My Craft Channel has been a personal mission years in the making.  Crafting has been an important part of my life for many years.  I was always creative, yet I never considered myself  “crafty” until one day (many years ago), when my husband was in law school.  I had  a one year old, and another baby on the way.  With no time or money, I remember feeling trapped within the four walls of my home. One day I discovered an old shelf.  I decided to try and paint it to match my living room.  When it was completed I found myself smiling every single time I looked at the wall.  Suddenly it dawned on me . . .  I did NOT live in a prison with four walls.  I was surrounded by a blank canvas just waiting to be discovered.  My life changed that day.  Crafting is a personal expression of creativity.  It has filled my life with so much joy, it’s my mission to share that with others.

I am thrilled to be surrounded by such group of amazing women on My Craft Channel.  Over the next few weeks we will unveil our new hosts one at a time in an exciting promotion called “20 Cricuts in 20 Days”.   I scoured the country and literally interviewed hundreds of women.  I feel like I have found the cream of the crop.  These women far exceed any talent I could even “hope” to have.  I am excited to announce my new show “News, Paper, Scissors, &  Glue”.     Stop by each week where I’ll have a lively discussion with industry insiders.  They will discuss hot industry news, new product releases, and managing the ever changing crafting market. We invite you to take a look behind the scenes with manufacturers, retailers, and top designers.  Find out their secret to success and how things work behind the scenes.

Thanks to all of you who have been so supportive.  Please follow our new FB page and check out how to win one of 20 Cricuts.  Tell them I sent you : ) http://www.facebook.com/mycraftchannel.   You can also read more about the channel at http://www.mycraftchannelblog.com/

I got this inspiration for this here http://secretleavespaperworks.blogspot.com/2008/11/new-old-things-from-secret-leaves.html

This was a fun one.  I simply traced a fish shape and punched various sized circles with a hole punch.  I used some really cool paintchips that had a blue crackle paint finish.
I saw several great paintchip notebooks on Etsy and decided to try my hand at it.

I created these coasters by cutting out a large circle from felt.  Then I used rope and hot-glue to wrap in a circular pattern I wrapped a simple dollar store wreath with rope and then used the technique shown above on the coasters to create some rossette flowers.  I topped them with some fabric and a button. This is a softer look for rope.  I wrapped a mason jar with a light colored rope and filled with flowers This was probably my favorite project.  I used an old frame.  Removed the glass, then simply stapled three strands of rope across the back.  Then you can use small clothespins to clip photos onto the rope strands. This is a tin milk jug I found at a garden center awhile back.  I just wrapped it with rope and then printed out the label below onto printable fabric and attached it to the front.  You can download the label by clicking the photo below.  (You could also cover a glass milk jar or something similar)

so here is the picture that they asked me to use for inspiration

This ended up being my favorite project.  And if I liked butterflies I would probably actually use it lol.  I actually added some jeweled stick pins after I took this photo that made me like it even more.  I simply ironed the butterflies onto some thin canvas type fabric then I cut around them leaving a bit of an edge and then I frayed the edges.  I used a little bit of hot glue to attach the center of the butterfly onto a larger piece of fabric (cut to fit in the frame 14X16). Then I ironed on the numbers TIP: I would iron on the numbers first.  It was kind of difficult to do it after I had already attached the butterflies. To get the butterfly images and the numbers simply click on the download button below.  Make sure you print it out in the “flip image” mode for iron-ons.

Okay, this one isn’t all that unique, but I wanted to add a twist to the typical flower embellishments that you see on sweaters these days.  I simply cut out a bunch of butterflies and lightly adhered the centers to the sweater with fabric glue and then attached the pearls.  Make sure you use fabric that doesn’t fray or some kind of fray-check product on the edges.  It is also best to hand wash.
Shadow boxes are HOT HOT HOT right now.  My favorite ones are from 7 Gypsies.  They happen to be one of my favorite companies. However, they can be pricey.  This is kind of a quick inexpensive alternative.  It is made from a set of boxes found at the dollar store.  I actually purchased two different sets and then mixed and matched.  The cool thing is that it is kind of like a two-for-one because you can use the tops for one box and the bottoms for a second shadow box.  I simply glued it together with hot glue (Imaginisce’s cordless glue gun of course!!!) Then I sprayed it with off-white spray paint and embellished it with patterned paper (restoration collection by Crate Paper).  I attached a drawer pull/handle to the top and added some ribbon and bling.  I absolutely LOVE the quote that I added to the inside.

This project isn’t all that impressive. However, the technique is actually pretty cool. I used a butterfly paper punch to punch out some butterfly shapes out of . . . an empty pop can (a full one would have made a mess lol). I simply cut the pop can open and laid it flat and then punched out as many shapes as I could. It took a little bit of muscle power, but it totally worked!!! Then I painted and layered them and glued them to the outside of a glass candle holder. Pretty sweet technique.