Featuring guest authors; crafting tips and projects; recipes from food editor and sleuthing sidekick Cloris McWerther; and decorating, travel, fashion, health, beauty, and finance tips from the rest of the American Woman editors.

Note: This site uses Amazon affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Showing posts with label plastic canvas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label plastic canvas. Show all posts

Sunday, October 28, 2018

ANASTASIA TAKES ANOTHER #CRAFTS STROLL DOWN MEMORY LANE

I recently took a stroll down Memory Lane by featuring a Halloween Door Witch that I designed years ago for one of the craft magazines. I’m still wandering around Memory Lane today to showcase these jack-o-lantern tableware designs from back when plastic canvas was all the rage among crafters. Once upon a time so many people were stitching plastic canvas projects that entire magazines sprung up featuring nothing but plastic canvas designs. (I’ll admit, we weren’t as sophisticated in our crafting tastes back then.) These days you’d be hard-pressed to find sheets of plastic canvas in many craft stores, but you can still find plenty of Halloween items for setting your Halloween table.

Meanwhile…time is ticking toward the end of the month and with it, the end of the Amazon discount of A Stitch to Die For. For the next three days you can still pick up a copy for only .99 cents. Come November, the price will return to $4.99. And if you prefer paperbacks, Amazon currently has the paperback version at a dollar off the regular price.

A Stitch to Die For
An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery, Book 5

Ever since her husband died and left her in debt equal to the gross national product of Uzbekistan, magazine crafts editor and reluctant amateur sleuth Anastasia Pollack has stumbled across one dead body after another—but always in work-related settings. When a killer targets the elderly nasty neighbor who lives across the street from her, murder strikes too close to home. Couple that with a series of unsettling events days before Halloween, and Anastasia begins to wonder if someone is sending her a deadly message.

Buy Links

Monday, October 18, 2010

CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--HALLOWEEN WITCH CANDY CUP


This week, the final Halloween candy cup, a witch to join your ghost and pumpkin from the last two weeks.

Materials:
scraps of 7-hole clear plastic canvas
#16 tapestry needle
4-ply worsted yarn in orange, purple, black, and green
6-strand embroidery floss in black
pencil

Directions:
Using the pencil draw the outline of the pumpkin on plastic canvas. Also, draw two side pieces 10 x 10 bars, and one back and one bottom each 10 x 18 bars. Each line on the chart represents a bar on the canvas.

Cut out shapes, cutting in the space between bars and not on the bar. After cutting, trim off all the remaining plastic nubs.

Following the chart, stitch the front piece in Continental Stitch. Fill in the uncharted areas in black. Stitch the sides, back, and bottom pieces in black Continental Stitch.

Using 6 strands of black floss, French knot the witch’s eyes and mouth in black.

Whip Stitch the pieces together with black yarn.

Overcast the witch’s hair in orange, the hat band in purple, and the remainder of the candy cup in black.




Do you do any special for Halloween? Let's hear from you. 
Everyone who posts a comment this week is entered in the drawing for a free book from our Book Club Friday Guest Author. -- AP

Monday, October 4, 2010

CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--HALLOWEEN PUMPKIN CANDY CUP


Halloween is right around the corner. For the next three Mondays I’ll be featuring Halloween candy cups that can be whipped up quickly as favors for a Halloween party. These candy cups are also a great way to use up scraps of yarn left over from other projects.


Materials :
scraps of 7-hole clear plastic canvas
#16 tapestry needle
4-ply worsted yarn in yellow, black, green, and orange
pencil


Directions:
Using the pencil draw the outline of the pumpkin on plastic canvas. Also, draw two side pieces 9 x 9 bars and one back and one bottom piece each 9 x 19 bars. Each line on the chart represents a bar on the canvas.

Cut out shapes, cutting in the space between bars and not on the bar. After cutting, trim off all the remaining plastic nubs.

Following the chart, stitch the front piece in Continental Stitch. Fill in the uncharted areas of the pumpkin in orange Continental Stitch. Stitch the sides, back, and bottom pieces in orange.

Whip Stitch the pieces together with orange yarn.

Overcast the pumpkin stem in green yarn and the remaining pumpkin in orange.



Readers, remember to post a comment to the blog this week, and you're automatically entered in a drawing for a free book from our Book Club Friday guest author. --AP

Monday, August 16, 2010

CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--PLASTIC CANVAS PICTURE FRAME MAGNET



You’re stuck in the house on a rainy day with children or grandchildren climbing the walls because they have nothing to do. Why not teach them to stitch? Here’s a very easy beginner plastic canvas project that children as young as 6 years old will have no trouble mastering, and you probably have materials left over from other project lying around the house that you’ll be able to use. For very young children, an adult should cut out the plastic canvas. You may also want to let the child practice stitching on a scrap of plastic canvas before beginning the project. -- AP

PLASTIC CANVAS PICTURE FRAME MAGNET

Materials: 25 bars x 25 bars of 7-hole clear plastic canvas; permanent ink marker; pink, blue, and white worsted weight yarn or your choice of any three colors; #16 tapestry needle; 3-3/4” x 3-3/4” cardboard; double-sided, acid-free tape; 1/2-yd. 3/4” wide white gathered eyelet; 3” magnetic strip; 2” x 2” photo; scissors; tacky glue.

1. (Note: for very young children, adult should cut out the plastic canvas.) Following the chart and using the marker, draw the inside line onto the plastic canvas. Cut out the inside square, cutting up to but not into the drawn line. Remove the marker with a dry tissue.

2. Following the chart, stitch the design in Continental stitch.

3. Fill in the uncharted areas of the background with white yarn.

4. Overcast the interior and exterior edges in white yarn.

5. Using double-sided the tape, secure the photo to the center of the cardboard.

6. Glue the eyelet to the back edge of the stitched frame, beginning at bottom center and overlapping ends. (Hint: Use spring-type clothespins to hold eyelet in place while drying.)

7. Glue the cardboard to the back of the stitching with the photo showing through the cut-out square.

8. Attach the magnet strip to the back of the cardboard.

How do you keep your kids or grandkids occupied on rainy days? Let’s hear from you. Post a comment to be eligible for a free book this week from our Book Club Friday guest author. -- AP