There are so many crafting mediums I enjoy, but I tend to always go back to a few trusty standbys; namely, knitting, crochet and sewing. Generally, I tend to rotate through the different techniques about every month and a half. However, when I found out last February that I was going to do the Beehive Bazaar, I went into production mode with knit and crochet, so my sewing machine did not leave its' case for quite a while. Apparently, my crafting addiction needed to make up for lost time because in the last two weeks, I sewed this skirt, a dress, a canvas container, a frilly apron and a large tote. Not to mention the 3 projects I have in mind that I still want to sew up. Don't, worry, I will blog about them all and share links to tutorials.

This large doily was part of a stack of doilies and lace trims my grandmother gave me about a year ago. To make the pattern for this skirt I primarily followed a tutorial over at Made, which was so great, I didn't feel that it was worth re-doing. The only deviation from the tutorial is to add the doily on top.

Materials:
Large piece of paper (or a few letter sized taped together)
Pencil
Ruler
About 1 yard of fabric (depending on how large the skirt will be)
Sewing machine/thread/pins/scissors
Large Doily
Wide Elastic

Directions:
To make the pattern, go to this tutorial over at Made. Keep in mind how long the doily is and whether you want the skirt to extend past the bottom, just reach it or not hit the hem at all (like I did). Once you have the pattern drawn up, cut it from your fabric as described in the tutorial, then create a rolled hem along the bottom edge of your fabric.

Fold your doily in half and iron the fold, then fold it in half again and iron the fold. Now, line up your pattern to the folded edge of the doily and cut the hole for the waist. Unfold the doily and lay it right side up on the table, then place your fabric skirt on top of the doily, right side up as well. Pin around the waist, then sew at your determined seam allowance. Then bring the doily through the waist hole and on top of the fabric skirt and iron along the seam. Lastly, go back to the tutorial to add in the waist band.

I meant to post this last week, but I got distracted... Anyway, here is a tutorial of the screen I made to go behind my table at the Beehive Bazaar. I mostly followed the tutorial over at Handmade Beautiful. However, I did make some significant changes, namely, I made the middle panel bigger so that the side panels fold flat and I added a cross bar to hang a frame from.

Materials:
6 pieces of 2"x2"x8' furring strips*
2 packs of 2" hinges (4 hinges total)
3 packs of 2" flat corner braces (1 more if you want to make the cross bar to hang a frame from)
about a yard of 48" fabric (I used duck cloth)
Sand Paper (if you don't want to get a SERIOUS workout, use an orbit sander)
Paint or stain (optional)
Drill
Staple guns/staples

*When picking out your wood, make sure that there aren't any large chips or natural dis-figurations. Also, check to make sure non of them are bowing (the two on my front panel do at the bottom...not so great...), by putting each side of each piece on the floor.

Directions:
Cut your wood. You will need the following pieces:
four 8" pieces
six 72" pieces
two 24" pieces (one more 24" piece to hang the frame from). 

The diagram shows how you can most effectively cut your pieces of wood. Also, if you don't have access to a saw, no fear, Home Depot will usually cut them for a small fee per cut. Sand and paint these pieces.

Assemble the pieces using the diagram above for reference. Square up the corners, then using the flat corner braces and a drill, attach each of the pieces to create the panels. Line the small panels on either side of the large panel and, using the hinges and a drill, attach a small panel to either side of the large panel. If you are going to make the cross bar to hang the frame, position the cross bar about 9" from the top then attach, using the extra braces and a drill, to the large panel. Hammer a hook into the middle of the cross bar.

Cut the fabric into two 10" pieces and one 26" piece. Using a staple gun, staple the pieces of fabric to their respective panels. Then stand it up, step back and admire your work!

I'm not entirely sure how it happened, but my daughter acquired a TON of crayons over the last year or so. This wouldn't be that big of a deal except that every time she got the crayons out she had to dump them all onto the table so they rolled all over. Granted, she would eventually line them up then tell me she put them to bed (picture at the end), still, clean up was a pain. To solve this, I decided we would melt them down into larger crayons.

You can use various molds to make these crayons. Most people I have seen online used old muffin tins. I used an ice cube tray I found at IKEA for $1. Whatever you use, the crayons will ruin it, unless you line the mold with foil or something. The picture below is of my mold after removing the crayons.

Materials:
Mold (see paragraph/picture above)
Crayons, unwrapped and broken into pieces no larger than 1"
Baking tray lined with foil

Directions:
Preheat oven to 225 degrees. Place crayons in the mold then put the mold on top of the foil lined tray, then put in the oven. "Bake" the crayons until fully melted, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool to room temperature. Place the mold in the freezer for about 10 minutes then remove the crayons from the mold.

In my last post, on Tuesday, I shared some tutorials of crafts that kids can help make. Today's post is in the same thread as I am sharing some decor items that kids can help make. Any of these would be great as holiday or permanent accents in the home.

In prepping for the Beehive Bazaar, I began looking for inexpensive ways to display my products. I had remembered seeing a lot of tutorials on Pinterest for cake stands and thought that would be a good idea to try out. I went a little nuts and made about 7 or 8 stands because they are so easy and each plate/vase only cost about $1 at my local thrift store. Can't go wrong there! Anyway, here is a quick tutorial of how I made mine.

Materials:
Plates
Candle Holders or Vases
E6000 Glue
Ruler (optional)
Scrap Cardboard (to protect your work surface)

Directions:
Wash your plates and vases and dry completely. Place two plates upside down. Squirt some glue around the rim of each of vase, then place the vase as close to the center as you can. Use your ruler to double check, however you don't need to be exact. Let these dry upside down for 24 hours.

Next, place your remaining plate right side up, then squirt some glue on the bottom of one of your vases that is already attached to a plate. Place the vase in the center of the plate that is right side up using the same method as above to center the vase. Wait 24 hours, then attach the remaining plate on top of the other two. Wait at least 24 hours before using.

A couple days ago, I found out that one of my friends knits. In talking to her about it, she said she had just learned, but didn't think you could knit much beyond hats, scarves and blankets. I honestly didn't answer right away because my mind was buzzing with so many ideas of things you could make with your needles. Finally, I said, "When you knit you are making a fabric, so basically anything you could make with fabric you could knit". Of course, this is true for crochet, too. A wonderful thing these days is that you can find many knit and crochet doilies and tablecloths at thrift stores, so even if you don't have the skill, you can still partake in the fun by upcycling a secondhand find.

Anyway, as I was deciding what to post about today, I thought I would share some ideas, many of which contain patterns/tutorials for you to re create the inspiration. Click on the picture to go to the link. Enjoy!

For Christmas, I gave my child some fake food to go with a little shopping cart she had adored at the store. Along with the plastic fruit and veggies came some small cardboard food boxes. I knew the second I saw these that it would be a matter of days for these little cartons to hit the trash because they would quickly get squished and torn up. To prevent this inevitable fate, I reinforced the boxes with cardboard and laminated them with packing tape. Truth be told, this is an activity to do while watching a show or something because it is a little time consuming.

Materials:
Fake Food Boxes
Cardboard
Craft Knife or Scissors
Glue Gun/Glue Sticks
Packing Tape (optional)

Directions:
1.Use your fake food box to determine the width of your cardboard fillers, then cut strips of cardboard at that width, then, cut rectangles from the strip at the same length as the box. 
2. Once you have enough rectangles to fill the box, use the glue gun to stick the pieces together. 
3. Put the stack of glued cardboard inside the box then put some glue on the end of the cardboard stack and close the box, gluing the end shut. Repeat for the other end.
To further the lasting ability of these boxes, you can laminate the exteriors by wrapping them with a layer of packing tape.

Last summer, I brought you tutorials for tarn (T-Shirt Yarn) and magarn (magazine yarn). So, today, I thought I would bring you another yarn alternative, plarn. I think it is easy to say that plarn and tarn are probably the most common yarns made from recycled materials, especially because they are so easily made. Plarn can be a bit time consuming, but it makes some lovely products. Do you remember the Broomstick Bag pattern I shared last summer? That pattern uses about 15 - 20 grocery bags to make. Anyway, here is the tutorial.

Materials:
Plastic bags
Scissors
Ruler (if you want to be precise, I just winged it...)

Directions:
Flatten out your bag, fold it in half 3 times, pushing the air out as you go. Starting at the bottom, cut strips about 1/2" - 1" wide, but not smaller than 1/2", depending on how thick you want your plarn to be. It will thin out as you are knitting or crocheting it up. I usually cut mine at 1/2". Unfold your strips into large circles. Now, you just create a basic square knot to connect each circle.

Here is the last garland involved with the Thanksgiving decor I mentioned in the Beaded Macrame Garland post. This is a pretty easy project that is great for beginners to learn how to sew straight using a sewing machine.

Materials:
Cardstock
Book Pages (optional)
Circle Cutter or Punch
Tear-Away Stabilizer
Sewing Machine/Thread

Directions:
Cut your cardstock and book pages into circles. Cut your stabilizer into strips about the same width of your circles. 
Stack 2 circles on top of one of your stabilizer strips, then center your pile under the presser foot of your machine. Do a basting stitch (straight stitch at the longest length) through the circles, then continue for about 1/2" - 1" on the stabilizer. Next, place 2 more circles under the presser foot. Continue on in this manner, replacing the strips as needed, until you reach the length you would like or run out of circles.
Once you are all done sewing, tie the loose ends and tear the stabilizer away. Fold the circles along the sewn line to create a more 3 dimensional look.

I'm really not sure why I didn't post this garland sooner. I made it to go with the Thanksgiving Banner I did as part of a guest post for Chaos with a Curve last November. I used fall colors, but you could easily do this with spring colors and use this simple garland as part of an Easter display. 

Materials:
Yarn (I used Lion Brand Fisherman's Wool)
Large Beads (I used an assortment of wooden beads I found at JoAnn's)
Scissors

Normally, I would give you written instructions to go with the photos, but this is a pretty straight forward process, so I will let the photos speak for themselves. However, if you need more explaining, check out these Square Knot pics.