Owner: Craft Worker URL:http://craftworker.blogspot.com Join Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2007 17:11:04 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: This is a blog dedicated to all the crafters out there. It is for all those who enjoy the simple pleasures of creativity.
As the blog develops, you will see tips, tricks and other information for all kinds of crafting. This will include everything from Site statistics:Click here
Shadow Puppet Theatre 2007-05-02 19:55:00 As a child, I used to love to make shadow puppets using just my hands and casting a shadow onto a white wall. By contorting my hands into obscure shapes I became quite proficient in birds, animals and talking people.
Taking things one stage further, at school we had a shadow puppet theatre. My classmates and I would spend hours cutting out shapes for various body parts and then building our Read more:Shadow
Origami Dragon 2007-05-02 19:50:00 This dragon is a tricky bit of origami but should be pretty easy to master. This model falls into my favourite paper-folding category as an animated model. Once completed, you can hold the body and move the tail slightly to make the dragon's wings flap. It is a great model for children to see when you are trying to attract them to this art form.
Origami Dragon
Make Layered Container Candles 2007-05-02 19:33:00 A variation on the basic jar candle is a layered candle. Each layer of the candle is made from a different coloured wax. Each coloured layer may also have a different essential oil scent added for an extra surprise.
David Fisher, a candle-making crafter has posted a great tutorial for making these delightful layered candles using standard materials. As well as wicks and wax, you will need Read more:Container
, Candles
Patterned Envelope Template 2007-05-02 19:28:00 If you are a fan of card making and want a special envelope to put your hand-made card into then look no further! Jess at How About Orange... has posted a nice design for an envelope that you can make out of any patterned paper or card.
To get the template, follow the link below and click on the envelope template link to download an Adobe PDF file.
Envelope
Template
Travel Tissue Holder 2007-05-01 22:38:00 I remember back at school (seems like a long time ago now!) everybody had to take the 'Home Economics' course. This taught the basics of various skills for around the house. For cookery we learned to make bread, pizza, baked potatoes and a cup of tea. For needlework we made hand-puppets and a cover for a tissue box.
This simple project is not for a tissue box but rather a soft tissue holder Read more:Travel
, Holder
Scrapbooking Do's and Don'ts 2007-05-01 22:28:00 It is all too easy to go over the top when scrapbooking. You start with a photograph that holds a valuable memory. You crop the photo to get just the best bits. You add a fancy border and a nicely coloured paper rectangle with a title in a fancy typeface from your best fonts collection on the computer.
Next you build a theme around the photograph. It was a summer day when the picture was Read more:Scrapbooking
White Soap 2007-05-06 12:57:00 Have you ever tried to make white soap? It is surprisingly more difficult than you might imagine. When you try and is comes out slightly grey or brown, it is less surprising how little people would like to have or use it!
David Fisher has posted another article on soap making that gives you more information on how to whiten your soap to get a more appealing bar.
Hard White
Soap
Build a Bird Box 2007-05-06 12:49:00 My father has been a joiner for about forty years. When I was young, he used to give me spare pieces of wood, a hammer and a few nails and leave me happily building battleships, tanks, cars, houses, anything you can think of. They were probably not very good but in my imagination they were great fun.
Probably the most useful thing I made with my father was a bird box for the garden birds to Read more:Build
Wallpaper Butterfly Fridge Magnets 2007-05-05 18:51:00 Spring is now most definitely in the air and people are heading down to the DIY store for the bank holiday weekend. Yes folks, it is time for decorating the home again.
Once you have finished the wallpapering there always seems to be a huge amount of wastage. Now, using this tutorial from All Free Crafts, you can use at least some of the excess paper to create some pretty butterflies that you Read more:Butterfly
, Fridge
, Magnets
Create a Bead Buddy 2007-05-05 15:28:00 You may well be asking what a bead buddy is. Well, it is a little guy (or girld) made from leftover beads and a small piece of wire. You bead buddy can be made into a pendant or a brooch and is sure to be a hit with children and adults alike.
The whole project takes around fifteen minutes to complete so if you are like me you will probably have an entire family of buddies before the afternoon Read more:Buddy
Confetti Soap 2007-05-04 23:55:00 Confetti soap, also known as shred soap, is a type of soap that includes all of your leftover bits of bars you made earlier. Not only is this a great way of recycling all of your old soap remains, but it also adds interest to plain recipes.
Over at About, David Fisher has posted a six part tutorial for creating shred soap. He includes all of the instructions required including a little bit of Read more:Confetti
Knitted Monkey 2007-05-04 19:30:00 The oddly named Spyderbaby has posted a great pattern for a knitted soft toy monkey to the craftster forum pages. The monkey toy has a rag-doll style to it and I have a feeling that this would be the soft toy that the children would prefer over all of the expensive ones that you might buy for them!
Monkey Read more:Knitted
Felt Label Tutorial 2007-05-08 23:03:00 Over at Future Girl, they have kindly posted a tutorial on making felt labels. The blog owner affixes these labels to each handbag she makes, rather than opting for the more expensive method of purchasing labels.
Not only does creating your own labels lower the cost of your creations, but it also gives you the opportunity to customise the label design to fit with each item. If you are crafting Read more:Label
, Tutorial
Copyright and Trademarks 2007-05-08 22:35:00 Copyright and trademarking is an interesting topic (or perhaps two). The copyright for a design you create or for information you produce is an automatic right. This protects you from other people or companies simply duplicating your work and passing it off as their own. A trademark is a different concept, applied generally to logos, that should stop others from creating products and passing
Thumb Wrestling Ring 2007-05-07 23:12:00 A late night post tonight. The bank holiday meant a day out and a late finish but I can't ignore the craft workers out there!
This fun little project is for a wrestling ring for thumb wrestling. The ring looks just like a real wrestling ring with a hole for each contender's thumb to be inserted. Great fun!
Thumb
Wrestling Ring
French Knitting (Spool Knitting) 2007-05-11 11:29:00 When I was very young (I would guess about six years old), my best friend's mother introduced me to the craft of french knitting. This is where a cord is made from wool or yarn by 'knitting' around a cotton spool.
I had completely forgotten how to do this until I came across a post at CraftyPod. This great post explains how to make your spool and start knitting away. It also gives a few ideas Read more:French
, Knitting
Make Your Own Dragon Kite 2007-05-11 11:16:00 I had a great day out the other day when I had the opportunity to visit a kite festival. There were lots of kites being flown with almost every imaginable style and design. These included the small stunt kites that you can buy at your local store (though flown by experts they are more impressive than when crashed by me) and large elaborate designs such as a dog that must have been fifty feet Read more:Dragon
Clay Critters 2007-05-10 10:12:00 I love working with clay. Polymer clay is a brilliant material for adults and children alike with its bright colours and because it stays malleable until you bake it; when it becomes permanently hard.
Over at Family Fun, they have some great ideas for making small animals from polymer clay. The kids will love all eleven models (that's right, eleven!). There is everything from ants to Read more:Critters
Soap Re-Batching and Hand Milling 2007-05-10 10:04:00 It happens to everyone, beginners and more experienced soap makers alike. You have completed the process for your new batch of soap and something has gone horribly wrong. Perhaps you didn't get the mixture right and now you have a disaster on your hands, or maybe you just forgot to add your favourite fragrance? Either way, it is time to re-batch.
Shelley Fluegge is the owner of a soap, bath
PayPal Presentation and Secure Sockets Layer Encryption 2007-05-09 23:42:00 If your craft business is very small, particularly if you are just trying to gain a few pounds (dollars, euros) from selling your craft items, you may be using PayPal
to accept payments from your web site or blog.
One of the great things about PayPal is that it is very simple to set up. If you are using the basic PayPal buttons there is virtually no coding required. If you have a web site and Read more:Secure
, Layer
, Encryption
Free Hosting 2007-05-15 00:30:00 If you are a crafter who likes to take photographs of your work and publish them on the Internet for your friends to see, then etribes may be just what you are looking for.
etribes is a free hosting service. using the service you can create your own web site by choosing from a range of designs. You can then use your site to write news, publish photographs, videos and documents and even create Read more:Hosting
Sew Your Own Best Bunnies 2007-05-14 23:57:00 Aww, look at the cute bunny rabbits!
I am sure that every small child would love a best bunny or two to cuddle up to for a bit of security. The Purl Bee has generously published the pattern and instructions for creating these little critters.
This is a great project for novice needle workers that requires just a few small pieces of fabric (maybe from the scrap pile?) and some embroidery thread Read more:Bunnies
Needle Felting 2007-05-14 23:40:00 If you want to know how to turn wool roving into felting and at the same time undertake some therapeutic repeated stabbing (of material) then Monster Crochet has the perfect article for you. This post describes the aforementioned process.
You will need:
Material to be felted (wool roving seems best)Felting needles (though with a little effort and persistence you may get away with large sewing Read more:Needle
How To Reinforce Bags and Purses 2007-05-13 17:32:00 One of the problems that people face when they are creating bags is that the finished item can be floppy. You will not always want a rigid bag, but you certainly don't want one that collapses every time it is put down.
The answer to this problem is to use one of various materials to strengthen the bag walls. These include the use of interfacing (also known as stabiliser) hidden between the Read more:Purses
iPod Cozy 2007-05-13 13:22:00 People liked the link to the Piggy iPod
cover so here is a second iPod related item. I have also added an iPod category as it certainly seems popular!
If the Piggy iPod cover was a little too outrageous for your particular style, this iPod cozy will probably be more to your taste. The cover uses any material you have to hand so is a great way of using up old remnants. You will also need a
Ruffle Detail Bag 2007-05-13 13:09:00 MagKnits is one of my new favourite places. It is a web site dedicated to knitting and needle craft and gives away free patterns for knitting projects.
The pattern that has caught my eye today is for a bag that MagKnits call "Zoe". This is a feminine felted handbag with an attractive ruffle detail. It is an intermediate level bag so is not for the complete novice but is well worth giving a Read more:Ruffle
, Detail
Drawstring Bag 2007-05-12 10:54:00 YarnEnvy have posted a nice design for a drawstring bag. The instructions are very detailed and this is a reasonably easy bag to make. It is definitely a good design for your first bag.
There is a problem with the post (unless it has been fixed by now) in that the link to the PDF file containing the instructions does not work properly. However, this is easy to get around. Instead of just
Create a Picture Wallet / Purse 2007-04-12 21:14:00 Craftbits.com have published a small project article with instructions for creating your own picture wallet or purse.
Using just a small amount of fabric and ribbon and a few embellishments. The unique point for the purse is that it includes a photograph or two on the side. The photographs are nicely protected so they can take a knock without fear of damaging them. This would make a fantastic Read more:Picture
Beading: Endless Loop Technique 2007-05-17 22:26:00 Bob's Beading Tutorials is a site that describes various techniques for beadworking crafters. In this article, Bob describes the endless looping technique.
The endless looping technique is used to make a strand of beads that does not have a clasp or other terminating element. This allows the creation of continuous items such as beaded necklaces or bracelets that have no binding.
Endless
Loop
Centenary 2007-05-17 22:12:00 A centenary? Has this blog been going for that long?
Well, clearly not. However, this is the one-hundredth post! Not bad going for just one month and one week.
I started the blog with the idea that I would post maybe once daily but probably once every other day. I do seem to be averaging double my intended maximum. The problem is that there are simply too many great crafters and grafting Read more:Centenary
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