FaveCrafts

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

Monthly Craft Question: Are Dad’s Hard to Craft For?

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I don’t know about you, but I never have a difficult time either finding or making my mother a gift for Mother’s Day.  My dad, on the other hand – well, that’s another story.  Am I the only one who has trouble finding gift ideas for Dad?  Last month, we asked: Since Dads are challenging to buy for, are they also hard to craft for? What are you giving your Dad for Father’s Day this year?

As usual, we reached out to designers and crafters alike to see what crafty things they were cooking up in their craft rooms.

Here is what they had to say:

Berta Gilholm, FaveCrafts designer
Since we are Grandparents and married for 48 years, we tend to take it easy on Father’s Day. My husband is very hard to buy or make anything for. Our children will send him a funny card and I will make him a card on the computer (every year). It will be original, funny, printed on card stock and maybe a few glued on parts. I search the internet for jokes and feed off of them for ideas only or if something silly happens, I jot down ideas and use them. I have always written my own poetry for cards and do my own for every  occassion. I also bake him his favorite Oatmeal Cookies.

Robin Long of Wildflower Crafts
I am making my husband a waterproof apron. He chose the fabric so that I could make one for our Fall Festival. He likes the fabric alot so I am using it for his apron.

Shannon Bielke of Shaandco.net
I made my mom a wall piece using Kaisercraft’s 12 opening shadowbox frame. It had everything from her wedding picture in 1953 to her children, their wedding pictures, and all the grandchildren in the various openings. The sentiment in one of the openings was “Mom, the heart of our family.”
It was a trip down memory lane for me while making it, and a tribute to my most wonderful, loving mother.
I have always handmade gifts for all of my family, most of my life. For me it’s a way to show them how much I love them, and I always seem to
want to make my mother something extra special!
If you’re still stumped on what to get Dad for Father’s Day, here are some great craft projects from FaveCrafts.


A Hug for Dad Cozy

Dad’s Golfing Frames

Hammer Designed Tie

Illusion Knitting: A New Angle on Colorwork

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There’s a whole corner of the knitting world that I like to think of as nerdy knitting. There are quite a few zany things over there that I can’t believe actually exist in the crafting universe. They range from exact replicas of knitwear seen in the Harry Potter films and knitted Dr. Who paraphernalia to mobius cowls and entrelac. Whether these types of knitting simply draw inspiration from nerd culture or actually employ principles from our algebra and physics classes, they all appeal to our intellect in some way or another. I stick illusion knitting in this category for several reasons: First, this technique uses viewing angles to create an optical illusion in your work. Second, you can use it to make incredibly detailed pictures of Renaissance masterpieces and portraits of icons like Albert Einstein and Daniel Radcliffe. Third, it’s the closest you can get to making a hologram out of yarn. And for those of you thinking this would be a great way to recall your boyfriend’s youth with scarves featuring holograms of Charizard, don’t be ashamed; I’m on the same page.

Some of you may be experienced illusion knitters, some may have seen illusion knitting and marveled at its trickery, and some of you may have no idea what I’m talking about. Illusion knitting is a piece of fabric that creates an optical illusion when viewed from different angles. Head-on, it appears to have very thin stripes running parallel to the knit rows. For example, in the righthand picture of the scarf shown, you see only very thin stripes and a faint outline of an image.  However, when viewed from an angle, illusion knitting shows an image or graphic in a contrasting color. For example, the lefthand picture of the scarf shows lighter pink stripes at the ends and two breast cancer awareness ribbons in a lighter pink. This illusion is created with a tricky combination of striping and purl bumps. Essentially, the “pictures” you see are created by purl bumps in the contrasting color, while the background is created by purl bumps in the background color. For every row of the design chart, you create 4 rows of knitting, 2 in each color.

If you’re a bit lost right now, you’re not alone. I took several different routes to understanding this technique, and you can only really comprehend it once you’ve tried it yourself! To practice with a basic sample, go through the How To Illusion Knit online tutorial. Then start with a simple project like the Sunrise Illusion Face Cloth. This pattern has clear graphics, and it’s small enough that you can frog it without tears if you need to start over. It also does not include a chart, which can really complicate things during your first illusion knitting attempt. Instead, it is written like a regular knitting pattern, with instructions for each row. The rows are grouped in sets of 4, which will acclimate you to the concept of knitting 4 rows for every row of the design chart. Once you have a handle on the technique, try some more intricate projects, like the Double Heart Knit Illusion Scarf or the Duckie Illusion Scarf.

What kinds of illusion knitting projects have you tried? Did you find the technique simple or difficult?

National Craft Month:Inexpensive Home Decor

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As experts and enthusiasts of all things crafty, FaveCrafts decided to host a special National Craft Month blog series for all of our lovely readers. Check back for a new blog post every day featuring our favorite projects, new craft videos, how-to’s from the FaveCrafts editors, and a GIGANTIC, ENORMOUS, AMAZING craft giveaway at the end of the month. That’s right–we’re giving away the biggest prize ever, a gift basket chock full of crafting goodies from our craft closet. There’s something for everyone in this gift basket.

Leave a comment below, and on any blog post labeled “National Craft Month” in the headline, and your comment will count as an entry into the giveaway. You are free to comment as often as once per blog post (for a total of 31 chances to win!). At the end of the month, we’ll pool all of the comments together and pick one lucky winner.

Let’s talk about home decor.  The secret to making any house more cozy, inviting and delightful is to have the right decorations.  The right or wrong decor can either make or break a house.  It can also break your piggy bank if you’re not careful.  Thankfully, FaveCrafts has you covered. If you are looking for cheap and stylish projects for your home, our Inexpensive Home Decor eBook is just what you need.

From gorgeous wall art, to bedazzled waste baskets, you’ll find everything you need to make your house as beautiful as you ever imagined it being.  Here’s a sneak peak at just a few of the projects inside:

Hungry for more?  Read Decorate on a Budget: DIY Home Decor Projects and 9 DIY Inexpensive Home Decor Ideas for equally as stunning, and easy, projects.

What’s the best DIY project you’ve ever made for your home?

National Craft Month: How to Sew a Petal Skirt

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As experts and enthusiasts of all things crafty, FaveCrafts decided to host a special National Craft Month blog series for all of our lovely readers. Check back for a new blog post every day featuring our favorite projects, new craft videos, how-to’s from the FaveCrafts editors, and a GIGANTIC, ENORMOUS, AMAZING craft giveaway at the end of the month. That’s right–we’re giving away the biggest prize ever, a gift basket chock full of crafting goodies from our craft closet. There’s something for everyone in this gift basket.

Leave a comment below, and on any blog post labeled “National Craft Month” in the headline, and your comment will count as an entry into the giveaway. You are free to comment as often as once per blog post (for a total of 31 chances to win!). At the end of the month, we’ll pool all of the comments together and pick one lucky winner.

My sewing project this month was to sew a petal skirt, an idea I adapted from the Rose Petal Dress tutorial. I made a feathered skirt for New Year’s Eve that everyone called my “Black Swan skirt,” so this petal skirt can be my White Swan skirt!

If you want to make the Black Swan skirt, check out …Love Maegan’s tutorial!

And if you want to make the White Swan skirt, read on!

Materials:

  • XL white T-shirt from Salvation Army
  • Rose petals from the dollar store

Total cost of this project: $2.60

Instructions:

  1. First lay your T-shirt flat and cut off the bottom for your skirt piece. Cut a piece that’s long enough to make a skirt. It’s always a good idea to measure it against a skirt you already own that’s a length you like. Your skirt piece will be a tube that already has a hem, so you hardly have any work to do!
  2. Sew the petals onto the skirt piece. I just placed one petal at a time and sewed them in a straight line, one next to the other.
  3. Keep sewing and sewing and sewing (and sewing) until the whole tube is covered with petals. I sewed the top row upside down and ironed them down, so that the stitching wouldn’t show.

    Here they are all ironed down

  4. Next, make a waist band. So far almost everything I’ve made has used an elastic waistband, so I wanted to branch out (a little!) and try to make a waistband out of just T-shirt material. I made this “yoga-style waistband,” as shown on Make It and Love It. First, I measured a pair of my pants that have a similar waistband.

    Remember gauchos?!

  5. Next, cut more fabric from your thrifted T-shirt to use as your waistband. I made mine 6 inches wide (to ultimately make a 3 inch waistband). The length of your material is the length around your waist, or the length I measured from my gauchos!
  6. Sew this fabric into a tube, then fold the tube in half over itself so that the wrong sides are facing each other.
  7. Since my T-shirt was so large, my skirt piece was too big to fit around my waist, so I had to gather the top of it a bit. Sew a basting stitch all the way around the top of your skirt piece and pull the threads to gather it until the circumference of your skirt’s waist is the same as your waistband piece.
  8. Position your skirt piece inside of the waistband so that the raw sides of the waistband and the gathered edge of the skirt are together, and the top of the waistband is facing down. Pin the waistband to the skirt.

  9. Sew around the top of your skirt to attach the waistband to the skirt piece. Then flip the waistband right side up, remove the basting stitch (if it’s showing), and you’re done!

I can’t decide if it looks ridiculous or fabulous, so I’ll let you decide. The White Swan Skirt: Do or Don’t?

National Craft Month: How to Loom Knit

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As experts and enthusiasts of all things crafty, FaveCrafts decided to host a special National Craft Month blog series for all of our lovely readers. Check back for a new blog post every day featuring our favorite projects, new craft videos, how-to’s from the FaveCrafts editors, and a GIGANTIC, ENORMOUS, AMAZING craft giveaway at the end of the month. That’s right–we’re giving away the biggest prize ever, a gift basket chock full of crafting goodies from our craft closet. There’s something for everyone in this gift basket.

Leave a comment below, and on any blog post labeled “National Craft Month” in the headline, and your comment will count as an entry into the giveaway. You are free to comment as often as once per blog post (for a total of 31 chances to win!). At the end of the month, we’ll pool all of the comments together and pick one lucky winner.

For today’s post, we’re going to learn all there is to know about loom knitting!  Don’t be scared, loom knitting is actually incredibly simple once you master the basics.  The even better news?  It puts less pressure on your hands than traditional knitting!  So if you suffer from arthritis or carpal tunnel, loom knitting is a great way to keep crafting without the pain.   Thanks to a new video series on our sister site, AllFreeKnitting, loom knitting has never looked easier!

Here is just about everything you’ll need to know to get started.

  1. Research different types of knitting looms. Before you begin your loom knitting adventure, you want to make sure to research which type of knitting loom you want to use.  Depending on if you choose a round knitting loom or a straight knitting loom you can make a variety of different projects.  To get started, watch this great video: How to Loom Knit: Types of Knitting Looms.
  2. Understand your yarn. Once you know what kind of knitting loom you want to use, you’ll need to know what kind of yarn is most appropriate for the project that you’re aiming to make.  In How to Loom Knit: Yarn Basics, you’ll learn everything you need to know about disparate yarns and their various properties.
  3. Learn the Knit Stitch. Knowing how to loom knit the knit stitch is essential for most projects.  How to Loom Knit: The Knit Stitch will show you how to make knit stitches step by step.
  4. Learn the Purl Stitch. As most knitters know, knit and purl stitches will become two of your best friends.  The same goes for loom knitting.  Learn how to make your own purl stitches with this video tutorial, How to Loom Knit: The Purl Stitch.
  5. Learn how to knit the Garter Stitch.  Now that you know how to knit and purl, you can create the garter stitch be alternating between the two.  Learn how in this awesome tutorial, How to Loom Knit: The Garter Stitch.


What technique or hobby have you always wanted to learn?

How to: Make Sequin Heart Earrings

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If you’re a regular Link Love reader (or craft blogosphere lurker) you know that heart themed crafts are HUGE right now, and sequins are the new glitter. First I showed you Grosgrain’s sequin heart shoe clip tutorial, and then I found Rae Gun Ramblings’ sequin heart headband. I was completely smitten with these ideas, so I knew I had to put my spin on it. I just bought some earring-making supplies last week (of course I braved the Snowpocalypse to go to the craft store!) so I decided to make sequin heart earrings. The tutorial is obviously heavily influenced by the two aforementioned projects, but I figured I’d show you how I did it.

  1. I drew a heart on some card stock scraps and cut it out to use as a template.
  2. Then I cut out two hearts from some scraps of red felt I already had (leftover from my sewn Valentines!)
  3. I hot-glued strings of red sequins to each of the hearts, making sure to cover the entire felt piece. I just went in a random zig-zag design, since the pieces were so small.

  4. When both hearts were done, I attached the earring backs. First I added a jump ring onto each earring back, and then I hot-glued the jump ring to the back of the heart, covering it up with a smaller piece of felt to keep it secure. I’m sure there’s a better way to do this, but it was my very first time making jewelry!

Et voila! The earrings are done!

And in case you’re curious about what my ear lobe looks like, here’s the earring in action:

How to Make a Gingerbread House

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If you’re like me, you love the holiday season.  Why?  Because it gives you an excuse to craft gifts, decorations – and best of all – make your own gingerbread houses!  Last year, my husband and I decided that we would have a little competition between us and his sister.  The task?  Build the best, most ambitious gingerbread house you could muster.  The game was on!

Now, neither one of us had ever built our own gingerbread house before, aside from the ones that come in box kits, so it was a challenge to know where to start.

There are many ways to build and decorate your own gingerbread house, but I hope this article can help give you some creative inspiration.

Materials:

  • Your favorite gingerbread cookie recipe
  • A couple of packs of gum.  The kind that come in long, flat strips
  • Plenty of powdered sugar (a.k.a. icing sugar).
  • Fondant (or marzipan) This is optional, we used ours to make a little snowman.
  • Food coloring.  Select as many colors as you’d like to use
  • Small paint/craft brush
  • A few strings of licorice
  • A pack of Jolly Ranchers or other hard candy.  These will be used to make candy stained glass windows.

Instructions:

  1. First things first, you’ll want to start making your gingerbread dough.  Once you have the dough prepared, roll it out to about 1/4 inch thickness, making sure the dough is as even as possible.
  2. Select your pattern.  Since this isn’t a kit, you can choose to make your house as little or as big as you want.  Don’t be afraid to make it your own!  Richard and I ended up making our own pattern, but there are plenty of templates to choose from, like these: Roof Pattern, Sides Pattern and Chimney Pattern, and Front and Back Pattern.
  3. Once you have the main portions of your pattern cut out, decide which parts of the house will contain your windows and cut those out too.
  4. Place your dough house templates on baking sheets and bake according to your recipe.  For the parts of the house with windows, take some hard candy and place them in the middle of the window cut-outs.  While baking, the candy will melt to form a window like this:
  5. Once your dough is finished baking and your windows have hardened, it’s time to start making your icing.  You will need to make A LOT.    Remember, the icing not only holds your walls and roof together, but you can also use it to make snow (or cover up mistakes in my case).
  6. Glue together your gingerbread pieces and assemble your house.  Start by taking the main walls of the house and press them together with icing.  Be generous with your icing, you want your house to stick together when you begin decorating.
  7. Once the main part of your house is glued together, start assembling your roof.  Let the entire house dry for at least an hour.
  8. Now comes the fun part – decorating!  There isn’t a hard fast rule for how to decorate your house.  Use peppermint candies, licorice, colored frosting, candy canes – whatever you wish!  Need some inspiration?  Here’s how we used some of our decorations.
    For the roof we decided to make shingles!  This part was super easy and really fun.  Just take your pack of gum and break apart each stick into 1/2 inch pieces.  Use your icing to tack them down and layer them until your entire roof is covered.
    For the sides of the house we made a gingerbread flower lattice.  Making the flowers was easy.  Just use a dab of blue frosting and place a sugar ball cake decoration in the middle.  The vines are made from painted pieces of licorice.  Painting the licorice did take some time, but hey, we had a contest to win!When you’re done decorating, dust the entire house with a little bit of powdered sugar for a snowy effect.Have you made any gingerbread houses this year?  How did they turn out?  Did you use a box kit or make your own template?

How to: Make Your Own Knitting Needles

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If you’re still pondering over what to get your friends for the holidays, why not give them something a little more out of the ordinary – give them the gift of knitting!   A basket full of homemade knitting needles, a ball of yarn and a simple scarf pattern is the perfect getting-started kit.  Plus it will give you a reason to visit more – you can teach them how to knit.

If you don’t know how to make your own needles, don’t be intimidated.  It’s really easy.  Here’s what you’ll need.

Materials

  • Old pencil sharpener
  • Mineral oil
  • Your favorite vintage buttons
  • Sand paper
  • 1/4 inch dowel
  • Old cloth and rag

Instructions

  1. Because larger needles are great tools for beginners, you’ll want to make these needles fairly big (size 9 or 10 preferably).  If you’re making these for kids, shorter might be the better way to go.
  2. To make your needles, take the 1/4 inch dowel and cut off two, 12-inch pieces.  Sharpen the ends of your needles with an old pencil sharpener.  Leave one flat end on each one of the needles.
  3. Once you have one end on each of the needles sharpened,  take some sandpaper and sand then down.  The sharpened tips will each need to be sanded down until they’re slightly rounded and not too sharp.
  4. Apply a thin coat of mineral oil over your needles.  Remove any excess oil with an old cloth or rag.
  5. Take your vintage buttons and attach them to each one of the flat ends using craft glue.  Leave them to dry for a few hours.

And that’s all there is to it!  Pretty easy, huh?  If you’re not sure which pattern to give your friend along with your yarn and needles.  Visit our sister site, AllFreeKnitting for some easy and cute patterns.  Why not give this Cabled Cowl Scarf a try?

How to Make Time for Sewing

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I always have these grand ideas of how I’ll spend my time. Somehow I imagine myself never getting tired, distracted, side-tracked, etc. I assume I’ll be able to do everything I need to do and still have time to sew at night. And then somehow I’ll find time to blog about it all. What’s more likely to happen? I  get burned out from doing the dishes or the laundry or even merely walking to the mailbox to get the mail, and I end up going to bed without ever touching my trusty sewing machine.

So what’s a girl (or guy) to do when her list of projects to make keeps getting longer and her pile of mending keeps getting larger? It’s time to develop a plan of attack. If you truly enjoy sewing, you’ll want to use these tips to make sure you are able to get your daily (or weekly) dose of sewing time.

  1. Keep your machine set up somewhere at all times. This tip is applicable to any crafting hobby that requires a lot of supplies. I rarely feel like lugging my heavy machine out of my closet, setting it up, and then actually sewing something, all the while knowing I’ll just have to put it all away at the end of the night. If you don’t have a designated craft room, try setting up a card table somewhere in your house (even the basement will do!) and all you’ll have to do is plug it in when you’re ready to sew.
  2. Plan ahead. If you have something specific in mind that you want to sew, make sure you have the pattern purchased (or printed), all of the fabric, thread, and other notions are present, and you have read the instructions so you have an idea of which steps to do in which order.
  3. Don’t try to do too much at once. It’s unrealistic to think you’re going to make an entire project from start to finish in one night, unless it’s a quick and easy project. Maybe designate one night to cut out your pattern and fabric, another night to make all of the big seams, and a third night to hem raw edges and add trim, buttons, and other finishing touches. If you set out to do everything in one night, you’ll just get discouraged when you don’t finish, and you’ll be less likely to pick it back up again.
  4. Schedule time for sewing. You make sure to brush your teeth every day (right?!) and you sleep every day and probably check your email, possibly work out, and do a bunch of other daily activities. And I’m guessing no one has to tell you to make time for Desperate Housewives every Sunday (I sure don’t have to be told twice). Consider sewing something that gets done between 7 and 8 every night, or perhaps you spend every Sunday getting some stitching done while you listen to the radio. If you have a daily, weekly, or even monthly schedule for sewing, you’ll be more likely to stick to it.
  5. Finish one project before you start another. Even if you’re sewing every day, you won’t feel productive if you never finish a single project! I guarantee that the feeling of accomplishment that comes from completing a sewing project will be enough to propel you forward in your sewing ambitions.

Do you guys have any more tips on how to make time for your favorite crafts?

How to: Make a Flo from the Progressive Commercials Costume

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This year I’m going as Flo from the Progressive commercials for Halloween. No, I am not affiliated with the insurance company, and no, I don’t really “<3 insurance.” But it’s always a good idea to be something relevant for Halloween. This year’s relevant costumes include the cast of Jersey Shore, Antoine Dodson (the “hide yo kids, hide yo wife” guy of YouTube infamy), the ever popular Lady Gaga, and the characters from Mad Men.

Flo, the cheery, overly helpful retro-esque insurance saleswoman from the Progressive commercials seemed like the perfect costume because she’s easily recognizable, culturally relevant, a little unexpected, and easy to DIY. Here’s how I did it:

  1. The clothes: Wear a pair of white pants and a white polo shirt. I’m not sure what shoes she wears or if it even matters, so have fun with it!
  2. The hair and makeup: Invest in a Bump-It. I am only a little ashamed to admit that I already have a set in my beauty arsenal, and I didn’t even buy them for Halloween, sadly. Also slip a stretchy headband over your bangs, curl the ends of your hair out, slick on some bright red lipstick, and give yourself winged eyeliner.
  3. The apron: Buy a plain white apron from the store. I got mine at Hobby Lobby, but you’re bound to find one anywhere aprons are sold. Or you can make your own. Print out the Progressive logo, use an X-acto knife to cut out the letters, and use what’s left as a stencil. Fill in the letters with a blue marker or paint, right across the front of your apron.
  4. The pins: Flo wears two pins–one that says “I <3 insurance,” and one that says “Flo.” You can buy these online, but this article is about how to make your costume, not how to buy it. I looked up the pins on a website that was selling them, printed out the pictures, and cut them out myself. You can fill in the colors with markers if you want, or just print in color. Attach the cut-outs to cardboard or card stock, and attach that to a safety pin. Pin your badges to the apron, and you’re set. Make sure you spend Halloween night yelling “Discount!”

What are you going to be for Halloween?

Crochet

Jewelry

Knitting

Paper

Sewing

Thrifty