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CRAFTY VISIONS Newsletter March 2001 Published by World Wide Visions Internet Visions Company   Click HERE to download a PDF version of the newsletter. TABLE OF CONTENTS Seasonal Crafts ....St. Paddy's Centerpiece  Crafty Tips.....by The Bluebonnet Crafters Crafty Visions Classifieds Doll Corner .....Wire Wrapped Leprechaun Doll Crafty Kids.....Fun For Kids! Kitchen Crafts.....Shamrock Napkin Ring Favor Winter Holidays are coming!......by The Bluebonnet Crafters Announcements..... Fun Stuff, Free Stuff and More! Contributors.....Please Visit Our Friends!   Seasonal Crafts by Bluebonnet Crafters St. Paddy's Centerpiece   Materials: A 10" terra-cotta pot Green Easter grass Small Leprechaun doll (see the Doll Corner) A piece of Styrofoam Real or silk greenery Piece of gold ribbon long enough to circle the pot and tie in a bow Option: A Shamrock garland or Shamrock glitter plant pokes Gold coin and butterscotch disk candies Instructions: Cut the foam to fit into the terra-cotta pot. Arrange the greenery in a manner pleasing to you. Spread white craft glue over the foam and arrange green Easter grass to cover the foam.  Perch the Leprechaun doll on the edge of the pot near the front. Tie the gold ribbon around the pot with the bow to the left of the Leprechaun To the other side of the bow add the Shamrock plant pokes, loop of Shamrock garland and a few gold coins or butterscotch disks candies.  Good Luck Sachet.   Materials: A rectangle of cotton or fabric of your choice approximately 8 1/2" X 6 1/2" Floss, ribbon or wool threads in green Thread to match the fabric A gold coin charm Pigma pen to sign A piece of quilt batting same size as the fabric Potpourri or scented rice Instructions: Using the pattern as your guide lightly draw the design on one half of your fabric rectangle. Embroider the design with floss, wool or silk ribbon of your choice. Add the charm to the design.   Fold the fabric in half right sides together with the design on one side. Fold the quilt batting piece over the folded rectangle. Stitch around the outside leaving an opening to turn. Clip the four corners, turn and stuff with potpourri or scented rice into the batting pocket. Stitch the opening closed.   If you desire add a ribbon loop as a hanger.  You have a finished scented sachet as a gift.  Crafty Tips by Bluebonnet Crafters # 1. Prescription pill bottles make a great purse size sewing kit. Thread several needles each with a different colored thread add a few safety pins and an extra button or two.  # 2. Use a TV tray beside you computer to hold a project in progress while waiting for pages to load you can work on the project.  # 3. The plastic paddle stirrers make great glue applicators.  Crafty Visions Classifieds ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Terry's Icicles Hand blown icicles in three sizes Tinys~1 1/2 to 2 in. Smalls~3 to 4 in. and our most popular Large~6 to 7 in. and the new small glass leaves great for addition to any needlework.   All sets are gift boxed ready for gift giving. Terry Albright 856-456-3580 Email Terry ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Crafts ala Cart teaches women the techniques for many different crafts in home parties.  It's a great night out!  Opportunities are available nationwide for crafters who love to teach kids or adults, with terrific online support. Contact Sandee at CraftAtHome@aol.com. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ CraftBusiness Newsletter- Do you have questions about selling your crafts? For the answers subscribe to CraftBusiness Newsletter Email: CraftBusiness@BluebonnetVillage.com Place CraftBusiness in the subject line and your email address in the body of the message. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Craft Mailing List - A craft email list, sponsored by the Bluebonnet Crafters, where you can ask crafty questions, help us answer others and enjoy sharing talk about crafts.  Sign Up Now! - http://bluebonnetvillage.com/happens.htm Advertise Here! - Targeted Advertising!  The Crafty Visions Newsletter has over 14,000 e-mail subscribers world wide in addition to the online version. Click below for more information and additional promotional opportunities. IT WORKS! Crafty Visions Classifieds - http://ivisions.com/ads.html ... Doll Corner   Wire Wrapped Leprechaun Doll Materials: 1" wooden bead 18" green wrapped floral wire 18 Gage Green felt 8" square Green and white embroidery floss Small amount doll hair 6" piece of leather cord 1" by 1" by 2" piece of brown polymer clay for boots Red and blue pen or paint for features Black paint for details on shoes Small paint brush White craft glue Needle and green thread Brown Embroidery floss Embroidery or Darning needle Option: 1/16 yellow or gold ribbon, embroidery floss and buckle for hat band if desired Instructions: Using the diagram as your guide, find the center of the 18" length of covered wire and fold in half, bring the two ends up about 2 1/2" and fold back to 1/2" above the crotch fold to form the legs. Bend the wire out to each side 1 1/2" and fold back to center to form the arms. Fold the remainder up to make the neck. Set aside the wire form.  Condition the polymer clay and divide into two pieces. Shape each piece of clay into a shoe. Force the leg wire into the top of the shoe being careful to maintain the shoe shape. Use the embroidery or darning needle threaded with the brown embroidery floss to make a hole through each shoe and tie in a bow to look like shoelaces. Bake the shoes and wire form following the clay directions.  Begin wrapping the wire at the top of the shoe with the green embroidery floss. Use a little white craft glue as needed to anchor the floss. Your wraps should be smooth and even. Wrap up each leg to the crotch. Repeat with the second leg. These wraps will be the legs of the doll's pants so you may wish to make a second wrap over all to make it look thicker.  Slightly open the hand area and wrap the single wire with white floss for the hand. Begin wrapping the arm with a few wraps covering the end of the white floss and continue to wrap the arm. Anchor with the glue. Repeat for the other hand and arm.  Begin wrapping the torso from the crotch up to the top of the neck and glue to hold.  Place the hole of the shirt over the wire neck and whip stitch from the wrist to the hem on each side. Glue the bead head onto the two wires at the neck. You may wish to add some wraps to the neck area to fill the hole in the bead before gluing in place.  Tie the leather cord around the shirt waist knotting in the front and knot each end. Add the eyes and mouth using your favorite method, glue hair to head and sparsely on chin and above mouth as mustache. Trim as needed when dry.   Cut out the hat brim and cut an X in the center. Place some glue on the inside flaps of the X and pull it onto the head allowing the flaps to stand up from the brim. Wrap the crown of the hat around the head over the flaps, with the overlap in the back and pressed down to the brim.   Glue in place along the brim edge adding glue on the flaps to anchor the crown. The crown should be slightly smaller at the top than at the brim edge. Trim as needed to fit smoothly. Glue the top circle onto the top of the crown and trim to fit. Add a narrow gold or yellow ribbon band with a buckle if you wish.  Crafty Kids..... Irish For a Day Pin or Pendant Materials: Plastic lid from Pringles can or similar Small piece of sand paper Colored pencils, crayons or paints in green, gold and your choice of rainbow colors A pinback or small hole punch and rattail cord for necklace Craft glue Instructions: Using the picture as a guide draw a rainbow arch across your plastic circle. Underneath the arch write Irish For a Day in green. Decide if you want a necklace or a pin..  For the pin glue the pinback to the opposite side of your drawing. For a necklace punch two holes in the top of the circle. Thread the rattail cord through both holes and tie in a square knot. The cord needs to be long enough to fit over your head after it has been tied.  Pot 'O Gold Party Favor   Instructions for one favor Materials: A 3 oz. bathroom Dixie cup  Black paint  Green construction paper  Craft glue  Scissors  Chocolate gold coins and butterscotch disks  Instructions: Paint the outside of each cup black. Allow to dry thoroughly. While the paint is drying trace the pattern on green construction paper and cut out the Shamrock. When the paint is dry glue the Shamrock to the front of the cup.  Fill each cup with butterscotch disks and add a chocolate coin on the top.  Option: Using a gold pen you can personalize by writing the name across the front of the Shamrock.  Kitchen Crafts..... Shamrock Cake Three single round layers of cake flavor of your choice Light green frosting Darker green sprinkles One Twinkie Gold covered chocolate coins Instructions: Bake the individual round layers and arrange the layers to form the shamrock shape. Use the Twinkie to make your stem. Frost the entire cake light green to look like one large Shamrock. With the darker green sprinkles spread them over the entire Shamrock. Arrange the Gold coins around the cake on the serving plate for an added treat. Golden Coin Favor Napkin Holder Materials: A green pony tail holder for each napkin holder One of the new gold $1.00 coins or coin of your choice Low temp hot glue gun and glue sticks An 8" piece of 3/8" or narrower green ribbon Instructions: Form the ribbon into three loops to look like a Shamrock. Place a dot of hot glue on the metal portion of the pony tail holder.   Form a Shamrock shape with the ribbon by making 3 loops of ribbon.   Place the ribbon Shamrock into the glue, add more glue to the center of the Shamrock and add the coin. Allow to cool.   Place the elastic loop of the pony tail holder around the napkin and place on the table with the coin and the Shamrock facing toward the person.   This napkin holder becomes a party favor since the guest can take home the coin. To remove the coin from the pony tail holder place it in the freezer and just peel it off or use the hair dryer and heat it and peel it off.  Winter Craft Colored Bird  Materials White paper plate with fluted edge Pencil Scissors White craft glue Paint color of your choice Yellow-orange paint for beak Black permanent marker Gold thread for hanger Instructions: Trace the pattern pieces onto your paper plate positioning the tail and wings so they make use of the flutes along the edge of the plate. Cut out the body and wings. Paint the bird and the beak yellow-orange. Allow to dry completely. Turn the pieces over and paint the back sides as well. Paint the beak area to match the front. Allow to dry. With your permanent marker draw in the bird's eye on both the front and the back. Cut the slit as marked on the pattern. Position the wings and glue in place. Punch a small hole along the bird's back and add a thread hanger. Announcements Everything Crafts! Dolls!  Dolls!  Dolls! On-line Shops,  Bulletin Boards, Mailing List, Chat Rooms, Virtual Cards, Awards, Gallery, Free Patterns and Tips, Doll Challenges, Profiles, Books, Online Classes and more. All on The Doll Net! ---> http://TheDollNet.com Crafty College http://CraftyCollege.com Learn Arts, Crafts, and Dollmaking without leaving home!  Visit the Online Campus or Crafty College - http://CraftyCollege.com    ~ Crafty Links Mall! ~ Craft Bulletin Boards ~ Contributors: Bluebonnet Crafters e-mail: bluebonnet@BluebonnetVillage.com URL: http://www.BluebonnetVillage.com   Thank you for reading the CRAFTY VISIONS NEWSLETTER and a very special thanks to our contributors! We are now accepting contributions for all our newsletter features. Please send all contributions to Laurieann@ivisions.com You can still read all our  old issues, just click on HERE! http://www.wwvisions.com/newsletter/ Please contact us with your questions, suggests, or submissions! Virtual Artisans with a Vision ! ~ On-Line Shops ~ Crafty Visions Newsletter ~ Chat Rooms ~ Bulletin Boards ~ ~ The Doll Net ~ Crafty Links Mall ~ Virtual Note Cards ~ Crafty College ~ ~ Welcome Page ~ Please Click To Visit! Another Internet Visions Company Project! A company that does more than design web sites! © 2001, Internet Visions Co. All rights reserved. webmaster@ivisions.com