• English Embroidery from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1580-1700: 'Twixt Art and Nature: Elegant artifacts. Through April 12. The Bard Graduate Center, New York, NY.
• Present Tense: Embroidery in Contemporary Art: A discussion "investigating the beautiful and satirical world of contemporary embroidery" and counterpoint to the Bard exhibition. Thursday, March 26. The American Craft Council, New York, NY.
• Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef Project: A handmade crocheted coral reef that has been on tour in Chicago, New York, and London. Opens April 11. Scottsdale Civic Center Library, Scottsdale, AZ.
• International Fiber Collective Tree Project: There's still time to contribute a leaf to add to the tree, part of a project on interdependence. Going on display in April. Huntsville, AL.

5 First Place Awards: $2,500 each
5 Second Place Awards: $1,250 each
5 Third Place Awards: $750 each
15 Honorable Mentions: $100 each

Portraits/Figures Juror: Nelson Shanks

Still Life/Floral Juror: Jane Jones

Landscape/Interior Juror: Susan Shatter

Abstract/Experimental Juror: Jimmy Wright

Animal/Wildlife Juror: David N. Kitler

These little coptic-bound blank books are the fruits of my Make Something Day. The inner pages are simply Canson drawing paper; the covers are screen-printed Japanese paper over bookbinder's board. It's all sewn together with linen thread.

I learned a few different bookbinding techniques in the class I took in college, but coptic is the one I like most. The placement of the stitching is totally up to you, and it allows the book to lay flat when it's open, perfect for sketchbooks.

What did you make?

As she shows you how she painted White Tulips (watercolor, 40x30), O'Connor offers this advice:

Treat a white flower like any other flower, only with much less paint, letting the white of the paper represent the brightest hues. The principal idea in the latter method is to paint the lines that imply the shape and let the white of the paper represent the flower.

From A Little Hut, a little project:

Step one: Buy a cheap lamp with a large, smooth base

Step two: Paint it with chalk paint and let it dry

Step three: Draw on it with chalk

Step four: Erase and repeat step three.

Step five: Bask in its light and your awesomeness.

There's still time to do Warhol-style portraits of friends and family for holiday gifts... CRAFT zine has put up step-by-step instructions of how to do screen prints on their blog, along with a list of materials you need.

Serigraphy (if you want to get all fancy) is so versatile. It can be utterly polished or intentionally flawed. Graphic designers love screen prints (and so do I), but the methods have fine-art applications, too.

Have you ever tried screen printing? I've done some T-shirts before, but I'd love to attempt something bigger.

I'm no woodworker, but with all the pictures, I'm pretty confident I could manage this project. (And, of course, there's always some people downstairs here at the office who could probably help me out.) Click here to read the post.

Martha of Trumpetvine Travels has developed specific tastes in art materials, from a specific fountain pen to a style of sketchbook. She rebinds her Moleskine notebooks to replace the paper that comes in them with watercolor paper.

(You can also have a look at a step-by-step demonstration of how she sketches, with details on what paints she uses.)

I've never been a painter, but I do like to doodle and write lots of notes. For that, I built my own sketchbook, which you can see at right. Inside is a mix of lots of random sheets of paper. They are bound in a Coptic style, very similar to the way Martha does hers. Check out her detailed instructions on rebinding to give it a try yourself!

Via the Craft Zine blog: The coolest cake I have ever seen. This might be perfect if you've got a friend or family member who is still trying to solve the Rubik's Cube they bought in 1981.

Today I stumbled across this linocut tutorial with good instructions and very helpful pictures to illustrate the process! (It also includes a margarita recipe, I guess to get your creative juices flowing?)

If you want to try linoleum prints on for size, check out Dick Blick's printmaking supplies. All you need to get started is a linoleum block (I find mounted ones are easier to deal with), a linoleum cutter, some water-based ink, a brayer for rolling the ink and some paper. (There's a basic kit for sale for $15.99 here.)

Here's a two-color linocut of mine from a while back: