Craftzine.com blog: July 2007 Archives

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July 31, 2007

Amigurumi Panda, Pig, and Penguin

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Crochet yourself a whole batch of animal friends with the panda, pig, and penguin amigurumi patterns by mmmfruit on craftster. Love the sunglasses on the panda! Link.

Knit Froggy Pattern

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Rachel of Naptime is My Time has a super cute Froggy knit pattern you can make. Link.

Knitty Pattern: Everlasting Bagstopper

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Knit yourself up a handy tote bag that can easily be stored in your purse! The remaining secret patterns on Knitty.com are finally up and Amy R. Singer, Editor of Knitty, designed this pattern herself. I love that the base of the bag has a solid garter stitch so that everything you pack will stay in place. Knit it up also with natural hemp fibers so it won't mildew. Link.

HOW TO - Sew a Sailor Tank from a T-shirt

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Take an ordinary t-shirt and refashion it into a cute sailor tank like this one above by charles on craftster. I love the contrast t-shirt pattern/colors. Link.

Berroco Knit Pattern: Harry Bear

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Kathryn Ivy knit up this cute Harry Bear a free pattern she got from Berroco. Looks like a gift idea too! Get the pattern here at Berroco. Link.

Singlet Style Shopping Bag Tutorial

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Here's a great sewing tutorial by queenofdiy on craftster to make a fabric shopping bag that's made from a plastic bag pattern. Link.

Maker Faire Austin: Call for Crafters

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Hi Crafters! Are you interested in showing off your crafting skills or demonstrating a great how-to project? Please submit your proposal for an exhibit or demonstration at our Maker Faire Austin happening the weekend of October 20-21. Maker Faire is a two-day, family-friendly event that celebrates arts, crafts, engineering, science projects and the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) mindset. It's for creative, resourceful folks who like to tinker and love to make things. The deadline for submission is August 15th at midnight (PST).

Here's a list of some topics we're looking for:

Textile Arts
Quilting
Weaving/Looms (historical or unusual)
Sewing and Felting
Kites
Paper Crafts
Costumes (epecially Halloween)
Jewelry Making
Children's Crafts/Projects
Knitting
Fashion Design
Stained Glass
Home and Garden
Food Arts
Toys
Recycled Arts
Calligraphy
Pattern Making

To find out more and to submit your proposal online, visit our Maker Faire web site here. - Link.

Related:
Maker Faire Bay Area 2007: CRAFT - Link.
Natalie's Maker Faire Flickr Photos Collection from 2006 and 2007 - Link.

Doodling with Embroidery

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Cassi at Bella Dia has taken to doodling with her embroidery! What a great way to just let your creativity flow and get yourself crafting.

Cassi writes:

The picture above is an embroidery I did a bit ago. My approach to it was just like doodling. I had no pre-conceived idea of what I wanted to do and made random stitches in various colors as it appealed to me at the time. After awhile I felt it was taking a more literal direction and continued with that until I felt like it was complete. A very fun exercise especially when you've been having crafter's block. Ah-hem.

Read more about doodling with embroidery at Bella Dia. - Link.

Crochet Beaded Bracelet Tutorial

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Alice at Futuregirl has a tutorial on how to crochet yourself a cute beaded bracelet! Link.

July 30, 2007

For BlogHer Attendees: Craft Blogs, Sites, and Resources

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If you attended the BlogHer panel on "The Art of Crafts" I promised to post up a list of craft blogs and sites that would help you get started. I read A LOT Of blogs so I've included a good variety of blogs that I read on a daily basis, but just know I couldn't include everything. If you attended the conference and also have a craft blog, please feel free to add it in the comments to this post. Commenting on the site is free -- you just need to sign up for an account through our parent site, O'Reilly here. Then make sure you are logged in via the top right link next to our Google search bar on craftzine.com. Then, feel free to add craftzine.com to your RSS reader, or sign up for our CRAFT daily emails (in the right hand side bar).

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BlogHer 2007 Chicago - Crafty Highlights

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Oh yes, what a great time we had at the BlogHer conference in Chicago! I loved meeting all the ladies who blog (and a handful of men there too), the conference truly showed how diverse and fun blogland on the Internet can be. Thanks to Leah Peterson for inviting me and for organizing/moderating our crafts panel and thanks to my fellow panelists who I had such a great time with, Amy Sedaris, Kristin Roach and Crafty Chica - Kathy Cano Murillo. A big thank you also to Elisa, Lisa, and Joy who are the co-founders of BlogHer. It's an amazing conference and definitely worth attending next year!

I'll post this up again and say the fabulous Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood of CraftSanity was nice and techie enough to record The Art of Crafts" panel and provide it as a podcast! Listen to the podcast here and be prepared for laughs, but also good crafty blogging tips. Link.

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I love this photo of Amy Sedaris who's impersonating the Web here with her nude pantyhose. Leah Peterson took the photo and helped sell some of Amy's craft goods. She's got a great write up of the conference on her blog, leahpeah.com. Link.

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Here's a great photo of Leah and Amy at the closing BlogHer party.

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It was an honor also to meet Kathy Cano Murillo, aka Crafty Chica. She's an amazing accomplished crafter who's just so passionate about it all and she's very funny too! I loved that she crafted up her suitcase for the trip. Read more about her BlogHer experience here on Crafty Chica. Link.

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Kristin of Craft Leftovers and I spent the most time together experiencing the conference and Chicago. She made this dress herself from a vintage bedsheet she got at the Salvation Army! How cute is that? Lots of photos were taken of her in her dress. For more inspiration, check out her site Craft Leftovers. Link.

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On Friday we sat at the "Arts & Crafts" table for lunch. I was there with a host of crafters and Kristin took a picture here of Lish from Handmade Detroit, Jennifer of CraftSanity, and myself. Read more about her day here on Craft Leftovers. Link.
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Rachelle of Magpie Girl Studios knits in one of the conference sessions.

BlogHer also happened virtually in Second Life. Here's a screenshot from Moncita. You can see all the BlogHer Second Life photos in her Flickr Set. Link.

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Fashion designer Chloe Dao attended the closing party which was sponsored by Dove. She showed women how to DIY by refashioning the cutest, sexiest t-shirt designs without sewing! You can see more photos in my flickr set, starting here. Link.

So much happened during the trip, so you can see all my flickr photos from BlogHer here. - Link.

See all photos tagged "blogher2007" - Link.
See all photos tagged "blogher07" - Link.

Clover Box

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Darren of The Peace of Paper has a free box download for this cute clover box. Link.

Plush Cars and Engines

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David of Boing Boing points to these awesome plush cars and engines custom made by Japanese firm, Rocket Craft. Daddytypes.com has a great write up about it all here. [ via ] Link.

Simple Summer Dress Tutorial

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Teresa Franco shows you how to make a simple summer dress using elastics, rather than elastic thread to save yourself headaches from having to fix your bobbins and sewing machine settings. The dress looks absolutely perfect for the warm summer weather! Link.

Charm Bracelet Watch

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Anabel on Whipup points to this great idea on refashioning a watch with charms and baubles to turn it into a great charm bracelet. [ via ] Link.

BlogHer: The Art of Crafts Panel - Craftsanity Podcast

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Hi Crafters! It's back to business as usual here on craftzine.com! All my photos are currently uploading so I can give you a proper write up soon of the amazing time I had at the BlogHer conference in Chicago. If you are visiting craftzine today for the first time, Welcome! As promised, I will have the craft blogs/sites and resources list posted up here towards the end of the day today.

In the meantime, the fabulous Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood of Craftsanity was nice and techie enough to record our panel and provide it as a podcast! Here's a team photo of "The Art of Crafts" panel at Amy and Kathy's booksigning event after our session (L to R): Leah Peterson, Amy Sedaris, myself, Kristin Roach and Kathy Cano Murillo. Listen to the podcast here and be prepared for laughs. Link.

HOW TO - Wind a Center-Pull Ball of Yarn

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Here's a fantastic tutorial by ariadne on how to wind a skein of yarn into a center-pull ball without having to use sticks or pencils! Link.

Softie Pattern - Easu

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Rachel of Tigerluxe has a free pattern on her site to make this funky jeans-wearing softie named Easu. Link.

Wine Glass Photo Frames

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Here's a fun idea for your next cocktail party or knitting group meet up, add fun photos to the bottom of a wine glass. No one will ever mix up their glass. If the idea of a fun face starting back at you is too creepy to imagine, you could even use landscape or close up photos of past craft projects! Link.

July 27, 2007

Noro Knit Hat Pattern

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I love the texture and styling of this Noro Hat made by Saartje de Bruijn. Noro Kureyon is special hand-dyed yarn from Japan that makes this hat look extra special. Link.