Make-It-Over Monday
Two seems to be my lucky number, meaning I seem to get better responses to the Make-It-Over craft challenges if I let them run for two weeks rather than one. I am going to test that theory this week by letting last week's craft challenge item ride for one more week. I hope you don't mind!

For those who might not remember, last week's Make-It-Over Monday craft challenge item was a bottle cap:

Please send in your bottle cap creations! You can share your simple ideas and tips using the comments feature on this blog post, but to get your project possibly featured in the next Make-It-Over Monday blog post, please submit it using this simple form. If you make the project you are submitting, take a picture of it and submit the photo. Some of the submitted ideas will be shared in the next Make-It-Over Monday blog post. Preference will be given to those projects that are submitted with photos. You can look through projects submitted for past challenges if you want some inspiration.

If you have questions or comments about this craft challenge, use the comment feature below. Suggestions regarding this feature? Again, use the comments feature to post your suggestions; and, thanks for playing along. If you want a reminder when Make-It-Over challenges are posted, sign up for the Family Crafts newsletter.
RELATED:
- How to Submit a Project
- How to Submit a Photo

(Photo © 2010 Sherri Osborn licensed to About.com, Inc.)

Make-It-Over Monday originally appeared on About.com Family Crafts on Monday, March 8th, 2010 at 07:00:25.

Permalink | Comment | Email this

This Week's Spotlight Crafts (February 27 - March 5th)
Have no fear if you missed one or more spotlight crafts during the last week... You can review them all here:

• Shamrock Pin Craft - Follow these directions and make yourself a lucky shamrock for your lapel. These also make fun St. Patrick's Day gifts.

• No-Sew Pillow Craft - Learn how you can cover old pillows or pillow forms with fun fabric that matches your room's decor. Experiment with different fabrics to make your own room fashion statement.

• CD Case Brag Book Craft - Learn how to make a cool photo album or brag book using a CD case. This makes a special gift by personalizing it for grandma, a special aunt, or best friend. You can give it to them blank and let them fill the pages or you can fill the pages with pictures, sayings, etc.

• Light Bulb Cat-In-The-Hat Craft - Today is Dr. Seuss's birthday. Find out how to create a cute Cat-In-The-Hat craft using a light bulb and a few other supplies.

• Soda Pop Can Pig - In honor of National Pig Day, why not make several little piggies using soda pop cans. I promise these pigs will not eat you out of house and home.

• Easy Paper Lantern - This paper lantern is easy to make and can be embellished to match any decor or to suit any occassion.

• Pine Cone Pony Craft - Follow these instructions, shared by Tonya, and you can make a pony out of a pine cone.

Crafty Blogs to Explore - 84th Edition
This week you can learn how to write and publish a craft book, how to make a pincushion out of an egg cup, how to use the Craft-N-Spin crafting turntable, and so much more:

• Margot Potter The Impatient Crafter - Ever wondered what it takes to get a craft book published? Join Madge in this first installment in her How To Write and Publish a Craft Book series.

• Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery - How to make Egg Cup pincushions inspired by a wonderful project in I "Heart" Patchwork by Rashida Coleman-Hale.

• The Artful Crafter - Take a spin with Eileen on the Craft-N-Spin crafting turntable.

• Aileen's Musings - Aileen's altered a pair of old white tennis shoes and gave them a whole new look....they were pretty wild but she's toned them down with some spray webbing. She's even worn them out and about and received some great compliments on them!

• Beading Arts - Cyndi is running a contest on Beading Arts, and the prize is an absolutely free advertisement!

• Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world - Craftside's got a post about working with grids in mixed media, a ribbon embellished quilt from The Quilt Bible, 3rd Edition, tips on outlining a photo and a bunch of journal pages from 1000 Artist Journals.

• Crafty Princess Diaries - Tammy shows off some jewelry she and her husband made for a local charity auction, perfect for animal lovers!

• Farm Girl Roots, City Girl Style - Linda's making progress in the sewing and craft room. Check out the closet!

(Graphic is courtesy of morgue.com)

Jewelry Inspirations
In this book, author and crafter Sherri Habb not only shares techniques and designs from her studio, she shares her studio. She also introduces a variety of techniques and mediums that you can use to make jewelry. Learn about tools, supplies, and techniques that are used in basic wire working, transferring images, mixing resin, and more. When I first flipped through this book, some of these techniques and mediums did intimidate me, but once I read through the author's introductions and explanations that apprehension went away and I was anxious to try them all. Read More...
RELATED:
- Craft Book Reviews
- Jewelry Making
- Learn a New Craft

(Cover Art Courtesy of Watson-Guptill)

Jewelry Inspirations originally appeared on About.com Family Crafts on Thursday, March 4th, 2010 at 09:00:17.

Permalink | Comment | Email this

St. Patrick's Day Beaded Safety Pin Patterns
Make fun pins for yourself and others to wear to celebrate St. Patrick's Day - check out these free beaded safety pin designs! For every free pattern I provide, you will find a list that explains how many safety pins to use and what sizes to use. There is also a colored graph of the project illustrating how many beads of each color to use; and, of course, there are step-by-step directions to get you starting on this easy craft.
RELATED:
- More Free Beaded Safety Pin Patterns
- St. Patrick's Day Projects

(Photo © 2010 Sherri Osborn licensed to About.com, Inc.)

St. Patrick's Day Beaded Safety Pin Patterns originally appeared on About.com Family Crafts on Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010 at 09:00:04.

Permalink | Comment | Email this

Celebrate National Craft Month
March is National Craft Month. What a terrific reason to celebrate! For those of us who love to craft, why not vow to try a new crafting technique, or maybe you can teach someone how to do your favorite craft. I think National Craft Month can also be the perfect excuse to pull all those half-finished projects out of their hiding places and get them done. For those who don't make crafts, what better reason to start crafting? What will you do to celebrate National Craft Month?
RELATED:
- Learn a New Craft Technique
- More March Special Days

(Photo: Katy McDonnell/Getty Images)

Celebrate National Craft Month originally appeared on About.com Family Crafts on Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010 at 09:00:00.

Permalink | Comment | Email this

Make-It-Over Monday
Let's start out this week's Make-It-Over Monday craft post by checking out some fun crafts you can make with last week's craft challenge:

• Light Bulb Alien Craft
• Light Bulb Cat-In-The-Hat Craft
• Light Bulb Chick Craft
• Light Bulb Leprechaun Craft
• Light Bulb Maraca Craft
• More Light Bulb Crafts
  

What do you think about them? Remember, just because we are moving onto a new craft challenge item today doesn't mean you can't still submit your light bulb crafts. Submissions are still being accept for any and all past Make-It-Over Craft Challenge items.

Now, onto this week's Make-It-Over Monday Craft Challenge Item! This week's item is a bottle cap.

What can you craft using a bottle cap? Your craft project can use one or more bottle caps... Now let's get crafting!

You can share your simple ideas and tips using the comments feature on this blog post, but to get your project possibly featured in the next Make-It-Over Monday blog post, please submit it using this simple form. If you make the project you are submitting, take a picture of it and submit the photo. Some of the submitted ideas will be shared in the next Make-It-Over Monday blog post. Preference will be given to those projects that are submitted with photos. You can look through projects submitted for past challenges if you want some inspiration.

If you have questions or comments about this craft challenge, use the comment feature below. Suggestions regarding this feature? Again, use the comments feature to post your suggestions; and, thanks for playing along. If you want a reminder when Make-It-Over challenges are posted, sign up for the Family Crafts newsletter.
RELATED:
- How to Submit a Project
- How to Submit a Photo

(Photo © 2010 Sherri Osborn licensed to About.com, Inc.)

Follow me on Twitter | Join me on Facebook

Make-It-Over Monday originally appeared on About.com Family Crafts on Monday, March 1st, 2010 at 09:00:55.

Permalink | Comment | Email this

 << MORE >>
Mon, 01 Mar 2010 09:00:55 +0000

This Week's Spotlight Crafts (February 20 - 26)
Check out all of the crafts that were featured this past week. Which is your favorite?

• Cereal Rainbow - Encourage your kids to play with their food while making colorful rainbow pictures.

• Hockey Jersey Pin or Magnet - This easy pin or magnet, which looks like a tiny hockey jersey, makes a great craft for kids, whether they are hockey players or hockey fans. These pins can also be modified to suit other sports teams.

• Stenciled Love Jeans - Find out how to create fashionable jeans and other denim masterpieces using Simply Spray fabric stencil paint.

• Leprechaun Hat Craft - Follow these directions, inspired by suggestions from Donna, and you can make a leprechaun hat using a styrofoam cup. Use it as a St. Patrick's Day decoration, party favor, or even as bait in a leprechaun trap!

• Clay Pot Bumble Bee Craft - Make this cute bumble bee using a terra cotta clay pot and a few other supplies.

• Paper Plate Embellishments - Jan Hennings explains how she transformed ordinary paper plates into extraordinary embellishments.

• Flower Shaker Craft - Find out how to create this unique musical craft that looks like a flower.

Crafty Blogs to Explore - 83rd Edition
This week the crafter bloggers talk about getting organized, share their favorite cookbooks, and explain how they found crafting encouragement. That, it just the tip of the ice berg, check out all the fabulous projects and experiements too:

• Farm Girl Roots, City Girl Style - Organization in her creative space isn't Linda's forte, so check out a "before" shot. Any ideas on getting her craft room organized are welcome--post a comment with your ideas.

• Margot Potter The Impatient Crafter - Make a fab mixed media journal cover with Madge in this week's post for iLoveToCreate!

• Mixed Media Artist - Cyndi tried having some custom-printed fabrics made, and she learned a lot in the process.

• Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery - Mixed Media Greeting Card Album using embellishment ideas from the book The Scrapbook Embellishment Handbook by Sherry Steveson.

• The Artful Crafter - Eileen shares directions for making flowers from fabric scraps or from paper coffee filters.

• The Crochet Dude - Drew reveals his favorite cookbooks and answers 8 important questions.

• Aileen's Musings - Come journey with Aileen along her creative process as she transforms a paper napkin into 3 whimsical pieces of art!

• Cathie Filian - Turn a hardware store washer into a papered necklace with Cathie's tutorial.

• Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world - At Craftside there is tutorial on turning a box into a book, how to paint a bunny rabbit and carrot Chinese brush style, putting words on a spoon and a sneak peek into the new book 1000 ideas from 100 Fashion Designers with my own fashion star sighting.

• Crafty Princess Diaries - Looking for a little crafting encouragement? Tammy found it through an Etsian jewelry designer.

(Graphic is courtesy of morgue.com)

Crafty Blogs to Explore - 83rd Edition originally appeared on About.com Family Crafts on Friday, February 26th, 2010 at 12:00:17.

Permalink | Comment | Email this