Katie Wilson, CRAFT's designer, points us to this enchanting stop-motion animation by Clair Neal. The girl goes through many rooms, all filled with different topical creative supplies that remind me a lot of being in art school. [via Teagan Tall]

Fabric and quilt designer, Denyse Schmidt, has just released a downloadable pattern for these cute patchwork scottie dogs. [via Free Spirit Fabrics]

I had the pleasure, along with my Handmade Detroit partner in crime Beth Nixon, to check out Knit Michigan 2010 this past weekend. This annual event raises money for local cancer charities. With more than 600 participants, an all-day knitting marathon, and $30,000 raised to help find a cure, this year's Knit Michigan was a huge success. I've got some photos here, but check out this Knit Michigan Flickr set for a better look at the event. Yes, there are more delicious pictures of yarn.

What kind of crafty charity events happen in your community?

From Leah Buechley's photostream via the CRAFT Flickr pool, Leah shares: "on the steps of Shih Chien U, turn signals prototyped by me w/ parts from the taipei electronics markets & made by (awesome) Shih Chien University fashion students" in Taiwan.

More:

How-To: Make a Turn Signal Bike Jacket

CRAFT is celebrating love, glitter, and craftiness with the Crafty Chica Love Shrine Challenge. Preserve your memories and tell your love story by building a shrine that creatively reflects your personality and expresses your hopes and dreams.This type of project is all about personal self expression. I began by digging through my collections of postcards and love letters. I sifted through my memories, photo by photo, reveling in the nostalgia of my drawings and notes from days gone by.

Certain things caught my eye, and whatever inspired me was set into a pile. Then I collected all the little treasures that I've gathered over the years — things like old wooden letters from a printing press, the tiny ceramic deer that my grandmother gave me, and a little gift box with a perfect bow. Finally, I went through my craft supplies and pulled ribbons, fabric flowers, pieces of bark, feathers, and seashells. Distill the materials that you've collected into themes. Look for common threads in your items that tell a single story. I didn't have any expectations for an outcome, and I started by just pairing up colors, textures, and associations. I found three distinct stories in my materials, and then selected the core "anchor" pieces for each shrine. Everything went into a big pile on my work surface, and I sat down with a drink and my current favorite playlist on the stereo.

This week I will share each love shrine and my step-by-step process for creating it. I hope that you will join our challenge and make your own individual shrine and add it to the Crafty Chica Challenge Flickr pool. Be sure to include a little story that describes your intentions. The reward is the beautiful shrine, but winners will be chosen to receive great ilovetocreate prizes too.

Franco of Franco's Fiber Adventure, created this ingenious portable loom from a clipboard and a few other simple supplies. [via Craftster]

Ranjit Bhatnagar is making an instrument every day in February. Some are electronic, some are mechanical, and some are both. This walnut shell rattle seems easy to make with a drill and some string, and makes a pretty satisfying jangle, suitable for weekend sock-clad marching band parades around the house.

Regina of Creative Kismet shares a tutorial for making these Be My Valentine bookmarks.

A few people are doing Valentine exchanges and I wanted do the same. I thought it would be fun to make something that you can use all year long, maybe as a marker for a project in your favorite sewing, art or craft book.

Such a great idea! I especially love the free form stitching.

Jason Guest has created a version of the forthcoming Apple tablet, rendered in 100% wool felt. The details are too awesome and my favorite is the little gear he cut and stitched for the settings! I've posted more photos after the jump, and here's a link to Jason's skeleton etsy site, so you can bookmark it and stay in the loop on his future work.

"I stuffed it with 100% wool roving, the felt is 100% wool as well. It took 4 or 5 hours between two days, working on it here and there. I make little felt gnomes and needlefelted animals, but this week I wanted to make something that didn't fit into what I thought was marketable or conventional. Having grown up with Macs, I couldn't resist getting their new gadget a month or two early. Kids do stuff like that- pretend they have a cell phone with a block of wood. Draw a picture of a website and a keyboard on a piece of paper and glue it to a tin container or something. Suddenly, they have a computer. The apps were a lot of stitching, but well worth it."

George Hart continues to rock Math Mondays on MAKE, up this week is the skewer hyperboloid!

Thirty two shish kabob skewers and 176 small rubber bands are all it takes to make a beautiful hyperbolid of revolution. This is an example of what is called a "ruled surface," meaning even though it is curved, it is made of straight lines.

I was just catching up on my RSS reader and stumbled across this fantastic polka dot bike helmet on Oh Joy! She took a basic black bike helmet and added decals to turn what's generally a boring safety item into something quite stylish. Yay for safety!

We know how much you loved our Craft Space series so here it is back in action with a new spotlight on CRAFT contributor and all around crafter, Vanessa Coppola of Designs by Vanessa.

Read on after the jump for more photos and a Q&A with Vanessa!

By Ann Martin

Quilling, the coiling and shaping of narrow paper strips to create a design, has been around for years — hundreds, in fact. During the Renaissance, nuns and monks would roll gold-gilded paper remnants trimmed during the bookmaking process, and use them to decorate religious objects as an alternative to costly gold filigree. Quilling later became a pastime of 18th and 19th century young ladies in England, who would decorate tea caddies and pieces of furniture with paper filigree. The practice crossed the Atlantic with colonists, who added quilling to candle sconces and trays as home decorations.

In all of that time the process has remained very much the same, but quilling designs and specialty supplies have definitely caught up to the 21st century. Today some aficionados focus on making incredibly detailed 3-D figures, while others favor wall-sized museum installations. Perhaps quilling is best known, though, as a way of bringing personality to handmade cards.

The short list of necessities includes strips of lightweight paper, glue, and a tool with which to roll the paper — that's it! Even better, there's probably no need to shop for supplies before you try quilling, as a bamboo skewer, round toothpick, or even a cake tester from your kitchen drawer can serve as a substitute tool. Cut your own practice strips from a sheet of ordinary computer paper, using a paper cutter.

Many arts and crafts stores sell basic tools and packages of multicolor paper strips. Beautiful papers and other quilling supplies are available from online suppliers. Oh, and lastly, one requirement that's not available for purchase, but will also be needed, is a fair amount of patience. With a little practice, however, I can almost predict you'll find quilling to be creatively satisfying and fun.

The projects in this article feature the teardrop coil, but there are many other intriguing shapes to try — marquises, arrowheads, holly leaves, and all sorts of beautiful scrolls, just to name a few.

Read on for the full Quilling 101 and featured Valentine's Day project tutorials.

About the Author:

Ann Martin of all things paper is a quilling enthusiast who loves introducing the craft to others. She teaches, designs projects for books and magazines, and is especially hooked on making paper filigree jewelry.

I love this sweet and simple way to reuse old Valentine cards. Janna of Mustard Seeds shows how to sew them up in to a cute garland. [via Whip-Up]

My father took an early retirement from the sinking ship of print journalism and has, for the past few semesters, been attending cooking school. Its his and my mom's dream to run a bed & breakfast in New England, so he's honing his commercial kitchen skills to be the "breakfast" half of the equation (my mom's got the other half covered). I awoke this morning to an RSS reader full of lovely photos of his recent creations. Check out his mouth-watering Flickr set. Just a little Monday morning eye candy! I know he gets a log of his recipes from Bread by Jeffrey Hamelman

• Ask CRAFT: Mother's Day Interview with Bette Stern (My Mom)
• CRAFT Pattern: Reversible Cable-Knit Scarf

The Chinese New Year is almost upon us, and you can celebrate the Year of the Tiger by whipping up some of these cool hand puppets made from cereal boxes. Tali of Growing Up Creative shows you how!

John Baichtal @ MAKE points us to this prototype flatpack cardboard high chair. I'd think it would have to be wax-coated to withstand a toddler's meal, what do you think? Maybe it's a neat idea in need of a few tweaks?

Chasity of Belle and Burger shares how to make these fabric Valentine books. She shares several great ideas for personalizing them and adding great embellishments.

Amigurumi? Check. Ukulele? Check. Anthropomorphic-stop-motion- beach-action? Check! [via boingboing]

I love this fun way to spruce up old plates with simple stencils and spray paint from 101-woonideeen. It would be a great way to add a decorative touch to any wall or shelf. [via Bloesem]

Invasion Sweater by mandalinarossa,

Partial Ribcage Top by ~aorta~,

Brushed Steel Cowbell by hardwareaesthetic,

and Red Octopus by micanenco.

February 6th is the anniversary of Bob Marley's birthday, and so I have been listening to a playlist of his songs all day. When I saw the Crafty Chica's flickr photostream, with these bold glitter earrings (in red, gold and green) that her husband made, I swooned. He put them together to sell at a reggae festival that he was playing at tonight. I think it's a perfect accessory, and I just love a man who can get some sparkles under his nails!

BlogHer user CA_Girls shares a tutorial for creating this cute ruffle flower embellishment on the neckline of a child's t-shirt, using scraps of other t-shirt material. The embellishments would be a great way to use up thrifted t-shirts or shirts with stains. (not that I know anything about kids' shirts with stains ... of course.)

Matt Mets @ MAKE writes:

There has been no shortage of food-based instruments around here, however I particularly like this one that Youtube user heita3 made from an egg shell. It's a good reminder that pretty much any old thing can be made into a fun project!

Katie Sokoler of Color Me Katie is a constant source of fun and inspiration and colorful projects. Her latest DIY tutorial is for making a cute little blow-a-kiss flipbook so you can give your loved one a kiss to keep in his or her pocket at all times. Adorable!

The Luggage Store (which incidentally doesn't sell luggage) in San Francisco is hosting an exhibit called the Jumbo Prawns Art Club, featuring the work of three Bay Area artists: Scatha Allison (Miss Velvet Cream), Jason Dunman, and Julian Prince Dash, from now until February 27th. From these set-up shots, I can tell the show will definitely provide some creative inspiration. Miss Velvet Cream hand-crafts magical clothing creations "for tomorrow's urban nomads." Her work has been featured in previous Maker Faire fashion shows, and she spearheaded last year's Maker Faire Swap-o-Rama-Rama. Her talent and vision are amazing, and I'm excited to see what she has come up with for this installation. She has an on-site sewing date tentatively set for February 20th. Check out some of her previous work on her Flickr page.

I've always been really lazy about blocking (although I must admit the Knitter's Block has changed my attitude somewhat), but this great scarf blocking tutorial makes a great case for blocking even scarves! There are a bunch of how-to photos and some advice for hand-washing sweaters to boot.

Bell and Trunk Flowers
1411 18th Street
San Francisco, Ca 94107
(415) 648-0519
www.bellandtrunk.com
Become a fan of Bell and Trunk on Facebook

Read on after the jump for my Q&A with Vanessa and more photos!

I'm always on the look out for great paper craft projects, especially ones that help you recycle paper at the same time. Just out today is Kristin Roach of Craft Leftovers' new eBook, Card. Paper. Ribbon published by CraftyPod Publishing. Learn how to take your old greeting cards (I have mine all saved in a box just waiting!) into beautiful handmade paper. But it doesn't stop there, Kristin shows you how to take that handmade paper and turn it into a stab stitch sketchbook. Don't throw away your wrapping paper either! Learn how to turn old giftwrap into papercloth and sew yourself a papercloth wallet or zipper clutch. Finally, there's ribbon and how you can learn how to combine your excess ribbon into your yarn projects. Crochet a market bag and a knit project basket that looks ready for spring!

I especially love the eBook format. The step-by-step photos and text are fantastic, along with printer-friendly pages containing all single project instructions on one page for easy reference (and to save paper). Pattern templates are also included as well as a handy list of resources for papermaking, crochet, and knitting. This eBook is chockfull of amazing projects and you can get it instantly via download for only $10. Perfect for a weekend of crafting!

The crochet market bag incorporates all those scraps of ribbons you have.

See more project photos from Card. Paper. Ribbon after the jump!

CRAFT and iLoveToCreate.com have teamed up to present to you the Crafty Chica Challenge: Love Shrine!

Kathy Cano-Murillo, the Crafty Chica, has been making love shrines for the past 15 years. Using everything from mint tins to cigar boxes to even kitchen drawers, she transforms them into colorful art assemblages filled with objects, trinkets, mementos and phrases she loves. Her themes range from exotic lands to her kids to her Mexican culture. But her favorite love shrines to make are themed around romance!

In Kathy's new crafty-themed novel, Waking Up in the Land of Glitter, her main character, Star Esteban, makes a magical, glittery love shrine for her ex-boyfriend, Theo as a way to woo him back. Readers will not only have a peek at how Star made her love shrine in the story, but at the back of the book there are directions to make your own. You can also try one of Kathy's Love Shrine workshops in a Box - or start from scratch!

Here are her tips:

Let your heart guide you. Think of all the things that give you goosebumps (or that you want to give you goosebumps!) and make you happy! Your shrine can be exploding with sparkle and shine, or it can be soft and subdued. Start by laying down a foundation and background, and then adding a focal point, and then add accents to round it off. While Kathy likes to use creative containers for her love shrines, you can use what ever you want - anything is fair game! Kathy believes by setting out your love shrine in a place where you will see it everyday is a great way to bring happiness into your life!

Enter in this Crafty Chica Challenge for a chance to win crafty prizes. This challenge will run for 5 weeks, and the deadline for entries is 11:59 p.m. PST on March 11, 2010. The Prize winners will be announced on Wednesday, March 17, 2010. Because Kathy feels that love shrines are oh-so-very personal, the winners will be drawn at random. There will be one (1) grandprize winner, and three (3) runners-up. For more information and official rules, visit the Crafty Chica Challenge: Love Shrine contest page.

• The Grand Prize is a Crafty Chica gift basket, a copy of the Crafty Chica's first novel Waking Up in the Land of Glitter and a $50 gift certificate to the Maker Shed.
• The Runner-up Prize is a Crafty Chica gift basket as well as a Crafty Chica bobblehead.

To enter this Crafty Chica Challenge, please submit photos of your love shrine to the Crafty Chica Challenge Flickr Group, and include a description of your project, inspiration, and materials were used in the process. (250 words or less please).

If you're joining in on the contest, here's the code for the badge to display on your site or blog.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/ccc_loveshrine/"><img src="http://cdn.makezine.com/make/craft/CZ_CraftyChica_LoveShrine-Badge.gif" width="162" height="171" border="0" alt="Crafty Chica Challenge: Love Shrine" /></a>

In January, many of the remote MAKE/CRAFT team members (myself included) convened at the Maker Media headquarters at O'Reilly Media in Sebastopol, California. Take a look behind the scenes of your favorite DIY publications as Goli Mohammadi gives us a tour!

View on YouTube, Vimeo, or Blip.tv, subscribe to the CRAFT Podcast in iTunes, or download the m4v video.

Photo by Sam Murphy.

I'm really into crafts that use natural materials. This twig heart project from Sweet Paul is simple, natural, and romantic. If you visit his site, be sure to click around. His projects are to die for, and he has many new developments.

By Lindsey North, projects intern

The trend now -- and I love it -- is recycled accessories: earrings made of bottle caps full of resin, belts made from candy wrappers, purses from pull tabs, and a plethora of other cool things. In CRAFT Volume 02, Kathy Cano Murillo showed how to fashion earrings from recycled tin, and in CRAFT Volume 03, Casey Dougherty showed how to make Fishing Lure Earrings. And then I saw some really cool jewelry at Maker Faire made from funky old utensils, watch gears, and tons of other random things that you'd never think of.

Ever since Maker Faire, I'd been looking for the perfect something to make into a fun pendant or pair of earrings (I'm an earring junkie, a constant collector). While visiting my grandparents recently, I found my inspiration: a silverware set that had once belonged to my great-grandmother, the most beautiful utensils I have ever seen. They were aged to perfection, slightly tarnished, but that only served to enhance the delicate flower pattern that decorated the handles. And so I was inspired to create earrings out of spoon handles.

Of course I wasn't allowed, nor did I want, to make the earrings out of my great-grandmother's spoons -- they're a family heirloom. Instead I went to the local thrift store and purchased some mismatched utensils. You can find some very fun and inexpensive flatware at thrift stores. I also found some cool inexpensive silverware at the local Safeway grocery store.

Once you've found your pieces of silver, cut the utensils to the desired length. I used a band saw at the Craft: Labs but you can also use a hacksaw. I like to vary the earring length, it just makes them more interesting.

After you cut the flatware, drill a hole near the top with a small drill bit. It's a good idea to oil the bit as you're drilling, to save your bit, especially if you're drilling stainless steel. Use sandpaper to sand down the rough edges of the metal to prevent future cuts and scratches.

Then just put in your jump ring and your earring hook! Now I wear my silverwear all the time.

Your CRAFT intern,
Lindsey

It doesn't surprise me at all that these computer jargon, super geeky Valentines are sold out, but it does make me happy that there should be a new batch ready by Monday, just in time for you to get one to give to your nerd sweetie pie.

Here at CRAFT we were all trying to come up with some other, equally nerdy versions, mostly involving references to Star Wars, binary code, and HTML 5. What l33t <3 note can you come up with? [via BadderHomesandGardens]

We posted these two years ago on Make: Online, but I just can't get over these great scientist valentines from Ironic Sans. I really am "Sagan all my love" for them!

I've admired the felt applique work of Melissa from Checkout Girl for a while. Her portraits and artistic series are simply charming. She's just posted a tutorial on Sew, Mama, Sew for making this beautiful "Be My Bluebird" felt Valentine. I love the doily effect she created using a screw punch on the felt.

Here's a viewer-submitted project from Threadbanger, in which Anne shows us how to make a Valentine's Day nightie out of a pillowcase. Nice!

I've collected PEZ dispensers since I was a kid, and love seeing them modified, transformed and imitated in various art forms. When Moxie sent this link my way, I was filled with glee at the fun interpretation on the classic mint dispenser. Fiber artist, Hine Mizushima, created the functioning mint dispensers. I love 'em!

I'm a big fan of Shawnimals' quirky and undeniably lovable ninja series of handmade plush creations. Shawnimals now has the Ninja of the Month Club, where you can sign up for an exciting new ninja every month. February's ninja is Yeti Ninja, my favorite one ever. I'm thinking of asking Yeti Ninja to be my valentine since he clearly loves snow as much as I do.

From the tag: "This lonely, misunderstood beast of a Ninja lives in the snowiest, most remote parts of the Feroshi Mountains, without a soul nearby. Except for his BFF snowman pal named Rawr. That he made. With his own paws. It's a little creepy, sure, but mostly sad."

And of course, Yeti Ninja's motto is none other than: "Rawr... rawr, rawr... RAWR!"

Starting today you'll see this message before the submit button on a comment.

CRAFT has a "be nice" commenting policy. Don't say anything here you wouldn't say to a person's face. We will use our discretion in removing comments we find offensive, spammy, self-promotional, or mean-spirited. See more on our Crafter Community Guidelines page.

Over the years on CRAFT, we've had a pretty open commenting policy. As long as you didn't use profanity, post patently offensive remarks, or spam, your comments were likely to stay on the site. We also allowed for anonymous commenting.

While this approach allows for the greatest number of voices, we've come to feel that it doesn't necessarily give us the best sense of community here on CRAFT, especially for new crafters who were showing off their projects. We'd like to foster an online environment where you feel like you are able to freely share ideas, ask questions, and basically, think and learn out loud.

In the coming year, we'll be doing more to expand our CRAFT community online. We'd love to hear your ideas of how you think we can best accomplish this. And as always, thank you for being a loyal reader of CRAFT!

Instructables user sarahfish made a tutorial for making these cute and practical flip-top mittens for occasional cold-weather dexterity. I'd like to make a pair so it's easier to use my keys when it's cold!

I'd do it! MWAH! Who could resist that mug? This sweet card comes from CorrellaDesign on etsy, and is perfect for even human companions!