Fine Craft Guild .com » Making Crafts

Time for a Party

Fine Craft Guild — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:01:00 +0000

Great DIY Tutorials * Beautiful, Creative Ideas
Check out these great entries to our third ‘Time for a Party’ creative eye-candy feast. Before adding your lastest and greatest, check out first some of the best entries of last week.

Top 5 Featured Party Entries

It’s hard to choose just 5 best creative ideas/tutorials. …. But based on originality (meaning that I did not see it before), creative execution, eco-friendliness, usefulness and beauty, these were among the top entries, according to me.

upcycled cardi becomes stunning dress
revamped pots become French beauties
excellent girl dress tutorial
original, simple & free crochet pattern
oh so timely and lovely quilting project

This week, I’m opening it up for YOU to vote which one is to be featured in the top 5….

I’m glad to be back partying with you today, and am curious what you are sharing with us today.

And now….

Time for a New Party

What to Link Up

The most beautiful projects ever, made by you are what we all like to see in this party of beautiful home decorating, eco-friendly design, and creative craft ideas.

Tutorials are preferred, but gorgeous inspiration posts are welcome too.

How to Link Back

Here is the badge, just for you, to post on your blog. It will link back to our home page, from where people can find the latest link party.
Thank you so much for putting it up. We appreciate you being part of the community.

Click text in box.
Ctrl + A = select all
Ctrl + C = copy
go to your blog, and click
Ctrl + V = paste.

Pin It

PS I Made This

Fine Craft Guild — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:46:00 +0000

great title, great book.

Part designer DIY
Part fashion
Part lifestyle inspiration guide.

I counted 27 projects in this book. All are practical and with easy (obvious) to follow instructions.

Sample Trendy Fashion Project 1

How to Make a Fancy Ruffle Shirt

(Upcycling a plain boring white t-shirt)

Sample Trendy Fashion Project 2

Get real: How about a feather skirt? I love this one. Fancy the fun of making this, let alone wearing this. My entire village here would talk about it. Ha ha… Love it.

Sample Trendy Fashion Project 3

A glamorous top with glued-on glitter… Mmm..: this is more for me…

Get Inspired

Not only does the writer Erica Domesek give us great projects to do ourselves, with step-by-step instructions; she also shares where she gets her inspiration from, encouraging us to cross-pollinate ideas and be creative ourselves.

As styles are diverse, surely not all 27 will be according to your taste. However, they don’t need to be. If you are an avid reader of my blog, this book will be a teaser for you to apply your own creativity.

You’ll pick up some techniques, which you can take further and you restyle, refashion or reuse things to represent you, using the book as your initial starting point and how-to guide.

E.g. If you don’t like those bouncy balls in that tied pantyhose necklace, well, use something else instead. You could use some left over foam balls, or even some IKEA packaging materials, chopped up. The pack I opened last night had a great foam cube in it that just screamed ‘craft me’ into something good !! Or, use a could of standard black/white dices instead. All these would make great statement jewelry, riding along the lines of black/white and recycling trends.

See it, like it, buy it:

PAPERBACK VERSION: P.S.– I Made This: I See It. I Like It. I Make It
KINDLE VERSION: P.S.– I Made This

Click Here For Other: Craft, DIY & Interior Design Book Reviews

Enjoy free shipping on orders over $25 (conditions apply).

(ps i made this – images source: pinterest)

Gorgeous Hearts :: Free Printables

Fine Craft Guild — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 07:35:00 +0000

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 darling tag for your Valentine gifts. Or…

Get Your Set of Hearts

Click here for the download.

Type in the password ‘sherykdesigns.com’ to download.

With love, from me to you.

source: sherykdesigns-blog.com

More Stencils, Stickers & Stick-ons

Heart Stencils
Heart Decals
Heart Quilting Stencils

Fun Junk Antiques in Rome

Fine Craft Guild — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 12:37:00 +0000

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 is its pairing of stylish recycled furniture with refined Roman antiques, like these gorgeous lamps.

Etched glass lantern

Vintage Italian colored glass lantern in kitchen

When you look at the scrap wooden furniture pieces, I know you are all thinking: “I can so make this myself.” And this is true. The question is which one to make, it’s a toss. These driftwood chairs are winners: functional & foldable, frivolous and fun.

The favorite however is the recycled wood cabinet. These recycled wood furniture pieces were expensive, but I know you all can whip up your own recycled boat wood cabinet at a budget. Salvage some old painted wood. Leave it completely distressed and just hammer it onto an existing cabinet whose front is blah..

Recycled Wooden Cabinet.

Recycled Can Flowers.

Mixed-matched painted wooden panel makes for perfect backdrop.

Antique hobby horse, tucked away at the back

Hope you enjoyed this Italian home decorating eye-candy, aka starry-night iPhone photography (smile).

New Link Party

Fine Craft Guild — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 06:28:00 +0000

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 new year, I’m initiating a new link up party, that’s totally dedicated to you. What I like to see is the most beautiful projects ever, made by you. So, come link on up, in this inaugural party of beautiful home decorating, eco-friendly design, and creative craft ideas:

Here is the badge, just for you, to post on your blog. It will link back to our home page, from where people can find the latest linky party.

Blog Hop

This is a blog hop, which means you can host this collection also. Get your code here: get the InLinkz code

After this inaugural event, we will hold Tuesday blog link up parties.

Kaleidoscope Crochet Scarf

Fine Craft Guild — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 11:03:00 +0000

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 day.)

Tada: The New Freeform Crochet Scarf …

It fits and it’s beautiful.

It still is the most unusual color combination you can not envision in your wildest dreams (particularly in certain light). I might give it a tea and/or coffee natural yarn coloring bath to tone down all those bright colors. However, for the moment, I like my new scarf on a pair of jeans and a mustard green t-shirt. It’s whimsical.

On a real positive: what is great about this scarf is that it will allow you to mix & match almost any piece of clothing you own, because this scarf has all the colors to pull that outfit together (smile).

Crochet Scarf – Rosette Jewels

Now that the shape of the clothing is no longer ‘jarring’ your attention goes to the beautiful crochet flower rosettes themselves, which is a mixture of granny squares, granny circles, and double layered crochet flowers. Each is like a jewel, and the result is like a kaleidoscope.

Like my new freeform crochet flower scarf?

Crochet Patterns

Want me to make you a pattern to make a scarf like this? I promise I’ll stick to no more than 11 colors. No, just 10. Joy: how about a holy number 7. But, I’ll make sure that all these colors harmonize. How about that!?

Save OUR Internet Liberty

Fine Craft Guild — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 10:28:00 +0000

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 web featured on this site, side-by-side showcased with our own designs, then ‘click + read + click’.

What’s going on?

SOPA, “Stop Online Piracy Act” (H.R. 3261), and PIPA, “PROTECT IP Act” (S. 968), will harm Internet’s essential spirit of information sharing and people empowerment, and you can influence the US government on this issue.

Learn More

5 excellent resources to learn what you need to know & do:

Google: TELL CONGRESS: Please Don’t Censor the Web
(sign the petition here)

O’Reilly Publishers: SOPA and PIPA are bad industrial policy

Wikipedia: Imagine a World without Free Knowledge

Washington Post: SOPA’s ugly message to the world about America and internet Innovation

Latest News on SOPA/PIPA

Experts agree that there are better ways to shut down pirate websites than asking
US companies to censor the Web. Join the groundswell of experts, organizations
and people from all parts of America united in their opposition to SOP A and PIPA.
Tell Congress not to censor the Web and not to cripple our innovation economy.

(source: google.com)

As publisher O’Reilly says, SOPA protects the wrong people. The problem of piracy isn’t the real problem, he says. The entire content industry is facing massive systemic changes, and to claim that declining sales are because of piracy is so over the top. “

BTW Disney has made its mega-money by COPYING stories that previously were in the public domain. Who wrote Cinderella, Beauty & the Beast, Snow white? It wasn’t Disney. Disney copied them, or as they like to think ‘reinvented’ them. Now, the entertainment industry will have to reinvent itself. Fast, and going with the flow of the internet, rather than against it.

What You Can DO

READ UP + TELL CONGRESS you oppose web censorship. You can choose any of the above links to do both.

Act today, because the US Senate will begin voting on January 24th. Thank you. Our existence depends on your support.

Howto: Bolster Pillow with Romantic Print

Fine Craft Guild — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 13:00:00 +0000

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!

Nan’s tips for making fabulous printed designer pillows

* put freezer paper behind your 8.5×11” piece of thin cotton fabric to give it enough body to go through your color printer.

Iron the shiny side of the freezer paper onto your cotton fabric and it will adhere very quickly.

Peel the freezer paper off the back when printed. If your fabric is very thin, you may also need to place some thin card stock behind that freezer paper to give it even more body.

Tip 1: keep away from moisture as printer ink is not washable and may also stain other textiles. Upfront treatment with a protective fabric spray will help.

Make Your Own French Bolster Pillows

As this print is not washable/durable, you may want to design your pillow in a way that the printed vignette pillow case can be easily removed from the pillow.

Nan created a darling bolster pillow, whereby she applique-ed her fabric with the ‘bonne nuit’ rose label onto a larger piece of white pillowcase material. She sew it into a bolster roll, which she tied with ribbons, just like the French do.

Tada. Bonne Nuit!

Free Printables

The font used is called ‘Jane Austin’ and is designed by Pia Frauss, and available for free at Fontriver.

Her French rose label is in the public domain, which was found & digitized by the Graphics’ Fairy.

Image/info source: Nan’s blog.

Further Reading

More contemporary handmade designer pillows, ideas and tutorials and ideas on FineCraftGuild.

More bedroom decor ideas, patterns & tutorials, including how to make headboards, romantic (Anthropologie-style) quilts, bedroom rugs and more

Enjoy free shipping on orders over $25 (conditions apply).

Copyright , Fine Craft Guild .com. All Rights Reserved. Amazing/Eco Home Decorating & Craft ideas and tutorials, for you.

Martin Luther King Craft: Dream Quilt

Fine Craft Guild — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 17:45:00 +0000

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 a tribute to Martin Luther King who created peace and freedom for all people, no matter what color their skin. So, make it a colorful quilt, will ya?!

Quilting Pattern

(click left image for true-scale design, and to start fabric measurements.)

Kim Diamond designed this peace symbol quilt pattern, that allows you to use up a thousand remnants of fabric, or perhaps splurge on a gorgeous quilting fabric set….

You will have to do a bit of math to figure out how much fabric you’ll need of each type of color, and perhaps it’s best if you design freely as you go along. Filling the field with more and more peace symbols.

Tip: add a double layer of ruffles on the outside of the quilt in colors that make the entire quilt come together.

"I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.’ I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood…" ~ Martin Luther King Jr.

More Creative Ideas

Martin Luther King Crafts (crochet, paper craft, and more)

Quilting Projects / Patterns (from simple ideas to full blown detailed quilting patterns)

Tip: this pattern can also be used for a rug, albeit that I would enlarge the design so it’s less work and more durable.
Copyright , Fine Craft Guild .com. All Rights Reserved. Amazing/Eco Home Decorating & Craft ideas and tutorials, for you.

Freeform Crochet

Fine Craft Guild — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 12:11:00 +0000

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. Could have been awesome, and almost is, … but …..

Before

… here’s absolutely no fit …!!!!
The back section is too wide.
The shoulders are too wide.
The crochet flowers on the top front are too wide so that, in an unflattering manner, they cover the top-arms.

If that was not enough, the bolero is not long enough. It’s a few flowers longer at the front than at the sides and back, but it’s not long enough anywhere.

It looks and feels like there weren’t enough flowers, so they added the tie at the front so you can close the bolero.
However, the tie is not in the right place. It’s way above the breast instead of at the décolleté.

And last but not least: notice that appliqué: a color-clashing bright yellow embroidered crochet banana paired with a dangling strawberry. I love the idea of a crochet fruit, but not in this color and style clashing way.

Crochet Challenge
How to transform this item that positively makes any woman look fat, shapeless and nerdy, into something fun, hip and contemporary. I’m taking on the challenge. Check back later this week to see the ‘after’: i.e. what I’ve come up with.

The ‘AFTER’

Click here to see the beautiful kaleidoscope crochet scarf I made with it.
Copyright , Fine Craft Guild .com. All Rights Reserved. Amazing/Eco Home Decorating & Craft ideas and tutorials, for you.