(Photos courtesy of Lucy Collin)Lucy Collin designs and creates amigurumi figures. A wife and mom of two sons, ages 12 and 15, Lucy lives in West Sussex in the south of England and has found that crocheting small figures is her passion. Learn more about Lucy, what amigurumi is and how her characters attracted the attention of the creators of Star Wars. When did you start crocheting? I learned when I was a little girl. My grandmother taught me. I did some when I was younger but not very
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amigurumi
crafts
crochet
OttLite
science fiction
star wars
toys
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What Inspires
Needle Arts
December is almost over but you still need a few gifts for your friends and co-workers. We've given you some instructions on how to inexpensively make both Tile Coasters and Ceramic Mugs. Our last inexpensive homemade gift item for the 2015 holiday season is Wine Bags. These bags take less than 20 minutes and are very inexpensive to make. Materials (1) fat quarter of fabric (patterned) (1) fat quarter of fabric (solid) Ruler Matching thread Pinking Shears (if you have them –
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Homemade Gifts; DIY; Holiday Gifts
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DIY Crafts
Needle Arts
Holiday Crafts
We're one week into the month of December - are you ready for Hanukkah and Christmas? There are lots of people you might have forgotten that you need to get a gift for. Let us help you with our inexpensive gift ideas you can make at home! This week we're featuring Homemade Ceramic Mugs. The mugs and markers can be purchased at a store such as JoAnn Fabrics and you can use stencils to decorate or use your own imagination. With as little as 4 supplies (including your oven) you can have a gift
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Ceramics
Homemade Gifts; DIY; Holiday Gifts
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DIY Crafts
Holiday Crafts
We’re in full holiday mode now that Thanksgiving is over -- there’s only 1 week until Hanukkah and 3.5 weeks until Christmas! Don’t worry though. If you’re looking for gifts that have meaning but won’t break the bank or you need a gift for someone who’s hard to shop for, we’re here to help. For the next three weeks we’ll have do-it-yourself gifts that will cost you less than $25 to make. They’d make great hostess gifts, presents for your favorite teacher or even for that office White Elephant
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DIY Crafts
Holiday Crafts
Thanksgiving is a great time to teach the art of gratitude to children. This project will help them learn what they're grateful for this year while also helping to decorate the Thanksgiving table.This is a simple project from Crafts by Amanda. You probably have most of the items in your house already, which makes it even easier. It took me less than an hour to complete so it should be something that’s simple for children over the age of 7. Younger children could do this as well but an adult
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Thanksgiving Crafts; Kid's Crafts
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DIY Crafts
Holiday Crafts
(Photos courtesy of Shibguyz)Shannon and Jason Mullett-Bowlsby are the founders of Shibaguyz, a multi-faceted company based in Seattle. Shannon is the crochet and knitting designer whose books have the unusual aspect of offering patterns in multiple size ranges while Jason is the photographer and graphic designer of the duo (he takes all the photos for all of their books). Together for 21 years, Shannon and Jason work together daily and often finish each other's sentences. In our interview we
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books
crochet
knitting
Patterns
photography
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What Inspires
Needle Arts
(Photos courtesy of KyleWilliam.com) Kyle Kunnecke started knitting as an adult and has found that it gives him many creative outlets. Kyle’s love of knitting developed into the company KyleWilliam and also allowed him to help others through charitable works. Find out more about Kyle below, why he doesn’t believe in skill levels and how be believes that creativity has the power to heal.What got you started knitting? I learned to knit from my roommate. She was knitting one day and I asked her
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blog
charity
knit
knitting
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What Inspires
Needle Arts
Halloween is a great time of year to go all out when decorating your house. This year, the team at OttLite decided to get in the Halloween spirit and help a local non-profit by creating decorations for the Tampa Ronald McDonald House.A group of us got together one day to make glitter pumpkins, spider webs (made out of trash bags), paper spiders, and paper bats. We also stuffed goodie bags with Halloween candy and an OttLite Mini Flip to give to the parents who are staying at the house in
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crafts
Halloween
Homemade
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Holiday Crafts
September is National Sewing Month so I decided a while back that I would tackle sewing for my blog project this month. I had dreams of completing two projects - a sleep mask and a iPad holder made of pre-quilted material. What I didn't dream about is the obstacles I'd encounter. But I did learn lots of lessons! I have sewn in the past and I own a sewing machine. When I was 17 I sewed a sleeveless maxi dress with lots of help from my mother and it was decent enough that I got compliments on it.
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crafts
Dresses
Magnifier
OttLite
sewing
Sewing Machine
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Needle Arts
(Images courtesy of Madalynne.com) Maddie Flanigan, creator of Madalynne.com, began sewing at the age of 18 after finding her mother’s sewing machine in the closet. Having lost her mother to breast cancer, Maddie knew that she only wanted to surround herself with people and things that matter and decided to get someone to teach her how to sew. After interning with a local tailor and attending The Savannah College of Art and Design and Johnson and Wales University, Maddie begin working for Urban
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blog
Lingerie
National Sewing Month
Sew Your Own Bra
sewing
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What Inspires
Needle Arts