A Great Jewelry Resource and A New Tutorial ~ My Stained Glass Polymer Clay Pendant

I have a few new polymer clay jewelry tutorials to share with you this week.  First, my stained glass inspired necklace pendant.  This easy technique can be used to make many decorative things, not just jewelry.  You can use these steps to make a brooch, Christmas decorations, or even drink coasters.

This project takes about a 1/4 of a block of polymer clay, a stamp or some interesting buttons to make a design, and some colored pencils.  You can find all the directions, with photos, on my Hubpages!

I liked my finished necklace so much that I used the same technique with a different stamp to make another pendant.  Check out my full tutorial!

If you are looking for more jewelry tutorials and ideas, head over to AllFreeJewelryMaking.com.  This site is loaded with great jewelry projects, tutorials, videos and information.  They even have a free newsletter you can sign up for.  This site is a wonderful resource for jewelry makers of all types and experience levels.  I love this peyote stitch bracelet!

I'm Pinning Fall Ideas to Hometalk's Pinterest Board!

I was thrilled to be chosen to be one of the bloggers pinning ideas to Hometalk's Fall Inspiration board!  Hometalk.com is a FREE home, garden, and crafts community website.  It is chuck full of great ideas for your home and yard.  Members post and share the most amazing projects.  I just love visiting this site every day!

If you're looking for some creative decorating or craft ideas for fall and Halloween, check out Hometalk's Fall Inspiration Pinterest board.  I'm having a blast adding new projects and ideas I find on the web.  Check it out!!

Recycled/Repurposed Crafts for Kids - Great Ideas for Summer!

http://www.savvysassymoms.com/blog/recycled-crafts-roundup/

 

I was thrilled to be contacted by Angela Anman from SavvySassyMoms.com to have my Crayon Covered Gift Jars included in her summer article 8 Recycled Crafts to Try With Kids.

Along with my Crayon Covered Gift Jars, there are some wonderful craft projects included here.  I definitely want to try the Folded Paper Bracelets by Picklebums and I love the little Hula Dolls made from toilet paper rolls by MollyMoo Crafts.  I think once I show my husband the Cardboard Box Lap Tray from A Centsible Life, he's going to want one so he can lounge about in bed  :)

Please check out this recycled craft roundup and see all these great craft ideas!

17 Repurposed, Recycled, & Upcycled Christmas Craft Ideas

http://www.hometalk.com/b/1762473/17-incredible-repurposed-christmas-crafts

The good people at Hometalk were kind enough to ask me to put together a clipboard of some of my favorite Repurposed Christmas Crafts off of their site.  I was THRILLED to do so and found SO MANY great repurposed/recycled/upcycled holiday craft ideas!

Where to begin...driftwood, rusted springs, bottle caps, bits and pieces of random stuff - just amazing!  I especially love the Christmas Tree crafts, some of which (admittedly) are mine:

But there are a lot of wonderful, creative, exciting projects to explore.  Check out my board here, and start pinning and crafting for the holidays!  Enjoy!!

Meet One of the Craftys Award Finalists - ME!

The Craftys Awards are an online contest for some of the best craft submissions.  This was the first year of the awards and submissions were accepted in a number of categories:  knitting and crochet, sewing and quilting, edible crafts, jewelry-making, and many other craft categories.

I submitted a few of my craft tutorials and was thrilled when my Field of Flowers Tote Bag was chosen as one of the ten finalists in the knitting and crochet category!!!

Ultimately, my tote bag was not chosen as the winner, but that's okay.  I'm over the moon that my tote bag was chosen as a finalist.  The knitting and crochet winner was a knit wedding dress that's just amazing!  I congratulate Stephanie Klose on her well-deserved win!  Great job!!

Check out all the winning crafters and projects on the Craftys website.  A big round of applause to all the winners!  Can't wait until next year :)

Friday Favorites: More Great Craft Sites

(I'm using this photo because I want people to check out my Field of Flowers Recycled Tote Tutorial here.)  

Now, on to business:  I've come across a couple of fun craft sites I wanted to share:

Craftown.com is a great site full of FREE craft tutorial and resources.  Each day, new ideas and projects are posted.  This is a particularly fun site if you are looking for holiday project ideas.  Craftown has a whole section broken down by holiday and season - they even have a free newsletter that you can sign up for!

AllCrafts.net is another craft site that shares wonderful free projects and ideas.This site has separate sections for sewing & quilting, knitting $ crochet, and holiday projects.  This site is really easy to navigate and has great photos of all the projects!

Both of these websites are wonderful finds.  Check them out!

One More Christmas Craft That Should Have Been Posted A Long Time Ago

Here's a quick little gift card/gift bag craft that I'm late posting for Christmas (and with crappy photos!).  At least maybe it will give you some ideas for next year :)

If you've ever purchased anything from Anthropologie online, you've probably received your receipt in a little paper pouch.  They used to send your receipt in a little cloth bag.  Both of these items are great to recycle into gift bags for little items and gift cards.  I like that these pouches are a little bit bigger, maybe 4 x 5 inches, so they fit a number of things (gift cards, jewelry, handmade cards, little art pieces).  But you can, of course, use any envelope or pouch - even make your own!

I've recently invested in a few inexpensive holiday stamps.  Totally worth the 5 or so $$ I spent.  I've already used them for a few projects.  I simple stamped a design over the front of my paper pouch.  (If you use a cloth pouch, I would suggest putting some newspaper or wax paper instead the pouch before beginning to stamp.  This should keep the ink from transferring to the other side of the bag.)  I clearly need to improve my stamping skills, but you get the idea.  These holiday designs add a fun, festive touch to my pouch/envelope, making it a little more special.

The back side of these pouches have Anthropologie's logo on them.  Luckily, a many years ago, someone gave me this cool "recycled" stamp.  I'm not sure if this stamp is still available from Storybeads in Ann Arbor, but it's the perfect way to cover up the logo and proudly proclaim that this item is RECYCLED.

Hope you had a great holiday!  Now would be a great time to pick up some holiday stamps in the after-Christmas sales!  What a great way to spend New Year's Day :)

A Little Gift to You: Favorite New Craft Websites!!

In this season of giving, I thought I would share some great new craft sites I've found:

First up, Find+Craft, a searchable website of craft tutorials.  Here, you can search for craft projects by category, length of time to complete, and experience level.  You can save the projects you like in your "stash" and even easily add your own tutorials.  I think this website is relatively new - the categories are somewhat limited and there aren't A LOT of projects listed.  But hopefully as more people visit and use the site (hint, hint), there will be more tutorials and categories added.  Go check it out now, I'll wait :)

Next - this cool online magazine, Amy Powers' Inspired Ideas.  The current issue is just chock full of great Christmas decorating and craft ideas.  This magazine is gorgeous, and I love, love, love so many of these projects (check out the little Christmas village covered in snow glitter!).  What is particularly great about this magazine is that the projects include all the templates and print outs that you need to complete them!  Looks like I've missed some previous issues, but I'm definitely going to spend some time on this site!

And possibly my fav new site - Pinterest Fail - a BRILLANT idea!!!  This blog heartbreakingly (but hilariously) posts failed attempts at replicating various projects and tutorials on Pinterest.  Let's admit it - we've all been there.  Why not share the pain?  My favorite post - the DIY Chevron Melted Crayon Art.  I remember seeing this on Pinterest and thinking, "that just can't be as easy as it might seem."

So, Happy Holidays from me to you!  I hope these sites were exactly what you were hoping for  :)