February, 2024 - Try It - Like It

Creat-it Link Party #421

Last week’s Feature

This cute Easter table decor was made by Steph Creates. She used items easy to find at the Dollar Tree making this decoration very affordable.

On to the Party

This is a great opportunity to share your latest blog post, recipe, craft tutorial, or any other creative work you’ve been working on lately. We’re always excited to see what our readers come up with! However, we have a few simple rules to ensure the party runs smoothly.

Here are a few simple rules:

Link to a specific post, not your homepage.
Link up something YOU made/wrote/created.
Giveaways, other link parties, or business links are not accepted.
Don’t link and run. Try to visit at least one link and show them some love. You may make a new friend.

Let’s Make a Bracelet for Spring

with Gwen Studios

Spring is almost here and adding a new accessory to your wardrobe is a great way to update without spending much time or money. I added beads to a fluted ribbon technique. Using Gwen Studios’ pink satin ribbon, I made this lovely bracelet to update my spring wardrobe.

This project was created for Gwen Studios. You can find all the design team projects listed on the Designer Crafts Connection website. Gwen Studios products can be found at Walmart and Michaels.

To make the bracelet I am using a satin ribbon, a pencil, small beads, a sewing needle, thread, scissors, and hardware for jewelry making.

I began by making marks on the ribbon with a pencil. Using a small scrap of ribbon, I marked the width of the ribbon shown in the first photo above. Then I marked the center of the ribbon between those markings. I did not cut any ribbon off the roll, I will do that at the end once I have the length I need.

To understand the sewing process, it is best explained by showing you. Please refer to the video below.

Video Tutorial:

Once I had the length needed for the bracelet, I finished the ends off with jewelry hardware.

While this technique makes for a lovely bracelet, you could also use the ribbon for other crafts or as a trim to a sewing project.

Tag it Tuesday with Gelatos

This week’s Tag it Tuesday uses Gelatos in two different techniques. Gelatos are a smooth soft crayon-like product that can mix with water and blend easily with or without water. I added some plastic netting for texture (that photographs oddly) and a simple piece of ephemera to finish off the tag.

Video Tutorial:

In the detailed photo above, you can see the plastic netting a bit better and the dimension it created. The tag this week was pretty simple and quick to make but I am happy with the result.

DIY Your Own Mixed Media Sprays

I will show you how to make your own DIY Mixed Media Sprays. I called this “plastic paint” for lack of a better explanation. I was inspired by a video I watched on the Pink Poodles Craft channel and went in my own direction from her experimentation.

Materials:

spray bottle
beads
water
polyacrylic
craft paint

Video Tutorial:

Depending on your chosen colors, you can end up with very different results. There is no end to how many layers of spray you can use.

In the close-up image, you can see the variety of layered colors showing through and the spots created by the spray of paint and the spray of water on top.

I am not done experimenting, I want to try adding mica powders and metallic paints. It was really fun to do and hard to stop layering.

Tell me how you would use these creations, as card backgrounds. Would you die cut them? In collage? I want to make more to add to my stash for future crafting.

Suggested Materials:

Links are Affiliates
AZ – Amazon, O – Other

DecoArt Paint Shop at: AZ	Polyacrylic Shop at: AZ	Ranger Heat Tool Shop at: AZ	Spray Bottles Shop at: O
Steel Mixing Balls Shop at: O	Teflon Craft Mat Shop at: AZ

Freebie Friday – Fall Music

Since the floral music printables went over so well last week for Freebie Friday, I combined sheet music and fall leaves for these beautiful card fronts this week. You can change the size in your printer dialog and use them for other paper crafts like ATC cards, collages, junk journals, and scrapbooks.

Grab the free PDF file here: [Fall Music Card Fronts]

My favorite printer brand for many years has been HP. I also use their ink supply service where I pay a monthly fee and they send me ink cartridges as needed. It comes out to be a lot less money this way. The HP Envy Inspire is a great-priced machine that will produce beautiful prints.

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And if you are looking for a great crafting weight paper for printables, I have been using HP Project Paper. It is heavier than copier paper but not quite as heavy as cardstock. It is a great medium weight for layering, folding, and more!

Create-it Link Party #420

Last week’s Feature

The Apple Street Cottage upcycled a candle jar into this lovely light. The attention to detail is amazing, go check out the tutorial here: [upcycled jar]

On to the Party

Here are a few simple rules:

Link to a specific post, not your homepage.
Link up something YOU made/wrote/created.
Giveaways, other link parties, or business links are not accepted.
Don’t link and run. Try to visit at least one link and show them some love. You may make a new friend.

No Cost Yarn Ball Winder

I remember seeing this DIY idea a while back and stored it in my memory because I knew I would use it. All yarn “should” be wound into a ball. While in grad school I was spoiled taking a few Fiber Art courses and getting to use all the great tools they had on hand. I always wanted a ball winder but it was one of those tools I thought expensive and a luxury. After all, I can wind a ball of yarn by hand, but now I don’t have to. I love this hands-on McGuiver-type tool and bet you have everything you need on hand.

Materials:

Kitchen mixer with one whisk
toilet paper roll core
yarn

This is how you place the paper roll onto the mixer so you can wind the yarn. I wrapped some yarn around the core before turning the mixer on. Now, don’t just go hog wild here. I suggest turning the mixer on and off in small bursts so you can control the placement of the yarn. With one hand on the switch of the mixer and the other holding the yarn close to the paper core, begin winding. You’ll have a ball wound in no time at all and it cost you nothing!

Gone Fishing – Tag it Tuesday

This week’s tag uses a fun paint bubble technique for the background which is fun to do. Then I added printable images to finish it off with a fun fishing theme.

If you would like the free fish printable you can download it here: [Fish.pdf]

The words are from a printable available in the shop. I printed it out on sticker paper and just cut out the words as I use them. You can purchase the printable here [Art Words]

Video Tutorial:

The close-up image shows a lot of detail in the paint bubbles and the quality of the printable images.

Freebie Friday – Floral Music

Combining sheet music and flowers for these beautiful card fronts. You can change the size in your printer dialog and use them for other paper crafting.

Grab the free PDF file here: [Floral Music Card Fronts]

Create-it Link Party #419

Last week’s Feature

My mother used to make dried flower arrangements under glass so I was drawn to the dried flower arrangements made by Simple Joy that were shared with us last week.

On to the Party

Here are a few simple rules:

Link to a specific post, not your homepage.
Link up something YOU made/wrote/created.
Giveaways, other link parties, or business links are not accepted.
Don’t link and run. Try to visit at least one link and show them some love. You may make a new friend.