Making a Crafting Grid Using Photoshop CS5

Here is a grid I made using this technique if you want to be lazy and just use mine:
Grid!

I spent a long time scouring the web trying to find a glorious tutorial on how to make gridded crafting patterns (specifically for cross stitch) using Photoshop with little to no avail (I did find several very expensive programs to do it, however). Of course you'll have to use a color matcher or guesstimate when translating screen colors into beads, threads, yarn, etc.

It's Not Too Late!

With just barely over a week until Christmas, it's still not too late to get your crafty decor on before the guests arrive! Spend this weekend making some of these awesome and crafty decorations to round out your home's holiday look.

Make some adorable felt ornaments!

Make this wreath say "Merry Christmas" by using more seasonal colors!
Or you can just check out this post over at Woman's Day for some more specifically Christmas wreath designs.

A make these adorable Gingerbread Man ornaments!

Have a Geeky Christmas with these Star Wars Snowflakes!

Weekly Crafter Showcase: Postponed

Hello all!
Unfortunately I'm going to postpone my crafter showcase pending finding someone to showcase!

Again, if you're reading this and know of someone who you think needs to be recognized, please let me know so I can get the word out about them!

Send a tweet or message to @KCCrafts, a message to ~KCCrafts on Deviantart, or even just comment here with the name of a person you think needs some recognition.

Cheap and Easy Gift Idea

I've seen a lot of "emergency kits" floating around in stores and on the internet.  I think they are a FABULOUS gift idea, but half the time they can cost upwards of $20-50!  Sometimes even more for the more "niche" kits.  Need a quick and easy gift that may be more functional (and cheaper) than the traditional gift basket?  Try one of these, or think up your own!

Fashion Emergency Kit (for the busy girl or guy on the go):
-1 Bottle of cheap clear nail polish (to fix runs in panty hose).
-Several pre-threaded needles with different colors of thread.  Make your own needle book using craft felt.
-Fabric swatches for emergency patches (find some sale quilters fabric in a few colors, or cut up clothes from a thrift store outlet)
- Double-sided tape.
- Coated rubber bands (like hair ties).
- "Shoe Goo" to make a quick fix for worn out shoes.
- Plastic hair bonnet or Dollar Store umbrella.

Walk of Shame Emergency Kit (know anyone in college?):
- T-Shirt
- Shorts or Leggings
- Perfume/cologne sampler
- Brush-Ups/Wisp/Travel Toothbrush and Paste
- Dry Shampoo
- Travel Deodorant
-Water Bottle
- Fast Flats (or similar)
- Cheap make-up (if woman), razor and shaving cream (if man)

Emergency Spa Kit
- Pretty bag of baking soda (great facial scrub)
- Black tea bags (to reduce eye puffiness)
- Mint leaves
- Dried lavander
- Eye mask
- Cotton gloves and socks
- Travel sized lotion in an interesting scent
- Mini nail polish bottles
- Small bottle of olive oil (makes a good cuticle soak)
- Nail clippers
- Nail file or combo buffer

Emergency Gentleman Kit
- Fake Mustache
- Cheap razor and travel-sized shaving cream
- Sample size cologne and/or aftershave
- Clip-on bow-tie
- Monocle
- Spray grey hair dye
- Bubble pipe

Emergency Beauty Queen Kit
- Plastic tiara
- Sash (you could make one with wide ribbon and fabric paint, especially if it's for a young child).
- Wig or curlers
- Sparkly costume jewelry
- Lipstick
- Baton/CD of dance music/Piano sheet music
- Bedazzled T-shirt

Emergency Zombie Survival Kit
- Water bottle
- Can of food
- Squirt gun
- Axe or some other travel-size aerosol deodorant re-labeled as "Zombie Repellant"
- Map with good potential fortress locations highlighted, and marked for "survivors colony"
- Ace bandages
- Green, red, and/or brown face paint (to "blend in" with the zombies).
- Journal and pen
- Surgical mask (in case of airborne zombie virus)


As for what to put these in, here are a couple crafty patterns/tutorials for making your own pouch! From Pretty Modern and Skip to my Lou (both of which are pretty awesome blogs to browse for more crafty ideas).

Cute Ravelry Pattern Finds: Dishcloth Edition

With the Holidays coming up, now is a great time to be stocking up on patterns to make people!

When it comes to knitting and crochet though, because of the time commitment you have to make sure that when you make a gift, it is going to be well used and well loved (and hopefully not take forever to knit!).  One gift I've made and have never been disappointed giving is dishcloths.

Yes, they are a little "boring" as far as opening an exciting box may go, but there are so many good things about them that definitely make up for that.  A hand-made dishcloth lasts through a lot of wear and tear, can be as absorbent or scrubby as you want to make it, are personalized, and it's a gift you know the recipient is going to use and appreciate (as opposed to a potentially ill-fitting sweater, or wool socks they forget aren't machine washable).  Handmade dishcloths are so awesome in fact, that in addition to doing the general duties of a dishcloth, they can sometimes be so effective that the user may not even need soap!

And what's even better: for the budget-conscious, a skein of Sugar & Cream yarn is only $2-3 a skein (it makes about 2 dishcloths)!  Even better, if you decide to make the ultra-scrubby kind linked above, that yarn comes even cheaper since they are most effectively made out of the worst yarn on the market.

So, here are some of my Ravelry finds for fun dishcloths so awesome you'll have to make yourself some too:

I love the plaid design, and it's so easy even a beginner would have fun making it! Playful Plaid Cloth

These look so fabulous, I wish I could read Japanese, or a crochet chart (unfortunately, I haven't found a translation): Tawashi

Perhaps the easiest pattern of them all, and best of all, you can easily make it bigger and turn it into a cozy baby blanket! Grandmother's Favorite

The pattern reminds me of something you might see in the dish cleaning aisle of a store.  It's also very easy to make, but impressive looking for the non-knitter: Wedding Washcloths

This snowflake dishcloth is perfect if you're decorating your kitchen for the winter months: Snowflake Dishcloth

I had trouble getting the hang of this pattern, but ultimately it turned out very pretty (even with a misaligned row).  I hope you like counting to 3, 7 and 11! Checker Square Garter Dishcloth

Plain and classic.  I can see this looking fabulous in a modern kitchen in some downtown apartment: Seeded Stripe Dishcloth

Any quilter should be able to recognize this pattern immediately: Little Garden Girl Dishcloth

This is very easy to knit and I'd recommend this to a beginner.  But no matter your skill level it's a fun and quick knit with a very lovely result: Blissful Moss Rib Dishcloth

Owls seem to be all the rage lately, and this dishcloth is sure to please: 12 Block or Dishcloth

I love the texture of these dishcloths from Lion Brand Yarns: Lily Dish Mats

Have some left over yarn from your other dishcloths?  Try these:

Weekly Crafter Showcase!

Every Friday I will post an entry about a SUPER AWESOME crafter.

Do you know a crafter who's hard work is under-appreciated and needs a bit of a spotlight?  Comment here, email me, note me on DeviantArt or send a tweet to @KC_Crafts!

If you can I'd love a link to their blog or Etsy shop, and a way to contact them (virtually, preferably).

See you around!

Hello World!

Nothing new here, move along...

Well, OK, something new.  This is a spinoff from Forcible Adulthood (forcibleadulthood.blogspot.com).  I decided that a lot of crafting doesn't really have anything to do with saving money half the time, and my original blog's concept wouldn't allow for about half the  posts I want to make.  I also wanted to find some kind of brand I could make around my name and after finding out that I registered a handle different than I had remembered on Etsy, which now conflicts with my brand's Twitter handle, and now with the title of this Blog (KCCrafts being taken by a blog with no posts, and KCCrafting being taken with a blog that hasn't been updated in over a year)... ugh.  Just hoping this works out.  OH, and KC Crafts also happens to be an industrial crafting company AND a European scrapbooking supply company too.

Feels so weird when you can't use your own name for stuff.  Reminds me of the time I found out "mixedpie" (a name I'd been going by for years) was snatched off of Twitter before I could get it.  Now I think I know how celebrities feel when Google and Facebook wouldn't let them have their own names...

Anyways.  New blog.  That is all.