TOP 100 CRAFTS SITES
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| How-To: One-Hour Softie With Pattern Jodie of Ric Rac shares a tutorial and pattern for putting together one of these adorable softies in just under an hour. As she mentions, they would be a great offering for Softies for Mirabel! Read this article | Comment on this article blog.craftzine.com |
Halloween Cakes, Because We Need More Sugary Treats I'm not sure who decided that Halloween cupcakes, cookies, and regular-sized cakes were a good idea for Halloween, but I'm not the one to buck tradition, especially when it involves frosting. And creative decorating. So over the years I've made quite a few graveyard cakes, and in recent years I've branched out to spider cakes, ghost cakes, jack-o-lantern cakes, and dirt cakes. I do, however, refuse to make a litter box cake, no matter how many times I get sent the photos, links, and recipe. Apparently, imitation cat poop is where I draw the line.Ive figured out that donating the majority of the cakes to the local Halloween Carnival helps reduce sugar consumption. Well, until my kid wins a cake in the cakewalk and brings it back home. But at least I tried!Here are some hints for making fabulous Halloween cakes, if you dare!For glowing eyes on the Ghost Cake, use halves of egg shells, rinsed off and dried. Then place a sugar cube in each half of the shell, poor a very small amount of lemon extract on the sugar cubes, and light that sucker. Don't leave this unattended!For the ghosts on the Graveyard Cake, I've used cut-and-slice cookie dough, cut out sugar cookies, and lollipops wrapped in white cloth. Whatever you've got around will suffice.For legs on the Spider Cake, find some Pockys, which are delicious cookies from Japan. I've found them at Cost Plus and specialty grocery stores. I also thought Pirouette wafers might work, or maybe even Twix bars.For all the cakes, don't be afraid to substitute Skittles for M&Ms for Reeses Pieces for Gummy Bears. Most anything will work when seen in context -- you're bound to hear "Oh, those are the spider's eyes," or "Oh, little bears are lining the walkway, how spooky!" (As opposed to, "Why did you use Skittles instead of M&Ms? That doesn't work at all!")Read this article | Comment on this article blog.craftzine.com |
Arts and Crafts Fair Dec. 5 at Pine River American Legion (The Pilot-Independent) The 22nd annual Arts and Crafts Fair will be held Dec. 5, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., at the Pine River American Legion Hall. A big variety of homemade arts and crafts will be displayed for sale, plus homemade baked goods, homemade candies, jellies, lefse, rosettes and krumkaka. us.rd.yahoo.com |
How-To: Christmas Story Bunny Costume Instructables user seamster writes: Oh, ....F...U...D...G...E...! My brother-in-law needed a costume to wear to his family's Christmas party, and asked me to make him Ralphie's deranged Easter bunny pink nightmare costume. I couldn't pass this up. Now, you can buy a similar costume online for $100, but where's the fun in that? This only cost around $30. Plus a lot of hours of course, but it was worth it. (That's me with my best attempt at an unhappy Ralphie-scowl.)Read this article | Comment on this article blog.craftzine.com |
Angora Glove Pattern I make no secret of my love for Selvedge magazine, and I'm totally into their free angora gloves pattern. They ran an excerpt from Faith, Hope, Knitting, Love by Lorna Miser in their print magazine, but you can download the pattern from their website (and check out their other free patterns and how-tos, for everything from textile doorstops to soap). Here's what they have to say about the gloves: "Angora is eight times warmer than sheep's wool, but like wool, stays warm even when wet. They're 'fuzz-less' as they're knit, but after wearing the angora blossoms, creating a warm, fuzzy halo for the hands."Read this article | Comment on this article blog.craftzine.com |