Many crafters like crafting for personal pleasure or business and many crafters also like crafting for a charity or cause. With so many different options out there, where do you start? Well, a great place to start is right in your own neighborhood.

The Hospital
Your local hospital has many different areas where crafting is greatly welcomed. In the labor and delivery ward you could craft gifts for new mothers, new babies, new fathers, and new siblings. Baby booties or baby hats, snuggly blankets, a little memento are usually all welcomed. When I had my third baby, I was given a little pink beaded bracelet with her name on it that was made by the volunteers. It’s precious and I treasure it. On the Pediatrics floor, things like toys, blankets, and activities (think hand made checkerboard) are great ideas. When my son was admitted to the hospital for a month due to a spinal meningitis infection, we received a very sweet braided yarn octopus made from a styrofoam ball, yarn, and some felt accessories. Other places in the hospital are happy to take crafted donations also. Even something as simple as a little hand made heart to carry around is a sweet gift and could really mean a lot to someone recovering from surgery or illness.Talk to your local hospital and see if there is anything that they specifically need. Sometimes the hospitals have items that they routinely give away and are always in need of replenishing, like infant caps.
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I have just recently discovered the joy of making my own pasta. It stems from the desire to eat healthier but I’m finding that it’s just plain fun. The dough is easy to make and after it’s made, you have an edible craft project just waiting to be made. I’m including a recipe for eggless pasta, just incase you don’t want your children handling raw egg or if you, like me, have a child with an egg sensitivity. You are more than welcome to use an egg pasta recipe if that works better for you.

Materials:
fresh pasta dough (recipe below)
plastic bag or plastic wrap
flour for dusting
rolling pin
items to cut the dough (small cookie cutters, sharp paring knife, cutting wheel… whatever you trust your children with)
water for boiling
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My all time favorite yarn technique is Tunisian crochet. It’s called crochet because there are some basics that resemble crochet and it uses a crochet hook. The technique is growing in popularity and there are many good resources to get you started with this amazing stitch but there is one thing that seems to be lacking in all the tutorials I’ve come across and that is how to make a seamless tube in Tunisian crochet. I figured out this technique quite some time back and would like to share it with you all.

What you’ll need is a double ended crochet hook and some yarn. With Tunisian, you need a hook about 2 sizes larger than the recommended crochet hook. That way, your piece doesn’t turn out too stiff with little to no drape. For this project, I used a worsted weight yarn (specifically cascade 220) and a size J hook.
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The June Craft of the Month Contest on CraftForum.com was “Father’s Day”.  The winning entry was selected via Random.org and the winner received a $50 Amazon Gift Card! Make sure you enter the next contest for your chance to win!

Congratulations Gma2rjc!

Photo Tin Project

You’ll need:

-A container
-pictures
-ribbon (a color that coordinates with your pictures)
-colored paper
-scissors or any tool to cut the pictures and paper to the size you need
-double sided tape

For this I’m using a CD tin I got in a package at a yard sale last year.

I measured the size of the circle I needed to cut and made the pictures about 1/4″ smaller than the inside of it. You could also use a bowl or trace around the outside of the container you’re using.

Then I found cardstock that is close to the most noticeable colors in the pictures.

I made the cardstock about 1/8″ larger than the pictures. It serves two purposes. One, it frames the picture and makes it look nicer, and two, you’ll be able to hide the ribbon between the two layers.

Next, I cut a piece of paper to fit inside the bottom of the tin.

Then the ribbon was taped to the bottom of that piece of paper.

Put extra tape on the paper all around the ribbon to help it stick to the bottom of the tin. Then set the paper in the tin and press firmly all around so the tape sticks.

Allow about 3/4″ (this doesn’t have to be exact, but you don’t want it to be too long) of the ribbon to hang out and lay the cardstock for the first picture under the ribbon.

Cover a good portion of the ribbon as you tape it to the paper. Press it down pretty good, because you don’t want it to slip later.

Put several pieces of tape on the back of the picture and place it over the ribbon. Center it on the cardstock so that it’s even all the way around.

In the center of the string of pictures, I put the picture Ryan drew for his dad. The other one he drew is on a circle the same size, taped to the back.

Once all of the pictures were strung together, I made a loop with the ribbon behind the top picture.

This is what they look like all in a row.

Next you fold them all into the tin, acordian style, starting with the one closest to the tin.

This is what it will look like when they are all inside.

Then you put the lid on.

You can tuck the loop inside or let it hang out.

I’m going to have Ryan color on another circle of paper tomorrow to tape to the lid.

It would be fun to do this with Christmas pictures and have the kids paint the outside of the lid. Then hang it on the Christmas tree with the loop. There are lots of possibilities.

Thank you all so much for sharing your favorite summer memories with us.

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.

If your kids are anything like mine when it comes to coloring, they hold the crayon wrong and press too hard and then that beautiful 48 pack of brand new crayons has turned into a 96 pack of broken bits. It seems like such a waste to toss out the broken ones, after all they still color, so they go into our crayon bucket with the hundreds of other pieces of crayons that we have collected over the years.

Well, after a trip to the craft store, mama came home with a candy mold and an idea and that’s how this new life tutorial came to be. 

Materials:

crayon bits (I guess you could use new ones if you wanted)
an old 1qt sauce pan that you don’t mind never using for food again
a plastic candy mold or 2 or 3 (it could be metal too I guess but the plastic makes removal pretty easy) 
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If you’ve never learned Fabric 101 or need to refresh your memory, this post is written to you. Understanding your fabric and how it works is the first step to creating garments that fit and drape the way you want. We’re going to focus on woven fabric for the time being because woven fabric has the most parts to it.

Fabric Grain… it’s good for you
Fabric grain refers to the direction the threads are woven in a piece of fabric. Woven fabric has 4 directions that have different names. Each direction has a different quality to it and will affect how your finished garment will fit and drape.

When I first started scrapbooking there wasn’t many Sketches available out there, You had to either be a very creative person or just look thru the Scrapbooking magazines to get inspiration.

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My oldest daughter received a hand made baby quilt when she was first born. I liked the quilt so much that I made one for my son when he was born. When my youngest daughter was born she too had to have a quilt of her own. Now, a very good friend of mine is having her first baby so I wanted to pass on one of these quilts to her.

Materials:

1/2 yd of three coordinating or contrasting fabrics for the top
1 yd of backing fabric (I use flannel)
seam ripper
scisors or rotary cutter and mat
thread and sewing machine
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My Little Sisters Graduation was this past weekend, And she was looking for quick & Easy ideas that were still cute. I came up with these Candy Bars Bouquets and she absolutely loved them!

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