FaveCrafts

1000s of free craft projects, home decor ideas and DIY tips

How FaveCrafts Celebrated Our 10 Year Anniversary

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2019 marks 10 years that FaveCrafts has been online, and what a joy it has been! Over the years we’ve worked with hundreds of bloggers to share wonderful crafts and inspiration for readers like you. To celebrate, we partnered with the Craft Yarn Council‘s charity Warm Up America! to collect gloves and mittens for those in need. Learn a bit more about our celebration below!

FaveCrafts turned 10 in 2019. To celebrate, we partnered with Warm Up America! to run a Gloves and Mittens Charity Drive. This pattern was created for the promotion by Alex Halsey from withalexofficial.com and can be found here.

We Asked the Craft Yarn Council What They Needed

The Craft Yarn Council is a nonprofit that sponsors a wide range of promotional and educational programs, including its highly acclaimed Certified Instructors Program, Discover Knit and Crochet classes, and its popular I Love YARN Day event (the second Friday in October). You can learn more about them at their website, craftyarncouncil.com. Their charity, Warm Up America!, accepts donations of knit and crocheted items year round for those in need. When asked, they said their biggest need at this time is for gloves and mittens!

Easy Peasy Crochet Fingerless Gloves pattern by Shawn Mosch of Crafty Chic's Blog
Easy Peasy Crochet Fingerless Gloves pattern by Shawn Mosch of Crafty Chic’s Blog. View the pattern here.

We opened up the charity drive to include crocheted and knit sections as well, suggesting that after fiber artists finished whipping up a pair of mittens, they could use the leftover yarn to create 7×9″ sections. These sections are later seamed together by WUA! volunteers to make warm afghans.

The FaveCrafts Afghan 7x9" Section by Sarah Zimmerman
This 7×9″ section pattern was designed by Sarah Zimmerman of Repeat Crafter Me.

Sarah Zimmerman of Repeat Crafter Me designed a new crochet pattern that donors could use to make the sections. Not only did she design individual sections, but she created…

The FaveCrafts Afghan

The FaveCrafts Afghan
The FaveCrafts Afghan, by Sarah Zimmerman. You can view this pattern at RepeatCrafterMe.com here, or at FaveCrafts.com here.

We were so fortunate to work with three designers for this promotion. Sarah Zimmerman from Repeat Crafter Me designed The FaveCrafts Afghan, comprised of crocheted 7×9″ sections that can be donated to Warm Up America! Alexandra Halsey of With Alex created a gorgeous beginner-friendly mittens pattern:

https://www.instagram.com/p/BxIFLOThJ8L/

And Shawn Mosch of Crafty Chic’s Blog created a lovely fingerless mitts pattern tied off with a ribbon:

Check out more of the lovely Instagram posts about our charity drive at https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/favecraftsturns10/

We Made Sections at the Office

Several of the editors at Prime Publishing crochet and knit, but many of us are beginners, so gloves are a bit beyond our skill level! In order to still participate in the charity drive, we organized an in-office event for editors to learn how to knit or crochet their own sections.

Toby Teaches Morgan How to Knit
AllFreeKnitting Editor Toby teaches FaveCrafts Editor Morgan how to begin the pattern.
RecipeLion Editor Kristin and AllFreeCrochet Editor Laura begin their sections.
Kristi, Rachel, Dana, and Leith Making Sections
AllFreeKnitting Editor Kristi, Managing Editor Rachel, FaveCrafts Editor Dana, and special guest Leith making sections.

You’ll notice the special guest in our photo above—Leith! The day we hosted our party happened to also be Bring Your Child to Work Day, so Leith had the opportunity to learn how to crochet with us.

FaveCrafts 10 Year Anniversary Charity Drive
FaveCrafts Editor Dana teaches Leith how to crochet.

Warm Up America! Collected Over 800 Knit and Crocheted Items

Our Gloves and Mittens Charity Drive ran from May 1-June 30, 2019. We are pleased to announce that Warm Up America! collected:
202 Pairs of Gloves and Mittens
606 Sections

It’s Not Too Late to Get Involved

Did you miss our charity drive? Warm Up America! accepts donations year round. Check out their current needs and follow them on Facebook to see their latest requests! And, if you don’t have time to make something, you can always make a financial donation to Warm Up America!

FaveCrafts News: Our Brand New Crafting Studio

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hcnk5yRvrqk

It seems like just yesterday that we launched FaveCrafts.com here at Prime Publishing LLC. In 2009, our company launched our first website and expanded a year later in 2010 to include even more sites you love – AllFreeCrochet.com, AllFreeSewing.com, AllFreeKnitting.com, and more. After those first few years, we expanded to 38 fully functional sites. Now, we’re expanding even more!

Several years ago, we built our very own crafting studio and test kitchen in-house to begin creating our very own content right here at home. We’ve since hired a stellar video production team and have created nearly 500 videos since then with guest bloggers, our 3 in-house chefs, and our editorial team taking the stage! If you haven’t checked out the FaveCrafts.com Youtube channel or the videos on our site, we recommend you do so ASAP.

After years of growth, we’re still growing! With so much more exciting crafting video content on our calendar, we need more space. That is why Prime Publishing LLC (the FaveCrafts team) is expanding our Northbook, IL offices to include a brand new crafting studio, another test kitchen, more storage space for all those important supplies, and even some extra room for our editors. Check out the video below to learn more and keep checking back for more progress!

Be Sure to Check Out:


We’re going to need plenty of video ideas! What kind of crafting videos would you love to see?

Twitter Party Recap + A Chance to Win!

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We had a wonderful time at last night’s twitter party with Plaid Crafts and Rachel Faucett from Handmade Charlotte! You can find some great stenciling projects on our Pinterest board with Rachel this month.

Stenciling Tutorials

Everyone had a ton of tips and stencil ideas, and we loved hearing about Rachel’s affordable new stencil designs (now available at Michaels). We even gave away brand new stencils to a few lucky tweeters.  But don’t worry if you weren’t able to join us last night, here’s a recap of all the fun tips and ideas we loved (and another giveaway below):

Stenciling Tips and Tricks


Q1 – What tools do you need to get started stenciling?

@BEGB_Lisa: Good stencil brushes and painters tape!
@sleatham1: Paint, stencils, sponge brushes
@CarolYemola: Gotta have the paper towels! I’m messy and they are great for dabbing the brush!

Q2 – What kinds of paint work well with stencils?

@followcharlotte: Acrylic paint dries really fast!
@DisneyMom917 : like Plaid craft all purpose paint – so many colors to choose from.
@followcharlotte FolkArt Multi-Surface paint is insane amazing! It’s dishwasher, oven,& wash machine safe! Love!

Q3 – What types of projects can you make or have you made with stencils?

@S_thirtymommy : Our a stenciled headboard on my bedroom wall!
@Yiononta :I did some wine glasses and flower glass vases for my cousins wedding
@partyof6888jail : decorations on the walls in childrens rooms and on tote bags and tshirts
@DisneyMom917 : I decorate vintage suitcases with stencils
@pottsacademy: I just used stencils to put a chalkboard grocery list near the fridge!

Stenciling Project Ideas

 

Q4 – I am always interested in organization, How do you or would you store your stencils?

@HelloAnnaH : LOVE those clear plastic drawers. Label the drawers and it all stays neat
@pottsacademy : I’m putting my stencils in clear page protectors and inside a binder.
@partyof6888jail : we love storing our stencils in organization bins all in order of what they are used for.

Q5 – Do you need to “clean” your stencils after use?

@Jaderbomb : always clean to make sure each application comes out PERFECT!
@EastSeattleMama : yes, baby wipes!
@HelloAnnaH : I usually do clean my stencils so colors don’t transfer later. I like my tools clean!

Q6 – How do you hold your stencils in place? Is there special tape? Or any tape?

@partyof6888jail : duck or painters tape
@DisneyMom917 : I use masking tape
@Jaderbomb : I ALWAYS use a light adhesive spray!

Q6.5 – Then if you are stenciling fabric, you use tape?

@sleatham1: I’ve used masking tape
@HelloAnnaH : Painters tape works well

FaveCrafts Blog Giveaway Logo

Handmade Charlotte Stencils from Plaid Crafts

It’s not too late! We’re offering one more chance to win some new Handmade Charlotte Stencils from Plaid Crafts. Simply answer this question for a chance to win:

If you had a brand new set of stencils, what’s the first project you would try?

 

Official Rules for Daily Contest:

  • There is a maximum of one entry per person. The entry will be based upon a comment left on this blog post. Duplicate comments will be deleted and are not tallied.
  • Winner will be selected at random from the comments on this blog post only.
  • You have until September 9th, 2013 at 11:59p EST to leave your comment on this post. Comments posted after that will not be counted.
  • Contest open to anyone 18+ in US and/or Canada.

We’re Number 1! FaveCrafts Blog Named Top Craft Blog

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It’s good to be on top! This week, the FaveCrafts Blog was included in a roundup of the Top 100 Craft Blogs  To Follow in 2013, which was compiled by CouponAudit.com. The list is comprehensive and filled with tons of amazing sites like CraftGossip and Mod Podge Rocks! Talk about good company – we couldn’t believe our amazing fortune.

That isn’t the only exciting news, though. We were thrilled to find out that we were at the top of the list! That’s right – the FaveCrafts Blog was number one on the list of the Top 100 Craft Blogs. So exciting! Each site was evaluated by its presence on Facebook and Twitter, so we couldn’t have made this possible without our amazing fans and followers.

It’s never been easier to connect with FaveCrafts!

 

Besides FaveCrafts Blog, what crafty sites do you visit? Were they included on this list?

Have The Honor of Naming This Free Crochet Pattern Tutorial

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Learn with Michael Sellick On How To Make A Christmas Tree Skirt

This tutorial needs a name. What would you call this. This could be an afghan? Table Topper? or Christmas Tree Skirt?

I’m now approaching the 2,000 mark for the amount of videos in my collection. I’m running out of brilliant names and need your help.

View This Tutorial Now to access this tutorial and see what you think it should be called.

This was originally designed for my Christmas Tree. You can tell because it has a built in hole in the centre for the artificial tree. I think it could be for multiple uses so I think it’s possible to have another name for this.

This was constructed with Bernat Mosaic Yarn. You can find the written pattern on my website.

Using this blog entry, make your comments below for what you believe the appropriate name will be. The winner will be chosen based on uniqueness and originality. Please keep in mind that tutorial names should be short, sweet and to the point.

“How to Crochet …. (fill this space in)”

The final decision will take place on November 15th, 2011. The video on YouTube will be renamed to match. I will also make a mention in the description of the video of the winner who suggested the new title.

For another free christmas skirt Pattern, AllFreeCrochet.com has everything you possibly need.

 

 

 

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