PS I Made This
Share great title, great book. Part designer DIYPart fashion Part lifestyle inspiration guide. I counted 27 projects in this book. All are practical and with easy (obvious) to follow instructions. Here is a sample of a project: How to Make a Fancy Ruffle Shirt (Upcycling a plain boring white t-shirt) Get Inspired Not [...]
Gorgeous Hearts :: Free Printables
Share THAT LOVING HEART: 15 free darling heart designs to embellish just about anything. Enlarge them: to create a wall-decal/ furniture print stencil or bleach-dye them on t-shirts (gifts or keep). Keep ‘m small: to print in red and adorn that Valentine Card; to create loving embroidery patterns; or make into stamps. Or make a [...]
Party Time: Show Us What You’ve Made
Share Pin It so humbled every time I am at a craft and home decoration link party. In awe of many pretty submissions, last week, to our first show-and-tell link party of “whatever you have made that is beautiful”. I’m glad to be back partying with you today. Hope you feel the same. [...]
Fun Junk Antiques in Rome
Share Last week, we stopped by this fun and funky antique store in Trastevere, a favorite downtown area in Rome. This antique shop is a rare breed. It reminds of American lifestyle fashion furniture stores which also sell (vintage) Oriental furniture. Such shop is a rare find in Rome. What makes this shop more special [...]
New Link Party
Share Let’s celebrate the best of you. At least once a week, shall we. A NEW LINK PARTY !! Because today is CHINESE NEW YEAR: Happy new year of the dragon, which will be a year of lots of action !!!! (My free Chinese New Year Greeting Card, to print or as eCard). Because it’s [...]
Kaleidoscope Crochet Scarf
Share Remember that freeform crochet bolero I received but which did not fit whatsoever? I modified it into a rather fun and happy scarf that sure stands out. (I have a few crochet flowers / rosettes left over, one of which is going to be a crochet brooch, which I’ll show you another [...]
Save OUR Internet Liberty
Share Today, NO new tutorial. Instead, we protest over the SOPA and PIPA bills that are before the US House and Senate. We unite with many sites who are taking their entire site down for a day. SOPA/PIPA = prohibitive for bloggers like you and I. If you want continued creative finds from around the [...]
Howto: Bolster Pillow with Romantic Print
Share Pin It This handmade romantic bolster pillow is so authentically French. It looks like the most sophisticated, delicate hand embroidery. Yet, Nan, from ‘You Could Make That’ showed us how to make this so-French pillow by simply printing the design onto fabric. Easy-to-make accessory for a romantic bedroom!
Martin Luther King Craft: Dream Quilt
Share Martin Luther King Day coming up again on Monday January 16. To me, Martin Luther King Jr. stands for following your heart, your soul desire, your dream, your conviction and for courage doing so. Therefore, every year, I like to orchestrate a creative project in his honor. This dream quilt pattern featured today is [...]
Freeform Crochet
Share As you all know, I love knitting & crochet. So it’s to be expected that I get these kind of gifts. Usually I am thrilled with them, but sometimes, …. sometimes, it’s a miss… (silence) … So, here is my first challenge of 2012: a white elephant. It’s a ‘designer’ freeform crochet bolero vest. [...]
New Year Umbria Jazz Festival
Share Happy New Year from Italy!!! We were partying here on the first day of the New Year. Umbria Jazz Festival is held every year around this time in the gorgeous Italian city of Orvieto. As this year, New Year’s day fell on a Sunday we enjoyed the happy opportunity to actually go see [...]
DIY ZhuZhu Pet Food
Share Pin It : What are Zhuzhu Pets? Do you know? Zhuzhu pets are delightful little furry animals, that can race around the floor, go in all directions, make funky sounds when they bump into something (like ‘ohoh’). In short, they are adorable. They started out as being just hamsters, but there are raccoons and [...]
DIY Postcard Journal / Calendar
Share Pin It Need a new calendar for 2012? Don’t buy anything *. Make one yourself instead. Like how? Here’s an idea: perpetual postcard calendar / Asley from ‘Under the Sycamore’ showed this really sweet perpetual calendar / journal idea last week at designsponge.com, and I want to share it with you today, as it’s [...]
DIY Fun Earwarmers with Flowers
Share Pin It : Quick Christmas Gift. This cute woolen ear warmer is a quick sewing project that will can be completed within half hour or so. It’s one of those crafts/DIY projects that you’ll inspire you to make a couple, so give some away and make one for yourself. This Winter, keep your ears [...]
Book Review: MicroCrafts Teaches Tiny Treasures
Share I It’s been a while since I’ve done a book review, but this one is interesting. It just came out last week: ‘Microcrafts’ by Margaret McGuire, Alicia Kachmar, Katie Hatz and Friends. It is published by a wonderful publisher, Quirk Books, who only seem to feature titles that I like, love or that at [...]
Blog Milestone: 600
Share Yesterday we posted the 600th post on our craft blog http://www.FineCraftGuild.com. Wow. What a milestone. I am just amazed and grateful for how much I’ve learned in these past few years, writing all these articles. As well, the ’600 articles’-milestone means that we either handmade or studied nearly 600 DIY, craft and home decorating [...]
Back-to-school Small Bag Patterns
Share Back to school is this great ‘season’ to get back organized, not only in aspects of school life, but also in other areas. For this reason, to me, Fall is one of those time that it’s extremely useful to create a bunch of new bags, of different shapes and sizes in matching fabrics so [...]
Caviar Anyone?
Share Introducing Odiot. Not sure if anyone of you is familiar with this institution, but Odiot is located on 7 Place Madeleine in Paris. A prime prestigious address, befitting for a silversmith of fame since 1690. Silversmith to the French Court In earlier times, Odiot was Napoleon’s silversmith fulfilling orders to the French [...]
Funky Coat Hangers
Share These coat hangers caught my eye at Paris’ main Flee market. \While I personally have been designing crochet coat hangers, I was enamored by the thought of having these colorful wooden, felted and bead bejeweled coat hangers to cheer up my wardrobe. Which ones are your favorite? I love the [...]
French Cafes in Paris
Share Many people in North America have a notion of ‘French Bistro’-style that actually does not really exist. The real-life version is less manicured. Instead of gentle and refined, French cafes in reality are more ‘edgy’. Come have a look. The famous cafe “Les Deux Magots” on Place Saint Germain des Pres, had once the [...]
French Patisserie
Share May you find inspiration in the art of Paris’ world-famous patisserie house, Laduree, who creates refined chocolates, macarons and patisserie which taste exquisite and look like beautiful jewels, and which make glamorous gifts. Artists & artisans throughout time have been inspired by the colors and shapes of food. While renaissance painters may have preferred [...]
Christmas In July – Linky Party
Share I thought to continue the focus on Christmas in July for another week, as I guess last week everyone’s head was still in Fourth of July mode. Win a unique, personalized prize by participating in this special Holiday Crafts linky party. Call for Holiday Crafts: Submit Your Best Project Plans WHAT ARE YOU PLANNING [...]
Call for Artists :: Christmas In July #2
Share Win a unique, personalized prize by participating in this special Holiday Crafts linky party. Call for Holiday Crafts: Submit Your Best Project Plans WHAT ARE YOU PLANNING TO DO THIS YEAR FOR THE HOLIDAYS? I love to hear about YOUR BEST craft projects, and so I am doing a contest / round-up of what [...]
Linky Party w. Best Fourth of July Ideas
Share Today’s LINKY PARTY is themed ‘Fourth of July’ or ‘Red, white and blue’ – Party ideas. Come show off your inspirational ideas, completed crafts, home decorating results or DIY tutorials to celebrate the day of Freedom. Best Fourth of July Party Ideas Table Centerpiece Get Flowers for your Fourth of July Party here: [...]
Creative Linky Party
Share Linky Party-time. Last week, I contributed a day’s worth of lessons from my jewelry repair workshop. Today, my Linky Party contribution is an overview of all 50 jewelry articles we have on this site, many of which I bet you’ve never seen before. Bookmark this page for future reference, and link up your own [...]
Summer Crafts for Kids :: Best Books
Share Plan ahead for a summer filled with fun activity and learning. Here’s a fabulous list of Craft Books for Kids with summer crafts to learn, to craft, to enjoy. Craft techniques explained and many lessons gained while producing wonderful things for your home, to play with, to give away or to eat. Click link [...]
What is a Fat Quarter
Share I just answered an online question, what’s a Fat Quarter, and thought I should respond to it on the blog instead, as you all might be interested also. Fat Quarters are typically used for quilting and patchwork. They are bundles of fabric that are pre-cut to size. ‘What size?’ you might ask? And this [...]
Art & Creativity :: Linky Party
Share Doing anything creative? Show us: it’s Linky Party-time. My contribution to the linky party is today’s Jewelry Repair Workshop. Please do link up your contributions below. Jewelry Repair Workshop – Lessons From Day 1 Today was Day #1 of the “jewelry repair workshop’” that has been desperately needed in our home. I repaired [...]
Stamps :: 10 Useful Ways
Share Transforming old artwork with a fresh new layer is easily fixed with some artistic use of stamps. However, this is not the only way to make stamps useful. There are many around-the-house & craft uses of stamps where they proof to be oh so handy. 10 Ways to Apply Stamps Usefully 1. Instant [...]
Stamping :: Simple Painting Technique
Share Once you start stamping, there is no stopping, is there? That’s what I found at least. Last night I was preparing for this weekend’s art demonstration. I was using some watercolor paintings in the category ‘misfits & unfinished works’ as the base for some fresh Spring artwork to bring along. What did I do, [...]
