Crafty

5/31 - Crafty U Book Signing - 12PMAC MOORE1 Worcester RdFramingham, MA 017016/4 - Crafty U Book Signing - 12PM Eaton Centre220 Yonge StreetToronto, Canada6/10 - Crafty U Book Signing - 12PMMICHAELS STORE #3849Village Crossings Shopping Center7055 N. Central AvenueSkokie, IL 605776/16 - Crafty U Book Signing - 12PMMICHAELS STORE #2875Mansell Crossing Shopping Center7491 N. Point Pkwy.Alpharetta, G

My pick for today is this adorable picture of a girl doing yoga.  A simple design yet so effective and would look great as a feature piece on a wall.  It is also available as a set of three although I must admit I prefer it more as a stand alone piece for a more [...]

I hardly know where to begin! Maker Faire was so amazing. There was a staggering amount of things to see and do. The people watching was utterly fantastic. Even better, I got to meet a whole bunch of really awesome artists and crafters. So that's where we'll start: Crafty People! Pauline and G. Pete Chickenpants, take it away!Getting ready for Maker Faire 2008 was a snap for us! We like to travel light.And of course the Chickenpants are ready to go too. Originally uploaded by absolutely smallOur boss, however, was a bit stressed out.Daily photo 5.2.08 Originally uploaded by absolutely smallFortunately, she got over it in a hurry.me, again Originally uploaded by absolutely smallWhile she manned the table, we went out to meet people. First up were the awesome folks of Spicy Brown. They man

I recently made the biggest move of my life. This big city girl moved to Oklahoma City, the dead of the bible belt. Having grown up in LA slash the OC I had big hopes for this town. I knew it had potential. So I have set out on a mission to prove OKC as hip as any other big town.So that brings me to my first plug, Housewares. This is a local traveling show of D.I.Y crafters and artist out to make a buck. Headed up by Lindsay Wantland , who gathered 18 artist to set up shop on NW 16th st of Oklahoma City this past weekend. Items showcased included re-vamped vintage clothes, screened tees, jewelry, photography, baby clothes, hand-bound journals, knitted goods.....Heres a taste of my favs:This Post was contributed by El-izzle.

I was never one of those girls who had a different handbag for every day of the week. I had one handbag and it was my favorite. I used it for everything and then say five months down the road I fell in love with another bag that became my new favorite. But recently, I've started to become a 'collector' not only of bags but shoes. I don't know what's come over me. At any rate, my new must-have bag is this. It's by Sommer Designs and is priced at $75. The fabric is Amy Butler and since I can't afford to spend $75 on a handbag I'm going to attempt to make this. I'll be ordering the fabric tomorrow and whenever I finish I'll post my result. But for those of you who have a little more spare change in their coin purse, you might want to take a look at some of her other designs. It's eye candy fo

A week or so ago, the folks at Simon & Schuster had asked whether I'd be interested in taking a look, and possibly reviewing, a new crafting book of theirs. Given I'm the madwoman who'd decided it might be fun to varnish Marshmallow Peeps and turn them into Easter decor, I really couldn't resist a look-see. So today, we're going to take a gander at Rosie O'Donnell's Crafty U book, a clever compilation of craft ideas parents can do with their children to while away a rainy day-- or big kids like me might use to get new crafting ideas.Now, up-front I want to say, this isn't a paid review or anything. Just like I don't have advertising on my hobby sites, I don't do paid reviews, either. To me, it's about learning and not endorsing. So this was done just because I like to mix things up her

Crafty Girl: Slumber Parties (Paperback)By Jennifer Traig 38 used and new from $0.01 Customer Rating: First tagged “parties” by Julie Thibaudeau Customer tags: childrens books, themes, slumber, caitlins books, makeup, look for, [...]

Cassi from the lovely blog Bella Dia has just created a new site called "The Crafty Crow". It's a blog featuring some of the best children's craft ideas on the web. I especially like the "make your own sticker tutorial" which I plan on doing soon.

So there’s this simplistic new app released whose sole purpose is effectively a search bar for Amazon. It’s called Amaze-on, and all you do is type what you’re looking for and it’ll shove you over to Mobile Safari to bring up the results directly on Amazon. Sounds a bit like a native app version [...]

I always wish I have a place to put my crafty materials, my sewing machine, a table to work. Something just like this - craftsty closet, like this, this, this, or like hellokittygirl . I'm not a greedy person, I just want a small room or place to just put my thing and can use directly where I no need to take our everything for just doing 1 small craft. Don't know TS will give me a small store room or a small place for our new house in future??

We’re used to seeing most celebrities combing the racks at the hottest boutiques, and lunching at the most expensive and exclusive restaurants.  But Jennifer Love Hewitt isn’t most celebrities. The “Ghost Whisperer” actress was spotted indulging her arts and crafts fetish at Michael’s Craft Store in...

I did bring some stuff home from work to do over the weekend, but it has stayed in the boot of my car the whole time. Oh well. Instead, I have been doing odds and sods around the house and generally lazing around. Went out for a drink with GBF on Saturday night, spent part of Saturday morning and Sunday evening sitting with Grandma while Mum had her hair cut and went to the hospital. I also spent a lot of money that I probably shouldn't have done in The Range yesterday because I found a new scrapbook that was ideal for what I had been wanting to do. I've got lots of photos of live gigs and have been wanting to do something with them, yet didn't really want them to go in the family and friends kind of scrapbook I already have. Not that I've done a lot with that recently, but that's not

Quite some time back, I mentioned that a certain craft magazine has approached me to contribute to their magazine.Well, the magazine is finally out and they were so kind to send me a few copies. They even have a site where you can have a look at the magazine in varies format.Those who like crafts will find this magazine very interesting. I did. I didn't know there's sliver clay which will turn to pure 999 sliver after 10 minutes in the kiln and fire. InterestingOh, my kids craft is featured as mentioned. Look out for my contribution in their Kid's Workshop section. I can be found in their friend's page too. *wink*Watch out from issue 2. I'll be there ... again. *wink*

THE CRAFTY SLAVEA SLAVE, BELONGING TO the Sultan Umrulais.escape and ran away. Servants were quickly sent in pursuit. He did't get far. They caught him, brought him back, and threw him in chains at the feet of the sultan.'Make an example of him,' said the vizier, who had a grudge against the slave. `Have him executed, my lord, or you'll have all the slaves trying to escape,'The slave fell to the ground before Umrulais. `O Sultan,' he said, `if you want my head off there's nothing I can do about it. However, you haven't been a bad master. You've fed me well and on the whole I've been happy.So I should be sorry if, on the day of resurrection, you were punished for illegally shedding my blood. If you must kill me, do it according to the Law,' `Indeed?' said the Sultan. `Suppose

Well, it's been almost a month since I've posted my crafty goals, and I have done absolutely ZERO knitting and sewing. NOT a good start to the year. I did however recently giveaway this. I made it awhile ago, and got such an overwhelming response that I am now considering opening an Etsy shop. But, to do this I need to first clean out and organize my craft room. So, I have revised my goals,

I'm always on the lookout for easy gifts to make, here are some of my favorites I've found lately:1. Homemade lunchbags. Quenna at Blissful has several varieties and Tumbling Blocks has an oilcloth version that I just love.2. Tiny sweater ornaments. These miniature knitted sweaters at Inside a Black Apple could make an adorable garland or series of ornaments for the tree. And you know those tiny buttons are too much to resist.3. Homemade chocolate truffles. I make these regularly as gifts and they're always a hit. Put them in tiny gift boxes for added sweetness.4. Pop-up cards. Robert Sabuda.com has fabulous tutorials for making beautiful pop-up cards--perfect for any time of year.5. Ribbon pinecone ornaments. Whip up has the tutorial for making these beautiful ribbon pinecones--they look easy enough to do with older children too.6. A chic wall calendar. Using Little Hut's pattern you can make a calendar with recycled scraps--really pretty.7. A hand-bound journal. Da

On the ground floor of our apartment building is a children's arts and crafts school. It's never been open when I passed by but I've peeked in the windows before. Last weekend the school had a sidewalk display of the student's artwork. I even found polymer clay as you can see in the photo above.This art was created with paper.More polymer clay along with ceramics.Amazing paper folding.This was my favorite. I'm living with a bunch of talented kids. I would love to volunteer at the school so I'm going to try and catch it open. Let's see what happens!

Christmas season can wipe any frugal person out, and put some in debt. Buying gifts for everyone on your list, especially if your list is long, makes even the cheapest tightwad sweat. Who has hundreds of dollars to spend on some electronic toy that will be uncool by next year? Not me, that's for certain!Making your own gifts can easily save you money and time. Putting together the perfect present crafted by your own hands is such a warm feeling, unlike the feeling you get after spending hours in a crowded mall. And knowing that you can make everyone happy without breaking the bank gives a warm glow too. But what can you make that everyone will love?Head over to Creative Mom Cafe! All during the month of November a different craft project will be displayed each day. Each one will be perfect to give as a gift, and easy to make no matter how un-crafty you may be. Be sure to bookmark the site to subscribe to the feed to keep up with all the great crafty, and frugal, ideas!

This is what I've been all afternoon. I have decided to personalize our Christmas cards this year. I took an old picture of the girls this past winter and made it black and white. I printed it out on pre-made 5x7 cards. I used glue spray and sprinkled the snow part with very fine white and silver glitter and I used a silver paint pen to fill in the space below the picture and I'll use it to write the personal message inside the card. The glitter is hard to see in the pic here, but I rather impressed myself. I had no idea it would turn out so well.Please visit http://midwesthorse.blogspot.com/index.html for more horse stories, information and resources.

Last weekend I revisited my hometown stretch of strip-mall highway, Mechanicsville, Virginia to be an usher at my sister's wedding. An awesome event that put the idea in my head that I too will someday be married simply for the cake and the good reason to take dance lessons. It's my dream to exploit a wicked ballroom style tango, cha-cha, and salsa thing in front of my friends and future family when I take my "first dance" with my new bride. To me there's no better audience to captivate than the ones that knew you in diapers or when you were arrested that time or used to blow dry your hair like one of the New Kids on the Block. A wedding is a great redemption to stand up and say, this is my Hot Wife and these are our hot moves. Prepare your guts for that awful feeling of jealousy and enjoy the open bar before we say goodbye and get busy in the back of a limo.I arrived at the sister's wedding in full magician's garb. Meaning, my suit was well stocked with every trick I've learned

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I picked up a great print by Daniel St. George at Little Paper Planes. I happened to be browsing the Crafty Synergy blog and found a really great interview with the owner of Little Paper Planes, Kelly Lynn Jones. She's an amazing artist who is really in touch with architecture and space. Check out the interview by CLICKING HERE. And check out Kelly's blog by

'm looking to start a knitting circle for women of color in the Twin Cities (that is Minnesota--the great North!). I know that sounds like a tall order, but I think it can be done. I'm struggling with the name a bit. Here are the candidates: Sistas with Sticks Brown Skeins Crafty Sistas Twin Cities Knitters of Color BBK (Beautiful, Brown Knitters) Whole Mess a String?So what group would you join? Are there any sistas (women of color--any color) out there interested in getting together one day a month at a local coffee shop to knit and discuss current happenings? If so, hit me up at erykaj@yahoo.comand we'll see what we can pull together. Also, I got this idea from Black Purls, a group of women who get together in L.A. I asked if I could start a sub group and they were ok with it.

Hilary Duff will be introducing “a line of stuff by hilary duff” design-it-yourself crafts to be sold at Michaels craft stores. They are do-it-yourself fashion accessories and embellishments. They will include over 40 cool fashion products that inspire you to reinvent something you already have or accessorize your clothing. The collection includes bold chain link bracelets and necklaces, iron-on graphics, studs, and stones. Keep Reading! crafts, Hilary+Duff, Michaels

Crafty evil elves Cause dancing in hell And devil eyes to swell On the stories they tell Of evil crafty spells Used by the crafty evil elves. One inch high and dressed in black Long blue hair and a little hunch back The stick together in a pack In dark corners waiting to attack. Seeking humans for their prey Destroying good times every day They hunt the places people play Casting evil crafty spells night and day. If you see a tiny flash of light And happy feelings take flight Look around and you just might See one hiding in corners of the night.

“Mom I’m bored!” “Mom there’s nothing to do!” “Moooooom!” How often do those words echo through your house? Here we are expereincing a sudden cold front that is ruining our spring time fun. While I’m pacing the floor worrying about my garden and hoping everything survives, inside the house tensions are mounting as we can’t go out and burn off steam. I’m a big arts and craft fan myself. That’s my answer to everything. If you can’t go outside to play do arts and crafts. If you’re bored do arts and crafts. If you’ve got the flu and can’t get out of bed…. do arts and crafts. I keep a stocked craft area, stocked to the point of overflowing onto the rest of the house. On any given day you are likely to find us doing some sort of craft project. You don’t need to spend a ton of money either, just keeping a few craft supplies on hand will be enough to do almost anything. With young chi

I bought fabric......and yarn......and baked Easter-y cupcakes.The fabric has since been deployed to cover storage boxes and bits ahve been made into a quilt. The one all the way on the right is being made into an apron. The cupcakes, while lovely to LOOK at, I'm afraid were made too soon, and so were dry by the time we ate them on Sunday. Very sad.I'm afraid there's a little too much pink in this post.

aqua bear cd mem Dont forget to join my Forum! Thank you to everyone wishing Smidgy good luck and all, its amazing less than two days after major reconstructive surgery and shes standing on that leg without a single wobble, she lifts it up now and then (presumably to relieve the pain) and shes even been trying to escape! Shes also started picking at her stitches so I think we’ll have to get a lampshade fitted to her collar again. I can’t look at them with a straight face when they have those on! Because Princess feels left out! Well, I mentioned several things had happened since I’d come home, firstly smudge, then my mum reversing into my car, well the other thing is, my dad finally got his new car! Rhys spent some time yesterday trying to explain to me that its impossible to have a cars babies, I beg to differ! I WANT ITS BABIES! I love BMW’s, I always have and this car (5 series 3 litre diesel) is the sexiest one around! I can even sync my phone to it and

Evil Blog Promotion Techniques By erigena, published 21st March 2007 Blogger John Chow identifies and discusses a number of “evil blog promotion methods” to increase the popularity of your Blog. These “crafty methods” involve a range of tactics including exploiting special offers from text-link companies, link trains, and clever viral marketing. Below is a summary of Chow’s evil (and not so evil) blog promotion techniques. Sponsor a Wordpress Template - Sponsoring a Wordpress / Blog Theme - If the theme is popular, you can expect a lot of inbound links by paying for a link in the footer of the template/theme (Not really evil, but is good viral marketing). TextLinkAds bonus exploitation - Use the TextLink ads.com Link Buying Starter Kit + redeem your $100 coupon for new advertisers. Buy the minimum of $125 of links (for a real cost of $25), and receive a bonus $25 if you are a publisher on Text Link Ads and refer yourself.

Send this one over to Craft:. A gaggle of women nested in the mountains of Poland mean business. Pulling up their panties sleeves, the women went to work on a new position for their traditional hand-made lace. Apparently not making headway with dolls and doilies, the lacy ladies began crafting hand-made thongs.Fleshbot reports, "the women of the tiny mountain village of Koniakow [have banded] together to produce fine lace panties, bras and swimsuits that are decorative, sexy, and—of course—mostly see-through. The company is taking off, too, ensuring that this 200-year-old tradition of crafting will live on, even if it's under other people's clothes."It's always a warm feeling to know that dozens of fingers have precariously perused your panties before putting a pair on each morning.tags technorati : handmade knitting lace panties poland thongs

It's back! In its 18th year, the American Craft Show returns to Atlanta this weekend -- but to a new location: the Cobb Galleria Centre. Starting on Friday, more than 200 new and established artists will set up shop and display their wares, everything from jewelery and clothing to furniture and pottery.  And this year there will be Craft 4 Kids featuring colorful mobiles, hand-sewn dolls and more. For more information or to buy tickets, visit craftcouncil.org/atlanta.

When winter sets in, I pick up the yarn.I've been working on this afghan for our living room. I'm winging it, if you couldn't tell by the utter randomness, just kind of juggling the stitch patterns and colors. I'm actually using this as a sort of learning sampler, since I've never ventured much beyond your basic stockinette stitch. I went to A.C. Moore last month and picked up a bunch of 25% off basic acrylic yarns in the colors of our furniture and FLOR tiles*, and there you have it. The nice thing about knitting an afghan, I'm discovering, is that once you get a foot or two on the needles, it's very cozy to knit with it stretched across your lap. Especially when it's 15 bloody degrees outside. In other "Crafty!" news, I am finally almost finished with this scarf. From what I can tell, it took me 17 months to knit. Working on that schedule, I should have all the ends woven in and the scarf blocked by July. * I am truly in love with the FLOR tiles. You pick them up, scrub them

Everyone's birthday's coming up very soon - Sophie at the end of the month (4) and Petey and Angela at the very beginning of March (3). I asked them if they would like me to make them special rag dolls they could dress up and play with, and they got quite excited. Especially when I told them I'd make each doll look like one of them! So - here's the big question to those of you out there who make toys on a regular basis - what kinds of materials do you recommend? Did you ever make a doll you could throw in the washer? Do you know of any good (free would be lovely) patterns that are not too complicated? Petey, Sophie, and Angela have colored about 50 photocopies of those dolls now....

Everyone's birthday's coming up very soon - Sophie at the end of the month (4) and Petey and Angela at the very beginning of March (3). I asked them if they would like me to make them special rag dolls they could dress up and play with, and they got quite excited. Especially when I told them I'd make each doll look like one of them! So - here's the big question to those of you out there who make toys on a regular basis - what kinds of materials do you recommend? Did you ever make a doll you could throw in the washer? Do you know of any good (free would be lovely) patterns that are not too complicated? Petey, Sophie, and Angela have colored about 50 photocopies of those dolls now....

While television and kids seem to hit it off as a match made in heaven, the process of learning how to flip past shows like Laguna Beach and American Idol, aren't. Thankfully, Hayeon Yoo developed the Origami TV Remote Control Interface, to help educate children on the wonders of changing the channel."The Origami TV Remote Control enables children to learn only the essential functions such as "Channel Selection" and "Volume Control" through a paper playing method. The prototype was developed from 1-week Electronics and 1-week Software workshop and a wireless sensor board and Max/MSP are used as main tools."Structured similar to a "cootie catcher", you can now find out which cute boys at school like you in addition to channel surfing for Saturday morning cartoons.tags technorati : origami remote television

Something about this time of year gets my crafty fever a-burnin', and I get way too ambitious.  I somehow talked myself into making robes and pajamas for all four kids for Christmas Eve; a nice idea, but now I'm finding myself a bit rushed and stressed.  So instead of getting in there and working on them, I thought it would be a much more efficient use of time to stare aimlessly at other craft blogs.  Don't you agree? I know that many of you are crafty yourselves, so I'm counting on the fact that you've found some crafty treasures out there in Bloggityville.  Will you share them in the comments below?  Then over Christmas vacation we can curl up with some hot cocoa and avoid housework scroll through some cozy blogs. (Note:  By "craft blog" I don't mean "the blog of someone who happens to craft and blogs about it occasionally"; I mean, "a blog devoted significantly to crafting of some sort".  Got it?)  (Als

Making money online doesn't require any investment, as I have proven in my hundreds of previous articles. But sometimes writing articles, producing advertisements, getting paid to chat and so on can grow tiresome and you may find yourself wanting a change in pace. Or, if you are like me, you have set yourself up to the point where you can make a full time living with very little time spent online

I figured that since the wedding is getting closer (almost at the 6 month mark!), it's about time I get started on these DIY invitations that I'm supposedly doing. So I ordered some supplies from Paper Source for a trial run. And I have to say, I think they were a success!!! No pictures yet, but... | This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, pictures, and more! |

One of Colin’s paintball friends, Will and his girlfriend, just welcomed their first baby over the weekend. A little girl. I thought I’d make something I could squish into an envelope to send to them to congratulate them. . . . so I made a pair of baby shoes. I’m pretty pleased for a first [...]