Get Paid to Play! If you are a member of the C&T Creative Troupe, you are already creating beautiful art with our books and products, why not get paid for it? If you haven’t joined the Creative Troupe yet, what are you waiting for? Become a member of our creative family today!

We have listed all the details of the program below, but the concept is simple. Get a project made with C&T products published in the media, and we will pay you.

2010 Print Endorsement Fee Schedule:

• Liquitex® Soft Body Acrylic Paints & Mediums used in a quilt or fabric painting project—$50
• Any Ready-to-Go!® Blank Board Product or Canvas Book—$50
• Any of C&T’s Tools, Notions & Interfacings—$50

2010 Online Endorsement Fee Schedule (Media outlet must attract at least 50,000 monthly visitors):

• Liquitex® Soft Body Acrylic Paints & Mediums used in a quilt or fabric painting project—$25
• Any Ready-to-Go!® Blank Board Product or Canvas Book—$25
• Any of C&T’s Tools, Notions & Interfacings—$25

Television and Radio Endorsement Fee determined on an individual basis. Email meganw@ctpub.com for details.

Fine Print:

• All products must be mentioned by brand name
• C&T reserves the right to determine all fees paid
• Maximum combined compensation for multiple products used in a single project is $200
• Maximum combined compensation for multiple projects in the same print magazine is $200

To receive compensation for print placements please send original tear sheets and cover or color copies to:

Megan Wisniewski

C&T Publishing

1651 Challenge Dr.

Concord CA 94520

Submissions must be received no later than 3 months following publication date. For a suggested list of media outlets please email meganw@ctpub.com.

Unlike our other craft month projects, this post doesn’t offer a specific materials list or step-by-step instructions. What it does offer is a look inside the mind of C&T’s resident upcycling queen, and the inspiration needed for you to set out on your own thrift store expedition and find that perfect piece of junk to turn into a jewel.

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Once a week my friend and I go thrift store shopping…what a blast! As we help each other select our purchases, we brew up all sorts of creative uses for our finds. There’s nothing more exciting than visualizing the transformation of an item into something completely different! I thought I’d chronicle my journey of altering and upcycling thrift store items here on the C&T blog.

The Junk

At lunch time a few weeks ago, I headed to the thrift store. I went through the housewares section and nothing was jumping out at me. I even went through the clothes to see if I could be tempted by a designer shirt for a fabulous price…but no such luck. I was about to gather my friend and leave the store when I saw IT.

Lying there on the pile of old notebooks and tupperware containers was a wooden tennis racket and frame. Now I wasn’t too interested in the tennis racket, but the frame…boy did I instantly see the possibilities. An oversize “pincushion” of sorts, it can hold notes, objects of inspiration, jewelry, and anything else you can tack to it. I just loved how the wooden frame was held together with a screw in each corner. So simple, honest and clean-looking.

After a quick wash and polish of the racket frame, I was ready to start playing with fabric. Immediately I knew I wanted to use linen for the pincushion surface. I’d recently seen and coveted many of the wonderful linen treasures in a popular home decor catalog. I loved the style but not the price. This was my chance to create my own fabulous piece of linen home decor, and all I was investing was my own creativity and a little bit of time!

My idea was to use a piece of cardboard (cut to size) for the base of the pincushion, the decorative piece of linen fabric for the cushion surface, and some batting in between the base and surface to make it all “cushiony” of course! I would tighten the screws to sandwich everything together within the frame. I tested a few different combinations of fabric, batting and cardboard to determine how much of each material I needed for my project. My tests confirmed that the fabric surface should be cut a little bit smaller than the dimensions of the base.

I used a piece of linen from a vintage embroidery kit a friend found for me at a garage sale for the pin cushion surface. Stamping the letters and numbers on the linen was easy: I used Liquitex^® paint and a set of foam alphabet stamps I’d saved from my stamping days. I gave the linen a good press with a very hot iron, which made the linen straight, stiff, and optimized for stamping on. I finished the edges of the linen with a wide zig-zag stitch which worked perfectly. The finished edges made it easier to handle when it was time to assemble the layers inside the frame.

The cardboard ended up being too flimsy to be the racket base. Luckily, I found a scrap of foam core board I had stashed in between two bookcases in my studio (I never throw anything away) and it worked much better. I trimmed the sides of my piece of foam core with a craft knife to make it fit just inside the outer edges of the frame.

The batting needed to be cut in several pieces of different sizes, starting with one the same dimensions as the foam core. On top of that piece I layered additional pieces, each one a tad smaller than the previous one. The last piece was about the same size as the fabric.

I secured the fabric and batting to the foam core, placed ( OK, shoved) the pincushion into the frame, and tightened the screws. All I had left to do was the embellishing!

Now for the Big Reveal…

The Jewel

I leave my tennis racket frame pincushion sitting on my sewing table so it’s always ready and easily movable to wherever it is needed. If flat space is at a premium in your studio, you could add a saw tooth bracket to the back of the wooden frame and hang it on a wall.

If you aren’t in need of an oversize pincushion, consider using this as a way to display some special or favorite jewelry on your dresser. It would also be cute as a mini bulletin board for the office or kitchen.

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Next month’s junk: Weird felt messenger bag with fake plastic grass

what in the world will Sue make out of this?

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March is National Craft Month and we are celebrating by posting one project every day this month! If you are joining us late, click here to see the full list of Craft Month projects that have been posted so far.

Laura Wasilowski is doing something very interesting and cool over at her blog called Thread-u-cation Thursdays, where each week she introduces and demonstrates a new stitch with how-to photos and written instructions.

Laura is kindly letting us borrow some of her content for this week’s Technique Tuesday Craft Month blog post! The technique we are featuring today is Laura Wasilowki’s Blanket Stitch, and at the end of this post you’ll be able to download a free PDF with some additional stitching techniques.

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Laura Wasilowski’s Thread-u-cation Thursday: Blanket Stitch

The Blanket Stitch always gives me that warm and fuzzy feeling. It tucks in around a fabric edge holding it safe and neatly outlining the shape. But it can also act as a decorative stitch across the surface of fabric creating rows of UUUU or MMMM depending upon orientation.

Here’s how I make my Blanket Stitches: With the thread on top at A, place the tip of the needle about 1/4″ up and to the right of point A. Insert the needle at B and exit at C, about 1/4″ to the right of A. Trap the thread coming out of A under the needle tip and draw the needle and thread slowly through the fabric.

Point C is now Point A. Repeat the directions aboveforming a row or following the edge of a shape. Different effects are achieved by varying the spacing between points A and C or the length of the B/C stitch. Here’s an example of the Blanket Stitch as an outtie rather than an innie. UUUUMMMMUUUUMMM Enjoy!

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Click here to download a 3-page full cover PDF with some additional stitching techniques including:

Gathered Flowers

Ric-rac Flowers

Suffolk Puffs

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March is National Craft Month and we are celebrating by posting one project every day this month! If you are joining us late, click here to see the full list of Craft Month projects that have been posted so far.

Our friends at RIT Dye have given us 12 bottles of dye to give away to one lucky blog reader! We had to join the fun, so have thrown in some Ready-to-Go! Blank Canvas Books to get the winner started dyeing, as well as a copy of Rebekah Meier’s Fabric Art Collage!

Fabric Art Collage includes Rebekah’s dyeing and overdyeing techniques with RIT Dye so recently RIT featured Fabric Art Collage on their blog, Edie’s Fashion Factory. Check out that post here, then check out the rest of the site because there’s plenty of cool videos and dyeing how-tos.

the giveaway bundle

The RIT Dye colors included in the giveaway are: Fuchsia, Cherry Red, Sunshine Orange, Lemon Yellow, Cocoa Brown, Taupe, Apple Green , Dark Green, Denim Blue, Evening Blue, Purple, and Black. That’s ALOT of dye!! But there are so many uses for RIT—from fashion to quilting, sewing, mixed media art and more—I’m sure the lucky giveaway winner will have a fantastic time devising a plan for making use of it all.

To be in the running for the RIT Dye giveaway bundle, leave a comment here or on Facebook telling us which project or dyeing technique from the RIT website or blog you want to try most and why. Comments will be closed at 9am PST on Monday, March 22, 2010 and the winner will be announced later that day. Good luck!

Extra comment entries are available to you if you want to maximize your chances at being the giveaway winner! If you take one or more of the actions listed below, enter an extra comment for each, and in that comment tell us what you did and link to the proof where that’s possible.

• Place one of our blog badges on your personal blog (make sure it includes the html code that links it to our blog)
• Subscribe to our YouTube channel
• Subscribe to our Newsletter
• Tweet a link to the giveaway & mention our twitter username @ctpublishing

Thank you to everyone who left a comment, posted our blog badge, subscribed to our YouTube channel or newsletter and all the tweets. We love hearing from you and appreciate your involvement in our online community.

Remember to tune in tomorrow for details of the next giveaway!

Whether you’ve got a sick friend to entertain, or it’s just a rainy, stay-inside sort of day, this cheerful checker pattern Game Board quilt can’t help but brighten spirits. It communicates love and caring, and of course spells fun.

This free project download includes the supply list and instructions for the above classic checkerboard quilt and the checker pieces and pouch below. We know that when someone’s sick, you may not have much time to spend making them a game board quilt gift, so the quick & easy roll-up variation project (pictured below) is also included!

Maybe checkers just isn’t your thing? We threw in some patterns for chess pieces as well!

This project is an excerpt from Comfort Quilts from the Heart by Jake Finch, which includes 12 quick projects to take care of others.

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March is National Craft Month and we are celebrating by posting one project every day this month! If you are joining us late, click here to see the full list of Craft Month projects that have been posted so far.

Pop-up notecards give you the opportunity to transform one-dimensional elements into 3-D delights. The easy step-by-step instructions and photos in this free project download show you how to add a third dimension to images, words, and sayings. The best part is all you need is cardstock and a few basic cardmaking supplies. Ready to put on your “paper engineer” hat?

This project is an excerpt from Pop-Up Paper Structures by Heidi Pridemore which includes 12 pop-up techniques and 7 complete projects perfect for novices.

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March is National Craft Month and we are celebrating by posting one project every day this month! If you are joining us late, click here to see the full list of Craft Month projects that have been posted so far.

Click here to download the 6-page full color project sheet PDF. Happy crafting!

Circle Bell

Two for the time of one! This sweet little bell will charm everyone—especially if you really hang a small jingle bell inside.

Triangular Bell

Three small pieces plus three small holiday bells, and it’s a charmer. Listen to its sweet music when the air moves it.

Gift Box

With just a bit of hand sewing you can create this sweet gift box ornament and the ribbon to decorate it.

Circle Strip

You can’t get much more basic than a straight strip of stiff interfacing and fabric. This is a very fast ornament to make, and with the right fabric and a few beads, it is sure to become a classic on your tree.

These projects are an excerpt from Fast, Fun & Easy® Christmas Decorations by Linda Johansen.

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March is National Craft Month and we are celebrating by posting one project every day this month! If you are joining us late, click here to see the full list of Craft Month projects that have been posted so far.

So… do you haiku?
Show me your five seven five
About quilting here!

the finished quilt

Here’s what Carlotta had to say about the project:

The rooster pattern was made from a photo I’d taken at a farm. The colors where just basic but fun, black, yellow, red, green, and purple. The [Liquitex] fabric medium really helps the paint not to wick on the fabric! After he was painted I put fusible on the back cut him out and attached him to the background. Then the thread painting just adds more color and texture.

Carlotta’s classes are on March 13th and March 20th at Sew What in Redding, CA. In the class students will get to use her pattern to paint a Picasso rooster of their own!