Hot Arts & Crafts Posts

How To: Tie four basic knots in jewelry design

To tie the overhand knot, make a loop and pass one end of the string through the loop and tighten by pulling both ends. To tie a double overhand knot, make a loop and pass one end of the string through the loop twice before pulling both ends to tighten the knot. To tie a surgeon's knot, take the left string and bring it over and around the right string twice. Then take the right string over and around the left string and pull both ends to tighten, leaving a complete loop of string below the k...

How To: Draft a Basic Bodice Pattern

Unlock the secret to clothing design. If you can draft and sew a basic bodice you can design virtually any kind of t-shirt, blouse or other top! Attach a skirt and you now have a dress! Take your measurements by using the guide in the " How to Take Your Measurements" section and let´s get started! If you would rather just whip up an easier beginners t-shirt go to How to Design a Quick T-Shirt.

How To: Make an Origami Lotus Flower Out of Dollar Bills

Looking to add specimens to your paper garden? Make a paper lotus flower from dollar bills using origami, the traditional Japanese art of paper folding. This free origami video lesson presents complete instructions for making your own dollar-bill lotus flowers from folded paper. Now, let's get our monigami on!

How To: Tie a single-strand Ringbolt hitch knot

In this video, JD, from Tying It All Together, demonstrates how to tie a knot known as a "Ringbolt Hitch". This is also known as "coxcombing". This type of knot was once a common tie used by sailors to dress-up items and parts of their ships. When tying a wheel, a "Turk's Head" knot was used to cover the part of the wheel where the two ends of the ring bolt met, which would firm up the hitch, and help to keep the tied ends from unraveling. It is a nautical tradition to use this type of knot t...

How To: Fold Beautiful Origami Hearts Using Real Dollar Bills or Any Other Paper Money

With Valentine's Day looming in our midst, it's high time to start thinking about what you'll be cooking up and crafting for your sweetheart. But instead of spending any money on anything, just keep one thing in mind—everybody loves cold hard cash, even as a valentine gift. So, instead of spending your dough, fold it into a beautiful origami heart to give your loved one. Better yet—make a whole bouquet of folded dollar bill hearts. What could be sweeter than a bunch of heart flowers made of m...

How To: Make a paper shuriken (or ninja star)

In this Weapons video tutorial you are going to learn how to make a paper shuriken (or ninja star). Take a square size paper and cut it into half. Then fold each piece in half lengthwise. Fold one end to make a triangle and fold the other end in the opposite direction to make a triangle. Now fold the ends again to make a bigger triangle. Then each sheet will form a ‘Z’ shape. Now place one sheet on top of the other forming a cross. Then fold in the protruding triangles of one over the other p...

How To: Fold Origami Bat-Winged Hearts for Valentine's Day

Hearts are fairly easy to cut out of paper, but origami hearts take a little more work, and that means more appreciation from their recipient. Even better, flying origami hearts. What better way to tell your loved one you care on Valentine's Day than with some bat-winged hearts? It'll send them into cardiac arrest just knowing how much effort you put into making your love known.

How To: Make a simple paper popper in three simple steps

This video shows you how to make a simple paper popper in three simple steps. Take a rectangular piece of paper and fold one quarter over. Fold it over once again in the same direction. Flip the paper over and make it into a square by folding again. Open out the side just a little bit, so that you can see the fold still inside. Sweep your arm down from a height really quickly and you will hear the sound of a "crack" as the paper pops on the way down. You can do the same thing again if you ref...

How To: Knit a button loop

Berroco knit bits shows how to knit a button loop easily within minutes. 1) Thread a tapestry needle with a 18-24″ piece of yarn. 2) Knot the end of the yarn and insert the needle where you want your first button loop. 3) Make a second stitch an inch or so away from the first stitch. 4) Tighten up the thread, placing your fingers in between the yarn and the button band creating a loop. 5) Work blanket stitch around this loop, stacking each stitch on top of the previous one until the ent...

How To: Fold a kirigami cherry blossom with five petals

If you're not afraid to stray from your origami craft, then kirigami worth a shot. It's just like origami, but you're allowed to cut the paper, not just fold it. Kirigami makes origami look more mature and more accurate, like when it comes to flowers. This video will show you how much better a kirigami cherry blossom looks! Learn how to make this cherry blossom with five petals.

How To: Turn a skirt into a long, breezy summer dress

Like billowy, bohemian tops or billowy dresses that go aflutter in the wind? Then this is the perfect DIY fashion tutorial for you. Using a long old skirt you can probably find by digging through your own closet or your stylish mother's treasure trove, you will learn how to refashion the skirt into a full-body dress by simply adding some spaghetti straps.

How To: Make an animated optical illusion out of paper

In this how-to video, you will learn how to make an animated optical illusion with paper. First, start off with one ball and copy it five more times so that it goes in a line to the corner. Make sure there are six balls in total. Next, create a striped pattern shown. There are black bars with small white lines in between. One white space equals one sixth of the black space. This is essential in making the illusion work. Once both patterns are printed out in separate pieces of paper, lay the p...

News: Make Optimus Prime Papercraft

Papercraft + Transformers = Fanboy nirvana. Papercrafting is enjoying a renaissance thanks to its nerd-love. Popularity of card modeling boomed during World War II when paper was one of the few items whose use and production was not heavily regulated. Micromodels, designed and published in England, were a popular source of military-themed modeling designs.

How To: Perfect the wire spiral for jewelry making

If you want to make the perfect spirals, join Lisa Niven Kelly from beaducation for this quick demo on perfecting the wire spiral. Learn how to make open and closed loop spirals, and the proper tools to use for mastering this technique. Watch as Lisa shows you how to make one of her favorite shapes that she not only incorporates into many of her designs but also showcases all over Beaducation.com! Learn how to make the perfect wire spiral for jewelry.

How To: Bind fabric on a quilt

This quilting tutorial demonstrates how to easily join the ends of your quilt binding so that no one can tell the last seam from any other. Review this step by step process to avoid future difficulty when joining binding strips on your quilt. You don't need a ruler and you don't need to do a lot of measuring to try this quilting trick.

How To: Origami a paper canoe boat

Canoes are a proud and noble tradition, dating back to 7600 BC. While it takes a skilled craftsmen to make a real canoe, even you can make a one out of paper, unless origami folding is somehow too challenging. Watch this video origami tutorial and learn how to fold a paper canoe.