Lark Crafts

I try hard not to have favorites when I’m working on a craft book with projects, but when I saw this Valentine’s Day brooch Lisa Jordan designed for Heart-Felt Holidays, our follow-up to Fa la la la Felt, I fell deeply in love. The yard I played in as a child was bordered by the Appalachian Trail on one side and on the other side of that was a forest.  I’ve been charmed by toadstools since I was young enough to believe fairies played beneath them.

If you’ve already bought Heart-Felt Holidays, grab some floss and felt and flip to page 26—this Mushroom Love Brooch is easy to make in just five steps and all the templates are included. If you haven’t bought the book yet, jump on over to B&N.com or Amazon and get a copy for under $10. It’s filled with holiday projects, including more for Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, and Easter, too.

To officially ask our blog readers to be our Valentine, we’re giving away Lisa’s brooch from the book along with a signed copy of Heart-Felt Holidays. To enter, simply leave a comment on this post between now and 9 p.m. EST Sunday, February 10th. Any comment is fine, but, if you’re inspired to, tell us what crafty thing you’re loving right now: a tool, a trend, a particular designer, etc. One winner will be selected at random from among all eligible entries and announced by Monday, February 11th. Click here for the official rules, and good luck!

Heart-Felt Holidays, our follow-up to the best-selling Fa la la la Felt, is chock-full of felt crafts for the entire year, but it has some especially great projects for Fall when Halloween is almost here, Thanksgiving is around the corner, and it’s not too soon to start crafting for Hanukkah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa.

 

So break out the felt, download the Halloweenie Bag project right here, and make Cathy Gaubert’s Halloweenie Bag for your little trick or treater now! Or just enter to win the bag (see below)  and make another project from the book (such as Ellen Luckett Baker’s clever Bat Costume or Cathy Ziegele’s Great Mini Pumpkins). You can get the book (for less than $10!) right now from BN.com or Amazon.com.

 

 

 

I love everything Cathy Gaubert designs, but Halloweenie and Jack, who grace the treat bag’s front really crack me up. She designed it on the small side, with little trick or treaters in mind, but if you’re like me and have been know to raid your kids’ candy bags after they’re in bed some nights, just make yours a bit (or a whole lot!) larger.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To enter for a chance to win Cathy Gaubert’s Halloweenie Bag and a signed copy of Heart-Felt Holidays, simply leave a comment (any comment is fine, but I’d love to hear about your favorite ever Halloween costume–mine was a firefly at age seven, I wore a flashing flashlight in the back of my tights!) on this post by 9 p.m. EDT on Monday, October 22nd. One winner will be selected at random from among all eligible entries and announced by Tuesday, October 23rd. Click here for the official rules.

We’re celebrating the release of our shrink plastic jewelry book, Shrink! Shrank! Shrunk!, with a big giveaway. Four lucky winners will each receive one piece of jewelry from the book, a signed copy of the book, and a pack of shrink plastic from the manufacturers of Shrinky Dinks.

Shrink! Shrank! Shrunk! is filled with how-to information on making jewelry from shrink plastic, step-by-step instructions for more than 30 projects by top Etsy jewelry designers, and pages and pages of graphics (including doodles from Aimee Ray) to trace or print onto your plastic. And you can get it right now from BN.com or Amazon.com.

Look at what you can create! Shrink plastic jewelry can be whimsical or sophisticated, but making it is just plain fun. It feels like a magic trick each time a thin piece of plastic wiggles and shrinks its way into a thick, sturdy piece of jewelry.

It’s become easy to find many types and brands of shrink plastic in craft stores (try the stamping or the kids section) and online. There’s even a kind that lets you print right onto it with your home inkjet printer!

 

To enter for a chance to win one piece of jewelry from the book (we’ll choose for you from the Seven Treasure Earrings, the Woodland Creatures Bracelet, the Mexican Oilcloth Necklace, or the Laurel Necklace), a signed copy of the book, and a pack of shrink plastic, simply leave a comment on this post by 9 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, October 3rd. Four winners will be selected at random from among all eligible entries and announced by Wednesday, October 10th. Click here for the official rules.

 

 

 

If you haven’t done so yet, read our interview with Dana Schneider, the jewelry designer who made the mockingjay pin that actress Jennifer Lawrence wears in the movie The Hunger Games. Dana has designed jewelry for more than 50 movies, television shows, and music videos.

We don’t have one of Dana’s exquisite pins she made for the movie to give away (only four exist), and we wouldn’t give it away if we did! But to celebrate the key role a piece of jewelry is playing in the most talked about movie of the season, we are giving away a licensed version of the mockingjay pin.

To enter for a chance to win, just leave a comment on this post by 9 p.m. EST on Wednesday, April 11. Any comment is fine, though we’d love to know your thoughts about The Hunger Games or to hear about a favorite piece of jewelry in a movie or television show.

One winner will be selected at random and announced on the Lark Jewelry & Beading Facebook page on Monday, April 16. Click here for the official rules.

Go to Lark Jewelry & Beading Facebook page to see the announcement now!