Whip Up is now taking article and tutorial submissions.

We are looking for tutorials and submissions that fit within our feel – read our Manifesto for more information.

We are looking for thematic articles and tutorials to fit within the months themes – see monthly themes below – but also timely articles outside of these themes will be considered such as exhibition and pattern reviews, craft memes, fun, frivolous and extreme ideas, etc that cannot wait and do not fit within the theme.

Submissions now being accepted for January, February and March 2008

- January: Children’s crafts
- February: Alternative crafting
- March: Ephemeral art and craft

To learn more about how to submit an article read the submission guidelines here

I was making bugs for my mom. I know she likes ladybugs a lot, even though we live in a place where they invade your house by the hundreds! I really know what a ladybug looks like from seeing so many. I cut felt out free hand, and tried to make it look right. Then I sewed it all together. I like making stuffies a lot. I give them to my mom, and friends. I like designing them, because I don’t have to follow any directions! My mom helped me draw the pattern from the original, and wrote out the directions for making it.

Materials: felt – small amounts of red, black, white | ☺embroidery floss – black | size 26 tapestry needle recommended (The rounded point is better for younger needle workers and still pierces the felt just fine. It is also easier to thread than standard embroidery needle. | fiber fill or cotton balls to stuff with | scissors

Directions: Draw the pattern onto paper, or enlarge on a photocopier until you have it the size you want – make sure to make it a big bigger to allow for cutting and sewing.

Cut 2 of the head pattern from black felt. | Cut 2 of the eye pattern from white felt. | Cut 6 of the spot pattern from black felt. | Cut 1 of the body pattern from red felt. | Cut 1 of the body pattern from black felt.

HEAD: Stitch the eye pieces nto one of the head pieces, using black floss. Then stitch the head together – top to bottom using over cast stitch. Leave an opening for the stuffing. Stuff and close the rest of the way.

BODY: On the red body (top) piece, First use a running stitch and black embroidery floss to create a line along the dotted line on pattern. Then stitch the 6 black spots. Use the picture as a guide, or put them where you want! Stitch the top (red) to the bottom (black) leave an opening to stuff. Then close.

PUTTING HEAD ONTO BODY: Put the head into position at one end of the body and stitch using black embroidery floss.

HINT: Don’t worry about your stitches being perfect – it’s part of the charm!

About the maker: Becca is ten years old and in fifth grade. She likes to do crafts, embroider and to draw.

Secret Message Soap: A bribery idea. Trying to get your kids to wash their hands more? In this project we put a dollar bill in a lip balm container then embedded it in a bar of soap. Once the soap is all used up you get the dollar that has been safely stashed in the lip balm pot. This is also a fun idea for putting secret messages into soap.

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Playdough Soap – All you do is add cornstarch to regular melt & pour base and it turns into a malleable soap you can sculpt and play with! Let your kids sculpt their soap into any shape then let it air dry and they can use it in the bath.

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Whiptips craft advice column for readers to ask questions or offer advice by leaving comments. Whiptips archive here. Ask your whiptips questions at the ‘tips and tricks’ section of the forum - right here.

I have a question about sewing clothing. My sewing skills are ok, I can follow a pattern pretty well, but I would really like some resources to help me alter patterns or even draft my own! I would be great if you could ask the readers if they have any recommendations. Thanks for all the great work! [you might like to check out BurdaStyle - ed]

Airplane in the Clouds Soap a simple project of embedding toys in soap. A fun soap to get kids to wash up more so they can get a prize.

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As part of our month of crafts for children, we will be posting links to cool ideas and inspiration as well as tutorials and articles. We are still taking tutorial and article ideas for the month so please email your ideas and stories to me at whipup[at]gmail.com.

As cozy as spring documented her process of making paper with her kids, great instructions, and what a fabulous summers day kids activity.

This was my daughter’s idea. She wanted a kit for Christmas. I order the smallest kit and it was smaller than I expected, but I think also quite necessary. The screens included, along with the other tools, make for an easy project.

JC Handmade is sharing the sewing pattern/tutorial that she created for her Kidlet Wall Pocket Tidy Totes. The tutorial is a pdf download (3MB) and includes 41 full color photos to make the process as simple as pie.

Indigo Knits: The Quintessential Guide to Denim Yarn from the Founders of Artwork by Jane Gottelier (Author), Patrick Gottelier (Photographer), published by Potter Craft (November 13, 2007).

I was quite impressed with this book for a number of reasons. But before I go into the reasons I want to explain my love for knitting and fibre books. I don’t just use them as a practical pattern book, I love to gaze upon the pictures too, I love to sigh over the fibres and patterns and colours. So when a book has beautiful images I am instantly attracted. Then of course I check out how good the patterns actually are – looking is one thing, making quite another.

This book has some lovely scenic photography of Cornwall, my mothers family came from Cornwall so it was quite lovely to look upon the area, and images of the various fisherman/guernsey/cable sweaters, both pullover, and cardigan are just gorgeous. My mother was a cable expert and would have loved the challenge they presented. For me though, I prefer my challenges in other areas – but I did like the simple tunic style pullovers in soft faded comfort, and the simply delightful crochet cotton skirt, which my daughter is angling for me to make for her.

The patterns in the book are either knitted or crocheted and all from denim/cotton, but another aspect of the book which I was intrigued by was the use of bleach on the denim fibre to highlight the cables -I rather the liked the end result. There is a Jackson Pollock inspired design where bleach turns part of the pattern into brown. And a “Painterly Stripe Sweater” which features the same effect where certain stripes with the aid of bleach change colour, it is quite interesting.

I don’t generally like to knit with cotton – its a strange bias I have, but I enjoy so much the feel of pure wool in my hands that knitting with cotton seems like a waste of time to me. And I am not sure that I could justify spending all the time knitting complex cables in a child’s garment – unless of course there were multiple children to pass it on down the line. However after checking my stash it appears as if I may have enough knitting cotton in white and mauve to knit the “Pirate-stripe guernsey” for my daughter.

About the reviewer: Janette lives in Australia and is spending her retirement doing the things she loves. Gardening, playing with yarn and making things for her grandchildren.

The following tutorial was written by 6-year-old Marian Grace. Marian has kept an art blog for the last year, and is currently focusing it on her crafty preparations for a bone marrow transplant she is having in late March. As she explains here, she is using the time while she waits to raise money for crafts for hospitalized children, since her own artwork is such an important part of her life. She will first earn money, by selling her snowglobe kits, to buy new craft supplies for her own long in-patient stay (necessary to ensure that they are germ-free, as her problematic immune system is being dismantled), then donating the rest of her money to Caitlin’s Smiles, a local organization that donates thousands of bags of craft supplies a month to kids in hospitals.

The following tutorial is written by Marian with added clarifying details in brackets written by her mother.

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As part of our month of children’s crafts, crafty beats sent in a link to a matching memory game she made from plastic bottle tops for her kids to play with. This would be a great game for the kids to help make – cutting out or drawing pictures or words to glue into the bottle tops.