September 6, 2008
by Tammy
2 Comments

Flower Designing CFE from CraftSytlish

Pictured left is a crochet flower project from Craftstylish contributor Linda Permann. It is one of a number of flower related projects posted at Craftstylish to help promote a new call for entries they have posted:

Make summer last all year long with the second CraftStylish Challenge: Flower Power. Create a pretty flower in your own crafty style, post a picture to the challenge gallery (below) and you could bloom as one of four lucky winners. How lucky? Four-leaf clover lucky—four winners will receive the ultimate embellishment package: an assortment from the new Crafty Chica Craft product line, the fab Crafty Chica book, The Crafty Chica Collection: Beautiful Ideas for Crafts, Home Decorations and Shrines from the Queen of Latina Style, and a copy of the smokin’ hot premiere issue of CraftStylish Quick Gifts to Make.

As with any CFE, make sure you read and understand all the fine print before entering. Even if you aren’t interested in participating in the CFE, definitely check out the free flower projects they have available.

September 5, 2008
by Tammy
1 Comment

Craft Bloggers Unite 09/05/08

Here are my crafty links for Friday. Hope you are staying dry inside crafting. Boy, Hanna is hitting us hard today, and Ike is on the way!

The Impatient Blogger
What happened to the creative? Madge ponders the homogenization of the craft aisles in this provocative first half of a two part post.

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
This week features two new books releases; Beadwork Inspired By Art and Fashion Trims and we wouldn’t be Craftside without sneak peeks inside! See how to make freeform ribbon cut work embellishments and two jewelry projects inspired by paintings. There are also pictures of the fabulous samples from the book One-Piece Wearables and an origami envelope for last week’s dimensional ornament, or for anything you want to envelop!

Crafty Princess Diaries
Get some power over your crafting with this tie-dyed muslin bag project.

Layers Upon Layers
Where does Cyndi find all those artists that are profiled on Layers Upon Layers? Would you like to be one of them?

Stefanie Girard’s Sweater Surgery
Paper is going under the knife this week at Sweater Surgery with type strips being used as photo corners on ATCs.

About Family Crafts
Find out how to create a fun apple craft using a paper bag and a few other supplies. The finished craft can be used as an ornament, a magnet, or a brooch and it would make a great gift for a special teacher.

About.com Cross Stitch
Connie profiles Melinda Medeiros, the designer behind Medeiros Needlecraft Designs.

Aileen’s Musings
September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness month! Please take a moment to read more about a worthy project that I’m honored to be a part.

September 4, 2008
by Tammy
0 comments

Totally OT But Important for Dog Lovers

I don’t normally post off topic on this weblog, but after seeing this story via a twitter follower, I had to post something to warn all those dog lovers out there. I also want to ask that anyone who may purchase toys for their dogs boycott the company, FourPaws, who is responsible for the horrible accident that befell this beautiful lab mix, Chai, after his tongue was sucked into a ball manufactured by this company. As a result, poor Chai had to have his tongue amputated. Besides the unthinkable pain this animal had to suffer, he now must learn how to drink, eat, even cool himself a different way.

Yes, that is shocking but even more shocking is that FourPaws knew about the issues with this toy dating back to 2005, but due to their greed they continued to manufacture and sell this toy. Chai is just one of a number of dogs who have had this happen, some even having to be put to sleep because the damage was too severe to recover from.

If you think you may have this toy in your home, destroy it immediately. If you ever purchase toys for your pets, stay away from any manufactured by the Four Paws company. Who knows what other safety issues they have related to other products they sell?

You can read more about this brave dog at this article from the NY Daily News and also at The Chai Story weblog, which is documenting the entire story from when it happened to how he is recovering to how the Four Paws company is basically acting like it is not at all responsible.

September 4, 2008
by Tammy
2 Comments

A Tie-Dye Video

Since I showed off my little tie-dye muslin bags the other day, I thought I would go see if I could find some other instructions for tie-dye. While I wouldn’t call this gal Speedy Gonzales, out of all the other videos on YouTube.com that claim to show how to do tie-dye (some of them spray paint t-shirts….interesting but not the same thing at all!), I thought hers was the most thorough.

It is over 17 minutes long, so be prepared to hang for awhile or watch it in parts. She uses a kit, so don’t freak out if you are a purist, but I agree with her that it’s pretty much the easiest way to go.

A number of years ago, actually right before I started dyeing my muslin bags, I got into tie-dye while visiting my relatives in Colorado. We did just about what she does in this video, sat out on my aunt’s porch dyeing anything that moved! Anyone who came by the house wearing white was subject to a tie-dye attack! I still have some of the shirts I made at her house, and believe it or not, after many years and washes later, they haven’t faded much at all. Okay, I’ll shut up now! Watch the video!

September 3, 2008
by Tammy
2 Comments

We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties?

What a frustrating 24 hours at the Crafty Princess Diaries! I guess that’s what I get for doing the public happy dance concerning my August traffic. Yesterday, just as I was about to set up a new post to publish today – BAM! – I got booted out of my wordpress dashboard. The Crafty Princess Diaries was A-WALL!

I can’t even remember how many years I’ve used DirectNIC as my ISP, and for the most part I have been very happy with them. Their office is located in New Orleans, so I thought it might have been power issues there due to Gustav, especially since the company web site said staff had to evacuate. Of course, it also said that they hadn’t had any downtime, and yet? My weblog was down, down, down for hours on end! Even during Katrina these folks had managed to keep it together, so what was the deal?

Eventually, I did get a reply to my user help ticket, and they gave me some kind of explanation about some other user on the my server running something, yada, yada, yada. But any way, whatever the story explanation was or is, I’m alive again! I’m alive!

Edit: I changed story to explanation (though it is repetitive) because I realized it may suggest that I was being told a fictional story, as in not the truth, but I didn’t mean it that way, so thus the change.

September 2, 2008
by Tammy
3 Comments

Make a Tie-Dye Power Bag!

Muslin Tie-Dye Bag

Yesterday, I listed some tie-dye muslin bags on my Etsy shop, some pink and some blue, and I couldn’t help but get a little nostalgic over these guys. I used to sell them when I sold my jewelry at art shows many years ago, back in the early 1990s. The whole “new age” trend was pretty hot then, and since I specialized mainly in gemstone jewelry, these were a good fit.

I called them “Power Bags,” and after tie-dying them, I would put a few tumbled stones inside each one (normally rose quartz, clear quartz, and amethyst which were the more popular stones in my jewelry as well) and attach a hang card with stone folklore written on it. I sold them for about $3 each, and they were actually pretty hot sellers. I dyed the bags in batches, so they didn’t take that long to make. I also purchased the tumbled stones in bulk, usually at a large rock or jewelry show, and I used my computer to print up the cards and tied them onto the drawstring part of the bags.

Of course, the new age trend may be a little dated these days, but if you are looking for an item to sell along with your jewelry, these make nice impulse type purchases and are good for the non-jewelry folks out there. But, since they include gemstones, they still can have a connection to your jewelry.

I don’t remember where I used to get the muslin bags from, but I’m sure if you google you could find lots of wholesale places to purchase them. I dyed them using some sort of dyed string product that I don’t even know exists any more, but doing a quick on-line search I found some good general instructions for tie-dye at About.com’s Family Craft site.

Of course, if you aren’t into the hippy vibe these bags give off, you could leave them a la natural or consider other methods for altering them such as rubber stamps and fabric paint.

September 1, 2008
by Tammy
3 Comments

From August to September and a Little Gustav in Between

With all the news about Gustav and now another hurricane out there, Hanna, most of us are focused on the weather, not that big of a surprise actually. However, I just wanted to give August 2008 an official fond fair well. It was a very good month statistics-wise for the Crafty Princess Diaries weblog. Since switching over to a blog platform in mid-April 2008, my traffic continues to increase. Compared to my first full month as a weblog, May 2008, my pageview were “this close” to doubling during the month of August.

Thank you to all my blog buddies for your links and thank you to Crafty Princess readers for sticking with me. Now that summer is over and September means we head into the busy season as far as my real job and my craft job (and hurricanes too of course), I hope to continue to keep up with regular posting and bringing you crafting ideas and advice.

August 31, 2008
by Tammy
0 comments

Another Resin Video

Sherri Haab has a new DVD out about making resin jewelry, called…of course…”Resin Jewelry.” I actually have this DVD and have watched it once already. I plan to watch it again before I write up my review of it, but for those who would like a sneak peak, you can catch a look-see over at YouTube.com or here it is for you as well.

August 30, 2008
by Tammy
4 Comments

Running a Sale on Your Crafts, Worth It or Spinning Wheels?

The jury is still out on my experience running my first sale at the Crafty Princess Etsy Shop since I set it up for the month of August and we still have a few more days left in the month, but so far, I hesitate to say it has been an overwhelming success. I have made sales this month, six sales actually, so that is something. However, who is to say I wouldn’t have made these sales any way without running my shipping for a buck sale? From what I’ve read on the Etsy forums, most Etsians claim that sales are never worth it. However, I sure see a lot of other Etsy shops running sales, so I figured why not give it a try.

I listed my very first item for sale in my shop (some stone beads) on June 15, 2008. More than two months later, I’m still learning the ropes and trying to figure out what will sell, how much to charge, how much to cover shipping/handling, so as I suspected, it really is a continuing learning process. Because I don’t have time to dedicate a lot of energy to it, I’m probably learning at a much slower pace than if I was actively listing daily, being more involved in the Etsy world, and generally spending time promoting my store, but I’m okay with that. I am learning, and I am selling items now and then. Both are good things.

Therefore, I’m still a fan of Etsy, as both a seller and buyer. Just be aware that if you decide to dip your own toe into the Etsy sales pool, it really isn’t that different than any other type of selling venue: it takes time, work, and patience.

August 29, 2008
by Tammy
2 Comments

Craft Bloggers Unite 08/29/08

Welcome to the holiday weekend for those who live in the States. Though we are celebrating Labor Day, I know a lot of other crafters like myself plan to use this weekend to work, but work on crafts, which isn’t always like work though you feel like you have really accomplished something. I’ve started my mental to-do list. What about you? If you are thinking of getting a little creative this weekend with your own to-do crafts, here are some bloggers with a few ideas for you.

About Family Crafts
Would you craft with elephant poop? Learn more about how you can…

About.com Cross Stitch
Going Down in Flames? How do you deal with stitching burnout?

Aileen’s Musings
Check out Aileen’s Mail Art from the heart tutorial and send your own surprise in the mail!

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
Ho-ho, uh, ho? Yes, the holiday’s have hit at Craftside with free downloads of templates and pattern paper for a dimensional ornament card, a how-to for sculpting a squirrel and acorns, and a beaded flower. There are pictures from The Modern Mark Making Release Party and a fun little survey that gets you entered to win any craft book you like from The Quayside Publishing Group. Let those opinions fly!

Crafty Princess Diaries
Stop the social networking insanity! Tammy gives you some tips on how to use them but not have them abuse your precious time.

Layers Upon Layers
Molly “Porkshanks” Friedrich is an assemblage and jewelry artist of extraordinary talent…with an extraordinary story to tell!

Stefanie Girard’s Sweater Surgery
Fall leaves are the inspiration for a “Leaf it to Me” beaded ring.

The Impatient Blogger
Sometimes it’s about what we craft with our hands and sometimes it’s about what we craft with our hearts. Margot talks about why our life is our most profound creation and why she’s focused on crafting hope.