The Craft Begins

I got all of my animals finished!

You can see the whole set, as well as download your favorite (for free) here.

Suddenly, nerdy is hot again.

I’m so excited about this eyeglass company.  Their glasses are super-affordable, they ship for free, they let you try on glasses at home for fit for free, and for every pair you buy they donate a pair to a person in need. Plus they’re totally zexy.  I’ve been searching for frames like this for ages and have a hard time tracking them down.  What’s not to love?

I always have a hard time finding knitting patterns that I like.  They’re usually a bit too bulky and 80′s for me.  The free ones can be particularly bad.  Which means that most of the time I improvise my creations, to mixed results.  I was excited then to find this massive collection of free knitting patterns from Drops Studio.  Tons of cute and modern knits.

See all of the patterns as well as the yarns that they carry here.  Bonus for non English speakers – the patterns come in lots of different languages.

In my massive collection of old paper-related bits, I have a stash of Valentine’s Day Cards from probably the 20′s and the 30′s (I’m guessing here).   Since Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, I thought I would share the wealth!

If you click here, you’ll find a bunch of high-res downloads of the inside and outside of all of my cards.  I apologize that they’re not more orderly, but I don’t think it matters too much!  Have fun using these in artwork, scrapbooking, or just printing them out to make your own V-Day cards!

These fantastic textures would be great in artwork, as a background on your computer or cell phone, for scrapbooking, or any number of applications.  I love the combination of the color and texture.  You can find the free, full-res versions here.  Happy creating!

More free downloads for you to enjoy – this time of an old children’s encyclopedia from the 60′s.  I love the illustrations – they are so colorful and the artwork is just great, not to mention the variety of things that they chose to illustrate.  Find more  of the letter N here.

1.  Design is Mine is a great place to check out for lots of great design finds, like interior design, illustration and unique fashion (how many times can I use the word design in a sentence?).

2.  Fine Little Love celebrates the delicate, the feminine, the delightful.  And there’s always a roundup of fantastic photography.

3.  There’s no better place to find a roundup of freebies than How About Orange.  Downloads, tutorials, and lots of great resources.

4.  Oh, Geninne.  Always inspiring, always full of magical and sweet artistic creations.  And adorable puppies.  What’s not to love?

5.  Wackystuff.  If you don’t know this guy yet, you probably should.  A prolific artist, a prolific sender and collector.  If you’ve spent any time on flickr or sendsomething.net, you’ve probably seen some of his work.  Not sure?  Check it out.

Looking for something to do or make?  Does your creativity need a jump start?  Here’s a list of fun tutorials (all free) to inspire you.

1.  Adorable pop-bottle cap pin cushions from Craft Stylish.

2.  Easy way to transform your photographs into miniature look-alikes with Tilt Shift Maker.

3.  Learn how to papercut (scherenschnitte – try saying that 5 times fast) here.

4.  Screenprint your own fabric for multiple uses with Kelly + Olive.

5.  How cute are these resin gummy bear pendants?  Too easy!

6.  This is a great transformation from a doily into a bowl.

7.  For anyone who has ever attempted the impossible and tried to recover a piece of furniture, this chair will give you hope.

Happy crafting!

I feel like giving something away today!  And I haven’t been doing much crafty stuff, so an etsy-type giveaway wouldn’t be so much fun.  A lot of you readers have been sweet enough to compliment my photography, so I figure, why not give away a photograph?

Here’s the deal: leave a comment here, telling me something about the kind of pictures you like to see!  It can be something you’ve seen here, something you want to see here, or something you’ve seen out in the world.  Or tell me what kind of picture you’d like to take!  I’ll let this run over the weekend (contest ends Sunday night, August 9th) and I’ll announce the winner on Monday!  The winner will get an 8×10 photograph, of anything you’d like that I’ve taken.  On the blog, on my flickr, or if there’s something you’re looking for, I’ve got a lot of photos that I haven’t posted anywhere.

So, lots of luck, thanks for stopping by, and I can’t wait to read your comments!

This post is not about the food variety, though I really enjoy those.  This is about the fabulous Norwegian site where you can find lots of cute knitting and crochet patterns, as well as some other DIY’s.

I love the bolero pattern they have – it looks very simple and easy.  And who hasn’t wanted to try knit furniture?  I’m not sure how practical this stool would be but it sure looks adorable.  Probably a great place to crash on the floor.  Check out their site for more cute patterns.