Please consider joining the pen pal project that I am wrangling!!! Go read about it on the pen pal thread :)

We love reliable, new peeps!

"Penpals, Scrapbookers, Postcard Artists and Other Creative Types" - in the HOBBIES, CRAFTS, INTERESTS forum of Butch Femme Planet

....Bump!....:D

Yesterday I finished the Sweater….every time I started stitching the ‘Lacing-up’ effect it didn’t feel right, so I left it and concentrated on main design. Stitching it was a breeze and then I unpicked the ‘Lacing-up’ effect and have decided to leave the seam as is....

http://i830.photobucket.com/albums/z...2-18145131.jpg

The heart on the right looks wonky because the fabric isn't laying flat, as it's hanging up drying....

Would anyone care to add to this list of the best or favorite crafting-related websites?

Here are a few of mine:

http://www.craftster.org - Probably the best online community strictly devoted to crafts :)

http://www.pinterest.com - It's kinda like window shopping and highly addictive!

http://www.etsy.com - Homemade and artisan crafts. It's like eBay but without huge retailers (so far)

http://www.dickblick.com - My very favorite in the whole wide world craft store. CHEAP and great variety!

http://www.craftzine.com - Your basic awesomeness devoted to crafting

http://www.yessy.com - A place to buy and sell paintings direct from the artist.

http://www.joann.com - For fabrics and such

http://www.alphastamps.com - My favorite resource for rubber stamps. Average prices over all but GREAT clearance deals on rubber stamps, stickers, glitter, etc.

My first love is mosaics, but I also do a little furniture repurposing.

For mosaics, the site I use most is http://www.mosaicbeach.com (in Toronto). I mostly buy vitreous glass there. But by far my best shopping is done during the summer at yard sales. I am always looking for dishes to break (way therapeutic) and cut into tiles, and also furniture, mirrors, shelves, picture frames . . . anything that I can mosaic.

I've also gotten tons of great stuff for free by running ads on craigslist asking for broken dishes, ceramics, porcelain . . . and have snagged mosaic supplies this way too, from people giving stuff away.

Dollar stores are great for glass gems, small paint brushes (for applying glue, not so much for painting) and all kinds of other treasures.

Probably the greatest resource for things like (Oops) paint, drawer pulls, tiles, grout . . . is the Habitat for Humanity Restore. If you have one in your area or anywhere in driving distance, it's well worth the trip. Everything sells for a fraction of the price you would pay elsewhere, and (at least in Montreal) there is no tax. It would be the first place I'd go if I was doing any kind of home reno project because they have everything from sinks to doors to tools . . . anything that goes into the building of a house is likely to be found there for peanuts.

Home Depot is a fabulous resource for Oops paint (paint that doesn't turn out to be the colour the customer wanted and is put up for sale) especially if you like bright colours. I can get a gallon can here for $9, compared to the $40 something it goes for usually . . . you just have to check it regularly because it's hit or miss. (Actually most paint stores sell some Oops paint as well, just not in the same quantity as Home Depot.)

may I add....
 

Love!
 

I am currently crocheting my first afghan. Two months into it and its coming along nicely, even if the edges aren't exactly even in some spots. I'm having fun though!

I like crafts and generally I do not have the time, however now it seems I have an overabundance of it available to me. I like doing various things, and while I am probably not as crafty as some and it may not always look good, I enjoy it.

Some of the stuff I am in to is...

Bead Sprites, taking the meltable beads such as perler, or hama beads and creating designs with them then melting them together. Generally I do video game characters, for example I have sonic sitting on my desk, and I made an awesome looking Eeyore for my girl.

Crocheting, I tried doing this, and I have some stuff started, basic scarves really, but this one is hard for me to do it seems like and requires more patience then other things.

I have a lot of random craft supplies, TONS of paper that I had purchased with the intent to scrapbook that I really should do something with. I am always wanting to try new stuff or learn something new. I just love creating stuff with my hands really.

What to do with all that paper
 

I just saw a video on YouTube (a quick search will turn up several different ones) the other day about making beads from paper. It looks pretty simple and the possibilities are endless, you can use any kind of paper, even newspaper, magazines, just about anything other than really thin stuff like tissue paper.

And on another note, I saw an article on Yahoo today called "The craziest thing I did to save money". One of the suggestions is called "Dumpster diving in cemeteries", and says:

"A few years ago, I was into crafting artificial flowers. A neat way to save money on my hobby materials was to go Dumpster-diving at cemeteries to pick up artificial flowers and miscellaneous decorations left behind. I would go into the cemeteries, take what was thrown out in the Dumpster and use the items instead for my crafting!"

I don't even know what I think about that. I'll admit to a little curbside scavenging for furniture to repurpose, but cemetery dumpster-diving might be where I draw the line.

If you can make a granny square, you can make ANYthing! My last blanket was a BIG granny square!

I am all down for some dumpster diving, I once met a couple diving in dumpsters at an apartment I was living in, and they told me they managed to make enough money off the stuff they collected, to pay for a new car in cash!

I just can never get anyone to go dumpster diving with me, its very disappointing and not as fun alone!

Just went through my bookmarks and there is another two sites where you can find some fun stuff too...

http://www.instructables.com/
http://www.deviantart.com

The DeviantArt one has a tutorial section for crafts that if you browse through you can find some interesting stuff.

LOVE deviantart.com!


I love to dumpster dive. Shamelessly. I used to dig around in the bins behind Bed,Bath, and Beyond because they threw away sheets and curtains like crazy. They eventually started slashing and destroying everything but I bet there are still plenty of places that dont.

http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/20...ped_rings.html

a sequin wrapped ball ring!!!
I just might whip up one or two for New Years Eve!!!!!

No kidding enough money to pay for a new car in cash. What were they picking out of the dumpsters, credit card information and personal information for identity theft? :| Just kidding.

Seriously though I'm all for dumpster diving. But to me CEMETERY dumpster diving is just a different animal altogether. Creeps me out.

Yes, cemeteries are quite peaceful. I like them just fine. And dumpster diving is great, profitable and lots of fun. I just don't like the idea of rummaging around in dumpsters at cemeteries or even funeral homes for that matter.

But I find cemeteries peaceful and dumpster diving fun and profitable. I just don't want to put them together. It's probably a personal preference.

Let me reiterate because perhaps I'm not being clear. Cemeteries peaceful, dumpster diving fun and profitable. Dumpster diving in cemeteries not for me.
:deadhorse:

Yes, I've been known to assault deceased equines in my quest for clarity.

I am a clarity freak.

So I have this wine cork sitting here in front of me on my desk. I picked it up at the beach the other day. While sitting here staring at it, I was trying to think of what to do with it. Then of course I decided I need more. So I asked my girlfriend to go to Whole Foods and take home as many wine corks as she can for me. Then I will see what comes of them!

This is probably a strange request but doesn anyone here have a good resource for cheap religious figurines? Plastic Jesus, plastic Buddha, etc.?

I've checked Oriental Trading and a few other spots and am coming up short

Oddly enough have you tried local Dollar Stores and 99 Cent Stores? I have found those to usually have some.

What size figurines are you looking for and how many of them?

we have a funky little toy store here in tucson called YIKES and they have both of those things. let me see if i can dig up a link...or if they even have a website, ;)

WOW! I love those "burpils", June...clever idea.....thanks for sharing the pics...BTW...Clay

Doing Etsy is easy! DO IT!!!!

Try your local Dollar or 99 cents store. Ours has all kinds of gaudy religious icons :) Oh chit!! I hadn't read all the postings before I put this and I went on to read and Logicaly had the same idea LOL. My bad.

Hey June, put a strap on one of those bad boys and make a tote bag out of it, and I would buy one in a minute :)