Every year about this time crafters get extremely busy finalizing their entries for various state fairs.  There are few honors higher than winning a state fair ribbon for a craft.  Many magazines feature state fair winners in special issues and if you are lucky, the patterns for their projects are available in those magazines.  I generally think of this for crochet and sometimes knitting and usually with incredibly beautiful afghans.

If you have a creation in a craft and would like to enter it into competition into a fair, it is time to get the entry submitted.  It isn’t very difficult and could be wonderful exposure for you should you wish to go professional with your work. 

Go to Google.com and type in the state fair you are interested in.  Each fair, of any reasonable size, has its own official site.  Then go to the section that addresses competitions, find your category, and read the rules and regulations.  These are usually in .pdf files so have your Adobe Reader installed.  Applications are often available on the sites as well. 

Give it a shot.  It could be fun.  And even if you don’t win anything, you will have a once-in-a-lifetime experience.  Well, until you do it again next year!  And I can promise you will meet new people and make some forever friends.

Much of the joy in crafting results from the community that is formed by crafters.  Do you have a crafting community where you live?  Do you know other crafters?  They don’t have to be crafters that do the same exact craft as you; in fact, it is more interesting if crafters pursuing various interests know each other as well.  Of course, finding groups of people who do the same crafts is valuable as well because of the available information and experience.

I found a Web site that is for people who live in a city in Texas.  You may live thousands of miles from Texas and be unable to participate, but this is a great matrix to form a crafting community for your own area.  This particular set of clubs is formed around the passion of quilting, but imagine it with knitting, crocheting, painting, stained glass or any other craft; better yet, imagine it with a bunch of different crafts. 

Take a look.  I think you will like what Stitchin Heaven is doing.

Stitchin Heaven’s Quilt Clubs

Are you interested in scrapbooking?  Do you happen to also have a flare with computers?  If so, I have the perfect site and craft for you.  Get out your digital camera, your imagination, send the family out for the afternoon, and have some serious fun.  Digital scrapbooking online is a great new craft and although unconventional, is a craft you might find very relaxing and definitely rewarding.

Scrapblog is a combination of blogging and scrapbooking.  The practical uses are obvious - do you have photos that grandma and grandpa would love to see?  Does your child have godparents that now live on the other side of the country?  Would you like to create something for them to see that is unique and easy to access on the computer? 

This is going to be your answer.  Backgrounds and other graphics are provided to make creation of a fun scrapbook easy.  You can also write a journal with the photos, essentially a blog, so that the photos can be placed in context.  You can put in little conversation “bubbles” with the captions you would like to see within a photo. 

It can be serious.  It can be fun.  It can be private or public. It is something that just about anyone would enjoy.  I first thought of it as a great way to put together a class album for a class of any age - younger grades would need help of course, but middle school kids and older would have a great time with this project.  Church youth groups could make an album as could all of the vacation Bible schools that take place during the summer.

Keep in mind the site is a beta site so it is important to back up your photos and data.  That should always be done with any digital artwork.  Having backups and hard copy printouts of any photography or journaling you do, is always smart.

Have fun - I think you will have a great time with this new idea on the Internet.

Scrapblog 

 

I have opened a new crafting group at Yahoo Groups and would love to invite you all.

This group is for people wishing to make through the craft medium of their choice, a memorial. Quilting, knitting, sewing, woodworking, glass crafts and many other crafts are helpful in the grieving process. They also build a beautiful memory that you can cherish or give as a gift.

Consider making:

• Crazy Quilts Embroidery Samplers with your loved ones favorites colors
• Altered Books - This is a wonderful medium for a memorial
• Collage - Another fantastic medium for creating memories
• Knitting - An afghan made of colors that are meaningful
• Woodworking - Build a small table place photographs under a laminated top

Feel free to talk about your loss, about your life, or anything you want. Help others with their crafts and get to know each other. And let’s share lots and lots of pictures.

Click to join CraftingForMemories