crafts
Crafts Hacks for makers; a digital vision board with clever tips, ideas, techniques and materials for DIY creations.
Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder
For $5, I become a Zombie. I found one of those cheap makeup kits during Halloween of 2013 and put together a last-minute costume to go to a bar. I’ll never forget all of the stares from people when I walked by. Some were terrified, some were amazed, and some even asked if I did makeup professionally. I’ve always enjoyed Halloween but that year felt different. Something had awakened inside of me.
By TrishyF Baby5 years ago in Lifehack
Common Threads
I feel lucky to say that sewing has been a part of my life as long as I could remember. My mom sewed for herself all the time, and when I was younger she would sometimes make me clothes, too. She worked on a boxy tan machine with the word VIKING printed proudly on the side. It was an ugly thing, the color of a manila folder with the sort of 70's vibe that gave away its age.
By Natalie Trowbridge5 years ago in Lifehack
Making With a Purpose
I stand at my kitchen counter, scissors in hand. There is a piece of blue painter's tape, measured to 18 inches, stretching across the laminate. On my left, a quickly-dwindling skein of yarn sits at the ready. I grab a length of the fiber, place the cut end to the far right side of the tape, and hold the side closest to the skein down onto the countertop. I angle my scissors towards the yarn. Snip. I've just sharpened my favorite Fiskars, and the blades cut right through with a crisp, satisfying sound.
By Sarahmarie Specht-Bird5 years ago in Lifehack
Right-handed Scissors, Sister Suffer, Left-of-Center Me
When I think about my relationship with scissors, my shoulders crinkle up, no joke. The same way paper shrinks away and crinkles up in my clumsy scissor hand grip. Scissors are, in many ways, the bane of my existence - the one thing that evades mastery in the midst of a recent explosion of creativity. Granted, if I took the time to study the many types of scissors, if I saved the money to build a collection of well-made examples of this fine invention - if I even had any clue whatsoever about how to make scissors conspire in my art . . .if I had patience maybe . . . who knows what I would be capable of?
By Lady Headlamp5 years ago in Lifehack
Slow & Steady Wins the Race
I’ve loved creating for as long as I can remember .I love it enough that I spent thousands of dollars to get a degree in art to be able to do what I love for a living. While in college, fulfilling course requirements and creating pieces for my portfolio had priority. Before that, maintaining academic performance was my priority. And before that still, creating art was something I did to recharge and find joy. I have had a long, complicated journey to get to where I am now, however.
By Kristina Santiesteban5 years ago in Lifehack
Preserving Beauty
As kids, we dip our hands into paint and see what our tiny fingers can create. We jump into sandboxes to see if the sand can shape and mold into what we’ve envisioned and played out in our mind. For a few minutes the entire world pauses as we touch pen to paper, shovel to sand, or fingers to clay. Nothing matters in those moments except the creation. That’s why art is important.
By Andrea Lowe5 years ago in Lifehack
Cardboard Creations
My passion is creating imaginative play systems from cardboard and found objects with my children. I believe the most important attributes I can foster in my children are the confidence to access and share their creativity, as well as a deep, inner knowing that all things are possible with a willingness to try.
By Jessica Fowler5 years ago in Lifehack
Once Upon a Dream and More
I like to work with my hands. I am not saying that I am good with them, but I do not think that matters a lot. It is something that slows down time and forces me to be mentally present, a luxury that I consider precious in a world that needs me to keep up with its fast pace. Let me to tell you a story about the one passion that has been with me since my earliest memory, one that I know will follow me till the end of time.
By Bored Amateur Gamer5 years ago in Lifehack
Grandma's Not-for-Paper Scissors
Life doesn’t always go the way you planned it. That’s just something people say. Like, you know, when I didn’t get accepted to Berkely. That was life, “not going how I planned it.” Right? Wrong. Life not going how you planned it was ending up living in your grandmother’s house four months after she died because – because… “it was already set up for a wheelchair.” That was life not going how you planned it. Life not going how you planned it was being 24, in April, planning a graduation party, and applying to all the social work and humanitarian jobs on Indeed, Glassdoor, and any other website you could find… only to never graduate, never get a job as a social worker or a humanitarian, never… never WALK! That was life not going how you planned it. That’s where I was, in Grandma’s house, in running into everything and wondering how Grandma had made it seem so easy all those years after she had her feet amputated from diabetes. All alone. My sister had had to go back to work, and her kids. My parents thought it best I learned how to do for myself. My friends all had graduation parties, job interviews, or summer plans to get to. While I had nothing. Not a thing. A disabled early twenty-something victim of a drunk driver sitting in her grandmother’s house feeling sorry for herself. First, I cried. Then I shouted. I didn’t care if the neighbors heard me, I didn’t care if they didn’t. I just wanted to scream because it felt good. It was the only thing I could do just as well now as I could before the accident, and it felt good. So there.
By Sarah Lockwood5 years ago in Lifehack
