Think Crafts Blog – Craft Ideas and Projects – CreateForLess

Welcome guest blogger, Mable who is an avid reader of craft blogs & magazines and has aspirations to improve her crafting skills.

Mable Craftsalot  

I love going to craft fairs, Saturday Markets and festivals and browsing the craft booths. I always come home with a new pair of earrings, purse, hand-made soap, photography print… What’s great about crafting is it’s highly unlikely you will see that piece anywhere else. I love reading craft magazines and blogs, I love the pictures! I’ve been reading Think Crafts for the last year and it always makes me anxious to get crafting. I’m what I like to call a “challenged craft dabbler”. My ‘challenges’ are getting impatient with my lack of skills, getting distracted by something shiny, wanting to try all crafts and not having any craft projects around.

My craft dabbles have so far included: crocheting, knitting, scrapbooking, clay work, beading, and using my knifty knitter as an easy way to make hats. Majority of my craft dabbling has been with knitting. I have perfected the knitted scarf! I like to give handmade gifts so my relatives have gotten a scarf every Christmas while I was in college. Since they live in North Dakota, the scarf was practical and very easy and inexpensive to make. Unfortunately my knitting skills have yet to progress past rectangular shapes, but I plan to try other shapes and even patterns very soon! And now that I’ve graduated, it’s time to step up my crafting game.

As a beginner, I have found it’s best to start to learn a craft with a kit or a book. Kits are convenient because the instructions are simple and the pictures are going to be exactly what you are going to be doing. And kits come with the supplies you need. I learn best with pictures because I like to see how to do it, then once I learn the skill I can adjust or change how I feel. 

My goal is to finish the craft projects I start. I want to find project ideas and kits that allow a newbie like me to be able to be successful and also learn a few things. Also I want to improve my skills and maybe find some I didn’t even know I had! For my first project I wanted something new! Something fun!

Everything you need to make a sock monkey

I found this Sock Monkey kit on CreateForLess and had to try it. This kit was easy for a sewing novice and came with everything you need to make your own sock monkey. The kit came with 2 tube socks, felt, buttons, material, instructions, thread, embroidery floss and even a sewing needle. However, you will need to use a sewing machine and have fiberfil stuffing. Making the sock monkey I hand-stitched on the arms, tail, head, ears and hat and also learned a few embroidery stitches for the face and teddy bear. I placed a plastic bag of popcorn kernels in the seat of the sock monkey before I closed it up so it would sit up straighter. Hopefully you can’t tell from the picture, but I really need to improve my blanket stitch (well all my stitches actually!)

Meet PeeJay!

Keep the instructions when you’re done because you never know when you will have two tube socks that need to be turned into a sock monkey!

Recycled Sweater Vest Bag

I love felting wool sweaters and making them into stuff.  I’ve made tote bags, purses and patchwork blankets and jackets. Here’s a quick project that you can make out of a man’s sweater vest in about an hour!  One of the neat things about felting your own wool is that you can control the density of the fabric by the amount of time it spends in the hot wash cycle.  For this project, you want dense, substantial felted wool. 

I used the “Whitest White” setting on my washing machine (about 60 min.)   After a quick trip in the dryer, my sweater was the perfect weight to make an unlined bag.  It’s important to start with the largest sweater you can find, because they shrink A LOT.  My size large sweater shrunk to a small child size!

Here’s what you’ll need

•  A wool sweater vest (I like lambswool or merino wool)
•  A pair of sharp scissors
•  Rotary cutter
•  Small square ruler (I like Creative Grids because they don’t slip)
•  YLI Jean Stitch Thread (or other heavy weight topstitching thread)
•  All purpose thread to match fabric
•  Sewing machine
•  4 decorative buttons

Step 1

Start by cutting off the binding around the neckline – I save all this stuff for some future project that might need a little black edging.

Step 2

Using chalk, draw an enlarged neck opening that is squared off at the bottom.  The bottom edge of the opening should be level with the bottom of the armholes.  With the sweater laying flat on a cutting board, cut along the chalk line through both layers.  -The opening, together with the armholes, form the handle of the bag.

Step 3

Lay sweater flat, with the side seams centered.  The side seams are now the center front and back of the bag.

Step 4

Create a box bottom. Using a small square ruler draw a 2 ½” square in each lower corner.

Step 5

Cut the squares out.  Pin the bottom edges together. 

Sew bottom edges using a ½” seam allowance.  Press seam allowance open and use a triple zig-zag to topstitch over the seam.  This will reinforce the bottom of the bag and hold the seam allowances open.

Step 6

The stitching sinks into the nap of the felted wool to make it virtually invisible.

“Pinch” the square opening closed so that the bottom seam is centered.  Sew across the diagonal opening using a ½” seam allowance. Press seam allowances open and topstitch like you did the bottom seam.

Step 7

Define the bottom of the bag by folding the bag and topstitching between the seams sewn in step 7.  Using chalk, draw a line across the front and back of the bag connecting the ends of the seam created in step 7.  Fold along the line and topstitch 1/8″ away from the fold.  The fold is the very base of the bag and the fabric between the two folds forms the bottom of the bag.

Step 8

Give the bag a unique shape.  Form a box pleat centered on both sides of the bag between the armhole openings. The width of the pleat should be about 1 ½” and take up all the space between the armholes. The pleats should be facing inside the bag.  Use Jean Stitch or other heavy topstitching thread to hand sew the pleat in place.  I whip stitched over the top edge.  Sew a decorative button at the center of the pleat.

Step 9

To finish the shaping of the bag, form a smaller pleat at the center front and back of the bag.

Step 10

Whip stitch the pleat in place.  Add a decorative button to the center front and back. 

Finished!

Click here to read more of Jennifer’s Blog.

Blog Contributor, Crafty Mom and Writer, Gillian, from the Blog “Dried Figs and Wooden Spools”.

When my son was a baby he absolutely could not sleep unless the room was totally dark. The room darkening shades on the market were well out of my budget so I resorted to the use of heavy quilts thumb-tacked over the windows which was effective, but not the most attractive looking solution. Over the years I’ve made all sorts of window treatments for his room and his sisters in the various houses we’ve lived in. Most of them have been far better looking than the old blanket over the window set up, but none were quite as effective.

We have, once again moved into a new house and while room darkening is not as crucial as it once was, it was still important when I set out to decorate the kids new (shared) room. I didn’t want to spend a lot of money because, let’s face it, they’re kids, they like to destroy things. I especially did not want curtains since my daughter has recently become obsessed with swinging from things Indiana Jones style and like many parents, I have a mortal dread of the strings that go along with Roman shades and mini blinds. I  also wanted an attractive, custom look. The solution?

Roller Shades!

Roller shades are about as economical as you can get when it comes to window treatments. The thinner, sun filtering variety ran about $3 at our local Home Improvement store and the thicker, room darkening ones were only slightly more. The problem is, they’re ugly. The white vinyl surface looks more like a shower curtain liner than something you would hang on a window. The saving grace of these is that they are eminently customizable. You can wallpaper them, you can tear the vinyl off and attach heavy fabric to the roller or, if your like me,  you can cover them with leftover sheeting fabric.

Now I know I’m not the only one whose linen cupboard is full of flat sheets that the kids don’t ever use. You know how it goes. You make up the bed with freshly laundered sheets, tuck them in and by the time you come back kiss them goodnight, the flat sheet is either a) crumpled up at the foot of the bed and doing an excellent impression of a strange beast hiding under the covers or b) on floor getting all dirty again. So into the cupboard they go, there to languish and not fade in the wash like the fitted sheet until the pain in no way matches. Well, I say put those sheets to good use! Repurpose them into shades!

To make the shades, you first need to carefully measure your window width. Don’t assume that all your windows are the same width, they can vary by a 1/4 of an inch and with roller shades, that 1/4 of and inch matters. For a truely room darkening effect you’ll want to get the style that hangs on the outside of the window frame so that it covers the whole window. Since neither of my children are that picky anymore, I chose to hang mine along the inside of the frame and measured accordingly.

Once the shades have been cut for you at the store, determine how much you will be pulling out. If you plan to pull the shade to it’s full length, you’ll need to cover the entire thing, but if the shade is much longer than the window, just plan of covering as much as you need plus about six inches.Lay your sheet out on a flat surface and spread the shade(s) on top to decide where you want to cut. For this project, I was able to cover three shades from one flat sheet with a little fabric to spare.

Cut the fabric, leaving a little overhang on each side and about 2 inches at the bottom. Take the shade outside and lay it flat on a clean surface and spray the entire thing with a slow setting spray adhesive. The benefit of the slow setting variety is that it actually benefits the sticking power to wait a few minutes before adhering the fabric, which gives you plenty of time to bring it carefully inside and back onto your flat surface. Position the fabric on top of the shade, making sure to leave that two inch overhang at the bottom. I found that the best way to smooth out bubbles was to pull firmly at the sides of the fabric, starting from the bottom and smoothing as I went up. Once the entire surface is covered, spread some tacky glue on the overhang and carefully fold it over, trimming if necessary to create a smooth effect on the reverse side. Trim the excesss from the long sides and hang.

Finished!

Depending on the fabric you used, you may want to dab some fray check along the edges once the shade is hung and then re-trim any stray thread that may have come loose. Once it’s dry you can roll them up to the length you are looking for and stand back and admire your work.

Click here to read more of Gillian’s blog.

Welcome Guest Blogger and Crafter Anitra Cameron, for the Blog “Coffee Pot People”.

Necessity Breeds a New Wire Wrap Technique

This may be new only to me, but I love it anyway.

One of the things I like about a car trip, if I’m not driving, is that bright expanse of free time. Really free. I can’t do dishes, or laundry, or weed the flower beds. I have to sit, and if I’m going to do something, the options are limited. Reading, going over my music, crocheting, or what I did yesterday, beading.

I worked on Button Stack Bracelets, finishing three I’d already started, and almost a fourth, brand-new one. On that one, I did all the button stacks first, and then turned my focus to creating the chain to put the stacks on.

Finished Bracelet

Now, where was that 20-gauge gold wire…? Oh, no! I was sure I’d put it in, but it was nowhere to be found! I stared at what I had, a spool of 24-gauge that was much finer than I’d want to use for a bracelet chain. What to do?

Ooooh. The idea was ripe for the plucking, and solved a problem that had nothing to do with the lost wire: I don’t like it when the end of a wire can be felt, and when I’m doing a wire wrap on a bead, that happens all too often. Up until yesterday, the only solution was to struggle with the wire until it would properly tuck in, or file the end down if it proved too stubborn.

But what if I worked with a fine wire, doubled?

Here’s what I came up with:

Gather your tools and materials–

Two sizes of wire shown for comparison

• 24-guage wire
• Wire snips
• Round nose pliers
• Flat nose pliers
• Bead

Cut a length of wire about six inches long, then fold it in half.

Loop it over one side and pull taut

Flatten the doubled end with your flat nose pliers as tightly as you can.

Squish!

Measure your folded wire against the bead you’ll be using, leaving enough length for wire wraps on both ends. 

That looks about right

Start a “regular” wire wrap, working with the cut ends of the wire.

So far, so normal

 When you’ve done a wrap and a half or so, lay the ends flat against the rest of the wire length. If your wire ends are longer than the bead you’re using, snip them off.

Those ends will be hidden inside the bead

Slip the bead over the doubled end of the wire, and complete the wrap. I’ve shown what would be the first bead in an assembly, and not left it open to accept another.

No sharp ends anywhere

If you cut your folded wire extra long, you can have extra fun.

Curls and Loops

I finished the bracelet this morning, and am quite pleased with it.

Click here to read more from Anitra Cameron.

Please Welcome Guest Blogger, Annie Authier, from the blog “Thriftfulness”.  Look there for crafty and thrifty gift ideas that require care, though not necessarily a lot of money or skill. If you’re penniless, careless, dull, and/or lazy and you’ve still managed to get yourself invited to a dinner party, baby shower, or other engagement requiring presents with your presence, you’re really in the right place.

To Do before I Do

Raise your hand if you’re in a wedding this summer…there are a lot of you aren’t there? I thought so. If you’re in your twenties or thirties, you’ve probably got a lot of friends getting married and being asked to stand up in their wedding is an honor. But these days, with expensive bridesmaids dresses and tuxedos, multiple wedding showers, and destination bachelor/bachelorette parties in Vegas, your wallet is empty before you even glimpse at the registry.

If you can’t afford an expensive gift for the bride and groom, try to supplement by giving them something extra thoughtful to help them prepare for the big day. My favorite gift to give a bride is the “To Do Before I Do” notepad. Brides are off their rockers in those weeks before their big moment and often need to put all that chaos in some sort of order. This booklet is not only suuuper cute, but serves as a place she can keep all her to-do lists  and is small enough to fit into her purse or wallet.

Here’s how to make it:

Gather some colored paper and/or blank postcards. I always seem to have these things in the house, but if you don’t they are easy to find and inexpensive. Cut them all to size and then fold them into a little booklet.

Sew it together by poking three holes in the crease of the booklet (top, middle and bottom). Take a needle and a string that is knotted at the end and pull the string through the middle hole, then through the top hole, top hole to the bottom hole, and then back through the middle. Tie a tiny knot to hold it into place.

Decorate if you like and title the booklet “To Do Before I Do”. You’re done! The bride will appreciate your acknowledgment of her hectic schedule and have a purse-size planner to jot down all of the errands she’s going to make you run for her.

A few other ideas to show the couple you care even if you’re out of cash:

• Check out books from the library about wedding speeches and look through them with the bride or groom to help them hone their vows or toasts.
• At the wedding shower, offer to be the person who writes down who gave each gift (trust me, no one else will) and, while you’re penning names, write down inspiring words or, better yet, gossip about all of the gift-givers in the margins so the couple will have something to laugh at while filling out all those tedious thank you cards after the wedding.
• Make up a little baggie of things they might forget to bring on their wedding day. For the bride: a nail file, an alternate lipstick, some Shout wipes for last minutes stains, and a pretty vintage hanky. For the groom: a lint roller, a cologne sample, talcum powder for sweaty palms, and maaaybe a little bottle of booze…for the nerves.
• Take a notebook and have members at the rehearsal dinner write down their favorite memories of the happy couple or have married folks jot down the one piece of advice they wish they had on their own wedding day. Present it to the couple before their nuptials when anxiety may be running high.
• At the wedding, designate yourself Awkward Moment Monitor and make it your duty to stop all things awkward like wedding toasts from the exes, booty-shaking bridesmaids, and falling grandmothers.

Give the happy couple these trinkets and tokens and they will be so consumed with your thoughtfulness, they won’t even mind that your name is on the plastic popcorn bowl wrapped in a paper sack at the gift table.

To read more of Annie’s blog, click  here.

Please welcome guest blogger, mixed media artist, painter and paper crafter, Laura Bray.

Check out her website.

Check out her blog.

Tips for a Successful Craft Show

By Laura Bray

You have spent many frenzied hours preparing your art and craft items for the craft fair, but does that mean you are fully prepared to make as much money as you can at the event?  Probably not.  As creatives, we tend to focus on our art and forget about everything else (my house could fall down around me while I’m in the zone and I wouldn’t notice.)  The problem is, you went to all that time and trouble to participate in a craft show, and I want to make sure you make the most money you can while you are there.  It’s not just about what you sell at the show, it’s about the contacts you make and how you use them.  Craft shows are a great place to network and market.  Here are some easy tips to make your next craft fair/show pay-off for months after everyone goes home.

• Display is important.  Dedicate some creative energy to your display.  You want to stand out in the crowd.  This is especially important if your artwork is currently a popular trend and you have lots of competition.  If you sell jewelry right now, you know what I mean.  At the majority of the shows I have attended, I see the jewelry laid out flat-sometimes on black velvet or in white bins at almost every table.  What if you bought cool, retro mannequin heads and used them to display your jewelry?  I know I would make a beeline to a table full of faux heads to check-out what’s going on. 
• Once you have attracted clients to you with a great display, you need to capture their information.  Have a guest book out and invite people to sign it and tell you what they think about your art.  Make sure you ask them to check a box saying they would like to receive mailings from you.  The book will be give you an idea of what people like about your art and you will have their contact information.   Create a mailing list and make sure that you send out cool invites every time you are going to be at a show.  Include a discount coupon on the postcard, that way you can track how effective your mailing was.  For an even nicer touch, make sure you send out a thank you note, right after the show, telling them how glad you are that they stopped by to look at your work.
• Have a free drawing.  Ask people to drop their business cards into a hat and raffle off a prize.  Instant list!
• GET MARKETING MATERIALS!  I can’t tell you how many artists don’t have any information about themselves out on their tables.  What if I don’t want to buy today, but really like your stuff?  How will I ever find you again?  You absolutely must put out business cards.    Business cards don’t have to be expensive.  You can even print them out from your home computer; just make sure you give people the opportunity to find you again.  Make flyers about trunk shows or anything else you want people to buy from you in the future.  If you have catalogs bring them.  Create a portfolio of your work and have it out for people to look at.  You might get some special orders.  I download digital pictures onto my laptop of past work and have a slide show of the work running on it during the show, or you can use a digital photo frame to display your portfolio!
• More on marketing materials…Every product should have a tag on it with all your contact information.  I just use my business card, hole-punched with a ribbon.  This gives both the buyer and, if the item is being purchased as a gift, the recipient your contact information.  The recipient may want to collect your work, but won’t be able to if there isn’t a tag.
• Have freebies.  Everyone loves to get gifts.  For the holiday boutique I am participating in this year, I created special, creative gift tags.  Each customer gets a free set with the purchase of any item.  Of course, the back of the gift card has all my contact information.
• Network with the other artists and crafters.  Make friends.  Even your competitors are potential clients.  Gather the business cards of everyone who is participating at the show and send a friendly email to each one within a week of the show.  Tell them how much you enjoyed seeing their work.  If you remember something specific about them or their work, mention it.  Tell them a bit about you and tell them to contact you if they ever need anything. 
• If you follow these few simple steps, you should have a nice list of clients, potential clients, friends and business partners in your possession. Now you must use this list to make it pay. Set-up a schedule to touch base with each person on a regular basis. Send them invitations to all your shows, send them your monthly newsletter or just drop them a line or a note telling them you are thinking about them. Have fun and be prosperous!

If you follow these few simple steps, you should have a nice list of clients, potential clients, friends and business partners in your possession.  Now you must use this list to make it pay.  Set-up a schedule to touch base with each person on a regular basis.  Send them invitations to all your shows, send them your monthly newsletter or just drop them a line or a note telling them you are thinking about them.  Have fun and be prosperous!

Further Resources

If you liked this article, and want more information about networking and marketing your arts & crafts business, sign-up for katydid designs free monthly ezine at Katydid-designs.com .  Laura also sells inexpensive ebooks and worksheets about the business of art at her Etsy shop.

About the Author

Laura Bray is a mixed media artist, painter and paper crafter.  As an artist with an MBA, she strives to help other artists achieve their dream of making a living doing what they love.  To see what Laura is up to, visit her whimsical blog at www.katydiddys.blogspot.com.

Welcome Returning Guest Blogger Julia Sandvoss, from Bo Bunny.

Time to talk about the Bo Bunny Flex Ruler

What is it? Well only the coolest thing out there! Well one of the coolest things!

Bo Bunny Flex Ruler

It’s actually a flexible, 20 inch ruler that you can bend and shape into circles, waves, swoops, curls and more. What’s also unique is you can use it to recreate your favorite edged papers as well. Just shape it along the paper edge and then you can retrace the shape onto a different paper. It holds it’s shape, making it easy for you to bend, shape and trace.

So many possibilities! Here’s two layouts and ideas for how to use the Flex Ruler…

MEOW Layout
Designer: Kristen Swain
Bo Bunny Double Dot Decaf, Double Dot Citrus, Pet Shoppe Stripe, Pet Shoppe Words, Pet Shoppe Combo Stickers, I love my Dog Stickers, Catatude Stickers, Pet Shoppe Cutouts, All Stuck Up Brilliant Blue Flowers

Designer Tip: The flex ruler is really fun to work with. If you are having trouble getting a smooth curve, try wrapping it around something round, a vase, a bucket, even your leg can make for an interesting curve ( talk about really putting yourself into your work! LOL)

Fun Waves Layout

Fun Waves Layout
Designer: Julia Sandvoss
Bo Bunny Pina Colada Popsicle, Popsicle Kisses, Bubble Gum Popsicle, Popsicle Cut Outs, Brilliant Blue Double Dot Cardstock, Dive In Cardstock Stickers, Popsicle combo Sticker, Grease Monkey Combo Sticker, Popsicle Buttons & Bling

Designer Tip: First I shaped the ruler into a wave. Then I checked to see if the size I made would work with the layout. I then traced the shape, cut out, inked and used a white colored pencils to add lines and details. I cut out a second layer of the waves from the patterend paper and used foam squares to adhere it over the same paper to give dimension. I also flipped the Pina Colada Popsicle wave paper the opposite to have the waves on top for something different.

 We’ve love to hear what you like about the Flex Ruler or show us unique ways you have used the Ruler. You might just be the lucky person to win a little Bo Bunny goodness!