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We had a terrific 4th of July weekend in Ohio with the family. Cousins came from near and far. Here are some of my photos (done up in a neat Scrap Girls frame designed by Angie Briggs).

The kielbasa and pierogi, while not traditional fare for the 4th, were a delicious and special treat for us.

You’ll never guess where I spent every spare minute we were away – in local craft stores.

It’s not that I expected they would have more crafting goodies than the craft stores where I live. It’s just that when I’m home, I tend to shop for supplies online. It’s convenient. It’s quick. It saves gas and time.

So for me, brick and mortar craft store are a treat that I only indulge in when on vacation. I love to go up and down the aisles and see what’s new, pick up project idea sheets and be inspired.

I couldn’t wait to get back home and try my new Zutter Bind It All machine, Delta Transparent Air-Dry Glass Paints and lovely silver chain and Blue Moon Tokens Charms.

I’ll let you guess what sort of projects you may be seeing soon on The Artful Crafter ;-)

This past month I had the opportunity to walk two readers through some of the intricacies of Internet marketing, blogging, building and maintaining a website. It reminds me how far we have come in five short years. The September issue will mark The Artful Crafter’s 5th birthday!

I was thinking perhaps I could come up with some prizes and presents for you all. Then I thought, my gosh we do that every month with free patterns and tutorials, customized advice and assistance on projects, not to mention these free newsletters. I’m still thinking about something special for you though. ;-)

See you next month. In the meantime, please take a look at what’s new on The Artful Crafter this month.

Eileen

What’s New on The Artful Crafter this Month

Decoupage and Decal Art

Glass Plate Decoupage - What to do when your decoupage images start to come unglued. [Sorry, I can’t help you with what to do when you start to come unglued. LOL.]

Family Photo Bar - This reader needed a relatively quick-drying but durable finish coat to seal some family photos glued onto a heavily used surface. If you tend to be anxious to put your projects to work like me, I think you’ll find this helpful.

Decals for Ceramic - Have you ever thought of applying decals to be high-fired onto ceramics for a really professional look?

Lazertran Decals - Are Lazertran decals foodsafe?

Heavy Plate Hanger - I used a Lazertran waterslide decal to adhere a lovely photo to a heavy tile for a tutorial. I liked it so much that I decided to hang it in our dining room; but it was a bit heavy for a wall plaque. What to do? ...

Homecoming Mums

Homecoming Mums and Plastic Canvas Backing - Reader Kim sent in this great suggestion for assembling Homecoming mum corsages. No more burnt fingers!

Jewelry

Bead Stringing Board - If you bead, you shouldn’t be without one of these cool tools. Scrapbooking

Broderbund Scrapbook Boutique - Here’s an affordable way to start digi-scrapping or do super fast pages if you’re already a digi-scrapper.

Review of Sticker Magic - A delightful book featuring projects using Mrs. Grossman’s stickers. Inspiration

Artist Profile - Come meet my friend, mixed media artist Cyndi Lavin. You’ll find links to her websites, including lots of great tutorials.

Reader Letter of the Month: Glenda Shares Suggestions to Prevent Polymer Clay Cracking

Hi Eileen, I wanted to add a comment to the question: Why Do My Polymer Clay Pieces Crack So Easily? - But I could not figure out how to do it in the website. I have been reading several books and just started experimenting with polymer clay.

One of the authors pointed out that the temperature must be exactly what the manufacturer says it should be. She recommended buying an oven thermometer to get an accurate reading and not relying on the oven for that. It the temperature is not right, the material will not fuse together well and will break easy.

The only risk of over baking is that the clay might release fumes that might be harmful. From my first experience I found that even though my convection oven (counter small oven) was set to 300 degrees, the thermometer only marked 250. When I adjusted the oven to 350, then the thermometer reached 300.

The clay did release some smoke when it got the right temperature (which I also read it was normal), but next time I will bake outside just to be on the safe side. Anyway, I hope this helps. Thanks for such a wonderful site, very inspiring.

Glenda Munguia

Beautiful Pictures by Glenda

Thanks so much, Glenda. I visited your site and was just blown away by your beautiful photography.

Eileen

This is yet another example of our motto at work: "Crafters Helping Crafters to Be"! Don’t ya just love it?

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