dude, how'd you make that?

As a youngster my craft ideas consisted of sewing playing cards together to make little card holders (thinking back now, I realize that was pure genius) & gluing felt onto fun-fur to make finger puppets for members of my family. Imagine what I would have done had I had the Internet! My afternoons in the basement typing on a typewriter with unmarked keys (my parents bought it at a garage sale, I’d spend hours memorizing the sequence of letters) and sewing on my Little 'Miss Durham' toy sewing machine.....
(*just* like this one, but beige & orange...come back to me little Miss Durham....)




Would have been full of making even awesomer stuff. If you have an idea but don’t know where to start with it, chances are someone else does. Exchanging ideas has never been this simple & it’s time everyone takes advantage of it.

So here, then, are a few of my favourite online ‘How-tos’:

Dying to have a wallet that no one else does? Sick of carrying around your cash in a zip lock bag? Have minimal crochet skills? Why not make this absolutely adorable argyle wallet?
This tutorial on how to make an empty pack of gum into an ipod sleeve is down-right brilliant!
I had straight pins in my bed, in my couch, on the floor…everywhere! Until I made this adorable pin cushion. While there, be sure to check out Whip Up’s intense list of tutorials. Favourites of mine are these cutie pies and these tissue holders.
While searching for the perfect Christmas gift for the four legged friends on my list, I came across this tutorial for making fancy dog leaches. Cutest!

Of course, there are websites dedicated to the making of things. Everyone knows about Craftster, right? While it can be overwhelming at first (there’s 5 billion forums & sub-boards & what if you just want to know how to make a sock monkey?) take advantage of the ‘search’ option at the top of the forums page. This helps to sift through all the threads (sic) & get you to where you need to go. Some of my favourite Craftster tutorials are how to re-cover boring flats into the cutest shoes ever, and the endless supply of bag & wallet making tutorials. Apart from the tutorials, just reading through the boards & seeing so many great projects is enough to spark my creative firestorm. Another super amazing website is Instructables.com this little baby is an amazing forum for people to share their how-tos with the whole world! Many, *MANY* hours can be spent searching through these pages.

Lego USB stick, anyone?




One Hour Craft is another site I visit very often & it always has cute little projects you can bang out in an evening if you need to get a craft fix in. (like a junkie…..seriously….)

SO much crafting! SO much cute stuff to make! Go! Go forth & craft!