The Crafts Dept. » Inspiration Board

Not Quite Secret Santa - Not Quite Secret Valentine

Marcie McGoldrick — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:41:17 +0000

A group of us usually get together in early December for a gift exchange "secret santa" We each draw a name and make a gift for that person. This year we didn't get it together before Christmas and a new tradition was born - from now on we will have Secret Valentine instead of Secret Santa. I love seeing what everyone makes for each other and the wrapping is fun too. Do you have a favorite gift exchange tradition?

The Wrapping

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5 Jodi's gift to Silke

The Gifts

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1 Shane made this beautiful cameo necklace for Blake. The cameos are made from Sculpey.

3 I made Eric a group of drawstring bags from Menswear fabrics and a porcelain plate. The bags were a project that Silke had done in living a few years back.

4 Eric restored and recolored a beautiful spun glass butterfly ornament for my Christmas tree.

5 Steph hand dyed the fringe on this scarf for Laura. Similar are for sale on her coup-coup.tumblr.com site

6 Steph also made a lovely tissue box cover.

7 Jodi made Silke a flower collage

8 Laura knit Stephen a beautiful scarf

10 Blake made Jodi these bright and beautiful necklaces

11 Athena made Steph hand printed napkins

13 Stephen's gift to Athena - his cards are available at http://www.cyberstephen.com/

14 Beautiful notebooks!

15 Silke made Shane fingerless mittens and fabric covered notebooks

Here are a few links to some similar projects

Hand dyed fringe scarf

Crafting + Chocolate = Yummy Valentines

Marcie McGoldrick — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:35:44 +0000

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Just in time for Valentine's Day, Matt and Mary have made a series of limited edition chocolate bars. They come wrapped in marbleized papers that Mary made herself. She used the marbleizing instructions that we have online. I am particularly fond of marbleizing because it is one of those techniques where the results will completely surprise you. It is part skill and part chance. Try as hard as you can - it is nearly impossible to achieve the same results twice. Below are some images from our marbleizing story.

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1 Our February 2005 cover marbleized boxes

2 Marbleizing bath before paper is applied

3 Valentines and gift wrap made from the paper

4 More boxes

The February Issue of Living!

Laura Kaesshaefer — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 12:00:07 +0000

The February Issue of Living is now on newsstands! Run out and get your copy!

Be sure to check out the following projects:

Love the cover above? See the workbook on page 143 for instructions using our tissue pom pom's.

Clip Art Candy Packaging - page 58

Love in 3 Dimensions - page 125

Blake's beautiful handmade candy box - page 95

Office Birthday Cards

Jodi Levine — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 14:28:50 +0000

We are big fans of the office birthday party (did you see Blake's post showing a few of our celebrations?). No party is complete without a handmade card signed by coworkers. We're lucky in that we have "a little" glitter and few craft tools around. However, if your office is not similarly stocked, a lot can be done with sticky notes, paper clips, staples, and the like. (Homemade hole-punched confetti? Love those office supplies!) Please send us pictures of your creative coworker cards!!

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1 A glittered under-the-sea card for Hannah

2 I used these punches and some clear glitter over blue paper.

3 The "man crafter" card I made for Megen Lee--glittered tools!

4 Cute dino holding a balloon!

5 Another balloon card....

6 ...and another. I guess we like this ballon punch!

7 One more. Lauren Murphy made this by punching wood grain contact paper.

8 Heidi made this cookie card!

9 A backpack card for our beloved coworker who was leaving to become a teacher.

10 A teeny tiny card and teeny tiny garland (for a coworker who did not want a party)!

11 Tracy Chou made this card for Shae, who loves to bake!

12 A detail of Shae's card.

13 Another detail. How cute are these mini paper desserts?

14 Tracy also made this get well card for Alex, inspired by the game Operation!

15 She made tiny stickers of some of his favorite things.

16 Tracy made an interactive card for Hannah, with little stickers to decorate...

17 ...these little scenes!

18 Closeup of the stickers. Tracy is amazing!

19 A dog bone garland for a designer of our pets products.

20 Shae made this cute ice cream card for Steffi.

21 And Tracy made these stickers for Steffi.

22 A card Tracy made for our coworker who had a jungle-themed shower and nursery.

23 A golden glittered card for Shae's "golden" birthday, when she turned 29 on the 29th!

Skill Swap

Laura Kaesshaefer — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 14:43:11 +0000

Have you seen the "Creative Co-op" story in the January Issue of Living?

Athena tells the story of two friends Molly Schnick and Justine Delaney who decided to swap skills - Molly taught Justine to sew an apron on a machine and in turn, Justine teaches Molly to make a citrus tart.

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1 Justine making the citrus tart.

2 Looks amazing!

4 Pretty supplies for the aprons Molly and Justine make.

Do you do Skill Swaps with friends? Exchange tricks of your trade? We'd love to hear about it!

knitting in (for) January

Silke Stoddard — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 15:32:29 +0000

It is really cold in New York today, but nothing like it was last year when we were at Morehouse Farm, shooting our knitting story for the current January issue of Martha Stewart Living. There had been an ice storm the night before, the power was out, but it was incredibly beautiful with the trees looking like they'd been dipped in glitter (perfect Martha Stewart Style) and the sheep slowly walking through the snow, calm and quiet. Take a look at this beautiful video:

Margrit and Albrecht, the owners of the farm and breeders of those amazing Merino sheep took good care of us. Our sweet little model was a trooper ( the handknit hat, cowl and mittens must've kept her warm enough) ...

... and a nap wrapped up in our handknit blanket (made with yarn from the Morehouse sheep) was very cozy.

Depending if you need something to keep you warm very quickly, or you're planning for a project that will keep you happy knitting for those cold winter nights, there are many easy projects in this story. All based on simple rectangles, so even a beginner can soon be warm and cozy. Happy Knitting !

Decorations for New Years Eve

Laura Kaesshaefer — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 12:00:51 +0000

Are you hosting a New Years Eve Party (or helping family or friends decorate for one?) Or maybe you're already tired of the Holidays and ready to move onto the next celebration!?

Here are a few fun ideas...

I love this sparkly garland! Click here for more decorating ideas and how-to's:

Easy clip art for your special New Years cards, click here for more clip-art, templates and how-to's:

Festive hats are a must! Click here for more favor ideas and how-to's:

Happy New Year!

Glitter!

Hosanna Houser — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 22:27:19 +0000

What are the holidays without a little glitter? OK, seriously, it's usually a lot.

Since there is still plenty of time to get shiny for New Year's Eve, I wanted to share this great video made by the folks over at Etsy about the shiny stuff.

As Roger Ertle VP at Glittertex says during the video, "Glitter generally makes people happy. I mean just to look at it." Very True.

All That Glitters: The History of Shiny Things from Etsy on Vimeo.

And now that you know a bit more about the shiny stuff, why not get crafting? As I said there is still plenty of time, and there are millions of ideas out there! And if you are looking for a little glint of inspiration, check out these galleries:
Decorations
Cards
Holiday Crafts

And that is just the beginning, search glitter and many pages of ideas come up!

Hope everyone has a happy and healthy New Year. See you in 2012!

December Good Things

Blake Ramsey — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 12:00:51 +0000

Christmas is almost here! We've pulled a couple ideas from Living's December Good Things that are quick and easy, but sure to be noticed this holiday.

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1 Our bow stencil makes a simple brownie look extra special.

2 These mini-wreaths can be done in a snap with greenery scraps.

3 Use the inner circle of a tiny embroidery hoop, and hot glue your greenery straight on.

Find the how-to and template for the brownie bow on the web.

Holiday Video Card

Jodi Levine — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 23:05:22 +0000

Our friends over at Chronicle Books sent us this clever and inspiring stop-motion video holiday card which they created in-house! I especially like the animated books and spools of thread.

Enjoy!