Think Crafts Blog – Craft Ideas and Projects – CreateForLess

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

My youngest child is headed off to school this fall and, being the girly girl she is, she has a whole closet full of new dresses and skirts that she deemed school worthy. And since she has changed her clothing color palate from red and pale pink to Hot pink and lime green, we are in need of some new hair bobbles to go with her back to school outfits. Knitted flowers look complicated but are really fairly simple little projects that can be completed in a sitting, or carted around with you to work on here and there. They are also a great way to use up leftover yarn, that is, if you happen to have hot pink and lime green yarn just hanging around in your stash!

Here’s what you need

2 colors of worsted weight yarn
Size US 5 knitting needles
Yarn needle
Hair Clips

For Each Petal:

Cast on 4 sts
Row 1: Knit into front and back of first st, Knit 3 sts (5 sts)
Row 2: Purl into front and back of first st, purl 4 (6 sts)
Row 3: Knit first two sts together, knit two, knit last two sts together (4 sts)
Row 4: Purl first two sts together, purl last 2 sts together (2 sts)
Break Yarn, weave ends in and tie off, slid to the end of the needle

Knit five petals in this manner, casting each on to the same needle where the last petal is stored. On the fifth needle, do not break yarn, instead use it to knit across all 10 sts then thread the yarn onto the needle and run it back through the loop of each sts as you pull it off the knitting needle. Pull tightly to draw together the petals, forming a flower. Tie yarn off and weave in ends.

Thread the yarn needle with the contrasting yarn and whip stitch around the edges of each petal. Stitch a few loops up from the center of the flower to accent the core. Tie off and weave in ends. Press the flower with a hot, steam iron and sew or glue the back onto a hair clip.

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

Aside from my wedding ring and my grandmother’s screw on (i.e. can’t fall off) diamond earrings, the only jewelry that I wear on any kind of regular basis are bracelets. I love necklaces, but about a week after my first child was born I realized that kids and necklaces don’t mix. Or at least my kids and necklaces don’t mix. Although now that they are 4 and 8 I’m probably safe to wear them again. But I’m out of practice. My jewelry box is full of bracelets.

Or I should say it’s full of lots of broken bracelets and a few hearty specimens that have survived where the others failed. I break bracelets all the time. Part of this I can blame on the kids, but most of it is all me. I spend a lot of time at the computer and I am constantly putting on and taking off my bracelets, and eventually, they break. Recently I moved most of the broken but-I’ll-fix-it-someday bracelets to a bead jar on my desk and in the process I realized that in most cases I don’t have all the bits and bobs from the originals, so returning them back to that state is probably not going to happen. Enter Stretch Magic.

If you are a veteran of jewelry making, you know all about this stuff, but I’d never tried it and I was so excited to get my hands on some and start turning my jar-o-beads back into wearable jewelry again.

Before you start, think about the size of the holes on your beads. Stretch Magic comes in a variety of thicknesses and several colors. Most of my beads had larger holes and since breaking has been an issue in the past, I chose the 1mm clear for my projects.

If you don’t have any broken bracelets or necklaces to start with (lucky you!) you can always peruse the many options that are out there just waiting for you to make something from them. I know I could go absolutely overboard buying different beads and charms in the jewelry making section.

Cut a good four inches longer than your wrist is around and start sliding on the beads, thinner Stretch Magic may require a needle but I had no problem using it straight with my larger holed beads. Once you have arranged your beads the way you want, tie the ends together using an overhand knot or two to secure the two pieces together without slippage. Trim the ends and enjoy your new (old) jewelry!

 Enter to win the Pretty in Pink Bracelet and Earring set by Janlynn! Be a little girlie and wear pink!

The Janlynn Pretty in Pretty Kit includes crazy lace agate stones mixed with crystals and sterling silver balls. Extra 4 mm sterling balls are included to make bracelet larger than average size, if necessary. Bracelet is finished with silver plated lobster claw and earrings are finished with silver plated leverback earwires. Wire & flat head pins for stringing along with instructions are included.

Every Friday we’ll post a giveaway on Think Crafts and all you have to do is comment on the blog post answering the question of the week. We’ll pick the winner and contact them via email. Deadline is midnight tonight and the winner will be announced Monday. One entry per person please. Contest opened to all US residents, no purchase necessary.

Question of week: What is your favorite breakfast food?

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

The summer I turned ten, my friends and I were all about friendship crafts. We made knotted friendship bracelets, walking around with in-progress projects pinned to the hems of our shorts, we collected plastic charms and tried to make our own to trade and wear, and we were obsessed with friendship pins. Our the laces of our shoes jingled and glittered with as many pins as could be crammed between the eyes of the shoes. We carried bubblegum tins around full of beads and pins and got in trouble the first weeks of class when we tried to make pins inside our desks during math.

But as much as I loved it way back then, I hadn’t thought much about friendship pins in twenty years, until I was puttering around the fabric store and found myself in amongst the seed beads. Although my son is younger than I was the summer that friendship pins hit it big at my school, he had no trouble at all working through my entire supply of safety pins over the course of 20 minutes. Simple and satisfying, it’s one of those crafts that kids will always love, especially on a too hot to go outside summer day.

You’ll need:

Seed Beads – lots of colors
1 inch long safety pins – as many as you can spare

Pour the beads into a bowl for easy access and open up a couple of pins to get them started. Beads can be strung randomly, all one color or in a pattern, just be sure to leave enough room at the top to fasten the pin back together. Once they are done, pin them onto the bottom lace of tennis shoes, stack a row on them onto a hair-clip or fasten them around rubber bracelets so your kids can show off and trade their treasures.

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

Do you ever buy something just because it’s cool, even though you don’t have (yet!) any use for it? I had this setting on my dresser for a long time for that very reason:

It’s a drapery tieback. Just one. Didn’t have a mate, and anyway, I didn’t need one, since the only draperies in the house were already quite adequately, and prettily, held back. I was dusting the other day, and picked it up, and as I did so, my eyes fell on the overflowing necklace rack.

Now, there’s another thing. I love necklaces, even though I almost never wear one. When I find one that’s really pretty, and really inexpensive, usually in a thrift shop or at a garage sale, I do the only reasonable thing: I buy it!

Suddenly, the tieback and the necklaces collided head-on in my mind. Of course! Hang the tieback vertically, and hang the necklaces on it!

There’s very little you need to know more than that, but here’s the bit you do need:

Screw or nail your drapery tieback into position on the wall. You’ll see that, probably, the part that does the hanging up shows above the pretty bit in front.

Options:

• Paint the nail/screw heads to match
• Cover with a pretty magnet
• Glue on an attractive button or piece of (preferably) broken jewelry

Now hang up your necklaces. Done, and Done!

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

It amazes me when, despite the fact that I’ve stopped subscribing to print papers (I read them online) and have signed up for as many e-bills as I possibly can, out house still amasses a shocking amount of paper each week in the recycling bin. Flyers, junk mail, school announcements, all end up as fire starters in the winter and as plain old recycling the rest of the year. This week as I pulled yet another glossy sale flyer out of my mailbox I remembered an old project my mom and I did when I was a little girl.

Back then our house was always, literally, full of newspapers. My dad, after all was first a reporter, then an editor, and finally a publisher, of both daily and weekly newspapers. I once won a newspaper drive when my dad and I carted in a years worth of overprints and back issues to the school, three pickup truck loads. Cheating? Maybe, but at least they got recycled instead of rotting away in the backroom of the paper, threatening to catch the place on fire.

I remember this as being one of those go-to rainy day crafts and, although I hadn’t done it for years, all it took was one bead to get back in the swing. It’s a little bit addicting and the possibilities for colors and sized are pretty much endless. And, if you have a girly girl like mine, well, you can make (free!) jewelry to her heats content anytime you have some extra paper lying around. Which, let’s face it, it probably all the time.

You’ll need:

Paper – any thing works but colorful ads make some of the best beads
Tacky Glue
Metal or bamboo skewer
Scissors or paper cutter

Start by cutting a few trial strips to determine the size of your beads. They will be as long as the widest part of your strip and the thickness will be determined by how long the original strip is. My favorite size is about a 10 inch long stip, 1 inch at the top and 1/4 inch at the bottom. Once you have the size you like, cut as many strips as you need beads.

With the widest end of the strip pressed against your skewer, tightly roll the paper around until you are 1/2 inch from the bottom.

Dab the very end in glue and continue rolling, using your thumb to press down the end for a moment before spreading any remaining glue around the outside. Give the glue a few seconds  to set up and then carefully slide the bead off the skewer.

This craft can also be done with younger children using strips of newsprint for the paper and something wider, like a dowel, to wind the beads on. The finished beads can be used as is, painted, or even clear coated. Mine ended up on a ribbon as a bracelet which I wore for maybe 30 seconds before it was claimed by the fashionista of the house, who wore it day and night until the dog “borrowed” it. *Hint*, these are not dog proof. But luckily they are free, so a replacement was just a few rolls away.

Welcome Gust Blogger, Barbara Matthessen, for Earth Safe Finishes.

Belt Bracelets

Recycle thrift store or old belts into fun and funky bracelets.  You can make 3, 4 or even 5 bracelets from a single belt and give them all different personalities with earth friendly paints, chains and beads.  Why not make a batch of these for gifts or to coordinate with every outfit you own?

Materials:

Leather or leather like belt

Opaque Shimmers from Earth Safe Finishes in your choice of colors 

Toggle or hook clasp

1″ chain or 22 GA wire to match clasp

Jump Rings

Strong scissors or leather shears

Leather/belt hole punch

Paint brushes, liner for details

Jewelry making tools, pliers and wire cutters

Optional extras:

Additional chain

Beads

Metal tags

Kevlar thread or wire to attach the above

Instructions:

1. Cut your belt 1″-1 ½” shorter than your normal bracelet size depending on how loose or tight you like to wear them.  (Don’t worry about the existing belt holes you can either ignore them or bead through them later.)  Trim corners round, on a diagonal or leave straight.

2. Punch holes on both ends about 1/8″ inch.

3. Paint your belt using Shimmers with your choice of colors.  Some are a random splash of colors, some use the existing embossed pattern and some are freeform patterns. You may also choose to use a stencil or rubber stamp to create your image.  Allow the paint to dry.

4. Attach your closure with jump rings or a combination of chain, jump rings or wire. If you are using a toggle make sure to add in a small chain on the bar end to make it easier to attach the bracelet.

5. Embellish more if you like! Stitch on beads, charms, buttons or trinkets using Kevlar thread.  Knot on the back then dot each knot with a dab of glue when you are done.

More Fun: Wire on tags by using a flat bead with a head pin run through it on the underside.  Wrap the ends of the head pins around holes in the tag, secure with more wraps then trim the ends. Add sections of chain by attaching chain ends to jump rings on each end. There are a million and one ways to make this bracelet so try it out today!

Learn more about Earth Safe Finishes HERE.