Cool Craft Sites

My friends at Bargain-secrets.com put together a nice little ebook about Easter, get a copy at:

http://www.coolcraftsites.com/downloads/FreeEasterIdeas.pdf

and be sure to give it to your friends.

We have added a new gifts section to Cool Craft Sites Directory that includes items with Quotes on them, over 4000 items with Butterfly art and photography, some cats and a section devoted to “I Got Distracted”. Check them out at Gifts for Crafters.

Cat impersonating the Firefox logo! Good job

Famous author and humorist was also an inventor

Samuel L. Clemens, born in Florida, Mo., received patent #121,992 on December 19, 1871 for an Improvement in Adjustable and Detachable Straps for Garments.

Clemens, better known as Mark Twain and famous for stories such as Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, also was an inventor and received a total of three patents. While living in Hartford, Conn., Twain, received his first patent for an adjustable strap that could be used to tighten shirts at the waist. This strap attached to the back of a shirt and fastened with buttons to keep it in place and was easy to remove. Twain’s invention was not only used for shirts, but for underpants and women’s corsets as well. His purpose was to do away with suspenders, which he considered uncomfortable. Twain also received patents for a self-pasting scrapbook in 1873, that was very popular and sold over 25,000 copies, and in 1885 for a history trivia game.

Twain also believed strongly in the value of the patent system. In his book, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, Hank Morgan, the Connecticut Yankee, said “…the very first official thing I did in my administration-and it was on the very first day of it too-was to start a patent office; for I knew that a country without a patent office and good patent laws was just a crab and couldn’t travel anyway but sideways and backwards.”

Card Making: Corinne Bradd shows Kristy Clark how to make a cheery window greeting, with the aid of Quick & Crafty’s funky A5 cutting mat — available free with the April 2007 issue. This handbag-sized accessory is perfect for trimming the card, floral background paper and acetate required to create a three-dimensional sentiment, personalised with glittery die-cut letters. You will find the instructions for this project on p9 of Quick & Crafty, April ‘07

Card Making: Don’t throw away the poly bags containing the embellishments in your kit - with a little know how you can use them to make sensational shaker cards.

Corinne Bradd helps Kristy Clarke get to grips with the tricky art of quilling. Using thin strips of brightly coloured paper and a quilling tool, she shows how simple it is to coil gorgeous, dimensional floral motifs. On top of this, she’ll be using a glass frosting spray and handmade, sticky-backed paper stencils to jazz up plain tumblers by creating a stylish misty effect, in a second demonstration which will be online from 11th July. You’ll find the full instructions for these exciting projects in the August issue of Crafts Beautiful.

Corinne Bradd shows Kristy Clark the technique of felting, by matting together the fibres of unspun of wool with a barbed needle to create a dense form that can be shaped. Corinne uses this craft, both in this video demonstration, and in the pages of the latest issue of Crafts Beautiful, to create tiny, cute dogs of various breeds. You’ll find the full instructions for this fun and satisfying craft on p94 of Crafts Beautiful, July ‘07.

Stick with the video past the 3 minute mark and you will get to the craft part and not just hear what else is in the magazine.

Free Vintage Cookbook at Cool-Cooking.com The 1658 edition of The Compleat Cook is available at Cool-Cooking.com for you to download and enjoy. Look for more collectible vintage cookbooks to come!