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Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Make Your Own CraftBook

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Are you a crafty person?  Do you have 287 craft books?  Are you running out of bookshelf space to store them all?  Yeah, well, me too.  I finally got smart, though, and decided to make my own craft book.  I wanted a book that reflected the crafts that I want to do and look forward to trying out. 

 

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I had printed out a lot of crafts that I had run across online.  Many from the Martha Stewart website, others from moms like me who create at home and have blogs that show you how to make their crafts.  I love crafty blogs.  I love artsy blogs.  I love blogs.  I think we've come to that conclusion already.  So, I have printed off so many craft tutorials and instructions that my file cabinet is bursting.

 

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I got crafty last week.  I found a 2" blue vinyl notebook in our home office just waiting to be used.  I didn't have dividers, but I did have tan file folders and I had those plastic labels that stick on the paper.  I was set.

 

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First thing I did was make a list of sections for my book and here they are:

Book Crafts
Storage Crafts
Card Crafts
Kitchen Crafts
Applique
Crafts for Him
Misc. Crafts
Clothing Crafts
Purse Crafts
Foyer Crafts
Bedroom Crafts
Home Office Crafts
Laundry Crafts
Closet Crafts
Paper Crafts
Felt Crafts
Sachets
Candles
Doll Crafts
Window Treatments
Bathroom Crafts
Baby/Toddler Crafts
Studio Crafts
Hats
Quilting

 

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Wow.  I spent almost an entire day going through my printed crafts and then I used a 3-hole puncher and prepared them for the notebook.  First, though, I made dividers.  I cut the tan folders in half, prepared them with the 3-hole punch on one side and a plastic sticky label on the other.  Then I put them on the floor and made piles for each section.

 

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After I went through all my printed craft projects, I kept the ones I wanted and shredded the ones I no longer needed or wanted.  Then I put my book together.

 

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I'm trying to live a greener life and I hate waste.  If I can find a use for something, I try to use it again and again.  After I shred my paper, and when the basket becomes full, I don't throw it away.  I tie up the bag that holds the shredded paper and I store it in the garage for use when I mail out packages that require cushion.  Why buy those styrofoam fillers?  If you shred your paper at home, save at least some of it for use in packing up boxes.  You don't even have to take them out of the bag that they are in if you want to save the mess when the box is open.  Shredded paper makes a great packing material.

 

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There you go!  I hope you will make your own craft book and fill it with all your favorite crafts and ideas that you find across the web.  Now, I might just pull out this book cover craft and make a book cover for my CraftBook.

Do you have a special place in your home where you craft?  I'd love to hear about it!

 

SusansButterflySignature 

“Create








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