Think Crafts Blog – Craft Ideas and Projects – CreateForLess

By Crafts-a lot Contributor, Mable who is an avid reader of craft blogs & magazines and has aspirations to improve her crafting skills. Join Mable on Facebook to socialize and share with other crafters!

Twice a year the Craft & Hobby Association Conference & Trade Show (CHA) is held to discuss, what else, crafts! During the conference we get to see the new products manufacturers have been developing and get a sneak peek of the new designs and ideas. Industry experts come together to discuss trends and promotion of the craft industry. I like seeing all the incredible booths and displays!

At CHA we met the Crochet Dude and Tim Holtz! And our CreateForLess team had dinner with Mark Montano! Mark Montano! He delighted us with us entertaining stories and awesome craft ideas! Can’t wait for your next book Mark!

The Best Booth Award went to the DieCuts with a View & Blue Moon Beads!

The peacock is made with DCWV paper, glitter and lots of glue!

This display was made completely out of Blue Moon Beads.

I want to make this beaded waterfall for my bathroom! Check out more of the DCWV & Blue Moon Beads booth here.

An exciting part was the appearance by Tori Spelling! She is working with Darice on her jewelry making line {Styled} by Tori Spelling. What I loved about this new product line is you can make your own custom jewelry without needing tools or pliers.

You can mix and match the chains, pendants and beads to create and re-create your own designs.

Check out this video to see more of Tori’s designs!

By Crafts-a lot Contributor, Mable who is an avid reader of craft blogs & magazines and has aspirations to improve her crafting skills. Join Mable on Facebook to socialize and share with other crafters!

A perfect Sunday morning for me would be a steaming cup of coffee and watching “Sewing with Nancy”. Another personal favorite of mine is “The Joy of Painting” with Bob Ross. I grew up with PBS. Watching their shows gets my creative ideas going and I always get inspired to create. So I was very excited when I was asked to participate in the Nancy Zieman Blog Tour!

I have used Trace N Create Templates before to make a purse, so I was super excited when Nancy designed a template to make tablet keepers. The Clover Trace N Create Tablet Keepers Template allows you to make the perfect size keeper for your tablet or paper pad. As you can tell from the photo below, the template allows you to customize your keeper for your perfect size. It also has markings so you can add the elastic pieces to hold the tablet and strap to close the keeper.

The instructions provided are clear and easy to read. Also provided are stiff plastic sheets for the front and back cover of the keeper. The sheets can be cut to be sized down. You can also buy the Pre Cut Tablet Keeper Shapers separately to make more tablet keepers.

 My finished Tablet Keeper for my MOTOROLA XOOM Android Tablet!

Blog Tour Details

Each weekday, for 20 days in January, be sure to visit the guest blogger’s site to see their Tablet Keeper creation.

January 3            Nancy Zieman                   http://www.nancyzieman.com/blog

January 4            Amy Ellis                            http://amyscreativeside.com/

January 5            Sharon Pernes                    http://craizeecorner.blogspot.com/

January 6            Vicki Christensen              http://www.sewinspiredblog.com/

January 9            Joan Hawley                       http://www.lazygirldesigns.com/blog/

January 10            Pat Sloan                           http://patsloan.typepad.com/

January 11            Eileen Roche                     http://dzgns.com/blog/

January 12            Liz Hicks                           http://blogerisms.blogspot.com/

January 13            Fran Ortmeyer                 http://cloverusa.wordpress.com/

January 16            Ilene Miller                       http://happyvalleyprimitives.blogspot.com/

January 17            Julie Herman                   http://www.jaybirdquilts.com/

January 18            Jenny Gabriel                  http://www.sewvacoutletblog.com/

January 19            Natalia Bonner                http://www.piecenquilt.blogspot.com/

January 20            Frieda Anderson             http://friestyle.blogspot.com/

January 23            Cindy Cloward                 http://www.rileyblakedesigns.com/blog/

January 24            Beckie Hansen                 http://www.nancyzieman.com/blog

January 25            Amy Webb                         http://www.amylouwhosews.com/

January 26            Allie Robertson                http://thinkcrafts.com/ (That’s us!)

January 27            Mary Mulari                       http://www.nancyzieman.com/blog

January 30            Laura Wasilowski            http://artfabrik.blogspot.com/

January 31            Carol Porter                        http://www.nancyzieman.com/blog

 In addition to the blog tour, Clover is giving away an AMAZING prize package! Check out their site for details!

By Crafts-a lot Contributor, Mable who is an avid reader of craft blogs & magazines and has aspirations to improve her crafting skills. Join Mable on Facebook to socialize and share with other crafters!

Every New Years I try to make a resolution that is helpful, but also enjoyable. After several months of making Christmas presents for other people, it’s time to focus my crafting on me. Since you are reading this you’re also a crafter, so I’m sure you understand. I craft for fun, but I would be more productive if I knew where everything was in my craft area. My crafting space is a disaster! Not only is it unorganized, but it’s just sloppy. My resolution is to get organized!

Last year my resolution was to learn to make my own jewelry. It was fun, but led to more craft supplies which made my area even messier. I was going to show you my craft area, but pictures of craft organizers are just more fun. Then you can picture what you’d do with them!

First, I need something to keep my beading tools and supplies in. I really like ArtBin because you can stack them, and most of them are clear so you can see what’s inside. ArtBin has different organizers depending on what you’ll be using it for. For example the ArtBin Tarnish Inhibitor Bead Boxes are made with special additives to protect your metals like Silver, Brass, Gold, and Copper to prevent tarnishing. They have a few different sizes and you can all add dividers to change the sizes of each compartment.

To organize my area to have a workable space, I should get something to put my small notions in. I’ve collected buttons, various needles, snaps, needle threaders and pins. It would make sense to put all my buttons together, needles together and so forth. It’s so silly that they are spread out now, I’m almost embarrassed how unorganized I am! I should organize all my small notions in a sewing basket, duh!

I also need a thread rack. I could free up so much valuable drawer space if I got one of these:

A box just for patterns! Might make my life a little too easy…

By Crafts-a lot Contributor, Mable who is an avid reader of craft blogs & magazines and has aspirations to improve her crafting skills. Join Mable on Facebook to socialize and share with other crafters!

Taylor Swift tweeted earlier this week a photo of her homemade snow globes. The country cutie is also crafty! This Christmas favorite has been around forever, and can easily be made to have your very own customized snow globes.

"Christmas in a jar, with glitter."

To make your own snow globe, you’ll need:

• Acrylic Paints
• Glitter
• Hot Glues
• Mineral Oils
• Canning Jars, Baby Food Jars – any clear & clean Jars
• Silicone Sealant
• Christmas Figurine – Plastic, aluminum or baked polymer clay are ideal for wet environments.

1. Use a clean glass jar with a lid.

2. Choose a clean object to put inside the globe, or make your own.

3. Hot-glue the object to the inside of the lid.

4. Use glitter or something as snow and put it in the jar.

5. Fill the jar with mineral oil. Allow room for the object, which will displace some of the oil.

6. Squeeze a strip of silicone sealer around the threads of the lid.

7. Screw the lid on tight. You may want to paint it.

By Crafts-a lot Contributor, Mable who is an avid reader of craft blogs & magazines and has aspirations to improve her crafting skills. Join Mable on Facebook to socialize and share with other crafters!

As a crafter, most rooms in my house have handmade décor. My favorite part of crafting is being able to personalize projects, to match and coordinate them with my interior decorations. I saw this Bath Gift Set idea, and I knew this is what I wanted for my guest bathroom. I’m hosting Thanksgiving this year and need to spruce up the guest bath. I’m going to make this as a gift to my bland guest bath!

A coordinating bath gift set for you or someone special. Julie printed her titles then cut/embossed them with Mega Ovals LG. By layering it onto a Mega Classic Scalloped Ovals LG, she created a great border for this fabulous gift set!

Approximate Sizes: Small Jar – 3½ x 1¾”; Large Jar – 5 x 4″; and Soap – 3 x 2″

Spellbinders Supplies:

• Standard Circles LG
• Mega Ovals LG
• Mega Classic Scalloped Ovals LG
• Grand Calibur Die Cutting & Embossing Machine

Other Supplies:

• Diamond Patterned Paper
• Cream Buttons
• SCRAPBOOK ADHESIVES BY 3L, 3D Foam Squares
• Tan Cardstock
• Twine

By Crafts-a lot Contributor, Mable who is an avid reader of craft blogs & magazines and has aspirations to improve her crafting skills. Join Mable on Facebook to socialize and share with other crafters!

Have you decorated your pumpkins yet? I love using pumpkins for my fall and Halloween decorations. This year I wanted my pumpkins to sparkle, really sparkle. So what did I use? Glitter!

This project is as easy, as it is sparkly. I used a foam brush to generously coat one section of my pumpkin in Mod Podge. Then I sprinkled glitter over the Mod Podge. (I strongly recommend covering your work space before using the glitter). Once the glue seemed dried, I did the next section and so on, until the pumpkin is completely covered in glitter. Once it was dry, fill in any bare stops.

Lastly I sprayed the pumpkin with a clear coat sealer to prevent the glitter from flaking off. Place on your table, door step or porch for a fun, Halloween sparkle!

By Spellbinders.

I’ve been looking for a fun fall decoration for my coffee table at home. I like to display photos of my friends, family and pets, but wanted something more decorated than just a frame. I was looking at the Spellbinders Idea Gallery, and the Apple of My Eye box was just what I wanted to make! It’s cute, fall themed and I get to use my die cutting machine. Perfect project!

This 4½ x 4½” box is a cute way to display photos. By attaching the ribbon to top and botton of the box, and adding your photos to the ribbon, the photos cascade down when you open it! Then you can decorate the box however you like. This box is decorated using the Nested Apples and Labels Twelve dies to the embellish the top of the box.

Supplies used:

• Small Paper mache box
• Classic Squares Large Die
• Labels Twelve Die
• Nested Apples Die
• Fall Patterned Paper
• Core’dinations, Pistachio Nut Chocolate Cardstock
• Fall Background Stamps
• Brown Twill
• Brown Ink
• Twine
• Red Felt for Trim
• Buttons