Active Arts & Crafts Posts
Friday Fresh: Make Katy Perry's Cupcake Boobs & More
This week, we're taking a look at all that's sweet and spicy about Halloween. The time is almost here, and you've got to perfect your look and your treats. Make them something special that anyone will remember!
How To: Fold triangles for 3-D origami projects quickly
Is folding all the little triangles together for your 3-D origami projects really slowing down your project? Here is a quick and easy tutorial that teaches you how to rapidly (and accurately!) fold all the triangles you need for your 3-D origami projects.
How To: Knit a Moroccan style scarf with Diva Dan
You will need two different colors of complimentary yarn to take full advantage of this lovely pattern! You should also be prepared to cast between 90 to 105 stitches to start, and you can end with a lovely and elegent Moroccan scarf.
How To: Master the art of proper tension when you crochet
This video tutorial is useful for anyone who has questions about improving their crochet technique. You'll be shown how to use the right tension to work your chain stitches evenly, and also how to troubleshoot common problems in your crochet projects.
How To: Create a wire wrapped pendant for a necklace
A wire wrapped pendant can be a lovely addition to your wardrobe, or make a wonderful gift for a friend. This tutorial shows you how to take your favorite pendant and dress it up with a little extra jewelry wire.
How To: Create a ribbon necklace to string a pendant on
Don't have a matching chain to string your favorite pendant on? Looking for a good gift idea? This tutorial shows you how to weave a ribbon, scarf or extra cloth into a lovely chain. You can make this chain as long as you want!
How To: Weave a tri-color friendship bracelet
Take three strips of cloth, ribbons, lanyards or embroidery floss, and use the following tutorial to make a lovely three colored friendship bracelet. You can turn this into a necklace, or bend it into a loop to make a keychain.
How To: Origami the letter "A" Japanese style
These instructional animated slides teach you how to easily fold a the letter "A". Learn how to use the Japanese art of origami to make your own "A". Use the start, stop, forward and back buttons to easily follow along. You can also speed up the instructional origami video if it is going too slow. Very cool Japanese origami how-to video! Origami the letter "A" Japanese style.
How To: Upcycle an old t-shirt into a fashionable fringe scarf
Fringes are definitely trendy this season, and you can jump on the trend bus without breaking the bank! You can turn an old T-shirt into a fashionable fringed scarf just by making a few cuts. Pick a shirt as colorful as you want!
How To: Make a simple scrappy statement necklace
Scraps and fringe are in! You can make your own scrappy necklace, just using scraps or remnants (which you might be able to get for free from your local fabric store!). Cut them and assemble into your own scrappy statement necklace!
How To: Make a Halloween card using the masking techinque
Make a beautiful and spooky Halloween card using the masking technique! Masking technique? It's really not that hard! This card making tutorial shows you how to use masking to create a 3-D effect on your card - all you need is some Post-Its and scrap paper!
How To: Turn an old pair of denim shorts into a fun messenger bag
Repurpose a pair of denim shorts into a fun and cute messenger bag! You'll need a pair of denim shorts (or jeans), scissors, needle and thread, straight pins, pliers, chains, your favorite vintage brooches or buttons, and a length of Velcro.
How To: Fold 3-D origami into cute little strawberry people
Make your own cute little strawberry people! This three video series shows you how to use 3-D origami techniques to make a boy and a girl who are both in a fun strawberry suit. It's very easy, even a beginner can do it!
How To: Needle felt eyeballs out of wool and foam
This makes the perfect creepy decoration for Halloween! You can felt a few scraps of wool and use that to make some really awesome and creepy eyeballs. In addition to the wool, you'll also need some special felting needles and craft foam.
How To: Dye your clothes red or pink with dye made from strawberries
Make your own environmentally friendly dye at home, out of strawberries! You'll also need some vinegar, salt and old nylon stockings. Mash up your strawberries, strain them in the nylon and then boil your strawberry puree with salt, vinegar and your fabric.
How To: Craft an urban chain statement necklace
Make your own statement necklace by combining various different chains and stringing them on jewelry or jump rings approximately half an inch wide. Attach the rings to the chain, jumble them up, and then attach a clasp to the other end.
How To: Make Katy Perry's cupcake boobs from "California Gurls" for Halloween
Katy Perry wears some seriously outrageous costumes in her music video for "California Gurls," but one of our favorite and funnest costumes were the cupcake boobs and rhinestone-encrusted Daisy Dukes she wore during the last dance sequence.
How To: Perfect the Every Which Way crochet stitch
This stitch, called Every Which Way, can be used for sweaters, scarves, afghans or just as an embellishment for your project. This is about an intermediate stitch, so make sure you have some experience with crochet before attempting this for yourself.
How To: Embellish a paper bird cage (complete with bird)
This tutorial shows you how to take a paper bird cage and add some embellishments and extra decorations. Use this as a hanging ornament, turn it into a home decoration, incorporate it into your next scrapbook project, add it to a colage or anything else you feel inspired to do!
How To: Make a cute Halloween themed treat bag or gift bag
Whether you're looking for something extra to hand out to your trick or treaters, or party favors for a Halloween party, this tutorial shows you how to make a cute treat bag. You can make this bag using just some mini paper lunch sacks at the grocery store, plus a few extra paper crafting supplies.
How To: Fold a delicate origami butterfly for beginners
You don't need to be able to create crazy 100-side modular spheres to make beautiful origami projects. In fact, a great portion of the more popular origami projects are on the easier side (good news for sausagefingers like us).
How To: Make a tiny Japanese katana or ninja sword out of paper
Make your own tiny katana out of paper! All you'll need is some durable printer paper or origami paper, double-sided photo album squares, quick drying craft glue, a small craft knife (like an x-acto knife), a straight edge and a cutting mat.
How To: Fold origami Freddy Krueger monster claws for Halloween
Out of ideas for Halloween, or simply don't feel like blowing all your cash on a costume you're only going to wear once? Then take a look at this tutorial for creating origami Freddy Krueger monster claws.
How To: Fold a JKF-168 jetplane paper airplane
This video origami tutorial shows how to fold and snip an advanced paper airplane: the JKF-168 jetplane. Be the envy of all your class or office mates who are stuck folding their standard issue paper airplanes. Learn how to craft the JKF-168 jetplane paper airplane by watching this instructional video.
How To: Origami a heart
This video demonstrates how to fold an origami heart. If you are a beginner, this is the video for you! This is a very simple model, and I thought it would be perfect for Valentine's Day! Even though this model is very simple, it has a very nice outcome when complete!
How To: Fold a transforming shuriken ninja star
Hi, welcome to this origami video! This origami video is a great tutorial on how to make a transforming shuriken(ninja disk).
How To: Make a shadow box to display baby shoes
Got precious items you want to keep safe, but are too beautiful to keep wrapped in storage? Then a shadow box is the perfect way to both preserve your item and show it off. Shadow boxes are boxes are enclosed cases used in dioramas that are designed to let light pass in only through one angle so the object will less likely be damaged by light.
How To: Coil wire to create links for weaving chainmail
If you don't want to buy your links pre-made, you can coil your own links. You'll need wire (sixteen gauge is the most common), metal dowel rods in the diameter you want, variable speed drills, wire cutters and at least two pair of pliers.
How To: Join the front and back pieces when building a chain mail shirt
If you're halfway through making a chainmail shirt, and confused on how you can join the front and back pieces together (or any two large pieces of chainmail), this tutorial gives you a few hints on how you can seamlessly bring two pieces together.
How To: Weave a suit of dragonscale style chain mail
No, it doesn't use actual dragonscales. This technique actually uses two different sizes of rings with the proper aspect ratio (at least three of the larger rings have to fit through the smaller ones). If you have enough rings, then just follow along to master this challenging technique.
How To: Attach a chain sleeve to a chainmail shirt
It can sometimes be confusing for new armorsmiths to figure out the best way to attach a sleeve to a chainmail vest. However, the technique is actually quite easy, and this tutorial demonstrates how you can add a sleeve to a four in one style chainmail shirt.
How To: Make chainmail in a European six in one pattern
This tutorial is a variation of the traditional European 4 in 1 pattern and uses a 6 in 1 chain. Using this method uses more links, but gives you greater coverage and creates a much fuller look for the whole piece.
How To: Tailor your chain mail armor for the best fit
Tailoring isn't just for fabric! To have the best chainmail shirt, that doesn't pull or hang too losely, you'll want to tailor it. Tailor your shirt around curves by slightly altering the pattern of your weave, and this video demonstrates how.
How To: Use the European 4 in 1 method for making chainmaille
This tutorial shows you how to make chainmail following the tradition European four in one method. You'll need many small metal rings of uniform size and some metal pliers (work gloves are also recommended!) Afer you make each individual unit, you're also shown how to bring them together in a larger piece.
How To: Weave a suit of elven chain mail
This tutorial shows you how to make an elven style of chainmail. This is an intricate style of chainmail that is nevertheless very sturdy and gives good coverage. Good for anyone looking to make their own armor for Renaissance Faires, larps, the SCA or other historial costuming events.
How To: Make chainmail jewlery using the Persian style of chain linking
This tutorial shows you how to make pieces of chainmail jewelry by using the Persian style - also called the woven-V style. This is a simple pattern that builds off the tradtional four in one style, which you can use to make any number of jewelry pieces.
How To: Make chainmail jewelry using the Byzantine chain pattern
The Byzantine pattern is a variation on the box chain pattern, it just has two extra links per unit. This tutorial shows you how you can make a string of chainmail using this beautiful pattern, that you can eventually turn into jewelry.
How To: Make chainmail jewelry using the box chain or great queen chain
You can make jewelry out of chainmail! It will be bulky, unless you use incredibly tiny rings. This tutorial shows you how to make the box chain out of many small metal rings, which you can expand to a necklace, bracelet key chain or any other type of jewelry you can think of.
How To: Make the classic Roman lorica segmentata armor
Make an authentic piece of Roman armor! You will need quite a lot of metalworking tools, including hammers, drills and rivets. But if you have access to a workshop and the raw materials, you can make a replica of classic Roman armor, the lorica segmentata.
How To: Create a jewelry organizer with a cork board
If you're anything like us, then it takes you forever and a day to find that perfect earring and necklace you want to go out, not because it's hard to decide which one, but because everything's so tangled up together you can't make out one necklace from another.