Hi What a fantastic month was the merry month of May!

I hope you all will be as impressed as I was to see the amount of new content put up on The Artful Crafter during the month.

With our website reprogramming now complete, many manually-intensive chores have been eliminated. This gives us more time to concentrate on editorial content and reader questions.

The month just kind of flew by; and it wasn’t until I started pulling everything together for this newsletter that I realized how much we have accomplished!

Just two months ago, in the April newsletter, I wrote, “I dream of the day when I can spend all my work time connecting with my readers, working out their craft questions, pursuing my love of digital graphics and reading nice letters like this.” The quote was a lead-in to the “Letter of the Month” column.

Dreams do come true!

I don’t have a reader letter to share with you this month for the “Letter of the Month” column. Instead I have a reader Phone Call to tell you about.

Eileen

New on The Artful Crafter this Month

Organizing Yourself

Find Time for Crafting with FlyLady: FlyLady tips can bring order to CHAOS (Can’t Have Anyone Over Syndrome).

Crafting-for-Profit

The Crafting-for-Profit Life: Beth of Beth’s Boutique shared some words of wisdom about the crafting-for-profit life. Basically, we agree – it’s a blast!

How Much Skill is Necessary to Craft for Profit?: It’s not so much about skill as it is about creativity.

Repurposed Art - Legal Uses of Others' Copyrighted Artwork: If you want to craft for profit, you need to know about intellectual property rights – yours as well as others.

Jewelry and Beading

Vintage Pearl Button Charm Bracelet: Using bails to attach vintage pearls to a bracelet.

Jewelry for Special People: Make your jewelry fit special needs.

Make your Own Fancy Bookmarks: Beads can add so much to so many things. Please read on.

Beading Down the House: Some home décor ideas for beaders.

Beading Your Wardrobe: How to spruce up your clothing with beads.

Beading is a Great Starter Craft for Kids: Here are some tips to get them going.

Organizing Your Beading Supplies: Some great storage and organization ideas.

Scrapbooking

Storing and Protecting Your Precious Photos.

Framing Your Scrapbook Pages: “Don’t hide your light under a bushel” [from Matthew’s account of the Sermon on the Mount]. Display your artistic scrapbook pages on a wall for all to enjoy.

Fun Family Scrapbooking: Scrapbooking can be fun for the whole family. Here are some ways to involve all the Dears (DH, DW, DD and DS)!

Seasonal Scrapbooking Ideas: Spring.

Seasonal Scrapbooking Ideas: Summer

Seasonal Scrapbooking Ideas: Fall

Seasonal Scrapbooking Ideas: Winter

Paper Crafting

Tips on Making Invitations or Cards in Bulk.

Forget the Fold and Make Postcards: You’ll save time and money. Plus a “new” format always grabs people’s attention.

Put Photos on Your Cards: Remember those Christmas cards with family photos on them that you had made at the drugstore? Why should they be reserved for the Holidays? Friends and family who live far away would love to see your lovely face any day of the year. Here’s how to DIY.

Make Yourself a Giant Check: No, I’m not going to tell you how to make a million dollars by clicking on this link. Sorry! I’m also not going to tell you how to turn yourself into a huge check, though that would be very interesting I think. I’m going to tell you how to create a giant check for presentation.

Menu with Tasseled Cord: Make an elegant menu for your dinner party.

Decoupage

Decoupage under Glass: Create a museum quality glass plate for just pennies.

Decoupage Pendants Made of Cardboard (No kidding!)

• Byzantine Cross Pendant.
• Medieval Engraved Cross Pendant.
• Faux Cloisonné Cross Pendant.

Reader Letter of the Month: except it was a Phone Call of the Month

It wasn’t a letter, it was a phone call. And I wasn’t even here to receive it. Dang!

Anyway, one of our lovely readers made a long distance phone call to talk to Eileen and ask a question about printing. My DH spoke with her. She said The Artful Crafter is her favorite website and she wanted to tell me personally.

I am beyond flattered!

Of course my DH doesn’t remember her name (men!). But he suggested she send her question in an email and I would answer it ASAP as I do all (legitimate) reader questions.

Was that you, Aunt Jean? Whoever it was, I sure hope she sends that email; and “I’m sorry I missed your call!”