Crafty Chicks?
 

For myself, I find doing crafts a great way of getting my mind off food! Looking around 3fcs and reading all the posts, I don't hear anything about you crafty chicks.

I personally love to crochet, make jewelry, make homemade soap, sew, paint, knit, stamp, and many others. Can I post pics of my crafts? I would really love to talk to other crafters out there, seeing that I can never get out of my house!

I too love to craft! I crochet and cross stitch. i am just learning to knit ( i can do the basics) and i make cards. i also love to bake and make candies but right now that is not a hobby i can persue and still stay focused on my goals. i have a friend who has a good website site called kattitudes that has some GREAT craft ideas. you should check it out.

I just started jewelry making. Bracelets and necklaces right now. I'm allergic to most jewelry, so it's nice to make something I can actually wear. Plus, I'm getting a head start on Xmas presents for other people!

Yeah! Christmas presents! I was chrocheting some real pretty hanky edgings. My mom picked ups some 1920's bookletts and gave them to me. I loved it untill I relized I used a thicker thread! I eventually gave the finished one away. So now I need to do something else for X-Mas!

I have also finished a baby afgan. Our close friend is expecting a baby in Nov. I have plenty of time to kint a hat and mitts, but the mitts arn't comming out right. UGH!

Jewelry- You know I tried my hand at craft shows with my jewlery, but I could never make a good profit. I never make jewelry for myself! Again, I end up giving it all away!

What are you all making for X-mas? Would love some new ideas!

me i do cross stitch i am currently working a X-mas gift for B-I-L. then i have a gift lined up to make for my sister. after that i do not know

crafty wannabe here! i've tried jewelry but can't seem to get the hang of it. small hand-sewn projects, cross stitch, and scrap booking. i made gel candles for a while, that was fun but expensive.

last weekend i made a wreath of flowers to wear in my hair for a festival i'm going to this weekend. and I made a bunch of flower barrettes - it was so much fun, i forgot my love for the glue gun! :)

I just started to learn how to crochet. I'm working on a throw blanket right now and only on my 3rd row...haha that took me pretty much all weekend to do. I keep thinking it'll be worth it when it's all done.

I do scrapbooks. Does that count?

I crochet all the time - especially when the tv is on. I also dabble in sewing, jewelry making, poly clay, paper collage, scrapbooking and altered journaling. I've also been known to make an ATC when the feeling strikes. I love using crafting as an anti-boredom-eating tool. It's hard to eat and crochet at the same time!

I love doing crafts! I crochet, cross-stitch, scrapbook, make cards, and i am teaching myself how to knit. I recently started to create my own crochet patterns for my neice. So far so good. I have been thinking about making my own jewely, but i have no idea where to start...any pointers would be welcome. I haven't scrapbooked this summer, we have Archivers in our area, i love this store. Do anyone of you have an Archiver's by you?

Well hellooooooo everyone! Yeah for us crafty chick!!:carrot: I knew there had to be some of you out there!

Carinna-YES! Scrapbooking counts! It's a craft isn't it?:dizzy:

MaNdA22-way to go on the crochet!! what stitch are you doing and what color(s) are in your throw blanket? How big is it?

lizziep- crafty wannabe my eye! If you can make a wreath of flowers to actually wear, your there hon!

mrsaugie-What are you stitching? What's the subject? How big is it? What are you making for your sister?

Sorry I ask so many questions guys! I just love crafts!

Iv'e been thinking about doing a little sewing. I have some black stretch knit and an old pair of bike shorts that I will use as a pattern. I did the same thing with some stretch denium(sp?) and and old pair of capris. The capris turned out well, but now they seem to be fitting a littler looser! I also crocheted an edging around the base of the pantleg. So cute!

Christmas will be here before we know it, any ideas? Do you guys think it would be OK to post pics here?

Hi PenChick! So glad to have another crafty chick!

Wow, a lot of us crochet! How old is your neice? I think it's soooooo neat that your teaching your neice! An elder neighbor of mine growing up taught me when I was just in kindergarten!

I love making jewelry,for others and myself.I like that I can custom make it to fit me...where,store bought ankle and neck pieces don't always fit right.I've crocheted some baby blankets in the past,but haven't done that for a while,and I've been playing with polymer clay,but i'm not very good at working with it.

I learned to crochet from watching my late grandmother, and I can honestly say, I am better than most senior citizens. :lol: ;) I can throw out some afghans! :lol:

I am also a pretty good interior decorator, and I have painted murals on ALL THREE of my children's baby nurseries.

I sew, and do professional costuming/costume making. Not cheap Halloween ones, but replicas of costumes from film, formal wear, and belly dance costumes.

I can also cross stitch, and am known for making baby announcement cross stitch and framing them for friends.

So far it's as wide as my bed which is a queen and I want it to be really long. I made the mistake of not counting chains so I can't tell you that number. I'm not sure what colors to put in it. Right now it's a dark brown (for fall I was thinking). I'm thinking maybe like a cream and an orange??? I have no clue since this is the first one for me. My mom was lecturing me about how I should've started with something small like a scarf to get the hang of it so I don't get frustrated and give up (like I want to sometime with this throw). But I'm not going to let myself give up. I'd like to have it done by the end of august.

heavyandhomebound:I don't think posting pics here would be a problem. I think it would be fun to see what everyone is working on.

aphil: That's so cool that you make costumes. One of my fav halloween movies is Hocus Pocus and have always wanted a costume just like theirs.

Good morning Crafters!

Welcome Zorita and Aphil!

Aphil-Is that one of your belly dancing costumes in your avatar pic? I remember being taught to belly dance when I little! I bow down to your superiority. Could I ask you about my sewing questions? I would loooooove to be able to actually wear the clothes I make!

MaNdA22-It does take determination to finish a full size afgan! It would probably take me 2-3 months to make one that size. I would advise NOT changing colors. Seems like it would make stripes. Speaking of color, did you get enough yarn to finish the project? The yarn makers suggest buying all your project yarn all at once, so the dye lot (color, tone, hue) is the same. Just ask if you have any questions!

As for me, I can't find those bike shorts I was going to use as a pattern! Styimed again! Maybe I'll just work on my knit scarf I started last winter.

Hope to have pics soon! Love to see other pics too! Have a good one!

Ooooh, what a cool thread idea!

I used to do all sorts of crafts - knitting, crochet, cross stitch, embroidery (used to do some killer stuff on jeans), decorated old cigar boxes and made them into really cool gift boxes, even did stained glass for a while then I just sort of quit doing anything (no idea why). I was looking through some of the goals I had written down for myself for this year and one of them was to get back into doing something creative. I have a design for a beaded bag that's been floating around in my head forever. Maybe you guys will inspire me to get busy on actually creating it :D

Kim- what is altered journaling? sounds like something I might enjoy. Also- ATC?

I want to know how to sew so badly- but it's very intimidating to me. I have a sewing machine I have never used.

heavyandhomebound-

Yes, I made the costume both in my avatar pic, and in my profile picture. :)

Feel free to ask anything you'd like. :)

I do a little bit of almost everything ... but none very well ;)

Lately, I've made a scrapbook brag book about my new granddaughter.

heavyandhomebound-my niece is 2yrs old. I meant that i am creating my own patterns for her to wear. Although, i did teach my older niece who now is about 14 how to crochet. I had bought her the plastic mulit colored hooks and she loved them.

i am currently trying to master the afhgan stitch. i think i am doing something wrong it doesnt look like the pics. I have taught myself all i know on my crafts, with the exception of knitting. There was an older lady who was knitting at Borders and i worked up the nerve to ask her how she did it. She spent a good 10-15 min showing me how to do the stitches (i realized i wasnt moving the yarn over when i switched from knit to purl) I had my first project completed by the end of the week. It was a dishcloth, but it looks so pretty that i have never used it.
I dont have any ideas for christmas yet, but i really wanted to make stuff this year and the same old scarf just doesnt seem as if it has enough umph to it. im a pro at making throw/afghans and such but sometimes its so consuming that i put it away for months at a time. i once mad a n afghan and it literally took me three years to finish, i would do a few rows and then get tired and move on to something else. Does anyone else do that?

Hi Yoyo! What kind of bead (stitch) design? I seemed to have mastered the square stitch. Peyote is still a little tricky. When I was selling beaded amulet bags, they always got a lot of attention, but could never sell them for what they were worth! Again, I ended up giving what didn't sell away to friends! I have sooooo many size 11 seed beads, I wish I could come up with something else to make with them!

There was a question a little ways back, How to start? I know that Michael's sells beginning booklets for all kinds of beading. I think they were hanging in the isles with the beads. That's how I started.

Aphil, Thanks so much. When I get my camera back from DH, I'll show you one of my tops I'm not happy with.

lizziep-check out the beginning sewing books, maybe at the library (for freeee!). They usually include easy projects. Any advice Aphil?

SusanB, welcome welcome!!

Christmas ideas - I've crosstitched people both bookmarks and ornaments. The bookmarks you can pick out a Christmas pattern or any pattern particular to them. Adding a name adds a personal touch. Ornaments I've crosstitched a pattern & name on a rectangle. Sew up the raw edges on the tops, fold it over (cover the pattern you've stitched) and sew the sides together, and sew some red or green ribbon to make a loop to hold the bag onto the tree with, and right side it out to make a square bag (size-wise ~3x3"). Put some candy or something fun inside. We always had a few ornaments with candy on the tree growing up (luckily our dogs weren't interested in candy, or you can hang them high on the tree to keep out of pets & kids reach). My sister crocheted snowflake ornaments using this teensy tiny crochet needle. I think she found a pattern book for it at the craft store. You lay them out and starch them stiff, and they look very pretty on the tree. We were very industrious children, lol.

I also made the little candy bags for Jewish friends and put the star of Jerusalem on them, so it doesn't have to be just Christmas.

I cross stitch, and my sister taught me to knit last Christmas so I'm working on my first scarf. A lot of my friends are at the age where they're starting to have babies, so I can't wait to start booties and such. I've been working on a series of 4 cross stitches called "Four Seasons Faeries" by Teresa Wentzel (sp?) for about 9 years now, lol. They're very pretty but not in my decorative tastes, so I just give them away. I sew too, but not extremely well, so I stick to curtains, hemming pants, and taking in clothes.

My roommate and I made ceramic/tiled flower pots for a friend's baby shower, and put baby (get it, baby for the baby shower) succulent plants in them. That was fun but I can only make so many flower pots - I've already given a bunch away. These would make good gifts too!

Occasionally I will scrapbook too.

I enjoy the orderly nature of cross stitching, as I'm borderline OCD. It actually calms my brain down. And it's really, really helpful for me to keep my hands busy and out of the refrigerator when I'm watching TV. Crafts have kept at least a few pounds off of my hips.

How did I miss your post Penchick?

Yeah, I've done that! I can't tell you how many times I've started something, stop, and end up just taking it all out again! To this day, I have a half finished afghan that I never finished, and when I went to get more yarn, the dye lot was all wrong! I should use it for another project. I've been wanting my own afghan for a while now!

lizzie-
I recommend that you go to a general store with a sewing department, and buy a sewing manual. The one that I have is by Simplicity, I think. Read it, and then keep it handy. It will be great when you come upon something in a pattern, and you don't know what it means, or how to do it.

The first thing you should do, if you want to sew, is get the basics. A nice machine, pins, sewing machine needles, sewing shears/scissors, etc. Sometimes sewing stores/sections will have little beginner kits, with a lot of the basic items inside. Never use your sewing shears to cut anything but fabric and thread. Paper, hair, etc. will dull them.

The next thing I recommend, is getting a sewing pattern by Simplicity. They are the easiest, and the patterns are broken down the best for beginners. I recommend something EASY-a small totebag, throw pillow, or a pair of elastic waisted pajama pants. Something easy, that you can learn the ropes with. Your first pattern should not have zippers, buttons/buttonholes, darts, or fancy/slippery fabrics. You should not attempt to make a Renaissance festival costume, or a complete nursery on your first sewing attempt. :lol:

You would be surpised how many people DO try this, instead of taking it slowly. Then, when you finish that project, pick out another relatively easy one. Once you are comfortable with the sewing process, THEN you can slowly branch out...and choose a pattern with something that you have not done before-such as a button, gathers, etc.

Ooooooohh! Cross stitch beads? Think of it. Egyptian designs..... napkin rings, place mats, hand towels, wall hangings! Megan, do you know what you've done?! Thanks!

I was really thinking along the lines of a cross stitch or petit point pattern except using beads instead of thread. So far the whole thing is still in my head so I have no idea of exactly what would work. I was thinking I would experiment a little with different textured base fabrics - like velvet or satin to see what type of beads looked brightest etc.

Thanks for reminding me about Michael's! There is one right on my way home from work and I always just drive right past it barely even noticing it's there. Maybe I'll see what they have on sale that I can experiment with.

I am a craft addict. I have a craft room in our small 2 bedroom apartment, and it's gotten so full of supplies and books that I don't have room to craft in it (I have to clean and reorganize before I can even get to the sewing machine).

I LOVE thrift stores, garage sales, and amazon.com for finding old and new craft books. I could fill a HOUSE full if I had the money and space. I'm trying to learn to knit, as a left handed crocheter, knitting was really stumping me (I could knit stitch, but every time I tried to purl, I'd drop stitches). Then I found a yahoo group called knitting with crochet hooks, and I was able to learn to knit using a crochet hook with a string attached or two long afghan hooks. For some reason this helped me make the mental connection, and now I "get it." My mom's friend regifted me a huge box of knitting needles a friend had given her. So now, I have more knitting needles than crochet hooks.

Hubby and I are on a very strict budget now that we're both on disability. I have a humungous craft and yarn stash from when we both were working (when I had money, but not time - I was still addicted to crafting so supplies accumulated faster than I could work through them), and I still often find that I need something for a project that I don't have. Which is how I found thrift store craft shopping.

I'd shopped thrift stores for years, and had bought craft patterns, but not really craft supplies. Then I needed buttons and I wanted really NICE buttons and couldn't afford the ones I wanted, so I decided to try and look through the local church thrift store. The ladies that volunteer sort the buttons and sew them onto cards, so it's much like shopping in a sewing shop, except instead of several dollars per button, even the fanciest buttons are only .20 to 1.25 for a whole set, sometimes of up to 12 buttons.

I don't even shop just for special projects anymore. I've started my own "button tin" like the one my grandma had. Every time piece of clothing was cut up for rags, she'd cut off the buttons, and they'd go into an old round candy tin. My brother and I would play with those buttons for hours, sorting by color, size, shape... Every time I buy a card of old buttons, I think of her.

I've given craft gifts for every Christmas since our budget collapsed. Everyone loves them so much (to the point I'm getting "special" requests) that I wish I had done it sooner. It isn't the money factor (especially since many homemade items are as or more expensive than a similar store bought item) but the "wow" per dollar factor. And the satisfaction in having created something.

I've finally built the confidence that I want to start designing patterns to sell. I'm thinking about selling on etsy and/or ravelry. I've heard a few people say they've done well on etsy and it's a lot cheaper than ebay. It's a smaller audience, but since it's ONLY handmade art and craft items, people seem to be willing to pay more, at least that's what I've heard.

Good morning all! And welcome kaplods! I think my mom is the same way! She actually voulenteers at a thrift shop, and found these cute crochet edging bookletts from 1920's! They were only $.20 each back then!

Well, I still can't find those bike shorts, so I picked up my knitting. I think I should be done with my scarf real soon!

Keep sending those craft ideas this way!

This is a great weekend to craft! I wish I could find a craft show to go to or something. Still thinking about those beads tho. My OCD likes the idea!

How is everyone else doing?

Need to get my camera back, hope to have pics today!

Thanks for the tips Aphil- honestly I usually get overwhelmed when I go into any craft or fabrics store. There is just soo much and I want it all! :)

I just got in from AC Moore (I love that store) and bought some new yarn for my throw. All the halloween/thanksgiving stuff is out already. This summer is going so fast hard to believe christmas is only 4 months away.

Sorry lizziep! I completely missed your post! :o


Here is info on the ATCs.

Here are some examples of altered journals. (It would be helpful to click the "Images Only" tab at the top of the thread unless you'd like to read the discussion.)

I couldn't find an FAQ about the journals, but you basically take an old book and do what I consider to be interpretive journaling. I use an old Webster's dictionary that was in a box of books that said "Free" on the side of the road. I typically paint or rubber stamp my pages.

Any of our other crafters a member of THIS online crafting community?

A lot of times my entire inspiration for a project comes from here.

I belong to ravelry and I want to sell on etsy. I also belong to several yahoo crafting groups, and now I'll have to considering adding craftster too. Thanks for the link!

I am now I just registered with the site :)

I like to paint, draw, use oil pastels. This weekend I started an oil pastel self-portrait. So far, I have the shape of my face finished, my nose, the outline of my eyes and some layers of flesh (gotta go over and over the skin with different colors so it looks life like).

I've tried knitting and believe that one day I will actually make something by knitting! I'm a slow learner when it comes to completing something with my hands. I have to try and err, try and err, etc. My goal would be to knit a Gryffindor scarf (nerd alert).

I would love to be able to sew my own clothes... but I'd say that's going to take awhile for me to learn.

Hi all :) I sometimes forget this section of 3fc is here, and I don't get a ton of time to dedicate to posting on the forums, but now that I've discovered a craft thread...oh my!

I too am a knitter, taught myself when I decided I could make my own scarves for cheaper than it would be just to buy one, and I recently taught myself to crochet. I consider myself an intermediate skill level...I can basically read any pattern and with a little work get it to turn out beautifully, but by no means do I have a thorough enough understanding to create my own original pieces. Maybe some day...

I'm a member of Craftster as well, but like I said don't get nearly enough time to search through it. This past week I also signed up with Ravelry :)

I used to make jewelry when I was in my early teens, but never did it the "right way" lol. I worked at a bead shop for a short time last year, where I learned enough jewelry-making techniques to get by, but I never really got into it. I don't think I've made a single thing since leaving the position, actually. (I take that back--I made a necklace as a gift, to match some earrings I'd made while I WAS still working there :p)

I really enjoy a lot of creative things, the "crafting" aspect is actually fairly recent (last 3-4 years?) Photography, live theatre, music, drawing...all things I enjoy.

I'm currently knitting myself THIS hat, getting ready for fall!

I started a project this week and finished it last night. My sister is always looking for a small workout towel, so i made her one using the afghan stitch i've been practicing on. It looked okay. i will take a pic so you can see it later today.

sorry it took so long to get back here just been so busy the one i am currently working on is of 2 wolves behind some trees. it is not to elaborate. i will post a picture of it soon.