Think Crafts Blog – Craft Ideas and Projects – CreateForLess

By Craft Celebrity Mark Montano, from the blog Mark Montano’s Big Ass Blog.

Ok, raise your hands if there is a table in your house that your can’t look at for another minute. Every time you pass by it sitting there is just stares at you and says, “I’m ugly, but you’re too afraid to get rid of me!” and then it says something else, “you don’t have the nerve to get rid of me because where would you pile up your junk mail!”. Well, it’s time to shut that annoying table up once and for all and give it a face lift. Trust me, it will make you happy and the only thing your table will say when you pass it by will be “thank you!” so go grab your glue gun!

YOU’LL NEED:

• 2 woven Chinese mats
• 1 roll of 3/8″ grosgrain ribbon that matches (I used olive green)
• Elmer’s wood glue
• 2″ wide soft bristle brush
• Scissors
• Hot glue gun and glue
• Minwax Polycrylic coating (best stuff on earth!)

HERE’S HOW:

STEP 1: GATHER YOUR SUPPLIES!

STEP 2: Measure your table top and cut out the same size from the woven mat.

STEP 5: When the entire table is covered in mat, take the hot glue gun and start applying the grosgrain ribbon around all of the edges. Take your time and make sure that you are covering the rough edges of the mat with the ribbon.

STEP 6:  Coat the entire table (even the ribbon!) with the Minwax Polycrylic coating and let dry.

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

Q1. How do I create a vintage look on a layout or card?

A1. A good starting point to achieving a vintage look is by inking the edges of your projects in a brown or sepia ink. Another easy thing to do is to distress the edges of your paper. Once you have them distressed you can ink the distressed edges or leave them alone. If you are doing any stamping on the project you can stamp the image in the brown or sepia ink to give it an old look. Using tan, yellows or brown papers, too, is another great way to achieve a worn, vintage look.

 Q2. Do you have any organization tips?

A2. CreateForLess carries a large selection of organizational and storage items for all of your craft supplies. Some of them are created to fit into your craft space to store things like small tools, ink pads, embellishments and other things in. There are some storage pieces that are designed to help you store your paper especially those 12 x 12 sheets. Don’t forget that sometimes you will want to take your supplies with you so those made with handles and divided sections are good for on the go.

 Q3. What can I use to temporarily mount unmounted stamps?

A3. Tack ‘N Peel are reusable sheets that help your rubber stamps cling to the acrylic or wood block and are the perfect answer to using those unmounted stamps. The adhesive side creates a bond between the sheet and the block which helps keep the sheet from moving and when the stamp is applied you don’t have to worry about it falling off or moving while you stamp the image.

 Q4. How do I keep the intricate pieces from sticking in my dies?

A4. The answer to this is an easy one.  Blue Painter’s Tape.  Since it’s made not to permanently stick and won’t harm surfaces it’s a great choice to use on your dies.  Simply cover the intricate areas on your dies before placing the paper over the top.  Run it through your die cut machine and once you’re done pull the tape off.  Those little pieces pop right out!

Q5. I like to use my distress inks and spritz them with water to use on things, but my paper curls up.  What can I do about that?

A5. The first thing is to make sure that you are not oversaturating the paper.  Watercolor paper is good to use for this technique as it is made to hold water without becoming too wet.  It is made so that when water is placed on it the water sits on the surface and doesn’t bleed the color into the fibers making them less intense and since all the liquids aren’t absorbing into the paper it doesn’t have the chance to saturate and cause the paper to curl.

Join craft maestro Mark Montano to make an iconic, hand-stitched image. Mark will demonstrate a basic embroidery stitch and have a range of dynamic black & white images for you to choose from. Think Victorian refinement meets handcrafted cool.

By Craft Trends Contributor, Gillian from the blog Dried Figs and Wooden Spools. Check out our Craft Trends board on Pinterest!

When I was little (really little) my kindergarten teacher helped the kids in my class to make the requisite hand print and poem art for our parents and it hung in our house the whole time I was growing up. It’s there now, actually, right along side matching ones for my brother and now my own kids. And that classic handprint piece is always going to be a cherished childhood artifact. But handprints can be so much more than just handprints. So put on your apron, dig out the tempera paint and get ready to paint up some little fingers.

Would you like to have a fish?

Or maybe a lobster?

How about a whole rainbow of hands for a teacher? Butterflies, catterpillers, flowers, you can build a whole garden of handprint art.

Want more ideas? Check out our craft trends pinboard for more handprint art and send us some of your ideas!

I began my graphic design career over three decades ago, long before anyone ever thought of making what I create now: digital printables. I spent those years as a magazine art director and a freelance designer, and then eventually as an editor and writer. But after exploring all that, I found that what I love to do best is to create 3D paper art that allows people to express themselves and be creative. It’s very exciting to me when people tell me that they’ve made my printables with senior citizen groups or their children. To me, that usefulness is one of the true marks of my success.

Most of my work is distributed free but recently I started making expanded printables kits for sale. I also have a newsletter that distributes subscriber-only printables, which are free. 

You can see my free printables here:

Party Planning Center Blog

Printable Party Kits

Printable Party Invitations Blog

And here is where I sell my kits:

Digital Scrapbooking Supplies

And here’s my newsletter sign-up link

Interested in being a “Featured Crafter”? We want to hear from our crafty friends about what they like to create. Share with us what you put your energy into, whether it is your passion, your business, or simply something you enjoy doing. Do you have your own blog, Etsy store or craft products? Tell us about it!

Click here to submit a “Featured Crafter”!

By Craft Celebrity Mark Montano, from the blog Mark Montano’s Big Ass Blog.

My friend Peter has a huge clock in his kitchen with a collage of his friends. It was my inspiration for this very large wall clock. Sending special thanks to all of my friends for their endless inspiration today.

YOU’LL NEED:

• Plastic box frame that is 18″x24″
• Image that is enlarged to 18″x24″
• Florescent orange Krylon spray paint
• Contact paper
• Scissors *FISKARS make the best scissors (and their Teflon blade is perfect for cutting sticky stuff!)
• Craft knife
• Clock that you can take apart
• Drill and 3/8″ drill bit
• Spray adhesive
• Clear packing tape

HERE’S HOW:

1. Enlarge your image to 18×24. Staples can do this easily for a few bucks. *This image is from a Dover book with mortised images that are perfect for clocks.

2. Place your image inside the frame to decide where you want your clock to be placed.

3. Drill a hole in the frame for your clock parts.

 4. With your image inside the frame cut out your oval in contact paper to use as your stencil for the florescent paint. *I cut out leaves and clovers and added them to the oval so that it would have some interest.  I placed one on the lower right corner and randomly.

5. Peel and stick your oval and your flourishes to the frame.

6. Spray paint the frame with the Krylon florescent paint and let dry for 5 minutes and carefully remove the contact paper. If you’re having a hard time getting it off, take the tip of your craft knife to lift an edge.

7. Place the cardboard inset inside your frame and cut out a hole in the area where your clock parts will fit.  My clock was square so I traced it and cut out the exact size.

 8. Spray mount your image to the cardboard inset and put it inside of the box frame.

 11. Tape your clock in place with packing tape.

12. Put on your clock hands and you’re done just in time.

The polls are closed, the votes have been counted and it’s time to announce the winners of the 2012 Crafties Award Winners. In the spirit of Award season, CreateForLess is having our Ceremony right here at Think Crafts.

It’s time to announce the winners of the 2012 Crafties Awards, voted on by CreateForLess customers! And to celebrate, they’re all on sale this week at CreateForLess! Even the nominees! This time we’re featuring our Best All Around Craft Tool Nominees.

And the Craftie for Best All Around Craft Tool goes to….

 Here’s what Surebonder said during their acceptance speech:

“All of us at Surebonder are honored to have one of our glue guns named the recipient of your prestigious 2012 Crafties Golden Glue Gun Award. As a family-owned business, we strive to manufacture high quality products and provide exceptional service. Thank you for making our products available to your customers in keeping with your mission, and ours, ‘to provide customers with the best selection, price and service each and every day’.”

 The voters had a lot to say about their favorite Craft Tool:

“Best All Around Craft Tool: it’s still the Surebonder glue gun. I use it in every craft I do.”

“I have a Surebonder glue gun which is the best in holding and dispensing of glue.”