Category Archives: Crafts

November 19, 2013 · 6:26 pm

Please Visit Craft Blog

Please check out my latest craft blog including a tutorial on my Tree Décor.

Today is busy with finishing reviews and formatting for post. Happy Monday, oh wait it is Tuesday. Better get to work!

No Saturday Steals This Week.

Sorry but I don’t have any steals for you this week. I will be back next week.

I have been busy with my other blog http://somanycraft.blogspot.com/ and preparing for a craft show.

Next week I will have reviews, meme’s, Coming Soon, and some great Saturday Steals. I have a lot of recommended reading for you.

Here is what I have been doing.

And more. I will work on better photos and post on the craft blog with tutorials next week.

Many Monday Plans – Monday Meme 9/30/13

Many Monday Plans. My Monday Meme.

What the heck am I going to do this week? Time for a plan. Oops, I should have done that last night – make a plan I mean.
You can participate in Many Monday Plans – Monday Meme.

List 7 planning to do items. (It is a seven-day week)
Share with your friends.
List one TIP to share.
Enjoy your week.

Read a book. Read another book. Read another book. What only 3 books? OK, Read 2 More.
Blog. Plan to blog 3 times during the week for six posts or more. Schedule the posts. Review blog. Doggie Blog. Craft Blog. – Oh yeah, take pictures for craft tutorials. New Meme coming (and I don’t mean this one). Get With the Craft Blog! So Many Crafts. http://somanycraft.blogspot.com/
Write a Review. Write another Review. Write still another review.
Bathe some of the dogs. Hmmm, who is stinkiest?
Shred paper in the office. This could take a while.
Pack boxes and move to garage. Pack more boxes. Take a hot bath.
Take a nap. A girl just wants to have fun.

Book reviews awaiting my brain and fingers:
The Morac
The Starlight Chronicles
Crime Bites – finish reading.
600 Hours of Edward
Edward Adrift

Craft Projects for So Many Crafts
Another Easy Peasy Wreath
Paper Stitching
Products and coupons

My Tip for the week. To remove odors, for example musty dusty books removed from storage. Place a small container filled with vinegar nearby. Odor gone!

My silly tip. Using embroidery floss instead of dental floss doesn’t work.

I Recommend Amazon Prime Free 30 Day Trial

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Filed under Books, Crafts, Meme, Reviews

Tagged as Crafts, meme, Reading, reviews

August 11, 2013 · 3:28 am

I Love these Products!

Some times a product comes to my attention and I wonder how I ever did without.

Over a decade ago I found GS Hypo Cement. A fantastic product with a syringe precision applicator. I use it for jewelry making usually to expel glue inside a bead but the possibilities are endless. Hypo cement works on glass, plastic, metal, sealed woods and ceramics. I consider this a must have supply. The cap has a thin pin that inserts into the syringe and that has recently become an issue – as I have ‘ahem’ matured I have a very hard time seeing the syringe opening. Now to my FIND.

Behold the 1-step looper.

This tool makes a consistent size wire loop. Better than looping pliers you don’t have to mark the same spot on the pliers. Just place a headpin or wire in the hole on the side and squeeze the plier. The 1 step looper takes some practice to become comfortable using but the reward is the ability to have a round loop made rapidly and easily. Now my connecting loops are identical. Making two loops on either side of a bead is a breeze, Insert the wire, make a loop, slide on a bead and make another loop. Using this tool is so easy, like a daisy the pleasure is in the simplicity.

Another recent find is thread spools or bobbins. I found this product when I decided to make some kumihimo braids to I wanted to use a pattern for a square plate and needed a new one. These bobbins spare irritation by avoiding tangling of threads. Made of flexible plastic and easily opened they come in 3 sizes, 8 bobbins to a bag. I find the 1 7/8″ spools the easiest to work with but other sizes available are 2 1/2″ and 3 1/2″. Again, how was I oblivious to this wonderful tool? I keep buying more because they have made weaving, braiding, kumihimo and macramé more enjoyable.

Extra tip, using a weight when braiding with kumihimo is a great help but the weights are pricey. I have developed an alternative and hope to have available for sale soon.

Have fun and let me know if you have found a great crafting or jewelry making tool.

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Filed under Crafts, Handmade, Jewelry Making, Reviews

Tagged as Craft, Jewelry, jewlery making, Kumihimo, Pliers, review

August 3, 2013 · 7:36 pm

Tila Beads and Compassion Suede

As a crafter I have found several products recently I absolutely love. Today I review 2 products and highlight a project from the Beadshop.com. FYI the Beadshop has some great tutorials worthy of a look.

One of my crafting tables for jewelry.

Compassion suede. I am an animal rights activist and vegetarian. I do not wear leather and I feed my dogs vegetarian food. WE live is a cruelty free household. Many jewelry projects I like are made with leather. But why must leather be used when we have the technology to create an alternative. Microsuede fabric is a great alternative. Beadsmith is one of several companies that offer compassion with their faux leather and faux suede stringing materials.

Cruelty free and more. So many colors and a variety of textures are available. It is easy to knot. Some colors have a tendency to bleed if wet but since I refuse to use leather I can deal with the issue. I have seen some feedback that the product doesn’t work well with slide knots and the microsuede probably has that issue. I have only used pleather cord for slide knots and had no problems so I cannot confirm the findings.

Wrap bracelet with faux leather cord.
I used faux leather cord for this wrap bracelet. The cord has held my toggle button with no problem or breaking. I know photo isn’t great, my camera battery is dead so I used my phone. I like to wrap beads and do a herringbone wrap. I have tried Chinese knotting cord for wraps but floss or perle cotton work well also. I also have tried Tuff cord I had on hand for my Kumihimo braiding.

Tila Beads. My first tile bead project was using a Czech bead called a niblette. I liked the outcome but found that the metallic color was not embedded but plated or sprayed on the bead and rubbed off pretty easily. I haven’t seen Tila beads in the craft stores but have found in bead stores and online. Tila beads have 2 holes for stringing and weaving. They come in metallic, opaque, luster and translucent beads. New Tila beads in Picasso style, marbled, are on the market.

Here is a beautiful photo of project for a Tila bead headband project from beadshop.com.
Tila bead Head band from beadshop.com

I used Kevlar thread for most of my bead weaving but this bead works with Tuff cord #1. I use Tuff cord, hemp or waxed cotton when I wrap Tila beads on, called laddering. Tila beads offer a different look to wrap bracelets than regular beads. Tila beads give a different dimension to jewelry making and beadwork, better than the niblet or square beads.