June Wrap-Up

It's time for the monthly wrap-up! 

I tucked in the last few ends to finish up this cute knitted gnome that I started working on clear back in December:

I made this cool weaving. It reminds me of stalactites:

I made this weaving of a happy, sleepy cat:

I crocheted this chunky rope basket, perfect for holding craft supplies:

And I also worked on some other weaving projects, but I haven't finished any of them yet. FOs coming soon! 

I hope you're all having a wonderful and safe summer! Happy crafting!

Summer break!

Happy summer, everyone! I have been doing a bit of crafting here and there, but also taking a well-deserved break. I'm not on my computer as much during the summer, so there might be longer breaks between blog posts, but you can ALWAYS catch up on my latest crafty pursuits at the following social media sites:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fuzzydorffcreations

Twitter: https://twitter.com/fuzzydorff

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fuzzydorffcreations/

Here's my latest post on the above sites: 

Anyway, if you don't see me here for a couple weeks, check me out on social media! Happy summer, and happy crafting!

Fun Summer Kid Crafts

It's that time of year- we have kids to entertain, and we want to craft. Let's combine interests and get some fun kid crafts worked up! Here is a list of some helpful websites I found:

Happiness is Homemade- Here is a list of quick summer crafts, including a cool pool noodle racetrack that I'm going to have to make for my son. 

Hands On As We Grow- This website compiled fun crafts from a bunch of different websites into one fun list, including a bubble snake blower!

Good Housekeeping- This list has a bunch of fun crafts that are a little more involved, like soap making, fabric stamping, and pottery painting, but I'm most excited about the seashell crab magnets.

The Idea Room- This is another list of crafts for older kids. I saw several on here that I'd love to make, but the one that caught my eye as a cool craft for upper-elementary-aged kids was the DIY Kool-Aid lip gloss. 

I Heart Crafty Things- Here is a HUGE list of summer crafts, and right at the top is a bunch of links to tutorials for zoo-themed finger puppets. My kiddo would go crazy for those. 

Projects With Kids- If your kid is into painting, there are a bunch of cool ideas on this site. 

There are many more websites that popped up with my simple Google search, but I think the list above is a good start. :-) 

In my house, fingerpainting is always a beloved activity. This summer I intend to pull some cardboard boxes out of the recycling, open them up flat, and let the kid paint whatever his heart desires all over them. The art work is easy to hang up if you want to display it, or it can be recycled when you're done. It's a win-win!

Happy crafting!

May Wrap-Up

 Happy summer! School is out, the temperatures are warming up, and it's time for the May wrap-up!

In the month of May I was able to finish off some weaving, some locker hooking, and some knitting.

At the beginning of the month I finished the last bit of work on this woven lace wall hanging, is a project in Lindsey Campbell's Lace Weaving Tapestry class:

Something I really got excited about in May was using a cat-shaped loom to make this woven cat portrait! The loom is from Casa Marengo Studio.

I made this locker hooked trivet, a project from Lindsey Campbell's locker hooking course on The Crafters Box. 

Mid-month I found a vintage flower loom, so I had to try it out, of course!

And finally I made this cute little gnome, the newest gnome MKAL from Imagined Landscapes:

I've already finished two things this month, so I'll have more FOs to share in a few weeks! Until then, happy crafting!

What's OTN?

 OTN- "On the needles"

So, what are you working on currently? I'd love to hear about it! "On the needles" refers to knitting, but I really mean anything- what crafty project are you currently working on? I have several projects in the works right now:

1. A small tapestry weaving on my Flax & Twine hand loom

2. A knitted gnome mystery knit-along

3. A lace rose weaving on my large Hello Hydrangea frame loom

4. A set of kitchen towels on my Schacht Flip rigid heddle loom

5. A baby quilt (hand sewing the binding currently)

Plenty of projects to work on! I'd really love to see what you've got in the works. Do you knit? Crochet? Weave? Sew? Felt? Scrapbook? Leatherwork? Any craft counts! Let's share what's keeping us entertained right now in the comments. 

Happy crafting!

How to Dabble in Weaving

Have you ever thought about weaving, but you didn't want to make the financial commitment of purchasing a loom without knowing if you'd like it or not? Despite my extensive loom collection, I was once in this boat. I have some project ideas for those of you that would like to try weaving without buying an expensive loom. 

Let's start with some non-loom projects! I found an article about weaving a bag on a cardboard loom in a book, and decided to cut up a cereal box and give it a try! Here was the result:

The book was called, "Spiders' Games: a Book for Beginning Weavers" by Phylis Morrison. 

I've also made some cool non-loom projects from Anne Weil's book, "Weaving Within Reach". This bag was made by laying the yarn down on a table, weaving it bit-by-bit, and then stitching it together to make it stay put. 

By the way, Anne Weil sells kits for a lot of her loom-free weave projects on her website Flax & Twine. 

Here are some free internet resources that may help you jump into weaving without a loom:

How to Weave Without a Real Loom

Weave This: Weaving Without a Loom

Geometric Weaving Wall Hanging (this one weaves on a crochet background- clever!)

Boho Woven Wall Hanging Without a Loom

DIY Macrame for Beginners/Macraweave Tutorial (if you're interested in macramé, try this!)

Perhaps you want to create your own loom? I made a loom out of an embroidery hoop to make this pretty trivet:

This project is also from Anne Weil's book, linked above.

There are a lot of tutorials out there for constructing your own simple loom out of a frame or a canvas. Here are a few:

How to Weave Without Special Equipment

DIY Dollar Store Woven Wall Hanging

Create Your Own Frame Loom: No Tools Necessary

Make Your Own Weaving Bookmarks

How to Make a Woven Wall Hanging and Weaving Loom

Weave Thieve: How to Make a DIY Weaving Loom for Less Than $20

How to Weave and DIY Loom Tutorial

How to Make a Simple Weaving Loom

I could go on and on- I love looking up crafty things on the internet! I hope that these links give you a place to start so you can dabble in my latest obsession and see if you enjoy it, too! 

Happy crafting!

April Wrap-Up

Doing a monthly wrap-up for projects during April this year is a bit strange. I only finished one thing! But I spent most of the month casually working on a variety of long-term WIPs (works in progress), so I'll share them as well. 

The only project I completed during April were these pretty towels for my friend, Tif.

They have magnetic snaps! They will stay on the oven door handle a lot better this way. 

Here is what else I worked on in April:

I nearly finished this lacy, woven wall hanging. It's finished now, but on the last day of April it was still on the loom, looking like this:

I also worked on my brioche cowl, especially while watching Zoom meetings:

I finished my ADVENTure gnome except for weaving in a couple ends and blocking the beard. I don't have a picture of what it looks like right this instant, but here is a picture of his lovely hat:

I warped my Schacht Flip loom and started another set of kitchen towels for my friend, Lorna:

I also worked on the binding for a baby quilt that I finished quilting AGES ago, and have been procrastinating sewing on the binding. I don't seem to have gotten a picture of that! I'll just have to get it finished up and share a photo of the finished object! 

Not as much crafting in April- it's just been a busy spring, and I've been tired out from my real-life job. I'm a teacher, so I'm looking forward to some extra crafting time in the near future as the school year wraps up. I'm attending a virtual conference later this week, so I anticipate plenty of crafting while watching Zoom meetings all day! 

What have you been working on lately? Let me know in the comments! Happy crafting!