Craftside

Crafty goodness for a fabulous May day

I hope today brings you lots of ideas and inspiration. Maybe some of these links will spark your creativity:

Check out this video of Aliza Green, author of Making Artisan Pasta: How to Make a World of Handmade Noodles, Stuffed Pasta, Dumplings, and More.

I also spotted this free download over at the Good Mail Day blog.

And now, for more crafty links:

Aileen's Musings
Aileen offers you a free printable label and shares the recipe for some tasty grapefruit curd.

Carmi's Art/Life World
Carmi reviews her first class at a Toronto sewing school.

Crafty Princess Diaries
Tammy is planning to fill her summer vacation with crafts and writing.

Eileen - The Artful Crafter
Eileen has been at sea with creativity while making mementos of the trip of a lifetime.

Mixed Media Artist
Nothing makes bright colors pop quite like framing them with black!

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery
Learn how to decorate a sombrero!

RockPaperInk.com
Inner Faces: The Art of Art Paul Video

 

Springtime crafty links

Here are some crafty links for you to enjoy in your post-Easter sugar coma:

RockPaperInk.com: I Object Defy Myself - Selected by Edwin Schlossberg

Eileen - The Artful Crafter
Don't throw away those Easter egg shells! Use them to make an egg shell mosaic box.
Mixed Media Artist
Never throw ANYthing out, not even paint-soaked paper towels!
Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at our crafty world
This week at Craftside there are tutorials on portrait poses, tips for making frosting bunnies, chicks and eggs, and info on house rabbits (as well as a recipe for white bean dip with rosemary oil)!
Carmi's Art/Life World
Carmi explains how her puppy became the Easter Bunny for a set of greeting cards.
Aileen's Musings
Aileen shows you the bowties she made with her DIL and gives you a few links to easy tutorials for making your own for the young man in your life.
Crafty Princess Diaries
The Crafty Princess explains how to make a simple art book.
Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery
Discover a bunch of unusual Easter egg decorations.

    

Crafty links and news to kick off the week

First up I want to congratulate the two winners of the Westcott cutting tools and Craftside book giveaway:

Marylinn K. of the blog at http://www.marylinnmlkelly.blogspot.com won a whole big bunch of purple Westcott cutting tools and a copy of Mixed-Media Girls with Suzi Blu: Drawing, Painting, and Fanciful Adornments from Start to Finish.

and

Brenda F. is the Westcott winner of a whole big bunch of pink cutting tools and a copy of Mixed Media Workshop: A multifaceted approach to creating unique works of art-step by step.

Happy cutting and crafting ladies!

Next up: Do you like to combine travel and crafting? Why not do it with a Crafty Chica 8-day Artful Journaling Tour through England!

And finally, check out these fun ideas:

The Card Album Blog
Learn how to make a "Keep Calm and Cut On" recycled art card.

RockPaperInk.com
Fumi Watanabe is inspired by her messy desk.

About Family Crafts
Play along with the new Make-It-Over craft challenge. This challenge is all about making crafts using Easter Peeps candy.

Aileen's Musings
Aileen offers you a re-post of a fun magnetic Easter or Mother's Day project!

Carmi's Art/Life World
Carmi makes some pop up cards using some beloved vintage imagery!

Crafty Princess Diaries
Tammy shows off a new work in progress, a beautiful ripple shawl using self-striping yarn.

Eileen - The Artful Crafter
One of The Artful Crafter's readers has developed a new, improved recipe for homemade polymer clay. Be sure to check out Eva’s recipe, as well as the darling "gingerbread" house she made with it.

Mixed Media Artist
What's a girl to do when she can't draw but she wants to include a drawing in her quilt?

    

Creative links to get you in the crafting mood

I love a bit of insight with my crafting, and that's just what you get with the post over at Cloth Paper Scissors Today. In this post there are some tips for a successful creative metamorphosis from Traci Bunkers along with an inside peek from her book The Art Journal Workshop: Break Through, Explore, and Make it Your Own.

More about her book:

The Art Journal Workshop: Break Through, Explore, and Make it Your Own

by 

Traci Bunkers

Many people want to express themselves through visual journaling, but are stuck or intimidated with how to get started, what to write, or how to move beyond gluing down a few images or putting some paint on the paper.

The Art Journal Workshop breaks down the entire working process of journaling with step-by-step photos and instructions from start to finish: how to use different media such as paint, photographs, and collage, and contains journaling prompts and exercises. These exercises help readers dig deeper to enrich the journaling process and experience. The book discusses the benefits of visual journaling, and includes exercises about what to do when you are in a creative funk or feeling down or uninspired, and how to help yourself out of it.

This book also includes a DVD featuring Traci Bunkers creating many of the visual journal pages shown throughout the book. This visual guide enhances the information in the book, showing her work process in a way that goes beyond what can be captured in still photographs or through text. 

Traci Bunkers is a passionate and quirky self-employed mixed-media and journal artist living in Lawrence, Kansas. “I love rusty things, glitter glue, old books to cut up and cheap cameras. I'm smiling when my hands are dirty with paint or when I've altered a camera or something to use as a printing tool. It means I'm doing what I love—making art and doing things with my hands. Lucky for me, I do what I love for a living.” Even though the DIY and repurposing life styles are now in vogue, for this self-proclaimed love child of MacGyver, reusing and repurposing have always been her way of life as a creative way to problem solve and make ends meet. Through her one-woman business Bonkers Handmade Originals, she sells her nifty creations such as hand-dyed spinning fibers and yarns, original rubber stamps, handmade books, knits and original artwork. She also creates an artzine called Tub Legs, designs knitwear, and is a knitting, spinning, and crochet technical editor. She has been teaching workshops across the US since the early 90s and her visual journal pages, artwork, and knit designs have been published in numerous books and magazines. To learn more about her work, visit her web site at www.TraciBunkers.com.

More crafty links:

RockPaperInk- Catvertising Video

Eileen - The Artful Crafter
It’s that time of year to harvest (or buy) hard shelled gourds for crafting. Here are some ideas to get you started.

Margot Potter The Impatient Crafter
Retrofabulous Christmas Craftabration marches on with some upcycled holiday greetings inspired by a 1966 Christmas Helps magazine!

Mixed Media Artist
Cyndi shares the sometimes frustrating process of laying out fabrics for a new quilt design.

Carmi's Art/Life World
This week I have a little card tutorial featuring Popcorn the bear digital images.

Craft. You.
This week on Craft. You. features craft activist Corrine Bayraktaroglu a.k.a. Jafabrit.

Crafty Princess Diaries
The Crafty Princess attempts to design her own cotton market bag with mixed results.

 

Design and holiday crafts with my favorite quote from this past weekend

Happy Monday before Thanksgiving! I know we've got the big food holiday this week because I was at that store that sells the giant size of everything on Saturday and it was packed full of shoppers pushing giant carts filled to the brim with the giant size containers of everything imaginable. But the quote from the day that I absolutely must share:

I said to my friend, "Wow, look how thin that giant TV is!"

She said, "I have make-up thicker than that."

I was rolling on the floor!

So that's the quote for the day! Now onto congratulating a few of our Wednesday book giveaway winners!

Roseanna of the blog After I Finish This Row (see her cool idea where she repurposes salt shakers into needle holders!) won a copy of:

The Complete Fabric Artist's Workshop:
Exploring Techniques and Materials for Creating Fashion and Decor Items from Artfully Altered Fabric

by

Susan Stein

-------------------------------------------------------

Pamela C. is the winner of:

How to Draw Steampunk:

Discover the secrets to drawing, painting, and illustrating the curious world of science fiction in the Victorian Age

By

Bob Berry

Joey Marsocci

Allison DeBlasio

Now onto links to interesting articles and crafts from some of my favorite blogs:

At RockPaperInk there is a great article titled "Type In The Real World."

(This was my fav of course because of the clever way the scissors are incorporated in the type!)

Eileen - The Artful Crafter
Come see The Artful Crafter’s annual Thanksgiving Day Parade of crafts!

About Family Crafts
Looking for some ways to dress up your Thanksgiving dinner table? Check out these creative ideas.

Craft Buds
Paper-piecing gives you a precise look to your quilt designs, and opens up endless possibilities. Check out the modern paper-pieced "Noel" quilt block tutorial, part of the 12 Days of Christmas Sampler Quilt Along.

Aileen's Musings
Aileen shows you how to make a Sparkle Berry necklace. It's a perfect Christmas gift giving project!

Crafty Princess Diaries
It is that time of year - time for the annual arts and crafts shows!

Mixed Media Artist
Cyndi shares some tips for salt printing, sun printing, and playing with intensity on your hand painted fabrics.

Margot Potter The Impatient Crafter
Madge finally whips her studio into shape!

Craft. You.
TV producer and artist Avelino Pombo shares his recipe for success!

Carmi's Art/Life World
Carmi shares a little post about blogging for other companies.