Lark Crafts

School’s almost out for summer, folks! Are you ready? And are you looking to embark on creative adventures of the sewing variety with your little bundles? Since the day I found out miss Ruby was on her way, I’ve been excited to share my love of sewing with her. My mom taught me to sew, and I can’t wait to do the same. But 10 months is a bit too young to start teaching my little lady how to sew: she probably needs to master other important life skills – you know, fine motor skills, crawling, feeding herself, etc. – before we partake in creative togetherness. When the times comes, though, I’ll be ready with the help of these lovely sewing projects for kids.

Stitch a lovely rainbow, easy peezy on burlap: Sewing Rainbows (from Childhood 101)

Put on a show with a herd of bunny puppets: Bunny Finger Puppet (from Spoonful)

Make a drawstring bag for trinkets and treasures: Drawstring Bag (from Make and Takes)

Craft a flock of birdies: Bean Bag Birds (from Captain Crafty)

Stitch a zoo-full of critter cards: Sewing Cards (from Dandee Designs)

Sew some sweet heart bookmarks for Valentines and beyond: Valentine Bookmarks (from Holiday Crafts and Creations)

Fashion a headband perfect for summer: How to Sew a Headband (from Skip to my Lou)

Repurpose a tee-shirt into a bag: T-shirt Bag (from Make and Takes)

Take your sewing on the road: Alligator Sewing Kit (from Spoonful) 

Have you ever taken a craft class? Yes? Then you know there’s something magical about learning something new, hearing about someone else’s creative process, and putting energy into your own creative pursuits. And if not, here’s your chance!

Now through May 23rd, you can enter to win a free class with the fine folks at Craftsy! They have all kinds of online crafty classes – knitting, crochet, sewing, cake decorating – and they’re offering a fabulous new quilting class all about foundation piecing: Precision Piecing taught by award-winning quilter Norah McMeeking. In a series of 9 HD video lessons, you’ll learn the basic techniques, tips, troubleshooting, and more. You can take the class on your own time and revisit it again and again for tips and hints along the way. And best of all: you don’t have to lug your sewing machine and supplies anywhere! Set up in your own space and learn at your own pace.

Click here to follow the link and enter. You’ll need to create a Craftsy login to enter…and (bonus!) you’ll get access to a mini class when you do.

Bring a bit of the homemade goodness outdoors! We’ve pulled together a pretty batch of garden-themed projects guaranteed to freshen up your outdoor entertaining space. Happy sewing!

From top left across:

Cozy up your deck chairs with this Siting Pretty Cushion (from 100 Pretty Little Projects).

Got a not-so-green thumb? Make a bouquet of repurposed Blooms (from Craft Challenge: Scarves).

Set the mood with a set of Flicker candle cozies (from Craft Challenge: Scarves).

Pull up a (quite fabulous) Obi Sling Chair (from Fabric Remix).

Create some colorful cottage charm with a set of Fresh & Shabby Pillow Houses (from Stash Happy: Applique).

Snuggle on the porch with this Wonky Cottage Lap Quilt (from Stash Happy: Patchwork).

Spring has sprung, friends! Whether you’re planning to learn a new craft this new season or looking to use all the craft supplies you hoarded over the long winter (guilty!!!), celebrate with this bounty of free projects…and a spring sale! Right now (until April 26), all of these featured books are on sale at 50% off their list price at BN.com.

Pretty Stamped Stone from Making an Impression

Blooming Flowers Bracelet from Shrink! Shrank! Shrunk!

Crocheted Leaves & Berries (a bonus project from Crochet Garden)

Easy Paper Marigolds from Paper Blooms

Mushroom Terrarium from Stash Happy: Felt

Lavender Sachets from Heart-Felt Holidays

Here’s a link for more info…and the full list of books in the sale!

Are you seeing hints of spring around you? If that means umbrellas, raincoats, and galoshes for you, we feel your pain. Brighten up your crafty afternoon indoors with a project that celebrates all that is fresh and lovely if not a bit soggy….and signals the coming May flowers!

This trio of April Showers umbrellas, from Heart-Felt Holidays and designed by yours truly, calls for scraps of felt, linen backgrounds, and wee embroidery hoops….things you likely have in your supply closet. Download the project instructions and the templates and get started this afternoon!

Download the project instructions here: April Showers

It’s spring…. and that means it’s also mushroom season! I don’t know about you, but I think there’s something cosmic about the combination of crafts and mushrooms. In my humble opinion, shrooms are the perfect sweet nod to the 70s craft aesthetic, filled to the gills with cute personality, and belong on just about anything homemade. Do you remember when you first fell in love with them? I actually do: page 124, Doodle Stitching: The Motif Collection, care of the fabulously talented Aimee Ray. Aimee’s love affair with mushrooms is well-chronicled in her three Doodle Stitching books, something that makes me very, very happy. And we’re sharing the love here: three mushroom-themed motifs you can stitch anywhere!

Download these motifs here, here, and here – all from Doodle Stitching: The Motif Collection.

Create a caption for me!

If a picture is worth a thousand words, our best guestimates indicate that a felted scene is worth 142,763 extremely clever, extremely cute words. This week, we’d like you to imagine what creative things this felty scene can say by creating the perfect caption for it. It’s clear this bear pair is having a beary good time…. so join the fun! Up for grabs to one random winner: a prize pack of felt roving and a copy of Wee Felt Worlds.

In case you missed it, these scenes are mix-and-match photos from Wee Felt Worlds. The critters were created for specific worlds…then we mixed the all up!

To enter to win, leave a comment on this post between now and 9 p.m. Sunday, February 17. We’d love to hear your best caption for this needle-felted scene, but any comment will do.One winner will be selected at random from among all eligible entries and announced by Monday, February 18. Click here for the official rules, and good luck!

Check out the truly terrific entries from last week’s contest. You had us giggling!!

We couldn’t be prouder of our list of spring 2013 books: from stitched goodness from Aimee Ray to adorable needle-felted critters to art quilt portraits gathered by Martha Sielman…and much more. And what’s better than our fresh batch of bright and shiny new books? Getting them all at half off the list price! That’s right: from now until February 17th, some of our new releases are on sale for 50% off at BN.com! Just click the links below to find out more about these titles.

Wee Felt Worlds: Sweet Little Scenes to Needle Felt

Printing on Fabric: Techniques with Screens, Stencils, Inks, and Dyes

Art Quilt Portfolio: People & Portraits

Doodle Stitching: Embroidery & Beyond

Two-Hour Cross-Stitch: Animals

Plus, find out about our other titles in the Book Love Sale:

Books for Crocheters and Knitters

Books for Sewists and Quilters