turned out light, but it works.
2. Clean both sides of your glass and wipe dry.
3. Assemble the clip frame with your menu card inside. Presto! Using a dry erase marker, you can keep track of your meals and have something fun hanging on your wallthat wasn’t created by a two year old!
*You can also glue strong magnets to the back to mount your menu card on the fridge!
Congratulations to Staci Jones who was randomly selected as the winner of Free Stuff Friday and the Paper Accents Craft Pack!
The Pound O’ Paper are wonderful packs of paper that comes with a new variety each time. These varieties are great for making cards, invitations, tags or adding special accents to scrapbook and memory pages. It’s an assortment pack , the sizes and kind of paper change with each package. Create Your Own Journals are made with heavy chipboard on the front and back with 25 pages inside. Have fun decorating and personalizing these journals with stamps, stickers, embellishments, marking pens, and more. Each journal is spiral bound so they are easy to flip and stay together! Create Your Own Chipboard Pennantsare great for Banners, Seasonal Sentiments, Names and much more. Made with heavy weight chipboard, they are acid free, and ready to decorate to your personal taste.
Staci’s winning answer to ”What is your favorite summer memory from your childhood, or your children’s” was…
“My favorite summer memories were visiting my grandparents in Seattle. It would take us 2 1/2 days to get there so we usually stayed for awhile. I loved going to the zoo and aquarium. It was so much fun.”
July 26, 2010AnitracloseAuthor: AnitraName: Anitra Cameron Site:http://coffee-pot-people.blogspot.com/ About: Anitra Cameron had the good fortune to be born into a family where creativity ran rampant. Her father has authored several books and worked as a photographer and her mother hand-painted portraits. Anitra’s favorite crafts to make are: Jewelry (especially using buttons), collaged book marks, miniature cake stands, all from recycled materials. Anitra’s moto: “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! Anitra lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband, where their combined family’s total seven children, and (so far) seventeen grandchildren. Recently Anitra became a great-grandmother of a darling little boy! You can find more of Anitra’s work at “Coffee Pot People”.See Authors Posts (103)Craft Professionals, Crafts, Guest Bloggers2 Comments
It probably won’t be a surprise to anyone that my favorite art/craft shows to be in or to attend are those where the art is constructed primarily from recycled materials.
This past weekend was the Vancouver Recycled Arts Festival, and I was pleased and honored to be one of their vendors. Now, the hardest thing about that is being stuck in my booth. I want to see to all the other art! So, the second morning of the show, I made sure I was there early enough to cruise the show myself, camera in hand, and I had a mission: Photograph art that you might not see anywhere else.
People are amazingly creative and talented. This is just a sample of what the show had to offer:
In the slideshow, you see:
Pendants from broken china, by Tanya Meyer of CuteGirl Creations
Soft toys and wearable art from reclaimed materials, by Dawn Grunwald
Blue & white stamped domino tray, by MouseHouse Designs
Colorful garden whirligigs from vinyl records, by Christine Claringbold of EyePop Art
Rings made from bicycle innertubes & beads, by Julia Garretson
Fused glass cat faces and ladybugs from scrap glass, by Brenda Lee Calvert of Halfmoon Farm
Folding baskets and a handbag from reclaimed & sanitized chopsticks, by Kwytza Chopstick Art
Playing card holders from reclaimed fibers, by Lyle and Arlene Gowing
Musical instruments from cigar boxes and license plates, by Alan Matta
Garden shrines from scrap wood & found objects, by Mike and Barbara Meyer, of Earth Tones
Mosaic art from reclaimed windows and scrap glass, by Missy Lambert
Crocheted bags, placemats, accessories, etc., from plastic shopping bags, by Molly J Walter
Purses and wallets woven from candy, snack, & coffee packaging, by Rock Candy Art
Creepy babies from baby dolls and found objects, by Jason Pickering
Rustic jewelry and accessories from sardine cans, smashed bottle caps, etc., by Chris Reitmaier
Garden Tiki Monster & Fork Man from scrap metal & flatware, by Schell & Son Metalwerks
A giant blossom for the garden from reclaimed glassware & tableware, by Anitra Cameron
Marble-covered garden art, by Megan Klepp, of Ta-Dah
Refrigerator magnets from small toys, by the sons of Megan Klepp, of Ta-Dah
A 3-D collage from reclaimed painting and stuffed bird, by Casey Boketzian, of Therapy Bettye
Painted polka dot tableware & radio, by Davell Seversen, of Zany Art
