CRUISE 2011: ICE Resin Storybox Pendants

One of our most popular projects was the pendants we made using ICE Resin. We started with the background and added pictures and objects to create a story within a box. The resin cured crystal clear. We used papers from http://www.artchixstudio.com and miniatures from http://silvercrowcreations.com/ and http://cjsangels.com/.

I'm giving this apron away today in the 9 am (PT) hour at *Let's Create LIVE*

 Let's Create LIVE! is starting very shortly!

CRAFTY CINEMA: Water for Elephants-inspired Circus Brooch

Water for Elephants is one of those novels that seeps under your skin and stays there. Centered on depression-era circus life, it is teeming with adventure, suspense, breathtaking scenery and a highly forbidden romance. No wonder it became an instant best-seller that eventually went Hollywood. Twilight’s Robert Pattinson and Academy Award-winner Reese Witherspoon star in the lead roles do the characters justice! I went with my daughter to see it last weekend and we both left the theatre starry-eyed in bliss...
Here's how to make a canvas brooch inspired by the book and film!

CRUISE 2011: Face Painting and Artful Aprons!

One of our projects was to decorate a plain apron using Tulip® Fabric Markers™, Tulip® Fashion Glitter™ Shimmer Transfer Sheets, and Tulip® Beads in a Bottle™ Paint.

We also dabbled in the Tulip® Body Art™ Kits and decorated our faces for dinner on the ship!

Adventures with foil tape (faux embossing!)

Foil tape faux embossing - my latest addiction!

 Recently I picked up a chunky roll of foil tape at the hardware store because I wanted to experiment with faux embossing. LOVE it! Read on to see the technqiues I tried!

PHX: Free THOR Screening Passes

This month is all about giveaways! Paramount Pictures contacted me to offer up TEN sets of screening passes for THOR for Phoenix movie fans!
  
Thor
Director: Kenneth Branagh

Synopsis: After his reckless actions reignite an ancient war, the Norse god (Chris Hemsworth) is cast out of Asgard and forced to live among humans on Earth.
Release Date: Friday, May 6, 2011
Rating: RATED PG-13 FOR ADULT SITUATIONS, VIOLENCE.
Screening Info:
May 3, 2011 at 7:00PM
Phoenix, AZ

CLICK HERE FOR PASSES (First come, first serve!)

Crafty Chica Cruise Tote Giveaway (3 of them!) starts NOW!

Full contents of tote, plus the actual tote itself! Click on image for a close up view.

Special thanks to the sponsors of the

5th Annual Crafty Chica Cruise! 

I'm giving away THREE totes that all the cruisers recieved, and I've added some supplies from our workshops, a T-shirt, oilcloth from the Mexican fabric store, as well as printed directions. 

Click on to see how to enter to win one!

Bangle Bonanza

 The first project for the cruisers was a warm up craft, coloring wood bangles! Here are some pictures!

This time next week: Let's Create LIVE!

 

Next week from 9-11 am (PT), iLoveToCreate  is having a LIVE online craft party! Here are the details:

Lights! Camera! Action! iLoveToCreate®, manufacturer of beloved Aleene’s® and Tulip® brands, will transform its design studio into a live set for a two-hour broadcast celebrating all things crafty.

On Thursday, April 28^th from 9-11 a.m. (PT), guests from anywhere in the world with internet access can visit

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/ilovetocreate  

and join the live, virtual party that will include craft tutorials by celebrity designers, prize giveaways, tips and techniques from the iLoveToCreate® in-house designers and more.

RSVP HERE

Stay tuned to the iLTC blog for more details!

bareMinerals Skincare! Giveaway too!

You never know who is reading your blog!

Recently I received an email from the folks at bareMinerals asking if I would try samples of their new skin care line to use on the cruise. Um, yes!Here is my review:

This is my brain on CRAFTS

Sweet & sour kind of week, and it's only Monday night...

Sweet and sour: Candy cart outside of the fabric store in Cabo San Lucas.

The sweet: We returned yesterday from the 5th Annual Crafty Chica Cruise! It was just like the Aladdin song- an indescribable feeling! We were pampered, we crafted, we shopped, we crafted again, we ate, laughed, danced and crafted all the way up to the very last minute. I have oodles of pictures to share and I will very soon.

El Pastelito de flores Art Apron

 This year on the 5th Annual Crafty Chica Art Cruise, we are making art aprons using new Tulip Shimmer Iron-On Sheets, Shimmer Fabric Paints and Fabric Markers. With a little bit of Beads in a Bottle.

Easy Papel Picado Stencils

 This is Patrick's workshop for the 5th Annual Crafty Chica Cruise! Sponsored by Fiskars!

 You draw a design on cardstock, and then use a cutting mat, and a craft knife to cut out the design. It'
s tricky because you  have to be aware of the negative and positive. You cut away the white space to leave the black.

MAYA IN THE MOMENT TEEN CRAFT: Swirl Embellished Dog Bed

"I am Bianca, Queen Chihuahua of this house!"

I wanted to decorate a bed for one of my dogs, and the first dog (out of our 5) to jump in was Bianca!

Tune into Sew It All TV!

It's been a long time since we've had new craft shows on the airwaves. Thank goodness for PBS! The station is now serving up a variety of new crafty programming, including the new series, Sew It All.

Starry Sea Spray Dye Blouse

I call this one Starry Sea Cruise Blouse!

 I'm prepping to depart for the 5th Annual Crafty Chica Cruise later this month and I wanted to make something fun to wear that made me feel, well, cruise-y! I whipped up this star motif blouse set to a blue and green color scheme. Here's how I made it:

Finished wallet!

One pen. One new wallet!

Road trip craft

Hoping to have this covered in marker designs by the time we reach our destination!

Our official shirt design for the cruise!

Here is our official shirt for the upcoming cruise. Patrick drew it for me, he even included my favorite drink - rum punch! We left the design open like a coloring book so it can be colored in with fabric markers and glitter!

Juicy Journaling with SARK!

Planet Sark has always been one of my favorite sites for inspiration and motivation. It's filled with so much color and cheer, I can't help but pop out my markers and go to town on the nearest hard surface available. I love that she recognizes writing as a big component of the artistic process. Especially when it comes to journaling! If you have ever wanted to write, but didn't know where to start, SARK has just the program for you! She just kicked off Volume 2 of her popular Juicy Journaling series.

BOOK REVIEW: Modern Log Cabin Quilting by Susan Beal

Modern Log Cabin Quilting: 25 Simple Quilt and Patchwork Projects for Sewers (@22.99, Potter Craft, paperback) is not your great-great grandmothers quilt book. This one is for contemporary fabric designers, as well as anyone who is in search of a (cleverly) twisted take on tradition.


If you've never considered the thought of poking a needle through anything, Susan Beal will change your mind. She offers a wide scale of design ideas for various skill levels that range from cute to edgy, all presented in a friendly, conversational tone. And if you still aren't sold on the whole tufted bedcover concept, there are plenty of accessory projects to try, such as Color Block Tea Towels, a zip bag, camera case, coasters and handbags.

My favorite is the Anniversary Quilt, where you dedicate a square to a piece of fabric from a favorite memory, add some patchwork magic, and use them to construct a bright and cheery material masterpiece. I still have plenty of my kids clothing from when they were little and this will be a fantastic way to use them!

SUSAN BEAL is the author of Super Crafty, Bead Simple, and Button It Up. She also writes for craft magazines and websites. Susan has contributed to Handmade Nation, Craft Corps, Appliqué Your Way, and many other books, and was featured in the film Handmade Nation. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband, Andrew, and their daughter, Pearl. You can find more of her work at www.susanbeal.com or visit her blog at www.westcoastcrafty.com.

Time for cruisin'!

Over here at La Casa Murillo, we prepping for the cruise later this month! Here is Patrick's project. He is going to teach a workshop called "Papel Picado Art Stencils." This class is sponsored by Fiskars! I'll be posting directions after we return, so you can make the project too! This is our best cruise yet, here's why...

Doodle Art Wood Bracelets

 I recently came into some ravishing blank wood bracelets by DIY Bangles and could not resist glamming them up with my Crafty Chica Markers! I've always loved to take markers to wood because it is vibrant color with no mess! The best aspect of this project is that you just draw and fill, low stress. I'm talking, craft therapy! Psssttt...this is one of the projects we will be doing on the cruise later this month!

CRAFTY CINEMA: Rango-inspired vase

In Rango, the title character finds himself suddenly transported from the confines of a glass terrarium to the dust-laden Old Western town of Dirt. This charismatic chameleon puts on a brave face, designates himself the local sheriff and discovers along the way it’s up to him to save the day! You can celebrate this reptilian hero by designing your own Rango-inspired vase using the Duncan® Oh Four® mushroom canister. Paint your desert backdrop and friendly lizard with Concepts® Underglazes so he’ll feel right at home.

How to transform a men's dress shirt into a spring blouse

This is a project from my Crafty Chica's Guide to Artful Sewing book, and even though the book has been out for almost two years, I still recieve emails from readers who make this project! I demoed it on the new PBS show, Sew It All, and will be sharing it on a local morning show on 12News here in Arizona - our local PBS station doesn't have SIA yet :-(


If you don't have access to either format, here are the project directions!

NOW TAKING RESERVATIONS: Crafty London & Paris Art Excursion, 2012!

Guess what? I'm just about done finalizing details for the next TWO Crafty Chica Art Vacations for 2012!

APRIL 2012: The first one is The 6th Annual Crafty Chica Art Cruise: Baja Mexico. This is a 4-day cruise to Ensenada, Mexico and Catalina Island in April, 2012. It will be four days of art, craft swaps, goodie bags, workshops, shopping, cocktail party and more!

SEPTEMBER 2012: Crafty London & Paris With The Crafty Chica!  This is a fabulous nine-day adventure in London and Paris. Aside from the 4-star hotels, swag gifts, and guided tours, I'm custom tailoring this vacation to be themed around art and craft and DIY. We'll visit fabric, yarn and bead shops, as well as museums, galleries and flea markets. We will also have our own meeting room in each hotel (one in London, one in Paris) for crafting. We'll have sightseeing trips included and I'm also offering optional side excursions, such a play, a trip to Stonehenge, etc. I'm trying to convince my friend Momtaz to give us a Bollywood crafting session!

Nine days. We leave on a Friday night and return the next week on Sunday, it will be one week off of your work or school!

You will not find another vacation package like it! Jim from ScrapMap.com is nailing down the price, but I would estimate it will be in $2K range. If you REALLY want to go, I would call ScrapMap and get on the waiting list. We're only doing 40 spots! 1-877-887-1188.

This is a very personal journey for me. I LOVE London.  (Well, the first fourty people who sign up, that is!)

Something about Marcy

Since announcing the Crafty London trip, I have had a few people write me to say, "Crafty Chica and London?"

Yup! It is my favorite city! I owe it all to a girl named Marcy and here's why...

CRAFTY CINEMA: Jane Eyre Mixed Media Canvas

When it comes to girl power role models, Jane Eyre is the original. It doesn’t matter that she is a fictional character from 1847. Whether it is finding her true love or struggling with poverty and injustice, she faces her problems head on with a strong will and a lion’s heart. Now we can see Hollywood’s latest interpretation of the famous page-turner with Jane Eyre, the feature film. Starring Mia Wasikowsa (Alice in Wonderland), you can expect suspense, mystery, romance, and of course – action!

You can channel the positive energy of Jane Eyre by making an motivating plaque. It will look great in your bedroom, office or inspiration corner. It features one of her most beloved quotes from the book: "I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will..." May you make it, read it and live it!