Saturday, October 30

Supplies: Craft Freebies and Almost-Freebies

My goal with this blog is to help crafters in a number of ways. I will continue to provide detailed, easy-to-follow tutorials, giving sources to find great supplies, and in the case of this post - providing tips on how to get certain craft supplies for free or almost free! So without further adeu, here are four great resources for craft freebies or almost-freebies!


$5.00 (or less) - Ceramic Tiles for Mosaics
Giant hardware stores such as Lowe's and Home Depot, as well as locally owned flooring companies, always manage to break some of their ceramic tile stock. Sometimes they have just a little bit of a particular tile left over, but it's not enough for a whole job. These companies cannot sell broken or
small quantities of tiles to their regular customers, so they tend to either give it away or sell it super cheap! The Lowe's near my house will sell you an entire 5-gallon bucket full of broken and remnant tiles for just $5.00! A full bucket of ceramic tile weighs about 50-100 pounds so you'll want to bring your own container, dig through the bucket, and pick out the pieces you like. I've gotten some gorgeous tile this way, even the really fancy (and usually expensive) ones!

Free to $3.00 - Fabric Scraps
Most people are aware that large retailers such as Joann Fabrics and Crafts sell their fabric remnants for 50% off their retail prices. This is a great way to get some beautiful fabrics at a discounted price. You can usually find a wide selection of fabric types and colors in within their fabric remnants.
It is possible to get free fabric remnants, but it may take a little bit of time and effort. Find a list of local Upholstery shops and take the time to visit them. Ask the manager if they have any scraps available that they're getting rid of. These will be smaller pieces of fabric and they'll obviously be upholstery fabrics, but they'll be perfect for Dotee dolls, pin cushions and other small craft projects requiring fabric pieces.


$1.00 - Paper Crafting Supplies
Over the past year, Hampton Art's Studio G division has started releasing paper crafting supplies for just $1.00! Various products, designs, and colors are available at different craft stores. The three mentioned on Hampton Art's website are Michael's, Joann's, and AC Moore; they don't mention Hobby Lobby, but I'm assuming they will carry some of these supplies as well. Studio G releases the following products with an MSRP of just $1.00:
- Clear acrylic stamps (1-4 per sheet)
- Raised ink pads
- Glitter (4 per pack)
- Flocking (4 per pack)
- Glitter glue

Free to $1.00 - Wood Scraps
Giant hardware stores such as Lowe's and Home Depot, as well as locally owned lumber companies, always end up with left over wood pieces when they cut lumber for customers. This wood gets chopped down and disposed of if it is not claimed by another customer. Should you need smaller sheets of wood or small planks of lumber for a project, check these retailers first! If you spot what you need in their dumpster, it's free! Usually, the only thing you have to pay for is 25 cents per cut, should you need the piece cut to size.

Free - Empty Cigar Boxes
While at the mall, you've probably passed at least one cigar/smoke shop. What you may not realize is that you've just passed a valuable crafty resource! Cigar boxes can be used for a multitude of craft projects, not to mention they make great storage containers.
Cigar shops typically sell cigars individually and by the box. When selling them individually, they tend empty a few boxes per day. If you stop by a cigar shop toward the end of the day and kindly ask the manager if they has any empty boxes they're throwing away, they'll typically just give them to you. Just don't be surprised if you end up with about 20-30 cigar boxes!
A quick little note: whatever you do, don't let them charge you anything for the boxes, they're just going to trash them anyway.

If I come across other craft freebies or craft almost-freebies, I'll be sure to share the information with you! If you have any methods of getting free craft supplies, please contact me either by leaving a comment below or sending an e-mail to lrhazell@gmail.com with the information. Don't worry, I'll give you full credit for the tip!

Thanks for reading!

Wednesday, October 27

Featured on CO&K!!


Not only is my Wire-Wrapped Tree of Life Ornament Tutorial #1 right now, it is currently the featured project on Cut Out & Keep!!

This is the first time any of my tutorials have been featured on any websites, so needless to say, I'm really excited!

Tuesday, October 26

My Tutorial is #1 on CO&K!

My Wire-Wrapped Tree of Life Ornament Tutorial is #1 on www.CutOutAndKeep.net!! Woo hoo!!
<--The image to the left is a cropped screenshot showing the "Popular" list from the front page of Cut Out & Keep! If/when I get featured on the site, I'll post a screen shot of that too!

If you're unfamiliar with Cut Out & Keep, it is a great site for finding and sharing how-tos and other craft projects. I've found some very hard-to-find tutes on CO&K. I feel very privileged to be listed as the #1 most popular project on the site right now!


Sunday, October 24

Tutorial: Day of the Dead Felt Sugar Skull



In this tutorial, I'll show you how I made this spooky (and adorable) felt Sugar Skull. My friend Brook and I made these last weekend and had soooo much fun making them! I hope you have fun making them too!


Step 1: Start by gathering your supplies. You'll need:
*Paper and pen to sketch your template & design
*Felt in white and other colors
*Embroidery floss and needle
*Small plastic gems (if you have them)
*Sequins
*Large seed beads
*Felt glue
*Fabric Paint
*Glitter glue



Step 2: Sketch out your template on a piece of paper. Add your design right onto your template and color it in so you know what colors you're going to use and where. Cut out your template and be sure to fold it in half to verify both sides are symmetrical.









Step 3: Cut out your skull shape in felt and verify both sides are symmetrical again.










Step 4: Cut out the other pieces of felt you'll need for your design. Glue them in place along with the plastic gems (if you choose to use them).










Step 5: Stitch on the sequin eyes using large seed beads to hold them in place and for the thread, you can take a single strand from a piece of embroidery floss. Save the remaining 5 strands, you may want them later for a detail you want to add.









Step 6: Use a blanket stitch hold down the glued on felt parts and back-stitch any additional embroidery designs you want to add to your skull.










Step 7: Use your fabric paint and glitter glue to add on extra designs.

To finish, you can attach a back of some sort to your skull, whether it be just a flat piece of felt to make a broach or a back and stuffing to make an ornament like I did here. I suggest using a blanket stitch in a bright color around the edge to add effect. You can add a ribbon to the ornament too.





This is the other side of the one in the instructions.











These are two others I've done but have not attached them together yet.

I've added this project to the link party here:

Thursday, October 21

Tutorial: Wire-Wrapped Tree of Life Ornament

This tutorial will show you, in detail, how to create the wire-wrapped Tree of Life Ornament shown in the image above.
The other tutorials I've found online have been very basic and left a lot of unanswered questions. My goal with these instructions is to be very thorough, yet easy to understand.

At the end I will explain the adjustments that are necessary for a pendant instead of an ornament.

Let's get started!


Step 1: First, gather all of the supplies you'll need for the project. You'll want to get the following items:
*6mm beads and smaller, including seed beads (see next image)
*A 4-inch metal ring
*Two (2) pairs of needle nose pliers
*A pair of wire cutting pliers
*Twelve (12) 12-inch strands of 24-gauge wire

This photo shows the variety of beads used for this particular

ornament, including the following:
4mm pearls, 4mm glass rectangle beads, 2 sizes of seed beads, 4mm crystals, 6mm & 4mm faceted glass rounds, and 6mm shaped glass beads.





Step 2: Take one strand of the wire and thread it through the wire ring, making sure the 2 sides are even. Wrap each side around the ring twice for a total of four coils. Make sure they are pulled tight around the ring. See image.






Step 3: Repeat step 2 with the remaining 11 wires. Pull all wires to one side of the ring and verify the coils are nice and tight and close together.







Step 4: Start on one side of the wires and begin braiding the first 3 strands. You'll want to create a braid that is approximately 1-inch. Once braided, flip up and move on to the next 3 strands. Continue this process until all wires have been braided. You should end up with 8 braids.





Step 5: Gather the braids as shown in this photo and begin to twist them together.








Step 6: Twist up a little ways until you're ready to separate your first branch. Take 2-4 strands, depending on how thick you want this branch to be, and separate it from the group of wires.







Step 7: Repeat Step 6 until you have the beginnings of a tree with many branches and all of your wires have been used. Personally, I like to split my tree in two at some point and then separate the branches again.






Step 8: Now twist these branches, just like you did the big group of wires, but don't twist them to the ring...yet. You'll want to also start breaking your larger branches into smaller ones. See the picture for ideas on how to break down branches. This is when you'll need to twist the branches to within about 1/4"-1/2" from the ring.




Step 9: Separate the individual wires and make sure they are some-what distributed evenly around the ring. NOTE: If you've twisted the wires too far, do not un-twist them! They will probably break later on! Instead put bends in the branches; this use more wire and pull them towards the center of the ring. (see the final image to see how I did this.)




Step 10: Add a bead or beads to the first wire next to the roots. Wrap the wire around the ring once (see image).








Step 11: Add another bead to this wire. Wrap again and add another bead. This is to cover the ring from view and make it appear to just be beads. Finish this branch by wrapping it around the ring 3 times, clip off the excess, and pinch tight with pliers.






Step 12: Repeat Step 11 for the remaining wires on this branch. Push the finished section tight against the roots. This will make room for the rest of your branches.







Step 13: Repeat steps 11 and 12 on the other side of the roots. Continue repeating these two steps, changing sides after each branch.







Step 14: Continue this process for the rest of your branches and remember to push them tight against the roots. The last couple branches will be the most difficult because you'll be running out of room on your ring, but this is good because you'll have a nice full tree.




OPTIONS:
1. Pendant Size Tree: If you need to make a smaller Tree of Life for a pendant or even a tiny one for earrings, you'll simply want to use a smaller ring and also decrease the number of wires used. Just remember, you'll always want to have a multiple of three (3, 6, 9...) because you'll be braiding the roots of the tree.
2. Adding charms: If you'd like to add charms to your tree, just add them while your twisting the branches or before you add beads to the branch, depending on where you want the charm to hang.
3. Fuller Trees: If you prefer the fuller looking trees, don't twist the branches as close to the edge as I did here. You're beads will then thread closer to the center of the tree and it will appear fuller. The style in this tutorial is just a personal preference of appearance.


EDIT (Dec. 6, 2011)

Where can I get the 4-inch metal rings? 

I know Hobby Lobby carries them and possibly JoAnn's.  You'll need to look in the leather crafts department, not the jewelry section!!  The rings are actually sold for making dream-catchers and you can find them in a wide range of sizes.  I haven't had luck finding more silver ones, but I can always find gold-tone rings.

New Tree of Life Ornament Pictures!!  

I made these two ornaments for a friend yesterday and wanted to point out the difference between the one in the tutorial and these two.  I've really started to add more character and detail to the branches.  You'll also be able to notice that I've filled out the tree a bit more to really cover the ring.  I really like these recent changes and I hope you'll consider incorporating them into your ornaments too!!





I've submitted this tutorial to the...

Friday, October 15

Projects: Coming Soon...

Just a quick post to let you all know that I'm currently working on a few tutorials for you all!

I've recently received a request for instructions on how to make the Fairy Tree of Life shown in a previous post here. This tutorial should be posted sometime next week.

I'm also going to create a tutorial for polymer clay ATCs using stamps and Pearl-Ex powders and maybe polymer clay cane ATCs. I hope to post this one within the next month.

Eventually, I'll post a tutorial on how to complete a Chunky Book. This will include in depth instructions on how to make the book from start to finish and will also show how to make various page layouts. I probably won't post this tutorial for at least a month though. I need to finish my current chunky book before starting a new one for the tutorial.

If there are any other tutorials you're interested for projects I've mentioned, just let me know, and I'll work on them as soon as I'm able!

Thanks for reading!

Saturday, October 9

Projects: Attack of the ATCs!

Yet another relatively new project I've been working on: Artist Trading Cards (ATCs). If you're unfamiliar with ATCs, they are 2.5"x3.5" pieces of art. They can be any material or medium as long as they fit into a trading card sleeve.

I've recently started making some with alcohol inked backgrounds and embossing and/or collaging. I plan to start painting some in the near future, but I want to improve my painting skills before I do so.

ATCs are meant to be traded, not sold. If you plan to sell your mini-art, then they are considered "Art Cards, Editions & Originals" (ACEOs). A popular place to trade your ATCs is on www.ATCsForAll.com. You can browse a gallery of available ATCs as well as list your ATCs for others to contact you for a trade. My ID on ATCs For All is "Venus Designs". I list all available ATCs on this site only. Some of the ATCs below are still available on this site.

I've included pictures of some of my first ATCs below All of them have alcohol inked backgrounds. As always, if anyone is interested in a tutorial, just post a comment saying so and I'll do my best to write one as soon as possible.















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