I was Periscoping the other day and doing some poured art using Pebeo liquid oils. (I know, I totally have to get that review up and ready!) One of my watchers told me that the Pebeos were on clearance at Hobby Lobby, so I made a pilgrimage to the closest store (an hour away) to see what they had. And of course, I came out with….MORE! Take a look: https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=ifF2Nt8Ulsc So how about you- do you ever go in for […]
NYC Michael’s Craft Haul- July 2016
CRAFT HAUL TIME!! So as I’m getting used to my new neighborhood, I had to make a trip to my “local” Michael’s store! Luckily, I do have a craft store within walking distance. (It’s 30 blocks, but that’s still walking distance in Manhattan!) Anyway, I don’t have all of the choices I had in Ohio (which included Tuesday Morning, Dollar Tree, Pat Catan’s, JoAnn’s AND Michaels) but I do feel lucky to have Michael’s on hand. I did a Periscope on […]
Craft Countdown with Heather Mann
Today I have a great Craft Countdown with a blogger that is the mastermind behind Dollar Store Crafts. Meet Heather Mann! Heather has been hard at work this past year on her first book- CraftFail! Based on the website of the same name, CraftFail takes a good-natured look at crafts that go horribly wrong. All of the projects are either Heather’s or user-submitted; and it’s all in good fun. I was surprised at how many useful tips there are in […]
Craft Countdown with Lisa Fulmer
Time for another Craft Countdown! Today we have Lisa Fulmer of LisaLizaLou.blogspot.com, and the author of the NEW craft book Craft Your Stash! Here’s a little bit about Lisa: I am an artist, crafter, teacher, writer, on-air talent, as well as a marketing consultant. I’ve worked in the craft industry for many years and I’m an active member of the Craft & Hobby Association. I’ve designed projects and video tutorials for many manufacturers including Spellbinders Paper Arts, Ranger Ink, DecoArt, SmoothFoam […]
Craft Countdown with Angie Holden of Country Chic Cottage
Welcome to another Craft Countdown! Today we are welcoming Angie Holden of TheCountryChicCottage.net. Angie is an amazing crafter, great writer, and one of the best gals I know on the web. (Some of you may remember when Angie was a part of #TeamCTD and a regular contributor to this site! I was thrilled when she agreed to a hangout-style video interview. Grab a cuppa, pull up a chair, and spend the next 10 minutes or so getting some great ideas […]
Scrapbook Soup Behind the Page Interview 2014
Earlier this spring I was invited to film some segments for the nationally-televised Scrapbook Soup tv program, which airs on PBS. In addition to the two tutorials I filmed (including the Two-Fer Inlaid Diecut Cards and Making Custom Stencils and Masks) I also was interviewed by the host, Julie Fei-Fan Balzer. This was an unscripted, unrehearsed interview- and I was sorta surprised at some of the answers that popped out of my mouth! Take a look: That last answer was […]
Craft Countdown with Carolina Moore
Today we have a Craft Countdown for you- a series of questions with AMAZING crafty bloggers. We are also testing out a new incarnation of our Craft Countdown- a video chat! Our guest is the lovely Carolina Moore from www.CarolinaMoore.com, where you can find the whole list of her crafty endeavors, including: 30 Minute Crafts Crafty Hangouts Always Expect Moore Here’s the video chat with her- it’s about 15 minutes long, so grab a cup of coffee and settle in! […]
Craft Countdown with Katie Waltemeyer
Today we have a special guest on our Craft Countdown- Katie Waltemeyer, our newest member of #TeamCTD! She is an amazing blogger and crafter, and we are so honored to have her on board! Hi y’all! I’m Katie and you can find me over at my little slice of the internet, Sweet Rose Studio! I am so blessed to be a wife to my high school sweetheart and mother to our two sweet, crazy kids. In my past life I […]
Craft Countdown with Sara Carns
I’m a stay at home mom to two fabulous girls in the Arizona desert that loves to create just about anything from altered art to last minute costumes for my kids! My mother started my passion for crafting at a young age and I started going to rubber stamp conventions at nine years old; I haven’t stopped making handmade cards for friends and family ever since! I am a writer and reviewer for Craft Test Dummies and recently became […]
Craft Countdown with Julie Fei-Fan Balzer
Julie Fei-Fan Balzer is a painter and mixed media artist. She currently authors the “Adventures in Arting” column in Cloth Paper Scissors Magazine, hosts a bi-monthly podcast by the same name, and is the co-host of Scrapbook Soup TV on PBS. She teaches art classes around the world as well as online and through hour-long instructional DVDs. Julie also designs products such as stamps and stencils for the craft industry and consults on product development. She lives in a […]
Craft Countdown with Amy Anderson
My name is Amy. I am a 36-year-old crafty gal who has lived all over the country (a lot in the Northwest) and finally ended up in Atlanta. I was born from creative genes, so I’m carrying on the tradition. I have been knitting for 18 years, sewing for longer and decoupaging for just a few. I do all of these things on a daily basis, or at least as much as I can. In addition to Mod Podge, […]
Craft Countdown with Margot Potter
Margot Potter is an internationally celebrated designer, author, trash to treasure trover, freelance writer, consultant, public speaker, performer and TV Host. She invites people to not only think outside of the box, but to tear it up, repurpose it into something fabulous and stand on it to reach for the stars. Equally comfortable at the writer’s desk, in the design studio, onstage or in front of the camera, she’s been a professional performer for twenty eight years and a […]
Craft Countdown with Becky Striepe
My name is Becky Striepe (pronounced “stree-pee,” like “sleepy”), and I am a freelance writer and vegan crafter living in Atlanta, Georgia. My life’s mission is to make green crafting and vegan food accessible to everyone! 5 tools or supplies you can’t be without 1. Vintage buttons 2. Ric Rac 3. Fabric scissors 4. Burlap 5. A rainbow of thread colors 4 favorite sources of creative inspiration 1. Food and cooking – I love making […]
Craft Countdown with Vicki O’Dell, The Creative Goddess
5 – 4 – 3 – 2 – 1 I’ve been writing here on Craft Test Dummies for a while now (2 years this coming July). While at CHA in January Jenny and I started talking (Well, ok. The truth is that we NEVER STOP talking but that’s a story for another day) and two things came about. The first thing is that I promoted myself to Managing Editor here at Craft Test Dummies. With Jenny taking on more […]
Behind the Scenes at “Scrapbook Soup”
I find it amusing and beyond coincidence that the majority of PBS craft shows are shot on the East side of Cleveland. Every week, my favorite crafty people fly in, shoot their segments, and fly away back to their busy lives. Imagine how thrilled I was when one of my new crafty friends, Julie McGuffee, rang me up to let me know she was in town taping her new show, Scrapbook Soup, and I was invited to stop by and […]
Vicki Howell Spins Newspaper into Yarn
I love me some cool recycling crafts. And as an avid newspaper reader, I really have a LOT of paper to recycle at the end of the week! This week though, I’m going to pull some out and try this idea from Vicki Howell on making yarn. Don’t have a drop spindle? Don’t worry. Folks at Spindle and Wheel have a tutorial on how to make one from recycled CDs! Yes, folks, this post is a two-fer! I think this […]
Sunday Spotlight: Mod Podge Rocks!
As you may know, I’m both a fan AND a friend of Amy Anderson from Mod Podge Rocks! She has a great website, featuring….of course….Mod Podge. And she’s one of the nicest folks in the industry. Besides that, her site is AWESOME. She features great projects- and beyond that, she doesn’t just repost someone else’s projects- she shows you a great pic and then gives you the link so that you can visit THEIR blog and make friends. Now isn’t […]
New Years’ Craft Resolution Recap: Checking in on 2010
Last year I composed a series of three posts to flesh out my resolutions for 2010- to clean out my studio with charitable intentions, to branch out and cross-pollinate, and to use a word prompt. I th0ught before I committed to making NEW New Year’s Crafty Resolutions, should see how I lived up to last year, right? On Charitable Intentions: Actually, I’m way ahead of the came on this one! I spent all last week on Crafting Spaces for Spaces […]
Crafting Spaces for Spaces to Craft, Part Five
So here we are at Day Five of my studio re-org, clean-up, and tour. This is the last section of my studio to share, because this is my most often-used workspace, and consequently, the messiest. Before I started tidying up, it looked like THIS: Now, it’s usually not THIS bad, but yes…usually it is messy. Boxes of product on the floor, project leftovers in trays, and little bowls of loose gew-gaws on the table. Anyway, as I was cleaning up […]
Crafting Spaces for Spaces to Craft, Part Four
Today’s focus is on my multi-purpose area- my sewing/paper-trimming/die cutting area. It’s only a small peninsula, but it gets a lot of play. It’s actually a “return”- a table that sticks out from a computer desk that used to be in my husband’s office. The file cabinet underneath was part of that set, too. Now it’s nestled between two folding tables! The moral of today’s story is don’t be afraid to repurpose furniture- the rest of the office desk got […]
