Chicken with its head cut off illustration and crafty links

This was one of my favorite t-shirt spottings from Maker Faire (not to mention plaid). So that's your giggle du jour. Now onto linky-love:

Craftside- A behind-the-scenes peek at our crafty world
This week at Craftside there are two chances to score yourself copies of cooking and crafting books just by leaving a comment, a free eyeglass box template, along with a "ransom type" quote embellished mirror, step-by-step comic drawing and inside peeks into Astounding Knits! in honor of World Wide Knitting Day (this past Saturday).

Aileen's Musings
Aileen offers you a printable Dad banner for you to download and make for the dad in your life!

Beading Arts
Copper tubing makes wonderful copper beads!

Carmi's Art/Life World
Carmi has a tutorial for the Crafter's Companion this week.

Craft Buds
Need to whip up a Father's Day gift? Craft Buds has a roundup of free sewing patterns for Father's Day, including a tie, an ebook reader cover and an interesting hat.

Crafty Princess Diaries
And the knitting goes on as Tammy graduates to smaller knitting needles.

Cross Stitch at About.com
Fans of variegated flosses and newbies will both find helpful information in these tips for using it. Also, be sure to vote in the poll!

Eileen - The Artful Crafter
Here’s a cute idea for personalized ceramic wedding favors. If you don’t want to buy the dye sublimation equipment yourself, find someone who already has it.

Lindsay Sews
A creative way to wrap up a tie for the man in your life on Father's Day, with no wrapping paper involved!

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery
An interview with Jema "Emilly Ladybird" Hewitt, author of Steampunk Emporium along with a fun gear and Swarovski crystal earring project.

Another double plaid sighting and crafty blogger links

This girl is just too cute in her double purple plaid! If you missed the girl in the double pink plaid check her out here. Oh and the double green plaid dude. I feel the need to document my fellow plaid compadres.

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
This week at Craftside we are pleased to introduce my UK counterpart Natalie who will be sharing all sorts of crafty goodness from her side of the pond. There is also a free hedgehog plushie pattern and tutorial, a recycled buckle bracelet, tips on how to photograph a horse and info on Simplicity's Great Bandana Quilt Challenge.

Eileen - The Artful Crafter
Learn how to dye Easter eggs naturally. Not everything needs to come from a kit or a mix!

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery
See how to make a stitched back up broken heart card.

The Crochet Dude
Drew met his match when crochet's Boye Toy is interviewed by quilting's Bad Boy!

About Family Crafts
Sherri helps you to plan a creative outdoor adventure!

Aileen's Musings
Aileen shows you how she combines, Vintage sheet music, scrap paper, paper napkins and more to create a colorful background on a canvas!

Beading Arts
The final chapter of Cyndi's e-book is now available! "Fibers, Fabrics, and Beads" challenges you to integrate all the fiber arts that you already love with your bead embroidery!

Crafty Princess Diaries
Tammy's BYOC themed craft meeting went very well.

Girl with two pink and black plaids and craft-e-links for ya!

In my continued photo documentary of all things plaid and even duel plaids, I bring you today this little girl sporting not one killer pink and black plaid, but TWO!!! The question is can I pull off that look? Literally and style-wise?? Well, while pondering this check out what my fellow craftastic crafters have for you:

About Family Crafts
Discover creative ways to personalize your notebooks and text books!
Aileen's Musings
Join Aileen's creative torso challenge--you can download and embellish your torso tag and enter to win a free collage sheet.
Carmi's Art/Life World
Carmi test a new scoring tool to make a star book in one hour.
Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
This week at Craftside there is a tutorial on how to paint faces on natural elements, two chances to win a copy of 1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse in a "recycle your Swag contest", the first sneak peek into the new book 1000 Artisan Textiles and an interview with the author of Sew Retro, Judi Ketteler.
Crafty Princess Diaries
Do you bead? Are you chic? Then you will want a chance to win Margot Potter's latest book!
Eileen - The Artful Crafter
Do you know how to avoid clay shrinkage and distortion with clays baked in the home oven? Let Eileen tell you.
Margot Potter The Impatient Crafter
Madge shares the third free project from her new book Bead Chic with a giveaway!
Mixed Media Artist
Cyndi has one more metalcraft book to give away this summer. Come sign up for your last chance to win!
Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery
See how to make an apron for an Amineko or an 18 inch doll from the book All Dolled Up

March on Crafty Blogger links

I "heart" men in plaid and this these bagpipers-The L A Scots rock! They march through the convention hall to open the CHA show and I run around and take pictures and video of them. One of my uncles and a cousin play the bagpipes so I guess the love of the bagpipe is a family thing.

Aileen's Musings
Aileen's altered a pair of old white tennis shoes and gave them a whole new look... they were pretty wild but she's toned them down with some spray webbing. She's even worn them out and about and received some great compliments on them!

Beading Arts
Cyndi is running a contest on Beading Arts, and the prize is an absolutely free advertisement!

Crafty Princess Diaries
Tammy shows off some jewelry she and her husband made for a local charity auction, perfect for animal lovers!

Farm Girl Roots, City Girl Style
Linda's making progress in the sewing and craft room. Check out the closet!

Margot Potter The Impatient Crafter
Ever wondered what it takes to get a craft book published? Join Madge in this first installment in her How To Write and Publish a Craft Book series.

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
Craftside's got a post about working with grids in mixed media, a ribbon embellished quilt from The Quilt Bible, 3rd Edition, tips on outlining a photo and a bunch of journal pages from 1000 Artist Journals.

Stefanie Girard's Sweater Surgery
How to make Egg Cup pincushions inspired by a wonderful project in I "Heart" Patchwork by Rashida Coleman-Hale.

The Artful Crafter
Take a spin with Eileen and Shaaron on the Craft-N-Spin crafting turntable.

About Family Crafts
Sherri shares some suggestions to help you celebrate National Craft Month.

How to embroider plaid with ribbons from the book Ribbon Embroidery by Natalie Bellanger-Clement

This is one of the prettiest books and it is packed full of charming techniques including something I never would have thought of, making plaid with ribbon.
Ribbon Embroidery: Simple Stitches for Easy Embellishments
By
Natalie Bellanger-Clement

"As any stitcher knows, embroidery is one of the best ways to personalize any garment or home accessory. Using ribbon in your project provides a two-fold benefit: it’s not only beautiful, it makes a stronger impact. Designs can be finished in half the time, since ribbon is generally much wider than standard embroidery thread. Any fabric can be dressed up with a few well-placed stitches.

But you don’t have to be confined to a pattern—with some basic knowledge and imagination, you can create your own designs in no time. You’ll learn a wide variety of stitches, from vines and flower petals to latticework and lines that evoke flames. Each stitch is described and illustrated in detail—and all of the projects can be completed in fewer than six steps! A handful of larger templates highlight suggested stitch combinations to get your creativity flowing, but the most beautiful designs are sure to be the ones you create on your own.

NATALIE BELLANGER-CLEMENT is a textile professor who also teaches embroidery. She is a frequent contributor to Marie Claire Idées, and lives in Paris, France."

(Marie Claire Idées is a great magazine, it is so elegant, it's all in french but the pictures and patterns are great)

Well, they call it the woven stitch but when I saw one of the variations of ribbon weaving-I saw PLAID! My fave! So I just had to give it a try.

I decided my canvas was going to be a recycled sweater, not a felted one because I thought it would be too hard to stitch the ribbon onto so I went with a medium weight sweater.

I gathered up a bunch of different colors and widths of ribbon.
I cut my sweater to a rough size for the toilet paper cozy and hooped it. I didn't back it, I was just careful not to stretch it.
I started with a focal ribbon that had the word "relax" printed on it. (my homage to Frankie Goes to Hollywood)
Here it is from the back with all the ribbons woven in. The directions in Ribbon Embroidery: Simple Stitches for Easy Embellishments were really easy to follow and very clear. It went like a dream.

I then did press a small rectangle of interfacing on the back to secure all the ends.
Well here you have it a Plaid ribbon embroidered toilet paper cozy. In case you're counting that's 4 T.P. cozies I have made. I am already working on another one but it is crocheted so it is taking be a bit of time. I will share it with you as soon as it's done.

A Hoppin' cute moveable easter die cut card from fabric scraps

I have been called "The Left Coast Martha" and I am simply tickled by that nickname because I am a huge fan of the Right Coast Martha!
And I am a huge fan of her new mammoth craft book:
Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Crafts: An A-to-Z Guide with Detailed Instructions and Endless Inspiration

They aren't kidding when they say "endless inspiration" here is my post-it riddled copy of the book after just what I want to make now!

So with Easter almost here I needed to make some Easter cards and I thought her technique that she uses to stiffen fabric and then punch out shapes was a perfect place to start. She has a wonderful project for making a bouquet of flowers but I wanted elements for my card.

I followed the directions in the book and grabbed my fabric stiffener which happens to be Plaid's Stiffy and some fabric scraps.
Then onto punching out my elements. I used my Sizzix Sizllit Easter Phrase set, McGill's Egg, and the Martha Stewart Bunny to punch my elements.

I then cut the egg apart in a zig zag shape.

I attached the top of the egg with a tiny piece of wire with a bead on the end and punched a hole in the corner of the egg and paper.

I bent the wire in a spiral on the back side. This allows the egg top to open and close.

I then tied one end of a piece of button thread to the plaidbunny and the other end through a hole in the paper card behind the bottom half of the egg I had glued onto the card only around the edge so the bunny could fit into it like a pocket.


If you like this Easter card, check out another one I made here die cutting and punching out stiffened fabric.

Happy Easter!

Crafty Blogger Links Monday, uh Tuesday!! Ya that's it

Plaid photo of the day brought to you by Rockin' Felt Club 2008! You can see more photos over at Craftside.Isn't this guy great or what?
In his top pocket he has the cutest little plushie from absolutelysmall.com by Clair Chambers.
You have to check it out!

About Family Crafts
It is easy to plan ahead and get a jump on making that perfect holiday gift for everyone you know! This collection of books contains something for everyone.

The Impatient Crafter™
There's a free holiday themed project every week until Christmas at The Impatient Crafter™! This week it's a jaunty snowman ornapendant that both you and your tree can wear.

The Crochet Dude
See how Drew spends his day in the studio with this short video!

Layers Upon Layers
Come meet Ellwood T Risk, contemporary collage artist with a political slant.

Cross Stitch at About.com
Use a child's drawing for a pattern or give them some graph paper and have them design their own!

Crafty Princess Diaries
Pull yourself off the PC once in a while (after you read this post), and grab some craft time for yourself.

Cathie Filian
Thanksgiving is just around the corner…swing by Cathie’s blog for recipes, crafts and entertaining tips – plus, a recipe for a pumpkin pietini.

Alexa Westerfield a.k.a. Swelldesigner
Easily create elegant pumpkin jewel décor projects using leftovers from your bead stash!

Aileen's Musings
Let the voting begin! Aileen invites you to come vote for your favorite Art Muse doll and help choose the winning dolls!

Craftside- A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
This week at Craftside brings you a beaded and sequined Christmas tree ornament, a rockin' sweepstakes where you can enter to win a signed Fender Squire Stratocaster, a book mark gift card and a peek into a Creative Entrepreneur workshop and a way-cool design that was contributed by Carol Parks.

The Two Plaids and Crafty Blogger Links

In my continuing photo series of plaid shorts, I scored a double with this guy wearing a plaid shirt with his plaid shorts. In a side note that I must share, my grandfather used to wear multiple plaids and it used to drive me crazy when I was a fashion conscious teen. It just wasn't supposed to be done then. This was of course before Alexander McQueen and Vivienne Westwood, designers who rock the multiple plaids with such reckless abandon it makes me so happy!

About Family Crafts
Sherri offers several ideas for creatively displaying your child's artwork.

Aileen's Musings
Aileen has an autumn themed digital piece she's created along with a link to freebie images for you to create your own work of art. Enjoy!

Cathie Filian
Win a copy of Bow WOW WOW! and a $100 worth of craft supplies from Plaid - 1 grand prize and 24 other prizes!

Crafty Princess Diaries
You can make any of these super quick jewelry projects just in time for Halloween, seriously, this Halloween! Otherwise, hit the bargain bins at your craft store for the after Halloween sales so you are prepared for next year!

Cross Stitch at About.com
Check out the latest additions to the Stitcher's Photo Album - We've reached a milestone. The first page is now devoted to submitted photos of the free patterns from About.com Cross Stitch.

Layers Upon Layers
Artist Kerry Wilkinson plays with resin in a big way!

Craftside- A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
Craftside has ghoulish wet felted eyeballs, a crocheted spider web sweater project, crafting with the Chrome Cowgirl, and announcing Quarry Publishing is sponsoring this year's Holiday Felt Club in Los Angeles with special appearances, signings and make & takes with authors, Angela Cartwright, The Crafty Chica, Lisa Sonora Beam and Stefanie Girard.

The Impatient Crafter™
Join Madge for part two of her gothically delicious free Halloween project. The Invitation.

Crafty Blogger Links Monday! (Oh and another plaid shorts sighting!)

Crafty Princess Diaries

Flower power time! Tammy posts about a CFE over at CraftStylish for all your flower fanatics.

Layers Upon Layers
One of the most frequently asked questions at Layers Upon Layers is how to do image transfers. Here are Cyndi's favorite methods and tutorials for each!

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
Work and play are in full fall swing this week at Craftside with news like the Crafty Chica giving away a space on her cruise, a job opportunity for a Marketing Specialist at The Quayside Publishing Group, Lisa Engelbrecht signing and demoing at Barnes & Noble, and of course two fun craft projects; a funky recycled denim purse with motorcycle gear handles and tiny needle felted pumpkins.

The Impatient Blogger
What's your brand? Madge shares some thoughts about branding and a new demo reel in this thought provoking post.

About Family Crafts
Check out these spotlight crafts... Make everything from a scarecrow candy jar to a Beaded Safety Pin Bear.

About.com Cross Stitch
Connie has been feathering her stitching nest. Find out how she made her stitching spot work.

Aileen's Musings
Aileen's been having fun again creating another Día De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) project.

Cathie Filian
Halloween is just around the corner so fly on over to Cathie Filian’s blog for some spooky new ideas and frightfully fun projects.

Plaid Deux Crafty Blogger Links

I didn't think I would ever get another photo of killer plaid shorts that matched sneakers -but it happened again! This time in a beautiful lime/mint combo.

Enjoy the plaid while perusing this Monday's Crafty Blogger Links!

About Family Crafts
In honor of the upcoming Summer Olympics, why not create your own backyard Olympic games!

About.com Cross Stitch
New to Cross Stitch? Learn the basic stitches and you will be well on your way!

Aileen's Musings
This week Aileen's showing you how to create your own carved mermaid stamp postcard. Don't forget to leave a comment and enter her blog giveaway!

Crafty Princess Diaries
Are you a little "organic" sometimes when it comes to crafts? Sometimes "winging it" can be fun and productive as shown by these cool Blythe doll clothes crocheted by the Crafty Princess.

Layers Upon Layers
Anitra Cameron shares the story behind her enchanting "Coffee Pot People"

The Impatient Blogger
Margot talks about crafting a life worth living in this contemplative post.

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
Over at Craftside you can get your fill of funky chicken wire jewelry, organize your bits with a slice of wood, embellish virtually anything with a crochet bullion stitch embellishment, stitch a "fierce" plaid dress from a pair of pants, and learn how to make an ATC tag to label it all!

Crafty Bloggers Unite and some amazing orange plaid

Are these not the most amazing orange plaid shorts?
And don't you just love how his kickin' Nike's coordinate!!!!

That was the photo of the day I needed to share. And on the subject of sharing, a bunch of us crafty bloggers thought we'd get together and spread our crafty love with you all with the headlines of what's happening on our respective blogs:

Aileen's Musings
Aileen offers a groovy tutorial on altering a cabinet card using gauche paints.

Crafty Princess Diaries
What does Jane Austen have to do with craft trends? Tammy tells you what we can learn about crafting and following trends from Dear Jane.

Diary of a Crafty Chica - CONTEST!
Tell Kathy why you are a crafty chica too, and you may win a hecka of a lot of prizes!

Layers Upon Layers
Cyndi has compiled a list of her tutorials on mixing digital work into your mixed media!

The Impatient Blogger
Madge shares some photos and impressions from her recent trip to Tokyo for CHA to HAJ.

Polymer Clay @ Craft Gossip
Need the low down on making dozens of different polymer clay beads? Heather reviews a handy book that might just be your recipe to beadmaking success.

Craftside- A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
Over at the Craftside blog there is a chance to win a copy of Retro knits and 1000 Artist Trading Cards, a beaded butterfly pattern, and more spring crafty goodness.

Well now that I'm inspired- off to make something!