Savvify

How to Make a Denim Pouch Pocket for those Webkinz

Do you have a bunch of those webkinz that you would like to display?.. Rather than have them all piled up on a shelf or on the bed, or stuffed away in boxes, for the day they become more valuable, why not display them on your wall?

All you need, are an old pair of adult size denim jeans. (ones with fairly big back pockets), a good pair of scissors, and some imagination for decorating.

Make sure the jeans are clean and then cut out around the back pockets, cutting through all layers of the seat of the jeans.

You should have formed a pocket where you can place your webkinz or special stuffie. Now, go back to your jeans, and cut out the inner seam of the jeans, to whatever length you would like, as this is for your hanger. I cut 18 inches, but you can do shorter or longer, if you have enough jean seam.

Sew the edges of the seam to each side of your pocket and then decorate your pocket with a painting, beads, appliqués, quilting, a denim fringe, use your imagination. This is a great craft for teens or older children. Then hang them on the wall with a colorful pushpin or hook, and then place your webkinz in the pocket.

This can hold other things beside your webkinz or favorite stuffie, it can also hold supplies, hair clips, hair brush, odds and ends. Make a few of them and then hang them on your wall.  see my pouch pocket

Who can resist a cute and cuddly teddy bear?.. No matter what your age, a teddy bear can soften your heart. I still have some teddy bears from when I was young. They bring back fond memories, and happy times.

Well, I am here to tell you, if you think they have been overdone at craft shows, or online, then you are wrong. Teddy Bears will never go out of style, and the softer and cuddlier the better.

You just have to get a bit more creative with your teddy bears to compete in the craft market. A great way to create beautiful teddy bears, is to find a great pattern, preferably, a vintage pattern, or traditional pattern, you can get these online now from around the world.

Go to the re-use store, the second hand stores, or the thrift shops, garage sales and estate sales, and find those old mink, rabbit and fox coats that people are not wearing anymore. They are usually sold for quite cheap, or sometimes even given away. Even some of the faux fur coats look realistic. Some of the faux furs comes in brilliant colors, for something a little different!

Now sew your teddy bear from these coats, and you will have a one of a kind fur teddy.

Another great way to create teddy bears, is to make them custom for customers. Have your customer find some vintage clothes, or old bed spreads, or old coats that they are fond of, but because of the memories they bring, they don’t want to part with the item. Show them how you can make them into teddy bears, and then they will still have the fabric as a fond memory, and a cute teddy bear to display, instead of old clothes in a trunk!

People still decorate their rooms with teddies, you can display them on the bed instead of throw pillows, or on shelves or on the dresser.

They can make a room a soft place to land at the end of a bad day.. teddy bear patterns online

Did you know that in Numerology, the cycle is nine years?

This means, that depending on what year it is, you could be going through nine different cycles?.

This is where you need to find out what cycle you are in right now. This could be your creative cycle, so you would then put all your efforts into creating. Or this could be the year you need to go out and find romance. Or, this could be the year of financial success!

The value of numerology, is that it can tell you what would be a waste of time working and focusing on during a that cycle, and what would be the best to focus on for you.

Therefore, if you follow numerology, for character, destinies and more, then why not find out your life cycle?

This way you can concentrate on the right part of your life, and find success!

If you want to know your personal year, take the month and day of your birth down to a single digit, then add this to the year you want to examine .. such as 2008. Once you know your personal year, you can evaluate the coming calendar year.

Find out what cycle you are in. Why spend your time treading water when you are meant to be creating, or meeting your significant other, or having a successful career.

Don’t waste a minute, find out your life cycle number now! get a free numerology reading now

If you sell crafts, jewelry, quilts etc, online, and are looking for a way to grow your “opt in email list” for newsletters, then here is a great idea that works.

Take the time and effort to set yourself up at a craft show. You may already do this right now, which is great, because it doesn’t hurt to have multiple streams of income.

Show your best work up front, and have a draw for that piece. It won’t hurt for you to donate a piece of your handiwork for a good cause… your business.

As the customers or potential customers are filling out the ballet for the draw, ask them if they would be interested in being on a email list for your newsletter, and explain what types of things you would be sending them. As many people have become very leery of SPAM.

You could have the sign up sheet beside the ballot box, or you could have it as part of the ballot itself, giving the customer the option of whether to sign up for it or not.

Give some thought to what types of things you may offer in these newsletters, possibly a free craft idea. Or Craft of the month type thing. Also, you can keep them informed of any other shows you will be doing, or new products you are creating. Also you can promote your affiliates, ebooks, craft books from Amazon, that you recommend. The list is endless.

By meeting these potential customers in person, and showing them your work, and ideas, you will gain their trust. As it is always nice to have seen you in person. That is why growing your opt in newsletter list, at a craft show is another great way to get your business growing.  make money with crafts now

Coffee is a almost a food group to most people. It gets us going in the morning, keeps us going in the afternoon, and tastes good after a fine meal.

But coffee is no longer just “coffee”.. there are so many options now. Have you ever gone to a specialty coffee shop?.. It can be more complicated that getting a takeout burger! Non fat, low fat, espresso, double espresso, cappuccino, latte, low fat latte, chocolate latte.. and the list goes on, as you can add toppings.

This of course does not help the waistline any, but man it taste good. If you are unsure of what the basics are of specialty coffees, here is a quick breakdown.

Latte: dark roast coffee made with milk

Cappuccino: dark roast coffee made with steamed milk and milk foam on top

Espresso: caffeine jolt!.. concentrated dark roast espresso coffee.

Each one of the above can be altered with different roasts. So now you have to pick your roast, what type of milk or milk foam, and toppings of course!

You can make these at home, there are many machines on the market now, that will help you create your perfect cup of coffee, what ever form that is. No longer are we dependent on that old coffee percolator our parents or grandparents had, that was hauled out for Sunday breakfast!

With this new surge of coffee and coffee stores out there, there are coffee artists that will make your coffee look to good to drink. Check out the free video clip of a “Latte Artist” and you could get some ideas for impressing your friends with your new found coffee talents!

Who ever thought there would be such a thing as a coffee artist?

free latte art video

With everyone thinking “green” these days, the tote bag has become popular once again. In our Grandmother’s day, they would always carry their own shopping or tote bags, but then came the quick and easy throw away plastic bag.

Now we are turning the tables again, and the tote bag is here to stay. Even the grocery stores are offering them for sale. This is a great place to start for a craft business.

If your passion, is painting, sewing, quilting, appliqué, embroidery, or even stamping, then you can create the most gorgeous tote bags, for yourself, for unique one of a kind gifts, or to sell at craft shows or online. They are lightweight, and strong, and they really are an open canvas.

With all the latest and greatest craft supplies out there now, you can get printable fabric that you can put in your computer printer. You can print a photograph from your computer, right onto this fabric, which you could then appliqué to the tote, it is washable. This could be a great craft business idea. This works well with pet photos. Everyone loves their pets, and would love to show off their pets picture done up nice on a tote bag.

Make one for yourself and make sure to use it everyday, and you will get people asking about your tote. This is great free advertising.

Stamping also works well on blank totes. The ideas are endless, but make sure and take a picture of your original totes and keep in an album for potential customers to see. Tote bags are a great form of usable art, and pretty soon you will see your artwork on display everyday as tote bags. What a great feeling that would be.

If you love this idea, then why not get your tote bags in bulk?.. Some craft store sell, them, but I find them to be most affordable online. You can purchase all different styles depending on what artwork you will put on it. Go ahead, and make some useable art and help keep the planet green. bulk tote bags online

If you love to cross stitch, and you love St. Patrick’s’ Day, or you just love the color green, then try this.

One heart shaped cookie cutter

One Potato cut in half.

Aida cloth, or your preferred cross stitch fabric

Lots of green cross stitch threads

Green ink pad or acrylic paint. (make sure the surface of the potato is dry)

Press the heart shaped cookie cutter into the potato half, and then cut away the rest of the potato, leaving yourself a heart shaped stamp.

Dip your potato stamp onto a green stamp pad or a light layer of acrylic paint, and stamp it onto your cloth three times forming a clover with the narrow part of the heart at the center. Start with the first one at the top of the clover and the other two on each side of it. so that their narrow ends meet in the center.

You now have a three leaf clover. Now draw the stem and let dry. Cross Stitch your clover in the green of your choice, and you now have a “lucky charm” .

You can incorporate this into any type of picture, you could do a collage of them, or you can do a single one. Hang it in your kitchen for “good luck”.

If you have never done cross stitch, now is a good time to learn. Counted cross stitch is easy to learn, and fun, you can get some great videos that show you hands on. Then start creating your own lucky charm.

Learn to knit, and get those creative juices flowing… I can still remember the moment I learned to knit. I was 6 years old, and my grandma sat down with me while my mother was busy with my new baby brother.

She taught me to cast on, and knit, and I was so excited I took my knitting everywhere.. it was all uneven and horrid, but I was excited that I had learned something new, and still love to knit to this day!

I am left handed, and always found many crafts hard to do because of it, such as crochet. But knitting can be done easily whether you are left handed or right handed.

Learning to knit as a child is a great way, but if you never did learn to knit, and would like to, then why not get started now!

Take it in little steps. Learn to cast on one day, and then learn to do the basic garter stitch the next day, and PRACTICE. That is the biggest part of knitting, is practicing. Once you have mastered the garter stitch, then you can try to purl, which is going through the back of the stitch.

Once you have mastered basic knitting, then you will need to learn to cast off. Continue to practice and make lots of blocks of knitting. (you can always make them into a quilt later!).

There are many books, ebooks, and videos on the market that will teach you how to knit, learning from an experienced knitter sitting right beside you, will still always be the best way, like my grandma did. But the next best thing I feel is a video. One where you get a real good close-up of what the teacher is doing, not something far away.

With a video, you can play it over and over again, and if you sit there with your needles and yarn, you will get this new skill. Its good for the brain to learn new crafts and skills, it gets the creativity flowing and keeps the brain alert.

It is never too late, and you are never too old to learn something new! Try it, knitting is good for relieving stress, as many men are finding. Knitting has become popular amongst celebrities and many professional men.. to help with stress and become creative.

So, get yourself some knitting needles and yarn, and maybe a basic pattern to get started with, once you learn your basic skills.

Try it, you may like it, so watch a good video and learn to knit…