Our Grand Finale!

By Lindsey Riley, Britny Burton, Mallory Jordan, and Mandy Whitaker (The Current Craft Staff)

With the fall semester at Ball State coming to an end, our blog will also be ending. We enjoyed sharing craft ideas and news with you and hope that you found our information useful and entertaining.

For our final post, we got together at Britny's house and made some gifts for our classmates from the sports blog Around the Huddle. We decided to make them decorative sports balls (a football and a few soccer ones). And to make sure all of us got to do one, we made an extra one to give to our professor.

What we did was go to our local Dollar Store and purchased the sports balls. They ranged between $1-3. Afterwards, we went to Hobby Lobby to purchase various sequences, hot glue guns, paint, and other elements to decorate them.

After getting our goods, we went to Britny's and got our crafting on! We decorated them however we wished, making all of them different from each other.

We had a great time together crafting and watching ABC Family's "25 Days of Christmas." Once we finished, we wrapped them up in various wrapping and tissue paper.

Let the gift giving season begin!

Slasher T-Shirt Scarf Making

By Lindsey Riley (The Crafting-Challenged Blogger)

Hey everyone! First off, welcome to the weekend.

The recent and, in my opinion, sudden fall weather has caused some people to dust off their leather jackets, boots, and pull out their fall fashion accessories. Also, there are tons of stores that have placed their cooler weather clothing items on the sales floor and are using great sales to get you to buy those fall and winter items you already have or can create.

Well, why not save money on an accessory that can be used in the fall AND the winter? Scarfs are perfect for this time of the year and go great with any ensemble. Rather than spending $15 for a new scarf, we are going to make one from a recycled t-shirt. See, we are being green and saving green!

The scarf I am making I found on the blog "A Beautiful Mess." It says to use a t-shirt that has lycra or spandex and to have a pair of fabric scissors. I have neither, so I am going to use a cotton t-shirt and paper scissors.

 You then cut the t-shirt. I cut mine from arm to arm. Once you finished that, cut along one of the sides so you have one long rectangle.

 Now pick an end, any end will be fine, and start folding the rectangle like an accordion. Make sure that each fold is even or else you'll have an uneven looking scarf. When you're done with the folding, grab the scissors and begin cutting slits on each side. Make your cuts a good size but not too large. Also, try to aim the cuts on the second side in between the previous ones.

 Unfold your scarf. If you don't have something that looks like

<- this, you'll have to start over again. If you do have this, then begin stretching out each cut with your fingers. Only do one hole at a time, and don't stretch them too much or else you'll have a hot mess of a scarf.

When you're finished, you are have a scarf that is wearable and fashionable! That's at least $15 you saved by recycling an old t-shirt rather than buying a brand new scarf at the store. What I loved about this craft was it required no sewing. That is the one thing that I cannot do in life, and I made sure to find a way to make a scarf that required none of it. I hope you enjoy making this craft, and please feel free to comment with any opinions or questions.

Happy Friday, and have a great weekend!

Lindsey: The Crafting-Challenged Blogger

 (By Lindsey Riley)

Hello everyone! My name is Lindsey Riley and I am not the most craftiest person you will ever meet. I am better at creating with words than I am with textiles, ingredients, and all that jazz. I am, however, open to giving things a chance.

My goal with this blog is to keep you up-to-date with the latest and coolest craft ideas while sharing something new and news-worthy with you. It sounds like a challenge, but it's a challenge that I am willing to face. I don't think it will be that bad because I am fortunate enough to have Britny and Mallory to work with me on this blog.

Some ideas I have right now to share with you include recipes for my grandmother's holiday fudge and my mom's amazing pumpkin bread. As far as crafts go, I know we will be making a t-shirt scarf for sure, and I think we'll be making some cool inexpensive things to give as gifts at Christmas. Let's face it: the holidays are about three-ish months away. No time like the present to get started on presents! :D

Be sure to follow me on Pintrest. I plan on making various pin boards as they relate to what I blog about and what Mallory and Britny blog about, as well.