Crafty Blogger Blurbs

About Family Crafts 
Now is the perfect time to get a jump start on your holiday crafting and Sherri will help you get a jump start on making your holiday gifts.

Carmi's Art/Life World 
Carmi has a Crafter Companion paper fairy idea to show off this week!

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world 
This week at Craftside there is a tutorial on how to make recycled silverware journal handles, a chance to win a copy of 1,000 Ideas for Decorating Cupcakes, Cookies & Cakes along with a recipe for fondant, an interview with the author of The Urban Biking Handbook and an inspirational quote and art from Camille Kuo. 

Crafty Princess Diaries 
Tammy has some important news about a very popular knitting loom. 

Eileen - The Artful Crafter 
Look at this cute coffee can recycling project. It also uses craft stash scraps, so it’s both eco-nomical and eco-logical!

Mixed Media Artist 
Continuing with her clothing obsession, Cyndi has taken out her acrylics to use on a summer dress!

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery 
See bling I designed inspired by Margot Potter's latest book New Dimensions in Bead and Wire Jewelry and win a copy for yourself!

The Crochet Dude™ 
Drew reviews the Knook - a kit that teaches you how to knit with a crochet hook! 

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Great Visit

We had a great visit with our Mr. Kevin this weekend! 

I can't believe he's 3 months old already! He's at a 

really fun interactive age! We had such fun laughing, 

playing and giggling with him.

On the way over we stopped at a garage sale 

and I found the coolest bike for when Kevin gets 

older. I've never seen anything like this, you can 

steer it, peddle and push it.  It looked almost 

brand new and I paid a whooping $3.00 for it, 

what a deal!

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Chunky Birdcage Canvas Tutorial

I was recently asked how I made 

the piece pictured above, so thankfully 

I had posted a tutorial a long while back
 HERE

Enjoy!

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Recycled T-shirt Rug

Here's what I'm working on... 

the beginnings of a crocheted T-shirt rug.  

I've always wanted to make a rag rug but while browsing on Pinterest I came across various t-shirt rugs some crocheted and some braided.  I also came across this tutorial on how to make T-shirt yarn which I followed to make my yarn I used in my rug (I'm using a size Q crochet hook). I have to admit it's pretty cool to cut up a T-shirt and end up with one continuous strand of fabric when your finished! It almost feels like I preformed magic! LOL My problem now is that I have all boys and they all wear dark t-shirts mostly so after raiding their closets I've run out of brightly colored shirts, and will now have to hit garage sales and thrift stores to get the colors I want...darn it! ;-) 

Next I'd like to do a round rug, but it's been quite awhile since I've crocheted so I decided to start with a rectangle first and next I'll tackle other shapes such as this cute butterfly rag rug pattern

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Crafty Blogger Blurbs

About Family Crafts 
Bored kids? Browse through this craft kit guide, all listed by age, with your kids and let them pick out one or more that appeals to them! 

Carmi's Art/Life World 
Carmi has a week of posts about the Chicago Craft and Hobby show. 

Connie Gee's Designs 
Quilts are Connie's favorite subject to stitch and she's got a comfy one for you to stitch this week. 

Craft Buds 
Mary and Lindsay went to the CHA trade show in Chicago this week, and show off some crafting technology along with some pretty fabric flowers and stamped metal jewelry. 

Craftside- A behind-the-scenes peek at our crafty world 
This week at Craftside there is a vintage pattern for a knit sweater, an interview with Kate Bingaman-Burt featured in the 365 book, a Steampunk ring from 1,000 Steampunk Creations, and news about a new graphic design website-RockPaperInk.com, and call for entries. 

Crafty Princess Diaries 
A storage cabinet seems to be the answer for storing all her craft club gear, but this isn't an easy decision for the Crafty Princess to make.

Eileen - The Artful Crafter 
Who doesn’t recycle cards and gift bags these days? This was a real simple recycling project. Look at the card Jackie gave Eileen for her birthday; and then how Jackie received it back on hers! 

Lindsay Sews 
Check out some highlights in craft booth design from the Craft and Hobby Association trade show in Chicago. 

Mixed Media Artist 
Make an easy-peasy summer breezy hair tie from a strip of lace, a button, a jump ring, and an elastic band! 

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery 
How to make digital camo quilt block inspired by the book Dare to be Square Quilting.

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Every Inchie Monday's Challenge: Nest

This weeks Inchie Challenge 

is Nest

I made a little nest by cutting strips of text and 

curling it then mixing it with cut up pieces of
fantasy fiber.  The egg I colored with a marker 

to make it blue then added some glue & glitter.

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El Sol

I finally got hubby to hung up the giant sun that I got from my sister.

I had first wire brushed the rust off of it and then added a bit of color by dry brushing acrylic paint onto it.  Then I very liberally sealed it with PYM II so that it wouldn't rust and would be protected from the outdoor elements. 

Here's a shot farther away just to give 

you an idea of how big it is. I love looking up seeing

 it from our pool.

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Cool Mr Kevin

I love this newest picture 

of cool dude Mr. Kevin 

sitting with his daddy!

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Steampunk Animation

A friend recently shared with me an awesome a short animation. If your a Steampunk lover you will definitely appreciate this!

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Cauliflower Pizza Dough

I know your probably going WTH?!? I know I did when I came across this recipe! I thought no way, that just can't work, but I'm here to tell you that it is awesome! I personally love cauliflower but my family does not! So I decided to test this on them to see if they would A. like it and B. figure out if it was cauliflower...they loved it and had no idea...seriously NONE! 

The recipe said to use frozen but I had bought fresh so then it said to use a food processor and process it or grate it...I grated it raw which worked really well.  Then I put it in the microwave for 8 mins and took it out like it suggested and allowed it to cool.

Here it is spread out on my large cookie sheet I use for pizza.

I timed this recipe by 5 to fill this entire sheet and I used almost one large head of cauliflower.

It also called for mozzarella cheese but I used 4 cups of regular cheese that I had on hand and 1 cup of grated parmesan  cheese.

Here it is after it was baked

After the sauce I added, tomatoes, onions, olives 

and cheese and put it back in the oven like it called for.

Here it is fresh out of the oven.  I have to tell you 

this is the most Delicious pizza eaten cold the next 

day! It would make a great appetizer  for a party 

cut up in little squares!

Click HERE to get the 

cauliflower dough pizza recipe

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Paper Bag Flowers

Paper Bag Flower

I came across this recently on pinterest and it lead me back to Martha Stewart's website with the directions. I immediately fell in love with the simplicity of them, and endless possibilities! I had to give it a test drive using just plain lunch bags to see if it was indeed as simple as it looked, and yes it is!

Dollar and craft store look out I'm going to be  on the hunt for colored bags in all different sizes!  

I can also see cuts similar to cutting a snowflake made in them to add some pizzazz!  

Talk about easy decorations for a birthday party, baby shower or Christmas!

Surf me on over to the 

directions HERE

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Crafty Blogger Blurbs

About Family Crafts 
This week's craft challenge is all about making bookmarks. Do you have one to submit? 

Carmi's Art/Life World 

Carmi paints two tiny canvases which she glazes with resin. 

Connie Gee's Designs 
A thought-provoking project to stitch and share in the floss colors of your choice

Craftside- A behind-the-scenes peek at our crafty world 
This week at Craftside there are two free clip art images and a paper 3-D letter idea, a tutorial on how to sew swag curtains without a pattern, a recipe for smoked salmon and goat cheese scrambled eggs, info on Craftside at the UK Knitting and Stitching show along with Dawn DeVries Sokol's doodle camp.

Eileen - The Artful Crafter 
Take a few moments to peek into the world of another artist: Scrap Girl and SG Product Designer, Brandy Murry. You may find some inspiration to help you grow in your art. 

Mixed Media Artist 
Cyndi gets inspired by Teresa Stanton to make a really fun steampunk cuff bracelet! 

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Create Your Own Inchie Book

I took the Inchie Book Challenge 

from Every Inchie Monday.

How to create Your 

Own Inchie Book:

• I first punched out 10 squares using a 1" square punch.

• Next I punched holes using a 1/8" hand held punch through the cover and then used the cover as a template to punch holes through each of the pages.

• I then wound copper wire around a paint brush to create the coil for my book. I found the paint brush wasn't quite big enough so I then spiraled the wire around  a pencil and that was a much better size.
• Next I inserted it through all the pages and holes I had punched then crimped the ends so it wouldn't come back out.

• I finished my book by embellishing it with charms I hung off the wire binding and also added a mini domino bead to the cover and added the word create and sealed it with Crystal Lacquer(see image above).

Check out Every Inchie Monday 

to see other mini books or

take the challenge and create

one of your own!

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Did you know Fairies like to Decorate!?

I woke up this morning and happily discovered that the fairies had decorate and laid out a moss welcome mat at their new fairy door!

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Paperclay and Fairy Door

My art peeps and I worked with paperclay again yesterday.

I sure do enjoy working with it.  We used Creative Paperclay pictured above

Once we're done I used my dehydrator to help speed the drying time up.

Here's a dessert tree and bird I made.

And my favorite piece I made is a fairy door..I have always wanted a fairy door!

After I painted the door I coated it really heavily with PYM II which works exceptionally well for sealing paperclay!

Here's a picture taken further away with it 

already installed. Now I'm just waiting for 

the fairies to arrive :-)

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Inchie Catch Up

I caught up on a couple of inchies I was behind on.

Take the inchie challenge find out more

HERE

Sweet

Love

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Altered Baby Dress

Altered Baby Dress

"All children are artists. 

The problem is how to remain 

an artist once you grow up."
~Picasso

Last weekend I bought 2 little plain white cotton dresses for 50 cents a piece at a garage sale with the intent on altering them. I finished my first one today.  I started yesterday by using the dress as a wipe off rag for some painting I was  doing. Once the paint was dry, today I sewed the pocket and a button onto the dress and stamped some of the wording on a grosgrain ribbon and sewed it on also.  I used a fine sharpie to write the rest of the quote onto the dress.  Added some worn out paint brushes I had saved and then hung it from a large brush that I had been hanging on to also.  I'm pleased with how it turned out and even more happy that I finished it!

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Picture of the Day 7-12-11

Meet Steampunk Scuba Sam

My flowers are in full bloom and were falling over so hubby created this unique flower holder from old copper pipes. 

It gave me a good laugh!

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Crafty Blogger Blurbs

The Crochet Dude™ 
Drew has been on tour! Catch up with how it went via his latest blog posts! 

About Family Crafts 
Want to get a jump start on Christmas crafting? Check out these Christmas in July crafting ideas! 

Carmi's Art/Life World 
There is a new give-a-way for a jewelery mold that Carmi wants you to know about!

Connie Gee's Designs 
Connie shares a free chart based on a saying from Pearl Bailey along with some memories related to the late, great singer.

Craftside- A behind-the-scenes peek at our crafty world 
This week at Craftside there is a fun tutorial on how to fold an origami fractal geometric, how to create Audrey Hepburn eye makeup, draw and paint Pin-Up Girl lips, two American Flag themed art quilts and Los Angeles Swap-o-rama info

Eileen - The Artful Crafter 
There are probably as many art journal techniques as there are artists who keep visual journals. See which ones Eileen chose for her first art journal page.

Mixed Media Artist 
Cyndi's artsy daughter moved to Portland OR last week and kept Cyndi very entertained with pictures from her adventures driving cross-country! 

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery 
See how to make a "deer" card. 

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