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Terra Home Giveaway: A Winner!
This week’s giveaway was a great one, wasn’t it? I’d like to thank Terra Home for sponsoring it and ask everyone to take a minute to visit their site. They have beautiful handmade tiles and dishes.
And now, the winner of the Not Just For Sushi Dishes is….
Liz!
Congratulations to Liz. She gets to choose from the three styles of plates and Terra Home will have them zipping on their way to her. Liz, are you going to give them as a gift, or save them for yourself? It’s a hard decision. My favorite style, by the way, are the fish.
Next week I’ll have another giveaway and then, two giveaways per week up until Christmas. It’s fun! So stay tuned.
And now I’m off to check out the Urban Craft Fair here in Detroit. See you Monday!
Check Out Detroit’s Urban Craft Fair Tomorrow
Tomorrow, Staruday, November 21st, The Majestic Theater is host to Detroit’s Urban Craft Fair. The fair runs from 10:00AM to 7:00PM. The Majestic is located at 4120 Woodward Avenue.
Here’s a preview of some items on sale.
For more previews and a list of vendors, check out their blog here.
I will definitely see you there!
Liberty Print Christmas Crafts
If any of you saw my post from yesterday about the upcoming Jr League Show House I’ve submitted proposals for, then you know I’ve been thinking about Liberty prints. They’re very distinctive, floral prints from Britain. Many patterns from the Victorian era are still made today. Typically, they were used for dresses. Now Liberty makes home decor items and has branched off into other things. But the florals will always be my favorite.
Today I saw that Marie Claire Idées’ blog has several holiday crafts you can make using Liberty fabrics.
The instructions are written in French, but you’ll get the idea. And if you need some How-To instruction, try an online translator to help.
They give instructions for the birdhouse and the tree with ornaments. Obviously, you don’t have to use Liberty prints. But you can buy them directly from Liberty and local fabric shops.
Can you help me out? If you know a shop that sells Liberty here in the States, can you let us all know by leaving the info in the comments?
Regretsy
Handmade? It looks like you made it with your feet. A friend sent me this link to Regretsy, a site dedicated to poking a little fun at strange handmade items. I thought you would enjoy this one.
I wonder if she could do the same thing with dryer lint. I have this favorite sweater…. That’s my laugh for the day. Enjoy.
Sweet Paul’s Last Minute Pumpkin Carving Ideas
So those of us who have been busy with work, it’s not to late to get started on some last minute pumpkin carving. Thanks to my friend, Susan, I’ve discovered a new and terrific blog called Sweet Paul. This past week, this über-crafty genius featured a number of brilliant pumpkin carving ideas. I loved them so much I had to post on a Saturday.
Sweet Paul's brilliant pumpkins
Here is just one of several ideas from Paul. You’ll enjoy all his ideas – even those not related to pumpkins. Be warned, you might find yourself engrossed in Sweet Paul’s posts that you run out of time for pumpkins.
That’s on my To-Do list today, along with my third assignment for Apartment Therapy’s Kitchen Cure. We’re supposed to do a deep cleaning. Fortunately, I did that while I reorganized. I have one more cabinet to tackle and then all I have left is my kitchen island to style. I’m saving that for my trip to New York in a couple of weeks. Wouldn’t you know, I threw out a bunch of those little trees (see pumpkin, above) last week.
Closet of Terror becomes the pantry
Enjoy Sweet Paul and let me know how your pumpkins turned out.
Alluminare’s Crafty Wallpaper Contest Winner!
We got a lot of nifty ideas for using wallpaper as a craft. Thanks to everyone who entered.
And now, without further ado, the winner of 20 square feet of custom wallpaper from Alluminare is:
Libby U!
Congratulations, Libby! You will be receiving your coupon directly from Alluminare. And your Design Hole T Shirt from me! Yay!
Here is her design, along with her plan for making picture frames and some cool art. I hope I’ve translated the instructions properly. If not, I hope Libby will set me straight. Or, better yet, send me a photo of the finished project.
Cool Picture Framed Art
- Buy nine – 1 foot square frames and spray paint them black.
- Carefully cut out a bunch of 1-inch x 1-inch squares of wallpaper – it’s ideal because you don’t need to trim or break the pattern.
- Tack the squares to the front of the frames (and only the fronts, no wrap-around).
- Arrange the frames into a 3-foot × 3-foot grid and secure them together (temporarily, carefully).
- Find a simple, graphic design and paint it in white across all the pieces.
- Separate the pieces, affix to the wall in the same grid order, but about 1 to 2 inches apart on all sides.
Libby suggests: You could do this in any arrangement. A cool option would be to have several squares in a row, vertically or horizontally, and a long, skinny graphic across them. Perhaps use the same pattern in border form…at an angle, maybe…endless possibilities. Even vector family portraits, Lichtenstein-style, if you’re particularly artistic (that would be rad).
Thanks again to everyone for giving us some great ideas. And thanks to my sponsor, Alluminare for such a great prize.
Last day to enter the Wallpaper Crafty Contest!
Welcome back! Hope you all had a great weekend. I spent my time shopping for home accessories. I’m finishing up a bedroom project. Oh, and then there was dinner with friends at Mr. Paul’s Chophouse, an old restaurant that still makes Caesar Salad and Cherries Jubilee Flambe tableside. Hope your weekend was fun as well.
Candy designed this beauty
Now to the contest. This is the last day to enter for a chance to win 20 square feet of wallpaper from Alluminare. You design it yourself! Just visit the site, design your favorite style and post the link in the comments. Let me know what your idea is for using the wallpaper in a craft project.
You can read all the details here.
I’ll announce the winner tomorrow morning. There’s no time to waste, so enter today.
Alluminare Craft Contest
What would you do with 20 square feet of wallpaper? Come up with your best handmade plan and you could win a gift certificate to make your creation a reality.
Alluminare, the sponsor of this contest, is the place to go to create your own, one-of-a-kind wallpaper. Choose your pattern, colors and sizes. Have fun! Then, scoot back here and let me know what you chose (copy the URL – it’s the easiest way to share) and let me know how you’d put it to good use.
Stumped for ideas? Take some of mine:
- Cover a twin-sized headboard with a cheerful pattern for your child’s room.
- Create Instant Art with a bold pattern cut in two or three pieces. Cover canvases or canvas frames with the paper and hang them on either side of a fireplace. Or side-by-side in a dining room.
- Line envelopes, make greeting cards
- Decoupage a waste basket and cover a mirror frame to create a groovy a powder room
For all the fun details, follow this link to my previous post. Don’t wait! The contest ends this Monday. The winner will be drawn at random. And did I mention the Design Hole T shirt? Oooh!
Alluminare Custom Wallpaper Giveaway
What would you do with 20 square feet of custom, design-it-yourself wallpaper? Would you cover the back of a bookcase to add some zip to a room? Create one-of-a-kind picture frames, storage boxes or planters?
Here’s your chance to put your creativity to the test and turn your idea into reality. The prize? A gift certificate from Alluminare good towards that 20 square feet of custom wallpaper. Plus a Design Hole T-shirt. Yay!
Only three simple steps to enter!
1. Come up with your best idea for a handmade item or crafty application using a 4 foot x 5 foot piece of wallpaper. You can cut it, tear it, soak it – whatever. Just be creative.
2. Scoot over to Alluminare, and design your favorite wallpaper. They’ve got lots of patterns, up to 4 colors on one design, and 4 sizes to choose from. Copy the URL with your design.
3. Hop back here and leave your idea under “comments”, along with the URL link showing your design.
The winning idea will be announced on Tuesday morning, September 29th.
The contest is open to everyone living in the contiguous United States, plus Hawaii, as long as you haven’t won a prize in the last 6 months. Even Martha Stewart can enter.
What Not to Crochet and other Fun Stuff
Have you seen this dog? Poor thing. I don’t think it will go outside in that get-up. Check out What Not To Crochet for more interesting ideas you must stay away from. Hmmm. I guess this means I won’t be crocheting those wine cosies I was thinking about.
You’ll also want to pick up a set of these for sure. Someone in your extended family might like them. Read all about them at Extreme Craft.
In the meantime, send me your photos of crafts you really do like. Your own creations are preferred!
Extreme Craft Wants Your Stuff!
Along the lines of my Dorm Room Contest, Extreme craft is looking for you! They’re writing a book about creative reuse and are looking for submissions. Here’s what they have to say:
We are seeking submissions for 1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse, an upcoming book by Garth Johnson of ExtremeCraft.com, which will feature 21st Century craft and design, all made with recycled, upcycled, repurposed and reused items. We are looking for the best examples of paper and book arts, jewelry, clothing, home and personal accessories, furniture, art, and miscellanea for possible publication. We invite designers, artists, visionaries and crafters of all stripes to submit their work.
To read more about it, scoot over to Creative Resuse by following this link.
Candied Fabrics’ Handcrafted Art House
I want to play in this house. But I’m too big. Candy Glendening hand-dyes all her fabrics and transforms them into beautiful things like Baltic Avenue. Then she sells them on Etsy. Yay!
Candy’s series of houses are made from her own fabric and something called Peltex – a material used to make baseball cap brims. The house is about one foot tall and wide and ten inches tall. It sells for $225.00. I think she should make a kid-sized series. Don’t you?
Candy also makes messenger bags and other accessories. Maybe I’ll drag the sewing machine out on of these days and see what happens. This is inspiring. I’ve made some Christmas tree skirts and stockings. What have you made?