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I caught up with craftzine blogger and Austin local Rachel Hobson at Maker Faire Austin 2008, where she gave a demo on making the Mini Monsters from CRAFT:06. These fun little creatures, invented by Moxie, are unique and full of the personality you give them. This is a very kid-friendly project, and you can buy the Mini Monster Kit in the Maker Shed. Don't forget that all craft kits are 10% off until the end of November using promo code CRAFTER.

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Craft Leftovers shows us how to use scrap paper, glue, and a bit of clever rolling to create these intricate-looking quilled paper leaves.

Related: Quilling 101

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The Craft Apple shares her tips on cutting curved edges with a rotary cutter, which can take some getting used to. Check out her blog post on the subject, or her video above.

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This Mama Makes Stuff shows us how to create this handy portable art supply case for kids--a perfect holiday gift for the pint-sized Picasso in your life.

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Dot from Dabbled has a blueberry pie recipe and tutorial on her site with tons of detailed photos and instructions.

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I have been searching endlessly for a coat rack shaped like a tree. I have browsed stores in the Los Angeles area and all over the web. Anybody found any cool ones they would like to suggest? Regards, Danielle Got a good question you'd like answered? Send your queries and a good image or two here and we'll see if the ATLA team or our readers can help you out.

Danielle, how about this Tree Coat Rack from West Elm, shown above? Or if you want something that takes up less room, there's the Ferm Living Coat Tree. Erich Ginder's Ghost Tree is our personal favourite of the tree shaped coat racks, but the price only makes us really wish money grew on 'em. Maybe DIY your own tree coat rack instead?

My dear friend Linda came down to visit me yesterday. We did some sewing, quilt basting and lots of catching up. We had a great time. Before she left this morning she gave me a few serger lessons and we sewed up a little garment for my girl.

We used this vintage pattern, which came from my grandmother's house. Isn't that so great?

Since we had to shorten the pattern a bit, we first made a copy of it unto freezer paper, then trimmed the excess length. It was Linda's brilliant idea to iron the freezer paper to the flannel fabric. There was no pinning before we cut out the pieces, thus no distortion from the pins. It worked out beautifully!!! I'll definitely be trying this method again.

And here is the final top. She's got a little room to grow.
Perfect.

We did a rolled hem around all the raw edges, then used an overlock stitch for all the seams. (I think I have my terminology right?) It was nice to be able to work on this project with the garment making expert! Thanks so much, Linda.

Our post yesterday, Change Your Bedding, Change Your Look, was inspired by The One and Only Jet Guer's photostream. Because we were inspired by his bedding transformation, we decided to take a closer look at the rest of his space. What we found was his neat and organized closet which was given a further upgrade by adding framed photographs and artwork on the top shelf. We decided to roundup other ways to give your closet its own upgrade with these 5 inspirational ideas after the jump.

Judith's Closet Makeover Project Adding wallpaper to a closet extends the decor of your space to a much overlooked smaller space. You'll also want to keep your wallpapered closet organized (if only to show it off to guests). Before and After: Esther's Craft Closet We thing adding a coat of paint (the bolder the better) will allow clothes and shoes to pop (and actually allow you to see what you have hiding in your closet). How To: Light Your Closets and Maker Your Apartment Grow To extend the space of your room (and to make your clothes easily searchable) replace the door with fabric and add extra lighting. House Tour: Laura's Pared Down Perfection By simply placing a mirror on the interior of the door, the mirror adds a bit of glam to an otherwise drab space. If you prefer the look of a decorative mirror instead of a floor length mirror--go for it. Klem Coat Rack Hanger Set We see the biggest make-over (and quite honestly the most simple solution) when you make all the hangers uniform. We like the look of these Klem Coat Hangers but we also really like the look of organic wood hangers as well. Related Closet Posts

• Closet Alternative: The Hallway Rack
• Look!: S Hooks In An Entryway Closet
• The Anti-Closet

[Image on first page from The One And Only Jet Guer]

BurdaStyle took a vote and decided to make the most popular user submitted creation into an official BurdaStyle pattern. This gorgeous bias cut Kangaroo Pocket Dress by MadisonAF23 is now going to be a BurdaStyle pattern. I can't imagine my sewing skills are ready for this, so I better start practicing.

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If you're invited to a dinner party, do you bring a gift? For as long as we remember--or at least old enough to be invited to "adult" dinner parties--we've defaulted to bringing a bottle of wine. Despite our success with our fallback gift selection, we've heard some horror stories from friends of ours who have opted from the trusty wine bottle to more...personal host gifts like homemade desserts and spreads, monogrammed tea towels, or fancy soaps. What do you bring as a gift for your host?

Need some ideas on what to bring your party host this holiday season? Check out this list from Mighty Goods. Our favorites include fancy guest soaps, monogrammed cocktail napkins, letterpress card collections, sachet bags, specialty olive oil, and local jams. [ Photo from Mighty Goods ]

Join us in welcoming Friday and the weekend with a few miscellaneous bits of online diversions of interest, including a low cost, green list of holiday gifts, the interesting Hollywood freeway park proposal, fairy tale scene woven directly out of common household things, and a poster with a sentiment we certainly will try to live by today...

Green Gift Guide: Low-Impact, Eco-Friendly Ideas For the Holidays: Huffington Post's low cost, green list of holiday gifts recommended by the likes of Martha, Design Sponge, Treehugger, and Uncluttered CurbedWire: Hollywood Park Looks So Very Nice and Green: Curbed reports on the idea of a Hollywood freeway park: "Fountain Avenue and St. Andrews Place, local streets, are transformed into St. Andrew’s Square, a large plaza surrounded by local roads. Vehicles can loop around and see the park from all sides while efficiently accessing major north-south as well as east-west arteries. The center of the plaza has an interactive water feature and a mixture of areas, both hard and soft, shady and sunny." Magdalena Bors’ artwork: Fairy tale scene woven directly out of common household things. So Very Happy V.2 Poster: A poster most appropriate for Fridays.

We're back with some more previews of the awesome creative spirit you'll be able to witness this weekend if you happen to be in Austin. If you won't be one of the lucky art lovers in Austin this weekend, check out the rest of this post for a good taste of the East Austin art scene. We've rounded up some of the more untraditional artists and spaces that we're really excited to see...

Texas Toast Studio We'll admit it: we're tempted to visit this gallery solely on the basis of its name alone (it's a studio in an old bread factory). But we're also captivated by the photographs coming out of this place as well. The Gilt Studio We're suckers for historic crafts, and gilding is no exception. We love that this studio takes an old craft and puts a modern spin on it, and we can't wait to see what modern things they've gilded this time. Studio 1408 Proving that silk screening is for more than just tee-shirts, Studio 1408 explores all sorts of surface design and textile arts. Limbo Jewelry We sometimes forget that gorgeous pieces of jewelry can be so good-looking they're like little works of art. Edson Enriquez creates stunning and affordable jewelry and we can't wait to see what's new. Sweettooth Bags Amy Barber proves that handbags and hair accessories can be art too, and she'll be on hand to show her wares during the tour, as well as play host to other crafty Austinites, like Naughty Secretary Club's Jennifer Perkins.

We've seen a lot of recycled cassette tape clutches on Craftzine, but usually they're zippered--I love the way this coin purse (by Craftster user Chezlin) uses a kisslock clasp.

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Bitter Betty Blogs came up with a super fun Bunny Bowling game idea for kids, which was created using two online tutorials: the Wee Bunny Pattern from Wee Wonderfuls, and the Fabric Beach Balls from The Purl Bee. [via OnePrettyThing]

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Here's a reminder that all craft kits in the Maker Shed are 10% off until the end of November! There are great gifts in there for your kids, your friends, and any other crafters you know. Use promo code CRAFTER at checkout to take advantage of this deal.

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Dear Readers,

I am very sorry, but as I am still ill, I cannot blog at present. However, if you want to see what I have been knitting earlier this year (and maybe knit it yourself), have a look here.

Liebe Leser,

leider bin ich immer noch krank und kann daher nicht bloggen. Hier kann man jedoch sehen, was ich vor ein paar Monaten gestrickt habe (und es vielleicht nachstricken ;-))

Happy Knitting!

I just discovered the Manbroidery pool on Flickr - all sorts of crazy stuff going on over there! They say girls can join, too.

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This storage cabinet by Spanish designer Attua Aparicio Torinos is easily the best product design we've seen this week. At first glance, it doesn't seem all that special. But it offers something wonderfully useful for those of us with space limitations...

Check out Attua Aparicio Torinos other designs here. [via DesignKlub]

This is a really interesting performance video with yarn by Jeanne Jo. It looks like she reversed the footage of unraveling the garment from up in the tree.

More:

Knitted Interfaces for Technology

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Perhaps it's partially because we're at the tail end of our work day, or because we've been running on empty the last few weeks with a hectic work schedule...or maybe because we're just a little strange to begin with...but this web advertisement from IKEA has had us mesmerized with its peculiar combination of pre-animated dancing against the backdrop of IKEA catalog items. Each character moves according to the sounds/beats of the music, which you can choose or change to an uploaded option. Use your keyboard to add your own defined beats or influence the spastic activities like a demented puppeteer with your computer's microphone. Check out some screen grabs below...

If you wanna check out this strange ad campaign yourself, head over to IKEA's "Come Into the Closet" website. Just make sure you tell you friends to check "Come INTO the Closet"...an accidental misquote of the site's name raised a few eyebrows when we tried sharing it amongst our friends online today (and our friends are far from puritan). [via The Presurfer]