Give the Gift of Life

It will be 6 years in February that I lost my youngest son and four of his close friends in an alchohol related automobile accident. I am VERY passionate about stopping drinking and driving. I came up with an important gift I hope will save lives.

My baby Matthew
2-13-1986 to 2-5-2005


If you have friends or family that like to go out and have a good time at parties, clubs, bars etc...
This is a thoughtful, inexpensive, and life saving gift to give to your loved ones.
Just print up this certificate, roll it up and put a ribbon around it and you have a gift that will possibly save theirs or others lives.

GIFT CERTIFICATE

I am Giving you the Gift of Life and Safety!

 
This Coupon is Good for a Night of Being Your Designated Driver


To___________________________________


From_________________________________

(Insert Clip Art) optional

If You Are Going Out For a Night of Celebration


Give Me a Week’s Notice and I Will Be Your


Designated Driver


I am Giving This to You Because


I Love You and Want You Around


For a Long, Long Time!


I am wishing you a Happy and Safe Holiday to you and yours.

How to Crochet and Felt a Headband With a Flower Day 48

Make these cute headbands, super easy and cute!

Felting Your Crochet or Knit Projects

In my Day 48 video, "How to Make a Crochet and Felted Headband" I teach you how to crochet this cute headdband.

This image is after felting. Here are the instructions for felting your headband:
1. Place your finished pieces in a lightweight pillowcase and tie a loose knot at the top of the pillowcase.
2. Start your washing machine with hot water, and wait until the washing machine has filled with hot water.
3. When the machine starts to agitate, place the pillow case into machine.
4. After 5 minutes of agitating, take out pillowcase, open it up and check your pieces. Wring them gently with your hands to see progress.
5. If not completely felted, place back in pillowcase and into the machine. Set your machine to beginning of cycle so it will keep agitating. Check every five minutes until your pieces are completely felted. This should take approximately 16 to 25 minutes.
6. When your pieces are done take out and gently wring with your hands and lay between a folded towel to remove excess water, form the pieces to correct shape if neccessary.
7. Let dry completely.

My Favorite Designer Eddie Ross Decorates for the Holidays

I have loved Eddie Ross, ever since watching and rooting for him on Top Design Season 2! His design asthetic is right up my Alley. Here are some Holiday decorating videos he is doing for Kmart and Sears,and here is a link to his blog, that I know you will enjoy.
Kmart Mantel

More amazing videos!
Sears Holiday Entryway

Kmart Tree

How to Crochet Ruffled Wrist Warmers Day 33

These make great Holiday gifts!!

More Felty Goodness

My latest video is a spin from day 36, how to make a wool felt garland.  In this video I show you how to make a cute no sew pillow using a felted wool sweater, it reminds me of pepermint candy!  imagine the color combinations you can use for this pillow...

Click Here to view video tutorial!

Felting Wool Sweaters for Crafting Day 36

In the day 36 video, I show you how to make a very cute felted wool garland, that is so easy to make.  The garland in this tutorial is red and green, but the color combination possibilities are limitless. 


You say "But I've never felted wool sweaters before", no worries it is really easy!  First off, go to the thrift store and find some 100% wool sweaters and then follow these instructions.  I have used felted wool for countless craft projects, here is the garland I made for this video:

My camera case is made from a felted sweater.

I also made this necklace out of felted cashmere and some beads for a Craftster.org swap

And a few more, some baby girl shoes and a wrist pincushion

Crafting with felted wool is rewarding and easy. The edges do not need to be treated, because once the felting process is complete the wool will not fray!


Thank you for watching my videos, and if you have any suggestions and/or comments please feel free to leave them here, on my facebook fan page or on my Youtube channel.  Happy Crafting!

Handmade Holidays...

I know, I know, its not even Halloween yet, but I have to tell you that the holidays are right around the corner!  In this troubled economy I really think and hope that people are going to make most if not all of their gifts.
Here is a list of some of my videos that you can use to make gifts and most of them are easy enough for kids.
How to Make a Fun Funky Statement Ring  Great for Stocking Stuffers for your teen, or any woman.
How to Make a Tutu Pencil Great Stocking Stuffers for any little girl.
How to Make an Easy Stenciled Necktie Onsie or T-Shirt Cute for babies and children.
How to Make Cute Headbands Headbands are a hot item these days.


There are a lot more fun easy ideas on my Youtube Channel, and on fun sites like Crafster and Craft.


My wish for you this Holiday season is to open yourself up to your creativity and make it a Handmade Holiday!

Made it to Day 26

So here we are at Day 26 of my "365 Days of Craft Videos", so far this has been an amazing experience!  I have had such amazing feedback and comments, and that is what keeps me motivated to make videos every day.  On Day 21 I showed a cute "Tutu Skeleton Costume" for little girls.  On Day 22 you get to learn how to make Pony tail holders. Day 23 is a two parter where I show you how to make my Etsy best seller pincushion part 1, part 2, from Heather Bailey's Pop Daisy Fabric.  Then we come to Day 24 where I show you how to make a clutch / Pouch with contrasting fabric. Day 25 is a tutorial on making the fabric and lace flower headband, that I showed you in my Day 5 video.  Then we come to Day 26, where I show you how to make a rose / flower from ribbon. So there we are all caught up!  Please if you have any comments, suggestions or requests feel free to leave a comment here or on my Youtube Channel!  Happy Crafting...

The Giants Advance...

Sorry I have been MIA  the last couple of days, I have kinda been caught up in the MLB playoffs!  As I was watching the Giants beat Atlanta, I was creating a really cute skeleton tutu costume for little girls.  I will produce a video tomorrow and show what I have done and teach you how you can make this adorable costume for your little angel!
See you tomorrow...

1100 Youtube Subscribers!

I am so excited that my Youtube subscribers have reached 1100, and I am extremely grateful!  I love getting comments and suggestions from my viewers, and today I did a video that a viewer requested.  On day 5 I did a "How to make Cute Headbands" and a viewer asked that I show in more detail how to make the black and white pom pom headband, so here it is:

If you have Any  comments or requests, please feel free to message me!

A little under the weather...

Sorry I didn't post a video today, I am sick.  Turns out my raspy voice in the Infinity scarf videos was not from cheering on My San Francisco Giants, I have that darn virus that's going around.  I will try, If I am feeling better, to post a video tomorrow, and I promise I will catch up when I am feeling better.  Thanks for your understanding, and Happy Crafting to you all!

New How to Crochet an Infinity Scarf Days 16 & 17

New Videos are up!  In these two videos I will teach you how to make the popular and stylish Infinity Scarf.  This is my first crochet tutorial, so if you have any questions please message me here or on Youtube.  I will admit, I am not a professional crocheter and some of my terminology may not be correct.  I am self taught and have learned by searching for stitches online and I can finally read a pattern!  If I am following a pattern and don't recognize a term or stitch, I can always find help on the web, usually on Youtube. So don't be afraid to try to Crochet, it is a very fun and rewarding craft.

Fear the Beard

I went to the S.F. Giants Game on Wednesday with a group of friends from work, we had a blast!  In case you are not a baseball fan, the Giants have a pitcher named Brian Wilson, who has grown this huge beard this season. So, one of my co-workers wives had a brilliant idea and made a "Rally Beard" Sign, and cut out beards from Faux fur that we Duct taped to our faces. Needless to say we got some attention and we were even on T.V.        

Having fun at the game with our Rally Beards on!!

So I had an idea to make "My version of the Rally Beard" and make it one of my daily videos!
Here is Day 15, "How to make a Rally Beard or a Beard for your Costume"

You can use these beards for your Halloween costumes as well.

Day 12!

In today's video I show you how to make fabric covered buttons. This is a really easy and fun project that you can use to embellish clothing, and accessories.

Have fun!

And the Winner is...

The winner of the ring giveaway is "That Girl" please contact me at zuliblu@gmail.com with you address, so I can mail it out!!

Everyone, I have videos up to day 11 posted! Learn how to make a fabric yo yo and embellish clothing and accessories, also learn how to make a fabric "Infinity" scarf, really easy and really in fashion right now! My latest video is "How to make a Halloween hair clip/Barrett" I show you haw to make adorable candy corn, and ghost hair clips.

Please let me know what you would like to see on my "365 Days of Craft Videos"

My Creative Process...

In doing this 365 days of craft videos I have a definite creative process. I wake up in the morning, and scan my brain (my filing system, LOL) and come up with an idea for the day. I then get all of my supplies ready and shoot. So far this is working out great, and we'll see if I need to get more organized??

On day 5 i show you "How to make embellished headbands". Headbands are so hot right now and it seems the more funky the better. Check out day 5, http://www.youtube.com/wowzzydotcom I also posted a bonus video for day 5, "How to make the perfect bow"

On Day 6 I show you "How to make a pair of fun and funky earrings" using yummy Amy Butler fabric and fabric stiffener.

I am currently having technical difficulties getting that video to upload, and am currently working to figure out the issue. Day six WILL be posted shortly!

Day 4 Necktie Onsie

In yesterday's video I teach you how to make a cute necktie Onsie. This is such an easy project! Using only Painters Tape, fabric paint, and a stencil brush, you are on your way to making this cute shirt for your baby, or for a gift.

Have Fun!

Day 3 Tutu Pencils

Day 3 video is up!  In this video I will teach you how to make tutu pencils that you can use for a little girl's birthday party favors, stocking stuffers, and gifts!  This is an easy beginner project that I hope you will enjoy.

Have Fun!  See you tomorrow...

And so it begins... Give away!

This is a very interesting project I have taken on. 365 days of craft how to videos in 365 days. Well turns out, it's more work than I expected, and I am having a blast! On day one I did a tutorial on freezer paper stenciling and mad this hash tag t-shirt, this is such an easy technique and I love the professional look.

On day 2 (today) I showed you how to make an easy, fun, chunky statement ring.  This fall the jewelry trend is big, bold, colorful and chunky pieces. Over the years I have made many of these rings. I love making them to match an outfit, and they make great gifts.

As I mentioned in the day 2 video, I am using the red with crystals as a giveaway on my blog.  All you need to do is leave a comment on this post and on Sept 25, 2010 I will randomly select a comment and that person will win.

Thank you for your great comments and happy crafting!

Technical Difficulties

Well I had planned to post my first video on September 15, and due to the use of a new camcorder and editing program the first video will be posted today! I will publish a blog post as soon as the video is uploaded, thanks for your patience~Julie

September

I am so busy gearing up for my 365 day challenge!  I would be lying if I said I wasn't a bit anxious and nervous about this commitment.  Questions keep popping up in my head, can i do it? How will I come up with 365 tutorials? What if this flops?, and then I keep telling myself, you can do this! 

I already have over 1000 subscribers to my Youtube channel and I know they have been waiting a long time for more videos, well they are going to get them.  I am commited to this project  and am going to take it one day at a time, and let the universe take care of the rest.

Here is a link to my highest viewed video, enjoy... It currently has over 400k views and it was my first ever video.

ready, set...

I am very busy getting ready for my "365 days  of Crafty Tutorials" I am gathering supplies and compiling a list of ideas.  I am super excited about this challenge, my mind is working overtime on ideas!  If you have any tutorials you would like to see please leave me a comment and i will do my best to include your idea.  As I stated in my earlier post my "365 days" project will begin on Sept 15, 2010 and I can't wait to begin.  Check out my Youtube channel to see what I have done in the past.

A Year Later...

I have been wanting to get my blog going forever!! I have been pondering several ideas on what would make my blog different from other crafting blogs, and I realized "just make it your own, Julie"

I have a YouTube channel with almost 1000 subscribers of crafty tutorials that has been semi-successful. I am always asking myself, "what if" What if I had been posting more tutorials? I know I have a mind chock full of ideas. "What if" What if I had consistent postings to my Blog? I know if I write people will read.

I am so fed up with the "what ifs" and know is the time to DO!

My commitment is to do a blog post and video a day for 365 days. Sure there are tons of "365 days" blogs, some succeed and some fizzle out...

Here are a few of my inspirations, of course the movie "Julie and Julia" sparked the inspiration. Here are a few more that have sparked my creative juices:
whatgives365
This woman decided to give $100.00 a day to charity.
legomyphoto This is a unique 365 blog of Lego photos. Check it out is really unique, and to quote the author
"Why you should do this
So this is my message to you. I’ve learned more over the course of this project, by just taking a photo every day, than I ever did while trying to working under the deadlines of the newspapers and the magazines that I shot for. I wasn’t working under a creative director or for a client, it was personal work that allowed me to stretch my wings creatively and to learn at my own pace. Others began to notice the work I was doing and now wanted to hire me to shoot the brand of photography that I had desperately wanted to shoot all along.
So if you’re looking to get serious about your craft, why not challenge yourself to a photo a day with the only model that’s always available and as passionate as you are about it… yourself!"

So, I AM serious about my craft and beginning Sept 15, 2010, I will post a crafty tutorial and blog post for 365 days.

And Thank you to Crissy of Indie Biz Chicks for inspiring me!