The Crafters’ magazine Craft Beautiful now has an exclusive online club.

Crafters’ Companion Membership Pack

They say : “Our aim at Crafter’s Companion is to make your life easy. Save time and money with our innovative scoring tools and Craft CD ROMs designed for crafters by crafters. Take time to browse our carefully selected range of products and our ever growing customer gallery to provide inspiration and help tease out your true creative potential.”

The club comes with a membership pack of goodies :

The actual Membership Pack is a fantastic A5 ring binder which is chock-full of hints, tips, projects, inspirational ideas, templates and more! We’ve given it wide appeal across the board so it’s ideal for everyone regardless if you’re just starting out or a seasoned crafter.

Contained within the initial pack you will find 5 sections of crafting help and advice containing the first piece of inspiration from each of the following sections.

Project Ideas
Techniques
Hints & Tips
Templates
Layouts.

Find Crafters Companion here.

If you’re anywhere near North Adams, Massachusetts on September 29, head on over to the Autumn Arts and Crafts Festival.

The press release says :

North Adams, MA - The Autumn Arts and Crafts Festival takes place on Saturday, September 29th from 10:00 - 3:00 pm on the sidewalk of the north side of Main Street, featuring the work of nearly two dozen crafters, artists and artisans.

Photographs, handcrafted jewelry, ceramics and more will be available for sale. Local craft and artisan shops will also be represented and food will be available. All work is handmade by the artist/crafter and of good quality. There are still a few slots available, but this popular event will be closed to registration soon.

Call Sharon Leary at 413-664.5404 or Rod Bunt at 413-664-6180.

Growing your own crystals is great fun and amuses the kids on hot summer days.

Whether you grow your own as decoration, jewelry, or for some other use — would you believe as a deodorant, it’s really very simple.

So let’s start with the deodorant. You may have seen “safe” forms of deodorant in healthy living shops. Often they come in the form of large crystals of Potassium Aluminium Sulphate, or Alum.

They have the advantage of being free of Aluminium Chlorohydrate, which has been implicated in ill health. Natural deodorant crystals are suitable for the most sensitive skin, are hypoallergenic and last a long time. Furthermore, they won’t stain your clothes or discolour your skin.

If you prefer the decorative side of crystal making, just add some food coloring to the mix.

You can grow these crystals quite easily with a little bit of knowledge. You will need :

* An ounce of Alum from a local store or online at Pans Pantry.
* A glass jar.
* A clean stick.
* Warm water.
* Thread.
* Small, sharp stones, cleaned well.

Method
1. Pour enough warm water into the jar to cover the stones — but don’t put the stones in yet.

2. Add the Alum and stir well until it stops dissolving. A small residue will be left.

3. Add food colouring if desired.

4. Tie a small stone to the thread and the other end to the stick. Place the stick across the top of the jar so that the stone dangles in the liquid.

5. Put the jar in a warm place to aid evaporation.

The first crystals will appear in a few days. You can add more Alum to make them bigger.

The biggest crystals can be rubbed under arms as a “safe” home-made deodorant.

In these busy times, it’s difficult to find time for essential exercise. If you’re a crafter, it may even be worse. But how about combining the two? If you’re a keen photographer, it’s a piece of cake.

The Quay, Exeter, England

I’ve noticed that a number of people are scheduling lengthy walks for taking photos of their town or city. It’s called “Photowalking”, on the principle maybe that everything should have a name.

A new generation of small, but powerful, digital cameras makes the whole process a pleasure rather than a chore.

I’ve been Photowalking — combining taking pictures with my morning five-mile walk — ever since I bought a digital camera last year. It’s a great way to add value to mere exercise. My project is to photograph the region I live in through this summer, trying to capture the faces and atmosphere of it when it’s at its best. You can see the results so far by clicking the Flickr logo at the top of the sidebar.

It’s really a great extension to walking for exercise because it keeps the interest up on what might be dreary rambles across familiar ground. As I walk, I find myself noticing things, large and small, that might otherwise have passed unseen. I also take many detours I’ve never explored before — maybe an 18th-century street straight out of a Dickens novel. The fact is, Photowalking insists you walk farther, if not faster, than you otherwise would.

As someone who used to run marathons, I know that interest is crucual to exercise. Photowalking beats even personal ambition as a spur to distance travelled. It also drags in different parts of the brain. If exercise utilizes the left-brain — all those time calculations and forecasts along the way — then Photowalking adds curiosity, perspective, artistic appreciation of views and architecture, and delving into historical information. Classic right-brain stuff.

As with any good idea, lots of folk are climbing aboard. Take a look at photowalking.org, where you’ll find lots of ideas for Photowalking around the world, but especially in the U.S.

There’s also an informative post on setting up a Photowalking group. The article covers :

* Accept right away that it is going to take some time.
* Evaluate your available options.
* Find a method to communicate with all participants, current and new.
* How to keep them coming back.

Photowalking is such a simple idea that many people seem to have thought it up simultaneously. The original idea, though, was probably from pro shooter, Thomas Hawk, who has a few videos on the ScobleShow.

Check it out for some real professional advice.