Be inspired: Cross stitching

Hi, I hope you're all having a great Summer.

Today's "Be inspired" is all about the art of cross stitching and at KCAA we're lucky to have some very talented people who often share with us their cross stitch projects as you can see below.

The 1st set of pictures shows some of Pam's work and the 2nd a sample of Mrs Dag's embroidery. Aren't they just beautiful?

Some of these projects have taken a long time to finish but are so well worth the effort when they're finally done and ready to be shown off.

If you're new to cross stitching and would like to give it a go, have a look at the useful links below.

Learn to cross stitch in 5 minutes

How to cross stitch in 5 steps (with video)

How to cross stitch

How to do cross stitch

And here's a list of places on the Web where you'll find plenty of free patterns.

Cross Stitch Centre

Free Cross Stitch Patterns

Ellen Maurer-Stroh

Cross Stitching

Happy crafting :-)

Be inspired: Handcrafted jewellery

Today I want to share with you some of the fantastic jewellery Jen and Pam have made. The picture above is only a small sample of what these 2 very talented ladies can do, you'll find more photos of their work on the Kool Crafts and Arts forum.

If you like wearing jewellery and you're crafty it might be a good idea to make your own. This way you'll be able to create exclusive pieces for your personal use and at a fraction of the price. You can also make customised pieces to give your friends and family whenever you want to gift them with something special.

The links below have plenty of useful information on how to get started, different techniques, ideas for projects, etc. I hope you find them useful whether you're a beginner or a more experienced jewellery maker.

Beadage - all about beading!

Making Your Own Jewellery

eHow - lots of jewellery making videos

How to make beaded jewellery

Be inspired: Recycling crafts

It's time for another instalment of the "Be inspired" series of posts and this time I want to share with you some of Donna's fantastic recycling crafts.

I hope her projects will inspire you to reduce, reuse and recycle whenever possible and as a picture is worth a thousand words here are some of the amazing things Donna has made using everyday items she had around the house. Enjoy :-)

Swaps Mosaic

Hi everyone,

Just a very quick post to show you a small sample of the amazing handmade items we've been swapping at Kool Crafts and Arts.

There are many more photos on the forum, so just click on the link above to see what we've been up to ;-)

Rota for swaps on KCAA

As promised, here's more info on the swaps we're having on the Kool Crafts and Arts forum.

If you'd like to join us and take part in any or all of these swaps please click on the link above to register.

We've created a rota for the swaps to be held up to September as below:

Craft Magazine Swap - July

Inspirational Swap - July

Card Toppers Swap - August

Stuffed Envelope Swap - September

Rules and deadlines are posted on the forum.

Be inspired: Wood burning

Wikipedia describes pyrography or wood burning as the art of decorating wood with burn marks made with a heated object such as a poker.

We're lucky that we have on Kool Crafts and Arts someone that does woodburning and after you see the beautiful projects Lisa has created you might want to try this craft for yourself.

Here are photos of some of Lisa's wood burning.

And if you feel inspired to give this craft a go you can check the links below for more information on tools, supplies, techniques and even patterns.

Pyrography

Carving Patterns

Be inspired: Parchment craft

Parchment craft is an ancient papercraft dating as far back as the 16th Century in Europe. In this craft you use parchment paper many different tools to create a lace-like effect. It is thought this was a craft used by catholic monks and nuns to create communion cards and also borders for religious pictures.

info taken from www.wisegeek.com

Debs, one of our newest members, has recently passed her exams to become a qualified pergamano tutor and no wonder as her work is truly wonderful as you can see below.



We all admire her talent and she's even inspired some of us to give this craft a go.

Below are pictures of Pam´s first parchment craft projects, aren't they beautiful?

If you'd like to try your hand at parchment craft there are some very useful sites/blogs on the Web with plenty of information on the basic techniques, supplies and even some free patterns.

Please click on the links below to read more about this papercraft.

- http://www.myparchment.co.uk/ (free patterns and tutorials)

- http://www.creativepapercrafts.co.uk/ (techniques, tips and a free design gallery)

- http://www.pergamano.com/ (basic techniques)

- http://www.judithwibberley.com/ (basic techniques in parchment craft)

- http://www.parchmentcraftmagazine.com/ (patterns for free download)