What crafts do you enjoy doing?

What defines 'crafts'?   Some ideas that come to mind are:

Knitting
Mosaic art
Papercrafts (to include scrapbooking, cardmaking, ATC's etc)
Crochet
Embroidery
Rug making
Candle making
Soap making
Papier mache
Jewellery making/beading
Pottery
Patchwork
Screen printing
Applique
Cross stitch
Fabric crafts

These are just some of the general types.....can you add more?
I can proudly boast that I have tried the majority of these..but to me, anything that can be made by hand is considered a craft.

Making origami 'lucky stars' is a very popular craft, especially in far eastern countries (after all origami originated from Japan - the art of paper folding).

Click here for instructions

I made the above jar of stars from foil paper strips, you will find these at any good oriental craft store , or just make your own by cutting coloured/foil paper into even strips.       Put your stars in a nice presentation jar and this will make an ideal gift for someone who isn't well in hospital or give as a token of friendship.




Craftster.org is a really cool website related to all things crafty, it really is a godsend because it's tutorials on pouch-making took my skills to another level.    It was my American penpal Dawn Xu who inspired me to start sewing fabric when she sent me a gorgeous cute wee manga fabric zippered purse which she had so lovingly handmade herself.     As a result I was hooked!!

I fell in love with this fabric right away - kawaii is the style, yay!!     This took me about 35 minutes to make using a sewing machine.

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Being Chinese by ethnic origin, I am used to seeing all those pretty silk embroidered pictures which used to adorn my parents home. My dad also had a couple of very large silk pictures in his Chinese restaurant many years ago.

The history of Chinese embroidery goes back as far as the Neolithic age (5-6,000 years ago), and in modern China the craft still prevails in the southern provinces.    I tried to create what would resemble the typical style of silk embroidery in the following project:

I did not have a template to follow, for the cushion I actually embroidered the pattern onto plain white cotton fabric from memory of course, using an embroidery hoop to start with  -  as for the Chinese characters though I must say, I actually cheated a little...I could not tell you what they mean, however I know the word 'birds' is in it, if that is of any interest to you...