Each month, I select posts I’ve written at Blisstree’s Arts and Crafts section and create a round-up of five I’ve liked and/or have received responses from my readers.
Now for my October round-up of favorite posts:
Go for Your Dreams the Georgia O’Keeffe Way
Fabric from Your Child’s Art
Crafting with Poetry
Quilt Art Display Leads to Newspaper Story
Incorporating Pets Into Your Crafts
Did you have a favorite post of mine during October?

One of my readers, Jayne in Australia is looking for “feedback on the top 3 questions people have about quilting.”I thought this would be an intersting survey for you all to participate in.  Do you have questions you’d like answered?  Are you curious about certain quilting topics?  Have you searched for answers to a question but can’t find it?
How about letting us know, in the comments, what your questions are.  If you only have one question, that’s okay?
For instance, I wonder how many people do traditional quilting and how many have branched off into mixed media.
What is your favorite quilting …read more

Arts and crafts fairs, as a means of selling your wares, can be very successful,  disappointing, or somewhere in between. 
You often can’t predict what will happen, due to circumstances beyond your control.  However, there are some things that you can control that will help or hinder your success.  
I’ve been involved in fairs when I operated a quilting business and more recently fairs and book signings as an author.  I’ll share a few tips.  If you have tips on strategies that worked for you, I invite you to share them.

Arrange an attractive table/booth with simple, yet colorful displays.
Offer hand-outs (people like something free).  …read more

After I wrote the post, Crafting with Rust & Relics, a reader asked,  “So what kind of crafts can we do with these old relics?”Since I’ve seen my daughter using these items, I have used them myself, read about relics, and have viewed them at craft fairs, I didn’t think to explain about projects you can undertake. 

Many can be attached to mixed media pieces.
Some can be background material for attaching others.
Use old wood and arrange some of the relics on it.
Some people attach keys, buttons, watch findings and similar items to quilts and fabric art.
Glue them together for three dimensional …read more

As artists use unique items to embellish collages and fabric art, we become aware that more and more items we would have thrown away are suitable. 
This also falls into today’s recycling world of using older items to make new.  (Something the pioneers and those who lived through the Great Depression did as a matter of course.)
Clock and watch parts make likely items for unique art.  Save your old, unworkable ones.  Look for them at yard sales and auctions.  If that’s not enough, you even can find them at some collage and scrapbooking supply stores.
Among the watch findings are: screws, spokes, …read more

Mixed media crafting takes various forms and utilizes most any type of material. 
By scrounging family attics, second hand stores, auctions and recycling facilities, you’ll find many items you can upscale into art.
For instance:

keys
broken jewelry
old or distressed wood scraps
metal boxes
hinges
nails and screws
hardware cloth
wire
kitchen utensils
stones – colorful and dark
metal tags
cancelled stamps
belt buckles
buttons
many more
old paper and newspaper clippings
old photos

If these items don’t look old enough or fit into your theme, distress them or add dabs of rust colored paint.  You may want to spray rusted objects with a sealer to prevent further deterioration.
How have you utilized rust and relics in your mixed media …read more

My daughter keeps freezer paper handy for many of her quilting/fabric art tasks. 
(This is that handy household item that’s plain on one side and slightly waxy on the other.  We called it waxed paper when I was a youngster and used it for wrapping sandwiches, covering bowls in the refrigerator and a heavier version for wrapping items for freezing.  There were no plastic baggies nor plastic wrap available.)
Penny Halgren has a great article, Using Freezer Paper to Make Quilts, at her How to Quilt site that gives information on using freezer or waxed paper for quilting…for tasks such as applique and making …read more

Whether young or older, we can have fun making collages from the collectibles of autumn. 
Take nature walks, browse around your own yard, find memorabilia of other years and create lovely and unique collages on various backgrounds.
You might use fabric, cardboard, shingle, colored paper, foil, bark and other background materials.  If they’re too flimsy, put a firmer material behind them.  Then add leaves, pebbles, twigs, bark, paper cut in autumn shapes, burlap, twine, yarn and other objects that will combine into an artistic piece.
Sometimes you may have a theme.  Other pieces may be simply an attractive arrangement of the objects you have on hand.
I …read more

This time of year, pumpkins are prevalent in stores, at roadside farm stands, in pumpkin patches, as decorations for parties and carved for jack-o-lanterns. 
What are the many ways you can incorporate a pumpkin theme in your craft work?

Decorating pumpkins with paint
Drawing pictures of pumpkins, pumpkin patches or pumpkins and children
Making pumpkin jewelry, particularly earrings
Using fabric with pumpkin designs for fiber art and mixed media.
Utilizing pumpkin decorations for a fall theme or Halloween party.
Making pumpkin cookies or cake and decorating these with jack-o-lantern faces.
Making a pumpkin costume for Halloween.  When we were growing up, my sister carved a large pumpkin, cut …read more

When producing a product or providing a service involving your craft, take a look at the results. 
 Are they adequate, enough to do the job and keep you ”resting on your laurels?”  Or are you striving for excellence in your results?
Laura Spencer has written a thought provoking post on this topic at her blog, Writing Thoughts.  In Are You an Adequate Writer or an Excellent Writer, Laura talks about writing.  However, I realized, as I read the post, Laura’s points could be applied to a craft, a business, a sport…most anything you attempt in life.
Are you putting your best into what you do or …read more