Active Arts & Crafts Posts
News: West African Boogie Monsters
Here's a little inspiration for the aspiring fashion designers out there. Having majored in textile design (printing and weaving), I am totally stunned by these West African ritual garments.
How To: Fold Wet Origami
Sounds like an anomaly, right? When I was a kid folding frogs, my mother gave me origami paper that was most certainly dry. But the works below by Vietnamese-American artist Giang Dinh were folded with one *wet* piece of paper. It's a technique called "Wet-Folding", invented by the great Japanese origami master Akira Yushizawa (pictured right).
News: A Brilliant Use for Moneygami (Plus, the Prowess of Won Park's Bill-Folding)
Last week, a waiter showed me something pretty neat. A habitual customer had made a tradition of leaving behind an impressive tip—not so much in terms of dollar amount, but in the presentation. Next to the check sat an amazing pyramidal structure, folded with multiple single dollar bills, and a tightly folded moneygami shuriken (AKA ninja star).
How To: Turn junk mail into guitar picks
Sick of an overflowing mailbox sans fun letters? Turn everyday junk mail into a collection of usable guitar picks.
How To: Slip a Stitch on a Purl Row
Most of the time, when you are directed to 'slip a stitch', it will be on a knit row. But there are exceptions and there will be times when you will need to know how to slip a stitch on a purl row.
How To: Make a simple spikey piñata
In this tutorial, we learn how to make a simple spiky pi–ata. First, you will need to blow up a balloon and grab some pieces of newspaper. After this, cut out pieces of the newspaper then use paste to stick them onto the balloon. Make a thick wall of this newspaper throughout the entire balloon. After this, add the spiky parts of the pi–ata and then allow it to dry. Once finished, paint the entire pi–ata the colors you would like. When the paint is done drying, fill the pi–ata with candy and ...
How To: Customize a Picture Frame with Scrabble Letters
Custom picture frames can be a fun and thoughtful way to display pictures in your home, but they can also cost a lot of money. Here's how you can create unique picture frames without spending a lot.
How To: Knit the Mistake Rib Stitch
The mistake rib stitch is very beautiful and very easy to do. The mistake rib stitch is a multiple of 4+3. Watch the video demonstration on knitting the mistake rib stitch below for a step by step demonstration. Cast on an UNEVEN number of stitches.
How To: Fold a Swallow Paper Airplane
This swallow paper airplane uses some folding techniques from origami to make the head a little heavier then the rest of the plane, allowing it to make cool loops. As a kid, this was my favorite plane because it looks cool and is quite robust, so you don't need to fold a new plane after every crash.
How To: Increase Stitches on a Purl Row
Most of the time you will increase on Knit stitches. You can see my article on that here. However, there will be times when you will need to know how to increase on a Purl stitch. Here's how:
How To: Make a kandi scrunchie bracelet
A fun gift for anyone is to make a Kandi Scrunchie bracelet. This young, feminine design will look good on nearly every girl. No matter what your style is, you will love this cute bracelet. So, follow along with this tutorial and learn how to make a kandi scrunchie bracelet of your very own!
How To: Make a seven flower paper pop up card
These easy pop up card has 7 beautiful flowers and all you need to craft it is paper and scissors and some glue.
How To: Make Paper Flowers from Old Books
Make flowers that don't fade and also expresses your love of books! What You'll Need
How To: Design a Basic Straight Skirt Pattern
This is a step-by-step video showing an easy way to design a unique skirt pattern. It's for a basic straight skirt pattern. After you have your pattern finished, you can create any skirt style that you can imagine. Don't waist time. Watch below to start designing your pattern to fit your body perfectly.
How To: Make a Pillow Using a Vintage Handkerchief
This project makes for a nice gift. This pillow was made for a baby, but with a change of the hankie, it could easily be made for the home. It's easy and fun. Here's the pillow back:
How To: Make a lamp with recycled cooking oil
This video tutorial demonstrates how to make a magnificent lamp with used cooking oil, a glass, cotton, rock salt, and a stick. Save money and energy by recycling household supplies to make a nifty lamp that will prove your resourcefulness.
How To: Make a folded paper printer's hat from a newspaper
In this Arts & Crafts video tutorial you will learn how to make a folded paper printer's hat from a newspaper. Take two sheets of newspaper and fold down the half way mark to make two triangles. Fold the bottom edge of the top flap and make it meet the bottom edge of the big triangle. Now fold this up again over the bottom edge of the triangle to make a big cuff. Flip it over, take the outside edges and fold them to meet at the center. Now take the bottom corners and fold them up like dog ear...
How To: Start a square or cube lanyard
How to start a square or cube lanyard is demonstrated in this video.There are other videos to demonstrate how to stitch.
How To: Make a Recycled Piano Hinge Art Journal
In this video, I will show how to recycle food packaging, some old pencils, leftover knitting yarn, broken pieces of jewelery and other bits into an interesting art journal. I don't like the traditional piano hinge technique so much, as it cuts into the pages, so here I came up with a way to avoid it and have pages inside intact. In the video, I paint the food packaging before it goes into the journal, as I want a ready-base journal, but you can leave this and create a junk journal if you wish.
How To: Knit a lace-like stitch for your next scarf or knitting project
This is a fun and easy stitch you can use to stitch scarves, shawls and other accessories you want to have a lace-like look. This knitting stitch leaves large gaps in the pattern, which look quite pretty and gives it a lace like look. There's two different variations of the like-lace stitch, so check out both videos for details. Judy Graham, Knitter to the Stars, shows you how it's done!
How To: Do a single crochet stitch & row 1, row 2 of a scarf
Calling all crochet-loving beginners! In this two part video tutorial, learn how to make the single crochet stitch and the first row of a sampler scarf, as well as the second row of a sampler scarf. Steps are gone over step-by-step for those of you who are beginners. Good luck with your start!
How To: Knit on circular needles
Elizabeth Zimmermann demonstrates knitting on circular needles. She also gives us tips on how to deal with twisted stitches.
How To: Make a fast paper airplane with origami
Are you an origami master? Add one more origami project to your impressive list of projects completed with help from this video. In this origami tutorial, learn how to fold an impressively fast paper airplane. Wow your friends with this speedy creation sure to outfly regular folded paper planes!
How To: Make sterling silver hoop earrings
The video helps us to make sterling silver hoops earrings. It is one the popular style of earrings. These earrings can be made of different sizes, shapes, forms whatever we like. This art and craft work is shown by Natalie.
How to Knit a Scarf & Cap: All in One
Winter. Below zero temperatures. You go out to run some errands, in and out of warm stores all the time. Doesn’t it bother you that you continually have to take you cap off and put it on again before going outside? Well, now it won’t anymore. This scarf and cap is an original and practical winter kit that will get you going in freezing temperatures!
How To: Fold a cute origami dollar bill shirt and tie
We know that Father's Day seems ions away, but spring is approaching swiftly (we see the snow melting outside already) and the occasion will be here sooner than you think! Get ready for Father's Day by folding this simple origami shirt complete with a tie.
How To: Crochet a reverse single crochet edging
Improve you crocheting skills by learning different edging techniques. This how to video is a tutorial that will show you how to crochet a reverse single crochet edging. Watch, learn and maybe you can crochet your own decorative edgings.
How To: Origami a violet flower
Check out this video to learn how to origami a violet flower. It probably smells good too.
How To: Fold a Winged Origami Heart
With Valentine's Day right around the corner, it's time for some heart-origami! In the video below, see how to fold a winged origami heart. General Information
How To: Stitch in the ditch to sew binding on a quilt
Get started with stitching in the ditch by attaching the "Zip Bind Tool" and mitering the 1st corner with the "Minute Miter." This instructional quilting video demonstrates how to sew a neat binding onto your quilt using a few innovative tools.
How To: Knit a Little Heart Cushion
This sweet little knitted heart cushion is easy to create and makes a lovely gift. It can also be used as a sachet. Here are the directions.
How To: A square knot for hemp jewelry
This video explains to a jewelry maker how to make a square knot which can be used is hemp jewelry. The hemp twine varies in thickness and comes in a many of colors. There are many different stitches used to create hemp jewelry, however, the half knot and full knot stitches are most common. Step by step explanation is included. You can make a lot of different jewelry with our help and this guide, some of which are anklets, bracelets, chokers, or necklaces.
How To: Make a knitted post card
Nguyen Le, aka Knitknit teaches how to make knitted post cards. If you are teaching yourself how to knit, you will love this video. This is also a great way to use your knitted test swatches to make a special something to send to someone! You will need two colors of yarn, a hole punch, a post card, knitting needles, and a needle. Learn how to make a knitted post card by watching this video crafting tutorial.
How To: Create a paper pop-up card
Check out this video tutorial on how to create a paper pop-up card. You'll be happy you learned this one... it's easy to make, there's a nice result, and you're children will love it! You only need thirteen pieces of colored paper, a marker, glue or double-sided adhesive tape.
How To: Purl in the Back of a Stitch
Sometimes your pattern will ask you to purl in the back of a stitch. This tends to twist the stitch and make it tighter. It's easy, and here's what you do.
How To: Knit with Two Strands of Yarn
Sometimes your yarn might be too thin. In that case, it's easy to use two strands of yarn to achieve the thickness you want. There will be other times when you want to add more color to your project. In that case, use two strands of different colored yarn.
How To: Origami a paper doggy bag
Learn how to make an origami paper doggy bag. This origami animation is brief and to the point. If you are looking for a no frills origami tutorial, this video is for you!
How To: Fold a Bird of Paradise with a Napkin
The bird of paradise looks really neat and is surprisingly simple to fold. It makes a great table decoration for that special dinner you have coming up.
How To: Decrease Stitches on a Purl Row
Usually you decrease on Knit rows, but there will be times when your patterns tells you to decrease on a Purl row. It's easy to do and here's how.
How To: Use basic tools for book and paper arts
If you are new to book and paper arts, whether scrapbooking, making personalized stationary, or home-made cards, this video is for you! It is an inexpensive hobby and you only need a few tools. This video shows you a few of the necessities and how to use them!