• Christmas ornaments
  One of the favorite holiday traditions at Noreen’s house is making an ornament for their family and friends. This year, it’s the Angel of Gratitude.
• Favorite Upcycled Etsy Holiday Finds
  Dominoes, quilts, plastic strips, aluminum cans, corks and more were used in these homemade holiday creations.
• Hand Embossed Velvet Gift Bags
  Do you know how to hand emboss velvet? Learn how with this project for an elegant embossed velvet gift bag. Beaded fringe optional!
• Layers Upon Layers
  Image transfers can sometimes be challenging. Cyndi’s giving you 4 chances to win Tilano kits that help make transfers foolproof!
• Making Christmas Meaningful
  How do you make Christmas meaningful in your home?
• Memories of Pearl Harbor Day
  Mary Emma, at Quilting and Patchwork, suggests turning memories of that era you or a family member experienced into quilt or other fabric art.
• Tangled Thread Christmas
  Chloe shares her Christmas tree and holiday decorations.

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• How to hand-sew sequins
  Add some glitz and glamor to your holiday crafting with this easy how to sew sequins tutorial.  
• Layers Upon Layers
  Profiled artist Nicole Braun combines her love of mixed media arts with her photography.
• Making Festive Ice Wreaths
  If it’s freezing, you can make the perfect ice wreath!
• More Ornament How-tos
  Come see some beautiful and easy-to-make Christmas ornaments created by Eileen’s new helper elf.
• Spool knitted and woven heart instructions
  Noreen has re-worked the instructions for her spool knitted and woven heart. It’s now available as a pdf. The original heart was made in springtime colors, but the heart would be gorgeous in Christmas colors like burgundy, navy and hunter green.
• The Fascination of Karen Eckmeier’s Happy Villages
  Discover Karen’s unique ways of designing and quilting in her Happy Villages and Accidental Landscapes techniques.

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• Christmas shopping for fiber-aholics with Tangled Thread
  Need a gift idea for the fabric or fiber-aholic in your life? Chloe has put together her favorite picks to delight the crafter on your list.
• Freaky Friday #138
  A visual journal prompt using photos & images of your family.
• Green crafts - A new hand made book from recycled wood & paper
  Noreen’s been working on Christmas presents. She’s just finished making a journal for her sister in law, using old wood from a stage set, and recycled paper. She’s binding it all with spool knitted cords, and has embellished it with a Celtic Tree of Life. A very green Christmas present indeed!
• Layers Upon Layers
  Come meet Theda Sandiford, and enjoy her multi-layered and challenging collages!
• Spice Up Plain Pens with Wrapping Paper or Magazines
  Make a stocking stuffer for cheap!
• We Want More Ornament Ideas!
  Eileen and her elves have been crafting up new ornament ideas. Here’s just one example. There will be more to come!
• Write a Thankful Poem
  Even though this is described as a Thanksgiving activity, you can adapt it to any time of the year, suggests Mary Emma at Quilting and Patchwork.

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•   2008 Advent Calendar
  Heather Blakey is making another advent calendar this year.
• Fabric Beads - Fun to Make and Use
  Quilters and fabric artists enjoy making fabric beads for their various creations.
• Featured Prize: Let’s Knit!
  Learn more about this book for beginning knitters, and enter to win by Nov. 23.
• How to weave a prayer or healing shawl on a narrow loom
  Noreen’s been weaving prayer and healing shawls on the Cricket rigid heddle loom, using a nifty technique that she has developed - a mitered loop.
• Layers Upon Layers
  Cyndi has a whole new set of mixed media artists for you to have lunch with this week.
• March of the Penguins Cheese Ball
  Here’s a crafty hors d’oeuvre for your next party. There will be smiles all around when your guests glimpse these cute little penguins marching around the cheese ball igloo.
• What to do with those wonderful yo-yos?
  So you’ve gotten hooked on making yo-yos - but what can you really make with all those little circles?

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• Chic Junk Art from Light Bulbs & Plastic Bottles
  Discover Dutch artist Carolien Adriaansche.
• Christmas Ornament Ideas
  Are you looking for directions for making Christmas ornaments? Look no further. Eileen has lots of ideas for you at The Artful Crafter.
• Christmas for Crafters: Prize Packages for the Winning
  First giveaway ends Nov 17, so if you miss it, check for the next one!
• Green crafts - Twig buttons
  Noreen was given an old leather coat that had really boring buttons. She made wonderful new buttons for it from arbutus twigs and her spool knitter. Voila! a fun and funky new upcycled look!
• Layers Upon Layers
  Adjoa J Burrowes, collage illustrator of children’s books, shares her artwork with Layers Upon Layers.
• Swirl Crayons
  Sample pages of my swirlie crayons.
• Yo-yo circle tutorial from Tangled Thread
  Chloe mentions yo-yos a lot - so it was definitely time to create a tutorial to make them!

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• Christmas crafting with Tangled Thread
  Get a head start on your Christmas ornament crafting with these fun patterns.
• Fall Doily Bread Basket
  When you say Thanksgiving grace, let this lovely bread bowl grace your table. After the meal, you may want to make the empty bowl a gift to someone at the table that day.
• Harvest Themes for Quilters
  Now that November and harvest time is here, Mary Emma discusses harvest theme ideas at Quilting and Patchwork.
• Introducing the Newspaper Bench
  Oscar Lhermitte found a beautiful and functional use for newspapers.
• Layers Upon Layers
  Cyndi has declared that November is “Take a (New) Artist to Lunch Month”! Come and meet extraordinary artists that you probably haven’t run into before throughout this whole month!
• Love This Journal
  A cool new website dedicated to art journal keepers.
• Unidentified Flying Hedgehog!
  Did you know that sometimes, hedgehogs fly? One of Noreen’s hedgehog tatting shuttles took flight recently and hasn’t been seen since.

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• Emergency Response Studio Complete
  Once an old FEMA-style trailer, now an off-the-grid mobile artist studio, ERS is a must see.  
• Layers Upon Layers
  Collage artist Tom Brennan mixes it up in his paper arts!
• Spooky Halloween Spiders
  You’ll love these spooky spiders made by Eileen’s crafty friend Shaaron. Lately Shaaron has been specializing in crafts that are easy and/or can by done with the kids. You have just enough time to create a bunch of these creepy critters in time for Halloween. So get busy!
• What to do with those little scraps of yarn? Fiber fusion!
  Here’s a great way to create a piece of fiber art using all those little bits of thread, yarn and fabric that seem to accumulate in studios.
• Life Long Learning
  A journal prompts about learning new things.
  
• Tottie Tomato thinks about workshops
  Noreen Crone-Findlay has been busy getting her new workshops organized. Tottie is thrilled, because she has now got a splendiferous new basket from one of the workshops.

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• 13 Tips for Quilting Inspiration & Design
  Mary Emma at Quilting and Patchwork provides some ideas to give you inspiration for your quilting and fabric art.
• Boo-tacular Halloween crafts
  Tangled Thread has put together a list of her favorite free patterns for Halloween crafts - for all ages.
• Layers Upon Layers
  Making art with recycled bottles and jars…that’s Alyice Edrich’s thing!
• More Spring Ideas
  Some great spring activities.
• Service with a Smile
  Eileen responds to a customer’s question about one of her most popular original patterns: a panadiere or fabric bread basket. These bread baskets make lovely hostess or holiday gifts.
• The Thread Project
  The Thread Project is profoundly stirring. Founder, Terry Helwig has created an international gathering of thousands of threads, woven into banners of hope, healing, creativity and reconciliation. It’s pure joy.
• The Toymaker
  Experience a DIY paper toy wonderland.
• Tottie Tomato has her own blog!
  Tottie Tomato is a delightful doll and sweet character that Noreen Crone-Findlay created. And now, Tottie Tomato has her own blog, where she and Noreen will be sharing all kinds of tutorials and stories about the crafts they love!

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We’ve got a short Artsy Bloggers link round-up this week - but there’s some great stuff, so enjoy!

• Celebrate WA, My Place Photos
  Check out the inspiring photos from WA
• Layers Upon Layers
  Darlene Wilkinson shares her secrets to creativity!
• Q & A with Joanna Goldman
  Read about her original character designs and more.
• Remember to Smell the Flowers
  One of the nicest things about digital scrapbooking is that you can always do a makeover. As your skills and design sense improve or change, you’ll look at your earlier work and think, “Now I know just what that needs!” Here’s one by Eileen that needs just a tiny tweak … when she can find the time!

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• Celebrate fall colors
  Tangled Thread is inspired by fall colors to create a new fall flower wall hanging.
• Change Your Writing Tools
  Encouragement to use differernt writing tools in your journal.
• Layers Upon Layers
  Come see some of the work that has arrived at the home of the “Ties That Bind” collaborative art project, raising money for ovarian cancer research.
• Make It Pink Challenge at CraftStylish
  Upload your pink craft project to CraftStylish and they’ll donate to breast cancer research.
• Men in Quilting - Does Grandfather Make Quilts?
  After discussing the role of women in quilting for so long, Mary Emma at Quilting and Patchwork looks into the role of men in this art.
• Scrapbook More than Your Holidays to Preserve Precious Memories
  Don’t let any more family gatherings or everyday special moments fade away because no one thought to bring a camera. Capture the moments in photos. Then bring them back to life on a scrapbook page. Here’s some inspiration from Eileen.

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