Added the beloved day of October 16, 2008

Why buy gifts when you can make them? While scouring for more prettiment, we found a curiously cute arts-and-crafts site called MyCraftivityShop.com, which has lots of books and periodicals dedicated to the seriously craftsy -- those somewhere between Rosies and Marthas. Aside from countless ideas for painting, crochet, mixed media, scrapbooking, crafts, fashion and jewelry, the site also has taken the Web Age approach with a good number of downloadable crafts instructions, like those for the adorable felt animals pictured above. Instructions only cost about five dollars, or less, for most.

Here's their ditty for the above critters: "Warning: Make two of each of these wee critters because they're so adorable, you'll want to give one set as a gift and keep another for yourself. Plan includes material list, color photos, and detailed instructions for creating bunny, kitten, and bear. Animal figures not recommended for children under the age of five. Find more needle felt projects by Jenn Docherty in her book 'Sweet Needle Felts.'"

One of our other favorites at My Craftivity Shop includes the downloadable instructions for an unusual idea that involves applying cake decorating skills to wall treatments in order to make three-dimensional wall roses. We think it's clever, pretty clever. BTW... We also LOVE the word "craftivity" -- the latest addition to our Fabulary!

- Browse MyCraftivityShop.com