November 29, 2011AnitracloseAuthor: AnitraName: Anitra Cameron Site:http://coffee-pot-people.blogspot.com/ About: Anitra Cameron had the good fortune to be born into a family where creativity ran rampant. Her father has authored several books and worked as a photographer and her mother hand-painted portraits. Anitra’s favorite crafts to make are: Jewelry (especially using buttons), collaged book marks, miniature cake stands, all from recycled materials. Anitra’s moto: “Use it up. Wear it out. Make it do, or do without.” Live with that long enough and you’ll never want to throw anything away, so best to turn it into art! Anitra lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband, where their combined family’s total seven children, and (so far) seventeen grandchildren. Recently Anitra became a great-grandmother of a darling little boy! You can find more of Anitra’s work at “Coffee Pot People”.See Authors Posts (103)Crafts, Green Crafting, Holidays, Needlearts, Projects, Trends2 Comments
What’s not to love about scarves? They have the power to make me glad of chilly opportunities to wrap one around my neck! Here’s a project that yields a big, fluffy, dramatic scarf with a minimum of effort and materials. To make it you’ll need a few yards of bulky yarn, such as the chenille I used, and about ¼ yard of matching fleece.
Cut a strip of fleece 8″ wide across the width of your fabric, so that you have a piece 8″x50″ (or whatever the width of your yardage is). Cutting the short way, cut strips ½” x 8″. If your fabric was 50″ wide, you”ll end up with 100 little strips. Don’t obsess about the number or exact width, though. If you’re off a wee bit, it really won’t make a difference.
Take up your yarn and a crochet hook that’s big enough to give you a nice stitch tension (I used a Boye H, if I recall correctly), and begin a chain. Crochet one chain stitch, and then just lay one of the fleece strips across the yarn, next to the hook, and chain stitch right over the top of it, “capturing” the strip in the stitch.
*Chain one, and capture a strip in the next chain.* Repeat until your scarf is as long as you like, and finish off.
You now have something rather like a big boa, great fun to wear or give, and you’ve done it on the quick. Go forth, and collect your compliments and smiles!
June 5, 2011Mable CraftsalotcloseAuthor: Mable CraftsalotName: Mable Craftsalot Site:http://www.Facebook.com/CreateForLess About: The name says it all! Mable Crafts-alot is an avid reader of craft blogs & magazines and has aspirations to improve her crafting skills. Mable has never met a craft she didn’t like! Mable spends her free time attending craft classes at local community centers, and even teaches a few. When she is not crafting she enjoys cooking, reading, photography and gardening. Mable loves to connect with other crafters to share project ideas, discuss craft trends and chat about favorite crafting tools and techniques. To learn more about Mable, become her friend on Facebook!See Authors Posts (48)Crafts, Needlearts, ProjectsNo Comments
By Crafts-a lot Contributor, Mable who is an avid reader of craft blogs & magazines and has aspirations to improve her crafting skills. Join Mable on Facebookto socialize and share with other crafters!
I’ve always been a fan of Clover’s bamboo knitting needles. In fact that was my first pair! Now many knitting and crocheting needles later, Cloveris still my first choice and have made some of my other favorite things! They make some of the most ingenious products that makes craft projects look professional, even for a beginner.
Have you ever tried to make a yo-yo by hand? I have, and refuse to ever do it that way again! Watch this video on the Clover Yo-Yo makers and you’ll see why. The Clover Yo-Yo Makers come in small, medium, large and x-large in numerous shapes – butterfly, heart, flower, oval and more.
PS. I also refuse to make pom-poms by hand now too! Thank you Clover!
I recently got a Flower Frill template too. It’s a plastic template where you flip & fold fabric or paper to make a flower! This is what Clover made with the Flower Frill template, just imagine the possibilities!
February 8, 2011GilliancloseAuthor: GillianName: Gillian Grimm Site:http://driedfigsandwoodenspools.blogspot.com/ About: Gillian Grimm lives in Charlottesville, Virginia where she balances writing, cooking and crafts with eight chickens, two kids, a dog, a cat and a husband. As the daughter of a Journalist, she grew up all over the United States, switching schools, towns and newspapers every few years and loved every minute of it! She now works as a freelance writer, primarily in the craft industry but with a few forays into travel writing, narrative non-fiction and educational matters. Gillian was recently published in the literary journal the “The Northville Review”. You can find more of Gillian’s work at “Dried Figs and Wooden Spools”.See Authors Posts (152)Crafts, Home Decor, Needlearts, Projects, Techniques and MediumsNo Comments
I’m big on knitting, especially in the winter. And I always have several projects going in my workbasket. Which means that there are several balls of wool, often getting tangled up with each other. And that makes a huge mess. So lately I’ve been separating my yarn balls into little felt baskets. It makes grabbing one project out of the mess easy, keeps the yarn separate and keeps the ball from rolling around when I’m working. And they couldn’t be easier to make. Think back to your kindergarten days when you learned to weave. Over, under, over, under. If you can do that, you can make this basket!
2. Flip the bowl upside down and lay the strips across the bottom, weaving them so that they cover as much of the base as possible. Carefully flip the bowl right side up so that the strips are laying around the bowl and the woven part is on your table.
3. Clip all the strips to the top of the bowl with the clothespins.
4. Using more strips, weave in and out around the sides of the bowl until you have reached the top. Clip the excess and glue the ends of each strip together, tucking the join under one of the upright strips.
5. Unclip the clothespins and carefully slide the bowl out.
6. Fold the ends over the top strip, trimming them to be just long enough to tuck under securely. Glue each top strip in place.
Example will be a simple felt ball sized to about 1″ to make a felt bead.
Pull tufts of roving and start forming a small ball. Continue to roll the ball with small tufts of roving until it’s just a little bigger than you want the finished ball to be.
Carefully begin to softly punch the ball with your felting needle. Be careful, felting needles are very sharp with barbed bodies. You only need to push the needle in about ½”. You can do this while the ball is in one hand, felting with the other hand or place ball onto a cushion and felt it while holding it in place. Keep moving the ball so you felt all sides. You’ll see and feel it getting firmer and harder. Continue until ball is firm.
This is the basic technique of needle felting. You can shape the roving into just about any shape and felt it. For a doll you might make the head, body, arms, and legs. Then you’ll attach the pieces together by felting them… punching the felting needle into the 2 layers to form a bond. Wool fibers have “hooks” and by agitating the hooks (by needle or water) the hooks bond permanently.
One of the best ways to learn about felting is to purchase a kit or book!
Example will be a simple felt ball sized to about 1″ to make a felt bead.
Pull tufts of roving and start forming a small ball. Continue to roll the ball with small tufts of roving until it’s just a little bigger than you want the finished ball to be.
Add a little liquid dish soap to a large bowl of water. About 1 tsp per quart of water.
Drizzle water over the ball. While holding ball in one hand, drizzle with water until damp, but not dripping. Too much water will make the felt hard to control and mushy.
Throw ball back and forth in hands for several minutes, you will feel the ball getting firmer and harder. When firm, rinse until clear with warm water. Set aside to dry.
This is wet felting. It’s best to use a simple liquid dish soap, not one that has been scented or has anti-bacteria agents. Using this basic technique you can felt anything your imagination can create! Wool fibers have “hooks” and by agitating the hooks (by needle or water) the hooks bond permanently.
One of the best ways to learn more about felting is by purchasing a kit or book.
Cross-stitch is the classic and getting plenty of attention with new and modern designs and patterns. Look for more embellishing in finished pieces especially buttons and charms. Needle punch (or is that Punch Needle?) continues to grow in popularity. This very old needleart has been modernized with cotton and silk threads/flosses in very trendy colors. Most designs have a country, pop art, or family flair, but if you branch out into books you’ll find just about any theme you could dream of. The needle punch needle has been updated and you can customize your needs for 1, 2, 3, 4, and more threads.
Rugs are back! Look for handmade, hooked, and punched rugs in magazines and movies. Everyone loves the warm feeling that these crafted floor coverings offer to our homes. But don’t stop at the floor! Many projects call for rugs to be hung for wall art. Embroidery rounds out this category. Motifs for embroidery have a wide spectrum from bright and sassy for teenagers to classic country for homes. Kits are a great way to introduce and learn about stitching techniques so you can go out on your own for clothing, jewelry, pillows, and more.
