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The Artful Crafter turns four years old this month! Thanks to all of you for your support over the years. Please keep coming back to visit.

My Quamut is a go!

No, I didn’t misspell “comet” – and I apologize for using that joke again. ;-)

Way back on May 16th, I told my blog readers that I had been offered the opportunity to write a Quamut guide on decoupage for Barnes and Noble. I was asked to submit a proposal, which I promptly did.

Well, it’s official: my Quamut is a go! I submitted the first 1,500 words within a week and completed the 10,000 word guide June 19th – well ahead of the June 30 deadline. Yes, I was psyched!

I had another reason to complete the guide ASAP. We left for a family reunion in Ohio on the 19th. I didn’t want to spend any of our precious family time working on the guide. We had a great time seeing everyone and catching up.

We got back home late Thursday and now I’m doing another kind of catching up. I may just collapse into a heap tonight and sleep until noon tomorrow. June has been a real whirlwind.

I hope you’re enjoying your summer too. Remember, The Artful Crafter has lots of fun craft ideas for kids of all ages!

Eileen

New on The Artful Crafter this Month

Organizing Yourself

Declutter your Craft Work Space: I’m still fluttering along with FlyLady and getting my life organized. This month I started attacking the hottest hot spot in the house – my craft room. This will be a loooong project. I no sooner tackle one hot spot and another one crops up. I suspect spontaneous combustion. I’m sure you’ll enjoy my before photos ;-)

Crafting-for-Profit

Making Crafts that Appeal to the Retiree Market: I’ve had a lot of success coming up with product ideas to sell to the seniors who dominate my marketplace. Here are some of my best-sellers.

Scrapbooking

Digital Scrapbooking Journal: I’m back in school again – digital scrapbooking school. Woohoo! What fun!!

Sewing

Fabric Flowers: here’s a clever way to turn fabric scraps into flowers that can be used as appliqués or home decor.

Decoupage

Decoupaging on Wooden Furniture: How to adhere images to wood for decoupage.

Peeling Decoupage Finishes: How to deal with peeling and yellowing finishes.

Bubbles in Mod Podge: How to turn off the (Mod Podge) bubble machine.

Best Decoupage Media: Is Mod Podge losing its #1 spot?

Reader Letter of the Month: Cookbook Software

I want to share some great information submitted to The Artful Crafter by reader Cynthia of New York.

Thanks Cynthia!

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I typed in my recipes, my family tree, and added some photos using Matilda's Fantastic Cookbook Software. I then chose the design template I liked, and I just hit print. Thanks to the software I had started and finished the project in under a week. Pretty amazing, really.

When I was done I had a family recipe book, a birthday calendar, a family tree (still working on that), and an address book, and I printed out seven copies for everybody in my family.

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Read more about this fun software here.