another fabulous art/craft website - ETSY.COM

"Your place to buy and sell all things handmade"
...and you really should buy AND sell, because everything I've seen on ETSY is wonderful, beautiful, and surprising.
Felt barrettes, crocheted hats and jewelry, earrings, aprons, paintings, clothes, infant clothes, pet accessories... you can pretty much find anything your heart desires on this website (made from almost any material). And it's all with a handmade, artistic flair.

I am not poetic or graceful with words, so I won't ramble. Check it out! You won't be disappointed.

[ this post was inspired by the 'little paper airplanes' post by mel<3 ]

Craft Idea #1: Boxer Bird

While my buddy Craig tried to fashion a realistic-looking bird out of fabric and a soda bottle for an avian behavior experiment, I made this little guy out of a pair of boxers too tattered to even wear around the house.

It's stuffed with leftover Build-a-Bear stuffing, but you can also use rice, lentils, or chopped up fabric scraps. There's wire sewn into the feet so you can bend them around (and sometimes stand him up).

I'm not skilled enough to actually lay out diagrams or explain each step of making your own stuffed doodad, you just have to wing it. Har har.

The point is this: You can recycle any old fabric! Take old clothes that are too dirty or holey or out of style and give them new life!

(While I'm at it, I started an Etsy store.)