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DIY: Shutters as Magazine Racks

Fine Craft Guild — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:15:00 +0000

: Shutter-love! Fancy owning this recycled shutter cum magazine rack. I want to own one. Teal, aqua, or Robin Egg’s blue happen to be some of my favorite paint colors, so this shutter caught my eye.

Note: this kind of aqua blue / teal always makes me feel like I’m on a tropical island. Love that color, particularly now that it’s snowing here…

Easy Step-by-step Instructions How To Make This Yourself

Yes, it’s easy, but there is a bit of work involved here:

1. Remove every other slate by using a dremmel (*: see below) which is a tool that does flat cuts on either side of the shutter frame.

2. Sand, prime and spray-paint.

3. Add whirl at the top.

Materials & Tools Used for this Project

An old shutter

* Dremmel Multi-Max

Note 1: You can remove the shutter slates by either snapping the ones to be removed with the claw end of a hammer, or by using a dremmel.

The dremmel – method leaves you with neat slates which can be re-used in another project. The hammer-method leaves you with a pile of firewood.

Note 2: the dremmel also includes a sanding component, so you can use it to sand down the frame.

Primer & spray paint in desired color

A Silhouette Cameo to create gorgeous vignettes in a snap. Gorgeous and professional, like the one here in black at the top of the shutter.

Source of this wonderful idea: Gail, from ‘My Repurposed Life’ (BTW. This is a great blog. You’ll love it. Lots of home decorating project ideas).

Wall Design Stencil Cutting Machine

Fine Craft Guild — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 20:26:00 +0000

A few days ago a reader, Shannu, commented on my Inspiring Stencil Projects that he/she wants stencil cutting machine for wall design purpose. Features of stencil cutters is really good point to cover, so I thought to answer it here on the blog instead of in a personal email. Not all stencil cutting machines offer the ability to cut vinyl or larger stencils, but do have a look at this one here, as it allows you to do both smaller craft design as well as larger projects such as wall stencils.

Stencil Cutting Machine for Wall Design Purposes

One of the stencil cutting machines you could use for wall stencils is this Silhouette Cameo Wall Art Starter Bundle by USCutter. This Silhouette CAMEO is an electronic cutting tool for personal use and it works much like a home printer, in that it plugs into your PC or Mac with a simple USB cable. However, instead of printing it uses a small blade to cut paper, cardstock, vinyl, fabric and more up to 12ins wide and 10 feet long. That’s perfect for making larger stencils.

The motor of this machine is nice and quiet. This cutter also has the ability to register and cut printed materials.

Click link or image

for info & to purchase.

The type of projects you could create with this stencil cutting machine (the Silhouette Cameo), include:

Vinyl projects – Cut out intricate designs in vinyl and apply them to your wall, car or almost any project surface. But also….
Scrapbook layouts and cards - Cut titles, background designs, or shapes to embellish any scrapbook page or card.
Rhinestone projects - Add some bling to your projects by cutting a template with your Silhouette CAMEO and brushing Silhouette rhinestones into the design making them easy to layout and transfer!
Fabric Ink projects - Create a screen printed look by cutting a stencil using the Silhouette CAMEO and applying inks to your fabric projects.
Heat transfer projects - Create custom apparel, accessories, and home décor by cutting out heat transfer material and ironing your designs onto your fabric project.
Paper crafting- Create custom invitations, boxes, and favors.

Stencil Cutting Machine with Supplies

This Silhouette is economically sold as a bundle, which includes:

~ Silhouette electronic cutting tool.

~ Silhouette Studio software for Windows XP/Vista/7 and Mac OS X 10.5.8 and higher.

~ 51 exclusive cuttable designs.

~ Power cable.

~ USB cable.

~ 12ins cutting mat.

~ Cutting blade.

~ $10 gift card to the Silhouette Online Store.

~ basic instruction guide.

~ x1 roll 12ins x 6ft white vinyl.

~ x1 12ins x 6ft transfer tape.

And as if this was not inclusive enough, I can also recommend this set of 12×12” adhesive-backed vinyl in 27 colors.

Click link or image

for info & to purchase.

Larger Cutters

If you are looking for a larger cutting machine, then do check out USCutter 28" Vinyl Cutter Ploter with Stand and USCutter 53" Refine Vinyl Sign Cutter Plotter w/ Stand. These are from USCutter, a well-known brand in the industry. Both these two stencil cutters have stands are more professional grade.

The 28″ stencil cutter has the following features
* Dual position carriage (front position for cut-through, rear position for standard vinyl). * Roland compatible blade holder gives you access to the most economical blades available.
* Two fully adjustable pinch-rollers allow you to use a flexible range of materials.
* Superior ball-bearing dual roller media roller system allows you to place material on top of rollers rather than putting roller through material each time. (Huge time savings!)
* Only PC-compatible.

DIY Postcard Journal / Calendar

Fine Craft Guild — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 12:55:00 +0000

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 easily transferrable into a 2012 day timer for your desk.

What did Asley do?

Journaling Made Easy

Pretty, huh?!

“Growing up, I kept a daily journal. I always enjoyed looking back at previous entries to see what had changed over the course of a year.

These days, I can’t seem to find the time to journal, but I do try to jot down a little note from each day on my perpetual calendar/journal.

The idea is very simple — flip to the current date and at the end of the day, write down something that happened. Some days it is big things like “Annie took her first steps.” explained Asley about her calendar / journal idea.

I instantly loved this journal box, as it underpins a core philosophy of how we live our lives. What we do instead is this: every evening before sleeping we reflect and state our ‘best part of the day’. It’s a great way of falling asleep full of gratitude and happiness for life itself.

However, with some exceptions, we don’t write these ‘best parts of life’ down. For this reason, I personally like the idea of making this not-t00-involved calendar journal to keep a record of our lives.

The Calendar Journal Tutorial

Asley used the below to make her calendar:

stack of vintage postcards;
date stamp,
simple index cards,
a raspberry fruit box, and
a paper guillotine to cut the index cards to size.

That’s it, plus

a pen for writing.

I might turn this perpetual calendar/journal into a soulful XMAS gift for my hubby, using 100% recycled images & stuff, in a theme that will inspire him. We have so much art, graphic material and recyclable paper goods laying around, I’m sure it will be easy.

Journal versus Calendar

OK. So much for the journal idea. With January around the corner, I know that YOU may be in need of a calendar. A proper one. Well, to make this into a ‘normal’ day calendar is easy. Just add exact dates like January 4, 2012. Simple. It must definitely be a desk calendar as it’s too complicated and the fruit box too fragile to lug around.

That brings me to the next point …

PAPER OR DIGITAL ?

Digital Calendars

For a handi-dandy calendar to carry around at all times, I am so in love with & highly recommend my new iPod Touch(= iPhone without the cell phone), which comes with a calendar and loads of (free) applications to make your life very organized. And if you want more applications, just go to any wifi spot, or connect it to your computer and load your gadget with as many as you wish.

Every day I am using it, I am realizing that the $299 I paid for this was a bargain ( … ok. yes, click above link and see that Amazon sells it for $50 less than I paid in the Apple store..)

Anyhow, I already have downloaded tons of free (and legal!) eBooks, audio books, music, howto-reference material (like eBooks on advanced knitting stitches) and other practical tools ~ it’s incredible the value of it all, and I got all of it free!

If you don’t have one already, DO look into getting one, particularly if you live in the US. An iPod Touch or iPhone is the best deal for a frugal-minded-gal.

Quite a confession for someone who dislikes gadgets in general, and who prefers original and individual things. That’s why I can still relate if someone like you is …

Paper Calendars

* ….. still in love with paper calendars ? IF you are going to buy some sort of a paper solution, I’ve already recommended these calendars for 2012 as they are most suitable & fun for creative crafty types like us plus they teach us a thing or two of knitting, crochet, or other creative pursuits in life. For portability, choose a compact one that has all the pages glued together.

Christmas Cakes & Cookies ~ Ideas, Cutters & Stencils

Fine Craft Guild — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 13:00:00 +0000

This year, I am seriously contemplating making a Christmas cake, or at least, Christmas cookies. While this is ‘normal’ for probably all of you, for me it’s a new thing.

That’s what happens if your sister in law is a pastry chef at one of the world’s best 5-star hotel chains. There is no use in even trying: her cookies, cakes, whatever she bakes is not only the best tasting, the most appropriate in lightness, etc etc. it is also BY FAR the prettiest and the most original in terms of design. See my point? I never needed to make cookies before.

But now that we are living in Italy, and the sister in law is far away back in Canada, I have a fair change of shining my light in the cookie & cake making department. See?

Cookie Cutters: Get the Best

To get some standards and efficiency going, and as I am a nut for stencils and templates, the first things I bought were these: cookie cutters. And I also have some antique ones and a slew of plastic shapes from the traditional to the highly unusual.

Christmas Cookie Recipe

Over the weekend I was visiting my German friend who is going to share her inherited family recipes with me (her cookies were sooo good), so that now all I need to do is to set a date, get the ingredients and make them. If you don’t have any cookie cutters yet, check out these fancy ones, that’ll look pretty in your kitchen when not in use.

I wrote to my friend to get her recipes. When I get them, I’ll post them for you. In the meanwhile, let’s get on with Christmas cake prep.

Amazing Christmas Cakes !!!!

As for the cakes, I have done some research ground work for us all, and put a Pinterest page together with oh so amazing cakes…. Original, outstanding, and ahum, perhaps actually do-able … by me.

Are you on Pinterest yet?

If so, FOLLOW ME by clicking this button here. And you can also leave me a comment.

What a great way for me to get to know you…, and … this way I can follow you back.

Some Christmas Cookies and Cakes:

here are some images from my Christmas Cake Ideas pin board.

At first glance, this cake is TOO DIFFICULT. However, beyond the marzipan-sculpted Santa with Snowman, it’s easy: a top of a snowy mountain cake with silver glitter balls (straight from the jar), ‘ho ho ho’-lettering made with a cookie cutter, and lovely pine trees (also made with cookie cutters).

Or this novel idea:

Birdhouse Christmas Cakes

Darling ! Note those owls… it’s a Halloween cook cutter shape transformed into a Christmas cake tool! That brings me to the next topic….

Secret Tools of the Trade
for Fancy Cake Decorating

Unless you have a super steady hand and angelic patience, get these curly alphabet letters, some animal shapes, tree shapes and fancy curly shapes, if you don’t already have ‘m.

All of these cake/cookie cutters / stencils are inexpensive and will transform average-looking cakes into stylish pro.

Chocolate Christmas Cake

No cutters required, just creative fantasy. This double layered Christmas cake has white and pure chocolate ‘snow flakes’ hanging from it, to give it that cascading feel of abundance.

The glamorous golden ribbon with shooting star finishes off ‘the look’.

To see all unique Christmas Cake Designs I’ve collected, click here: FineCraftGuild’s Christmas Cakes at Pinterest

More FineCraftGuild Christmas ideas at Pinterest can be found here.

Latest Cricut Cartridges: Oh So Cute!

Fine Craft Guild — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 10:56:00 +0000

Wonder where can I buy the latest Cricut die cut cartridges online? I had a similar question and did my research which I’m sharing with you today. As a beginner with Cricut, I realized that it does not matter if the cartridges were released last week or last year, as I had none yet… So, I decided to work backwards, and to look around which designs I preferred. And then looked at what Cricut cartridges and card stock they used, and of course, I learned a tip or two on embellishments and card design in the process, but that’s for a later day…

Today, latest (or best) Cricut die cut cartridges for …

CARD 1: Bloom & Feel Better

The How-to & Cricut Cartridges Used

Cricut Cartridge, Wild Card – Argyle card: Use the Blackout feature at 5 1/2 for the card base.

Cricut Cartridge, Wild Card – Booklet card: using the Icon feature cut at 5 1/2 for the tree.

Add Cosmo Cricket designer paper to the front + use extra piece that cuts out on the card as the joining piece.

Hand-touch: shadowing on tree trunk + leaves on tree with chalk for dimension

Cricut Cartridge, Stretch Your Imagination – Flrsh4 item for the white/brown vignette to mount the tree on. Again, use the Blackout feature to cut out the 2 shapes one at 4 3/4 and the 2nd at 4 1/4. Mount your tree on top.

Use the same cut at 1 3/4 to stamp the ‘Feel Better’ sentiment.

Designer:

Mrs. Cindy Cotner Burgess

from St. Louis Missouri

Available online? Yes, right here! Click each link above to find where you can obtain what you’ll need to make this super-cute get-well greeting card. Cricut to the max!

Other cricut cartridge evaluations, ideas and projects will follow…

Texture Board, a Visual Design Tool

Fine Craft Guild — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 13:00:13 +0000

A few weeks ago I was reminded of a neat DIY / craft tool, what I call: texture boards. Texture boards are great ways to help you define your design, no matter what your art or craft project is. The main purpose of a texture board is to create a mood or define a style.

You can use fabric bits, ribbons, but also magazine cut-outs, old craft project bits, wrapping paper, product photos… anything in your life that has texture and color. By combining (a pop-art term), you can create the mood/ style that you are after.

The reminding artist, Brooke, is a fabric-oriented artist calls my ‘texture boards’ ‘color stories’. This is one of her color stories.

A texture board aka color story complement the classic design tool to tell your personal story, i.e.

Story Board

Comic strips, advertisers and movie makers have one thing in common: they use story boards to convey the general theme. In the story board, you define the key characters, the beginning, the end, and the key milestone steps to go from A to B, highlighting core events and messages.

Working with color stories, texture boards and story boards are great for all designers, ranging from web designer to lollipop makers to crafty girls. Why? Because by working with these boards, you’ll be able to flesh out your story into a coherent whole set of values and principles that you want to part with, without leaving any out.

source color story image: Brooke Hellewell Reynolds

How to Use a Cricut Machine

Fine Craft Guild — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 12:58:00 +0000

You might have seen thousands of super-cute Cricut craft results over the years, but don’t have a Cricut yourself. It makes sense to first learn how a Cricut machine works before buying one. Here is the load-down.

Cricut machines are rather easy to use. Whether you are interesting in buying

the Cricut Expression ,

the Cricut Create Machine , or

the Personal Electronic Cutter, the basic operation of all three machines is the same.

What You’ll Need to Get Started

Cricut Machine
Cricut Cartridge (+ Keyboard Overlay, and Handbook, as included.)
Cutting Mat
Cricut card stock or paper
A Great Creative Mind that’s willing to explore and experiment.

Step-By-Step Instructions on How to Use a Cricut

STEP 1: Installing your cartridge. Your Cricut machine comes with a cartridge. (There are many more fun cartridges to buy and eventually you will built up your own little collection.) Put this cartridge into the slot. Place the keyboard overlay that comes with the cartridge on the face of your Cricut machine. Your cartridge installation is now done.

STEP 2: Now plug in your Cricut machine, and turn it on. You should have placed it securely on a solid surface, btw.

STEP 3: Next, put the material to be cut, e.g. paper, onto your Cricut cutting mat, and make sure it’s firmly adhered to the cutting mat. Now, load it into the die cutter by firmly holding it against the feeder and pressing the "Load Paper" button.

STEP 4: There is a size selector dial that allows you to select the size of die cuts you wish to make.

STEP 5: Using the keyboard overlay, select a design. Using the Shift key and/or the creative features will offer you different designs. Use the handbook that comes with your cartridge to pick a design, before you begin cutting. You can select multiple designs to cut at the same time, but you must first cut these before you can select a different size.

STEP 6: After selecting the size and design(s), press "Cut". The cricut machine will now do its magic, and cuts your great designs.

STEP 7: When your Cricut machine is finished, simply press the "Unload Paper" and the cutting mat will eject, with your die cuts on it! Most likely, this is your moment of great excitement. (However, adjust the depth of the cutting blade, in case your material is not cut properly.)

STEP 8: Last step is to carefully lift your cutouts from this mat. Most cuts are easy to remove, but have a craft knife or Cricut tool handy to help you out, just in case.

See, it’s fairly easy to use a Cricut Machine.

Which Cricut Machine is Best for YOU???

Which one to choose depends on the size of the die cuts you wish to make, amongst other things:

Cricut Model Variances

The Cricut Expression can make die cuts ranging in size from 1/4 to 23-1/2 inches,

The Cricut Create Machine can make die cut ranging in size from 1/4 to 11-1/2 inches, and

The Personal Electronic Cutter can make die cuts from one inch to 5-1/2 inches in size.

Click each model link to learn more about that particular Cricut machine.

Love is .. Handmade Earrings

Fine Craft Guild — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 19:33:00 +0000

Love is… a pair of handmade crystal angel earrings for a girlfriend.

Materials

2 long metal pins with eye

3 small pastel-colored glass crystals or other beads

2 angel charms

2 earring findings

Step-by-step

How to Make Angel Earrings

1. Open the loops at the ends of the pins a tiny bit to attach the angel charms and then close them again.

2. String the three crystals onto the pins and make a loop on the end using round-nosed jewelry pliers. If your pins are too long, you may have to use a pair of cutting pliers to trim a bit off before making the loop.

3. With same round-nosed jewelry pliers, open each earring finding a tiny bit so that a string of beads can be attached to each finding. Close the finding again and you’re done.

Time Required

I spent 7 minutes making these earrings.

What took more time was to look through my large bead collection to find the beads I liked and dig out my jewelry making tools.

This pair is a Valentine’s Gift for a Girlfriend.

Love this?

Other articles on …
How to Make Jewelry
Valentine’s Day Cards, Gifts ‘n Crafts

Craft Calendars 2011

Fine Craft Guild — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 13:44:00 +0000

It’s Monday Morning, 9 am, January 3: Time for a new beginning and a new calendar.

While I’m all for recycling old calendars and creating your own calendar (In fact, I have an article on how to make your own desk calendar, and will soon post some new scrapbooking page layouts for this calendar), I could not help it but just needed to whiz over to Amazon, to ‘check’ at what’s new…

And yes. Many beautiful, fun & funny top calendars are already on sale. Here are some of my favorite craft calendar finds that are jam-packed with beautiful design ideas and craft projects for the new year.

Knitting Page-A-Day Calendar 2011	Origami Page-A-Day Calendar
2011 Live Boldly Calendar	Anne Taintor 2011 Wall Calendar
Ansel Adams 2011 Wall Calendar	Do it All – Planner 2011, Calendar & more
Family Craft and Activity: A Year-Round Calendar of Crafts: 2011 Day-to-Day Calendar	Award-winning Quilts 2011 Calendar: Featuring Quilts from the International Quilt Association
Easy Scrapbooking: 2011 Wall Calendar	Sewing: 2011 Day-to-Day Calendar
Quilting Calendar 2011	PRETTY OR PRACTICAL ?! Besides these lovely inspirational and instructional craft calendars, I also found the ‘always good’ calendars of Boynton, Amy Knapp & Dilbert…, and for sure, I don’t know which one to choose… Let me mull over it for a day.
Mom’s Family Calendar 2011	Dilbert 2011 Desk Calendar
2011 Amy Knapp’s Big Grid Family Organizer wall calendar – tool for the entire family	The Old Farmer’s Almanac 2011 Gardening Calendar

Free Easter Coloring Pages & Egg Mobile Project

Fine Craft Guild — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 13:00:19 +0000

Finished the Easter brunch, done the Easter egg hunt, and now need to calm the kids down after the sugar rush, with something calm and creative?

Be ready and print out these free craft downloads ahead of time.

I made a set of Easter Eggs kids of a variety of ages can color in. They work together like a free little coloring book.

When they are all done with coloring, they can cut out the eggs with scissors. The eggs can be hung on a string like a garland to decorate a door or window, or can be grouped together and made into a simple mobile. It all depends on what materials you have on hand, and how crafty you & they are.

This is also a project that several kids can work on together and makes for nice family entertainment.

For a garland, you’ll need a hole puncher and a ribbon or thread.

For the mobile, you’ll also need a dry-cleaner’s metal wire coat hanger. Cut it into segments of various length, and hang the threaded eggs from the various metal wire mini rods. One thread in the center of the mobile allows you to hang it from the dinner table lamp or ceiling.

Fun and easy craft project that also fast to do. Allows you to integrate the efforts of the whole family as both adults and toddlers can participate in the coloring of the eggs.