Think Crafts Blog – Craft Ideas and Projects – CreateForLess

By Kid’s Craft Contributor, Gillian from the blog “Dried Figs and Wooden Spools”.

In the last few weeks, my summer flowers have begun to fade and the mums are starting to make a showing in my garden. Fall is on the way. From one of the windows of our house we have been watching tiny, bright yellow birds feast of the shriveling heads from our row of sunflowers. It’s been so much fun watching them flit and fly around the plants that I decided to spread the wealth around the house so that we had a view form every window with these sunflower head feeders.

If you don’t have sunflowers growing in your yard, you can sometimes find them through crafts stores, florists or even your local farmers market.

Here’s what you need:

Two sunflower heads per feeder
Floral wire
Ribbon
Needle-nose pliers
Wire cutters
Embroidery needle

1. Use the wire cutters to trim the stalk of the flowers back as far as you can.

2. Cut a 12 inch piece of wire and thread it through the back of one of the flowers. If the wire is bending, use the needle to make a hole in the flower before you push the wire through. Use your pliers to pull it out the front side of the flower and then thread it back through to the back about 1/4 of an inch over from where the first hole is.

3. Using the same wire, repeat the process with the other head so that the two flowers lie back to back.

4. Pull the wired tightly and twist together to secure. Trim ends.

5.  Thread the ribbon between the two heads below where the wire connects them. Bring the two ends of the ribbon up over the top of the flowers and tie a knot just at the edge of the flower heads. Tie another knot in the ribbon about 8 inches up, leaving a loop in between knots.

6. Hang from a tree near a window and watch the birds flock!

By Scrapbook & Paper Crafts Contributor Jennifer, from the blog “So Many Products, So Little Time”.

I love to go green whenever possible, so I try to find ways to reuse objects around the house.  One of my favorite items to reuse is an empty plastic juice container.  I use the Welch’s brand – they are very sturdy and you can even run them through the dishwasher before decorating.  In the past I have decorated quite a few for my scrap room to hold supplies.  My son recently got a new desk for his room so I decorated this can to hold his pencils.  He also loves to write notes to his friends, so I created a matching mini notebook.

Supplies used:

K & Company – Actopus Collection

• 12×12 Paper Pad
• Rub-ons
• Grand Adhesion Sticker

Ribbon
Plastic Juice Container
Composition Notebook (small)
Strong Adhesive

To cover the juice can:

* Cut a strip of paper to cover the entire side of the can and adhere.  You will need to use use a strong tape such as Therm O Web Zips Craft Adhesive Lines.

* Cut a small strip of paper and adhere to the top edge of the can using the same adhesive.

To cover the notebook.

* Cut a piece of paper to cover the notebook and adhere using a strong adhesive

* Apply rub-ons (see picture) to the notebook.

* Affix 3 Dimensional sticker to center of the notebook.

* Adhere piece of ribbon to edge of the notebook.  You can also tie a bow if desired.

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

It was the perfect confluence of habits: I love, collect, and acquire a lot of laces, braids, and other trims, our family of two eats a lot of eggs, and I hate throwing things out that look like they could be useful.

I heard that! You’re scratching your head and saying, “HUH?”

Here’s the deal. I’ve been looking at egg cartons for years, trying to think of an afterlife for them. I also groan every time I open the drawer that holds those laces and trims I’m such a magnet for. Hard as I try to keep that drawer tidy, it always ends up seriously jumbled. Yesterday those two things just sort of collided in my brain, and I had an epiphany, just a little-bitty one, but a good one nonetheless.

Here’s what I did. I took an egg carton, in this case one from a five-dozen pack (told you) but a regular one would work as well, cut off the edges, and started wrapping lace trims around it.

The egg cup rows kept the laces in their places, the texture of the paper carton held onto the trims like gentle Velcro, and the rectangles still had just a bit of that nestling instinct. And they fit perfectly into those shoebox size plastic boxes, of which I had several, with room on the ends for a baggie filled with the short bits and pieces left over from past projects.

Now I can either put those boxes in the lace drawer or on a shelf, and instead of trying to riffle through this:

I can pick up one of these and see exactly what I have, without causing a lace explosion!

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

Sometimes what you need isn’t a new project, but a new process, something that will spark your own creative juices (Can you spark juice? Hmmm…)  For instance, you probably have a dozen different ways to use marbles, both the traditional spheres and the newer flat ones, but have you ever wondered if there was a way to make your marbles look a little different? If they did, how would that change projects you have in mind?

Here’s a way to do just that, and it’s really easy. We’re going to fry them!

To begin, select the marbles you want to use. I just pulled out a pretty random handful for the purposes of demonstration; you might have specific colors in mind. This process will craze the glass, so don’t use marbles that are opaque, because the crazing is all on the inside, and you won’t see it. We’re also going to get the marbles really hot, so the painted ones are probably not going to work, either. You want plain glass, although there’s nothing to say you can’t use the cat’s eye style.

Now put them in a skillet or pan, one that’s large enough to lay them all out flat. We’re not literally frying them, so don’t put in any oil! (This is the method for flat marbles; I’ll get to the round ones in a bit.) Turn the burner on under the pan and pour yourself a cup of coffee or tea, and relax for ten minutes or so while the marbles get really hot. Don’t go too far away; you wouldn’t want to melt the pan!

When the marbles are good and hot, fill a bowl with ice water, and then gently slide the marbles in. You’ll hear them sizzling and popping in the water. Don’t worry; that’s what they’re supposed to do.

When they’ve cooled to the touch, take them out of the water. You’re done!

As you can see, they have a nice internal pattern now, which you can’t feel, and they’re not quite so see-through, which may be helpful if you want to obscure a flaw or graphic on the item they’ll be applied to.

Now, as mentioned, you’ll use a slightly different method for the spherical marbles, since they really touch the surface of a pan at just a single point and are too hard to heat that way. Put them in an oven-proof dish or pan, and slip them into an oven preheated to 500 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake 20 minutes, and then slide them into ice water, just the way you did the others. Same sizzle, same crackle!

Are you getting ideas yet? Here’s one more: You can do this with those big glass telephone pole resisters. We used to do that and turn them into quite elegant candlesticks!

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

It probably won’t be a surprise to anyone that my favorite art/craft shows  to be in or to attend are those where the art is constructed primarily from recycled materials. 

This past weekend was the Vancouver Recycled Arts Festival, and I was pleased and honored to be one of their vendors. Now, the hardest thing about that is being stuck in my booth. I want to see to all the other art! So, the second morning of the show, I made sure I was there early enough to cruise the show myself, camera in hand, and I had a mission: Photograph art that you might not see anywhere else. 

People are amazingly creative and talented. This is just a sample of what the show had to offer:

In the slideshow, you see:

• Pendants from broken china, by Tanya Meyer  of CuteGirl Creations
• Soft toys and wearable art from reclaimed materials, by Dawn Grunwald
• Blue & white stamped domino tray, by MouseHouse Designs
• Colorful garden whirligigs from vinyl records, by Christine Claringbold of EyePop Art
• Rings made from bicycle innertubes & beads, by Julia Garretson
• Fused glass cat faces and ladybugs from scrap glass,  by Brenda Lee Calvert of Halfmoon Farm
• Folding baskets and a handbag from reclaimed & sanitized chopsticks, by Kwytza Chopstick Art
• Playing card holders from reclaimed fibers, by Lyle and Arlene Gowing
• Musical instruments from cigar boxes and license plates, by Alan Matta
• Garden shrines from scrap wood & found objects, by Mike and Barbara Meyer, of Earth Tones
• Mosaic art from reclaimed windows and scrap glass, by Missy Lambert
• Crocheted bags, placemats, accessories, etc., from plastic shopping bags, by Molly J Walter
• Purses and wallets woven from candy, snack, & coffee packaging, by Rock Candy Art
• Creepy babies from baby dolls and found objects, by Jason Pickering
• Rustic  jewelry and accessories from sardine cans, smashed bottle caps, etc., by Chris Reitmaier
• Garden Tiki Monster & Fork Man from scrap metal & flatware, by Schell & Son Metalwerks
• A giant blossom for the garden from reclaimed glassware & tableware, by Anitra Cameron
• Marble-covered garden art, by Megan Klepp, of Ta-Dah
• Refrigerator magnets from small toys, by the sons of Megan Klepp, of Ta-Dah
• A 3-D collage from reclaimed painting and stuffed bird, by Casey Boketzian, of Therapy Bettye
• Painted polka dot tableware & radio, by Davell Seversen, of Zany Art

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

Jar candles are great, aren’t they? The flame is contained, as is the melted wax, and most of them are scented, which I love. Eventually, though, if you burn them often, you end up with a stash of the empty jars and their lids.

I was looking at just such a stash the other day, and got an idea.

If you stacked them, and glued them together, you’d have pretty cool candlesticks, which seemed poetically fitting, given their origins.

Here are your instructions:

If the lid has a plastic ring around it, slip the blade of a table knife under the edge and give the knife a twist. It may take a little working at, but the rings come off pretty easily.

Make sure the lids are clean. Stack them, experimenting to get a pleasing “structure”. I put my top lid on upside down so there’d be a cavity to put a candle in. You may prefer the flat side to be up, and use a larger, pillar candle. Another option is to insert colorful items in the lids before you glue the lids together. In the first photo shown, you can see the red beads I put in one lid.

Glue them together, using a good glue for glass. (E6000 is always my choice, and no, I don’t work for that company!) Check every now and then as the glue is setting up, to make sure the lids don’t slide out of position.

Put a candle in or on your stack, and light it.

Want something even simpler? Take several lids, put them down the center of your picnic table, place a tea light in each, and light.

By Sparkle Crafts Contributor, Sparkle E. Glitter from the blog “Sparkle Studio”.

If you have a scrap wood bin, this project is made for you. If you don’t, head over to the store and pick up a bag of scrap wood.  The pieces do not need to match, or even be cut straight.  The more differences your pieces have, the more charming your project will be.

Choose a word or a name that you would like to display. This project can be adapted to holidays: Noel, Love, Thanks.  Or make the blocks with your family name.  What a nice gift this is for anyone on any occasion.

You need:

• Big & Glitzy Glitter Glue: Peacock, Peridot,  Garnet (or colors to match what you are showcasing)
• Acrylic Paint: black,  turquoise, lime, hot pink  (also select your colors accordingly)
• 4 pieces of scrap wood (or as many as you need to spell your word or name)
• Wide flat brush 

Try this:

Basecoat wood pieces black.  Let dry.  Paint the edges of the blocks turquoise, lime and hot pink.  Let dry.

Using Big & Glitzy, print a letter on each block, with a frame around it in a different color.  Add stripes, dots, squares or whatever fits your project.

This is your chance to be creative with color and design.  Make this reflect you!

Glitter on!

Sparkle