Think Crafts Blog - Craft Ideas and Projects - CreateForLess

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

I have a three year old girl. A three year old girl who gives Fancy Nancy a run for her money in the dressing up department. Which means I have hairclips. Lots of hairclips. Or at least it means I buy, make and inherit lots of hairclips, keeping them together and in a handy place for our hair taming sessions however, is another story. I’ve tried boxes and baskets but somehow they get tipped, or raided or dumped out into the sink and the clips begin to disappear into couch cushions, car seats and, although I’ve never seen it myself, into the toilet I imagine.

Now that fall is upon us and I’m preparing to restock her wardrobe, both for the body and for the head. I am determined to hang onto more of the sweet hairclips that she insists on wearing each day. Which means I need to get organized. After perusing all of the hairclip holding options out there, I settled on a wall mounted system. It displays what you have (so you dont forget about that oh so sweet clip you couldn’t resist that is now crammed in the back of your makeup drawer, admit it, it happens!) without leaving them out where little hands can carry them off without your knowledge. And since I could a) not find anything that was going to match the bathroom where the bulk of our hairdressing happens and b) I’m too cheap and too into crafts anyway to buy one, I set about making my own version of a hairclip holder.

You can hang the hairclip holder anywhere!

If you look around the house (check that basement!) you’ll probably find most of what you need. An empty frame, a piece of plywood, a staple gun, paint that matches wherever you intend to hang the finished product and ribbon to match.

Remove all glass, backing and art from your frame and lightly sand the surface with a fine grit sandpaper then wipe it down carefully to remove all the dust and dirt. Coat the front, sides and interior edge with the paint of your choice, for my project, I used a black semigloss paint that was close to the color of the frames already hanging in my bathroom.

Next, cut the plywood to fit into the back of the frame. If your frame had a sturdy backer board, this will work too. Here you have two options, you can either paint the backer board with a craft paint that matches your walls or decor or you can wrap the board in a coordinating fabric. Personally I wanted a delicate but graphic look so I chose to paint the board the color of my walls and used patterned ribbon, but a patterned fabric and solid ribbons would be a great combination as well.

Select your ribbon

Cut several lengths of ribbon that are longer by several inches than the backer board and try out a few arrangements, pushing the board into place to check the effect until you are pleased with the look you have created.

Staple the ribbon down

Once the ribbon is where you want it, secure one end to the back of the frame then pull the other end tight before stapling the other end. If your staples are long enough you can staples directly through the board and ribbon and into the setting edge of the frame, securing the ribbon and the plywood all in one go. As you work be sure to check the positioning of the ribbons before you staple each one. This means a lot of flipping but is much better than ending up with crooked ribbons!

Line the back with craft paper

When all the ribbons are secure, cover the back with craft paper and attach a picture hanger to the top and your ready to go! If your daughter is into cloth headbands these can be woven through the ribbons or you can screw a few small cup hooks into the bottom of the frame and hang them from there, keeping all your hair accessories in one lovely spot. Now I just have to figure out how to keep all those stripy tights organized!

The nostalgic look and feel of an antique is a timeless trend in art and craft. We enjoy the warm, friendly touch that something old brings to our homes. However, antiques can be scarce and expensive. There are ways to take garage sale finds and make the modern objects age in minutes.

The easiest way I’ve found is to use an antiquing gel or rub like Rub N Buff  from Amaco. Make sure your object is sealed (nonporous).  If you need to seal the item just brush or spray on a sealer or finish and allow it to dry.

Add an antique look to your home décor by using Rub N Buff on your frames, hardware, furniture, light fixtures, cabinets and much more. It can be applied to any clean, dry surface as well as over previously painted surfaces. Use for crafts, home decor, frame finishing, stenciling, faux finishing and restoration.

Using a rag, buff on the antiquing medium and allow to sit 1 minute before you buff off the excess antiquing medium with a clean rag. The antiquing medium will stay in the nooks and crannies of your object and leave an aged look.  You can repeat this process one or two more times depending on how old you want your item to look.  Allow the object to dry completely before placing in your home. You can add a coat of sealer if you like, but it’s not a must-do step.

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.

More and more artists and crafters are using the web to sell their items. There are online auction sites, online craft fairs, and opportunities to create online shops. A key element of selling on such sites is to have crisp, clean photographs of your work.  You can find a list of photography tips here on ThinkCrafts.com.

Most online artists and crafters offer these tips to get the perfect shots:

• Take your photos outside to get the best light on your items.  Cloudy days are best as the filtered light helps bring pop to the photo.
• Display your item in an interesting way, but don’t let the background or display become too busy. You want your item to be the main attraction.
• Contrast your background and item. Light items on dark backgrounds and dark items on light backgrounds.
• Take photos from many different angles and select the one that gives the best view of your item.
• Use a tripod. Shaky hands led to unfocused images. Practice and get comfortable with your camera.

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.

Returning Guest Blogger, Lia Kent, from the blogs “Journal Junk” & “Art Junk Girl“.

Journal Junk

I love using recycled materials and scraps in my journals and other collage work. The background behind the girl here is from our free hotel room coasters that I picked up/saved on a recent trip.  The background papers are from a discarded wallpaper book from the hardware store. The word “home” is from a magazine. I believe I got the image from the altered abbey. Anyhow…just wanted to share the elements I used on a random page. I usually keep a shoebox or Ziploc baggie to put “stuff” in that I want to use in my journal. Then I grab through it randomly when journaling. It’s nice to have things that I like available.

You don’t have to buy lots of “stuff” to make your pages…experiment with what you already have…raid your junk mail or just work out of your favorite magazine. Cut out words and images that appeal to you. It’s fun to just relax and see what happens. I love art journaling because sometimes I can say what I want to with images and colors and not a lot of words. The process is very relaxing and the result is often colorful and fun to look at.  Before you know it, you have a book filled with images and color and thoughts and words. Then you can flip through it and see new things all over again.

Happy Journaling!

To read more from Lia, visit “Journal Junk” & “Art Junk Girl“.

Twitter has become a place where artists and crafters are promoting their wares. Twitter.com is a social media-networking site where you post messages in 140 characters/spaces or less. You sign up like most websites creating a screen name. For example on Twitter I’m MariaNerius and you’ll find other creative screen names like GardensAndCrafts (tips on gardening and using your garden elements to craft), BookGal (help with Twitter and books), and JavaCupCake (she sells her crafts on Esty.com)

I enjoy spending a few minutes each day reading the updates from those I follow (you find people to follow through the Tweeter search engine or other search directories like Twellow.com) And I post an update (usually sharing a great find on CreateForLess.com or to let others know I’ve posted something new on my blog) to those that follow me.

It’s a cheap tool to promote yourself, your crafts, your business, your blog, or anything else that meets your fancy. You’ll build a following over time and you’ll have a way to send a message out to potential customers. Come on and join the fun! Give me a tweet today!

I made this card to celebrate tweeting!