Dear friend

Dear friend,

Welcome to our friendly group of crafters. Thanks for visiting my website which I hope you will find very useful and informative as well as creative.

You may be wondering why I chose the name "Petals and Lace"? If you have time to look around you and appreciate the beautiful and natural things around us or if you get inspiration to make something beautiful from a simple piece of ribbon, then this website is for you!

Have you ever felt sorry that you had to throw away a bouquet of flowers after a few days - maybe you could have done something with those P E T A L S ! And did you know that many centuries ago people found a way of colouring fabric using flowers? The finer and most appreciated things in life have always been handmade. L A C E is surely one fine example of this: from the cotton fibre collected in cotton fields we get cotton thread (after modern devices have removed trash, dried, moisturized and fractioned the fibre, sorted it, cleaned and packed it in bales). Cotton thread can then be intrinsically worked into beautiful handmade articles to decorate our homes.

When doing crafts, think about the long process that has provided you with the material to work with, be it paper, fabric, plastic, metal, wood, etc.

A few years back, while I was giving a crafts course to a group of young students, I wrote The Crafters Prayer, . It is a poem in which I expressed my appreciation for the magical beauty all around us. I compared God to a craftsman who "Just as if with a magic wand, You have made everything fit together so harmoniously - And magically – just for us!"

WHY another website for crafts?
I am setting it up for friends and friends of friends. Many a time I have been asked at demonstrations and craft courses for ideas or techniques as well as available sources for the materials I use. Besides, I often make and design many of the crafts by RECYCLING material. This will be one of the HIGHLIGHTS of my website. We will be using certain materials and items, which you would usually just be throwing away, as for example, empty milk cartons. Yes, there are many things that you can actually re-cycle into lovely little gifts and crafts. When designing and co-ordinating the crafts featured in this website, I have kept in mind different age groups and capabilities.

As you read along, you will find that you'll be able to try different techniques to create simple and not so simple crafts, each one delightful and unique. These pages will whet your appetite to try further techniques. It is just like a starter before your main meal. You will find that some of the material you will be using can be bought from hobby stores or art shops but many items you will have around the home (children: do ask your parents first if you can have them!) Be on the look out for inexpensive items you can buy from various stores like home stores, haberdashers, ironmongers and stationers. You will find that you can use basic items and materials to make or decorate your crafts. You’ll be amazed at the various objects you can use to create easy yet beautiful crafts.

In the instruction sheets for each particular project, I have star-coded each project showing the level of difficulty, one star meaning it is easy and quick to make, two stars showing it is moderately easy and takes longer, three stars being the hardest and needs a little more time and patience. I have also added Tips and Ideas on the right-hand side as additional help. Besides, you will also find the Rose Link to other pages very helpful.

The world of crafts is immense and is still evolving. From the limited knowledge I have acquired over many years, I hope I have enough material to interest anyone who, like me, is always fascinated by the delightful pleasure of making a handcrafted object.

From time to time, I will be adding features that are linked to creative ideas other than crafts. These will be added according to the season in order to enhance the site and to make your visit more enjoyable. To check the latest additions, click on the WHAT'S NEW section on my homepage.

You can write to me with your ideas, comments and suggestions. My email address is petalsandlacecrafts@yahoo.ca

I hope you will enjoy these crafts as much as I have. So get your thinking caps on and get crafty!

Happy crafting!

Doreen

N.B. Petals and Lace Crafts is 1 year old - check out It's Our 1st Anniversary