The Crafty Princess Diaries

Tammy Powley’s Crafty Weblog

November 8, 2009
by Tammy
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Craft Bloggers Unite 11/08/09

Mixed Media Artist
Have you ever wanted to learn how to weave? Cyndi’s got a book giveaway going on that could help you out!

Stefanie Girard’s Sweater Surgery
Two fun necklace designs featuring charms made with a Faux Scrimshaw polymer clay technique from the book Enchanted Adornments by Cynthia Thornton

The Artful Crafter
Make some sweet, goofy, felt and feather Tom Turkey Place Card holders for your Thanksgiving table.

The Impatient Crafter
Madge shares a sneak peek of the ad campaign she shot with her lovely daughter AND the instructions to the Cupcake Glitter Shirt Avalon is wearing in the ad in this post for iLoveToCreate!

About Family Crafts
Sign up for Sherri’s 12 Days of Christmas… Crafts email newsletter and you will receive a variety of Christmas related craft ideas delivered top your email box every day for 12 days – everything from advent calendars to Santa Claus crafts!

Cathie Filian
It is apple craft time! Cathie is stamping up napkins and a simple apron. She also has a delicious recipe for apple crisp.

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
Over at Craftside there is a free Japanese wave print and a how-to make pocket ATC with it, Latte Art, a sneak peek into Pam Sussman’s studio from Lynne Perrella’s new book, a call for entries for a cake decorating book, and good questions to ask yourself to help for a business/design plan.

Farm Girl Roots, City Girl Style
Two very different quilts from the same pattern and Linda shares the story of them both along with a story on getting one of the quilts published in McCall’s Quick Quilts.

November 4, 2009
by Tammy
3 Comments

Where Is Crafty Princess?!

I have been so busy lately, that you may have noticed I’m not posting like I usually do over here. Between everything else on my plate and the new book, I have zero extra time, nada, zippo! It has gotten to the point that I am pretty much hiding from family and friends.

I’m reminded of a scene in one of my favorite movies, Somethings Gotta Give. Diane Keaton is a playwright whose sister makes a comment at the dinner table while guests are there that Keaton stays home “night after night after night” alone. Keaton later complains to her sister that the reason she’s home all the time is that she’s writing, and the only reason she ever managed to get married and have a child was because she ended up marrying the director of her plays, who was the only man she ever saw because, again, she was busy writing all the time.

Writing is really a solitary life. And, for the most part, I really don’t mind that other than the fact that I feel pressure from people who don’t understand why I can’t drop everything and go to lunch, go shopping, or whatever. If it weren’t for my husband and day job, I would probably also be like Keaton’s character and rarely see anyone when I’m into the heavy full-throttle writing mode.

I mean: you just can’t. No little fairies show up in the middle of the night and magically toss words onto your page. It’ all up to YOU!

So I apologize ahead of time to all my friends, family, associates, and readers if you find me missing now and then for the next few months. I’m here. I’m just writing and crafting and writing, and I’ll be back on board and posting again more regularly very soon! Promise!

November 2, 2009
by Tammy
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Crochet + Dance = Cool

I tend to like weird art, especially if it combines fibers and other materials I have an interest. In this video, you get a look at how crochet and dance are combined to create a performance piece called “Covers.” It was part of an installation at The Lab Gallery in Manhattan back in September.

This may be off some folks’ weird-o scale, but I think it’s pretty cool.

November 1, 2009
by Tammy
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Craft Bloggers Unit 11/1/09

About Family Crafts
Sherri gives you an excuse to craft every day during the month of November using this calendar of events.

Aileen’s Musings
Aileen offers, just barely in time for Day of the Dead or Halloween, an easy peasy earring’s tutorial!

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
On the Craftside of things there is a free Japanese bunnies and moon piece of clip art, a cool video full of tips on altering a pattern, a how-to on folding paper ricrac, a cool source for vintage style findings and using research magazine pictures as ATC canvases in an altered book.

Mixed Media Artist

Cyndi has started another small quilt, this time featuring pears!

Stefanie Girard’s Sweater Surgery
Halloween Decoration using my craft supply stash to make Jack O’ Lanterns

The Artful Crafter
Make some romantic mood light candles with decorative tissue paper and decoupage medium.

The Impatient Crafter
This is a story of a refugee who found her strength in creativity. Though she recently died, her story lives on. Please read and share the story of Haiffaa Ali.

Vickie Howell-Craft.Rock.Love
Vickie shows how to customize photo mats to go with your favorite photos!

October 31, 2009
by Tammy
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Crochet Mad Hatter

You can call me the “crochet mad hatter” lately, and I mean that in the since of being crazy (not angry). Though, I will admit crochet hats have been trying my patience lately. First, I had issues with various patterns while trying to find one that would work well for chemo hats. Finally, I had success, but then the second hat I made (using the same pattern) didn’t turn out so well, and it was my own fault, not the pattern’s, because I lost count. As a result the hat (the purple one pictured above) turned out to be a little on the large size shall we say.

My next hat dilemma came in the form of baby hats, which I’ve made plenty of before.

DH was home for awhile on vacation (had to use it or lose it) and mentioned a co-worker had just had a baby boy, so of course, I had to whip up some baby goodies and put together a present before he returned to work. I decided to go with hats and booties and then get some little undershirts at Wal-fart to put all together in a little gift bag.

The first hat I used variegated green and blue yarn, and it turned out pretty well. However, I thought I should also make one in plain blue as well, but I forgot to switch out crochet hooks. I had used G for the booties, and dang it, the hat is probably too small. I was supposed to use an H size hook. While this is not necessarily a craft-astrophy, as I can save this to donate to some charity later, I was back with the same problem of having to get another hat done before he went back to work.

As it turns out, DH finally mentioned to me that, oh, by the say, the guy isn’t going to be back to work for a few weeks if not longer since he saved up tons of vacation and sick time. This ends my dilemma of getting the other hat done on time, but now adds a different issue since this baby could be too big for the items I’ve collected already! EEkkk!

October 30, 2009
by Tammy
0 comments

Impressed by Rio Grand Site

I am in full book mode right now and have been putting together a list of supplies I need for it. I had a large mixture of items I needed from metal clay to sheet and even a few tools (to replace some of mine that look like they went through a nuclear war!), so while I do purchase supplies from a lot of different vendors, I decided to just place one order through Rio Grande since they pretty much have everything (and the kitchen sink).

Rio Grande is known for having a huge assortment of jewelry making supplies as well as wonderful customer service, but until recently this company was also known for having one of the most user unfriendly sites on the Internet. It used to force you to sign in just to browse, and for whatever reason, my username and password rarely seemed to work. Then navigating was just a nightmare.

While I knew the company had done a major overhaul on its site, I had decided to just call in my order just in case. However, I needed to find out the prices of a few items since they charge according to the metal market that day, and that meant trying the web site again.

Wow! Talk about a night and day difference! I found it so easy to use that I went ahead and ordered directly through the site. The site is now a dream to navigate, and the search feature worked flawlessly.

I know a number of other jewelry designers that were also turned off by the old Rio Grande site, so if that description relates to you, check it out again soon. You will be totally impressed!

And, now, I just wait patiently (yeah right) for my box of jewelry supply goodies to appear at my door…..

October 27, 2009
by Tammy
1 Comment

Quick Halloween Costume Tips

This picture originally came from an old Halloween photo from my youth. My mom stitched the princess dress (no doubt from a pattern) and then constructed the crown and scepter for me as well. I never knew of anyone back then who bought a Halloween costume. Either “mom” made it, or you dug around in your closet and came up with something from what was on hand. I’m not necessarily against anyone buying a costume, but to me, it can take some of the fun out of Halloween. Even if you don’t sew, you can easily whip up a costume with a few simple tips:

  • Glue it! There are 10 zillion types of glue available these days. My local craft store has almost an entire isle dedicated to glue. Besides the standard stuff like paper, you can find glues for metals (like tacky glue) or fabrics (yes, fabric glue).
  • When using fabric, look for types of fabric that don’t require much if any finishing such as felt or polyester. It’s just a costume, so it’s no major deal if you don’t meticulously hem it, but some fabrics (such as cotton) can ravel like crazy.
  • Not into glue? Then fuse it! Fabric stores, craft stores, and even some of the big-box stores carry fusible webbing that allow you to use your iron to connect up pieces of material.
  • Finally, see what you have on hand. I actually won a children’s costume contest once wearing my mom’s bathrobe, slippers, curlers in my hair, and holding a spatula. I was a “harried housewife.” A simple peasant blouse, skirt, and tons of jewelry can transform you into a gypsy. Old work clothes and a pillow case tied to a stick (which can double for the trick or treat bag), and you become a carefree hobo.

Save your time and money for what counts, getting lots of Halloween goodies!

October 25, 2009
by Tammy
0 comments

Craft Bloggers Unite 10/25/09

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
At Craftside there is a free cross stitch pattern, a downoadable label and idea for a spooky Halloween decoration and some wild pumpkins, a sneak peek into the new book What is Illustration?, how to sew gathers and ruffles and finally a fun question to be answered to be entered to win a free craft book.

Farm Girl Roots, City Girl Style
Linda revisits a quilt she made a while back.

Mixed Media Artist
Do you have a signature style? Cyndi wants to know what it is and wants to help you show it off!

Stefanie Girard’s Sweater Surgery
Polymer Clay Candy Corn Beads Hot out of the Oven made using a “recipe” from the book The Polymer Clay Cookbook.

The Artful Crafter
Make a pretty fall triple wreath wall hanging for your own wall or as a housewarming gift. With a little imagination, you can adapt the design for Christmas or just about any other occasion/season.

The Impatient Crafter
Madge scares up another fiendishly fabulous mixed media design for Halloween!

About Family Crafts
Sherri offers several free pumpkin carving patterns for you to download and use!

Aileen’s Musings
This week Aileen offers a free pumpkin label for you to download and print. Also, a very cool photo manipulation site, so gather your favorite pictures and have some fun!

Cathie Filian
Make a warm mug of Chai Tea at home with this traditional recipe from Cathie.

October 24, 2009
by Tammy
0 comments

Last Minute Halloween Crafting

Can you believe that Halloween is less than a week away? In fact, one week from today I’ll be listening intently to see if we have any trick or treaters at the door and trying to keep my hands out of the candy bowl! If you are short on time but still want to get into the Halloween spirit, there is plenty of time to craft some very cool Halloween jewelry. This is one of my favorite holidays, so over the years I have designed a pretty long list of Halloween jewelry projects. You can find them all free and listed on the Halloween page of my About.com site. Most of them, like the Witch Hat pin pictured above, can be whipped up in literally minutes. Enjoy!

October 20, 2009
by Tammy
4 Comments

Chemo Crochet Hat Success!

The Yahoo Crochet-List is making chemo crafts for this month’s charity challenge. I thought for awhile there I wasn’t going to be able to participate. My hat luck wasn’t going that well!

The first hat I started to make, a very cool beret designed by the Crochet Dude, was turning out well, but then I read some place that chemo hats should be tight to the scalp since those wearing it may have little to no hair and need to keep their scalps warm.

Then I started making another hat that fit into this criteria, but that one wasn’t turning out well at all. The instructions didn’t say what size crochet hook to use, so I used an H hook only to find that it was turning into a teen tiny hat! Bummer! I pulled that out to start hat number 3!

Finally, I found success with a free pattern at the Fresh Stitches web site. It’s tight to the head and uses all single crochet (much like amigurumi which makes sense as there are patterns for those too on the site). Since it uses single crochet stitch, that means no holes, another issue I read about when it comes to chemo hats. Obviously, if you don’t have any hair you don’t want holes in your hat!

The instructions for the hat pictured include a different color brim, but as you can see, I made it all in one color. I used a K crochet hook and Vanna’s Choice acrylic (surprisingly soft) in cranberry, and I still have a fair amount of yarn left over from the skein. The width includes 66 stitches around and I ended up making a total of 26 rows for the entire hat, which is about 6 1/2 inches high and 20+ inches wide.

Now it’s onto hat number 2! I’m so glad I found this super easy pattern. Cheers to Fresh Stitches!