FasterCraft

Valentine’s Day is coming! Tomorrow!

Shannon — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 05:38:03 +0000

Ah, the last minute Valentine’s Day scramble. It can turn into a frenzy of pink and red, ribbons and ruffles. Let’s all take a deep breath and survey our on-hand supplies carefully.

How to Make a Valentine’s Day Gift Topper from Diane Gilleland on Vimeo. Sister Diane at CraftyPod also has a roundup of Valentine’s projects on her blog right now.

Want a unique gift for the SO (significant other)? My friend Niki made her husband Ben this…. constant reminder of her.

She says “I made this pillow case with fabric I picked up from Walmart, but you could just as easily purchase one and add ribbon/trim (or not). I used Microsoft Publisher to add a border, text and clip art to my photo, printed it on Xfer paper (from Michael’s) and ironed it on.” Doesn’t Ben look happy?

Looking for an original way to give a bouquet of flowers? Try this tulips and candy combination from Martha Stewart.

One last one. Have you thought about crocheting some hearts? This pattern from Attic24 would go super fast.

Many thanks to our sponsor this month, SimpleScrapper.com

For Earth Day: Dyeing with natural dyes from the kitchen

Shannon — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 15:07:47 +0000

It’s Earth Day! Which is odd only because normally Easter happens much earlier in the season, so it’s rare for the two to overlap. I’d love to talk more about Earth Day, but I’ve got to start on my own Easter dinner plans and decorations, so today I’m going to sit at the junction of both holidays and talk about natural dyeing.

There are a lot of advantages to using kitchen and garden-based dyes. They are generally easy to find and inexpensive. They are safe, meaning you can have them around kids and pets with little concern. You can use them in your regular cookware. When you are done you can compost the leftovers, and you have the assurance that anything that ends up in the water supply is safe. The colors may not be as bright as the artificial dyes, but they generally lovely and closer to actual spring colors.

One of the interesting things about dyeing with natural ingredients is that it can be done on a lot of materials. Yarn, roving, some fabrics, possibly hair, and definitely eggs. If you try eggs, please remember that most methods have you boil the eggs for 15 minutes in the dye, so if you want hard-boiled eggs you can kill two birds with one stone.

There are many different options, but for almost all of them you’ll want to have some vinegar handy. Below there are a few lists of suggested materials for dyes, but play around as well. You may find that the thing you were sure would be red ends up green, and the surprises are (pretty much) always fun.

About.com has a great list of materials by dye color.
What’s Cooking America has another list with more options.

Many thanks to our sponsor this month, SimpleScrapper.com

Easter egg dyeing

Shannon — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 15:07:34 +0000

Easter eggs! Egg salad! Deviled eggs! I’m getting ahead of myself! Before we talk about the wonderful things you can do with Easter eggs you have to… well, Easter-ize them. Here are a few of my favorite methods for getting pretty eggs:

Photo courtesy of Marielle Jordan

Dyeing using silk – In the above photo my friend Marielle used silk ties for the bottom three eggs and silk blouses for the top three.

Image courtesy of MarthaStewart.com

Napkin decoupage on eggs

Washi paper covered eggs – See a beautiful example at http://www.flickr.com/photos/12163087@N04/2692105345/

Many thanks to our sponsor this month, SimpleScrapper.com

Quick and easy Easter decor

Shannon — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 15:07:29 +0000

Easter is coming! It fell so late in the season this year that for weeks and weeks I’ve been thinking that it was too soon to worry about it, and now suddenly it’s 5 days away.

photo courtesy of Make and Takes

Make and Takes has a cute and easy bunting made from plastic Easter eggs. The eggs she used already had holes in them, which would make stringing them much, much easier.

photo courtesy of MarthaStewart.com

MarthaStewart.com has these fun surprise carrots. (The surprise is what’s in them, not that they are carrots.) They can be filled with all sorts of little trinkets and baubles. Maybe some plastic army men for the boys, or earrings for the girls? Lots of options. I’m failry confident that you could make these with regular old glue, and don’t really have to have a hot glue gun.

Many thanks to our sponsor this month, SimpleScrapper.com

Weekend reads… for January 30, 2011

Shannon — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 16:07:53 +0000

Here are my favorite links on creativity, crafting, charity, etc. this week.

MSNBC story on the importance of creativity in healthy ageing
Afghans for Afghans – This charity takes hand-made blanket, sweaters, vests, hats, and socks to the Afghan people. I don’t know much about politics, but it strikes me that building good will towards America in that part of the world can only help us all.
Simple Scrapper article with some ideas for organizing paper crafting supplies
Project Linus – This charity collects blankets for ill and traumatized children.
Fiskars CHA preview

Many thanks to our sponsor this month, SimpleScrapper.com

National craft store ads, November 15-21

Shannon — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 04:07:37 +0000

Here are the weekly ads from the national craft stores chains I could think of:

Hobby Lobby
Michael’s
Jo-Ann Fabrics
AC Moore

Many thanks to our sponsor this month, SimpleScrapper.com

Paper Frames

Shannon — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 16:07:14 +0000

I saw these paper frames on Design Sponge and had to share. If you look at the post you’ll see that some are used over chalkboard paint and some are used to frame photos. I could see this as a fun project for the holidays, done in holiday colors and used to showcase photos of previous holidays, or to hang up pretty holiday cards. They also, for some reason, remind me of The Royal Tenenbaums. I love that show.

Photo courtesy of Design Sponge

Many thanks to our sponsor this month, SimpleScrapper.com

Holiday baubles

Shannon — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 16:07:34 +0000

I have often seen what I refer to as “christmas balls” covered in crochet, and while I figured I could suss it out, I’ve never known exactly how it was done. Until today. Pip at Meet Me at Mike’s has a tutorial for creating these baubles and it couldn’t be easier. Click on the image below (hers) to go to her tutorial, and if you need crochet help, scroll even further down for some help.

Don’t know how to crochet? Forgot how since grandma taught you? Get it confused with knitting? Here is a series of videos from Lion Brand that explain the fundamentals.

Many thanks to our sponsor this month, SimpleScrapper.com

Impending holidays

Shannon — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 16:07:30 +0000

It’s a fact of crafting. While other people around you are complaining about the early season you just can’t relate. Yes, Home Depot has been selling Christmas decorations since mid-October, Hobby Lobby since the beginning of October, and a local radio station started playing only Christmas music on November 1st. Those may seem early, but I think many of us start thinking about Christmas gifts in September.

Someone on Twitter today pointed out this online ‘zine full of Christmas crafting ideas. Check it out at http://inspireco.blogspot.com/2010/11/inspired-ideas-christmas-issue.html. I’m particularly smitten with the felt leaf garlands.

Many thanks to our sponsor this month, SimpleScrapper.com

Caps for Good – Save babies all over the world

Shannon — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 15:07:51 +0000

Nearly 4 million babies die each year in their first month — half within their first 24 hours — mostly from preventable or treatable causes.

This weekend is a big one at my church, and as we have 4 meetings (viewable at home) it’s a great time to get some knitting and crochet done. Since keeping your hands busy can help you better retain things you’re learned (see this interesting study, for example) and also can help you stay awake when it’s 90 degrees and the room is dusky, I always keep a few projects on hand. I can’t speak for everyone, but for me one of the better accompaniments for spiritual instruction is doing some good in the world.

There are dozens, maybe hundreds, of charities that need knit and crocheted (and sewed) goods. One that I’m particularly fond of is Caps for Good. It’s a project of Save the Children, and along with their many other projects to improve healthcare and survival for babies and children all over the world, they have a specific project to help underweight babies. If you can knit in the round or do some basic crochet you can help.

If you’d like to find out more about the project please see the Action Kit which contains information and some basic patterns to get you started. You can also use any other baby hat pattern that has a 12″ circumference at the crown.

Many thanks to our sponsor this month, SimpleScrapper.com