Craft Blog|all things crafty & creative

Many people think that once a child gets older, it loses its interest in crafts.  That isn’t necessarily the case.  These craft ideas for older children can help bring the artist back out in your child.

Girls seem to love scrapbooks, and who can blame them?  It gives her a chance to create a personalized book for all her memories.  You purchase a small scrapbook and allow her to fill it up.  She may surprise you by adding some journaling in it, too.  Stickers and other embellishments make them more individual.  The sky is the limit on what she can do with a scrapbook.

Polar fleece blankets have been all the rage. Your older child, girl or boy, may like to create one of these.

• Decide how big they’d like the finished blanket to be, and then add 12 inches to the length of the fabric if they would like to create a fringe for it.  They may choose all one color, or use two contrasting colors for variety.
• Make sure each piece of fabric is the same size and shape.  Trim any excess fabric off where needed.
• Lay the fabric out in front of you, wrong side up, so that it is horizontal.
• Draw a vertical line on the fabric, going up 6 inches from the cut edge.  Do this with both ends.
• Now create horizontal lines going from the vertical line, ½ inch apart, on each end of the fabric.
• Cut along the horizontal lines to make the fringe.
• If you’re using two pieces of fabric, tie the corresponding fringes together to join the fabric and create one blanket.

Let your older child create their own “treasure” box by decorating an old cigar box.

• Find a wooden or heavy cardboard cigar box, with the hinge intact.
• Using craft glue called “Modge Podge”, paint a thin layer of the glue onto the surface they are working on.
• They can decorate the box with photos from magazines, handwritten notes, or whatever they like.  Then paint at least three coats of the glue over the paper, allowing it to dry thoroughly before adding the next coat.
• When it’s dry, they can add other embellishments to make it entirely theirs.

Painted flower pots have been popular for years. This could lead your child into a new business, or just allow them to release their artistic nature.

• Purchase small terracotta flower pots and the dishes that go with them.
• With an acrylic paint, decorate the outside of the pot however they like.
• Decorate the dish in a similar fashion so they obviously go together.
• Your older child can plant something in the pot after it has dried, or fill it with something else. The choice is theirs.

Just because your child is growing older, doesn’t mean that they cease enjoying crafts.  These are just a few of the many crafts an older child may enjoy.  There is also cross-stitch, painting, drawing, and a myriad of others.  Encourage them to spend some time creating; they’ll probably be glad to have the creative outlet.

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People enjoy crafts of all kinds.  Some take up little space; some take up a lot.  Some crafts need very few supplies, and some require enough to fill a cabinet or more.  Whatever the crafts, if there is more than one person in the family, creating the perfect craft area in your home is probably something you all only dream about.

Crafts like sewing require quite a bit of space.  You need to have a sewing machine, ironing board and iron, an easily accessible space for notions, and space to store fabric and patterns.  Dad and the kids have their own crafts.  Wouldn’t it be great to have one room where all of this could be located?

Begin by deciding which room you will turn into a craft room or if you will have to add one to your home.  If you have a room to use, measure it and draw the room to scale on graph paper.  Measure each piece of furniture that will go into the room and transfer those to the same scale size; cut out each piece so you can try different room arrangements without having to move heavy furniture.

One recommendation would be to divide the room into zones.  If someone is interested in painting, they will want to have access to direct sunlight.  Sunlight wouldn’t be so important to someone who was scrapbooking or putting together models. Create a painting zone nearest the windows.

Be sure to have plenty of overhead as well as task lighting in the room.  Each task requires lighting for close tasks as well as something more general.  Lamps that can be adjusted for specific tasks would be a good idea.  Do you have enough wall outlets or do you need to add more?

Work space will probably be a premium concern.  Someone who sews would need a place for the machine as well as space to spread out fabric when cutting out patterns.  Of course, that area could be used by someone scrapbooking, as long as they weren’t trying to do so at the same time.  The longer the flat surface, the better it would be.  If it were long enough, it might be able to accommodate two crafts at one time.

Seating would be another area to consider.  Comfortable chairs are a must, especially if you’re sitting for long periods of time.  However, you don’t want to get lounge chairs.  Something that is ergonomic and practical would be best.  You want to be comfortable while working on your craft, but not so comfortable you fall asleep.  Good quality office-style chairs will probably do nicely.

The final component is where to store everything.  How much of the supplies needed for each craft can be stored on shelves rather than in cabinets on the floor?  Peg boards, wall-mounted organizers, and multiple shelved units could store a good amount of things.  What about putting strips of metal along the walls near each work area?  These would be a handy place to hold scissors, little jars to hold beads or buttons, and more.  The options are limitless if you think about it.

Crafts are an important part of our lives.  They help us relax and give us a creative outlet.  They help us to dream.  If they’re so important to us, why is it we don’t enjoy doing them more often?  Having a great space designated just for crafts might be the answer your whole family is looking for.  Think about the benefits, and then create the perfect craft area for your home.

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Grandmas adore handmade gifts from their grandchildren, even if they don’t have a use for the gift. They know just how to fawn over present given in love.  The following are five ideas that children may like to make for Grandma this year.  (Mom, be prepared to help, just in case.)

1.  What woman doesn’t love jewelry?  Make Grandma a perler bead necklace.  Perler beads are short pieces of plastic that are specially made to fuse together when heated with an ordinary household iron.  You can buy kits at any craft store; the kits come in a variety of colors and sizes to make multiple patterns.  After you have fused the beads together in whatever shape you desire (a heart would be great), why not hot glue some ribbon, sequins, or plastic gems on to make each a one-of-a-kind gift.

2.  Potpourri pies are popular in gift stores.  Here’s how your little one can create a similar experience.  Create this pie with a disposable pie shell.  Make a bottom pie crust out of flour/salt dough.  Add a potpourri that smells like your grandmother’s favorite scent, and then create a lattice pattern out of the dough.  Cover the potpourri and allow the dough to harden overnight. To enjoy the potpourri, “bake” the pie in a warm oven.

3.  Help your child make Grandma a great pillow without having to sew.  Purchase a floral polar fleece large enough to make a pillow from and some fiberfill to stuff it.  Cut this out into two pieces in the shape of a heart, about two and a half inches larger than the finished project should be.  Mom, carefully cut a fringe about an inch apart all around the fabric. Line up the fabric wrong sides together and then double knot each fringe, leaving a few pieces untied so you can fill the pillow.  Fill the pillow and then finish filling it up, making it as fluffy as you would like.  You can leave the pillow as is or decorate with paint markers, or any way your child would like to decorate it.

4.  This is another gift that Mom will have to help make, but it could be a lot of fun for both of you.  Buy at least 8 ounces of clear glycerin (you should be able to find this at a major craft store), a soap mold, and a very small bottle of lemon essential oil (or Grandma’s favorite scent).  You will also need yellow food coloring, 6 tablespoons of corn meal, and 2 teaspoons of poppy seeds.  Melt the glycerin according to directions, then add 2 drops of food coloring and 2 drops of lemon oil.  Add the corn meal and poppy seeds and stir very well.  Pour the mixture into the mold and allow it to sit until firm.  Remove it from the mold and place into a small basket.

5.  If you really want to tug on Grandma’s heart strings, find photos with your children and Grandma in them.  Create a small memory book with the pictures in it.  Have the children write the descriptions for each one, explaining what they remember about that particular time.  Pre-made scrapbooks would be great for this, and your child could decorate it they like, as well.

Mother’s Day is a time to let mothers and grandmothers know that we love them.  Each of the above five gifts made by your children will make Grandma’s day.  Not only will she know that your child loves her, but she’ll treasure each gift that was made especially for her.

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This guide will tell you everything you need to know about working with leather including how to profit from your leather products while having fun.

Reader submitted review:

Do I work with leather? Not really but I know someone who does. He loves to make all sorts of things out of leather. In fact he spends most of his free time in his garage working away on these little projects. I notice though that most of his projects were just left hanging in the garage. I decided he needed a little push to do something with all this so I got him this book.

After spending about an hour looking and reading he got the idea he could sell his products for a little money. Just exactly what I wanted him to figure out.

As he read more and more he began to talk about how doing this could be easier or doing that might make a difference in the finished product. He just went on and on about all the neat things he was learning. That’s when I knew I had made a good investment.

Next thing I knew he was talking to people about his new business venture and how he could have fun while making money. He showed me some of the things he had made using some of the ideas in this guide and they were pretty good. He complimented the author on how he made it seem so simple and easy to do. He even said that hopefully someday he could be that good.

I decided to take a look and see for myself why this book was so special to him. He was right. By answering questions from everyday people like you and I about working with leather the author had found a way to make this interesting and fun. He made sense with his answers and they were so easy to follow.

Before long I wanted to help with the leather craft and business. Of course I wasn’t a welcome part of the garage but hey that’s ok. He’s making some extra money, having fun and has a new enjoyment on an old hobby. That’s enough for me and we’re both happy that I found this ebook.

Get Leather Craft Secrets and Start Your Own Leather Craft Business Today!

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I know that’s a funny word, but these little buggers are so popular right now. And I really want one but I didn’t know how to assemble the darn thing … so I went to look up some directions. I figured some kind stitcher out there had recorded these for us with pictures. I was right, thank goodness. Violarium gives us detailed instructions on how to assemble your biscornu and includes not just 1 or 2, but many pictures to help you along the way with assembly. I also learned that biscornu is not some crazy made up stitchy word, but a French word and it means irregular and/or bizarre. *picture is from the Violarium site and the is the finished pic from the instructions for assembly.

Technorati Tags: biscornu, cross stitching, stitchy, stitching, assembly, directions

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Nothing drives me more crazy than when someone walks off with a pair of my scissors! Or worse, uses them to cut open a popsicle! Eek! I always have a pair of scissors, even if I’m not carrying a cross stitch project on me. I think the only time I left the house without scissors was this past summer when we went on vacation, because I knew the airport would take them out of my bag and I’d never get to use them. In general I keep a pair of travel scissors in my purse, right now they are just cheapo embroidery scissors that I got from the dollar store, nothing fancy or spectacular because they run the risk of getting lost. In fact, at one point my travel scissors were a pair of purple handled round tipped kids craft scissors! You know the ones with the big plastic handles. They were fiskars and cut pretty good for being kids scissors, in fact they are still in the kids craft bin.

On my desk and in my tote bag I keep my regular embroidery scissors, usually in a little leather scissor sheath. Remember with your good scissors you want to protect the points. It’s also a good practice to have different scissors for different fibers. In particular if you use metallics like Kreinik metallic braid and blending filaments because those fibers can wear down your scissors over time and you won’t get a clean cut. A good way to tell them apart is to buy scissors with different colored handles or different colored sheaths. If you’re using scissors that are the same or don’t have sheaths to mark you can attach scissor fobs to the handles, they’re decorative and help identify the scissors easily. A weighted scissor fob will also keep your scissors from falling into the cushions of the sofa or recliner while you’re stitching.

Of course my sewing bin has a completely different kind of scissors in it for cutting heavy fabrics and quilting. I’ve got a standard pair of 8 inch multipurpose scissors that I use pretty frequently and they are sharp! But, recently someone turned me toward the Fiskars soft touch scissors. They may look a little odd, but whoa they work good and I can cut through old jeans for making denim quilts without getting those pesky hand cramps. They make a softouch rotary cutter - 45mm too, but I haven’t gotten my hands on one of those yet.

technorati tags: scissors crafts cross stitch sewing

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I�??m sure you�??ve seen the gorgeous pieces on display at the county fair every year. Have you ever thought about entering your finished cross stitch into one of these competitions? Here a few things to look at before you submit your entry.

• First you need to know the name of your design, who designed it, and it�??s helpful to list the materials you used, such as fabric type including name of the fabric and fabric count, any specialty threads you used such as Kreinik blending filament, any changes you may have made to the design, how you stitched (1 over 1, 2 over 2, 1 over 2 etc)… Read the rest of this entry »

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We’ve had a few discussions about this on the boards so I thought I’d share something I found today that was very useful. I had been considering making some tutorial videos later this year for the site on how to cross stitch and how to finish certain projects, but I wanted to see if there was anything already out there like this for us and I was browsing on YouTube just out of curiousity. I came across this little set of four videos that show how to stitch a french knot.  I hope this helps a few people that were still having a hard time with these pesky little things that show up in our stitching all the time.  Personally I like to replace them with a colonial knot or a bead.
Technorati Tags: cross stitch video french knot how to

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You have piles of you favorite Cross Stitch Magazines. Or maybe you don�??t, and you are just starting out in this wonderfully addictive hobby. Either way you eventually come to the point where you look around, and think if I don�??t find a way to tame the magazines I�??m going to drown, or one of the towers are going to fall and I�??ll be buried alive. May not be a bad way to go but personally I want to expire with needle in hand. I�??ve been lucky over the years where stitching friends have given me their Magazine collections when the hobby no longer interests them (I know horror but true).

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Yup, you heard me!  That pretty thing you just sewed together?  Go ahead and see if you can make it fall to shreds!  That’s the advice that Beth has for us this morning over at Two Mom’s in a Blog.  Go ahead, check it out for yourself and read about her “try to destroy it rule,” I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised!  It’s some very good advice.

While I have you heading in that general direction of the blogosphere, don’t forget to check out Fighting Angels! 

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