Think Crafts Blog – Craft Ideas and Projects – CreateForLess

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

If you are a crafter, then you’ve got glitter. It can’t be helped. It’s a badge of honor, really, to have glitter in every crack and crevice of your craft space and stuck to your hands and shirt and under your nails. It’s glitter. That’s what it does and really, would we have it any other way? A little glitter makes anything more fun, more exciting and more memorable.

ThinkCrafts.com (click image for tutorial)

One Charming Party (click image for source)

If there’s ever a time to use glitter with abandon, it’s on special holidays like birthdays or New Years. These two projects offer different methods for marking those glitter-worthy days with sparkly candles. Both are fantastic projects, both are simple and so, both are must-do’s for any crafter. Candles are always fun, but candles with glitter are much, much better.

Crap I’ve Made (click image for source)

This is possibly the best glitter project I’ve seen. As a long time glasses wearer and a lover of glitter, well, it’s really the perfect project. How can you resist? I don’t think I’d start out using my good prescription glasses for this project, but sunglasses or drug store reading glasses would make excellent candidates for this project, and just think! With so many glitter color options available, you could make a whole wardrobe of glitter glasses!

iCandy Homemade (click image for source)

My little girl is (of course) just as glitter obsessed as I am, so glitter covered clothing is always a hit with her. We’ve done several variations on the glitter tee and each and every one has been worn and worn and worn until there are too many holes to keep wearing it. This tutorial is especially good if you’re looking for one to try (and I highly recommend that you do, especially if you have a sparkle loving child!)

Check out these and other glitter crafts on our Craft Trends Pinboard and please, share your glitter crafts with us! We love to see your projects!

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.

It’s beginning to smell a lot like Christmas! Bring the scent of the holiday into the bathroom with you when you wash with your very own Candy Cane Soap! It’s easy to make and looks good enough to eat!

What You Will Need:

• 1lb Clear Glycerine Soap Block
• 6 Candy Canes
• Soap Molds
• Peppermint Oil
• Spray Bottle
• Alcohol
• Microwave-Safe Bowl
• Mixing Spoon
• Freezer Bag

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

By Kid’s Crafts Contributor Stephanie, from the blog A Geek In Glasses.

I have to say that I really love projects that use letter tiles. I think they are fun. This quick project is great way to make a personalized gift for anyone on your list. I used our last name, but first names would be just as cool.

Supplies:

• Letter Tiles
• Hot Glue
• Twine

 Read the Full How-to After the Jump… Read the rest…

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!

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

When I was a little girl, my mother had a crystal bonbon dish on her dresser filled with every color and size of button imaginable. I loved to stare at it, sitting up there with her perfume and her jewelry box. And I loved it even better when she would take it down and let me dump it out and play with all those buttons. Its led to an adult case of button love. And since my kids still play with that same crystal jar full of buttons (although the buttons are, I think, different these days) it’s probably genetic.

I love finding buttons in crafts. Buttons AS crafts. These days buttons come in SO many shapes and colors and styles that there really seems to be a button for every craft. A button for everything. I mean, look at these awesome DIY shrinky dink buttons. SO CUTE. And infinitely customizable.

This shirt with it’s swath of buttons is, frankly, genius. Not only does it turn something boring ( a white tee) into something fun a cool, it’s also a good stain coverup tool. Think of all the shirts you could save with the addition of some button decorations on it!

And clearly, this teeny button on a boutonniere is just, georgours. Perfect touch.

Sometimes, the button itself is the art. Is the craft. Theses button drawings are gorgeous, and wonderful, and whimsical.

Tell us some of your best button crafts so we can add them to the pinboards! And don’t forget to check out our Craft Trends Board for more great button related ideas!

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

Clothespins were, I think the very first craft supply I recognized as a “craft supply”. They were one of the first things I was given to go do something with as a child. We always had them around. Baskets of them in the laundry room – my grandmother still hung her laundry out to dry most days, tins of them in the kitchen, and baggies of them at the craft table. We painted them and turned them into pilgrims for thanksgiving, decorated them to identify who’s napkin belonged to whom, hung our art up with them…they were much loved for all sorts of things. And in my house, they still are. We love clothespins and I still keep a basket of them around all the time.

Because the thing is, they are just so darn handy.

AND

They are so darn easy to turn into something fun!

I love this clothespin wreath, it’s cute and minimalist and, depending on the direction that the “clip” end goes, you could easily use it to hang up and display holiday cards or other small decorations. Smart, pretty and functional! And painted other colors, this same wreath could work during any season and with any decor.

This jar of old fashion clothespins wrapped in ribbon looks charming and rustic on it’s own, yes. But again, it’s also smart. I do something similar with embroidery floss, wrapping it around a clothespin and writing the color number on the wood so that it’s easy to unwind the amount I want AND it keeps from turning into a crazy mess. The fact that it looks beautiful sitting there with it’s fellows in a jar is just an excellent bonus. And now that I’ve seen it with ribbon I’m determined to turn that box to tangled up ribbon into something pretty and practical like this! I love it!

Of course, the main purpose of clothespins are to clip something to something else.

Here we see them hanging art (super cute use of the ruler there too!) and here they are used to hold place cards at a wedding.

Loving both! But even those every day clips that you keep around the kitchen to hold bags of chips closed can be spiced up and made fun. If you were to dive into my basket of clothespins, you’d probably come up with something like this cute pin, decorated simply, but beautifully, with a single layer of washi tape.

What’s you’re favorite use for clothespins? Crafty or otherwise?

By Card Making & Scrapbooking Contributor, Peg Rounds from Peg’s Crafting Corner.

 How do you tell the difference between glitter and embossing powder?

Glitter has a shiny, sparkly look to it and is applied with glue.  Once the glue is dry the glitter will stick to the project.   Embossing powder must be adhered using a special ink pad called an “embossing ink pad” which is applied using a stamp and then the powder is poured onto the stamped image and heated with a heat gun to adhere.  Both glitter and embossing powders come in a variety of colors and fineness.

Why does my Martha Stewart Scoreboard keep tearing my paper?

When creating a scored line, use a medium pressure on the paper.  Too much pressure being applied using the scoring tool is usually the main reason the paper becomes torn.

What type of glue is best with glitter?

There are several different types of glue and brands that work well to adhere glitter.  A glue pad is good to use with stamps to put an image onto paper and add glitter.  Glue pens are nice to use for doing fine lines and details.

How do I get a clean stamped image?

There are 2 suggestions I have for creating a good image.  The first one is to rub an eraser over the stamp before using.  This helps to remove anything that may be left on the stamp from it being made and conditions the stamp for use.  Also, you can first ink it with Ranger Archival Black Ink, let the ink dry on the stamp and clean in water.  Then, you will be able to use any inks of your choice without it beading up, but remember to wash it in water only and nothing else.

How do I attach vellum?

There are adhesives which come in a tape runner form that are specifically made for vellum.  The adhesive is slightly opaque and as it dries becomes clearer over time.