Think Crafts Blog – Craft Ideas and Projects – CreateForLess

By Kid’s Craft Contributor, Gillian from the blog Dried Figs and Wooden Spools.

There’s a sweet little bakery, just down the street from my building, that sells the most incredible sweets. It’s been around for ages and walking in is a little bit like stepping back into time, especially when they wrap up that box of almond horns you just bought with a couple of yards of red and white baker’s twine hanging from a big metal canister above the cash register. I’ll admit that I’m tempted on a daily basis both by the sweets and by the beautiful twine that I’ve been saving in little bundles in my craft cabinet. Why? Because baker’s twine is a crafter’s dream.

You may not even know it by that name. In your head it might just be that colorful string that’s cropping up everywhere. What once came in giant cones on the cheap is now available in a rainbow of colors on smaller spools. And the stuff is handy.

The most obvious use for Baker’s Twine is as an all purpose gift decoration. Wrap up a box, a bunch of flowers or tie a bow with it around a bottle of wine and you are good to go. But it’s uses extend far beyond that.

Scrapbooking

Garlands

Cardmaking

A little spiral art perhaps?

Even pompoms!

As the holidays approach, a few rolls of Baker’s Twine will come in handy over and over again. What would you use it for?

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

What’s not to love about scarves? They have the power to make me glad of chilly opportunities to wrap one around my neck! Here’s a project that yields a big, fluffy, dramatic scarf with a minimum of effort and materials. To make it you’ll need a few yards of bulky yarn, such as the chenille I used, and about ¼ yard of matching fleece.

Cut a strip of fleece 8″ wide across the width of your fabric, so that you have a piece 8″x50″ (or whatever the width of your yardage is). Cutting the short way, cut strips ½” x 8″. If your fabric was 50″ wide, you”ll end up with 100 little strips. Don’t obsess about the number or exact width, though. If you’re off a wee bit, it really won’t make a difference.

Take up your yarn and a crochet hook that’s big enough to give you a nice stitch tension (I used a Boye H, if I recall correctly), and begin a chain. Crochet one chain stitch, and then just lay one of the fleece strips across the yarn, next to the hook, and chain stitch right over the top of it, “capturing” the strip in the stitch.

*Chain one, and capture a strip in the next chain.* Repeat until your scarf is as long as you like, and finish off.

You now have something rather like a big boa, great fun to wear or give, and you’ve done it on the quick. Go forth, and collect your compliments and smiles!

Congratulations to Stephanie who was randomly selected as our Free Stuff Friday winner and will receive an assorted pack of sizes and colors of Bazzill Cardstock!

Bazzill Cardstock is here to help you create beautifully colored cards, invitations, scrapbook pages, memory albums, journals, and more. Each sheet is acid-free.

Stephanie’s winning answer to “Did you wake up early for Black Friday shopping?” was…

“Nope, I Wish I Would Have Slept. But Have Been Up All Day Waiting For These Sales! But Its A Mad House!”

By Cardmaking & Scrapbook Layout Contributor, Peg from the blog Peg’s Crafting Corner.

Q. What is the difference between acrylic and cling stamps?

A. Acrylic stamps, also known as clear stamps, are made of a clear polymer that is flexible which allows them to be placed on plastic sheets for easy storage. Since they do not come with a handle like a wood mounted stamp does a reusable acrylic block is needed to use this type of stamp. The image has been etched on and die cut closely so they are the easiest to use as you can see through them to know exactly where you are placing your image. Cling stamps are rubber stamps without the wooden block. They have been trimmed around and a piece of cling vinyl has been placed on the foam mount to attach to the stamp where normally the wood block would be. This vinyl which is very sticky sticks to the acrylic block allowing it to be the handle of the stamp and can be removed after used. These stamps are the actual size of the image which allows for easier placement on your projects.

Q. What is a scoring board?

A. Scoring (or score) board is used to create a grooved line into the paper (score line) which helps in getting a crisp, clean fold. They are a handy tool for card makers to get a clean fold of a card and also can be used for creating the folds in handmade envelopes and boxes, as well as, other projects.

Q. What is fussy cutting in paper crafting?

A. A lot of people know this term from quilting, but it has also spread into paper crafting. There are two ways of doing a fussy cut. One is when you use scissors or a craft knife to cut closely around the edge of a particular image; a stamped image for instance. The second way, which may not be thought of as often, is when you use a die and die cut machine to make a cut around an image in a piece of patterned paper.

Q. I want to use the cards I received on my layout, but how do I do that?

A. You can add a re-sealable bag to your layout and then add embellishments to the outside that match the theme of your layout or you can create a pocket out of cardstock or scrapbook paper by cutting it to a size to fit the widths and heights of the cards with an additional 1/2” added to these measurements on the sides and bottom to score and fold towards the layout which allows it to be attached to the scrapbook page. Both ways allow your cards to stay intact and removable to read again and again.

Q. Any ideas where I can find some inspiration?

 A. A great place to start is the Think Crafts blog, but you may also be interested in the great books that CreateForLess carries.

By Guest Blogger Roshanda from the blog, Supermomdel.

I had this really great Christian t-shirt. Unfortunately, like most moms I was wearing it while doing the laundry and you guessed it, I got blench on it. However, I refused to throw it away with hopes I could do something really cool with it. Well, I found a great use for using the graphic from my blenched out shirt and turned it into artwork for my home office/bead room. By the way, this is totally super easy to do. Here are the steps.

Here is my shirt. I loved the “Heiress” and Roman’s 8:17 part. I felt like royalty in this shirt. So why not being reminded of my “royal” position in my home office.

This is the list of supplies: 8×10 Canvas, Mod Podge, (my favorite!), the Mod Podge rolling pin (a must), matching aryclic paint in gold and silver or any color of your choice and tacky glue.

The first thing I did was cut out the design on the shirt and then I used these arcylic paint colors.

I poured out the paint on a paper plate and pulled out the canvas to paint.

I pulled out an old dish cloth and used the gold paint and using a dapping techinique on the canvas. Make sure to not use too much paint.

This is what it looked it when I was finished. I really like the hint of white that stills shows through. It almost looks like an “antique.”

Now you want to take your t-shirt and measure it on the canvas. You can make it wrap around or cut it exact. I cut it directly around the letters however, I think next time I do this I will just cut around the words.

Take a liberal amount of Tacky Glue and coat the area where you will place the t-shirt.

Take a rolling pin like the one Mod Podge sells and roll out all ceases or dents in the t-shirt. I love this little tool. A great investment.

Once it dries which will be about 15-20 minutes. I pulled back out my old dish cloth and added some more acrylic paint.

Final touch which is my favorite part. I really like Mod Podge. This stuff is like a crafters drug of choice. (Just Say Yes!) Take a black sponge brush, you can find these in the art department rather cheap at any craft store. Dip in the Mod Podge, I used the Gloss which is a glue and sealant all in one. Brush across the t-shirt area and canvas. I let this dry overnight, you don’t have to but it was late at night and I had to get to bed.

The Final Touch: Viola! You have just taken a t-shirt and repurposed it into artwork. You’ll think twice now before throwing them away now won’t you?

By Guest Bloggers Melissa + Kellie, from the blog Icing Designs.

Well, the holiday season is truly upon us! We wanted to share with you a simple DIY that you can make with just fruit and sugar! Sugared fruit looks so gorgeous and festive; it is just perfectly frosted and a really beautiful winter centerpiece. All you need is egg whites, sugar and winter fruit! Great fruits to use include; apples, pears, grapes, plums and oranges. (You can use Wilton’s meringue powder and water in place of egg whites if you plan to eat the fruit).

Just take a pastry brush to add the egg whites to the fruit.

When you add the sugar to the fruit be sure to sprinkle it on with a spoon, do not roll it in the sugar or it will get very clumpy.

When you are finished sugaring all of your fruit just lay them on a parchment lined cookie tray to dry for a few hours. When the fruit is dry you can pick it up and gently shake the excess sugar off. Then just arrange it any way you would like, on a pedestal or a bowl to display!

Enter to win an assorted pack of sizes and colors of Bazzill Cardstock!

Bazzill Cardstock is here to help you create beautifully colored cards, invitations, scrapbook pages, memory albums, journals, and more. Each sheet is acid-free.

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 week: Did you wake up early for Black Friday shopping?

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