Think Crafts Blog - Craft Ideas and Projects - CreateForLess

By Recycled Crafts Contributor, Anitra from the blog “Coffee Pot People”. 

I’ve enjoyed, and still wear, my fingerless mitts, but spring is coming. Can you feel it? The candytuft in the front yard is already blooming, and the bulbs are up. There’s a fragrant narcissus next to the deck already perfuming the air, and March is, after all the month of spring romances.

That definitely calls for feminine touches of flowers, lace, and all things delicate. Let’s dress our hands in fairy gauntlets for spring!

You’ll need:

• A pretty handkerchief
• Two flower appliques, or flowers cut from lace
• Needle and thread
• Elastic string
• Fabric glue

To begin, make a pattern like the one shown below:

Fold a square of paper the same size as the handkerchief on the diagonal, and measure 4 inches from the point, on the fold. Draw a line straight down from that point. It will be four inches, too. Now measure from the point to about the length of the gauntlet you’re making. (Fold your handkerchief in half on the diagonal, and measure to the center to get that measurement.) Draw a line straight down from there, that’s about 4 1/2 inches long. Now “connect the dots”–draw a straight line from the 4″ line to the line you just drew.

That pattern fits my hand. To be sure it fits yours, open out the pattern and fold it around your hand. It should fit, but not too snugly, but we’re cutting the handkerchief on the diagonal (bias), which will lend stretchiness to it.

You’re done with the hardest part!

Fold your hanky into quarters, on the diagonal, and pin your pattern to it, with the long side on the fold, and cut. On the short side, the opposite end of the points, there will be another fold. Split that, which creates the two pieces you need:

On the short sides, away from the point, iron a narrow hem, but don’t stitch it yet.

Now, with the right sides of each gauntlet folded together, stitch the long sides, using a narrow seam, and then stitch the hem. 

You now have two tubes, with a pretty point on one end, and a straight hem on the other. All you need now is a way to keep them in place on your hands. To do that, thread a darning needle with a length of elastic string/thread. (I’ve chain crocheted mine, to make it heavier, but it isn’t strictly necessary to do that.)

Insert the point of the needle in the right side of one of the flowers and pull through, leaving a loop that will comfortably fit around your middle finger. Take a single stitch to secure it, tie a knot, and cut the thread. Repeat with the other flower.

On the wrong side of each flower, spread a thin coat of fabric glue. (I used Aleene’s Okay to Wash It.) Glue the flowers to the inside of the gauntlet, just below the points. Let dry, and you’re done!

One last thing: You still have two corners of your hanky left. If the hankerchief is a fair sized one, they’re actually large enough to make sweet little gauntlets for a child of age 3 to 6 or so.

 Pretty Little Potholders by Lark Books

Potholders are just fun and make a great gift for any occasion.  This book has over 30 projects that range from quick and easy to a little more detailed.  The book includes great instructions for all the sewing techniques used including embroidery, yo-yos, quilting, and beading.  Most projects have a retro look and feel, but with different fabric selection can be changed to meet your personal taste and style.  I enjoyed the pot handle cozy and the yo-yo potholder.  This is a fun book with great illustrations, photographs, and step-by-step instructions. 

I enjoyed combining yo-yos with quilting for this set of potholders.

Wishing everyone the best of the holidays and a very merry Christmas!

What is your favorite part of Christmas? It’s hard for me to decide.  I love sitting in my living room at night just watching the lights upon my Christmas tree.  I enjoy putting my handmade ornaments on the tree remembering when each was given to me and by whom.  Some are very rustic made by little hands. Some are delicate made by careful hands.  Some are whimsical made by happy hands, while others are just beautiful and made by very skilled hands.  But each is special to me and makes me smile.

I actually enjoy addressing, signing, and sending holiday wishes in the form of purchased and handmade cards. It’s a quiet time when I can just be still and know how blessed I am to have such wonderful family and friends. Baking and exchanging cookies is a bright spot of my holidays.  I’ve got a sweet tooth and it loves cookies!  I also like singing and listening to carols.  I’m a bit tone-deaf, but during the holidays everyone seems very forgiving of my throwing the whole choir off-key!

I try to make my holiday spirit last 264 days until the next Christmas.  The world is a better place during the holidays with hot cocoa steaming, white snowflakes glistening, and colorful lights shining through the night. Christmas is an extraordinary gift to us and a time to show off our creativity.  Which brings me to my favorite part of the holidays! Presents under the tree!  I’m looking forward to unwrapping some handmade gifts this year and hope there are a few handmade gifts under your tree too!

Don't let that sad face fool you, Mr. Bee is a happy camper!

Pets Make Life Grand!  It’s amazing how much our pets enhance our lives!  I’ve been a pet lover since I was a kid and currently have 4 sassy dogs (2 basset hounds and 2 dachshunds). Two of our dogs are rescues, but I’m not sure who rescued who!  Recently one of our dogs lost a battle with glaucoma.  This disease is hereditary in many basset hounds.  So our Mr. Bee is now completely without sight.  My first reaction was deep sadness for Mr. Bee, but he adapted so well that I couldn’t stay upset for too long.

I immediately turned to the web for help.  I wasn’t disappointed.  A quick Google search lead to two great websites that help owners and pets learn more about how to adapt to the change in routine.

Blind Dogs, Where Dogs See With Their Hearts!

Helping A Blind Dog Navigate

Living With A Blind Dog For Dummies

One tip that helped lighten my heart was that a dog owner should wear a bell or other noisy object so the dog can hear where the owner is.  I found that Mr. Bee did get a little panicky if I left the room and he wasn’t sure where I was.  No problem at all!  I got out my beads, Stretch Magic elastic, and jingle bells.

In minutes I made a bracelets for my wrists and ankles!  Mr. Bee can hear me coming and going! It’s amazing how crafting can be such an intrical part of our lives. In so many ways crafting can bring some uplifting light to the dark situation. I felt better after making that noisy jewelry. I felt like I’d done something very positive to help Mr. Bee’s adjustment to blindness a little easier. Has crafting helped you cope?  Please leave a comment and tell us how.

You have the tools, now how do you age, antique, and distress materials?  Here’s a handy guide:

Bleach It!:  Brush or lightly spritz paper with bleach.  Allow colors to fade, dab off any excess.  Lemon juice can also be used.  Heat set once dry.

Coaster It!:  Using a messy cup of coffee or tea, use your paper as a coaster or saucer and let it soak up the coffee or tea that has puddled at the bottom of the cup or glass.  It’s an interesting, realistic touch of distressing.

Crush It!: You can ball up the paper and then smooth out to give aging lines and some instant wear and tear to paper.   The more you crumple it, the more aged and soft the paper will look.  You’ll have a paper with a fine webbing of age lines. 

Ink it!:  Spill a little ink on that paper!  Dribble it!  Puddles of ink are perfect touches of aging.  Allow ink to dry completely before adding any embellishments or photos. 

Iron it!:  For a more polished look, iron distressed paper.  Always use an ironing cloth to protect your ironing board surface and your iron!  Do your best to crush, ink, rip, sand, and more, then use the iron on a warm setting to smooth it all out.

Sand It!:  Using sanding paper, fine steel wool, or an emery board, sand the edges of paper or embellishments.  Skip the sanding paper or emery board over the body of the surface too.  This gives the effect of weathering and aging by wind, sun, and time. 

Speckle or Splatter It!:  Using an acrylic wash or ink, take an old bristle brush or toothbrush and dip into liquid.  Lay background paper or scrapbook page on newspaper or other covered work surface.  Flick brush or toothbrush with your thumb and this sends a fine mist of paint over the paper.  Repeat until you are happy. 

Sponge It!:  Sponge on hints of color using inks, pastels, chalks, paints, tea, coffee, glazes, and watercolors.  Add layer upon layer of color until happy.

Spray It!:  Spray surface with diluted ink, paint, even strong tea or coffee.  Intensify color by repeated spraying.

Tear or Rip It!:  Tearing and ripping paper gives it an aged or distressed look.  You can rip along an edge or right down the middle!  Practice ripping with scrap papers to get a feel of how different papers will rip and tear.  You can also chalk or ink the ripped paper edges to give a more earthy aging effect. 

Tips

• Age builds up on surfaces so to create a realistic aged surface slowly “build” layers of color, stain and paint. Then sand or pound. Then repeat layering of color.
• Step back from your work occasionally and look at the aging effects from a distance. Up close your project may look done, but at a distance you may see it in a different light.
• Gold ages with brown tones, silver with black tones.
• Add shadow with dark hues, highlights with light hues.

Everyone loves the look of antiques! You can easily get that look quickly with the following tools:

Acrylic Paints:  Water down the paint to an inky consistency, which creates what is called a wash (1 part paint to 3 parts water).  Colors of dark blue, patina green, rust, black and burnt amber work best on light color papers while white, light gray and light blue work best on dark colors. Brush light coats onto the paper until happy with the hue.

Antiquing Gel:  This is a thick liquid or gel that is brushed on and then rubbed off leaving a thin film that makes an object look older.  There are a variety of colors from white to black.  For hard surfaces like charms you can age the item by using antiquing gel. 

Chalks or Pastels:  Chalks and pastels can be used to age paper.  Use darker colors and dust chalk around edges, over sanded portions, or all over the surface.  Chalks and pastels need to be “sealed” with a spray finish, fixative or sealer.

Chalk Inks:  A pigment ink that is usually light in saturation and hue.  When dry, it leaves a chalky-like finish.  Lightly sponged onto a paper or surface to antique or age it. Lightly sponge chalk ink over paper in aged colors like mustard, brown, rust, black or patina green.

Coffee and Coffee Grounds:  Coffee can be used for aging and staining just like tea.  Brew up a strong, dark batch of coffee and then you can soak, spray, dribble, or puddle the coffee onto the paper.  Coffee grounds can also be used.  Sprinkle coffee grounds over wet paper and allow to dry.

Fine Grit Sandpaper or Emery Board:  Use the sandpaper or emery board to sand away layers of the paper to give a weathered effect. Use fine grit sandpaper or emery board and sand lightly over different areas of your paper.

Hammer or Mallet:  Here’s a chance to get out all that frustration!  Simply pound areas to give a dented, abused, and ‘seen a few years’ look to paper, metals, fabrics, and plastics.  Some altered artists also use heavy chains to give the same look.

Inks:  Inks used in rubberstamping can be used to antique paper and other surfaces.  Select colors that lend to aged looks like dark yellows, rusty orange and browns, patina greens, dark blacks and off-white whites.  Best application is to lightly sponge ink onto paper in light layers.

Ink Sprays:  Diluted inks in spray bottles used to spritz color onto a surface.  Shade and intensity vary.

Steeped Tea:  Place several tea bags into a bowl and add hot water.  You want at least 3 tea bags to each cup of water.  In other words, you want a strong batch of tea.  Avoid teas that don’t give rich color like green teas.  Spray a mist of strong tea onto the paper and iron it.  The straining will make the paper look old.  Repeat misting until the paper is aged to your perfection.

Walnut Ink:  This is an ink that is speckled, dripped or brushed onto paper that gives a sepia or brown wash to the paper.  Usually a powder that you mix with water, but is also available in liquid form and in a variety of colors.

I think most of us have days when we love technology and days when we curse technology.  I remember my husband suggesting that I try a thing called a computer to type up my articles.  I’d roll my eyes and gently tap my dear old electric typewriter saying, “Who needs a needs a computer when I have a speed demon like this baby right here.”  However, once I figured out that I never had to use that thick white liquid that I got everywhere but the place I was trying to correct a typing mistake, I was sold on the computer. 

The Eniac - one of the first computers ever built.

Since my first computer, I’ve never looked back.  The Internet.  E-mail.  The World Wide Web.  Searches. Keywords. Newsgroups.  Forums.  Uploads & Downloads. Been there.  Done that.  Enjoyed it. Hated it.  Loved it.  I try to keep up, but there is always something new and exciting.  Now I’m learning podcasts, widgets, web videos, social networking and best of all blogs.   I was introduced to the web via Prodigy and AOL.  My viewpoint of the web has not changed much from my first impression.  I was fascinated that it was so easy to connect with other artists and craftspeople.  How wonderful it was to share information and be inspired by other creative folks. 

At times being creative can be a little isolating, but interacting with other creative people keeps my creative projects young, fresh, innovative, and brings new insight to my thoughts and ideas.  I can work and play with people and companies all over the country and all over the world without ever leaving my home.  Yet, the world can enter my home bringing with it endless possibilities for growth and dreams.  I read about techniques, I see photos of great craftsmanship, and I can even watch how-to videos when I can’t figure out what I’m doing!

I’m so excited about this new section of CreateForLess.  We are blogging!  It’s a chance to be more interactive with all of you.  It’s a chance to share ideas and exchange tips and techniques.  The next best thing to crafting is talking about crafting in my humble opinion!  Most of us learned a craft or technique from a family member or friend.  This blog is a chance to pass that knowledge on to others. Let’s hear from you!  Let’s blog!

Think Crafts is a transition from the Expert Craft Advice section at CreateForLess, but all the wonderful articles about trends, the business of selling crafts, techniques, and tips are still available right here!  Now, you can tell me what techniques you’d like to know more about, share your own innovations and projects, and check out what others are doing.  I can’t wait to get started, how about you?