See you in a week!

Love you all! I'm taking the week off and will see you in 2012!!

Merry Christmas!

More artsy links!

 

Mo(o)re Whimsies
Merry Christmas!

Beading Arts
It can be a bit hard to find nice ornament cover patterns that are free, so Cyndi has rounded up a few goodies for you!  

Eileen - The Artful Crafter
Learn how to make cute little patterned rosettes to embellish your paper crafts, including where to download some pretty patterned papers which can also be used for tea bag tile folding.  




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Artsy blogging round-up!

 

Eileen - The Artful Crafter
Make these cute clothespin Christmas ornaments. Eileen shows a skier, but you could also do a nutcracker or skinny Santa.

Aileen's Musings
Aileen gussied up a shipping tag for Christmas with a beautiful stained glass look. Check out her step by step tutorial. 


Carmi's Art/Life World
This week I have a great rubber stamped project - that can be showcased as an ornament!

Crafty Princess Diaries
Tammy reports on a crochet (and knit) friendly local yarn store in Florida. 



 
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Paper for gravestone rubbings (reader question)

 Brian & Dawn at Wild World

Gene Hammiel, who shows his wonderful colored pencil work on the Colored Pencil Society of America website for Washington DC, asked me about paper for gravestone rubbings. He was looking for some lightweight paper that he had found years ago, but could no longer locate.

The only thing I knew to suggest to him was the standard Aqaba paper which is specifically made for gravestone rubbings. There are lots of sources for it online, but that's not exactly what he was looking for.  Gene wrote:

I found some Aqaba from Gravestone Artwear on-line in York Harbor,Me., but it was thicker than what I had before years ago. I have been using calligraphy paper in the meantime. It worked pretty good.

So, at least Gene has something to start with, but do any of you have more experience at this?  Any recommendations?

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For the calendar next year

Wish I'd known about this art market well ahead of time, and also wish I lived closer to Indiana so that I could go!  This year in November, the second annual Do It Again Art Market was held in central Indiana.




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Sundown tonight...eight crazy nights!

If you forgot to go out and get a Menorah, here's a perfect solution for you, thanks to Paula Biggs!

Marbled fabrics

To marble fabrics, you're going to need some specialty materials that you might not use for anything else: carrageenan and alum (bought at hardware store).  I used plain unbleached muslin for my fabric, tearing it into rectangles that would fit flat into my kitchen sink.

The fabric must be laundered and treated with alum ahead of time so that it can thoroughly dry.  The carrageenan also needs to be mixed up ahead of time, at least 24 hours in advance, so you can see that a good deal of planning goes into a marbling session.  Day one will consist of prepping the fabric and the size (that's the jelly-like carrageenan mixture that you'll float your paints on), and on day two you can do all your marbling.  Plan to do a lot: this is a lot of work to go through for only a few marbled pieces.

I used Pebeo Setacolor fabric paints, but any fabric paints will probably be fine. I recommend Carol Taylor's Marbling Paper and Fabric for it's easy to follow instructions, and if you get into marbling in a big way, I really like Patty Schleicher's book Marbled Designs, which shows you how to achieve many complex patterns you'll love.  I began by just playing around with the paints to see what would happen, and as the day progressed, I got more and more tricky.  I certainly didn't achieve in one day anything that I was astounded by, but I was still very happy with the brightly colored results!

Besides the books, most of the materials and tools you might want are available in an all-in-one kit from Dick Blick if you can't find what you need locally.

Marbled fabrics - part one
Marbled fabric quilt - part two
Marbled fabric quilt - part three
Marbled fabric quilt - part four

This post contains affiliate links

Copyright 2011 Cyndi Lavin. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. May be printed out for personal use or distributed electronically provided that entire file, including this notice, remains intact.

More artsy links!

 

Creative Dreamer
June has created 15 ornaments for the season, and you can too because she's sharing the patterns for all of them!

Eileen - The Artful Crafter
Make these cute clothespin Christmas ornaments. Eileen shows a skier, but you could also do a nutcracker or skinny Santa.  

Beading Arts
Every new year should bring a new challenge. How about getting inspired by the Ring A Day challenge...and maybe win a copy of the book?  

Technorati Tags:mixed media,collage,assemblage,digital art,photography,altered books,art journals

Artsy blogging round-up!

 

Crafty Princess Diaries
Tammy is able to spill the beans about a new jewelry business adventure she is exploring. 

Eileen - The Artful Crafter
"Santa Claus is coming to town." Are you ready for The Artful Crafter's annual Christmas Parade of Crafts?  

Margot Potter The Impatient Crafter
Madge turns some styrofoam and sparkly things into a Retrofabulous Suzy Snowflake Snowlady!  

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery
How to make a yarn ball and dpn Christmas tree.  

Aileen's Musings
Aileen shows you how she took pre made cards and embellished them to make her own Christmas cards she mailed out this year. 


Carmi's Art/Life World
Carmi enters the Friendship Bracelet world and learns a thing or two.  

Craft. You.
Meet Jenny Barnett-Rohrs of Craft Test Dummies this week on Craft. You.!  

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at our crafty world
This week at Craftside there is a double giveaway featuring books and Styrofoam shapes along with tutorials and patterns for Christmas painting and knitting along with a recipe for vegan nut butter dip and some adorable photos of our newest Amineko.  
 

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Quote of the week

Guys, click for a larger version so you can read all the real color names!

Image: The Doghouse Diaries

Recent publications: December

The Best of Quilting Arts: Your Ultimate Resource for Art Quilt Techniques and Inspiration by Patricia Bolton

How to Draw and Paint Water and Sky by Sarah Hoggett

Create Your Own Free-Form Quilts: A Stress-Free Journey to Original Design by Rayna Gillman

50 Little Paper- Pieced Blocks: Full-Size Patterns to Mix & Match by Carol Doak

Desire to Inspire: Using Creative Passion to Transform the World by Christine Mason Miller

The Adobe Photoshop Layers Book by Richard Lynch

Simply Creative Quilts by Maya Chaimovich

Learn to Make a Quilt from Start to Finish by Carolyn S. Vagts

Tapestry: A Woven Narrative by Tom Howells, Timothy Wilcox and Caron Penney






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Quote of the week

Mobius scarf in a couple of hours

Making a mobius scarf took me just a little longer than the football game.  I didn't have to pay too much attention to either one ;-)  By the end of the second game, I had two scarves...at this rate, I know what everyone will be getting from me for Christmas!  Use a really large crochet hook, and you'll be amazed how quickly you can make one of these. 

1. Leaving a long tail of yarn (about 12 inches), crochet a chain as long as you want your finished scarf to be.  I chose a shorter cowl style for this one.   

2. Stitch along the chain in double crochet and recheck the length.  Add a few more rows of DC. I usually add three or five, any odd number so that I end up back on the end with the yarn tail.

3. Using the yarn tail, slip stitch the two short ends of the crocheted strip together, putting a single twist into the strip.  Tie the yarn tail to the working yarn, but do not clip yet.

4. Begin to crochet in single crochet around the outside of the strip.  Since you've created a mobius strip, there is only one edge, and it will take you twice "around" the shape to come back to where you started.  Continue to add rounds of SC until the scarf is as wide as you want it.  End back where the seam is.

The seam will be fairly small, and you can wear it on the inside 

at the back of your neck.

5. Tie off the working yarn and use your hook to weave it down to where the other tail is.  Tie them together and weave the ends into the scarf before clipping off.

This post contains an affiliate link

Copyright 2011 Cyndi Lavin. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. May be printed out for personal use or distributed electronically provided that entire file, including this notice, remains intact.

More artsy links!

 

Beading Arts
Wanna learn to work with chains in your jewelry designs? Cyndi has a copy of "Chains Chains Chains" up for grabs! 

Eileen - The Artful Crafter
"Santa Claus is coming to town." Are you ready for The Artful Crafter’s annual Christmas Parade of Crafts?

Felt Eiffel Tower Ornaments
Cherie makes some more ornaments out of felt.  




Technorati Tags:mixed media,collage,assemblage,digital art,photography,altered books,art journals

Artsy blogging round-up!

 

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at our crafty world
This week at Craftside there is a fun new video on how to tint gesso with pastels by Traci Bunkers, tutorials on how to draw Christmas trees and poinsettias, tips on cleaning glassware and a yummy recipe for vegan maple bacon doughnuts. 

Crafty Princess Diaries
Tammy takes a look at a craft book packed full of projects. 

Eileen - The Artful Crafter
Do you know about yarn bombing? Whimsical hand knit and crocheted art is circling the globe!  

Margot Potter The Impatient Crafter
It's a video! It's two craft projects with instructions! It's RETROFABULOUS! Yay!  

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery
How to make a recycled sweater wreath with a candy style bow.  

About Family Crafts
Play along with the current craft challenge and submit an angel craft or two.  

Aileen's Musings
Aileen not only offers you a fantabulous Glitzy bleached Christmas tree project but also a giveaway on her blog this week!  

Carmi's Art/Life World
A post about remembering the December birthdays!  

Craft. You.
This week on Craft. You.: Heather Mann of Dollar Store Crafts  





Technorati Tags:mixed media,collage,assemblage,digital art,photography,altered books,art journals

Artful package wrapping

It used to make my kids howl with laughter sometimes, but I always loved to write little "hints" about what was inside the package on the tags.  The clues were so oblique that they weren't really much use in helping them figure it out, at least not until after they'd unwrapped and seen what it was!  Here are some beautiful and creative package wrapping ideas that won't take you all day to accomplish...who has time for that?


The Wrap Artist

Wooden spool gift tags

Card boxes

More card boxes

24 Creative wrapping ideas

10 Green wrapping ideas

15 Frugal wrapping ideas

Calls for entries and submissions

 Metal Clay Design Competition 2010

Crafts National 2012
Deadline: 01/06/12  
   
Time Flies reader challenge
Deadline: 01/09/12  
   
Small Expressions
Deadline: 01/25/12  
   
Metal Clay Design Competition
Deadline: 01/30/12  
   

Technorati Tags:mixed media,collage,assemblage,digital art,photography,altered books,art journals

Quote of the week

'Nuff said

An autumn leaf bouquet

I apologize that this post will come after most people no longer have quite such easy access to the raw materials, but our autumn was soooo late this year, that I only just got around to making these!  I saw the tutorial for these autumn leaf flowers on DesignSponge, written by Kate Pruitt.  You need to go check out here tutorial, because even if you can figure out how they're done, you owe it to yourself to see examples that are far more beautiful than mine.  Part of it was that my leaves were a bit dry and crispy, and part of it was that Kate is just more talented than me!

There were more of them, but I gave some away!

Technorati Tags:mixed media,collage,assemblage,digital art,photography,altered books,art journals

More artsy links!

 

Eileen - The Artful Crafter
Do you know about yarn bombing? Whimsical hand knit and crocheted art is circling the globe!

Wooden Birdhouse Necklaces
Cherie makes some necklaces for holiday gifts. 


Beading Arts
Cyndi is featuring an entire month of tutorials to get you ready for the holidays!

Creative Dreamer
First the patterns... now the ornaments! Now June's givin' 'em away, be sure to get in on this!  



 
Technorati Tags:mixed media,collage,assemblage,digital art,photography,altered books,art journals

Artsy blogging round-up!

 

Craft. You.
It's hectic around the holidaze, don't forget to take a moment to enjoy and exhale. Zuzu's Petals.

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at our crafty world
This week at Craftside we have our Fabulous Book and Yarn Holiday Giveaway-enter 3 ways to get yourself in the running for 10 books and a basket of goodies! There is also a free knit stocking pattern with monograms, a whole bunch of cool gift topper tutorials, how to embellish antique gift tins and a recipe for Asian turkey and rice soup. 


Crafty Princess Diaries
Tammy gives you some tips for finding fun and yarn friendly project bags.

Eileen - The Artful Crafter
Do you craft for profit - or would you like to? Here are some tips for reaching your target market.  

Margot Potter The Impatient Crafter
Need a craftacular gift for the holiday season? Fret not, Madge has got you covered!

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery
See how to make a recycled die cut sweater Christmas tree.  

About Family Crafts
Share your homemade gift stories, whether they are good, bad, or ugly! You can also read other people's stories.  

Aileen's Musings
Aileen offers you a blinged out Dollar store ornament transformation!  

Carmi's Art/Life World
Displaying an art collection is a craft too!  




 
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Handmade ornaments and decorations

When my children were young, I was always looking for easy projects that we could do together to decorate for different holidays.  They may be grown up and gone, but there are now GRANDchildren to think about!  Some of these lovely ornaments would be a bit much for small people, but others could easily be adapted to working together to decorate the tree.


Crochet chain trees

Plastic bird ornaments

Tweed wreath 

15 ornaments in 15 days


Holiday table decorations

Felt ornament houses

Fabric pinecones 

Angry Birds felt ornaments

Quilled snowflake

Fond memories ornament

Kirigami paper snowflakes

Ribbon ornament

3-D folded paper star

Photo ornaments

Gingerbread house book

Fabric trees

Great family photos