Craft Connection

DIY Pendant Lamp - Weekend Project

2012-09-12T18:00:00.000-04:00

Dollar Store Crafts has a great weekend project posted on their site for a pendant light tutorial. I love the colors! Can you believe these are ping pong balls? [link]

Want to buy ping pong balls in bulk? How about 144 of them for less than $10 link

DIY Plastic Strands

2012-09-12T17:26:00.000-04:00

A great tutorial with lots of visuals on how to make plastic strands or as they call them wire. Full instructions are on WikiHow [link]

Need a heat gun? link

DIY Barbie Doll House

2012-09-10T01:16:00.001-04:00

Wow, can I just say how amazing this is? Southern Disposition shares a DIY tutorial for making a barbie doll house from three ring binders! Yes, three ring binders. They fold closed and don't take up a lot of room when not in use. If you never venture to make this, your loss. But you still need to go see this post and be in awe of the creativity. [link]

Initial Glass Pendant DIY

2012-09-07T00:57:00.000-04:00

You know when you see an idea and you want to kick yourself for not thinking of it first? Well, this in one of those times. I love to make jewelry. I give it away, I sell it, I wear it. This is such a fantastic idea for so many gift giving opportunities. I am thinking even crafting with kids this would be fun and quick the only thing I would worry about is the etching cream usage. For the entire tutorial you can see it over at Midwestern Girl DIY [link]

Looking for supplies? You can find them here:

Etching Cream Glass Rectangle Tiles

Copyright Free Images

2012-09-06T21:04:00.003-04:00

Are you looking for free public domain imagery for your crafting or art making? Here is a great online resource. The images are mostly vintage by nature due to the copyright infringement laws. [link]

Free $40 Gift!!!!

2012-09-05T09:20:00.001-04:00

Create your own memory books, journal, calendar, cards......at a considerable savings.

enter code Welcome2012 at checkout to receive a $40
credit to apply toward your purchase [link]

Hollow Polymer Clay Bead Tutorial

2012-09-05T00:37:00.001-04:00

Want to make a hollow polymer clay bead? Here's a link to a tutorial with step by step photographs. [link]

Need some clay to get started?
Variety of Polymer Clay

Beaded Earrings Free Tutorial

2012-09-04T15:41:00.002-04:00

Oh what a grand find. There's a ton more free tutorials at BeadsMagic but here is the link to the earrings pictured above. [link]

Martha Stewart Give Away

2012-09-04T15:19:00.002-04:00

Plaid is offering a Martha Stewart glass and ceramic paint give away. [link]

The contest will end Friday September 7th, 2012 at 12 noon EST

Free Printable Card Set - DIY

2012-09-03T23:15:00.000-04:00

This adorable Matryoshka Card Set is available as a free download and printable from the Cannon website. [link]

Crochet Kitchen Sponge DIY

2012-08-31T23:37:00.000-04:00

I found this great free tutorial on Ravelry for a crocheted kitchen sponge. I have made kitchen scrubbies, I've felted soap into fleece. This was a new idea for me, crochet a cover for a sponge to make a super kitchen sponge. I can see many of these being made in the near future! [link]

Beaded Heart Tutorial

2012-08-31T22:07:00.000-04:00

Sonyastyle shares a beautiful beaded heart tutorial with her readers. [link]

Crochet Large Stitch Rugs

2012-08-31T21:27:00.000-04:00

Purlbee shares with you a free pattern for large stitch crochet rugs. They use alpaca but I bet you could be creative and use another kind of fiber or use multiple strands. [link]

DIY Beads from Paper

2012-08-29T21:29:00.000-04:00

Instructables has a great tutorial for making beads from paper. Yeap, you remember doing this as a kid. It is the same technique but taken to a higher level - just check out the results! [link]

Wire-wrap Rosette Ring Tutorial

2012-08-23T23:40:00.000-04:00

A sweet little rosette wire ring tutorial from McFarland Designs. There are great step by step images. [link]

PrintRunner Sticker Give-away

2012-08-23T18:07:00.000-04:00

A unique way to promote your products. Stickers! How about using them to seal your sold items? What a great marketing tool. Print Runner is offering free stickers to one lucky Craft Connection reader. Enter to win now!

Maybe your are not a crafter that sells their product. How about a business card sticker for your family or labels to identify your "stuff". Keep in mind if the size of the sticker is too large, you can put two designs on one sticker and just cut them down when you get them! I did this once - worked great!

PrintRunner is your convenient online print service resource. Check out their site and try printing sticker from them.

Details of the giveaway prize: Stickers
Sticker Shape : Standard Stickers
Flat Width : 2"
Flat Height : 3.5"
Quantity : 250
Paper : Premium Sticker Stock
Colors : Full Color ( 4 Color Process), Black and White
Proof : NONE
Ready to Ship In : 3 Business Days
*Giveaway is open to US Residents only, ages 18 years old and above.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Thank you to PrintRunner for providing us this giveaway, I will receive a set of stickers for hosting this.

DIY Magnetic Notepad

2012-08-23T01:31:00.001-04:00

I have to admit, I am a bit of a push over when it comes to magnetic note pads. But, I don't like the price. I guess I could add a magnet to any old note pad, but I never do. I loved finding this DIY project on the Curbly website [link]. Plus, there are free downloads for the pages to print at home: four grocery lists and four task lists.

Wrapped Bracelet DIY

2012-08-23T01:09:00.000-04:00

Here is a visual tutorial for making a bracelet with flexible vinyl (PVC) tubing, thread - wool, silk etc to your taste, double sided tape (5 mm width), and a knitting needle. Here is a link to the full tutorial, it is in Russian [link]. If you would like to translate it, try using Babblefish.

DIY Sharpie Dinnerware

2012-08-23T00:20:00.002-04:00

I have seen this technique on a lot of blogs and I have read a lot of reviews about this project. My first concern would be the comments about the toxicity of the ink. I search on the Sharpie website and found the pens to be a "Quick-drying ink AP certified nontoxic formula". First hurdle accomplished. The next concern I had was the ink washing off. I don't have a tried and true solution for this. I would recommend against putting it in the dishwasher. But other than that, I think it is a grand project and one worth trying. As I said, there were a lot of sites with instructions but the one I found first was at The Sweetest Occasion [link].

DIY Felt Trivet and Coasters (no sew)

2012-08-14T00:51:00.001-04:00

How About Orange shares a tutorial for a felt trivet. This is a cut and assemble piece with no sewing! You can alter the colors and the size. This project has a lot of possibilities. [link] There is also another tutorial on the same site for coasters using the same technique. [link]

Fold A Paper Bow

2012-08-14T00:29:00.000-04:00

Learn how to fold a bow from a single sheet of paper. You could recycle a magazine page, try gift wrapping paper, origami paper - just about any paper. I don't think I will be buying bows to wrap presents with anymore! Thanks to Let's Create for translating the tutorial into English. [link]

Frosted Vases DIY

2012-08-13T23:17:00.000-04:00

I found this great craft on Pinterest. However, the image linked to a site that didn't contain any information about the craft so I can't credit the creator. But, here is the basic idea. Wrap rubber bands around the glass vases, then spray them with craft spray that 'etches' the glass. Allow them to dry and then remove the rubber bands.

DIY Garden Flower Pots

2012-08-09T00:06:00.001-04:00

SaiFou shares a "visual" (no text) tutorial on how to make pots and a bird bath out of concrete. [link]

River Rock Hot Pad DIY

2012-08-03T23:24:00.000-04:00

A package of river rocks, a piece of felt and some hot glue. What do you get? A great looking hot pad! It's so Very Cheri shares ideas for this technique making a hot pad or a door mat. [link]

Reversible Jumbo Tote DIY

2012-08-03T21:59:00.001-04:00

A jumbo tote that is reversible as well as portable because it rolls up for storage and travel. Oh so many uses for this versatile bag. Thanks to Craft Passion for the tutorial. [link]