How To Make Folded Paper Stars

Allow me to introduce the lovely and talented Ching Ya, a dear friend and social media geek with a delightful creative streak. Today, she’ll teach us how to fold our own paper stars in this photo tutorial. Enjoy! ~ Jen

The Cute Little Stars

Twinkle twinkle little stars
How colorful and adorable you are…

I’ve always loved them, it’s my dream to hold the stars in my hands and admire their beauty.

Guess what? My dream came true after all! (more…)

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Homemade Holiday Decorations – Frugal Family Fun

This year, the holidays are going to be especially tough for a lot of families - so what better time to rediscover the true meaning of the season, sitting down with the kids to create new traditions of creative crafts? Here's a round-up of wonderful ideas, free patterns, and tutorials for frugal holiday decorations that you can make yourself... [read more]

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3 Easy Ways to Chart a Knitting Pattern

How can a crafter turn an image into a custom pattern for a knitted motif — quickly and easily — without spending a fortune?

It’s not as difficult as you might think, to make your own knitting pattern, and you can do it for little or no cost at all.  Suddenly, all sorts of creative possibilities come to mind —

  • custom logo knitwear for the cheerleading squad
  • a child’s artwork reproduced on a sweater vest for Granny
  • Impressionist landscapes rendered on knitted afghans and throws
  • a knitted tote with a rock’n’roll idol’s portrait
  • your pet’s portrait on a knitted cushion cover…

Here, for example, is a chart for knitting a Union Jack flag motif in three colours. (Click on the thumbnail image to see a larget version, or feel free to grab the printable PDF knitting chart to stitch up a UK flag as you wish.)

Now, let’s talk about how that knitting chart is made…

Here are three different ways to chart out a pattern onto a grid — without having to invest in some of that delicious but high-priced stitch-mapping pattern-design software — and each method has its strengths and weaknesses.

  1. Graph paper (either pre-printed knitting chart paper, or grids that you print out yourself) and coloured pencils or such
  2. Free online image-to-knitting pattern conversion tool
  3. Free downloadable Knitting Pattern Generator software

A lot of this will apply to a wide range of grid-based needle crafts and art projects, too — crochet, needlepoint, petit-point, cross stitch — possibly even related crafts like fabric-paint embroidery, if you’re into pointillism techniques — as well as beading and mosaics, so don’t go away, even if knitting is not your craft of choice!
(more…)

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