DIY Tutorials!

Dear friends! Let me show you my new cartooned beading tutorial. It shows the principle of new weaving. It can't be stopped, I'm sorry, but it is so simple and clear that can be easily understood without pausing.
So, click the pic, please:



My other animated beading tutorials are available here: http://katenkin-biser.ru/lessons/indexeng.php

How To Make Your Own Valentines

:D

Hey everyone! I just finished writing a tutorial on how to make resin charms.

You can find it here: http://www.impishdiy.com/2012/01/how-to-make-resin-charms.html



Let me know if you have any questions!

Hi guys!

My 2-year-old has become obsessed with babies so I want to make him a doll. I saw these in a shop and he really liked it, but the price tag turned me off. I figured I could make one for much cheaper. Does anyone know of good patterns for cloth dolls? I've been googling but the only thing coming up are Waldorf dolls, which aren't my cup of tea. Thanks for any help!

( Come hear the siren song.... )

Does anyone have any ideas for the best way to mount keys on a wall like this picture? The best thing I can think of is to use nails and wire wrapped around them. Any better ideas? (Also, it's a rented apartment so nothing that will require a ton of alterations/damage.)

( picture )

i have all these golden books and a bunch of the mini ones and no idea what to do with them. any suggestions before i toss them?

bialosky's special picnic
the store bought doll
the little golden book of holidays
tweety plays catch the puddy tat x4
walt disney's pinocchio
disney's beauty and the beast x2
the twelve days of christmas
disney's pocohontas
disney's the little mermaid ariel's underwater adventure
richard scarry's the bunny book
the monster at the end of this book
what's up in the attic
fozzie's funnies
count all the way to sesame street
disney's lady and the tramp
disney's three little pigs
the friendly bunny
disney's cinderella
disney's the rescuers down under
disney's aladdin the magic carpet ride x2
the pokey little puppy naughty day
tawny scrawny lion

disney's mickey mouse heads for the sky
the animal's christmas eve
cookie monster and the cookie tree
pooh the grand and wonderful day
the firefighters' counting book
rudolph the red nose reindeer shines again
pink panther nand sons fun at the picnic
mickey mouse those were the days
walt disney's mother goose
walt disney's dumbo
i think that is wonderful and other poems from sesame street

holiday_crafts

Holiday and Seasonal Crafts

This is a community dedicated to all things festive and crafty. From Christmas cookie recipes, to fall decorations, to summer time beverages, we accept anything handmade and festive. This community is all about ideas and inspiration for year-round fun! So join, find inspiration, and (of course) show off your work!

I bought a gorgeous Pottery Barn desk on craiglist for an amazing price, but the person who owned it smoked, I think. There was a hutch-type piece on top and the white paint has gone yellow-ish where the hutch wasn't sitting. Any ideas for getting the stain off? Worst case I'm just going to repaint, but I want to know what my other options are.

(Crossposted, sorry!)

I saw this on a friend's page and figured I would share! Funky Halloween cocktails that would be perfect for an awesome party :D

Hey guys! I posted a tutorial for making a customizable dry-erase board on my site today. Here's the link.

Here's what it looks like:

Since I lost my last camera pouch, and got myself a nice new free phone for switching to Verizon, i decided to try something that I've wanted to attempt for a long time. Zippers have begun to lose their terrorizing hold on me, so this morning i attempted a quick craft before heading out the doors to nanny my cute little D.



I've been wanting to try a pouch this shape with a zipper enclosure.







Back then i haven't gotten over zipper phobia.
10 or more zippered pouches later, i think i am ready.
Apologies for cross-postings!


( Here is a rough rounded zippered pouch tutorial. Advice and constructive criticisms are always welcome! :) )

Hey guys, this is a super simple tutorial on how to make an edgy studded headband from a bandanna. I love how it turned out!

Check it out here!

I made myself a circle skirt, tutorial courtesy of Dana from MADE.

Apologies in advance for cross-posting in similar communities.

( Read on for more exciting sewing adventures... )

Hello all. I just joined this community, not only because I love crafting (and need massive help with it) but I need help with a specific project.

I'm getting married at the end of September. My mom gave me over 100 4 oz Mason jars at Christmas, because at the time my future hubby and I wanted to make homemade jams as our wedding favors. Well, because of money and poor time management, that's not happening.

So I'm stuck with all these jars, and I didn't know what to put in them for favors. Then I thought about making liquid candles! I'm trying to look up information online, and I have a good gist of what to do. I know I'll need paraffin oil, which I can get for a good price at the hardware store. My question is about fragrances, and Google searches aren't really helping me.

1) Am I able to mix standard candle fragrance oil with the paraffin oil? I saw a video that said NOT to do this, but other sites seem to indicate that there won't be a problem, so I'm confused.

2) If I can add fragrance to the oil, I'm guessing a couple drops for 3-4 ounces of paraffin oil will be sufficient. I know that in candles too much fragrance can cause the wax to burn improperly; so I assume too much in oil might make it smoke. How much will be too much?

3) Would it be better to just buy pre-scented oil?

Any help is appreciated! Thank you!

Wow, it's been a loonnnnnggg time since I've posted a tutorial on here. Yikes. But I can make up for it! (maybe...sorta)

Here's tutorial I wrote for making a bunny-girl polymer clay chibi charm (say that 10 times fast). You can find it here.


Hope you guys like it!

There was some weird setting enabled that was screening all comments with links in it. It should be fixed now. Please feel free to drop me a comment if something odd like happens again. There are very few issues here, so I don't check in on comments within posts, but I will look into and take care of anything that someone brings to my attention.

I recently bought a pre-stuffed muslin doll to help me get started with doll making and I'm ready to sew on the hair I bought for it (Darice's auburn doll hair to be exact) but I have no idea how to do it and I can't find any tutorials online to help. Does anyone know of any tutorials or have any tips for me?

Thanks so much in advance!

I made a button out of a liquor cap I found. I'm poor! but resourceful!

Required materials:
scissors
knife
needle
thread

Step one:
Wander around aimlessly on a Sunday morning and think to yourself, "why did I spend all that money on college?!"

Step two:
You will be tempted- but it is important NOT to shake your fist at the sky. What you need is on the ground.

Step three:
(Your luck may be turning around and you find an actual button! If that is the case, please skip to step five.) After you've found a disregarded bottle cap that has a color and design to your liking, you may need to wash it and flatten it. (I declined to wash it because I am a busy man) To flatten it, I like to use a large weight or even just stomp on it. I find standard hammers to be too small to do the job correctly.

Step four:
You may need to cut it down if it doesn't fit in the hole. A pair of scissors will work. After you've tested the size of your button, you must make holes in your button. (I recommend at least three.) I simply placed the cap on top of a notepad and put pressure on a knife to make the necessary punctures.

Step five:
Sew your button to your pants or shorts.


Enjoy your button! As long as you don't tuck in your shirt, no one ever has to know how sad you are.

Hello friends!
So a friend of mine is having a baby, and the shower soon approaches. I want to get her something really special. She's going to use cloth diapers, she grows her own food, likes organic, and would like to save money.

Does anyone have any ideas for maybe, a care package? Or somethings along those lines?

Hey guys,

It's my first time posting and I wanted to ask about seashell jewelry. How do you go about making holes in the shells? The general Google-ing consensus seems to be that I need to buy a drill but what kind? Also, should I coat the shells in a varnish of some sort to prevent wear and tear as much as possible? Any tutorials/general tips are welcome! Thanks! :)

-Elle.

This is a very simple tutorial but I had fun writing it anyway!

I dug out a T-shirt of my husband's. He has never been worn it before. Apparently I bought a size too small for him. Well, actually it was just nice, but he insisted the belly showed. So, he never wore it. Hmph.



I liked the print on this shirt, and I love racer back tops.

So, I got out my seam ripper (insert sinister laughter)

(I apologise in advance for repeat postings, if you happen to be in the same few LJ communities)

( For more instructions, click here! )

corn hills

Hi everyone, earlier this week as my corn grew to about three to four inches I got my beans planted out here where I am working the Three Sisters Companion Planting of corn, beans and squash. Here is a how to 'zine I made about it last year: http://zinelibrary.info/three-sisters-companion-planting. If you dig the 'zine, please let me know here 'cause the e-mail address in it is no longer good for me. You can also check my journal for progress on this year's planting!

Hello my friends.
So my boyfriend has a band, and I was being a nice, supportive girlfriend, and bought a shirt. Problem is, it's just a unisex, and I'm not a fan of how they fit. Does anyone have, or know of a good tutorial of how to make a t shirt a little more flattering?

Thanks :)

I was re-organizing my dresser today and found a bunch of clothes that I had stashed away awhile ago. They are all a few sizes too big (which explains why they were "stashed away") but I couldn't bear to give away because I loved the prints. I thought maybe one day I could reconstruct them into something more my size, and along the way I guess they just got forgotten. Terrible hoarder!!! *tsk tsk*

Anyway, today is one of the days when I AM going to do something about my hoarded stash.

I picked this one to experiment with.



( My new top! )

My mother in law got a stash of clothes from her friend but as usual, everything was a few sizes too big. So as we sifted through the pile, imagine my excitement when I found this! I knew immediately what I could do to it!



And so I begin my rogue adventure to making my very first SKIRT!

( Read about my skirt making adventure! )

Me friend is directing his college's production of Angel's in America, and he's asked me to help out (read: do this myself with his money) with making the Angel's wings. He wants something similar to this.



I've got some ideas, but as they kind of involve cardboard and hot glue, I'm thinking not sturdy enough for two run throughs and three shows, and it would be kind of devastating to have them fall apart mid show. I'm also thinking maybe something that attaches to her arms?

So any suggestions? I'd love some input before I go out and spend the money on this.

I bought a random bag of beads off ebay recently. Most of it is random plastic beads, and some of it is pieces of metallic jewelry so flimsy it seems like it came from a 99 cent store. does anyone have ideas for what to do with cheap plastic beads? they're fun and funky so I am loathe to throw them out.  I wouldn't be making anything to sell out of them, this is mostly for home decor or art projects.  I also have a buttload of small acrylic bicones.  there's also quiote a few single plastic or cheap metal clip on earrings.

EDIT: Thanks everyone for the great ideas! I would thank you all individually but it keeps wanting me to do captcha on each one and I am lazy today :P

I am undergoing a project as an anniversary gift for the hubs, I took a bunch of pin up style (totally amateur! lol) pics, and intend to make a calendar as an anniversary present in March. So far I'm handling photoshopping the pics as needed, and I'm not worried about printing, but what's a good way to make a calendar? Any tips are greatly appreciated!

Also, since we got a ton of those candy hearts for Valentine's that no one is going to eat, I was thinking making a kitschy frame for one of my favorite shots could be fitting, but what do I spray them down with to avoid deterioration over time?


Thanks in advance for any and all input!!! :)

I'm making a dress, and that's all going very nicely, but I've found this image online, and was wondering how I should go about making these cuffs/sleeves?



I haven't made the sleeves yet, but initially, they were just going to be long and straight. I have quite a lot of lace left, so any advice at all would be helpful. :)

Okey-dokey, let's see here....

I have a couple of pairs of those in-ear headphones (Earbuds?) that have died on me for whatever reason and have no chance of being revived, but I can't bring myself to get rid of them, so: Does anyone have any artsy-crafty ideas for what I can do with them?