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Crafty Topics
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Fine straw placemats make great hats and hat bases. Placemats are much cheaper than straw fabric and their design motifs and finished edges will save construction time.
Editor's Note: This site is maintained by a costume designer and Professor of the Theatre Department at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and as she puts it, is "one of the World Wide Web's largest, and most eclectic, costume sites."
http://www.costumes.org
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Crafty Tip
Be gentle when forming your hat, the straw may not cooperate and break; you may have to continually steam the placemat to prevent damaging it.
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First published in 1989, the Guide to Beadwork was sold through beading stores in the northwest corner of the United States. The author, Greg Vinson still sells printed copies of his book but has made it available online for free. He covers the chevron chain and daisy chains and the flower, twill, gourd, brick and lace stitches. Along with all of the wonderful and well-illustrated instruction on beading, Greg has assembled what must be the largest list of beading stores and suppliers on the web.
http://www.guidetobeadwork.com
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Crafty Tip
Rather than knot or burn the end of your thread, weave the end through your beaded piece by traveling through the beads and doubling back on the same path. This will provide a bit of give and flexibility to your piece as well as leave no unsightly knots or burned bits.
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Beaded animals, Pokemon characters, teddy bears, cartoon characters, assorted critters, stars are just some of the over 200 free beadie patterns on this site. This website is a virtual treasure trove of cute and clever beaded charms.
http://evsbeadiecrafts.com/
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Crafty Tip
When beading with pony beads, use a bit of transparent tape on the ends of your beading cord to keep the cord from fraying and to make a point to insert into the beads.
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A blog concerned with all types of sewing including bags, purses, clutches and totes. Also quilting, knitting and embroidery.
Editor's Note: Christine sells the wonderful handbags that she makes and also generously shares free patterns on her blog. The handbag shown to the left is made from one of her free bag patterns.
http://sewchristine.blogspot.com/search/label/purse
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Crafty Tip
When sewing a zip into a purse use a longer zip than required and remove the zip stop. That way you'll never break your needle in the zip stop when sewing the side seams.
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Make your own hand-sewn journal with this highly-detailed and easy-to-follow tutorial. The instructions are fully illustrated so that ever the first time bookmaker can make their own journal.
http://curiouslycrafty.wordpress.com/tutorials/
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Crafty Tip
When making the book cover try to use a medium weight fabric such as cotton, as a heavyweight fabric will be difficult to glue down and a lightweight fabric may show glue seeping through.
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A wonderfully fun site dedicated to all things duct tape. Learn all about the history of duct tape, the Duck Tape brand and read tons of great stories and tips of how other site visitors have used duct tape in the most ingenious ways. A fun list of duct tape craft projects are included in the site with complete and step-by-step instructions.
http://www.ducktapeclub.com/ducktivities/
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Crafty Tip
When making duct tape fabric, it may prove to be easier to make several smaller pieces and attach them together than to make a single large piece of duct tape fabric.
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Mosaic Patterns Online is your resource for patterns for mosaic projects. Included with the pattern is a photographic step-by-step guide and a materials and equipment list. Loads of free patterns to download.
http://www.mosaicpatternsonline.com
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Crafty Tip
Using a wooden tongue depressor is a great way to mix and spread your grout. You can also cut it in half when you want to spread your adhesive down on a surface.
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Blank photo bracelets, photo pendants, sterling silver dangling photo charms,scrapbook bracelets. Bulk blanks, complete kits for Italian photo charms. All jewelry findings,settings, coatings, resizing software.
Wholesale pricing available to everyone.
http://www.photojewelrymaking.com
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Crafty Tip
When selecting a photo to use for photo jewelry making choose a clear, close up photo and crop away all unneeded areas so that the most important object or person will be clearly identifiable on the small jewelry surface.
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A site honoring the works of old and breathing new life into drawings, paintings and other images that have since gone out of copyright and are in the public domain. We select pictures and drawings that we think have the most potential for scrapbookers, collage makers, mixed media artists, stationary makers, ATC enthusiasts, and other crafters.
We have an ever-growing collection of categorized images that include animals, fancy letters, people and cartoons. We also have sets of images that would be perfect to create a story or theme in your next crafting project.
http://www.reusableart.com
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Crafty Tip
If you plan on creating items to sell from free images you have found on the Internet, make sure that they are copyright and royalty free. Copyright free means that the original owner no longer controls who can use their image and what can be done with it. Royalty free means the person who created an image still enjoys copyright protection and typically sells the picture to others, but does not require additional charges for using their image. If you are looking for free images to use with your crafts, look for terms like copyright free and public domain to ensure that the images are truly free to use and simply not "borrowed" from their original owner.
Copyright laws vary from country to country and what may be no longer under copyright in one country may still be protected in another.
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Custom Hand-made Sock Monkeys. Cute ready to adopt Sock Monkeys. Clothes and accessories for your Sock Monkey.
Free knitting, crochet, and sewing sock monkey clothes patterns.
Sock Monkeys in the Wild photo galleries.
http://www.sockmonkeyfun.com
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Crafty Tip
When making a Sock Monkey one of the most important features is the mouth. I find that positioning the mouth piece and pining the bottom half before sewing helps keep it centered and helps sculpt the shape of the mouth. In this way you can make the Sock Monkey have an upturned smile, with any style heel.
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