Help!

[balawre.livejournal.com]

I finally thought of an idea for male Christmas presents... I need opinions though! One of my cousins is in the marines, one a new father, one an avid hunter and one a firefighter. I decided to make them all framed and matted 'prayers' for their different interests / occupations. I did all the work myself in Photoshop and would print the end product at 300 dpi on watercolor paper (web preview looks a bit crappy, low resolution and all). Is it too girly?

HERE is the firefighter design.

I polished off Christmas shopping today and all the packages are wrapped and waiting patiently for Christmas in the closet...

Speaking of the closet... when I opened the door, my WEDDING DRESS popped out. Literally it popped out, I shoved all the layers in the closet when we moved! What does one do with a wedding dress - I can't eBay it (too sentimental) but I also can't make anything out of it. like a quilt or a blanket, because it's mostly tulle with pearls sewn on it. Any ideas?

(no subject)

[cherrystone.livejournal.com]

(first post, i think)

hey guys - my question is sort of vague but i figured this was the place to go. i have a few pairs of mary jane shoes (i am too tall) and while i like the shape/style of them, i don't wear them as much as i might because they are all a little too shiney. i'm cheap and buy imitation leather vs. the real thing, and now it's coming back to haunt me.

in any case i was wondering if there is any sort of durable glaze-type material i could use to give them more of a matte finish without messing with the colors or running a major risk of flaking off from wear and tear.

does such a thing exist? what do you recommend?
thanks so much!

(x-posted)

Plastic dealies...?

[eaterofsouls.livejournal.com]

A friend of mine wants me to make him an Invader Zim themed hat, when he's in alien form. But instead of easy felt eyes, he INSISTS on having the eyes be 3-d hard plastic.

Now where in the world would I find something like that??

They'll need to be like an egg cut down the verticle axis, instead of the horizontal (so easter eggs are out of the question). Sculpey would probably be too heavy and break too easily, right?

Then I'll need some way of attaching them... any suggestions on what to do for this?

Bag

[rubyohos.livejournal.com]

Does anyone have a [tote] bag tutorial or just simple instructions to making a bag?

Simple is good because i'm making my first bag.
I'd want it to look something like this:



If you can help me out i'd be very thankful :]

[bag from cutxpaste.com]

yay!!

[somavenus.livejournal.com]

finished my pants :D

no fair!

[ravenwings.livejournal.com]

I have instructions & drawings/diagrams on how to knit and I'm still having problems...so I turn to my husband to see if he has any recommendations...he looks over the directions, takes the needle and yarn from me and has already knitted a whole row in under a minute! Grrr I say!

x-posted to knitting

Hmm..

[straylight7.livejournal.com]

Okay, so this Christmas i've decided to buy one of my friends a CD and I was going to put it in a piece of those fishnet pantyhose things and decorating it with band buttons and things.. so here's my question. Where can one actually get fishnet pantyhose? Thanks =]

Also, I have another question.. I plan on making another one of my friends a guitar pick holder out of one of those pink birth control pill holders. I'm going to cut magazine pictures out and paste on to it. So I was wondering what would I put on it to kind of preserve it so the pictures don't get torn. [sorry, i'm not the craftiest person ever]

Anniversary Favors

[polkadottedcows.livejournal.com]

My grandparents 50th wedding anniversary is coming up. We're having the big celebration in July.
With as many people as have been invited, we want to start with favors, ASAP, just to get a jump on them before the planning of everything else has to be done, as my cousin gets married the weekend before, as well :/

200 invitations have gone out, since most people will have to make travel arrangements to get here, they had to go out early. Each invitation is for 2 people or more. A majority of the people, probably half or more will be 60+. My aunt and I are drawing a blank on something for favors. We hope to be able to incorporate gold somehow, and can't really afford to spend $5 per person per favor either.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Newbie..

[makeuplovegloss.livejournal.com]

I'm new here, and I was looking for some newbie friendly projects/crafty things I could do with duct tape. I did an internet search, and pretty much all I came up with was Duct Tape Wallets and Duct Tape Roses. I got those 2, now I need soemthing else. So if you have projects, websites, books, resources, whatever you can share with me, I'd greatly appreciate it. Just reply here or mail me at katebug48@yahoo.com Thanks!

AM I THE ONLY ONE!!!!

[lvlylatinalady.livejournal.com]

Am the the only havin issues with Snapfish? Or is it just me? DO I need to find a diff hosting site?

(no subject)

[justletmesleep.livejournal.com]

t_shirt_surgery is back. i'm so happy. <3

Bookbinding... again

[iterrible.livejournal.com]

I'm using this tutorial for my book binding endeavor and wanted to know if it would be acceptable to sew the signatures with my sewing machine and then bind them together by hand.
What is the best type of glue to use when binding the book? I want the cover to be as flawless as possible and don't want the glue to be obvious. Would spray glue be best?
Finally, is linen thread preferable when sewing the book together? The tutorial I'm using says to use fishing line but I don't really like working with fishing line. If not linen thread then what?

I'm hoping to make a sketch book for my grandfather for Christmas and I really want it to be as perfect and professional as possible, or at least have that "I made it myself" charm so I want to get the best possible advice before I start.

(no subject)

[rawiscorrri.livejournal.com]

hey, =i have a question. at ac moore, there are a bunch of different flavors in bottles for making candy. i was wondering if you could use these for scents in soap or lip gloss?

How can I spruce this up a bit?

[trueseven.livejournal.com]

I made this patchwork quilted wall hanging a while back, but after staring at it for a couple months, it seems a little boring. Any ideas on how I could make it a bit more exciting and hip?

new aol containers

[pinkninky.livejournal.com]

has anybody else gotten the ( new aol cd containers )

all i can think of to do with it is take out the aol stuff, and use the new big jewel case for burned DVDs...or make a fancy case for burned CDs to be given as gifts.

ideas ladies and gents?

heeeey.

[faithonfire.livejournal.com]

i was wondering. how do you make these flowers? they're so pretty!

http://www.blissen.com/clai12.html

some more help

[lolamartini.livejournal.com]

Ok, I need some super quick help !!
I just found out that I am going to my mom's friends house tomorrow for Thanksgiving..
I have to work all night tonight and I will have to no time to pick something up.. and I have to leave super early tomorrow morning.
I need to make some sort of hostess present, but something that is cheap, easy to find materials for, and easy to make !!
I know you all always have great ideas..
please help
<3 lola

Question

[bythestars.livejournal.com]

The other day I stenciled on a brand new t-shirt (with fabric paint). The problem is, I forgot to wash it before I started painting. Does anyone know what will happen when I do wash it? Is my shirt doomed?

(no subject)

[rawiscorrri.livejournal.com]

haha, i have yet another question. i went shopping today at ac moore, and i bought a ton of beads and jewelry making supplies. among them was head pins, probably for making earring. i put the beads on it and the earring clasp, but then, i couldn't figure out how to end it so that the pin with the beads would not fall off the earring...i thought i could bend it and stick it under a bead but that didn't work so well. any ideas? i also have regular wire but the pins look more professional i think. haha.

greetings!

[mandirao.livejournal.com]

Hey all, this is my first post here, though I've been watching for a while now. You girlies have given me some great inspiration for x-mas gifts this year! Thanks for that! And I love the FAQs section... so much useful information.

And now my question: My mom gave me her old Phaff 1222 E sewing machine. I know it works great, but it hasn't had any kind of tune up in years and it's missing the foot pedal as well as the power cord (it's also missing the instructions! But I think I might be able to manage without those for now). Do any of you know where I can get parts online? I've Googled for it and searched on e-bay but haven't had much luck. Also, what kind of place should I take it to to have it serviced, I want to make sure it's in optimum condition. I don't really want to do all my sewing by hand, so any advice would be much appreciated! Thanks so much in advance! ;-)

a new pin-up girl journal and some handmade jewelry

[talentshow.livejournal.com]

A beaded/silver chain bracelet I made.

( Gil Elvgren girlie picnic image journal...and some other jewelry [4 images] )

(no subject)

[reachforlight.livejournal.com]

hi. i'm quite new posting, though i come here everyday just to look at what other people make, and it's very cool. I was wondering if anyone could give me some tips about origami. I want to write something, and then maybe fold it up in a cute way so someone could open it up and read it like that. I know this is probably really simple, but I am really simple. ;D If anyone has ideas, that would be awesome. thanks a bunch.

/anne mary.

(no subject)

[ink-smudge-smut.livejournal.com]

so for christmas, i am giving magnetic poetry (and clearly, marble magnets)... and i wanted to use cookie sheets as a board for the magnets...

can i spray paint a design onto the cookie sheets and make it last?

should i use some sort of sealant?

help!

(no subject)

[nirvanasashes.livejournal.com]

Hey everyone!
Im interested in making magnetic poetry and I was wondering who here has made it before? How do you do it?
Also, I need help with words. I wanna make an erotic one (wink wink) and I need help thinking of words

thanx in advance!

Suga' Scrubdiddlydub

[prophetspyder.livejournal.com]

So, after searching and searching for a good sugar scrub recipe that didn't require me to have an entire pharmacy/craft store in my house, my mom and I decided to more or less wing it, and this is what we came up with:

- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar (we only had golden, so that's what we used)
- 1 cup epson salt
- 1/2 cup ground oatmeal (done in the coffee grinder)
- 1/2 - 1 tsp glycerin (instead of using ess. oil, we bought glycerin scented w/ rosewater)
- drop or two of oil (olive, sunflower, whatever) DO NOT ADD TOO MUCH

Mix dry ingredients, then add oil and small amount of glycerin. Mix, add more glycerin until mixture packs nicely but still crumbles. If more moisture is needed, use a little more brown sugar.

Wet skin, scrub w/ mixture, then rinse thoroughly.
(If anyone cares, a small bottle of glycerine is $1.50ish at Wal-Mart (Canada)).