Can you believe it’s almost Easter already? Usually the grass is just starting to get green when Easter rolls around, and we’re starting to think about getting the mower ready. We’ve mowed the yard 3-4 times already this spring! I’m not complaining though, I’m a warm weather person so I don’t mind.

This weekend I have some fun craft links to share with you. I hope you enjoy them all as much as I have! Have a wonderful Easter weekend!

Felt Peep Bunnies
Cherie adds some ornaments to her Easter tree.

Eileen – The Artful Crafter
How to make a beaded pull chain for overheads lights or fans.

Beading Arts
Cyndi is celebrating her travel fever by inviting readers to submit their travel-inspired work!

6 Fun Easter Craft Ideas For Kids
Looking for a last minute Easter Craft to do with the kids, check out some of these ideas.

Spring is definitely in the air, at least here in Ohio! The trees and flowers are blooming, and we’ve been having unseasonably warm temps for the last couple weeks, until the last day or two. I’m excited about all the sunshine and green grass! And I’ve definitely got a bad case of spring fever. So do the other girls in the arts and crafts group I’m in by the looks of this weeks great projects. Take a look for yourself! I’m sure you’ll find yourself a little springsperation in this list of ideas. Check out the bunny cupcake craft I made last week. I added it in to the bottom of the list if you want to check them out too.

The Uncommon Artist-Laura Thykeson~ Laura describes two new workshops and gives you a look at one of her other blogs!

Beading Arts~ Cyndi has gotten inspired by Spring Fever! Has that ever happened to you? Do you have some work you’d like to share?

Creative Dreamer~ Spring is definitely in the air… and June has gone a little “green” to celebrate… come see!

Mo(o)re Whimsies~ Trying New Techniques with Sakura Crystal Lacquer and Terri Sproul Mixers

Eileen – The Artful Crafter ~ Sew a cute pin cushion bracelet to keep your pins (literally) on hand.

Green Glass Garden Sculptures~ It’s Spring! Which means Cherie is gluing glass together again! This time she’s got green glass (in honor of St. Patty’s Day).

Easter Bunny Cupcake Craft~ With Nutter Butter “bunny” ears. This would be a fun Easter treat to make with the kids!

Have fun!

We got a new wood burning stove last fall. I’m a person who is really cold, all winter long. I’ve really enjoyed the extra heat the stove puts out. It’s also been a huge savings to our heating bill, since we have 12 acres of woods behind our house and the wood from fallen down trees is free.

I hated to purchase fire starting packs and logs when I knew there had to be a way to start the fire cheaper, and still make it easy. Shortly after we got our wood stove I saw some really cute pine cone fire starters at a Christmas craft show I went to, then someplace I saw an article where someone else had made them. I knew I could make them myself, and for a lot less money than it would cost to buy them.

I’ve made them several times since, and I’ve never really used an exact recipe. I just use some pine cones from our back yard, some old candle wicks I had laying around my craft area, and wax from old votive and pillar candles we’ve never burned. Here’s an approximate a recipe:

Pine Cone Fire Starters:

• 12-16 pine cones
• 1 pillar candle, or about 6 votives
• 4-6 inch wicks one for each pine cone
• paper muffin cups
• muffin tin (I’ve been using an old tin I was going to throw out.)

Directions:

1. Melt the wax in a double boiler, if you don’t have a double boiler you can make your own with 2 pans (one larger, one smaller), or a pan and a jar. Caution: Be careful and stay right with the wax when you’re melting it.  Wax is extremely flammable!

2.Wrap each pine cone with a wick so one end is sticking up at the top like a little pine cone candle.

3. Place the muffin papers in the muffin tin. Set one pine cone with the wick side up in each muffin cup. I sat longer pine cones at an angle in the cups.

4. Drizzle the melted wax over the pine cones. I use about 3-4 tablespoons per pine cone.

5. Set the pine cones aside to cool and harden, then remove them from the paper.

I like to keep mine in a basket a little ways from our wood burning stove, so they’re handy to grab one when I want to start a fire.

When it’s time to start a fire, I grab a pine cone, some small sticks or chips of bark and wood, and a long match or one of those long lighters. I make a little teepee around the pine cone with the sticks and bark, then I light the wick on fire.

The pine cone fire starters usually work like a dream. Once in a while when it’s really damp out it takes a little more effort to get things going, but eventually the fire takes off. These would also be great for a summer campfire, or as a gift either bundled in a gift basket, or in a cute little gift bag.

Happy first weekend of fall! I can’t believe fall is here already! It seems like summer just started a few days ago. If you’re a crafter you have to think ahead. Before we know it the holidays will be here! There are several links in this weeks roundup to help you get started thinking about fall and the holidays. I hope you enjoy checking them all out as much as I did!.

1. Paper Covered Pumpkins With Poetry~ Cherie takes Dollar Store pumpkins and gives them an artsy makeover.
2. Copper Tube Bead Necklace~ What do you do with copper tube beads? Make a fabulous necklace, of course!
3. Santa Craft~ June’s finished up a “Skinny Santa” and shows you how it’s done!
4. Creating Art With Photoshop~ Eileen had fun learning how to create fine art with Photoshop.

I just can’t believe fall is almost here already! The weather was even “fallish” this last week here in Ohio. I had to break out my sweatshirts and jeans, ugh! It did get me in the mood to start some fall crafts and projects, and it looks like others are in the mood too from this weeks crafty links. Check out these fun links for a little football, beading, Christmas, and candles. There’s something for everyone! I hope you enjoy checking out all the ideas as much as I did!

1. Matchbox Christmas Ornament- The first Christmas ornament of the season is finished… June shares the instructions to create your own “winter matchbox shrine” ornament.
2. Soup and Football Scrapbooking- Cherie documents her favorite team’s road to the “Soup-er Bowl”.
3. Lampwork Glass Turtle Necklace- Cyndi figures out how to showcase a wonderful lampwork glass pendant and shares the steps with you!
4. Easy Candle Decoration- Step by step how to make an easy diy candle decoration in a jiffy.

Enjoy!

I was a slacker over the holiday weekend, so today I have some fun arts and crafts reading to share with you. Let me tell you these girls are so creative! You’ve got to check out some of the fun ideas they came up with just this week! Check out this teal garden sculpture Cherie made, then click the link below the photo to see how she made it! I want one for my garden!

Teal Garden Sculpture Finished
Cherie shows the finished glass totem she started last week.

Teal Garden Sculpture Finished
Cherie shows the finished glass totem she started last week.

Beading Arts
Cyndi shares the work of some amazing bead embroidery artists!

Creative Dreamer
Check out the adorable little bluebird of happiness! So cute!

Eileen – The Artful Crafter
Check out Eileen’s crafty solution to an accident waiting to happen.

I hope you enjoy checking out all these great reads as much as I did! Have a great week!

I made this fall table centerpiece a couple years ago, but I’ve never written about it here! I know it’s a little early to find all the things you need, but I’m starting to see quite a few fall decorating ideas in the stores (and even some Christmas ones, oiiiyyy!). The centerpiece didn’t cost much, and it was easy to create, but it made a great display on my fall table.

You can use items you might already have on hand from your garden or back yard. Here’s what I used:

• Assorted small gourds
• Pine cones
• Votive candles
• Hedge apples
• Fall leaves (away from the candles)

I put everything in a rectangle basket with low sides to hold it all together for display.

First I cut the center out of some small round pumpkin shaped gourds, then removed the insides and slid a votive candle into the hole. I didn’t do a great job of getting the hole the right size. I just eyeballed it. If I made them again I think I would measure instead of winging it. I would also use a glass votive holder around the outside, in case the candle burned too low!

Then I just arranged everything in the basket, and re arranged it until I got the look I wanted. The display did turn out very nice over all. I tried it with just the votives with the gourds, some pine cones, and a couple hedge apples. I added a round candle that I had to the centerpiece. I couldn’t decide whether I liked the round candle, or just the votives.

It made a great addition to our fall table. I think it would make a great centerpiece idea for a fall party, or for your Thanksgiving feast. Just be careful your candles don’t burn too low (keep an eye on them), or put them down inside a glass votive holder before you insert them into the gourds!

Image (c) L Gerlach

Can you believe it’s almost the end of August already? Many kids are already back in school. My son is going back on Monday. He’s going into Jr. High this year, so it’s a little bittersweet getting him ready to go back. He’s taller than I am now, and I swear he grows about an inch a day!

This summer has flown by! It seems like he just got out of school for the summer yesterday. Why does the summer fly by so fast, with so much going on? Then winter comes and drags on forever. I love fall, but I’m not ready for it yet!

Our county fair was this last weekend. You can always tell fall is coming fast when the fair gets here.

Anyway, I have some really great links to share with you today, and I’m wayyyy behind on posting them. I hope you enjoy checking them all out as much as I did.

Beading Arts
The “Mostly Metal” challenge was a great success, many thanks to Michelle Mach! Come and see all the fun pieces that were made.

Kim-Flowers and Art
Kim continues work on her crazy colorful craft room

Creative Dreamer
From a journal page to a three dimensional piece of folk art, June shares her completed bird!

Glass Garden Sculpture
Cherie makes a glass totem with recyled items for the garden.

Eileen – The Artful Crafter
Did you love finger painting as a child? Here’s a – sort of – grown-up version you might enjoy.

I can’t believe it’s midway through the week already! Happy hump day! I’m way behind on my crafty links yet again!. One of these days (Maybe the end of summer?) I’ll be caught up again. I just realized I didn’t post these over the weekend, I put the links in here on Friday, but never finished up and hit the publish button. Ugh!

Beading Arts
Cyndi features beading artist Jaqueline Gikow’s beautiful work.

Book Necklace
Cherie works on a necklace idea for book lovers.

Eileen – The Artful Crafter
Look at this cute coffee can recycling project. It also uses craft stash scraps, so it’s both eco-nomical and eco-logical!

More Altered Book Musings…
Laura – Taz’s Corner

Vanilla Cupcake Recipe
A great cupcake recipe, use it as is, or as the base to create your favorite flavor.

I hope you enjoy checking out all these crafty links as much as I did!