Crochet-topped towel to loop over a handle My grandmother sent me a set of two towels like these many years ago, and they have been used constantly ever since! Because of the button loop at the top, the towels can be attached to an oven handle, a cabinet drawer, a hook, or a towel rack. […]
Build-your-own flower adornments Is it a hair clip? …a pin? …a headband or purse decoration? Surprise! It’s all of these, and more. This year, my little neices are getting these felt-and-fleece adornents, that feature interchangable multicolored flowers and leaves. The girls can stack the little flowers however they like. All of the flowers start out as […]
When I was working on my owl key cover, I used the Millefiori technique to make the owl’s eyes. When I was finished, I had lots of the “Millefiori’ed” clay left over. So I smashed it all together and made a couple of erasers. (I happened to be using “Amazing Eraser Clay” for my owl.) […]
This summer my husband, son, and I went to Los Angeles for a vacation. While we were shopping, I found the most adorable key caps with tabby cat faces. Even though they do not say “Hollywood” on them or anything, those key covers turned out to be a great souvenier, because now whenever I use my keys (obviously often), those carefree California days come […]
Cute pyramid-shaped felt coin purse This ingenious little coin purse makes a great gift, stocking stuffer, or favor-box for a wedding. It is incredibly inexpensive and easy-to-make — so also a great craft for youth groups. I am calling the shape a “pyramid”, but the mathematically-correct term is actually “tetrahedron”. Here’s what you need: Felt Embroidery thread Needle […]
Beaded tree I first saw a beaded tree many years ago in Phyllis Fiarotta’s Nostalgia Crafts Book, and it immediately captured my imagination. What a great idea! While I’m sure it was intended to be a Christmas tree, I thought you could easily adapt it for a variety of holidays: A beaded Easter tree made with […]
Beverage brand bottlecap magnets I know I already showed you how to make bottlecap magnets where there is a little picture inside the cap. These are a little different, in that they show off the TOP of the bottlecap. Some bottlecaps are stylish, cute or colorful… or even funny/kitschy. Or maybe someone on your gift […]
Embroidered Days of the Week Tea Towels A co-worker of mine married recently, and I thought immediately of a traditional wedding gift in my family, tea towels embroidered with various colorful designs and the names of the days of the week. No one knows how many sets of these my grandmother has made over the years… […]
This black-draped pumpkin is reminiscent of the peculiar artistic stylings of Edward Gorey… or maybe Charles Addams. You’ll need: A pumpkin, preferably one with a long, twisty stem Black stretch fabric with a lacy design (about 3/8 of a yard) Black glittered bird (I got mine on sale at my local Michael’s) Black artificial roses (again a […]
Super chain! Here’s just what you’ve always needed. An enormous, oversized fake chain! If you are in charge of props for a school play or community theater group, or if you need a mondo-humongous chain for a Halloween or haunted house decoration, this is the project for you! My sister Cindy, who often acts as prop mistress for […]
I happen to have a lot of small circular pictures (created using a 1-inch craft punch). You may remember these from the bottlecap necklace project I did a while back. I took 6 of these and made a set of magnets out of them. l had punched all of them from the same magazine illustration, so that […]
My friend, Nichole, has three daughters and they like ribbon hair bows. But the bows can be rather expensive, especially in multiples of three! So she and her daughters (Taylor, Brieana, and Alivia) decided to make their own. They gathered pretty ribbons and hot-glued them in loops, then glued all the loops together to form bows. A […]
So I recently had a blast participating in Craftster’s “One Tiny Harry Potter Thing” swap. My partner said she liked Minerva McGonnagall, so I decided to make her quill / pencil cup. Since Professor McGonnagall is the head of Gryffindor house, I put a Gryffindor crest on the front of the cup. Since she is Scottish, I […]
I was enchanted when I saw some wonderful, roughly-quilted scrapbooks on one of my current favorite web sites, Craftster. The creator of these lovely books, Craftster’s Phizzychick, credited Teesha Moore, who has a series of YouTube videos showing how to make these gorgeous journals and scrapbooks. I owe my cousin a wedding present, so it was […]
Pull-string surprise egg This is a fun way to bestow Easter treats. When the recipient pulls the embedded ribbon, it breaks the paper mache egg in half to spill its hidden treasures. What you will need: An oval balloon Several yards of ribbon Tissue paper Your favorite papier mache glue (I use wallpaper paste) Glass jar […]
Bottlecap necklaces These are so cool I wish I could take credit for the idea, but they are all over the Internet. All you do is collect and clean some bottlecaps (or buy them at a craft store), glue little pictures inside, then turn them into jewelry! Here’s what I used for mine: A one-inch […]
How to give an egg timer a tri-metal upgrade There is just something magical and enchanting about hourglasses. Can’t you visualize the witch’s giant hourglass with blood-red sand, counting down the minutes to poor Dorothy’s demise in the classic movie, The Wizard of Oz? Or imagine Hermione’s “Time Turner” necklace from the wizarding world depicted in Harry Potter and […]
How to make a business card holder from scrapbook cardstock Here is a quick project that only requires some patterned cardstock from the scrapbooking section of your local craft store, some scissors, and some glue or double-stick tape. From these, you can create a stylish business card holder to sit on your desk or sales […]
