Crafts For Teens

The term “crazy quilting” is often used to refer to the textile art of crazy patchwork and is sometimes used interchangeably with that term. Crazy quilting does not actually refer to a specific kind of quilting (the needlework which binds two or more layers of fabric together), but a specific kind of patchwork. Crazy quilts rarely have the internal layer of batting that is part of what defines quilting as a textile technique.

Crazy Quilting created a stir in the 1880’s when it became quite a fad in the United States. The Japanese Exhibit in the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition inspired the crazy quilt with its asymmetrical art. Articles encouraging crazy quilting, or condemning it could be found in women’s publications. Women could purchase packages of random fabrics, as well as already embellished pieces to use in their own crazy quilts.

During the first several years of the crazy quilting fad fine fabrics and heavy embellishment was the norm. As time passed quilters began to make simpler quilts in the crazy quilt style. These used everyday fabrics like wool or cotton and little or no embellishment. Crazy quilting is also used on clothing like vests and jackets. Some art quilters use crazy quilting as a part of their art quilts. Today, crazy quilting is enjoyed by quilters with an organic approach to their art. They often use cast off clothing and photographs to infuse the crazy quilt with meaning and memory.

Crazy quilts differ from “regular” quilts in other ways as well. Because the careful geometric design of a quilt block is much less important in crazy quilts, the quilters are able to employ much smaller and more irregularly-shaped pieces of fabric. In comparison to standard quilts, crazy quilts are far more likely to use exotic pieces of fabric, such as velvet, satin, tulle, or silk, and embellishments such as buttons, lace, ribbons, beads, or embroidery. Crazy quilting as a textile art is extremely creative and free-flowing by nature, and crazy quilters will often learn as much about specific embellishments as they will about crazy quilting itself.

Regular patchwork combines the pieces of fabric into a predetermined and regular design, but crazy patchwork uses irregular pieces of fabric on a foundation fabric or paper. This may create haphazard-looking and asymmetrical designs, or the designer may use some control in placement. Patches can be hand appliquéd onto a base fabric. This method gives the most variety as every patch is unique. There are also block patterns designed for crazy quilt that can be sewn by machine.

Sometimes part of a crazy quilt is haphazard while other parts are placed in a planned pattern. A common example of this the placement of patches in a fan pattern. The patches and seams are then usually heavily embellished.
About The Auther
written By Audrey Lynn
designer clothes for kids.

Don’t feel that you are talented enough to perform fabulous Christmas crafts? Have you never tried to make a Christmas craft as a gift for someone who you love and admire? Just think how lovely it is to receive a homemade Christmas gift from someone you care about and love. You know you will cherish it always. Wouldn’t someone you love feel the same way if you gave him or her a Christmas Craft gift?

Now you can simply carry out your Christmas craft, even if you didn’t order crafts kits, and experience a new way of celebrating Christmas.

I know that it is very easy to purchase ready-made decorations and Christmas crafts, but it is far more festive and fun to make your own special Christmas crafts. Making homemade Christmas cards and Christmas crafts is a great way to spend quality family time together. There are so many fun ideas for homemade Christmas ornaments to give to relatives, teachers or friends. They can be varied to make a number of different sparkling ornaments for your Christmas tree.

Christmas crafts can be made from a variety of materials. If you like working with wood, you can cut out typical holiday designs, like snowmen, Christmas trees, or Santa figures and then spend some time painting to bring life to your Christmas crafts. If it’s your first time working with wood as a Christmas craft, start out simply- cut out any shape and make a sign for your holiday guests. You can paint little trees or stars, and print out with a cute Christmas greetings sentences like “Hope all your wishes come True”.

The easiest Christmas craft by all odds is the Christmas card. No one will ever get bored with making his or her own hand-made cards, especially if they are provided with rhyming Christmas greetings and poems. Ideas can be many and easy-to-craft too.

You could always make candleholders. Take a small baby food jar. Wash and allow it to completely dry. Then you could cover it with such things as: buttons, squares of tissue paper in different colors, etc. Add a new, great smelling votive candle to the holder and you have an instant, thoughtful and creative gift.

A wonderful idea is to present family members and friends with creatively framed photographs. You can simply go to a craft store and purchase a number of plain wooden frames. These can then be painted and you can involve your children in making the craft by letting them add a number of stickers for the year, glitter, buttons, or other embellishments. What’s wonderful about the framed picture is that the frame will have been decorated by the child whose picture is inside.

Another Christmas craft idea is the Santa hat. You’ll just need red cloth, some fluffy cotton and glue to get this Christmas craft real! Fold the red cloth into a conical shape and stick the edges. Then have a ball of cotton glued at the top and some to border the circular base.

The holiday season is a festive time, and making your own Christmas crafts can really add to the special feeling of that time of year. You don’t have to be a pro to enjoy them, all you need is a bit of the Christmas spirit flowing through your body.
About The Author

M. Awara onlineweblibrary.com to read more articles about Christmas Crafts and many other different Arts and Crafts topics provided with descriptive Videos on mytopclip Visit: http://www.onlineweblibrary.com

Look around your house and garage. Maybe even something as boring as a gasket can make a beautiful design in fabric.

Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? And maybe a gasket is a silly example, but how about the grill from a barbeque? Maybe some feathers, leaves, shafts of wheat, or even a design made with masking tape.

Pretty much anything will do, although the results are better if the object is flat and will hold still for 10-15 minutes. So, for example, a live halibut, although flat, probably wouldn’t be a good choice for this kind of art.

But, back to our other examples - suppose you took 1/2″ wide masking tape and made a plaid type of design with it, and could then turn that into the blue and white of a fabric design.

It’s all very possible, and has been done for hundreds of years, thanks to Sir John Herschel. You see, Sir John was an English mathematician, astronomer, chemist, experimental photographer and inventor. He was also the father of 12 children and the son of Sir William Herschel, the famous astronomer.

In short, he was a brilliant, busy guy. And maybe as a method of entertaining one of his many children, he discovered that by soaking paper or cloth with the right chemicals, and then exposing it to the sun, he could create permanent images in a beautiful assortment of blue colors - thus the cyanotype, more commonly known as a blueprint, was born.

This was back in 1842, and quickly one of his neighbors used this new process to create art prints. It didn’t take long for fabric artists to create fabric art using the same process, which we know as sunprints.

Sunprints are easy to make, and you don’t even need to be a chemist to make one. And, you don’t need to store any chemicals. It is easy to find pre-treated fabric to make your sunprint, yet the process is basically the same, and your result can look modern, or take on an antique look

The pre-treated fabric should come in special packaging that prevents it from being exposed to the light. Developing the “picture” on a sunprint is basically the same as developing a photograph - one of the old fashioned kind, that is. Digital photography is something different.

Basically, you create the design of your choice, using objects - toothpicks, pressed flowers, stencils of various types, even black and white photographs - then you place your design on top of the pre-treated fabric. If you can place a piece of glass on top of your design, it will make the images sharper. If the glass wobbles around, leave it off.

Once everything is set, you take your creation out into the sun and place it in direct sunlight. The length of time needed will vary according to the direction of the sun and the temperature. But 5-10 minutes on a warm, sunny day or 15-30 minutes on cooler days should be enough to make a good sunprint.

Once the blueprint has been exposed, remove the objects, rinse the fabric and then lay it flat to dry (out of the sun). After the fabric is dry, it is ready to use.

And how do you use it?

If you have created an overall design, you could cut the fabric up and use it in patches for your quilt.

Possibly you created a design with leaves and flowers that will make its own quilt block, and you can make a nature quilt.

When my son was in third grade, his class made sunprints and each one of the children got to take theirs home as a treasure. I didn’t think of it at the time, but each of those could have been a block in a quilt presented to the teacher at the end of the school year.

Each quilter in your quilt group could contribute a sunprint block for a quilt. Sashing between the blocks, and an interesting border are enough to make a great quilt - maybe even something for a charity auction.

Sunprints are so fun and easy, every quilter should make at least one, even if it turns into nothing more than a simple wall hanging in a bathroom.
About The Author

Penny Halgren is a quilter of more than 26 years who shares her quilting experiences with children and senior citizens alike. Penny hosts www.TheQuiltingCoach.com and provides information for beginner quilters.

Consider this. The man who invented the wheel was wearing animal skins that had been sewn together with a needle. Maybe it was the needle that had the biggest impact on the future of mankind.

Being able to sew skins together to craft clothing for warmth and protection enabled Stone Age men to remain in northern areas of the globe, thus breaking away from their nomadic existence.

The needle has always been a simple tool. Whether it is made of bone or metal, the concept remains the same - a pointed instrument that pulls a thread through some type of material. The important elements of a needle are a sharp point to poke through material and a hole or hook to carry the thread.

During the Bronze Age, needles were developed that were made from metal instead of the primitive bone or horn. Early in that era, the most common metals for needles were gold and bronze, thus limited access to this fine tool to the wealthier individuals in town.

Later, when iron was developed, needle making expanded to include the new metal, and farmer’s wives could afford metal needles.

Records indicate that the Spanish became proficient at making excellent sewing needles, and guarded their secrets well, slowing down the spread of manufacturing to other parts of the world. Eventually, though, the English developed a process that continues to be the high bar for modern needles.

The process and the number of steps required to make a needle - even today - is amazing.

Beginning with a coil of wire, the first step was to cut the wire into 3 inch lengths and then straighten the curve. This seems like it would be simple, yet it required that the wire be heated, pressed and then cooled.

Once cooled, the wire was turned over to a grinder who made points at both ends of the wire. Because this step required a water wheel, early needle makers lived in villages near streams or rivers where they could harness the water for energy to run their water wheels.

As you can imagine, the work of a needle grinder was fairly deadly. Standing over a grindstone breathing particles of jagged steel from the needle and stone dust, these men refused to take any safety precautions since they believed it limited the number of newcomers to the trade. That it did, but it also limited their life expectancy.

Once the points were ground on the ends of the wire, it was taken to the stamping shop where two eyes and two gutters were stamped in the middle, and the eye was punched out.

Using fine wires between the new eyes of the needles, they were separated, the burrs were ground off the ends, and the needles were ready for tempering and finishing.

Tempering was done by heating the needles on trays, then dunking them in oil, making them brittle. Additional slow heating while being turned by hand with hatchet-like tools caused the metal needles to turn colors from pale red to blue and then to a straw color.

When the tempering was right, the heat was removed and the needles were ready for the more finishing.

Needles were felt (yes, by hand) to find small warps. If there were any, the needle was tapped with a small hammer on a tiny anvil to straighten it out. Then the needles were rolled in a heavy canvas with soap, oil and emery for 8 hours each day for 8 days until they were smooth and shiny.

Then they were dumped into a copper pan filled with soapsuds to be cleaned. The needles were then rinsed and dried in a bin of sawdust.

The challenge at that point was to remove the needles from the sawdust, line them up so they were even and then clump them together so they could be sized. After the needles were sorted into various sizes, they were weighed and put into equal-sized bundles, called a “company.”

But the process was still not yet complete!

In the final steps, the heads were heated to give them a blue tint and to soften them in order to countersink the eyes. Countersinking was to ensure smoothness so the needle would not shred the thread.

Once the countersinking was complete, skilled grinders once again polished the heads and points of the needles until the desired quality was achieved. Finally, the needles were packaged and sold.

Although completely automated, modern needles are still made from coiled wire, the pieces cut into the length of two needles, and points are ground on both ends of the piece. Two eye shapes are then stamped in the center of the piece, the holes are punched out and the needles are separated.

Modern needles are tempered and frequently electroplated with nickel. Often the eye portion is gilded, creating a kind of gold look.

A student of needle making estimated that the wire goes through some 70 processes before it is proclaimed to be a needle ready for a seamstress!

It’s amazing what it takes to create a short, straight, pointy thing with a hole in one end.
About The Author

Penny Halgren www.TheQuiltingCoach.com Penny is a quilter of more than 26 years who seeks to interest new quilters and provide them with the resources necessary to create beautiful family heirloom quilts while enjoying the history of the craft.

One of the best ways to strengthen family love is through friendship. And, one of the best ways to build friendship is through good old-fashioned play.

Now, of course, this may require some cozy conversation over the dinner table to remember what good old-fashioned fun was really like. But well worth the effort, according to a recent study that showed a strong correlation between love and play.

Families who bonded through shared recreational activities rated their family relationship satisfaction significantly higher than families who did not make the time to keep their feelings of being “best friends” alive. Furthermore, the study also revealed that this bond of friendship helped families weather both everyday stresses as well as unexpected life changing events with greater resiliency and less conflict.

How to Turn Your Family — Even Fighting Brothers & Sisters — into Best Friends

Looking back, I now realize that one of the smartest things my husband ever did was getting our children and myself involved in his hobbies. Fortunately, this occurred after he converted his love of drag racing into a safer expression of the sport - RC (radio-controlled nitro racing).

So now instead of squabbling over how much he’s spending on his hobby, I’m behind him 100 percent because “racing” is no longer something he goes off and does by himself. We do it together as a family!

We. Race. We take excursions and explore new places with our radio-controlled toys. There’s nothing like crunching through the leaves and fallen pine needles on a trail you newly discovered.

And although RC may not fit the bill for every family, it’s a great example of how to reframe the experience of a solo sport that otherwise would commonly cause resentment in a family relationship.

3 Top Tips to Reframing the Solo Sport Experience to Keep Your Family Relationship Growing Strong

1. Make it a “no scoreboard zone.” — I’m sure there are myriad permutations and computations that a family could come up with so they could pursue a hobby or sport together. And it doesn’t matter whether you’re good at it or not. The objective of playing together is to just have fun.

2. Create an evening where you make a game out of talking to your spouse about some of your favorite childhood activities. Take turns describing how excited you felt every time you had a chance to play. Now see if you can come up with a family version that expresses similar qualities. If nothing strikes you, let loose and play “let’s pretend” and make up an activity of your own.

3. Create an exciting atmosphere.

RC is our thing because I enjoy watching the excitement on the faces of both my husband and my children. It’s endearing to see “the child” in the person you love. And most importantly, RC let’s me get closer to them. Being inside the same world together creates a camaraderie that isn’t possible when you just go out to the movies.

Spending time with family is important. We often get so wrapped up in the importance of money or other things in life that we sometimes forget about the most important little things.

How many times can we as adults remember when our parents or perhaps relatives were too busy to spend time with us?

We always remember those times during our childhood. Perhaps it made you sad from time to time.

What can we do about it?

We can make sure we don’t make the same mistake with our own families. Follow my advice and you will create a memorable lifetime bond with your spouse and your children.
About The Author

Through the sport of RC, Kristie McDonald created a lifetime bond with her husband and her children. Now, she provides radio-controlled cars, trucks and helicopters to couples and families who want to end solo sport resentment with an exciting, trendy activity that will take you back to your childhood days. Go to: Nitro-Toyz.com/familytime.html to learn more about the sport of RC and get Kristie’s latest FREE report, Making “Fun Time” with Radio Control

Many parents keep their kids busy by shoving video game consoles in their hands. As much as video games are entertaining, it is better to find more enriching ways to keep your children occupied. These can involve print projects using a printer, and printer projects like these would help a lot in their development.

Here are ten nice printer projects that you can have kids do on their free time.

1. Paper cranes. In Japan, there is a belief that a person who completes folding a thousand paper cranes may make one wish to the crane, which the Japanese regard as holy. You can print several colorful patterns and instructions on how to make paper cranes, and keep your kids busy with this funny printer project.

2. Coloring books. Coloring books encourage kids to develop artistic talent, among other skills. This is an easy print project – you just print line patterns and give them for your kids to work on, along with a box of crayons.

3. Scrapbooks. Do your kids love collecting pictures they have drawn or cut out from a magazine? Encourage them to put them all together in a scrapbook. This print project only requires printing a few scrapbook patterns.

4. Dioramas. Kids can recreate a scene from their favorite cartoon or movie into a diorama. Make a print project out of this by printing out elements from the scene, including the characters and other props, and then let your kids put them all together.

5. Paper dolls. Little girls love dress-up dolls, in all their forms. Designing paper dolls and their clothes will make for a good printer project for your little girls.

6. Cardboard trains. If little girls have their paper dolls, little boys can have their paper trains. Make this print project by printing pictures of trains and then pasting these pictures on small cardboard boxes.

7. Kites. Flying kites at the park are great outdoor activities for kids. Make this another worthwhile printer project by printing colorful kite patterns. Then, let your kids put them all together and take them to the park.

8. Playing cards. There are so many games that kids can play using playing cards, and it would be nicer if these cards are customized. You can make customized playing cards as a print project.

9. Stickers and labels. Kids also like putting stickers all over their books and other things as a form of decoration and expression. Let them indulge in this by giving them stickers and labels that you made yourself as a print project.

10. Games. The best way to keep your kids busy is to give them a puzzle to work on. Devote yourself to a continuous print project of printing crossword puzzles, mazes, tic-tac-toe sheets, hangman puzzles and other such games and make your kids solve them.

Video game consoles are not the only way by which you can keep your kids from being bored. With easy print projects, you can keep your kids entertained and help them learn new skills.
About The Author

This Article is written by James Kara Murat from PrintCountry.com, the contributor of Printer Ink Cartridges Articles. More information on the subject is at Ten Printer Projects to Keep Kids Busy, and related resources can be found at PrintCountry FAQ.

In this day and age when kids are more interested with puttering around with MySpace, chatting with friends on cellphones and instant messengers, and beating up monsters on MMORPGs, what can grandparents do to convince their grandchildren that they too can do cool things with computers?

Printing projects do not have to be expensive and complicated. It does not even require Grandpa or Grandma to be a computer whiz. All that is needed in creating printing projects that will impress even the snottiest computer-literate kid are the right tools and a little creativity. Here are ten print projects that even grandparents will find easy and fun to do.

1. Storybooks. Many grandparents spend a lot of time with their grandchildren by telling stories. One great printing project that grandparents can do with their grandchildren is to come up with their own storybooks. They can type up their own stories on a word processor and accompany them with scans of pictures drawn by the kids.

2. Jigsaw puzzles. Why buy a jigsaw puzzle from the store? A grandparent can just print a good picture on glossy paper, glue it on good cardboard, and then cut it up into jigsaw puzzle pieces. This printing project can be enjoyed by the grandchildren on lazy, rainy afternoons.

3. Origami finger puppets. Finger puppets are good aids for storytelling. A grandparent can print out patterns on paper as well as origami instructions. Then, he or she can have the grandchildren work on this printing project together, and then play with the results.

4. Stationery. Though it is the age of the email and the instant messenger, handwritten notes are still appreciated. Grandparents can make stationery sets – a stationery pad and matching envelopes – as a printing project and use them to teach their grandchildren the fine art of writing letters by hand.

5. Photo albums. Kids are always interested in pictures of themselves and people they know. Grandparents can make a digital photo album print project by scanning old pictures, arranging them in a snazzy layout, and then printing them on good photo paper.

6. Family trees. Grandparents can make the digital photo album into a print project of a higher level – a family tree with pictures of each member. Family trees always give kids a sense of belonging.

7. Picture quilts. Grandparents do not have to limit themselves on print projects using paper. They can use fabric and make picture quilts for their grandkids’ comforters.

8. Gift wrappers. Grandparents can wrap up little presents for their grandchildren using wrappers they made as print projects.

9. Iron-on prints. Kids always enjoy T-shirts that are customized for them. Grandparents can make printing projects out of this by printing out patterns on transfer paper and then ironing them on T-shirts.

10. Stuffed toys. Custom-made stuffed toys are also neat. This printing project involves printing out animal patterns on fabric, sewing them together and putting some stuffing into the animal.

Print projects are great ways that grandparents can impress their grandchildren and make these youngsters believe that grandparents can be cool despite being old.

About The Author
James Kara Murat the contributor of Printer Ink Cartridges Articles. More information on the subject is at Ten Cool Printing Projects Grandparents Can Make For Their Grandkids, and related resources can be found at PrintCountry Printer Ink Cartridges Funny Stuff.