TOP 100 CRAFTS SITES
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| How-To: Start Building a Day of the Dead Altar! Today I started working on my shrine for The Day of the Dead. It's very rewarding to put my creative energy towards a tribute to my friends and family who have passed on. I am thrilled to share the process of creating it, as part of the excitement for the Crafty Chica Challenge! I was introduced to the tradition 11 years ago by my mother-in-law, who always creates a spectacular altar. She maintains a smaller version year round, and I often reflect on it when I visit. The first step I take is to gather materials. I collected some fabric to cover the space, purchased flowers from the farmer's market, and tied garlands out of scraps. Then I dug out all the photos I have, and mementos of my loved ones, including door knobs from a relative's home in Ohio, the lighter that belonged to my husband's grandfather, seashells from my grandmother, and little treasures such as feathers and butterflies. The skulls are a crucial part of the traditional Day of the Dead altar. I found sage, incense and candles as as well. To build the bones of my altar, I've stacked up books to add height in the back, and then covered the entire thing with a table cloth that was used by my grandma. This will allow me to have varying heights, and a lovely lace motif. Then I hung the garlands. I love how festive they look! Draping them at different lengths creates a ton of visual interest. And voila! All that's left is to decorate, and then add the offerings like cornmeal and liquor and candy skulls! Tonight I'll sit down and sift through the old photographs, reliving all my favorite memories. That's just about the best part, right? Tomorrow I'll begin the adornments, and share photos of course! And please, include your altars in the Crafty Chica Day of the Dead Challenge!Read this article | Comment on this article blog.craftzine.com |
9 Missing After Military Crafts Collide Off SoCal (CBS 5 Bay Area) The U.S. Coast Guard and Navy were searching early Friday for as many as nine people off the Southern California coast following a collision between a Coast Guard plane and a Marine Corps helicopter, officials said. The crash was reported at 7:10 p.m. Thursday, about 50 miles off the San Diego County coast and 15 miles east of San Clemente Island, Coast Guard spokeswoman Petty Officer Allyson ... us.rd.yahoo.com |
Book Review + Giveaway: Super Simple Sewing Sewing was one of the first crafts that I was really into as a wee kid. I learned from my mom and figured out what I could from trial and error. If only at the time this book, Super Simple Sewing was available. This book + kit comes with materials and instructions needed to make three easy sewing projects: a purse, bird, and felt bracelet. The materials are safe for kids and sets them up for sewing success. A shoe-string style thread with attached cord-catcher eliminates the need for knots and also gives the projects a pretty bead look. I loved that the pre-printed fabrics and felt are all perforated with holes. The instructions show you how to sew through the projects each step of the way so in the end your child has a finished project to play with while learning basic sewing techniques.Read this article | Comment on this article blog.craftzine.com |
Winter Jacket Sewing Tips Are you working on a coat this winter? Thinking about it? Then check out these "secrets everyone should know" for making a jacket from Petit Main Sauvage. And below is the finished jacket! Read this article | Comment on this article blog.craftzine.com |
Hug-Sensitive Dalek Our Director of Retail Marketing, Heather Harmon Cochran, sent around a lovely customer email to our internal mailing list in praise of the new Make: Electronics book, including images of this awesome light-up, huggable Dalek. Gareth has the full story on Make: Online.Read this article | Comment on this article blog.craftzine.com |