turn your boring old junk mail into cute paper beads with this tutorial at the NewNew
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April 2009
For more kids craft, creative ideas and activities go to the Action Pack website
The Naturally Clean Home
Naturally clean home
A fabulous little reference book to keep handy in your top kitchen drawer. By using natural ingredients you can have a clean home without toxic chemicals around doing more harm than good to yourself and your family.
Not only does this book have advice on how and what to use to clean, it also is full of interesting information about why you should be doing this. What is actually in the soaps and detergents you currently use and why natural soaps are better.
The basic ingredients used in most of the mixtures contain one or more of the following ingredients: Borax, baking soda, beeswax, pure castile soap, white vinegar, soap flakes, lanolin and others. There is advice on herbs and essential oils and how to make a starter kit – all in the getting started section.
Then each chapter focuses on a different room in the house. In the kitchen – making your own dish washing liquid, and dishwasher powder (washing soda and borax), kitchen bench and sink cleaners (baking soda and vinegar), oven cleaner (vinegar, borax and baking soda), floor wipes (herbal tea and vinegar), degreaser (castile soap, washing soda and vinegar), how to control kitchen pests, clean your fridge, removing rust and so much more. There is an equal level of detail for other rooms in the house – bathroom (disinfectants, surface cleaners), Laundry (laundry detergent, clothes fresheners, stain treatments, delicate fabrics), caring for furniture (polishes, waxes), cleaning metal, walls, carpets, even the air we breath.
This book is a complete new way (or old way) to look after your home and family.
Bath Bombs (Cozy)
Bath bombs – this is a good book with quite a bit of variety on how to make bath bombs for yourself or gifts. Most of the good bits of the book are in the first half, this section of the book contains the basic bath bomb recipe, how to make them, and what to put in them. Then goes into quite a bit of detail on each of the additives – essential oils, herbs, butters etc.
The recipe are all pretty much the same – the basic ingredients don’t change at all, but there are some interesting combinations of essences and herbs which do different jobs. Adding milk powders (softens the skin), green tea powder (antioxidant), coffee powder (reduces cellulite!), wheatgrass powder (for energy), cocoa butter and shea butter (softens skin), rosehip powder (comforting), ginger powder (warming). There are plenty more options and all sounds totally delicous and decadent – can’t wait till my next bath!
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Martha Stewart’s Encyclopedia of Crafts: An A-to-Z Guide with Detailed Instructions and Endless Inspiration
What a mammoth tome [tomb] of a book, every conceivable craft has a few pages of instructions, necessary and a couple of projects to get you started on your new craft obsession. Of course sewing, knitting, needlework and crochet could not possibly be covered and still leave room for other things, so these crafts are not included. Instead there is everything else you could possibly think of.
Soap making just might be my next major obsession, then there is wreath making, quilling, rope crafting, rubber stamping, paper folding, mosaics, block printing, tin punching and much more.
The section on scrapbooking is really quite lovely, with some original and sweet ideas for memory books, albums, and workbooks. I was really attracted to the colourful polymer-clay beads and buttons, the candlemaking section is full of really fantastic ideas like teacup candles and eggshell candles. There is a beautiful section on botanical crafts with rubbings, sunprints, leaf printings. Silk screening, heat embossing, pom-pom animals, paper flowers too many more things as well.
As you might expect from a Martha Stewart book, it is impeccably laid out, gorgeously designed and photographed and explained. Each topic begins with an introduction, list of materials and tools, and the basic instructions for getting started. Then there are different projects that expand upon the basics.
Then at the very back is a whole section on tools and materials and templates and resources. This is going to be a very useful addition to anyone’s craft library.
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Starting a craft blog can be a fun but also daunting prospect. If you are a blog lurker and eager to start your own blog but not quite sure what to write or if you already have a craft blog and would like to build your audience and participate more fully in the craft blog community – then tune in over the coming weeks for tips and ideas on how to build a better craft blog.
Reaching out to others and building an audience are integral to the blogging experience – reaching out to a community of like minded people is why many people start blogging in the first place. But it takes time to build a readership, time to develop your unique voice and time to find others who feel the same way as you do. But how do you ‘meet’ other like minded souls in the big blog universe? And how to get them to find you?
1. Read others blogs and comment on stories/posts that you genuinely connect with.
In return, when your readers leave a comment on your blog, email you or link to you, then return the favour. This starts the process of blog networking and you may just meet some new friends in the process.
2. Network and develop relationships with other blogs in your blog circle.
Developing relationships with other blogs within your chosen niche is very important to developing your blog as part of the community. Being generous with your time and ideas shows that you are a committed and dedicated member of the community.
3. Participate and join blog projects
One important way of Joining the community that you are interested in is to join in on community events.
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loving the progress on the modern, minimal, masculine quilt from the common threads virtual quilting bee.
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how to knit this Moebius Scarf with handspun yarn - pattern and directions care of sunnyside ellen.
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