And here are a few cute ideas that I’ve tried over the years. We still hang “Mr. Bones” on the banister every year. He’s lasted about 10 years now!

Crochet Skeleton

Origami Dress Card

Card made with dress design from a Klutz Origami kit and general card stock.

Origami Shirt Card

Rather than spending oodles of dinero to purchase three-dimensional embellishments for your card crafts, consider making your own with a few simple origami folds. You can use thin scrapbook paper and find instructions online to begin, or create origami shapes using a kit. Whatever you choose, the results will be one-of-a-kind fabulous!

The shirt pictured is made using a Klutz Origami kit, Mrs. Grossman’s stickers, card stock, and sequins.

Vellum Poem Note Card

Poetry lovers everywhere are celebrating National Poem in Your Pocket Day today, Thursday, April 29, 2010.

The idea is simple: select a poem you love during National Poetry Month then carry it with you to share with co-workers, family, and friends. (aka it’s a great day to share your paper craft skills, too!)

To celebrate, I crafted simple Vellum Poem Note Cards (pictured) to share with family and friends. A few brads, card stock, vellum paper, stickers, and an ink jet printer = viola! Easy card craft way to share your love of poems.

If you are looking for more ideas on how to celebrate Poem in Your Pocket Day, visit http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/406

Make flower impressions on paper crafts with curragated cardboard and paint.

Join me on a journey this week fellow paper crafters as I test out ways to use corrugated cardboard for paper crafts.

Got a lovely corrugated cardboard envelope in the mail this week (containing a great read btw, “Corked” by Kathryn Borel) and instead of recycling in the paper pile, I’ve decided to challenge myself to find a way to use this box in creative ways for paper crafts.

Starting with today’s experiment… corrugated cardboard flower impressions. This technique for embelishment has probably been around for eons, but it’s new to me, so, here we go!

Corrugated cardboard flower impressions are uber easy. All you need is a rolled piece of currugated cardboard (pictured) and a little paint. I used a pearl pink fabric paint to start to add a little texture to the flower.

Use rolled corrugated cardboard to create a flower impression.

As you can see in the picture, it makes a pretty neat impression. I’m still testing the technique on scrap paper, but I’ll return to show you the results of a finished product (I’m thinking card or gift bag.) If you are inspired to try this technique out, too (and I hope that you are) send a link to your creations, I’d love to see them!

Also stay tuned for more experimentation with currogated cardboard paper craft embelishments. If you have any suggestions or ideas, please post them in the COMMENTS section and I see about giving them a go!

Valentines Day Treat Bag

Valentines Day is near and our cupid muse is calling us to create expressions of love. Here are a few ideas to help get you started with your Valentines Day paper crafts:

Easy Valentine’s Day Treat Bag (pictured) Easy-to-make paper craft treat bags to fill with love.

Friendship Blossoms Paper flowers with a sweet-surprise center.

Hearts and Blocks Valentines Simple and contemporary stamped paper cards.

Be My Valentine Wall Hanging Recycle brown paper bags into a gorgeous shabby chic wall hanging. This craft gets my “green” thumbs up!

Framed Filgree Heart An elegant idea for turning paper filgree into a long lasting memento of love.

Planning is fun, but sometimes it just gets in the way of doing. I was reminded of this when I read a recent blog entry called Sometimes Getting Organized is a Big Fat Waste of Time at Small Notebook for a Simple Home.

We often have to press ourselves to begin the next thing, as though it is something we haven’t done before or wouldn’t know how to figure out. Sometimes you just have to jump in and start in spite of misgivings or feelings of confusion about how to proceed.  So, stop planning and go do something creative and fun!

Renewing the Creative Spirit

Sometimes it seems as though you get caught in the tasks and activities of your daily life, the rush of working and caring for your family. And then one day you are cleaning out a drawer and stumble upon that needlework project you were working on a few years ago. Or you are stopped in your tracks in front of a store window of beautiful quilts. And you long for just a few moments of creative time for yourself.

What ever happened to the creative spark that used to fire you up to rush home from work, planning the next section of that needlework project, the next block of a quilt or a design for a new handmade greeting card?

Welcome to Creative Mind and Hands, a place you can come to renew your inspiration and find a new project to fire up your creativity.

We have project instructions you can download, kits to give you a kick start when you don’t know where to begin, and links to other inspiring sites.

Our projects and kits will be categorize to make it easy to select a project that is right for your life right now, from projects that take a couple of hours to complete up to those that take a few weeks or months for the more ambitious.

Are you a beginner or have a desire to try something new? We have projects that range from beginner to advanced and everything in between.

Need a project that doesn’t require a trip to a specialty craft supply store? We have projects that you can do with common supplies.

Or for those of you looking for a challenge, there are projects that require the tools and supplies you love to work with and the ability to purchase those specialty products without leaving home.

So, look around, snoop in the corners, or join in a discussion about your favorite craft. This is the place to come to renew your creativity and take a little time for yourself.