Lace Poufs

 {2012 Craft Books}

Adornments: Sew & Create Accessories with Fabric, Lace & Beads by Myra Callan

What you need to know:

• Like pretty craft books? This one is filled to the brim with prettiness... lots of gorgeous photos
• 20 accessory projects for a lovely romantic look
• Visit the author's Etsy shop 
• I created a couple of lace poufs and added them to a hair clip ~ a super quick and easy project !

Nesting Doll Softie

 {2012 Craft Books}

Happy Stitch: 30 Felt and Fabric Projects for Everyday by Jodie Rackley

What you need to know:

• With just a few simple stitches and basic materials, you can whip up one of these charming projects in a short amount of time
• Visit the author's Etsy shop
• Share photos of completed projects to the Happy Stitch Book Group on flickr 
• Do you like working wool felt? It's so great because it doesn't fray and it's so nice & thick, too. I'm a fan of Russian nesting dolls, so I had to stitch up the nesting doll softie and it was fully competed in just one afternoon
• This little nesting doll softie will be off to put a smile on a child's face :)

Storybook

 {2012 Craft Books}

Show Me a Story: 40 Craft Projects and Activities to Spark Children's Storytelling by Emily Neuburger

What you need to know:

• Colorful, well-done kid's craft/activity book, take a peek inside by watching the video 
• Free projects from the book: Story Stones, Story Blocks 
• Recently I asked my daughter (who is in Kindergarten) what her favorite thing is at school and she said art. So this blank storybook was a perfect project for her. She picked out the color of the materials, only general supplies were needed, so we already had all of them on hand. We worked together to construct the book, then she did all the rest, finalizing the subject (shapes), writing the title, decorating the cover, writing the book and coloring it in.
• If you've got kids who are in the 5-12 year old range, this is a great book to pull out on weekends and especially during those long school breaks and do some creating together. This is a good one!    

Happy weekend!

Felt Owl Ornament

 {2012 Craft Books}

Craft-A-Day 365 Simple Handmade Projects by Sarah Goldschadt

What you need to know:

• The author is Danish American and with her Scandinavian background she has filled this book with super-simple projects that are easy to make
• Super thick craft book with 365 (a years worth of) projects that are organized into weekly themes
• Lots of really cute little things to make with just regular craft supplies and tools which you already have at home
• Add photos of your completed projects to the Craft A Day flickr group 
• I made the felt owl ornament, I love that it is minimalistic, and it is in one of my current go to colors: gray. With just felt, hand sewing needle, thread, and stuffing, it definitely took less than one hour to create, from start to finish
• This is a great craft book to take out and do projects with kids during their school breaks, weekends, or even with a group of students in a classroom

 Here's the author signing my copy :)

Social Media Friends: Ravelry

Today I am over at the Train to Crazy for Andrea's Social Media Friends series. Each week she is featuring a different social medium and this week it is ravelry.com

What is Ravelry? ...from the Ravelry site... "Ravelry is a place for knitters, crocheters, designers, spinners, weavers and dyers to keep track of their yarn, tools, project and pattern information, and look to others for ideas and inspiration... Ravelry is a great place for you to keep notes about your projects, see what other people are making, find the perfect pattern and connect with people who love to play with yarn from all over the world in our forums."

I learned how to knit in 4th and 5th grade summer school, did a few knitting projects, even knitted myself 3 sweaters during High School and early college. Then I didn't touch any knitting needles until I was pregnant with my daughter and joined ravelry in 2007 the same year it began. At Ravelry my username is saganaga and you can click here to see my projects page.

If you like yarn, knitting, crochet, then I highly recommend joining the Ravelry community if you haven't already. And if you are already at Ravelry be sure to check out the Social Media Friends post about Ravelry, link up and make some new friends :)

Canvas Loose-Leaf Paper

 {2012 Craft Books}

Improv Sewing: A Freeform Approach to Creative Techniques; 101 Fast, Fun, and Fearless Projects: Dresses, Tunics, Scarves, Skirts, Accessories, Pillows, Curtains, and More by Nicole Blum and Debra Immergut

What you need to know:

• 101 projects! including doodled stitching and stacked appliqué 
• Many of these projects can be completed in an hour
• Add photos of your completed projects from the book to the Improv Sewing Projects flickr group

About the project I made, Canvas Loose-Leaf Paper:

• Quick, easy, instant gratification project 
• All it takes is a small piece of canvas fabric, red and blue thread, and a sewing machine
• This would be a perfect project for teaching a child how to use the sewing machine for the first time, to learn/practice sewing straight lines (In fact, I'm going to use this project to teach my 9 year old how to sew on the sewing machine very soon)
• You really can 'write' on this 'paper', either with hand embroidery, little alphabet rubber stamps, or a disappearing ink marker

Men's Button Up Shirt

white peasant dress with 3 ruffles down the front

 For Project Run and Play season 6 week 5 the challenge is using a men's button up shirt to create your look.

I went looking around for inspiration and to see what other people have come up with and here are some ideas I found:

• Colorblock button up shirt
• Daddy's Little Girl Dress (clever back detail)
• men's dress shirt to girl's dress 
• The Shirt Jumper
• drawstring shirt (maybe could be made into a drawstring dress?)
• white shirt to little girl summer dress

white peasant dress with 3 ruffles down the front

•  girl's sailor shirt
• The Ashton Top Tutorial
• girl's shirt dress 
• sleeves to toddler pants 
• men's dress shirt sleeves to pants tutorial

back view of peasant dress made from men's button up shirt

 You can find lots of ideas with how-tos in the Cut Up Couture book by Koko Yamase. Only 3 chapters in this book and one whole chapter is devoted to just men's shirt which includes 16 projects…

 here are photos of quite a few of them...

 ...loving the details on this dress & tunic...

 ...and loving this skirt made out of sleeves...

Do you plan to sew along for the men's button up shirt challenge? If so, what do you plan on sewing? I'm really interested in seeing what everyone comes up with for this challenge.