Congratulations Pinokeeo!

Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Pretzels

Ingredients:
- Baking Chocolate – I use Ghiradelli 100% Cocoa
- Almond Bark
- Peanut Butter Pretzels

I use a hammer to break up the chocolate into small chunks. Then I put the mixture of almond bark and chocolate into the microwave for about 1.5 minutes. As it starts to melt, I stir until it is mostly liquid. Then just dip and put each pretzel onto parchment paper. Let stand until chocolate is set.

JessicaLee spread the word about CraftForum.com with a simple sign.

So I made a 8×10 sign that was placed on my table.
I did have a few questions about it  and I do believe everyone that window shopped read it.

Pinokeeo made buttons!

She started with a design.

She made several copies.

 Then pressed them into buttons.

 Worn by a friend at the Craft Fair.

 Showing part of the booth at the craft fair.

Gma2rjc took a less conventional route to spread the word as a shopper at a Craft Fair.

“I carried this around with me and asked vendors if I could take a picture of it sitting on their tables. They all said yes and asked me what the picture was for. So I explained the contest and told them about the forum.”

Have you told your crafty friends about CraftForum.com?

Congratulations Downrightart!

Victorian Boot Ornaments

1. Cut out shoe pieces with your boot template
2. Embellish the shoe with lace and buttons
3. Inside out the two pieces, front/back and leave an opening at the top
4. Stuff batting and hand sew the top

Will you be participating in holiday craft fairs this year? Will you be a seller, a buyer, a browser, or an enthusiast? Take this opportunity to spread the word about Craft Forum and you could win a $50 Amazon gift card!

Contest: Promote CraftForum.com at Craft Fairs

Prizes: Three (3) Winners will each receive a $50 Amazon Gift Card

How to Enter:

Make your own t-shirt, button, sign, flyer, card, etc. and take it to a craft fair.

Then take a photo of you wearing/sharing your CraftForum.com item.

Post the photo in this thread on CraftForum.com for your entry to win!

Rules:

Photo must clearly show evidence of an item with either “Craft Forum” or “CraftForum.com” having been at a craft fair. This may be a photo of you with the item, the item with craft tents in the background, the item next to the craft fair’s main sign, etc.

Up to 3 entries per person.

Only entries posted in this thread on CraftForum.com will count. Entries posted in this blog’s comments will not count.

Winners will be selected on December 20, 2010. Random.org will be used to select the winners among all valid entries.

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Share our wonderful forum with your fellow crafters! They’ll get in on the best crafting community, we will all gain new friends, and you could win a gift card to stock up on new crafting supplies.

Good Luck and thanks for sharing CraftForum.com!

Congratulations Angela!

Hermione Granger Costume

I finished my daughter’s Hermione Granger robe today.
(Who is Hermione Granger? She is the girl in the Harry Potter movies)

I started with a generic black halloween costume that I got at a thrift store for $4.99 and a fleece scarf.

I removed the hood and cut part way down the front of the “robe”. I kind of made binding using the fleece scarf and covered my raw edges with that, which also added the Gryffindor-burgundy colour to the robe. I added buttons to try to create the illusion that this was holding the robe closed. I also printed out a Gryffindor crest onto a piece of iron-on transfer paper and created a patch with that. When my daughter tried it on, the sleeves were super short so together we decided to add some burgundy fleece to the sleeves for length, even though real Gryffindor robes don’t have colour on the sleeves. I wanted to add a strip to the bottom as well to just finish off the costume, but naturally, the store has no more scarves of that colour.

She will wear this with a white button up shirt with a collar and black pants. My daughter bought the “Official Harry Potter” tie herself, and we bought a wand to complete the outfit. She plans to put her hair into lots of little braids the night before Halloween so that she will have Hermione’s wavy, unruly hair. I think she is going to look great!

The Craft Blog would like to congratulate Nell for winning her very own copy of The Creative Family by Amanda Blake Soule.

Nell, We will be sending an e-mail to you shortly with more information.

 

Summer is fast approaching and if you are anything like me you are starting to wonder what in the world you are going to do when the kids are home… all day… every day. Chances are you have some activities lined up for the summer break but I know that those inbetween days, when mommy needs a break and the kids are still going at 100mph, can get a bit stressful and it’s those days that can make summer break a not-so-fun experience for both parent and child. “Those days” were making me anxious about the though of summer break. I know that it is supposed to be a time of enjoying your family togetherness but I go into the break unprepared — and it shows. But I have found a wonderful resource that has helped me put summer break back into a fun exciting perspective.

I recently came across an amazing book called The Creative Family: How to Encourage Imagination and Nurture Family Connections written by Amanda Blake Soule, owner of the blog SouleMama. Her book is an easy to read portrait of the creativity that happens in her home and how she is able to fully enjoy every moment spent with her children. It has a very personable warm feel to it which evokes the desire to splash that same feeling onto my children. There are helpful tips and tricks that Amanda uses in her own home on how to organize the daily masterpieces created by young hands along with simple illustrated tutorials to get the crafting spark ignited in your home. There are sections dedicated to outdoor exploration, tradition making, and how to slow down and really connect with your children through crafting and creativity. 

The Creative Family has challenged me to be more purposeful with every moment I have with my children. There are some ideas that I am taking directly away from this book such as a how to better organize our dress-up area and how to turn my children’s art into three dimentional toys. There are also things that I have adapted from the book to suit my family such as how to have a more purposeful meal time. And then there are things that were never mentioned directly in the book but have come to fruition because of it. I guess what I’m saying is that, on so many different levels, this book has been an awesome inspiration to me and my family. 

Now I want to pass this bit of inspiration on to you. The wonderful people at www.makegoodbooks.com have offered to give a book to one of our readers. 

The Giveaway is now closed

Thank you so much for everyone who participated. We will be anouncing the winner shortly.
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To enter:
Subscribe to CraftBlogs feedburner feed here and post a comment below about your favorite Summer Break memory.

Craft Forum is off to a great start and I know you’ll love the site.