The Shell Stitch – A Craft Review

 

She Sells Seashells......

Inspired by the sea shore, the shell stitch is lovely for many projects, either as a basic stitch for an entire item, or as a border, such as for an afghan.

The Shell Stitch in Crochet

The shell stitch is a beautiful and easy crochet stitch that you can use for a variety of projects. This stitch creates a lovely textured and scalloped design.

This stitch can be worked in rows, in rounds, or as a border on a larger project.

The shell stitch is created by working a group of 3 to 7 stitches in a single stitch or space.  When complete, the grouped stitches flair out making it look like a fan or a shell. 

There are many tutorials online, both in written form and on YouTube which will walk you through how to do the shell stitch.  Sarah Stearns of SarahMaker has an easy step-by-step tutorial that teaches you how to create the Shell Stitch. 

Examples of Projects Using the Shell Stitch

Shell Stitch Baby Afghan Pattern

Sasha of SashaPatterns has created a pattern for a lovely easy-to-do baby afghan crocheted entirely in the shell stitch. 

Sasha also has a pattern for a baby blanket with a lacy shell stitch border. 

Both patterns are available in her Etsy Shop.

Baby Sweater in Shell Stitch

The shell stitch is not just for baby blankets. This darling pattern from the pattern collection at the Etsy Digital Pattern Shop is for a baby sweater, bonnet & booties done in crochet in the shell stitch. It's a 1960s Vintage pattern to do in a pretty shell pattern with picot trim. The pattern lets you create a pretty baby layette.

Shell Stitch Used as Trim

I personally used the shell stitch to create the 'scales' on a crocheted plush toy baby dragon.  He's available in my eBay Shop

Here is the baby dragon in a close up view, looking at my 'shell' lamp! :)

Shell Stitch in Knitting

The shell stitch can also be used in knitted projects.  You create the stitch by working elongated stitches into the Stockinette stitch – the knitting stitch which is done by knitting on the right side and purling on the wrong side. Then the elongated stitches are twisted and working together to create the look of a small seashell.

Instructions for the Shell Stitch in Knitting are found at the website KnittingStitchPatterns.com. 

Summary

Calling all knitters and crochet crafters. Choose a pattern and try out this really beautiful stitch known as the Shell Stitch.

Related Link:

• The World of Granny Squares

*The Shell Stitch Review is written by Wednesday Elf

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

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Winter Time and Birds, Some Good Advice Regarding Pigeons! A DIY Project!

Every Winter the Birds Come Calling! 

I guess that's because we (my other half and I) love to see and feed the birds during the coldest months of the year.  There is something wonderful in seeing even the plain little sparrows munching on suet cakes that we have made or bought. The winter months can be tough on little birds as they need a lot of energy just to keep their tiny bodies warm.

Image by Kurt Bouda from Pixabay

There is one bird though, that I do not want on my balcony!  I do NOT want pigeons!

Why?  Pigeons are very dirty birds.  They like to make their homes in high spaces!  If they can find a spot out of the wind and elements, they will call that spot home!  They will also chase away any of the smaller birds that I really do like having around my balcony in the winter months.  So what can I do?

Well, I was checking out ways to keep the pigeons from even wanting to come onto my balcony, but the availability of food for the smaller birds is what is attracting them.  So if there is no food there will be no birds and I will miss out on some really fun times watching these little critters. I need to do something else that will make the pigeons look for other lodgings.

Pigeons are spooked easily,  so one method of deterring them is to hang windchimes and balloons so that there is always movement and sound happening.  Hopefully they will find a quieter place to call home!

While thinking about this problem and the solutions I had an idea that would do the trick. I came across a whole stack of old CD disks that we no longer needed or wanted.  Old operating systems on CD's were taking up space and were really not necessary for our computer operations.  One side of the disk has a label on it and the other side has beautiful rainbow colors!   So I took a dozen or so of these disks and set to work.

I drilled a hole in the disk about an inch inside the outer rim!   Then just thread some wire or garden twine through the hole and leave enough string/rope to make a loop big enough to pass the disk through it. You can hang them all at the same level or vary the lengths as you please.   Then take all of your strung CD's outside and hang them with the loop around a cord or light string.  .  

At our home we have a string of lights on our balcony because we love to sit out there evenings during the summer months!  This string of lights is now lit for the holidays and it looks amazing with my hanging CD's!  Just check out the short video I took!  You can see the effect it has in the daytime and at night!  

The sunlight plays on the discs sending light all around the balcony!  It does not take much wind to make them spin and when they are spinning light beams are playing all around the balcony.  I am so pleased with the outcome.  They are quite pretty with their rainbow colors and they themselves are not at all noisy!  Even in the windiest of days if the CD's bang around, you just hear a little clicking sound.  

Evenings on the balcony are so pretty with rainbow hues being seen from all corners.  I have a mirror on the one side and my lights and the disks are nicely reflected in it.  It makes it seem like I have twice as many lights and CD's on the balcony!  I personally love the look!

What do you need to accomplish this for yourself?  A DREMEL TOOL is great for drilling the holes or you can use a regular drill with a fairly small bit (depending on the size of your cord).   If you don't have lights to hang these from, you can make a line with any kind of twine and fasten it with some hooks to where ever you want these hanging. .You can also use Christmas hooks to hang these from an eaves-trough.  Vary the lengths of the cords or keep them all the same, that is up to you entirely.  

What I have found in just the short time that these have been up, is that the little birds are not scared of the light show, but the pigeons are not coming to roost anymore.  Hopefully this will keep them away. 

I checked into other methods of keeping pigeons off the balcony, but they involve either hurting the birds or making the railings uncomfortable not just for the birds but for us as well.  I don't want to hurt anything, but don't want to encourage those pigeons to roost on my balcony.  

I will let you know how it works, but, for right now it seems to be doing the trick!  No pigeons were harmed during this trial and I suspect they won't be hurt or harmed in any other way while these are on my balcony!

  

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March is National Craft Month

Reviewing the Wonderful World of Crafting!

As an avid crafter, I am thrilled to have a month for celebrating crafts.  Since March is filled with cold days kissed by spring, it seems like the perfect month for crafting.  

It is exhilarating to look out the windows at the beautiful days.  It fills us all with the desire and energy to do something.  However, March weather is not often cooperative, or conducive to outdoor activity. 

In my region, you never know what weather you will wake up to on any given day.  Some days we have beautiful spring weather bursting with new life in our flower beds.  Then the following day we can find ourselves thrown back into winter with ice and snow.

The spring days make you want to go outside, breathe in the fresh air, and have fun "running with the wind".  Unfortunately, when those days are followed by freezing weather, you find yourself stuck in the house still feeling that desire to do something.  I turn to my crafts and harness that energy while I wait for the warm weather to return. 

Fun Crafts - There's Something for Everyone

The wonderful thing about crafts is that there is a craft project for everyone.  For those of us who love needlework, there are a variety of options.  Sewing, quilting, cross-stitch, or embroidery fall under the category of needlework.  The beauty of many needlework kits is that they are often small and portable.  

Several of my fellow contributors enjoy crochet and working with yarn instead of thread.  That is also a craft that is portable.  Both Wednesday Elf and Dawn Rae have Etsy stores where they sell their beautiful creations.  

 DawnRaeCrochet
Store Owner: Dawn Rae CoastalCrochetCrafts
Store Owner: Pat (Wednesday Elf)

Avid crafters, like myself, tend to skip from one craft project to another.  Not only do we enjoy needlework, crochet or knitting, but we also explore the world of stenciling, painting, decoupage, flower arranging, latch hook, mosaics, beaded crafts, and many more.  

Regardless of the craft, it is always a creation made by our own hands.  Hours of love are often poured into whichever craft we choose and many finished projects turn into treasures for a lifetime and passed down for generations. For such a worthy endeavor, a month is not really enough time to celebrate, but it is a great beginning.

Here are a few websites you might enjoy visiting when you are ready to select a craft, kit, or pattern.  The tutorials on Crafter's Kingdom will make it easier to learn a new craft too.

 Christmas Craft Collection Website Crafter's Kingdom Website A Cross Stitch in Time Website

The Business of Crafts

Because of my own love for a variety of crafts, like Wednesday Elf and Dawn Rae, I also opened an online store 19 years ago.  My craft supplies store is on eBay, which predated Etsy.  I love both sites and highly recommend either for selling or buying.

 House of Sylvestermouse on Ebay

All of the craft kits, patterns, or books featured in the introduction photo, are available in The House of Sylvestermouse eBay store. 

March is National Craft Month by:

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Hobby Time from the Review This! Contributors

hob·by - an activity done regularly in one's leisure time for pleasure. 

January is known as National Hobby Month.   The contributing writers here on Review This! each have their favorite ways to enjoy a relaxing pursuit and have written many reviews of various how-to books, crafting supplies and DIY tutorials, gardening tips, recipes & kitchen aids for the cook, photography lessons, reading or listening to music, sports, and a host of other hobbies. 

These are but a few of the hobbies enjoyed by the Review This crew. The list of hobbies is almost endless.  If you are interested in looking for what we writers here have reviewed, type in the name of your 'hobby' either in the box in the top left-hand corner of any Review This page, or in the search box down the right-hand side. By looking at the author's name, you won't have any problem figuring out which HOBBY is each writers' favorite! For instance, mine  (Wednesday Elf) is crochet and my hobby is shared by several other contributors here, so we learn and share with each other. A more comprehensive list is shown below.

National Hobby Month

Begun by the Hobby Guild of America in 1955,  National Hobby Month was celebrated in April until 1976, then in October until 1986.  Since then, it has been celebrated during the month of January. 

January was most likely chosen for National Hobby Month as it is the beginning of a new year and a good time to start a new hobby.  Many people have never had hobbies during their working years or while raising a family and begin one in their retirement or after the children are grown.  Others try many hobbies throughout their life before finding one or two that gives them the most enjoyment. 

Hobby Examples on Review This!

Hobbies can be passive (such as crafting, reading, writing, listening to music or watching a movie) or an activity such as gardening, cooking or participating in sports. Many people have more than one hobby and often combine them, such as listening to music while crafting. 

In addition to writing reviews here on Review This!, most of the contributing writers here write for their own blogs and websites.  Writers consider writing to be more work than hobby, so time away from writing is important. That's where the activities done in our leisure time become such a pleasure. It is also interesting to note that the passion we feel for our hobbies is shown in many of the subjects we write about.

• Barbara Tremblay Cipak (Brite-Ideas) is crazy about country music and frequently writes about the artists and their music she is so passionate about.  She is also loves to experiment with color in home décor. 
• Dawn Rae does crochet and participates in a group of fellow jeep owners.  She also enjoys gardening and lately 'learning about homesteading'.
• Cynthia Sylvestermouse is a freelance writer and photographer who loves all different kinds of crafts, including crafting in the kitchen, creating fancy cakes and cupcakes. 
• Barbara (BarbRad) is an expert on books and loves to read.  She is also a nature photographer who most enjoys photographing her central California area. 
• Mary Beth Granger (MBGphoto) is a fabulous photographer who continually takes photography classes to learn more.  Photography has become her passion in her retirement, along with traveling.  Lighthouses and beaches are her favorite subjects. 
• Wednesday Elf loves crochet and needlework, watching baseball and reading. 
• Beverly Owens is busy researching her Native American Indian heritage and loves to write about spirit animals and the wisdom of her ancestors. She also enjoys crocheting. 
• Olivia Morris loves gardening and following the fashion world.
• Brenda Little (Treasures By Brenda) collects coffee mugs and researches the history of vintage cups and other vintage items which she shares in her eBay store.  She also loves reading, great movies, cooking, and pop culture. 
• Diana Wenzel (Renaissance Woman2010) enjoys an off-the-grid lifestyle where she pursues her interests in animal rescue, wonderful nature photography, and DIY projects. She also loves to read. 
• Louanne Cox (Lou16) loves reading, 80s music, zombies and dolls, among a host of other interests. 
• Heather Burns (Heather426) is an artist, illustrator and graphic designer. Her hobby is her artistic accomplishments, including the colored pencils she has created for coloring pages and coloring books. 
• Coletta Teske is a published book author and loves to sew. 
• Sam Monaco enjoys cooking and he has a passion for preserving old family recipes. These can be found on his blog Sam's Place. He also loves history.
• Jasmine Ann Marie Annie (Raintree Annie) loves gardening and nature. Her favorite hobby is photography and photographing the wildlife, animals and birds in nature.

These are just the highlights of hobbies and interests I have observed from the articles they publish and the interaction we have as a team here on the staff of Review This!.  I am sure there are other interests each of them have.  

Quick View Home Page

By clicking on the Quick View Home Page button at the top of any Review This! page, you will have weekly examples of many of the articles your hobbyists here enjoy (plus many non-hobby reviews).  

Stop by the comments section and tell us your favorite hobby or activity. The Review This! staff would love to hear about what gives you pleasure in your leisure time.

(c) Written by Wednesday Elf on 1/20/2018

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

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Reviewing Around The Corner Crochet Borders

My Favorite Book For Crochet Borders

Do you get stuck when it comes to putting a border on your latest crochet blanket? Perhaps my review of this wonderful book Around the Corner Crochet Borders will help solve your dilemma from now on. It certainly has helped me with my projects! My only problem now is to narrow it down to which lovely border I want to try!

Since I retired from my job, I have taken up the hobby of crocheting again. My husband might say that it is more of an obsession than a hobby but we won't go there today.

What I love About Edie Eckman's book

I don't know about you but I have tried to read many a crochet pattern in my day and some of them just do not make much sense. In Edie Eckman's book Around the Corner Crochet Borders pages are filled with easy to understand directions. She also shows a diagram of each border with the stitches and I love that. Sometimes when the words sound confusing, you can look at the diagram and it suddenly makes sense. At least for me, it does. 

There are over 150 borders to choose from and let me tell you, I want to try about 120 or more of them. They are that unique and lovely! Edie also spends time in the front of the book explaining about the math of choosing and creating a border for your piece. Yes, there is a bit of a science to it all! I'm sure that you have probably tried a border and it either bent forward or began to ruffle and that was not the result you wanted. The book will teach you how to get it right every time. By the way, if that border was bending forward you did not have enough stitches for the multiples you needed and if it ruffled you had too many stitches in your border for the width or length of the piece. 

The above picture is a border that I made from the book. It is border #20 on pages 64 and 65. Isn't it cute? In the past, I would have just put the old standby of a shell border and honestly, would have been disappointed in it. I like the shells but they are just so ordinary. Oh, another thing, with each border instruction, Edie shares the multiples that are needed to properly fit the border to the measurements of your piece. That helps to narrow your choices down according to the stitch count that your piece has.

I know that I am reviewing the border book but I thought that I would also like to offer a tip on crochet hooks. I love the ergonomic ones like the one below.

Ergonomic Crochet hooks

They are my hook of choice when doing any project because the soft grips are more comfortable to use especially when I am going to crochet for long spans of time.

If you love to crochet and want some extraordinary ideas for borders, I highly recommend Around The Corners Crochet Borders by Edie Eckman. I am thrilled that I purchased it and I plan to purchase other books by the same author. She has written it all in a way that I can understand but more importantly that I can actually use.

I created a sample piece for border #20 that I mentioned above just to make sure that I understand the math and the directions. What will I do with my little sample? As a Grandmother to four little girls, it will be a doll blanket for one of them. I hope you have enjoyed my review of this book, if you have any questions please feel free to ask in the comments section below. I know you will enjoy this book if you crochet and if you have been looking for something to give as a gift to someone who crochets; this book  Around the Corners Crochet Borders would be treasured by the person you give it to.

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

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The Crafty Month of March in Review

March is National Craft Month

March is 'National Craft Month', a month which also includes National Crochet Week. 

This is the perfect time to look at some handmade crafty creations, including DIY projects and tutorials, and read some articles about the art of crafting to get you in the mood for creating.

 

To Craft means to make or produce something skillfully.

Craft in Green for St. Patrick's Day

Crafting for holidays is quite often a popular endeavor.  Since the month of March includes the St. Patrick's Day holiday, crafters enjoy the opportunity to 'Craft in St. Patrick's Day Green'. 

St. Patrick's Day Octopus on eBay

Craft Ideas for National Craft Month

• If you check out the Craft Section here on Review This, you will find many articles with crafts to try for all the other holidays during the year from Thanksgiving to Valentine's Day and throughout the year right back to the Fall Holidays which begin with Halloween!

• Or try out one of these DIY Craft Books with projects and gift ideas for a large variety of holidays available on Amazon.

• A fun example is the one for the next nearest holiday – Easter.  DIY Projects & Gift Ideas for Easter is filled with amazingly easy guided gift ideas for beginners to the more experienced (with pictures!) and is available in Amazon's Kindle Store. 

Handmade gifts are such a joy to create, give and receive and this book will give you lots of crafty ideas.  There are homemade Easter crafts in the popular areas of Easter Eggs and Easter Bunnies and fun DIY Easter food, to name a few of the projects available in this book.

Time to Get Crafting...

Golden Bunny Girl on eBay

This sweet bunny girl in gold is all dressed up for Easter in a pretty dress. Bunny rabbit in crochet is hopping by to remind you that if you love to craft, but find life getting in the way and your crafting time getting put on a back-burner, circle the month of March on your calendar and use National Craft Month as a reminder to restore your creative self!  

Crochet crafter Wednesday Elf uses National Crochet Week in March as her reminder.

If you are a crafter and have a DIY tutorial to share with those of us who love hand-crafts, please feel free to share a link with us in the comments section. 
 

Wednesday Elf on Etsy
Follow Wednesday Elf on Twitter
Crochet Blog by Wednesday Elf

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Getting Organized and Going Back to Work

Just the other day, a friend reminded me that it's only 24 weeks until Christmas. Do you wonder where the time has gone this year? Does time fly while you're having fun? Or, have you been too busy to notice?

It's been too busy around the Recycler household. The year started with the hunt for the perfect home. It took us a month of sorting through the list of foreclosures and estates sales in our town until we found a home, that, if we didn't look too closely, looked like the home of our dreams.

After the papers were signed, we had a short party and then spent the next three months getting the place in shipshape condition with An Environmentally Friendly Spring Cleaning Solution and a lot of pruning to recover from what was definitely not an example of how to Plant the Right Tree the Right Way.

Now that the hard work is done, it's time for us to get organized and go back to work. It's important that our home be organized and work-ready. Our dream home is not just the place where we eat, drink, and be merry. It is also our home office, art studio, and crafting room.

One corner of the house has been set up as a combination office and crafting room. In the middle of the room is a very large, pub-height table that we use as a computer workstation and a crafting table. I wanted a tall desk so that I could stand while working. I had experimented with standing at the kitchen counter at our old home and I loved it. I felt more productive and stronger by just standing for a few hours each day.

Finding the perfect standing height desk setup wasn't as easy as I had thought. There's a lot to consider before standing while working. How the standing height workstation will be used and personal health issues should be considered, along with preferences about the size of the desktop and the storage features.

Standing and working isn't a full-time gig for us. We keep a couple of comfortable stools next to the bar, excuse me, desk, so we can saddle up for some serious sitting time. It doesn't take a permanent standing height workstation to get the benefits. There are several Stand Up Workstation And Adjustable Desk Options that convert a standard desk into a temporary stand up workstation. Sometimes it just feels good to mix up the work routine.

With the crafting workstation in place, the place needed some organization. There must be a thousand and one Craft Room Ideas, Designs and Organization tips on the Web. Our workroom has plenty of bookshelves and cubby holes to fit art supplies, upcycle materials, and books. As we grow accustomed to our new workspace, we're learning what organization methods work best for our working style. Our organization style... Implement the best and toss the rest in the recycle bin.

Now that the neglected house we purchased has been turned into a clean, well-lighted home with an awesome workspace, it's time to give the old resume an update and a good polish. This girl needs to get back into the work-at-home workforce. And, create a few more Steampunk fashions on mom's vintage Singer sewing machine.

As we slide on into the last half of this exciting, changing, and busy year... reduce the stress, reuse the best, and recycle the rest.

Here's to your health and happiness!

Coletta

Posted by Coletta Teske

About This Contributor

Coletta Teske writes reviews on books, business management, writing, crafting, cooking, and gardening. She is also an avid recycler and shares her tips on recycling. She delights in upcycling an old object, recycling or transforming discarded items into a new treasure.

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

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Crafty by Nature

 One of my favorite ways to craft is by using natural materials from the world around us. Every week my daughter and I head off to forest school and then have a wander through the forest afterwards, and invariably she will pick up some bits and bobs to take home and craft with!  

There are lots of gems to be found on the forest floor, from pine cones to twigs, leaves to moss. These can be used in so many ways - leaf printing, glitter pine cones in pots or to use on festive wreaths, nature cards and more! 

Our very own mbgphoto shares this tutorial on How to Make a Pine Cone Angel, which you can adapt to make into angels, fairies or elves with your little ones!

Another great source of natural craft materials is the beach. How many different ways can you get creative with a shell? Lots, I tell you! We've made sculptures and mini mermaids, painted pebble friends and treasure boxes, to name but a few things, out of the shells, pebbles, rocks and driftwood that we've encountered on our meanderings.  

Shells - image from JupiterImages Corporation

 

Scarlettohairy shows us How to Paint Rocks in her craft guide, and for more beach-themed crafts, I put together a few ideas to get you started in my guide to Sea Crafts for Kids. You'll also find plenty of inspiration in Homemade Beach Craft Ideas by studentz, which includes lots of projects from basic to advanced, many of which can be adapted for children. Which reminds me, if you see a craft you like in a book or online, but it's for older kids or adults, don't write it off straight away - can you come up with a toddler or preschooler-friendly version of it?

Natural materials can be so much fun to craft with, and they can be excellent teachers, too! As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, during the Easter break we had a go at a willow weaving workshop at our local zoo, and came home with two lovely birds nests, which we've been using for all kinds of things. Needless to say, we learned a lot about how clever birds are at making their nests, and how they have to make them strong enough to hold the eggs and soft enough for the babies when they hatch! Greenspirit has a wonderful guide to making Bird Nests Crafts, which little ones would love to help with creating. 

Finally, even if you live in the middle of the city or miles from a beach or wood, you can still find nature's bounty on your doorstep! Find sticks and flowers in the garden, leaves from trees in the street or park... or combine nature and crafts by creating a mini indoor garden in a pot or barrel - perfect for small world play, nurturing green fingers and stimulating creativity! Think fairy garden, dinosaur terrain or even a Lego adventure park. There are lots of Miniature Fairy Garden Ideas to be had such as these by LoveEmbroidery.

Elsewhere in the world of nature, seedplanter shows us how to have Fun with Flowers, while vallain reviews these awesome Model Insect Kits, which once built would look great as part of a nature diorama for small world play. And I just love some of the ideas on lbrummer's Outdoor Crafts for Kids, especially the twig frame, garden markers made from sticks and the super cool grass house!

So, next time you are enjoying a walk out in the natural world, why not have a look around and see what treasures lie waiting to be found?

(c) All photos copyright of the author unless otherwise stated

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Easter Craft Egg-Citement!

Easter Blessings!

It's not too late to get crafting for Easter - we have been busy making little chicks, coloring in Easter bunny paper dolls and even making some little chocolate eggs of our own with a chocolate mold.  

The past week we have also made baskets for an egg hunt, and were lucky enough to attend a willow weaving workshop at our local zoo, where we learned how to make these bird nests pictured! These make a lovely Easter gift, with a knitted bird or two and some pretty foiled eggs. 

This time of year is a haven for crafty ideas - spring is in the air, nature is abundant with bits and bobs to use in crafting, and we have Easter and Earth Day to inspire us! Tomorrow we're going to combine the two events by recycling the pretty colored foil that my children's Easter hunt eggs were wrapped in (below), and using them to create some kind of object or collage. We've not decided yet! 

Hubpages is the perfect place to find Easter craft ideas, or to write your own how-to's and reviews! Whether you want inspiration for a craft, or want to see how you can share your own ideas, take a look at some of these terrific pages. 

Older preschoolers might like to help (or receive!) these Resurrection Easter Eggs, demonstrated by ideadesigns. And if you're all out of painting and decorating eggs enthusiasm by now, why not try something different, such as this great idea by prosperity66, who shows you how to make Easter Bells from plant pots!

Finally, I love this tutorial from KyraB. Now spring is here, we are itching to get gardening, and have been looking at making a fairy garden in a barrel and a terrarium. So her lens on How to Make a Christian Easter Planter seemed like perfect timing for getting crafty with planting, with an Easter theme!

I was delighted to see my Chick in Egg Easter Cards tutorial selected as Lens of the Day today! This is a great craft for little ones as you can keep it simple (a colored chick in a plain egg) or have fun decorating, coloring or painting it to the hilt! 

I am also delighted to have been blessed with the new regular position of Saturday poster for Review This, so from next weekend you will be able to find reviews, tips, inspirations and ideas from Little Crafty Kids here every week! 

Once again, have a Happy Easter, and happy crafting!  

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

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Imagine, Create, Inspire!

Today I'm going to talk about why it's so great to share your crafts for kids online, and the best ways to do it!

First off, crafting for little ones is so very important, because it encourages them to be creative and imaginative from an early age, makes for great messy play (also very important!) and can benefit them in a number of other ways, ranging from fine motor skills to learning counting, colours and shapes.

It can be hard to know where to start for new parents, so anything online that can help inspire moms and dads is a wonderful thing - it's where I started when I was a new mama! Reviews of books and kits, ideas for resource materials and basics, and step-by-step tutorials for different age groups are all so very helpful to your readers! And even when you're a crafting pro, fresh inspiration for your kids is always welcome, so any more complicated crafts and fabulous ideas you may have are perfect for young crafters as well!

Remember, everything that you do with your kids that makes them happy, could make other children happy too! Sharing resources with other parents means you are inspiring others to imagine and create their own crafts and fun ideas.

As the Little Crafty Kids Contributor, writing about kids crafts comes easy for me because, chances are, we'll be doing crafts weekly anyway, I'll be taking photos anyway, and I'll be wanting to share them online anyway! So it's really easy to find things to write about each week. Plus I love doing it, so hopefully that shows in the writing! Be inspired by the seasons, festivals and events, what you can find in your recycling bin, or the story you've been reading together at bedtime. What can you make today?

To write a great article or tutorial about what you're doing with your kids, make sure you take nice, clear photos of each step, as well as the finished result! It can help to have a not-too-cluttered background, but hey, this is parenting, so that's not essential! Take some colourful pictures of the materials you're using, too. Pictures of your children actually doing the crafts are fab, but if you prefer not to put pictures of them on the internet, then take back-of-head shots of them crafting, or shots of each stage on the tabletop. If you're a wiz in a photo editing program, then you could make a montage of some of the photos with a tagline like "How to make a Toy Oven out of an Old Box" or "10 Great Crafts to Make with Pine Cones"! You could use this as an intro photo and also to promote the article on social media, especially great for visual ones like Facebook and Pinterest.

Think about niches and keywords, and how to get traffic for different kinds of craft articles. Individual how-to's might not get many searches, especially if your tutorial is something unusual, but if you can slot it into a niche phrase that is searched for, then write a piece that incorporates it - for example, you might have a review of an Easter Make and Do book, a tutorial on how to make an Easter bonnet, and a how-to on different ways to dye and decorate eggs, and so on. Write a lens or blog post on "Fun Easter Activities for Preschoolers" or "Easy Easter Crafts for Toddlers" and link to each of your related articles!

How else can you help other moms and dads? Last time I talked about reviewing craft kits. Craft books are also great to review - most parents will want to buy at least one or two of these, but there are so many out there, a really good selection of reviews can help them choose. If you put effort into your reviews and really show your enthusiasm or passion for the book (along with things you've actually made) then your readers will turn into shoppers!

Share your thoughts on:

• The ease of instructions for each craft
• Age suitability
• How clear/inspiring/beautiful the photos are
• How many projects and ideas there are
• Levels of difficulty
• Do they work? Are they easy to make? Are there good challenges? 
• And most importantly - do your children enjoy making the projects? 

 I created a list of craft books suitable for under-fives here, which you can use as a starting point for writing a book review. There have been some fantastic reviews written by Squidoo'ers in the last few weeks, such as this review of Show Me a Story by MeltedRachel, which shows the passion she has for the book as well as lovely photos of how she used inspiration from it to make story mats and maps from her leftover textiles. Meanwhile, tonyleather shared this bumper binder of books for making things from household items, which gets his granddaughter in the creative mood! Finally, CorrinnaJohnson gives a great example of how to review a seasonal crafts book with her take on Valentine Things to Make and Do.

Of course, when it comes to crafts for little ones, you don't have to just stick to basic crafts - you could also come up with recipes and ideas for materials (home-made paint, play-dough and so on), crafts to create toys and other items (we've been making rainbow rice for sensory play, and we've saved an enormous cardboard box to make a rocket out of!), and crafts for grown-ups to make things for preschoolers. The sky is the limit when it comes to creativity!

Next time I'll be looking at making recycled crafts from household items. Happy crafting!

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

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