Think Crafts Blog – Craft Ideas and Projects – CreateForLess

By General Crafts Contributor Melissa, from the blog MeloMomma.

Happy Fat Tuesday!

What you will need:

• Mask forms
• Sequins
• Feathers
• Fabric glue
• Buttons 

 Directions:

Smear glue over the areas you wish to decorate.

Create patterns and lines if you wish.

Place feathers and sequins onto the mask.

Allow to dry.

My 2 year old son's creation!

 Additional materials you may want to use:

• Beads
• Ribbon
• Lace

My 5 year olds mask and his Mardi Gras face!

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

Make yourself a Postbox to stash your change in! When I was small, Wednesday was banking day at school. You took your wee passbook and banking money. The saying on the passbook was something like:

Save your pennies, they grow into dollars!

Great advice and still valid for today.

These cute Postboxes are quick and easy to make.

Craft Supplies:

• cardboard tube
• black marker
• red and black paint
• craft knife
• white glue
• foam supermarket tray or thick cardboard
• a bead for each postbox

How to make the Postbox

Draw your design on the cardboard tube with the black marker.

Paint the bottom in black and the rest in red. You might want to leave a space for a message or your name. Something like: ‘Darcy’s Money Box’. You might want to put a message on like: ‘Don’t Touch’, or ‘Christmas Fund’ or something else.

Draw around the end of the cardboard tube onto cardboard or foam supermarket tray. Cut out two circles just a little larger than your circles to make the base and top of the Postbox.

Stick a bead onto the top of one of the circles to make the top of the Postbox.

Get an adult to cut out the money slot with the craft knife.

You’re done! Now put your post your change in them!

Ideas for the Postboxes

Messages to write in the blank space of the Postbox could be:

Have some cents!

I have cents!

Let’s be cents-able!

In-cent-ive!

Open in case of emergency!

Make a Postbox as a gift with a few coins or dollars put in to start the recipient off.

These would be great as gifts for:

• A New Baby
• Housewarming
• Bon Voyage – it would also be a subtle reminder for the gift-ee to write!
• Have fun with these, Happy Crafting!

We’re so excited to introduce our newly redesigned CreateForLess website! After months of planning, the day has finally arrived to share our brand new look and features with you. Many of the changes we made came from your comments and suggestions, and we wanted to thank you for sharing your thoughts with us.

We’ve been working hard to bring you a cleaner and updated look and feel. And now you can finally buy just 1 item, no more purchase multiple requirements! But you can still buy in bulk and save, with our bulk quantity discounts. What hasn’t changed is our large selection, everyday low prices and commitment to offering an easy online shopping experience.

We hope you love the new design as much as we do. Take a look and tell us what you think about our new site. We’d love to hear your feedback, as we’re constantly looking to improve your shopping experience.

Happy Crafting!

The CreateForLess Team

By Dondi Richardson from the FloraCraft Make It: Fun Blog.

This Styrofoam glider is a fun weekend project to do with your kids. (Get them into crafting earlier!) Project includes a template for the glider. Easy to make and fun to decorate, plus you can see how far it will fly!

Supplies:

FloraCraft Foam: Four – Sheets, ½”x12″x12″

Other Materials:

• Acrylic Paint
• Dimensional Fabric Paint
• Toothpicks
• Glider Template

Tools:

• Design It: Foam Cutter or Serrated Knife
• Low-Temp Glue Gun and glue sticks
• Paint Brushes: wide flat brush and detailing brush
• Paper (for templates)
• Black Marker
• ½” Sequin Pins

Instructions

1. Print and enlarge the templates to size needed. Hint: You can use a photocopier to copy and enlarge templates.
2. Pin the templates to the sheets of foam and trace with black marker: one body, two wings, two tail wings and one tail fin.
3. Remove the templates and cut out the plane parts using the foam cutter.
4. Use the scrap pieces of foam like a sanding block to “sand” the square edges of the foam parts smooth, making it look more authentic.
5. Glue the parts together, inserting toothpicks between the parts for a more secure bond.
6. Paint desired colors and let dry completely.

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

There are so many amazing DIY party hats out there, this is just our take on them. All you need to start is your favorite scrapbooking paper, a cheap paper party hat, ribbon (satin or sheer), crepe paper, faux feathers, embellishments of your choice, scissors, a stapler and a hot glue gun! This would be a fun project for New Years!

You can take apart an old or new paper party hat (that you can get at any party store) just to use as a template. We already had a template that we have been using. Just trace the shape of the hat onto the back of the paper you are making your new party hat of. Once traced just follow the lines and cut.

Then just wrap the end of the hat around and shape into a cone and staple. (You can use a glue gun if you want to glue the seems together.)

Its okay if there is a little hole in the top. Use your glue gun to put a dab of glue in the hole at the top of the hat and then stick your feathers in.

Next your are going to take your crepe paper and glue it around the bottom of your hat. Make sure that you glue the crepe paper in the middle so that there is an overlay on the top and bottom. (The middle of the crepe paper should be toward the bottom of the hat).

Then take the top of the crepe paper and pull in down and little bit and the bottom and pull it up just to give it some dimension.

Then you are going to take your two even strips of ribbon and glue them on the inside of either side of the hat. You can use any kind of ribbon you like, satin or sheer. We also glued a strip of different textured ribbon in the middle of the crepe paper.

Lastly, we just embellished the front with a paper rosette with a gem in the middle.

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

What is New Year’s without a guests or a party?  Celebrate by inviting your friends to the celebration using this festive invitation.  They are quick, fun and easy to make so you can invite everyone on your list.

Supplies Used:

• Graphic 45 Curtain Call Paper Pad
• Fired Brick Distress Ink
• Gold Ink Pad
• Silver Ink Pad
• Beige Cardstock
• Red Stickles
• Gold Stickles
• Tape Runner
• Red Marker
• Drink Glass of Your Choice Such As: Rub-Ons, Chipboard Pieces, a Stamp or Punch
• Silver Cardstock if using a stamp or punch for the Drink Glass

Begin by cutting an 8″ x 6″ piece of beige cardstock and folding it in half to create card base.  Cut a 4 ¾” x 3 piece from the “Leading Ladies” patterned paper from the Graphic 45 Curtain Call Paper Pad and adhere it to the front of the card using the tape runner.  Using the gold ink pad, ink the edges and into the center of the card.  Repeat this step, using the silver ink pad.  It’s ok to ink over the edges of the patterned paper as it helps to tie it all together.  In the next step, use the Fired Brick Distress Ink pad and a paper towel to lightly go over the edges to add just a little bit of color to the card.  Go back over the red with a clean paper towel to remove any excess ink.

Write the invitation message on the front of the card with the red marker.  This will give you a guideline when going over it with the Stickles and a dimensional look to the parts of the letters that are not completely covered by the Stickles. 

Adhere the drink glasses to your card, arranging them in a way that you like.  I, then, made marks above the glasses to help me know where the Red Stickles confetti dots looked the best and I recommend doing this so that you don’t get too many dots and make things look crowded on the card.  You can use a pencil, little dots of paper or whatever you’d like to do this step.  Then, create the confetti dots using the bottle of Red Stickles.  The last step is to go over the message using the bottle of Gold Stickles and then allowing it to dry completely. 

Now you can ring in the new year by sending these invitations to everyone on your list inviting them to the party of the year! 

Happy New Year to everyone!

Congratulations to Stephanie who was randomly selected as our Free Stuff Friday winner and will receive an assorted pack of sizes and colors of Bazzill Cardstock!

Bazzill Cardstock is here to help you create beautifully colored cards, invitations, scrapbook pages, memory albums, journals, and more. Each sheet is acid-free.

Stephanie’s winning answer to “Did you wake up early for Black Friday shopping?” was…

“Nope, I Wish I Would Have Slept. But Have Been Up All Day Waiting For These Sales! But Its A Mad House!”