2012 Summit of Awesome: A Crafty Business Camp

If you’ve been following Crafting a Green World for a while, I’m sure you’ve seen us talk about The Summit of Awesome. My friend and site co-director Kelly Rand is one of the organizers, and I’ve spoken a few times on the conference’s Green Crafts panel.

This year, Hello Craft – the organization that plans the Summit of Awesome – released a brand new book on launching a crafty biz, so rather than a full-blown, multi-day event, this year’s Summit is a one day Business Camp workshop. If you run a crafty business or have been wanting to launch your hobby into a money-making venture, you should definitely check it out!

Hello Craft’s mission is to support the handmade community, and at each conference they have experts from the crafty community sharing their knowledge in talks, panels, and workshops. Here’s a video from the 2010 Summit in Portland, Oregon:

This year’s Summit of Awesome will be on Saturday, September 8 at Fab Lab DC (1418 North Capitol Street NW, Washington, DC 20002). Early bird registration is live now, so if you want to register at a discount, head on over to the Hello Craft website!

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5 Awesome Ways to Repurpose a Burlap Coffee Sack

We’ve talked some about the joys of burlap before. Burlap is made from jute, a very low-impact plant to grow. Not only that, it’s pretty easy to get second hand burlap, if you know where to look. Local coffee shops, especially ones that roast their own beans, tend to be rich with big, empty burlap sacks. If you frequent a local coffee shop, get friendly with the staff and ask nicely – I bet they’ll be happy to give you a burlap sack or two!

The thing about cut burlap is that it LOVES to shed, so you’ll want to sew your pieces pretty soon after cutting them up. For extra security, use your machine’s zigzag or interlocking stitch. Burlap is normally made with a pretty loose weave, so these stitches will do a better job of catching all the loose threads on the edges.

So, now you’re all jazzed about burlap and you’ve managed to secure a some of your own – now, what to do with it? Here are some burlap craft projects to get you started!

1. Fabric box. Use Karen’s super detailed instructions to turn that burlap sack into a box for organizing your craft supplies.

2. Statement necklace. Jen over at Tater Tots & Jello shares how to make a super sweet ruffle necklace, and I’m swooning over the burlap version!

3. Lamp shade. This ruffled burlap lamp shade from Mama Says So is super sweet! Just grab a shade from the ol’ thrift store, and you’re ready to get crafty.

4. Make art! Grab your masking tape and some of the paint you have on hand, and turn your burlap into frame-able wall art.

5. Window treatments. How cute is this? Paige of Design doesn’t have instructions to make these super cute coffee sack window treatments, but it looks pretty simple. You can hang them up with a couple of hooks or even nails, and then nail ribbon to the top of the window, so you can tie them up when you want to let in more daylight. Easy peasy!

Have you guys done any fun burlap craft projects lately? I’d love to hear what you’re making in the comments!

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Men's Fancy Dress - 3 Awesome Examples of Halloween Costumes For Men

Men's fancy dress costumes come in so many styles and genre that it can be quite a chore searching for and deciding on an outfit that is best for you. Halloween costumes for men can either fall in the traditional scary category of outfit, such as zombies, skeletons, vampires, etc., or those type of generic costumes that you will be able to wear at fancy dress parties all year round.

Whatever type of men's fancy dress outfit you decide upon for Halloween, there are actually specialist websites online that specialise in Halloween costumes for men to help take the headache out of the abundance of choice that is out there.

To help you further, I have selected three genres of Halloween costumes for men that you may want to consider for this year's party, together with an actual example of a men's fancy dress costume for each genre.

Idea One: Traditional Mens Halloween Costumes

The traditional mens Halloween costume is the type of scary outfit that guys have always worn to the Halloween parties or to take the kids Trick or Treating. They are the Frankenstein outfits, the Dracula costumes, and more recently the Lord Voldemort outfits and the Joker costume from the Batman films. A great example of an outfit in this genre is the zombie doctor type of costume, which is based around a set of green surgical scrubs, with decaying body parts poking out of the chest and the knee, together with a terrifying looking zombie mask.

Idea Two: Generic Mens Halloween Costumes

The generic mens Halloween costume has become more and more popular in recent years, taking over from the scary type of outfits. These type of outfits can be worn more than once a year and so offer much better value for money. These costumes cover just about every genre out there, but the mens pirate fancy dress outfits are perhaps the most well-known. The mens pirate fancy dress costume became incredibly popular following the success of the Pirates Of The Caribbean trilogy of films and are usually based around a brown jacket and matching trousers, a white frilly shirt, black boot covers, a belt and of course a pirate's hat.

Idea Three: Novelty Mens Halloween Costumes

If you are looking for a really original outfit then perhaps a novelty mens Halloween costume will be your best bet. These types of outfit can take all kinds of form, such as the classic emu type outfit with false legs, the EVA moulded costumes and of course the man dressing up as a woman type of outfit. However, the must have novelty mens Halloween outfit this year has got to be the men's morphsuit costume, which is basically an all-in-one body suit with attached head, feet and gloves, which is available in a range of different colours.

Where can you find mens fancy dress costumes like these?

Men's Fancy Dress Costumes features all of these Halloween costumes for men plus many, many more.

A Word Or Two About The Author

Dan Fresh is a lifelong fancy dress aficionado who regularly writes for the popular Fancy Dress UK website.

Seven Awesome Halloween Costumes For Couples

The modern concept of Halloween costumes that couples have taken to wearing at Halloween parties have drawn a lot of flack these days for being unimaginative and failing to live up to the hype and hoopla that Halloween is all about. They barely arouse any interest and fail to add much to entertainment other than just couple identification.

After all, it's not everyday that we get to celebrate Halloween. Also, no other festival gives you the liberty to go for self-indulgence as Halloween does. In fact, where else will you get the chance to get into the shoes of a famous persona? So why not make the most of it and add a touch of drama to the entire thing. The ball and chain costume involves just that, the ball and chain. Though mimicking celebrity couples might not always be easy, especially if it's a Branjelina costume or a Brad Pitt and Angelina that you are trying to depict, a gentle satirical imitation might well do the job. Presented here are seven Halloween costume ideas for couples to try and make for a truly extravagant Halloween party.

The classic movie, 'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde' presents some truly remarkable opportunities. While on one hand there's the devoted scientist Dr. Jekyll, known for his gentle manners, on the other end is his chemically induced alter ego Mr. Hyde. Both the characters are equally tempting and once it's decided who becomes who, you can train your focus on infusing life into the character. You'll require lots of face paint and some truly distorting special effects for depicting Mr. Hyde while for Dr. Jekyll, a 19th century equivalent of a classy nerd will can be enough. A net research will provide you with a wealth of information like pictures from the movie that will help you to perfect your Halloween costume.

Then there's the legendary creation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes and his buddy, Dr. Watson, which can make a great Halloween costume fit for the couples concept. And finding detailed images showing their dressing style and deportment is never a tough job.

Those who appreciate history will surely love the fun and ostentatious display that a Napoleon Bonaparte and his love Josephine look-alike can bring to the Halloween party. Think of those curling wigs, lavish attires and great accessories, and you'll be able to carry an air of greatness into the party, something that is so befitting the occasion.

King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette are also worth a try. That they met with a truly calamitous ending actually allows you to portray these Halloween costumes for couples idea in two ways - one illustrating them in all their splendor during the pre-revolutionary period and another showing the guillotine part. So it can be either a stately display of the king and the queen or something that is morbid and grisly, the choice is yours.

For the romantic minded, depicting Guinevere and Lancelot will be the ideal choice. Guinevere, with long flowing hair dressed in a delicate gown and Lancelot in shining armor makes for an excellent costume idea.

Romeo and Juliet, the ultimate romantic couple, is however the first choice for those with a romantic bent of mind. Juliet with her elaborate clothing, lavish silk embroidery, gold lace trims and velvets along with Romeo, with his more manly wear against the backdrop of the Renaissance makes for, what can be termed as, the supreme display of romanticism.

Cleopatra and Marc Anthony are another great idea for couples, one that is perhaps the most easily recognizable. It might also be the easiest, going by the fact that clothing used to be simple in those days, though Cleopatra is known to be an avid user of makeup and jewelry.

And lastly, the thing that can make these Halloween costume ideas for couples to truly make an affect is the willingness to go for things authentic and a keen attention to detail. And with an abundance of good quality images easily available, this by no means is an impossible task. All that is required is some genuine effort and portraying someone else for a night can be easy.

To learn more about Halloween costumes check out also Halloween costume ideas for groups, where you'll find this and a lot more tips and advice including Halloween costume ideas for kids.

How To Make & Apply Awesome Latex Prosthetics Without Using A Lifecast

A Unique Ecourse Which Teaches How To Create Spectacular Makeup Effects With Simple Materials. This Is Aimed At Creative People Who Love Movies, Horror And Gore. Created By A Working FX Artist In Movies, This Is A Well Made Product That Looks Great Too

Check it out!