Think Crafts Blog – Craft Ideas and Projects – CreateForLess

By CreateForLess.com Team Member Joselyn

Beginning knitting can be an extremely frustrating process. While you’re imagining all of the beautiful sweaters and complicated patterns you can create, you find out that you are far from knitting anything more than a straight line. Some people never make it past scarves, knitting more for relaxation or something to do with their hands. However, scarves can get a little boring, and they can take forever. Besides, how many scarves do you really need? Here’s a project that a knitter of any skill level can make quickly, using scrap yarn. If you haven’t taken the first step to learning basic stitches, here’s a great website that can teach you everything you need to know and more: Learn How To Knit.

Materials:

• Scrap Yarn (worsted weight)
• US Size 8  knitting needles or Double Pointed Needles for more experienced knitters
• Darning needle

Hi there, I’m Crystal and I’m crazy for cross stitching! My love for cross stitch, fashion, and accessories let me to create a line of on-trend necklaces that are full of color and pattern. Each piece is hand stitched by me and assembled in my home in Los Angeles, then sold in my Etsy shop. My background in makeup artistry gave me a greater understanding of color and detail, and that has translated directly into my jewelry. I am inspired by everything around me, from the sunny California weather to the latest runway shows. My favorite pieces are the double sided pendants (wear with twice as many outfits!), and I just started offering a design your own initial pendant. Buyers get to choose their own colors and font type!
I am excited to continue to grow my business and have lots of new products being introduced in the next year.

Etsy: http://www.blendblend.etsy.com
Blog: http://www.blend10.blogspot.com

Interested in being a “Featured Crafter”? We want to hear from our crafty friends about what they like to create. Share with us what you put your energy into, whether it is your passion, your business, or simply something you enjoy doing. Do you have your own blog, Etsy store or craft products? Tell us about it!

Click here to submit a “Featured Crafter”!

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 Facebook to socialize and share with other crafters.

Make a statement with your own homemade party hats to ring in the New Year! Not only are they more stylish than your average party hat, but they’re customizable and so much more fun!! Add your favorite colors or stick with this sophisticated black and gold scheme. I want to wear these hats year round! Maybe I’ll just make some for every occasion instead.

What you Will Need:

• Paper Party Hat
• Gold Martha Stewart Tinsel Glitter 
• Mod Podge
• Sponge Brush
• Mod Podge Clear Acrylic Sealer
• Black Polka Dot Cardstock
• Gold Cardstock
• Martha Stewart Punch Edge Stars
• 2 inch Circle Punch
• Black Number Stickers
• Hot Glue
• Black Pipe Cleaner
• Pencil

Gather up these supplies and then head over to Celebrations.com for the easy to follow instructions.

By Kid’s Craft Contributor Tracey, from the blog We Made That.

Do you like making ornaments for your Christmas tree?  I sure do, and I love seeing all the ornaments my kids made from the years before hanging on the tree each year.  We have made it a tradition to make a new ornament every year, and some years we make two or three different ones. What can I say, I love ornaments!

This year, I wanted to try something a little different and fun, so we made these melted snowman ornaments.  Both my girls love the snow and we have not been lucky enough this year to have any.  When I told my oldest what we were going to make, she was super excited.  Since she got very curious about how the snowman melted, we got to turn this little project into a learning project as I explained about the three common states of matter solid, liquid, and gas.  It totally confused her, so we ended up talking more about hot and cold.  If you have older children, you can get more into the states of matter.

I think these look best when you try to make the snowman face out of the beads and a foam paper carrot, however, you do not need to do this. If you choose to, the easiest way is to just drop everything in, then using the tip of small scissors or tweezers you can grab and move everything into place.   Please keep in mind that if your kids are like mine, these will get played with. The face will quickly disappear in the mound of snow, just like the real snowmen outside.

Read the rest…

By Crafts for Learning Contributor, Danielle from the blog Crayonbox Learning.

© Danielle Westvang  Crayonbox Learning

Materials Needed:

• Large popsicle sticks
• White paint
• Paint brush
• Pipe cleaners (1 per snowman)
• Small pom poms (2 per snowman)
• Grosgrain ribbon
• Orange Sharpie
• Black Sharpie
• E6000 Glue
• Scissors

Directions:

1. Paint the front and sides of the large popsicle sticks.  You may need 2-3 coats of paint, depending on the brand.  Let the paint dry in between coats.  You want to make sure that the whole popsicle stick is evenly covered and the paint dry before proceeding to the next step.
2. Cut a small piece of pipe cleaner.  This piece is going to become the head piece for ear muffs on the snowman.  Depending on the actual size of the popsicle stick, you will want to bend the pipe cleaner around the tip of the popsicle stick.  For my example, the pipe cleaner piece is approximately 1 inch long.
3. Using the E6000 glue, put a small amount of glue on the edge of the popsicle stick and place the pipe cleaner piece onto it.  Let it set for a couple minutes to make sure that it stays in place.
4. Glue on the small pom poms on each side of the snowman at the ends of the pipe cleaner.
5. Allow the glue to completely dry before moving on to the next step.
6. Using an orange and black Sharpie, draw the carrot nose, eyes and mouth onto the snowman.
7. Cut a piece of Grosgrain ribbon to tie onto the snowman for its scarf as shown in the photo.
8. Using the black Sharpie add on a few black buttons below the scarf.
9. Now the Snowman Pointer / Bookmark is ready for use!

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 Facebook to socialize and share with other crafters.

A longer lasting and (in my opinion) a more beautiful twist on the classic paper bag luminaries. These luminaries speak for themselves, describing exactly what you feel when you see them.

Supplies:

• 3 Large Cans 
• JOY Template
• Tape
• Hammer
• Nail
• Towel
• Red Spray Paint

Grab these supplies, print out the template, and then head over to Celebrations.com for the easy to follow instructions.

By Craft Trends Contributor, Gillian from the blog Dried Figs and Wooden Spools. Check out our Craft Trends board on Pinterest!

Remember elementary school winters when you made snowflake after snowflake out of construction paper? I know I could never get enough and I’m sure my parents were, ahem, thrilled, with the endless snowflakes I brought home and taped to all our windows. Well, I still love to make snowflakes in winter, but these days I’m not limiting myself to construction paper.

Beautiful, simple and yet complex at the same time, making snowflakes out of unusual materials like these junk mail versions is a great way to turn a basic craft into something spectacular.

I love the use of these snowflakes strung off of balloons. It adds a whimsical touch with something as simple as a paper punch and some tape. I’d love to see a whole room full of these floating at a winter party. Of course, delicately strung snowflakes like this would look equally beautiful without the balloons, perhaps hanging together along a wall or in a doorway? Either way, they are beautiful.

My favorite snowflakes these days however, and ones I’m dying to try myself thanks to a newfound interest in hand stitching, are these embroidered examples. I’d love to create some simple winter throw pillows embroidered with intricate snowflakes such as these but I’m also thinking they would be a great decoration for winter cards! Umm, I’m ready for winter!

Be sure to check out these and other inspirational ideas on our Craft Trends Pinboard on Pinterest!