The Crafty Princess Diaries

Tammy Powley’s Crafty Weblog

May 7, 2011
by Tammy
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Craft Club Gets Some Press

Finally, Caring through Crafting is getting some press, yeah! And it is posted on-line, double yeah!

Every time we have a meeting, I post a flyer about it on my office door. As luck would have it, an adjunct professor who teaches at the college and also writes for our local paper saw one of the flyers one day and asked about doing a story on the club for a weekly insert called Luminiaries. She came by to one of the meetings that was also a joint project with the English Club. We were making fleece blankets for Save the Chimps. Since chimps don’t mind how fancy the blankets are, we just got yards and yards of fleece and cut them up into blanket size pieces. This way, no one had to be a craft or sewing expert to participate. Anyway, here is a link to the full article, which I think is wonderful: Carting through Crafting – Connecting Creative People.

May 6, 2011
by Tammy
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Gift of Crafting for Mom

I’m not just a seller at Etsy; I very often buy items over there too. And that is right where I went to first when I decided to get mom some crafting supplies. Like myself, my mother is into crafting, and she added jewelry making to her list this past year. This has actually made it easier than ever to buy gifts for her since I know as a fellow jewelry maker that there are all kinds of great gifts to buy for her like tools and supplies. For this Mother’s Day, I purchased a number of vintage charms in lots of 10 to 20 from an Etsy seller called DIY Closet, and I plan to split them up with her, some for me and some for her.

For those of us with crafty mothers, rather than make her something this Mother’s day consider buying her supplies for her favorite form of crafting. Or, you can always get gift certificates too, and those are super easy to mail as well.

May 4, 2011
by Tammy
1 Comment

Patrotic Crochet

With the news that Bin Laden is now gone, there is even more reason than ever for many US crocheters to show their patriotism. One great way to do this is also a very simple way as well, making squares as part of the Yahoo Group Heartmade Blessings. The group makes crochet squares, similar to the one pictured above, and then assembles them into what they call comfort-ghans. These are given to an assortment of people who need some kind of comfort, and this often includes families who have lost loved ones in the armed services.

I have been busy working on a baby afghan for a friend, but I hope to get back to making some more squares during the summer. These are so easy, perfect to do in front of the TV at night, and a great way to help someone who may need a pick-me-up.

May 1, 2011
by Tammy
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Crafting Links

About Family Crafts
Do you want to learn how to make mosaics? Sherri can help!

Carmi’s Art/Life World
Carmi’s big Fairyopolis card making post is over on the Crafter’s Companion site this week.

Craftside- A behind-the-scenes peek at our crafty world
This week at Craftside we have a Royal wedding post by Natalie from the UK, a fun way to display your mixed-media inspiration elements, a shadow crazy quilt piecing technique and a fun bunny cake decorating idea.

Eileen – The Artful Crafter
Check out the Mother’s Day Parade of Crafts on The Artful Crafter. You’re sure to find something to make that will put a smile on mom’s face. Kid-friendly projects are indicated by our little Miss SmArty icon.

Mixed Media Artist
Have you seen Lark Publications’ beautiful new book, 500 Raku?

Stefanie Girard’s Sweater Surgery
Take a look at this new book review: Knits That Fit from Potter Craft.

Craft Hope
Consider participating in the 12th project from this combination craft blog and charity organization. They need lots of bracelets to give to children.

Humble Beads
Get a sneak peek at the beads she created for her beads of the month program.

Lion Brand Yarn
This company has oodles of different types of yarn. These are some they suggest for baby items.

Are you a pro or even semi-pro crafter? For example, have you had work published in magazines or do you do any freelance work for craft companies? Do you also have a weblog and blog at least a few times a week? If so, then you might be interested in joining a weekly kind of link carnival a few of us have been doing. Feel free to email me at tammypowley @ yahoo.com for details.

April 29, 2011
by Tammy
2 Comments

Crafting Cat Blankets from Dog Snacks

When it gets a little chilly, I sometimes bring a blanket with me to the TV room. This room is the same one that our dogs hang out in, and inevitably I end up forgetting the blanket in there. As a result, the blanket will turn into a giant dog snack, and by the time I remember to get it back out of the room, it has an assortment of holes in it.

Finally, I thought of a way to get some use out of these holy blankets. I dug out my good sewing scissors and cut them up into small squares. With 4 cats in the house now, that means we have an array of snuggle spots to keep clean and comfortable. For example, we take small boxes and put a towels or blankets in them and then set these in various places, preferably up high.

Here’s Coco in one of her favorite spots, up on top of my filing cabinet.

April 26, 2011
by Tammy
2 Comments

Fashion and Crochet Trim, First the Holes!

I have been seeing a good deal of crochet integrated into clothing lately. For example, JJill.com has a cute crochet applique shirt in a recent catalog. I have seen patterns on-line and in magazine that show you how to create a similar look. For example, it might have you edge a t-shirt with a crochet trim around the neck. I like this idea a lot, especially since I live where it is very hot and don’t wear many sweaters. Wearable crochet pieces are not popular in Florida when it’s 90 degrees out!

One issue I have with many of these how-to patterns, however, is that they often  explain how to do the crochet part of the project, but they don’t always explain how to make the holes you need to attach the crochet. You need the holes first, right? The web site that sells the tool also has three different types of blades, so you can use different ones depending on how thick your fabric is.

Now I know you can make holes using a sewing machine and a needle with no thread in it, but that means dragging out my machine from the depths of the guest room underworld, a room that is now just plain scary to go into because we have filled it with so much, err, stuff. Also, not everyone has a sewing machine.

The solution? A tool called a Skip-Stitch, and in the video below is a demonstration on how to use it so make holes in fleece so you can make a crochet trim on it for a blanket. I haven’t used one of these but plan to do some more research. I could see how they would be great for making baby blankets using fleece or flannel as well as adding some cute trim to light-weight t-shirts.

April 25, 2011
by Tammy
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Facebook Handmade Community

Handmade Community is a new group over at Facebook for people who, obviously, like handmade items. I’m one of the administrators over there along with Rain Blanken, Connie Garmon Barwick, and Kate Pullen. All of us are About.com Guides and run various craft sites on the hobbies channel of About.com, but we are also just general crafty people who want to promote the idea of handmade. I hope you join us over there and share your love of making items with your crafting skills.

April 24, 2011
by Tammy
0 comments

Weekend Craft Links

Aileen’s Musings
Aileen shares a free printable cupcake for you to download and use in your art!

Carmi’s Art/Life World
A little sachet tutorial for Easter or Mother’s day projects.

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
This week at Craftside there are tutorials on how to paint a hatching chick, make a recycled book page egg ornament, and a tilt-shift photography effect along with bunny and squirrel clip art.

Eileen – The Artful Crafter
Celebrate spring by making a pressed flower card.

Mixed Media Artist
Cyndi has been sharing a travelog of her most recent trip to Guatemala!

Stefanie Girard’s Sweater Surgery
How to make a “black sheep” necklace.

April 22, 2011
by Tammy
1 Comment

Dreaming of Sumer Crafting

Between these two cuties and mountains of papers to grade and end of the semester meetings to go to, I have not had much crafting time lately. Today I did pull out some beads for a cool necklace/bracelet combination that I’ve been imagining, and it was like a kitty magnet. However, in about two weeks I will be off for my long summer vacation, which for me means crafting and writing. Here are some of the task I’m hoping to accomplish:

  • Finish the baby crochet afghan I’ve started. I’m about half way through it, so that looks promising.
  • Write a book proposal. I’m teaming up with another author on an idea that I think is awesome. Hopefully, we will be able to convince a publisher that it is a great book idea too.
  • I plan to write a magazine article about my college crafting club. I have a few magazines in mind that I think might like it (fingers crossed).
  • I have a number of jewelry projects on the drawing board that I hope to make and publish over at my About.com site.
  • Speaking of jewelry, our guest room is still trashed from the last jewelry book we did. I can barely get in there to take photos in the photo tent. I plan to get that room cleared out.
  • Then one more writing project is on the computer. I’ve actually already started it, but I need to do some more research before my ideas jell. This project is a literary article that I will present at a conference in October, so there’s lots of time, but I think I can bang it out over the summer and have it off my plate when school starts back in the fall.
  • Finally, of course, I have to get my summer 2 classes ready. Teachers do get time off during part of the summer, but we have to use that time to get ready for the future semesters.

Yes, I may not get all of this done while I’m off, but hopefully, I can manage getting it completed over the entire summer, even if I do work near the end of it.

April 18, 2011
by Tammy
0 comments

Cute Amigurumi Dog Video

The above video is from Red Heart and shows how to make part of a very cute amigurumi dog. For the entire project instructions, you can pick them up on Knitting Daily, here. Yes, this is a crochet pattern. I’m not sure why it’s on a knitting site. What I like about the video is that I think it is helpful as far as describing how to construct an amigurumi piece.