Check out Issue #1 of Pack Rat Magazine!

An offshoot of a store named Purl, The Purl Bee is a lovely little web 2.0 community of people discussing knitting, crocheting, embroidery and all other facets of crafting.  Their online journal is full of useful tutorials about the nuts and bolts of these traditional crafts, and some non-traditional ideas on how to use them.  They also link to a bunch of other helpful sites and have an online shop to compliment their physical, real world one.  And these lovely ladies are based in the Big Apple, which means that they combine old school values like attention to detail with some sleek, sophisticated aesthetic.  Check it out below.
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Check out the Premier Issue of Pack Rat Magazine!

Not all of us can be graphic art majors and design students. Thankfully, the people at Maryland Institute College of Art are aware of this and the faculty and graduate students have brought all of their creative talents to bear on D.I.Y.: Design It Yourself, a book that covers all things design related, especially those that deal with the written word. And, in true cutting edge fashion, the publishers have provided a website with some serious resources as a companion piece to the book. Totally free and chocked full of useful information, the DIY website gives you the basic run down of most of the books topics. Design guides for blogs, business cards, flyers, gifts, housewares, invitations, logos, newsletters, presentation, press kits, stationary, t-shirts, websites, ‘zines (whew!) are just the tip of the ice berg. Plus, the website has all sorts of fun downloads like the the tea party invites, or a bevy of images you can print on to iron-on paper (below). While the reading is a whincy bit dry, it’s totally worth powering through because there is a crap load of good information there. It’s like an introductory course in design…for free.

Me personally, my “embroidery” is a bastardized, fly by the seat of my pants version of the real thing.  But, if you are an old pro at needle work and are looking for something a little different, why not try your hand at traditional Indian embroidery?  Here’s some pictures to help inspire you.