Look Mom two hoops! and crafty blogger links for more fun crafting

I try to make it to the hooping meet up group each week and usually I average mastering(or at least succeeding at one new trick each week-this week's was two hoops at once. I even could go in opposite directions after a few tried but boy did that make my brain hurt!

Good thing crafting is a bit more gentile on the old brain!

Vickie Howell-Craft.Rock.Love
Join Vickie & Lands' End for a Twitter Party to celebrate the FeelGood campaign to benefit the homeless!

The Impatient Crafter
Get your teens ready for Back to School with these recycled denim book covers from The Impatient Crafter for I Love to Create!

The Crochet Dude
Check out Drew's super cool Crochet Word Search that he has as a free download on his blog! I wonder how quick I can finish it!

The Artful Crafter
Do you know how to make a secret box book? It's not hard - well-except on your fingers. Eileen shows you how. She took lots of photos since she won't be able to type for a while. LOL.

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
Craftside's got a fun skull quilt tutorial inspired by a quilt in the new book Quilting Art, how-to's on painting rocks like skulls, eyes and more for Halloween, tips for re-purposing in the studio and the correct terms for the parts of a book.

Naughty Secretary Club
Jen is in the midst of wrapping paper week with clever how-to idea, uses for wrapping paper that have nothing to do with gifts & a Wrapagami book giveaway.

Mixed Media Artist
Cyndi has a copy of "The Art of Fabric Collage" to give away!

Farm Girl Roots, City Girl Style
I may have to tackle a t-shirt quilt---I'm getting ideas from all directions.

Cross Stitch at About.com
Do you find solace in your stitching? Vote in the poll, read the comments, and share your own experiences.

CraftyPod
Check out Sister Diane's newest ebook - Creating a Blog Audience: An Unconventional Marketing Guide

Crafty Princess Diaries
Tammy shows the beginnings of a baby blanket in progress, a super easy crochet project to consider for those who make charity items.

Cathie Filian
Melt up some soy wax and make some easy candles with Cathie.

Alexa Westerfield a.k.a. Swelldesigner
It's the return "Terrorific Tuesdays" on Swelldesigner's blog! Learn about how you can participate in all the fun, spooky Halloween action!

Aileen's Musings
Have you heard the term Altered Art or Altered Artist and wondered what exactly that means? Aileen has given her explanation of what Altered art is and how YOU too can become an Altered Artist!

About Family Crafts
September is National Sewing Month! Why not celebrating by making one or more of these easy sewing projects.

Cone Candy Holder Candelabra inspired by a pretty project from Paperie for Inspired Living by Karen Bartolomei

Candy and a candelabra don't usually go together but when your flipping through a wonderful book like
Paperie for Inspired Living: Stationery and Decorations for Weddings, Parties, and Other Special Occasion
and Halloween is coming ideas just abound!
I don't do too much with candles because let's face it the fiber is flying around here and open flames just aren't my thing (the mountains burning as an example)

But I do love candelabras and I am always on the look out for fun things to do with them. Well Paperie for Inspired Living has a great project where you put paper cones of popcorn in champagne flutes.

This got me thinking, I wanted to see the candy in my cones so I wanted something clear. I recycled a plastic container that I think orriginally held paper. I made my cones by tracing a plate with a light score from an x-acto knife and then cutting it out. To form the cone I simply stapled it together along the seam a few times. (You can see my gray paper tests in this photo)

Need more fun and elegant paper ideas? Well grab yourself a copy of:

Paperie for Inspired Living: Stationery and Decorations for Weddings, Parties, and Other Special Occasion

"With this book from paper guru Karen Bartolomei, even the most budget-conscious host can now create beautiful, customized, coordinated suites of paper products for any occasion—a casual wine-tasting party, elegant dinner party, or backyard barbeque, among others.

To get started all you need is a computer, paper, and embellishments you can find in any craft store. Each suite contains several projects, from the all important invitation to smaller touches like labels, tags, and keepsakes. For instance, in the personal stationary suite you’ll learn to make a monogram, Thank-You cards, Mailing Labels, Business Cards, Letterhead, and Notecards, while in the New Year's Eve suite the projects include an Invitation, Menus, Resolution Sign-in/Postcards and Drink Signs.

In addition to providing inspiration for themed suites, Paperie for Inspired Living also includes indispnsable advice for invitation wording and etiquette, and provides tips for throwing unforgettable parties, like choosing a color scheme and ideas for breaking the ice.

KAREN BARTOLOMEI was hailed as the “Sky’s the Limit Stationer” by Modern Bride magazine. Her work has appeared in all the major bridal publications and she was featured as the paperie expert in HGTV’s The Ultimate Wedding Guide special. She is the owner and creative director of Grapevine Paperie. Visit her online at grapevinepaperie.com".

Still burning! Good thing for Crafty blogger Links

Aileen's Musings

Find out what Formica and Christmas have in common when Aileen shares a great gift idea with you! Check out her tutorial and download a free Vintage soda label while your at it.

Cathie Filian
Craft up an end of summer wine tasting with Cathie!

Crafty Princess Diaries
Check out this unusual call for entries the Crafty Princess found for Momiji doll lovers.

Craftypod
In Sister Diane's latest podcast, Patricia Zapata of A Little Hut talks about the intersection of graphic design and craft.

Cross Stitch at About.com
Get ready for Halloween with free Cross Stitch patterns. Ghouls, ghosts, bats, cats, About.com is where it's at!

Farm Girl Roots, City Girl Style: A crafty blog
A quilting project needs some attention--read the story, see the pictures, offer your suggestions

Mixed Media Artist
Why take a class? Cyndi shares about her experience learning from the fabulous Jane Sassaman!

Naughty Secretary Club
Jen gets invited to a mustache party and busts out the fun fur and old records to make kitschy masks.

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
Craftside has a bunch of cool photos that have words spelled out with objects, try it and post your photo in the Flickr group, fun photos from the Squam Art Workshops, single letter cards to send out for the Week of Hope Sept 1-7 and how to turn an old metal link belt into a fat cuff bracelet.

The Artful Crafter
Eileen would like to introduce you to Precious Metal Clay. It's an amazing medium for jewelry crafters as well as polymer clay artists.

The Crochet Dude
Drew shares before and after photos from his recent studio makeover!

Vickie Howell-Craft.Rock.Love
Knit hats for the homeless with Vickie, Lands' End and Warming Families! Read more for a free hat pattern & the scoop on how you can be a part of the FeelGood campaign!

My Christmas tree is getting adorned with a cute crochet bird from the charming new book Crochet Adorned by Linda Permann

Just about my favorite thing to do is embellish! And crocheting little bits and trims is so cool!

I savored every page of this book. The first project I had to try just flew right off the page at me....yes pun intended!
Crochet Adorned:
Reinvent Your Wardrobe with Crocheted Accents, Embellishments, and Trim
By
Linda Permann

"Does last season’s skirt need a little more flash? Want to breathe new life into your favorite tee? If you love crochet and quick, gratifying projects, Linda Permann will show you how to turn your old duds into a new wardrobe with yarn, a hook, and inspired ideas! By adding trims, embellishments and lace–or even changing the design of a garment–with simple crochet stitches, you can give your clothes a whole new look. These fun-to-make projects are a great second chance for clothes from your closet or thrifty finds–and they’ll even look great with the gems already in your yarn stash. When someone asks, "Did you make that?" you will love to answer "Yes!"

Plus, Linda shares new ideas for accessories and home decorating with projects that include earrings, aprons, and pillows. She’ll guide you through color theory (to keep your clothes and yarn in harmony), help you develop an eagle eye for embellishable clothes (so that you can reap all the benefits of thrifty finds), and share all the details you need to know to customize each project to your own size and style.

With helpful how-to instructions and illustrations, 20 inspired projects, and a stitch dictionary of extra trims, motifs, and patterns, you’ll have all the tools you need to embellish anything and everything–just the way you like it."

OK so I grabbed a ball of yarn in a great sick greenish yellow color, it was a bit bigger than the recommended size for this pattern but when I make something the first time sometimes I like to work with an easy size yarn.

Crochet Adorned included both word directions and symbol patterns, I really liked that because this helped me learn symbols but made the words make sense. Very cool!

I like the way my first bird came out. I gave it a ribbon scarf and used the yarn tails to make a loop for hanging on my tree. The next bird I crochet using the pattern from Crochet Adorned will definitely be in the recommended size yarn so I can make a pin from it.

If you like crocheting up little bits to add to your cloths or projects you will truly have a lot to work with in
Crochet Adorned .

The sky is lit with fire and crafty Blogger links

This is a photo I took driving north on the 5 freeway Thursday night just when the fire started. I know it's not a great shot but I was driving at the time and just holding the camera up and shooting. It's against the law to talk on your cell phone but no one said anything about taking pictures of the mountainside burning. A day photo of the same mountain is posted here.

Cathie Filian
Cathie is holding a charity dog costume & book auction. All the costumes were handmade by Cathie and featured in her book Bow Wow WOW! The proceeds benefit the Humane Society.

Crafty Princess Diaries
Tammy talks about booth set ups for art shows as well as trade shows.

Cross Stitch at About.com
One of Connie's friends is really big into Egyptian history and culture, so she has some pattern ideas for gifts. If you like Egyptian-themed decor, you will love these charts!

Mixed Media Artist
Have you ever used an online publisher to create your own artist book?

Naughty Secretary Club
Jen shows how to transform old lace curtains and a cheap wooden embroidery hoop into a one of a kind earring holder.

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
Craftside has tutorials on how to make two punk rock scarves one with yarn and one with fabric, info on participating in the Good Mail Day Challenge, One Person's Oddity and a Polaroid Postcard design, a bunch of mixed element jewelry and tips on laying a pattern out on plaid fabric.

The Artful Crafter
Eileen just took her new Zutter Bind-it-All out of the box. Woohoo! Look at what a bona fide binding newbie can create with the Bind-it-All.

The Crochet Dude
Drew talks about the crochet conference he just returned from and you can listen to a podcast interview with him and Zontee from Lion Brand Yarns!

The Impatient Crafter
Check out this Haute Couture inspired felt, ribbon and glass bib necklace Madge made for I Love to Create teens!

Vickie Howell-Craft.Rock.Love
Get a signed bookplate for your copy of Vickie's book, Pop Goes Crochet!

About Family Crafts
Who are your favorite popular characters? Are they included in this collection of free coloring book pages?

Alexa Westerfield a.k.a. Swelldesigner
Alexa visits the San Francisco Zine Fest and gives a recap of what she saw!