STC Craft has put together a collection of 20 free patterns from their books, for you to download for some holiday / gift giving crafting: whether you knit, sew, stitch, or stamp, there’s something here for everyone.
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crafts
Man Crafts: Leather Tooling, Fly Tying, Ax Whittling, and Other Cool Things to Do (Popular Mechanics)
An eccentric collection of ‘manly’ crafts, from 100 years ago, that includes ‘axe’ crafts, whittling and fly tying to cartooning and book binding. The instructions are by no means definitive and really only provide a taster for getting started on these crafting pursuits.
The value in this book really lies within the detailed instructions and beautifully done illustrations giving the would be crafter a really good taste of beginning these ‘manly’ pursuits.
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Jan emailed me ages ago [sorry for the belated reply] with a query about activities for the elderly with gnarled hands and/or dementia.
Having taught art and craft for many years I am now working with the elderly, some with dementia. There attention span is limited in many cases. I liked your article on 50 activities for children and was wondering if you had any ideas about simple activities these elderly residents with gnarled hands might enjoy please?
Here are 4 ideas that I think might be useful – readers if you have any more ideas please leave a comment for Jan.
1. Punchneedle – recently I featured June’s patterns and e-book on this craft and due to the simplicity of the tool needed I think this would be a great craft – here is a tutorial on how to do it.
2. Wet felting small projects I think would also be great – warm water would be lovely on the hands and fine movements are not needed - felted soap - felted balls are just two ideas.
3. Loom knitting – with its large tools and simple designs – nice repetitive motions without tiny finicky movements – here is a tutorial.
4. Weaving - t-shirt weaving or weaving with rags – would be an ideal creative outlet – there are some great basic basketry projects.
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For more kids craft, creative ideas and activities go to the Action Pack website
alpha mom has a neat tutorial how to make a tiny toolbox using altoid tins – totally cute! [via craft gossip.]
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