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

As design blog readers will no doubt know, the beginning of the year comes with not only resolutions and de-holidaying the house, it also comes with a color. A Pantone color of the year to be precise. Each year the art marker company declares a color or colors that will dominate, or at least show up regularly, in the years color schemes. 2012, it seems, it the year of Tangerine Tango, and it’s already everywhere.

Oranges have been making quite a comeback in the past few years, both in the design and the craft worlds and it’s the perfect color to help transition from winter to spring, especially in your crafting.

These citrus toned pom-poms scream warmer weather and look almost good enough to eat. String them into a bunting or gather them up like a bouquet to add a pop of color to your house.

This painted chandelier is nothing short of fantastic and as simple as a can of spray paint and a cast of light fixture. Check out the tutorial for the project.

Create your perfect shade of bright orange yarn with a summer staple! Kool Aid makes an excellent dye for natural fibers and mixing flavors results in a myriad of colors and shades.

Check out our Craft Trends Pinboard for some more Tangerine Tango ideas and tell us what you’ll be using the shade for this crafting year.

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 Kid’s Crafts Contributor Stephine, from the Blog Geek with Glasses.

The colder weather brings out all the mittens, gloves, scarves and hats. The little ones look so cute in hand knit mittens, but have you ever had to save a falling child while they were wearing them? My big fear is mitten to mitten, there is not a solid grip on the tiny one as you walk across the busy street or icy parking lot. Kids squirm and slip out so quick, next thing you’re left holding an empty mitten. Without some kind of hand covering, both momma and kiddo complain about the cold. I once saw an ad from the late 40′s or early 50′s about a shared mitten for hand holding. It was marketed for couples, but I think it works great for parents and children. A sure grip while being warm and snug, how wonderful.

Material:

• Momma Mitten Pattern - printable pattern
• 1/2 yard of fleece
• sewing machine
• all purpose thread
• Pins

I am not a terrific seamstress so if I can do this you can too. Print out the pattern provided and cut 2 out of fleece fabric. Pin the 2 together with right sides facing. Sew together using a 1/4″ seam allowance. Turn right-side out. I like a little cuff so I folded them down. It really couldn’t be easier.

The fleece has a nice stretch to it, so it can fit a variety of hand sizes. My little girl is 3 and we have been using this a lot. She loves it! My husband’s hand also fits because of the stretch, so he can wear it with her too. I can’t really say that he and I would wear it, but we could, I guess.

Stay warm and safe this winter.

By General Crafts Contributor Mina, from the blog Mina’s Journal.

Home is where the heart is! Why not make these Heart Houses this Valentine’s Day? All you need is paper or cardstock, scissors and glue. A quick, cute and funky project for Valentine cheer.

How to make the Heart House:

Trim around the outer lines of the house and the roof. Fold the roof in half widthwise to make the peak. Fold along the tab ends and sides of house as shown in the template.

Glue where indicated on the model. I found it better to glue the house together first, before putting on the roof. Line up the peak fold to match the top of the triangular top of the house.

Glue the roof to the tabs of one side of the Heart House. Glue the other side of the roof to the remaining side of the Heart House.

You’re done!

Ideas for Heart Houses

Make a few houses for a table centerpiece, or a shelf display.

Cut out windows, cover the inside window spaces with lunch paper. Pop the finished house over a LED light source, for night time illumination.

Download Blue Heart House

To use as a gift box glue the house onto a card base. Make it a little larger than the house and paint it green or use green card. Pop a gift inside the house before joining the roof.

Download Pink Heart House

To use the house to play with, cut along the top and bottom lines of the windows and down the middle. Fold open for shutter type windows.Cut along the top and down one side of the door. Fold door open and make paper dolls for your Heart House.

To make your own house, trace the template and design your own windows and doors, then make them up.

Have Fun! Happy Crafting!

*Design by Mina Keenan

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

Once upon a time, having personalized china took either a lot of money or some serious painting skills. Now a days, however, anyone with a steady hand can decorate their dishes at home with pretty amazing results with Porcelain Pens. Whether you want a simple pattern or something a little more complicated, these draw and bake projects are a great place to look for inspiration!

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

How many sweaters do you have in your drawer that you really should toss but don’t because you think you might wear them again? My guess is at least three. Well, I’ve got a way to make more room in your dresser and put those sweaters to use. I guarantee these Sweeter Sweater Gloves, when made with girly sweaters in pretty colors and matching knit gloves, will not only be warm, but also very glamorous.

YOU’LL NEED:

• Sweater you’re about to toss
• Scissors (Fiskars are the BEST!)
• One pair of knit gloves
• Straight pins
• Sewing machine with matching thread (I love my BERNINA)

HERE’S HOW

Evenly cut off the sleeves of the sweater in a length you like. If you want your gloves to end at the elbow, then cut them off at the elbow. Pull the cutoff sleeves up your arms by the cuffs. The cuffs of the sweater should be tight enough to keep them in place on your upper arms. But, if they’re not, pinch them and see how much you will need to take in. Also see how much, if any, you will have to take in the sweater sleeves at the wrist. If you do need to take in the sleeves, do so by gathering the extra material along the seam of the sweater and stitching, and then cut off the excess.

Turn the sleeves inside out and place the gloves in the end that you cut off, matching up the openings (the fingers of the gloves should be pointed toward the sweater cuff end).

Place a couple of straight pins in the openings to hold the gloves in place.

Sew the raw edge of the sleeve to the opening of the glove using a 1/2″ seam allowance.

IMPORTANT: Make sure you stretch the fabric while you’re sewing so that the glove opening stretches when you put them on. Turn the sleeves right side out.

By General Crafts Contributor Melissa, from the blog MeloMomma.

Did you have any New Years Resolutions? I know I did! I wanted to get organized! To begin my organizing, I went through my dresser. If I had not worn it in 6 months, I tossed it. Then a big red light went off in my head! DON’T THROW AWAY those old shirts! That is perfectly good material!

Oh… the brain of a crafter!

So, I bring to you the T-Shirt Wreath! It is so simple! No sewing anything and it takes under 15 minutes! I bet you have a few shirts you’d be more than happy to sacrifice, right?

What you will need:

• 12″ Wreath mold ( I used a flat wood one, but foam works as well.)
• 2-3 t shirts or pants (soft fabrics work best)
• Scissors
• Clear craft glue
• Decorative beads or flowers

Directions:

Cut old shirts or pants into long strips. The strips should be approx. 2 inches wide and 12 inches long.

You do not need to cut the strips nice and neat. It will not matter!

Fold the strip into half and tie it around the wreath mold as shown in the photo.

Continue to tie all the fabric around the mold. I made a pattern with mine, but you can do anything. It all looks neat! Trim the edges so that all the tied pieces are about the same size. Decorate with beads or flowers.

Use a clear tacky glue to secure the beads. Tie one more piece of fabric around the top to hang it. (I used a draw string from the pajama pants I cut up.)

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

Be honest, when you spot a bunting hanging on the wall, doesn’t it make you just a little bit happier? It’s like having a little bit of party around all the time, and who doesn’t want that?

Buntings come in all shapes and sizes these days, and more importantly, they are made in all sorts of crafty ways. Get your craft supplies out and get ready to make one because here are some of our favorite festive buntings.

Traditional

You can’t really top a good old fashion string of triangles. These buntings can be as simple as paper with holes punched in the corner for stringing up or as complicated as a hand embroidered, double sided piece of sewing mastery. Make it monotone, color coordinated or just use up your scraps. Anything goes!

Unusual Shapes and Materials

You can, of course, veer from the traditional route and make a bunting in almost any shape.

Hearts

Circles

Hexagons

Or how about pom-poms?

These crocheted buntings couldn’t be any cuter, could they?

Mini

Mini buntings are the perfect thing to top a cake, finish off a plate of brownies or decorate the front of a card. Perhaps the simplest of buntings to make, these can be created quickly and easily out of scrapbook paper, ribbon or fabric scraps.

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

When I was eighteen years old, a family friend gave me a hand crocheted doily as a graduation gift. And I didn’t get it. It was beautiful, of course, but a doily? What would I use a doily for? Well, I get it now. The humble and old-fashion doily has made a big comeback, both in the craft world and in the realms of fashion and interior design, which is good news for you, my little crafters, because you can whip those doilies that great Aunt Agnes made you out of the closet at last and put them to good use.

The Doily Lamp

I’d like to think that this is where doilies made their initial comeback since this project has been cropping up on craft blogs for a while now. With a myriad of tutorials and examples out there, you’re sure to find one you like.

The Doily Lamp

The Doily Table Runner

Romantic and yet, at the same time, very modern, this table runner is made up of a jumble of different doilies. So simple. So dramatic. So doable!

The Doily Table Runner

The GIANT doily

I would learn to crochet just to make this for my bedroom floor. Comfy and cozy, this oversized doily is a fun play on the original barely there lace creation.

The GIANT Doily

The Paper Doily

Let’s not forget the mass produced version of our lace friend, the paper doily. Oh so cheap and oh so versatile, paper doilies should be a staple in any crafters cupboard. Wrap them around gifts, use them as envelopes, pretty up a card, hang them as a banner, or fold them as a snowflake. So many craftertunities, so little time.

Altered Paper DoiliesDoily Invitations

 Press them in, glue them up, sew them on.

Some of the best doily related crafts have them displayed in unusual places. Roll a doily into dough, Mod Podge it onto a plate, paint it onto a canvas or sew it onto a sweater. Think outside the doily here and you never know what you might come up with!

Decoupaging with doilies

Doily Wall Art

By Craft Trends Contributor, Gillian from the blog Dried Figs and Wooden Spools.

Honestly, I really don’t think facial hair has been this popular since Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid can roaring through theaters. The mustache is in. Way in. It. Is. Everywhere.

And for something so simple, so normal, so “my dad has one” it’s makes me laugh every time I see another (and another) funny application for the mustache. The mustache pacifier or straw decoration? Hilarious.

Mustache rings? Love them!

How about mustache temporary tattoos? Or mustache mugs? Or mustache on a stick for a photo booth? Fab. One and all.

The best part about this particular craft trend is that it is oh so accessible and customizable. You can use it simply, say, with a felt mustache on a stick. You can get a little fancier, maybe embroider one on a tea towel for laughs or screen print a t-shirt. Carve yourself a mustache stamp to ink a little sillyness onto your letters and notes or cut a giant vinyl ‘stach for the hood of your car. If you can think of it, the mustache can make it a little bit funnier.

So tell us, where would you put a mustache?

By Craft Trends Contributor, Gillian from the blog Dried Figs and Wooden Spools.

About the time my kids were toddlers, I made a decision to use photos (of them, naturally) as the main “art” in my home. On top of the photos I take (and there are many!) I’ve also had a photographer take portraits of my kids every few years. I love having their smiling faces all around me, but I’d love it even more if I had BIG photos of my kids everywhere! Unfortunately, the cost of giant, canvas mounted photos has prevented this from happening. Until now, that is.

The process of transferring photos to canvas, or wood, or even fabric, – using a decoupage medium - has made huge leaps of late, making now not just possible, but simple, to create your own large scale (or small, of course). While there are several tutorials floating around, these are the ones we like best. Click on the photos to find step-by-step tutorials!

By Vicky, who is a dedicated card maker and crafter who loves making unique gifts and cards. 

I have been a dedicated card maker for many years and I always try to stay on trend with my card making. The rise of shabby chic in the last few years, not only in card making but in all sorts of home crafts, has been great and only continues to grow. I think that it is so popular because it has a warm, handmade and homely feel to it and it is also very feminine. There are a couple of things that define the shabby chic style and I’d like to take a quick look at them.

Floral Patterns

Pastel colors and petite prints make up a great part of shabby chic design. Popular colors include dusty blues and pinks with a hint of green and also lilacs and browns.

Phrases

Happy phrases are emblazoned on to a lot of shabby chic style house ware and decoration. Quotes about love, joy and laughter are painted on to signs and then distressed to look a little antique. You can also get a lot of personalized unique gifts in this style or simply have a go at making them yourself. Things like felt love hearts with names embroidered on to them, painted door signs with welcoming messages and frames covered with ribbon and buttons.

I decided to make some shabby chic themed birthday cards and this blue one with flowers was one of my favorite. Here’s how I made it:

1. Firstly I found a piece of scrapbooking paper that fitted in with my theme. It was from an 8×8 pack. I covered the front of my square card in glue, stuck the paper on and then trimmed around the edges.

2. Next I took a piece of textured white card and made the strip across the middle of the card. I used the ‘Victorian’ edge on my guillotine to cut along the edges. I then attached this to my card with glue.

3. Next I used my small flower craft punch to cut out 5 small pink flowers. I pushed a flower shaped brad in a darker pink through the middle and attached it to the card with foam pads so that they stuck out.

4. Finally I used a rub-on transfer to add a greeting.

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

I have made paper ball ornaments for years, but this year I decided we had to kick it up a notch and try something different. I created this project using items from CreateForLess.com and my home printer. You can use any image you want. I think photos would be a terrific option, too!

You’ll need:

• 1 sheet of cardstock with a printed image
• 8″ medium gauge wire
• Needle nose pliers
• Scissors or swing arm paper cutter
• Beads and sequins (2 of each for each ornament)
• 10″ of ribbon
• 1 drinking straw
• Large safety pin or needle
• Pin cushion (optional)

Here’s how:

1. Copy your image on your cardstock.

2. Cut your image in 6″ x 3/4″ wide strips as you see in the photo. Make sure to keep them in order!

3. You will need 16 6″x 3/4″ strips so use the excess paper to make plain strips if you don’t have enough strips with your printed image.

4. With your safety pin, poke a hole on each end of each strip 1/4″ up from the edge and right in the center (making sure you keep them in order).

5. Bend a loop on the end of your wire and string a bead and then a sequin.

6. With your printed strips facing down toward the loop and sequin, place one end of the strips in order on the wire and then thread on your straw.

7. This is the most important step! Starting from the bottom strip (the strip that is touching the sequin) and working your way up to the top strip, thread your strips over the straw.

8. When you’ve worked your way to the last strip, thread on your sequin and another bead and create another loop. Thread your ribbon through the loop and hang!

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

We are quickly approaching the holidays! As we all know this month can be so overwhelming. It is almost a hassle to walk through the mall to buy all those gifts on your list. We have learned over the years that some of the best gifts are handmade and from your heart. I have been making homemade sweet trays for years to give to some of my favorite people on my list, including Kellie! I love finding a gorgeous platter and filling it with beautiful sweets and wrapping it up festively! I always include my chocolate covered marshmallow snowmen on the trays and they are always the first thing people comment on. They are so easy to make and are so cute! Today we are really excited to share them with you, along with the easy DIY instructions so that you can make them too! Even if you just make a few and wrap them up sweetly, they make a great little gift to give to someone you love!

These are so easy that even your kids can help! One of my twins, Maia helped me and she did such a great job…and had so much fun! Just use lollipop sticks and put three marshmallows on each stick.

After you are done setting them up you just dip them in white chocolate, shake off the excess and lay them to dry on a parchment lined cookie sheet. As they are drying, add an orange sprinkle for a carrot nose and sprinkle some edible glitter on them to give them some snowy sparkle!

After they are dry put some melted chocolate in a pipping bag and make little half moons for eyes. I like to take a tooth pick and drag some chocolate down to make eye lashes.

Then use some melted pink chocolate to create a ruffled scarf!

If you want to make a snow “man” You can cut a marshmallow in half and instead of letting the chocolate drip off, put it on the parchment paper and move it in a circular motion to create a hat brim.

You can use some melted chocolate to “glue” it on to the top of the snowman!

We hope you try these…your friends and family will love them!

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!

By Guest Blogger Sam.

I love bunting! There seems to be a huge craze for it at the moment and it isn’t hard to see why. It is beyond cute and has so many applications. I have seen it used at children’s parties and fun days, bonfire parties and weddings to great effect. So, a little while ago I decided to take the plunge and have a go at making my own paper bunting. It was so simple to make and looked great.

If you are attempting to make your own bunting for the first time, I would definitely recommend that you try your hand at the paper sort first like I did. It will help to give you a better idea of flag sizes and the spacing between flags for when you come to make your first fabric bunting. There are so many pretty papers out there that the design opportunities are endless!

You can also look to see if you can find card and paper from around your home to use. How about creating a string of bunting from newspaper to celebrate a birth? You could use the newspaper from the day the baby was born and save the bunting as a special keepsake!

When you have had a go at paper bunting and you feel that your confident enough to have a go with fabric, don’t feel that you have to go out and buy a lot of expensive cloths and materials. Simply have a look around your home for things that you can recycle such as old clothes, tea towels or bed linen. You can cut triangular flags out of these things and save yourself some money. However if you do have some spare cash then there are lots of very pretty themed fabrics that you can buy online. Packs of fat quarters that are used for quilting would work really well for this.

Quick paper bunting tutorial

You will need:

• A pack of patterned papers (scrapbooking paper packs are great for this!)
• A length of ribbon
• Double Sided Sticky Tape
• A pencil
• A guillotine
• A ruler

1. Take a piece of your paper and place it so it is pattern side down. Place your ruler across the top edge and make at mark at the half way point.

2. Line up your ruler from the left bottom corner to the pencil mark you made across the top of the paper and draw a line. You should now have a diagonal line across your paper. Do the same from the right bottom corner and you will end up with a nice triangle shape.

3. Use a guillotine to cut along the diagonal lines that you drew so that you end up with a perfect triangular flag shape. Repeat this on 5 or 6 different pieces of your paper.

4. Next place your flag with the pattern facing up and stick a length of double sided tape across the top of it. Stick your ribbon on to the double sided tape, starting with the first flag approximately 4 inches into the ribbon. Do this for each of your flags and space them a couple of centre meters apart. Make sure that you leave about another 4 inches at the end of the ribbon.

5. Tie a loop at each end of your ribbon to hang it with and voila!

Sam has been a dedicated crafter since her early teens. She loves all types of arts and crafts but especially those relating to textiles and the home. She enjoys writing about homemade textiles such as cushions, aprons and tea towels and sharing her knowledge in tutorials.

By Sewing Contributor Jessica, from the blog Life Sew Good. 

It’s time to start warming up those extremities.  I made these warmers for my daughter, but you can use the same steps to make them adult sized. This retro cold-weather accessory is a hot trend this fall. Accessorize with these cute warmers!

You Need:

• A pair of long socks
• Thread
• ¼” or ½” elastic
• Embellishment (if desired)

Take your long socks and cut the feet off the socks.

Turn sock inside-out. Fold unfinished ends ½”, then another 1″. Sew a ¼” seam around, leaving about 1″ opening to insert elastic.

Measure the circumference of the top of the sock, and cut a piece of elastic that measures the same. Insert the elastic through the opening using a safety pin to help thread it through the enclosure. Sew the elastic ends together. Sew the opening closed.

Embellish, if desired. I made bows and tacked them on in three places.

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

Many years ago, I had rescued a poor little purple mum from the store. It hadn’t been water and was already half dead, but I purchased it on clearance for $2 and brought it home anyways and planted it. I babied that plant and watched it grow to be a beautiful mum bush every fall. When we moved I wished I would have been able to bring it with me, but we moved in the middle of winter in a blizzard so there was no way of finding that mum in the snow. The first fall we lived in our new house we planted more mums, but they quickly died where we had them planted. In the fall of last year, my family planted more in a different area and this year I am again enjoying some beautiful bushes. This time, I decided to document those gorgeous flowers in this layout.

I added the accordion fold flower to it because it reminded me of the same shape of the mums and helps draw your attention to the layout. They are really easy and fun to make, too.

Supplies Used:

• K&Co 12 x 12 Fall & Halloween Paper Pad
• Score Board
• Paper Trimmer
• i-rock Tool
• Adhesive Rhinestones
• 1″ Circle Punch
• Favorite glue and adhesive

First cut 2 strips of 1 ½” wide by 12″ long strip. Score both of them in ½” increments. Fold them accordion (also known as peaks and valley) style. Glue the ends together so they overlap and the peaks and valleys when folded together match up.

Punch 2 circles and put glue on one of them to adhere the flower on. Start by grabbing the top edges and folding them in and down to the center as shown in the picture.

Once they are folded downward and the flower has been formed, place something on the center to help hold it down until the glue dries.

When it is dried place glue on the second circle and glue it to the center of the flower. You can now decorate it with anything you’d like. Here I used the Imaginisce i-rock Tool and adhesive rhinestones. Adhere to your layout using your favorite adhesive. I, also added some of the adhesive rhinestones around the corners of the pictures to add a little sparkle to those.

Do you have a favorite flower or bush in your yard? Is it something that is tied to a special memory for you such as it being planted on the day your child was born or given to you by a dear friend? Why not document it, too? Those are all a part of the special memories that you have had and should be shared with future generations. Who knows maybe that bush that they just planted is a piece of the one you owned and they will know through your scrapbook pages what it meant to you.