Mixtape is a fun craft/diy magazine / zine produced by a husband and wife team in Melbourne, Australia. I’m always super happy to get a printed zine in my hand in this time of online media.

Mixtape 10 is in full color. Here is a list of the feature articles in this issue:
Aunty Cookie Book Plates
Cool Cross Stitch Pattern
Living Green : Thimble Necklace
Everyday Heirlooms
Livin’ Large
Ethically Challenged Corporations
Crafty Lady: Katy Jones www.imagingermonkey.blogspot.com
and another WICKED pull out poster designed by :
Tina Tarnoff www.tinatarnoff.tyepapad.com

You can also get back order copies of older issues!

Roll up your sleeves and get busy recording your crafting projects, plans, inspirations, and experiences. The perfect portable companion, this stylish journal is small enough to slip into your pocket and light enough to carry with you always. Part journal and part wish list, the What I Made journal celebrates the urge to create with quotations, definitions, and ample space for keeping lists of supplies, materials, techniques, and project ideas.

My sister gave me Voroidae and I have been swooning with the sheer nerdy fantasticness ever since. I’d like to see some plushies to go with this book!

“Festive Zebra” is a flat paper cutout puppet on a golden rod. Pull the decorative tabbed string and the Zebra takes a sip from his martini.

Norma V Toraya is the woman behind all these fantastic pop-up cards and paper puppets. Her images all have a watercolor-y textured weather feel to them bu also like they just might jump out of the paper and give you a slobbery kiss.

“Some things in life are slick, polished and blatantly obvious. But for Norma V. Toraya, who’s also known as Crankbunny, these are exactly the things she shies away from. Instead, she’s more inclined to explore timeless concepts like subtly, curiousity, texture and awkwardness. Her hand-drawn and computer-animated creations are often described as dark, sometimes noir and always magical.”

You can buy her cards from her website here and she also has a book called Paper Puppet Palooza in which she gives, templates and instruction on how to build your own paper puppet creations. Go here to click on her amazon link to buy the book.

#10 will be their last issue, I’m glad they made it such a good one!

P.S. If you are worried about getting your subscription money back do not worry! They will be contacting you by email or post.

The name of this book is Crafty Chica’s Guide to Artful Sewing – Fabu-Low-Sew Projects for the Everyday Crafter. and here is an excerpt from the front flap,

“she’ll show you how to harness the power of her fearless kamikaze sewing style – just dive in and give it 100 percent. Here you’ll not only find out the nuts and bolts of sewing, but learn to have the confidence to blaze your own sewing trail with confidence and flair.”

I’ve met Kathy Cano-Murillo at the Maker Faire in San Mateo and Austin and she is SO NICE, she glows with fun and confidence and that woman LOVES to craft. All of that really comes out in her book, she has a magic of transfering those qualities to the people around her and you just can’t help yourself from smearing glitter all over the place.

I think a lot of people, including myself, sometimes get paralyzed by many things, getting started, finishing, cutting into that beautiful new fabric, I’m not sure if I know HOW to do this thing, oh noes! what if this ends up sucking! OR WHATEVER.

Over and over again in this book Kathy gives you permission to try new things and create and to be fearless. You do not have to be worried that your seams are straight or that your threads match or that you don’t have the most expensive material for the projects in this book, the Crafty Chica will inspire you with so many projects that you won’t be able to stop.

That said, I’m totally going to do some of these projects before I send this out to the winner and then I am pre-ordering it from Amazon for myself.

TO ENTER THE CONTEST!
Leave a comment on this post about a time the thing that most often stops you from creating and how you conquer it.
I will randomly choose an publish the winner on Feb. 24th 2009.

GO!

Well, even if they don’t they are fun and I remember loving them as a kid. I can still to a really awesome swan using my head and both hands. This would be a fun activity to share with kids over the holidays!

I ran across a link to this ye olde timey shadow puppet book on velocibadgergirl. You have to read her post as her comments are funny (B**ch, please!)

This book is no longer under copyright and you can download it for free (if you are in the US, if not, check your country’s laws on this matter).

The only thing that worries me is that in many of the pictures there are no ARM shadows. Where did the arms go? How have they accomplished this?

Bursill, Henry
Hand Shadows to Be Thrown upon the Wall
Originally published by Griffith and Farran in 1859.
EBook produced by David Starner and Heather Martino

This new mag looks pretty good. I’m in love with that cute skirt on the cover.

Check out the website: InterweaveStitch.com
Find out more about submitting fabric or sewing projects to Stitch Magazine here.

Stitch is the first sewing magazine published by Interweave, one of the
country’s leading art and craft media companies, as it enters a vibrant,
growing category. Sewing has gained popularity with crafters and fashionistas
in recent years, and much of the hype is attributed to television programs like
Project Runway. In 2006, the Home Sewing Association estimated that there
were about 35 million sewing hobbyists in the U.S., up from roughly 30 million
in 2000, and annual sales of Singer machines have doubled, to 3 million, since
1999.

For a preview of Stitch, visit the website, which offers readers two free full-
size skirt pattern PDFS from projects featured in the magazine, plus a bonus
pattern for a table runner and a tutorial on sewing basics.

Immedium, Inc. proudly announces the publication of The Woollyhoodwinks vs. The Dark Patch, the first story of the popular plush dolls known affectionately as the Woollyhoodwinks.

Illustrated by the creators Jeff Root and Scott Runcorn, and written by their compatriots Phil Dumesnil and Asa Sanchez, this inventive tale will spark the imaginations of both kids and adults.

The Woollyhoodwinks are five cuddly creatures who enjoy life in the richly textured Black North Forest. Junco leads the imaginative Ludic, the prankster Reddy, the reasonable Ozard, and the cute baby named Fluke.

I am not going to tell you the story only tell you to make sure you pick up a copy for your kids, for your coffee table or for your craft room as they inspire (weird as this sounds) adventure and hand crafting.

These fun little plushies are in an illustrated world that looks more like my last quilt project than the pages of a children’s book.

This book is stitched together to form a fun hand crafted illustrated story.

I can see the kids grabbing mum’s (Or Dad’s)handmade plushies off the shelf and using their imagination (yes, kids still have it) to come up with their own fun stories.

Calling all crafters! I’m gearing up to write my next book, Craft Corps (pronounced Craft Core) which will focus on the community perpetuated by craft and the designers & hobbyists who feed it. As part of the content, I’m hoping to include 50-60 short profiles of crafters of all types. If you knit, crochet, embroider, decoupage, paint, sew, bead, tat, work with ceramics, collage, etc.—I want to hear from you! Whether you’ve found success selling your handmade sock monkeys on Etsy or you crochet chemo caps for charity, I want to know who you are, what you craft and why you do it. YOU DO NOT NEED TO BE PROFESSIONAL CRAFTERS (in fact, it’s preferable as the book’s other content will focus on that)!

I’ve been fortunate enough over the years to receive e-mails from people all over the world, sharing their favorite memory of crafting, what crafting has done for them or what got them started and how they’ll never stop. These stories–from hilarious craft mishaps to touching crafty life stories– have inspired me to collect more to share with the public, handmade community.

If you’re interested in possibly being a part of Craft Corps, please fill out the following questionnaire, cut and paste it into the body of an e-mail, and send it to: craftcorps@gmail.com as soon as possible (but no later than AUGUST 15th.) If we’re able to use your profile, an editor will contact you directly with more info.

What type of audience is the magazine written for?
MIMM contains about 75% tutorials/projects and 25% artists profiles, idea galleries, etc… So I would say the magazine is genuinely for the DIYer in our craft community! The tutorials are well written and accompanied by lots of step by step photographs. This magazine would appeal to crafters of all ages from children to a senior crafter. It holds projects that would appeal to me as well as my mother.

While some of the techniques may seem like “old hat” to a well seasoned crafter (I know how to emboss velvet, my mom knows how to use a stencil) there is such a diversity of projects in this one issue, I found several things that were new to me.

What do you like about the magazine?
One important criteria for me to learn techniques is to have lots of visual instruction as well as detailed text and these tutorials fit the bill. Some come with patterns and there are small text boxes that explain in depth, some of the tools and techniques that these projects require. From learning to sew bias tape for a feathered checkbook cover to surefire photocopying tips for perfect polymer clay photo transfer you get helpful hints and tips along the way. The techniques are so diverse, that the skills you learn go beyond “embellishment” of your clothes and accessories to construction of recycled paper tote bags and glass etched ornaments. There are also several idea galleries that highlight finished projects from your fellow crafters and artisans. What I like about this section is that the creators of these pieces get a paragraph or two to write about their work and inspirations. Many profiles include web/e-mail information so you can contact the artist!

There are basic introductions to embroidery, velvet embossing, bag making, needle felting and fabric dyeing. So this is a “keeper” magazine you can use for future reference. MIMM can be as valuable as your craft books in that you can put it on the shelf and pull it out for future reference in many craft projects.

How does this to compare with other magazines?
I think that this magazine holds all the good qualities of leading craft magazines in our market and have a traditional layout and views that will appeal to a majority of people. It is definitely written for the female home crafter. But like contemporary craft magazines there is a focus towards recycling and repurposing old materials to new items. And there is a lovely profile of a small women owned craft business Artgirlz, which gives readers some idea about what it means to turn your passion for craft into a career.

What is the ad to article ratio?
There is a minimal number of ads, I would say more than 90% of the this magazine is content and I really enjoyed not being overwhelmed with too many ads between the articles. There were never any ads in the body of the articles themselves.

Any things not to miss? Favorite Aritcles?

artgirlz just want to have fun by Elfrieda Abbe
Being a fellow craft business owner it was nice to read about the evolution of a business from two sister’s dreams to reality!

around & around she goes: recycling jewelry : repurpose old treasures and make them sparkle like new
A very nicely detailed idea gallery with pieces of jewelry made from old treasures and everyday objects. It features to projects by our very own jewelry editor Barbe Saint John.

the 411 on needle felting by Cheryl Ball
I love felting! And this was a very informative and well illustrated tutorial that will get anyone started with this fun fiber technique.

So overall I give my recommendation to try a copy of Make It Mine and you can be the judge of what it brings to your life as an indie crafter! We’d love to know what you think about this magazine so please feel free to send us or post comments. How have you used the ideas in Make It Mine to make it yours?

CROQ is a crafty zine written by a team of awesome crafty collaborators around the USA. Articles range from DIY projects, vegan recipes, interviews with influential crafters and indie business owners, and calls to craftivism. This zine is only on it’s 11th issue and has won the 2006 Plummie Award for Best Zine and was featured in the Oct/Nov 2006 issue of Readymade Magazine! You can get copies of back issues, advertise in their zine or subscribe for your yearly dose of indie craft news at their Etsy Shop!.