Tag Archives: Crafts

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Terrorific Tuesday – Week 4 of free Halloween DIY’s

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TT Week 4 2010

Vanessa shows us how to make a Cute Felt Pumpkin in just a few minutes!

Get creative with Eileen Hull with her Pop Up Bat card. Super festive!

Glory makes a beautiful Autumn Wreath to hang on your door or wall.

Erika shares with us her cute Halloween bandana that her dog Sebastian loves wearing!

Cheryl Ball wows us with an adorable Jack-o-lantern Pin perfect for the season!

Sew a sweet Pumpkin Placement with Phyllis Dobbs!

Crafty Chica gets her glow on with this Sci Fi Senorita Head that is totally spooky!

Crafterella offers up some downloadable custom labels that are super spooky and fun!

Make a spooky Undead Terrorarium with Silvia Chenault.

Whip up some cute and quirky Moss Monsters with Missy at Marvelously Messy!

Kate Pullen offers up a fun Pumpkin Favor Box perfect to hand out at Halloween parties!

Get into the fall spirit with this Pretty Fabric Flower from Ann Butler.

Pattiewack crafts up some Mummy Barbies perfect for a haunting Halloween display!

Alexa a.k.a. Swelldesigner makes a bold Orange and black Mary Jane candy wreath, perfect for hanging or eating!

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Terrorific Tuesday – Week 3 of Halloween DIY Crafts

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terrorific tuesday 2010 week 3
Use a 2-liter bottle to make a super cute Halloween cupcake dome with Pattiewack!

Glory shows you how to make Creepy Spider Biscuits with spider Halloween stencils and edible color spray!

Make a funky and functional Plaid Skull&Crossbones Skirt with Excell Crafts!

Vanessa and Erin team up to make Awesome Halloween Cookies in a Jar Crafts complete with free easy to download sticker and label printables!

Cheryl Ball shares her beautiful Embroidery Floss Acorns – the perfect fall accent.

Korinne whips up a spectacular Vintage Style Halloween Wreath on her Crafterella blog.

Make Glow in the Dark Jewelry Using Polymer Clay and Rubber Stamps with Kate at the Rubberstamping About.com page!

Learn how to make festive Pom Pom Pumpkins on the Marvelously Messy blog!

Paint a super easy Pumpkin Pin with Ann Butler to accent your fall wardrobe!

Be a hit at the costume contest with this Corpse Bride Costume by the Crafty Chica!

Alexa Westerfield a.k.a. Swelldesigner shows you how to make a Snooki Painted Pumpkin inspired by the popular Jersey Shore Guidette!

Eileen Hull shares a Cute Halloween Bookmark project that will melt your Halloween heart!

Sebastian is faster than a speeding bullet in his Superman Costume featured on the Sew DoggyStyle blog!

Phyllis Dobbs wows us with this festive Spider Apron perfect for Halloween baking!

Silvia shows you how to make a No-Sew Fuzzy Monster Cuff – the perfect craft project for all ages!

That’s it for this week! If you are interested in playing in my fun Terrorific Tuesday roundup, e-mail Alexa at swelldesigner (at) gmail (dot) com and she’ll send you the details!

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Terrorific Tuesday – Week 2 of Halloween DIY Crafts

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terrorific tuesday 2010 week 2

Silvia Chenault turns a toy bat into an instant neckpiece (but will it bite your neck?)

Phyllis Dobbs shows us how to recycle a t-shirt into a really cool Halloween trick-or-treat bag!

Kate Pullen brews up adorable Paper Cone Witches!

Messy Missy makes a super spooky wreath with Duct tape!

Avalon Potter goes glam with her Halloween Masquerade Ball mask!

Patty Cappelluti goes bat crazy making this spooky bat door decoration!

Crafterella is a ghoul gone wild in her Ghoul Scout Costume. Download the custom patches she made for her costume!

Alexa Westerfield a.k.a. Swelldesigner upcycles a Starbucks bottle into a swell Halloween vase!

Cheryl Ball delights us with yummy candy corn cupcakes!

Pattiewack upcycles an apple tray into a festive cupcake carrier. So inexpensive and easy!

Ann Butler crafts up a boo-tiful holder for your ATCs complete with a black cat!

Glory whips up a super fun and healthy pumpkin-inspired muffin meal for her kids. Love it!

Crafty Chica makes the perfect mask to celebrate Dia de los Muertos.

Maya in the Moment has some face painting fun with her little cousin and of course, hilarity ensues!

Eileen Hull has a ghostly good time creating this cute diecut necklace!

That’s it for this week! If you are interested in playing in the fun Terrorific Tuesday roundup, e-mail Alexa at swelldesigner (at) gmail (dot) com and she’ll send you the details!

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Repurpose (recycle) a tee shirt into a Halloween Treat Bag

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Repurpose one of your old tee shirts into a fun Halloween Trick-or-Treat bag for the kids (or for yourself to carry around for Halloween).  

To make this easy tote bag for Halloween, all you need is the following supplies –

Black long sleeve tee shirt

Green fabric paint (great if you use glow-in-the-dark paint)

2 pieces of green ribbon

Green rattail cording

Small orange buttons

2 large orange buttons

1 large orange decorative button brad

2 small yellow buttons

1 large yellow button

1/3″ wide orange ribbon

Needle and thread or glue

Piece of cardboard

Scissors

Instructions:

Lay tee shirt flat and cut the top of the tee shirt off above the top edge of the sleeves.  The cutting line is marked on the tee shirt below.

Fold the top of the tee shirt down over the front so that the bottom of the arm hole for the sleeve is at the top and the folded piece forms a flap.

Place the piece of cardboard between the 2 layers of the tee shirt and under where you will paint. Paint a pumpkin on the front of the tee shirt below the folded over edge and 2 to 3 inches above the bottom edge.

Sew the bottom front and back of the tee shirt together, sewing the seam 1 1/4″ above the bottom edge. Twist the sleeves and over lap the cuff edges by 1″ and sew together. Cut the bottom edge below the seam to form fringe.

Sew the end of the orange ribbon to the base of one sleeve “strap” and wrap around the strap until you reach the other end, cut the ribbon and sew the ribbon end to the strap. Fold 2 different lengths of ribbon together and stitch the fold to the tee shirt centered above the pumpkin.  Arrange the green rattail cording and sew loosely to the shirt as shown.  Glue or sew the orange brad on top of the ribbon at the fold.

Sew or glue buttons – 2 small yellow buttons in the eyes, 2 large orange buttons in the bottom corners, the yellow button centered on the folded over teeshirt area, and a row of small orange buttons to the edge of the fold over.

I hope you enjoy this project!  Be creative and paint a skull or any other Halloween design or use a different color shirt – let your imagination fly or enlist the help of the kids.  Your trick or treaters will love carrying this bag.

Phyllis

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Terrorific Tuesday – Halloween DIY projects for each week!

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terrorific tuesday 2010 week 1

Kate Pullen shares 3 cute digital stamps Free cute spider digital stamps.

Phyllis Dobbs makes an easy Halloween Decopauge Pumpkin Treat Basket.

Jenna Excell shares her super cute and spooky Bones Halloween Apron.

Korinne Zimmerman a.k.a. Crafterella makes a wonderful spray bleach shirt using an adorable Moon Owl Stencil.

Glory’s Mischief haunts her house with her Faux Cats in window.

Ann Butler makes this boo-tiful Reverse Collage Decopauge Jack-o-Lantern.

Eileen Hull tucks away Halloween cards in this fun Sizzix ScoreBoard notebook pocket.

Silvia Chenault and Patty Cappelluti share two super spooky projects on Silvia’s blog: Vampire Art and Creepy Mirrors!

Pattiewack shows you how to make this cute and Wicked Pillow.

Messy Missy brings the LOLs with her Mean Kitteh.

Alexa Westerfield a.k.a. Swelldesigner whips up a Cute Candy Corn CD Cupcake Stand .

Kathy Murillo a.k.a. Crafty Chica delights us with glittery Skull Bookmarks.

That’s it for this week! If you are interested in playing in Swelldesigner’s Terrorific Tuesday roundup, e-mail her at swelldesigner (at) gmail (dot) com and she’ll send you the details!

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Halloween Craft – Decoupaged Pumpkin Treat Basket

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Make an easy Halloween Basket to hold candy for trick-or-treaters.  All is takes is a basket to decorate (I found this one at Goodwill for $1) and a few supplies.

The pumpkin was created with a paper napkin torn into pieces then decoupaged with Mod Podge.

Supplies –

Basket

Mod Podge

Assorted orange and black buttons

Green Paint (Plaid Folk Art)

Paper Napkin or other orange pattern paper

Paint brushes

I found these gorgeous paper napkins at Tuesday Morning.  They are the perfect colors for Halloween and the fall season.

After drawing pumpkin shape on the basket, I tore the napkins into assorted sizes and shapes, with curved edges on some to loosely fit the curved edge of the pumpkin. Then I applied Mod Podge with a brush to the basket inside the pumpkin area, a section at a time.  I added the pieces of torn napkin on to the area with the Mod Podge, overlapping pieces and fitting the curved edges along the outside edge of the pumpkin.

After filing the pumpkin and I keep adding the paper pieces so that there were 2 layers of paper for the pumpkin.

When all the napkin pieces were in place, I applied a final coat of Mod Podge on the top of the pumpkin to seal the paper.

After the pumpkin dried, I painted the stem and vine as well as around the rim of the basket.  I glued buttons for eyes with smaller round black buttons on larger orange buttons.  A black button was used for the nose and a row of small orange buttons for the mouth.  A large orange button was glued in the top corners.

I wish you a boo-dashious Halloween.  Please check back – I’m working on several more crafty and sewing items for Halloween!

Phyllis

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An unexpected treasure – a wonderful metal dress form.

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Sometimes the unexpected happens – you find something that you didn’t know you were looking for until you see it! Look at this fabulous dress form I found in, of all places, Tuesday Morning.  I was shopping with my friend Brenda Pinnick for unique items to craft with when I spotted this dress form.  Its perfect for displaying aprons (I have several patterns mentally designed so I could “justify” buying it!)

A few months ago, I scoured the internet looking for the perfect dress form to display aprons and found a wicker one that I liked.  Now my wicker gal has a little sister joining her in my studio.

The only downside is that I was at the beach and had to convince my husband that I could pack around it for our trip home – not an easy task with either the convincing or the packing! I know its not the typical beach purchase, but a treasure is a treasure!

Please check back for a Halloween apron that I’m working on as well as for some other special arts and crafts that were created while beaching.

Phyllis

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Lions, Giraffes & Snakes Oh MY – Lifesize knitted animals

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These jungle animals are huge and colorful …. and knitted.  One of the most fun exhibits I’ve seen, this was the booth for Lion Brand Yarns at the winter Craft and Hobby Association (CHA) trade show.  (I know, the show was in January, but I just found them in my camera).  What else can I say – the pictures tell the story.

Everything – flowers, blades of grass and the rugs were all made of yarn. The animals were all so cute! It was definitely an exhibit with the “awe” factor.

Have a “roaring” fun day.

Phyllis

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Great place for quilt, sewing, needlework & craft lovers

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If you love reading about crafts with plenty of tutorials, free patterns, information, projects that are being created, and much more on various blogs, then Creating the Hive is for you.  This is a website started for the craft world which includes sewing, quilting and needlework.

You join (free of course), then set up your profile for the type of crafts that interest you.  Also, you can join groups for your favorite crafts, such as Love of Sewing, Fabric Lovers, and Aprons if  you love sewing and quilting.  There are other groups for the many various crafts, such as scrapbooking, Christmas crafts, color, dolls, general crafts and many, many more.

People post their blogs to these groups so that you can have a condensed place to read great blogs, find out about new products, as well as free patterns, and more.  You can post your blogs and if you don’t have a blog, you can write a blog right on this site and have it go to the groups you choose.

Creating the Hive is new, slightly over a month old, but growing rapidly.  You will find your favorite blogs there.

Check creating the hive out and if you join, let me know by following me and I will follow and see what’s going on with you.

Have a great week of sewing, quilting or crafting!

Phyllis

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Cooler Chicago for the (CHA) Craft & Hobby Show

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I was in Chicago last week to attend the Craft and Hobby Show, the trade show for anything related to crafts (a consumer show followed the trade show). It was exciting to see the show floor filled with people who also seemed excited as well.

While there, my friend Brenda Pinnick and I took some time off to catch the El and go into Chicago to visit the museum at the Art Institute of Chicago. Its a fabulous museum and had expanded with a new modern wing that has been open a year.

The weather was fabulous, much cooler and less humid than here at home so Brenda and I spend some time walking through the city as well.  Chicago is so clean and beautiful and there were flowers everywhere along the streets. Large planters divided the street on Michigan Avenue as we walked toward the museum.  And there were plenty of sidewalk cafes with vibrant flowers.

Huge planters also lined the street.  I just happen to be in front of this one.

I am a huge fan of Art Nouveau and in Chicago, you don’t need to go to a museum to see a lot of this style as its prevalent throughout the City on buildings and other items of interest.

These 2 pictures shows some of the art nouveau designs on buildings.

And here is the famous Chicago Theater landmark on State Street, probably the most photographed  building in Chicago. 

One final shot – the Chicago River.  Didn’t I tell you Chicago was beautiful!

We enjoyed our day and it rejuvenating to have a break.  The next day, it was back to the CHA show  for meetings and to walk the show as well as visit with friends.

Here’s to a beautiful day for everyone!

Phyllis