How I Memorial Day Crafted by making fallen soldier tote bags from their uniforms and Crafty Blogger links

These are some tote bags I made from the uniforms of two soldiers that were killed. When my friend Carolyn the mom of fallen soldier SPC Nick Steinbacher told me about a lady who makes these and that she was super busy I said I would make them for her. I also made some for another Gold Star Mom, Kat the Mom of another killed soldier Marine Cpl. Christopher Leon .

Aileen's Musings
Aileen's excited to share her first how to video called Ribbon's & Lace. Take a quiet moment, grab a cuppa and stop by and see what its all about.

Crafty Princess Diaries
Tammy is learning more every day when it comes to her Etsy shop, like the importance of tags and the number of items you should list, but it's definitely a work in progress.

About Family Crafts
Is getting to be that time of year when people get out more whether it be day trips, camping trips, or gathering with friends and family and having picnics and barbecues! Find out how you can incorporate crafting into your camping and picnic fun.

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
Craftside's got a hot new Look. Learn, and Create video featuring Barbe Saint John showing us how to make a Steampunk hair pin, a free bow graphic download, how to add words to a journal page and a bow, and an inside peek into 1000 ideas from 100 Fashion Designers.

Cross Stitch at About.com
Read loads of great tips on Cross Stitch and then share your own - what tips and tricks have you learned that keep you out of tight spots?

Margot Potter The Impatient Crafter
Madge shares her Zen Master Slacker Mommy's Guide to Letting Things Ride.

Mixed Media Artist
Can you ever have too much fabric? Cyndi thinks not! Come and add your favorite link to Cyndi's favorites.

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery
How to make a recycled sweater gearhead hot pad inspired by the book- The Journal Junkies Workshop

The Artful Crafter
Advice on selling large lots of craft supplies.

Recycled Sweater Gearhead hot pad inspired by the book- The Journal Junkies Workshop

You gotta love a book that has the words "Art Addict" in it like The Journal Junkies Workshop: A Visual Ammunition for the Art Addict does. Making art is one of my new year's resolutions. I don't know if this qualifies because it does in fact have a function. I made a recycled wool felted sweater hot pad inspired by one of the pages.

I love the image of the head with gears in it and I love even more the term "gearhead" so this is truly a twofer!

All I did was trace the head profile shape from the book and added a few die cut gears that I made with the Tim Holtz Sizzix die.

If you get stumped on what to make today and need some inspiration and direction, here is a great solution to it!
About the book The Journal Junkies Workshop: A Visual Ammunition for the Art Addict by Eric M. Scott and David R. Modler from North Light Books:

"Discover a truly no-nonsense approach to documenting your life with a visual journal. You'll be relieved to see how easy it is to use a plethora of art techniques and not only how to make marks, but how to translate your experiences and thoughts to your journal. In addition to discussion about various types of journals to work in, you will be walked through step-by-step instruction for everything from drawing and doodling to watercolor and stenciling.

Eric Scott is an artist/educator who currently teaches art to high school students in Loudoun County, VA. For nine years, he has focused on the use of a visual journal. David Modler is an artist/educator as well, with 15 years of art education experience. He and Eric call themselves the Journal Fodder Junkies and have given workshops and presentations at regional and national conventions. "

Look Mom, my devil horns are on fire!

This was just one of the amazing giant things on fire at Maker Faire. I asked a stranger to take my picture so that it would look like I had devil horns that just happen to be on fire. Like I don't really have devil horns on fire every day, right?

About Family Crafts
I know at this time of year many people are trying to think of ideas for graduation gifts, but how about making a special end-of-the-year gift for a special teacher?

Aileen's Musings
Aileen's offering some fabulous fractal freebie backgrounds for you to download and use!

Beading Arts
Rubber glass? Rubber glass?!? What the heck is rubber glass?

Cathie Filian
Seed packets are the inspiration for sprucing up your garden. Pop by Cathie's to see how.

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
Craftside's got a chance to win a free copy of The Complete Photo Guide to Textile Art, and we are off to Maker Faire with our new roving reporter Stan. Stan is an Amineko (crocheted cat); see how to make his Steampunk business card holder made Sweater Surgery style, learn how to make a 4-ply braid, and to relax, try our honey cucumber skin toner recipe.

Crafty Princess Diaries
Tammy shares some crafted items she purchased during a recent trip to the Bahamas.

Cross Stitch at About.com
Got a great source for free Cross Stitch patterns? Check out Connie's list and then share your own.

Farm Girl Roots, City Girl Style
And it's one, two, three strikes you're out... check out Linda's baseball quilt.

Margot Potter The Impatient Crafter
Turn a vintage tie into a stylish tampon case with Madge in this week's Teen Craft project for ILoveToCreate!

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery
Enter to win a copy of Sweater Surgery!

The Artful Crafter
Make a travel art journal for when you want to jot or sketch ideas on the go.

Win a Copy of Sweater Surgery

If you read this blog and you are someone other than my mother and you don't already have a copy of my book

Sweater Surgery:
How to Make New Things from Old Sweaters

By yours truly,

Stefanie Girard

and want to throw your name into the proverbial hat to win one...

pop on over to this post at Recycled Crafts at Craft Gossip and leave a comment by Midnight Wednesday May 26th 2010 and you will be in the running!

Sweater Surgery:
How to Make New Things from Old Sweaters

By yours truly,

Stefanie Girard

"Contemporary crafters are thriving on personalizing, modifying, and altering fashion as not only hobbies but as a lifestyle.

Why repurpose your sweaters? Because you can't buy sweater fabric by the yard. Sweaters get damaged or go out of style but we still love the prints, colors, and textures. You don't have time to knit it from scratch. It's ecologically correct. And most of all--it's fun!

Sweater Surgery shows you how to upcycle all your slightly worn, slightly damaged, or plain old out-of-style sweaters into fabulous new items for your wardrobe and your home. Readers learn how to choose, cut, restitch, felt, and embellish old sweater fabric, transforming it into beautiful handbags, mittens, scarves, hats, hoodies, skirts, jewelry, soft toys, pillows, and more!

Complete instructions for 27 projects, plus a huge gallery of exciting ideas for further inspiration."

Good luck all ya'll lovers of the scissors! ♥✂

Lawrence Welk's gravestone

I had the opportunity to go to a cemetery this past weekend. I happen to be one of those people who like them. There is so much history and beauty there. I will post more of the pictures of the stones now and then. Here is Lawrence Welk's gravestone. It was clearly a custom one. I like the font especially.

Farm Girl Roots, City Girl Style

Florida is certainly beautiful, and so is the fabric they have at their quilt shops. Check out what Linda found on her journey.

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
At Craftside there is our author schedule for Maker Faire-booth #219!, Lab 47 from the wonderful book Collage Lab and the cake die cut design I did inspired by it, tips on how to get your dog to sit for a photo and info on the gallery opening A Consequential Tea in Brooklyn with Kristin Muller.

Margot Potter The Impatient Crafter
Madge has sold her seventh book! Read all about it and about negotiating a contract in the fourth installment in her How to Write and Publish a Craft Book series

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery
Embroidered scissors from the book Redwork from the Workbasket

The Artful Crafter
Ideas for decorating canvas tote bags.

About Family Crafts
Learn how you can make your own personalized garden stepping stones.

Aileen's Musings
Aileen's offering a Blog Giveaway! See what she's giving away and the many ways you can enter to win!

Beading Arts
Cyndi has launched the first installment of her brand new e-book on bead embroidery...and it's free! Hurry over for your copy!

Cathie Filian
Cathie shows you how to print your own fabric with dishwaher gel and cookie cutters.

Cross Stitch at About.com
Create a stitching-themed sampler with a saying from Ellen Birdseye Wheaton. All back stitch and a single color of your choice. Challenging but quick stitch.

Embroidered scissors from the book Redwork from the Workbasket

I used to only do machine embroidery but I have become quite the fan now of hand embroidery. And what is my favorite tool? Why yes it is the scissors so I didn't have to go any further than the cover of Redwork from The WORKBASKET to find my latest embroidery design.

Redwork from The WORKBASKET comes with a disk of all the images so this makes sizing sew easy!

I printed the scissors out and then cut the outline of the scissors out. I then trace the shape onto the fabric with a wash away marker.
I aligned the scissors so that the part that was supposed to be the strap fell on the seam.
I will definitely be using more of the 100 designs included in

Redwork from The WORKBASKET: 100 Designs for Machine and Hand Embroidery to embellish more of my projects!

More about the book from Krause:

"Get the highly sought-after vintage embroidery look in the 21st century with Redwork from The WORKBASKET , 100 authentic WORKBASKET designs presented in multiple digitized formats for machine embroidery. These vintage designs are available in JPEG format as well so even hand-embroiderers can create their own transfers. Discover how to make these designs with 12 projects that include dishtowels, an apron, a foldable tote bag, framed sentiments, a bed quilt and more. Instructions, templates, tips on thread and fabric selection and a visual index of patterns complete this great package!

Rebecca Kemp Brent is a freelance writer, educator and designer who specializes in creative uses of computerized sewing and embroidery machines and software. A regular contributor to Creative Machine Embroidery, Quilting & Embroidery, Paper & Embroidery and Holiday Embroidery, her titles for Krause Publications (an imprint of F+W Media, Inc.) include Fill in the Blanks with Machine Embroidery (2007) and Machine Embroidery Wild and Wacky (2006), which she co-authored with Linda Turner Griepentrog. "

The fun book Regretsy and Crafty blogger links

Do you sometimes like your crafting like you like your jokes, just a little on the "snarky" side? Well, then you will love this book. But I am warning you it is quite irreverent. It made me (what I call) "snort laugh" as I flipped through the pages. It's kind of like the whoopie cushion of crafting. You know you shouldn't laugh but you can't help yourself. Don't believe me? Pop on over to Amazon and take a peek inside! Link here- Regretsy.

Regretsy: Where DIY Meets WTF
by
April Winchell

HANDMADE? IT LOOKS LIKE YOU MADE IT WITH YOUR FEET.

From the publisher, Random House:

"A chicken poncho. A painting of a corn dog. A clock made out of an old “mostly clean” cheese grater. All this and more await you in the pages of Regretsy, a veritable sideshow of handcrafts gone wrong. Based on the eponymous hit blog and arranged in categories such as Décor, Pet Humiliation, and Christmas, Regretsy showcases the best of the worst, ranging from the hilariously absurd to the purely horrifying. Each page of this jaw-dropping volume features the actual seller’s online listing with a light coat of snarky commentary to give it a good shellacking. So join us as we descend into handmade hell and gawk, gasp, and marvel at the disturbingly odd artifacts that Regretsy has collected for your viewing pleasure, proving that you can never have too much of a bad thing."

And now on to a more "P.G." rating- here are the crafty blogger links of the week:

Crafty Princess Diaries

Tammy is celebrating about her summer vacation, but at the same time, she's trying to focus on the long "to do" list!

Cross Stitch at About.com
One of Connie's friends says the free When This You See pattern looks like a brain. Connie was inspired by the pocketbook plant. No matter what you see, the abstract design with traditional saying will be a fun stitch.

Farm Girl Roots, City Girl Style
Linda cut out the pieces for another of her Grandma Paper Doll quilts. Check out Violet's design.

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
Craftside's got a great tutorial on how to paint on fusible web, a photo of a beautiful Roman Stripe quilt from the book-The Quilt, fun photos from a bee field trip with author Kim Flottum and a "Mean Girl" Logo from the book Letterhead & Logo Design 10.

Margot Potter The Impatient Crafter
Madge reviews Jean Campbell's gorgeous new book Steampunk Style Jewelry.

Mixed Media Artist
A wonderful quote by Dorothy Day inspired Cyndi to make a little canvas board assemblage.

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery
Paper Jewelry inspired by The Encyclopedia of Contemporary Jewelry Making Techniques by Vannetta Seecharran

The Artful Crafter
How to navigate the sea of digital file extensions.

The Crochet Dude
Drew has just released the names and addies of the Michaels test stores nationwide that will be carrying his new line of crochet tools and kits - starting THIS weekend!

About Family Crafts
Let's celebrate Half-Way to Halloween! Some people may think that it is too early to think about Halloween, but actually, Halloween seems to top the of list of people's favorite crafting holidays.

Alexa Westerfield a.k.a. Swelldesigner
Alexa shows you how to make Fontalicious Wall Art that is bold, graphic, and fun! And definitely cheap and easy to do!

Paper Jewelry inspired by The Encyclopedia of Contemporary Jewelry Making Techniques: A Comprehensive Guide for Jewelers and Metalsmiths

This is my latest experiment in jewelry making inspired by the positively fabulous book The Encyclopedia of Contemporary Jewelry Making Techniques. I tend to love design that pushes the edge and this book is packed full of not only those types of designs but the "how-tos" to go along with the modern looks.

On this page you can see the cool flourish earrings. The design is actually in sheet metal but I have another idea! They reminded me of one of my Sizzix die cuts (Flourish #8) It is a thin die so it only likes to cut paper. Well I wanted to make a piece of flourish jewelry so I cut a bunch out of black paper.

I stuck two pieces together with a dry adhesive. Then I coated each side with Judikins DG3 Art Gel.

I linked a chain through each of the flourishes and then linked the flourishes together.

I've been wearing it while I writing this post and since the necklaces were two different weights it has shifted to have the focal flourishes on the side. It looks really cool!

I'll let you know how well it wears and how long it lasts. I am curious myself! But I guess that's why they call it an experiment. Hehe.

Love modern jewelry and want to make some yourself? Try this wonderful book from Interweave Press:

The Encyclopedia of Contemporary Jewelry Making Techniques: A Comprehensive Guide for Jewelers and Metalsmiths

by
Vannetta Seecharran

"Find creative direction, inspiration and the countless possibilities for designing contemporary jewelry.

The Encyclopedia of Contemporary Jewelry Making Techniques

is a comprehensive guide for jewelers who want to create sensational, one-of -a-kind jewelry.

• All of the techniques are enhanced with step-by-step instructions and clear photographs
• Essential metalsmithing techniques are covered along with methods for working with a wide range of other materials which can be used on their own or in combination
• Included are techniques and processes for working with plastics, rubber, resin, ceramics, glass, leather, textiles, paper, natural and found objects, mixed media, and precious and non-precious metals
• Along with a helpful guide to the essential tools you will need, you???ll find that each chapter includes a thorough introduction to the properties and possibilities of each material and an examination of the techniques possible with that material

Finally, there is an invaluable resource of surface textures that can be achieved for all of the media featured in the book as well as a practical guide to the different kinds of clasps and closures available."

All the crafty blogger links and palm trees line up

This is a photo from my weekend. I love rows of palm trees.

About Family Crafts
Find out how to make a May Day cone basket to hang on a neighbor's door and several other related crafts.

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
Craftside's got a tutorial on how to crochet a picot cast-on, turn a catalog into a journal from the new book Creative Wildfire from L. K. Ludwig, a free pop up bird card template, a cool free bird image and fun pictures from Unique LA with a "celebrity" sighting!

Aileen's Musings
Aileen offers a tasty recipe card for you to download and print along with other unique Mother's Day gift ideas for the mothers in your life!

Crafty Princess Diaries
Looking for some Mother's Day crafting ideas? Tammy suggests making a resin pendant.

Cross Stitch at About.com
About.com Cross Stitch Forum members had a go at the free Day Complete Band sampler and now you can see their results and get the free pattern yourself. Not only does it have a stitching theme, you will also get a chance to learn lots of new stitches.

Margot Potter The Impatient Crafter
Madge shares a how to for teens in this quick and easy jewelry project for ILoveToCreate.

Mixed Media Artist
Design a small mixed media quilted collage around your favorite poem or lyrics!

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery
How to make beaded gift wrap from the lovely book The Art of Gift Wrapping by Wanda Wen.

The Artful Crafter
How to make your own puzzles!