SKETCH BOOKS

Ready, set, race to the drawing board. First, draw an outline of a woman or man’s figure with a pencil. Then, start designing the attire, whether it is a dress, skirts, etc… Use colored pencils to blend all the colors together evenly.

TYPES OF FABRICS

Then, decide if you want to use cotton, wool, silk, polyester, rayon, or even nylon. Once you make your choice you go to threading.

SEWING MACHINE

The most commonly used machine is called the SINGER. This is the oldest sewing company and the number one. They even have sergers and books to guide you through how to sew and thread the needles.

TYPES OF STICHES

Of course, you have the typical straight edge stitches. Then, you have zig-zag, embroidery, etc… Now, every time you change the stitching you have to either tighten or loosen the needle tension.

STYLE OF CLOTHES

Your artistic fashion will be seen no matter what you design: whether it is shirts, skirts, skorts (it’s a pair of shorts and over that is a skirt effect), dresses, pants, hats, purses or any other accessories for that matter. Whether you are sporting a posh or tom-boy look you can do it all yourself. Be your own fashionista and start creating!

Show your mom all kinds of love by crafting a beautiful necklace or bracelet for Mother’s Day! Another nice thing? It comes from the heart and also less expensive than going to a store, picking something out, and spending 10x the cost. All you need is a wire/cord, jewelry charms or beads of your color choice, a little “mom” imagination (we all know mom’s have their own style:) and you’re all set. You can even make one for yourself!

Find all of these arts and craft supplies and much more from Factory Direct Craft. Not only are there loads of beautiful charms, filigrees, beads, and wire/cords for jewelry making, but they are at really great prices, too! Here are a couple of Mother’s Day ideas, to set you off:

Step One: Hit the Fabric Store

Head to your favorite local fabric store and make a beeline to the knit section. Look for something super soft, like pima cotton or jersey. We found lots of great colors like pink, orange and lime green at the local Hobby Lobby fabric department selling for $5.99 a yard, but with a coupon we snagged it for 40% off. Have the fabric store employee cut you 3/8 of a yard. Typically this fabric is sold in 60-inch width which is perfect for a scarf.

Step Two: Head Home with Your Fabric

Since the fabric store employee took care of starting off your scarf for you, now all you have to do is complete it. Finish off the edges by pulling them. Giving the fabric a little bit of a tug will cause it to roll as it stretches. This will make the edges look more finished off without having to pull out your sewing machine.

Step Three: Wrap Up Your Gift

Now that your scarf is made, wrap it up to get the gift ready to give. Your loved one will appreciate this new accessory that they’ll be able to throw on to compliment a variety of outfits since scarves are a hot must-have this winter season. Because the gift is so simple to make and affordable, consider wrapping up a collection of sixty second scarves. They’ll never know each scarf took just sixty seconds to make and cost less than $2!

Images courtesy of Alison Storm

Supplies:

Plate

Small vase or candlestick

Silicone Adhesive
Step One: Head to the Thrift Store

Head to your local thrift store for a unique plate and base that will make up your cake plate. The plate can be just about any size, shape or color. Think about the person you are giving it to and what colors and style they might like best. Look through the selection of small glasses, candlesticks and vases for a base that will work with the plate you’ve selected. At most thrift stores these pieces will cost you less than a dollar each.

Step Two: Buy Adhesive

Head to your local hardware store and pick up some silicone adhesive. This is typically used in bathrooms or kitchens to make a waterproof seal between tiles or pipes. Clear is probably the best color choice so it won’t be noticed. Choose a brand that dries in a few hours. This will probably cost about $3 or $4 and will be more than enough to finish your project.

Step Three: Wash Your Pieces

Wash your cake plate and stand. Make sure they are clean and dust-free. This will insure that the adhesive works like it should.

Step Four: Measure and Apply

Measure the center of the bottom of your plate. It’s important that your base is secured in the center so that your cake plate won’t tip over. Apply the adhesive to the side of your base that you are securing to the underside of the plate. Push the two together to remove any air pockets. Apply more adhesive around the outside edge of the base for added strength.

Step Five: Allow to Dry

Give your cake plate a few hours to dry, according to the directions of the silicone adhesive you purchased.

Step Six: Wrap and Give

Wrap up your unique cake plate and present it to the lucky person in your life. They’ll love this new addition to their kitchen and you’ll love that this one-of-a-kind Christmas gift cost less than $5 to make.

Images courtesy of Alison Storm

photo courtesy of Alison Storm

Looking for a creative, low-cost baby gift that would work in a boy’s or girl’s nursery? Try making a bird baby mobile. You can adjust the colors to fit any style or scheme. I found the idea on a great blog called Spool. Using a little help from them and some supplies I had around the house I was able to create this cute gift for my neighbor’s new arrival.
Step One: Download the Pattern

Spool created this amazing free pattern to help you sew the birds for your baby mobile. Simply print it out and cut out the two pieces that make up the pattern.

Step Two: Choose Your Fabric

Think about the colors of the nursery and coordinate fabric to match. Choose solids and prints. Since the pattern does not require the pieces to be very big you may have suitable fabric already. You can also check out remnant sales at fabric stores to pick up small amounts of discounted fabric.

Step Three: Sew Your Birds

Pin the two sections of the bird together, right sides on the inside. You can use a machine to sew your birds, or do it by hand. Choose coordinating thread and leave the tail open so you can fill it with stuffing.

Step Four: Stuff Your Birds

This sounds like an activity for Thanksgiving, but it’s not. Carefully fill your birds with stuffing to give them a plump shape.

The branches for your mobile can likely be found in your own backyard. Choose a couple that are relatively straight. You can either sand them slightly and leave them natural, or for a more polished look spray paint your sticks.

photo courtesy of Alison Storm

Using fishing line and some wire, attach your birds to the sticks. Be creative with your positioning. You can have several birds grouped together, facing different ways or even suspend a bird from one of the sticks so it looks like it’s in mid-air.

Step Seven: Hang Your Mobile

The mobile can be easily hung using additional fishing line and some hooks screwed into the ceiling. Another option is hanging it from a curtain rod like the one you see pictured. Just make sure you hang it high enough so it is well out of baby’s reach.

Step Eight: Enjoy!

Your baby will enjoy watching the colorful birds flying or perched above and you’ll enjoy your lovely handmade creation.

Heart Mold. photo courtesy of ZandaPanda.com

Kaleidoscope Heart Cake/Cookie/Crafts Mold

The Kaleidoscope Heart mold from ZandaPanda.com can be used for traditional baking, cold molded desserts and arts and crafts projects. This flexible silicone mold is 9″ in diameter and is divided into eight equal heart-shaped slices. Perfect for engagement parties, showers, anniversaries, Valentine’s Day, or just to say “I love you!”. Use this versatile mold for creating cakes, cookies, chocolate, flan, decorative tea sandwiches, and No-Bake Backwards Cakesâ„¢. Can also be used for crafts such as cast paper valentines and fragrant guest soaps.

It makes a very romantic dessert, particularly if dark chocolate is used

It’s made of FDA approved, 100% food-grade, platinum cured silicone, with a temperature range of -40 to 446 °F (-40 to 230°C) and is oven, microwave, freezer and dishwasher safe. 

A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women movement. MSRP $24.95. Available at gourmet kitchenware stores or directly from zandapanda.com.

About OneTrueMedia.com: This gift is a photo/video montage that you make using OneTrueMedia.com — the only place online where you can combine photos, video, music and special effects to create fun, unique, personal montages that your Valentine will treasure.  You can e-mail the montage, turn it into a gift DVD (see photo of custom DVD covers below), put on your social networking sites or publish on your blog! You can even send the video to your Valentine’s TiVo! How cool is that?

I personally tested OneTrueMedia.com. Creating a montage was extremely fun and easy; they guide you through the whole process. You have lots of effects, transitions and songs to choose from! The hard part was to decide which ones to use because I liked them all!

When you are done, you can e-mail your video, post it on YouTube, publish it on your Facebook profile or on your Blog on MySpace, LiveJournal, WordPress, Blogger and others! You can even post it on eBay! Just copy and paste the code and you are good to go! Try it! You’ll love it! I do!

Creating an account at OneTrueMedia.com and sharing your video is free. If you prefer to upgrade to a premium account with more space and features (songs, editing options, player skins, etc) you can do so by paying their membership fee of $3.99 per month or $39.99 a year.

Here is what I created:

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

photo courtesy of mygeneimage.com

The first time I heard about MyGeneImage.com, I was really intrigued! This is a brilliant idea and would be an excellent choice for a personalized gift! I don’t think you can get more personalized than this!!

What is all about? Well, My Gene Image creates something called DNA Art. You can pick the designs on their website as your background and the gene of choice and they send you a DNA sample collection kit. Once they receive the DNA, they process it and put it into its customized art piece.

It’s a wonderful gift for someone who is a big art lover or just loves personalized objects. Couples can create and hang their DNA art side by side on the wall.

 To purchase, please visit: MyGeneImage.com

Prices:
The digital DNA Art is $120
Canvas art small: $299

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If you have tried DNA Art before, please leave us a message with your experience. Share the love!

Photo courtesy of [me]&goji

Today, I’d like to introduce MeandGoji.com. We featured them in our 2009 Valentine’s Gift Guide.

The Story: [me]&goji is the dream of three friends, adam, alexander and carl. Their new young company is out to change the way Americans think about breakfast. Its interactive website gives users the opportunity to create their own cereal from over 40-plus all-natural and organic ingredients and have it shipped straight to their doors. 

What’s all about? Well, [me]&goji is all about personalization, having fun, making healthy choices and eating delicious cereal.

How does it work? Just go to www.meandgoji.com and click START. All you have to do is  choose your cereal base, enhance it, choose some fruit and seeds and you are done! The nutritional counter on the right handside will update instantly. Oh, don’t forget to name your cereal! I did.:)

You can either design a mix for someone or send them a gift certificate so they can create their own. This Valentine’s season, they offer free, personalized notes (in case giving cereal and naming it after them doesn’t quite say enough).

[me]and goji is committed to a healthy environment, as well as healthy customers; they offer a green tag for $1 to offset all of the CO2 emissions generated by the creation and shipping of the cereal. That $1 goes directly to the Bonneville Environmental Foundation, which researches and invests in renewable energy projects.

I think this is an excellent Valentine’s gift idea that works for kids, teenagers and adults at the same time! Check them out at www.meandgoji.com!

photo courtesy of jujups.com

We featured Jujups.com in our 2009 Valentine’s Gift Guide.

Check out http://www.jujups.com where users can personalize unique 3D printed products which are

1. designed entirely by themselves
2. not some mass produced product but unqiue one of a kind pieces for their loved ones.

The products they offer include: 3D-miniframes, gift-tags, mugs, T-shirts, Christmas ornaments, canvas, cut outs and more.

JuJups.com has launched a “Create Your Own Cards” service, allowing consumers to create their own greeting cards. Instead of uploading photos or images, users can now create their own designs by dragging and dropping. The service is free for home printing; however the cards can be printed through its fulfillment partners worldwide. JuJups.com opens design to the vast majority who cannot use Adobe Photoshop or other professional design software.

This Valentine, create your own 3D product at www.jujups.com !