Combating Winter Blues & Blahs with December Joy Painting December-27-2003
3-Step Joy Painting Burst to Combat Winter Blahs
Between the months of December and March, Chicago winters typically bring us cold blustery temperatures and heaps of snow. Winter months also mean less daylight and shorter days — and a notable absence of energetic sunshine. ...

The Fun of Doing it Yourself December-21-2003
Do-It-Yourself Gift Packaging
There is a time for everything, as the Byrds so eloquently quote Ecclesiastes chapter 3 in "Turn! Turn! Turn!":

A time to cry;
a time to laugh;
A time to be quiet
A time to speak up;
A time for scattering stones;
A time for gathering stones [together]
A time to hire a professional;
A time to do it yourself...

Okay, so I added in those last two lines, but they are so true! 

No, this isn't the story about the time I washed and dried a lined wool skirt instead of taking it to the cleaners (I was 17!). Rather, it's about how much fun it is doing little creative things yourself such as making homemade gifts and creating your own gift packaging for a special friend.

I spent several hours yesterday experimenting with a very cool do-it-yourself product that just excites the gills out of me. It's a creative gift packaging concept developed by Janlia Chong that allows you to print gift packaging templates on your inkjet or laser printer, piece them together on a sturdy material such as poster board, and fold them into completely novel gift boxes and paper crafts.

The angel above took about an hour to complete, but came out looking very cool. I assembled a couple more templates and wrote a review for this outstanding creative product you can look at to see how cool it is! Learn more about the product at diygiftpackage.com.•

That Zany Dr. Seuss December-13-2003
If Books Could Cook
Those strange books written by Dr. Seuss didn't appeal to me as a child. In fact, I can remember avoiding that particular section on the shelf during trips to the library in elementary school. ...

Creative Kids Klutzy Books December-6-2003
Create Anything at All!
This week I had a huge urge to visit the local Michaels. I hadn't been there for a good eight months or so and was looking forward to browsing their inventory and picking up a few items I've been needing.

While there I checked out the entire section of craft books covering the wall opposite of the art paper and poster board. Tera Leigh's book on decorative painting was sitting on the shelf along with scores of other how-to arts and crafts books. Several others caught my eye: a book on artful correspondence, a few of Lin Wellford's rock painting books, and some books on mosaic art. After doing the Homer drool, I took a mental note of all I saw for my next trip to the library. (If I had a zillion dollars I would have bought the whole aisle — poster board and all!)

Next, I passed by a Klutz ® book rack. I didn't pass by quickly enough because while the potholder crafting and boondoggle books didn't phase me, the polymer clay book "Create Anything with Clay" nearly leaped off the rack and into my hands. I'm serious! Who could NOT be taken in by the "free" clay swatches attached to spiral binding and the playful project creations wedged between the covers? Certainly not I. How I wished I had one of Michaels 40% off coupons with me. Nevertheless, into my little red hand basket it went.

In addition to my Klutzy impulse buy, I walked out of the store with several other items: tissue paper, pipe cleaners (you know where that's going, don't you?), glitter, and some black and white polymer clay.

Incidentally, I've never bought and used glitter at home before. But I had a great idea for some Christmas gift tags that utilized glue and glitter on the front, and thought I'd give it a whirl.

What I learned in my little experiment is the affirming 'all that glitters is not gold' — it's red, and green, and silver too! After making my cards, there's glitter everywhere. Even on my monitor screen. Today I learned that you simply can't keep glitter confined to a small area even if you're careful. It flakes off of your project and attaches itself to everything you touch afterwards. Oh, and keep kitty away from it too.

That's the glitter curse, of course. But it's all in creative fun, and that's exactly what I had on my shopping trip to Michaels and while making my glitterific tag ornaments. They turned out pretty cool, too. See for yourself and download them to try: Chris's Christmas Glitter Gift Tags Craft Project. •

© 2003, 2008 Chris Dunmire. All rights reserved.