crafts – Page 35 – the long thread

May 28, 2008

The Bedazzler

I never thought that I would have the need or inclination to purchase a “Bedazzler”, but I’ve done it. Despite the fact that I have tried to talk my husband out of running 26.2 miles dressed as Elvis, he remains unconvinced. He’s running the San Diego Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon this weekend. So I bought a Bedazzler! I’m already disappointed with the thing as it isn’t all that fast and the rhinestones that came with it were unimpressive. I’ll update you on my Bedazzler progress later this week. As seen on TV!

May 24, 2008

Craft in Canada

Those Canadians are at it again. Laural Raine of the wonderful blog thimble and Jen Anisef of Toronto Craft Alert have joined forces to open goodEGG Industries, an online shop featuring handcrafted items from some of my favorites like Bookhou, rikrak, and sweetbeets. Plus other great crafters from Canada. We know that Canadians do healthcare better than us, so what about crafting?

May 23, 2008May 23, 2008

Class Projects

After seeing this and this, we decided to try this simple class project for end of the year teacher gifts. We gave each child (three and four year olds) a shape to decorate, with the only limitation being no stickers or three-dimensional objects. We used thick watercolor paper for the shapes and then I spray mounted them to acid-free paper and framed them together. I have found group art projects for young children rather challenging, but this allowed us to have some control of the project while giving the children the opportunity to do their own work. I think the variety of media and colors made a nice collection and represents the unique personalities of the children.

May 10, 2008May 10, 2008

Last-Minute Mother’s Day

Here are a few quick sewing projects for Mother’s Day:

Dishtowel Tote from Write, Mama, Write.

Eyeglass Case from Betz White.

Japanese Coin Purse from the purl pee.

May 5, 2008May 5, 2008

Photo Shelves

I’ve had these shadow box shelves sitting around the house for a while and had some printable canvas, so decided to add photos to them. These photo shelves could hang on the wall, be stacked on a table or used as a key shelf by a door. They would be nice painted black with sepia-toned photos. It occurred to me as I was taking pictures that you could make an adjustable doll house with these wooden boxes by backing each one with fabric or patterned paper. They’re just the right size for this.

Supplies:

Wooden shadow boxes (paint them if you want)
Printable canvas (from the office supply store)
Computer and printer
Scissors
Staple gun

Measure the outside of the wooden frame. Using Photoshop or other photo program, adjust your photos to size and print on canvas cloth. Be sure to cut out space for hangers on frames. Staple to frame with staple gun. That’s it!