crafts
Crafts Hacks for makers; a digital vision board with clever tips, ideas, techniques and materials for DIY creations.
Making is My Must!
Even after teaching for 15 years, I am always looking for new ways to make Art with unexpected materials, usually for an art lesson for my middle school students. This passion was set in motion in the mid 2000's when I was a Graduate Teaching Assistant at Kent State University. A graduate level 3 Dimensional weaving course perpetually pushed us to consider making woven textiles out of wire, natural fibers, paper and "Plarn". Plarn, Plastic yarn, is created by cutting a continuous spiral into an ordinary grocery bag.
By Dawn Blattel5 years ago in Lifehack
Crunch Time Crafts
I've always been a dabbler. A little bit of this, a little bit of that, whatever new trend caught my attention growing up. I started crafting because I wanted to decorate my room like the ones I saw in the magazines. I learned how to do several crafty things, from helping my mom decorate for social occasions in our small town. However, crafting took on epic proportions when my friend Joan, signed us up as crafters who could do any type of craft project. As she put it, "How hard could it be?"
By Mary Haynes5 years ago in Lifehack
A Collage of Cat Houses and Love
This all started when my husband and I discovered my cat’s box fetish. Last Halloween, we noticed that Imo, my youngest cat, had a thing for boxes all thanks to an empty cake box that accidentally fell on the floor. I recall hearing the box fall and before I could even get up to see where it was, Imo had already beat me to it and was stepping inside. I took a quick picture with my phone because I thought it was funny and went back to looking up ideas on how to transform my apartment into the mummy’s tomb. Hours went by and when I looked, Imo was still in the box.
By Andrilisa Read-Iglesias Lopes5 years ago in Lifehack
Magazine Manifesting Magic
If you've ever seen the 2006 movie "The Last Holiday" in-depth, you probably know exactly where I'm going with this ideal. In the film, Queen Latifah plays a shy and talented cookwares saleswoman named "Georgia Byrd" who finds out that she only has three weeks left to live after hitting her head at work and getting a faulty diagnosis. Right before quitting her job, there is a scene where Miss Byrd is at home sobbing and drinking away her regrets with an entire bottle of wine while flipping through her infamous "Book of Possibilities." Her dialogue while perusing her book included things such as "I should have eaten that," and "Now I'll never get to meet you!"
By Douglas Henry Lewis, Jr 5 years ago in Lifehack
Living in a Crafter's Paradise
I am a multimedia artist. Because why do one craft, when you can do all the crafts? My art has grown out of the long-held love of all things artistic. Let’s start with a background on the young artist from when she was little. I grew up with creative parents who encouraged, indulged, and participated in all my creative endeavors. My father is a photographer, sketch artist, and go-to handyman. (He made a wooden carrying case for my rock collection when I was 11 and taught me watercolor and drawing). My mother is a writer, painter, seamstress, and all-around crafter. We made Christmas ornaments together when I was 13 and we still hang those ornaments on the tree every year. This was also the year we started making jewelry together, taking exciting trips to Michael’s and Joann Fabrics to search for findings, beads, and charms. (Or to find fabric for one of the many dresses she made me, including my prom dress). If that wasn't enough, we traveled down to Office Depot where she bought a set of business cards to help me launch my first foray into entrepreneurship. My best friend and I had started to make hand stamped stationery and chocolates, which we took to school and sold to classmates. And so it began.
By Angelita Hampton5 years ago in Lifehack
Discarded Masks of Creativity
I have a lot of time for walks these days. I was unfortunately laid off late last year due to the pandemic and, well, so have a lot of others. This means a lot of other competition on the job market; a lot of lost souls wandering my residential neighbourhood as well. I don’t always see these vagabonds, these shadows in the night. But the marking is always there. Well, masking might be the better word.
By Leif Conti-Groome5 years ago in Lifehack
Paper and Scissors...No Rock
Take a ride on the paper and scissor train with me…we will make multiple stops at the celebratory occasions like birthdays, graduations, baby showers, and weddings to the sentimental times like sending you a simple thank you and to the situations where someone needs to be comforted as we send our condolences.
By Samantha Squalls5 years ago in Lifehack
The Pleiadian Project
I have always had a creative flare within me. Especially during my childhood, I would spend hours upon hours creating art projects for my loved ones. My favorite thing to make was cutting hearts out of construction paper. They would be of various sizes and colors, then I would stack them one on top of another. It would be alternating colors and, in my mind, it was a cool 3-D effect. I would make all kinds of things by myself upstairs at my grandmother’s house. I was basically an only child because my siblings were 12 and 20 years older than me. My grandma always bought the best of everything. Now anyone who has cut construction paper knows that a quality pair of scissors makes a huge difference. Not just in how the project ends up looking but in the level of frustration within the creator. I did not really appreciate the quality of my artistic tools until I got fully immersed in my newest creative venture, Project Pleiades. This is a project that brings me back to the artistic solitude I felt when I was a child. It’s a bittersweet feeling because I do enjoy being alone and creating something that is meaningful to me but it does get lonely. The loneliness gets thicker and harder to swallow when you want to share your craft with someone and then no one is interested.
By Mikey Lane, MS, LPC, Energy Healer, Medium5 years ago in Lifehack
Making art that feels like magic
I love art and creative expression. They get me so excited. I love making art, I love looking at art, I love talking about art. Even seeing other people being creative brings me joy. I'm getting all fired up just writing this...
By Pavlina Janssen5 years ago in Lifehack
