INPUT ARTICLE: Article: Felt is especially nice to use for children’s crafts because it’s both soft and durable. Try cutting felt letters for your child so they can practice spelling. Or if you’re making a card or gift for a child, attach felt die cuts to accentuate the item. Be careful when pulling the felt shape out of your die cut machine. If the felt didn’t cut all the way through, you can break it by pulling too hard on an edge that’s still attached to the rest of the felt. If you use patchwork patterns while quilting, using die cuts for your patches is a perfect way to go. You’ll get a uniform shape in your patches without the tedious work of tracing and cutting them by hand. Choose thin woven fabrics like denim, silks, cottons, or twills in colors and patterns you like at your local craft store. Depending on your machine and the type of fabric, you may be able to cut several layers of fabric at a time to get more patches in less time. Using colorful patterned fabric from your local craft store, cut fabric flower shapes that are similar in shape but different sizes. After you cut each flower size, layer them from big to small, with the big one at the bottom and the smallest on top. Fold the layered flowers in half and sew them together right at the center using an overhand stitch.  Next fold the flower in the opposite direction and make a few overhand stitches. This will create pinches in the fabric that give the flowers some dimension. Be sure to get through all the layers as you’re sewing. When you’re finished sewing the flower, sew a button at the center. You can then attach this flower to any jacket or other clothing items. Or you can make several matching flowers for the same piece of clothing for a cute customized look. Cut flower or star shapes into leather with your die cut machine to create cute leather jewelry. You can layer the leather shapes into designs for necklaces, bracelets, or earrings. Once your shapes are cut, you can add color with tints or inks, embroider designs with colorful thread, and make the leather shiny with a leather water sealant before attaching the design to your metal necklace, bracelet, or earring pieces.

SUMMARY: Cut felt for a soft touch. Choose any woven fabric for quilting. Create clothing accents like 3D fabric flowers. Use thin leather for jewelry or other embellishments.


INPUT ARTICLE: Article: With your members, come up with a time you’ll meet next and, if possible, future meetings. A group may choose to meet every Sunday, for instance. Consistency is good for keeping all members on the same page, not forgetting meetings and having a set time to indicate when they refer others to the group. A time schedule doesn’t have to be set immediately. It may take a few meetings to come up with a good day and time and afterwards you may still need to switch to accommodate others. The introductory meeting of the group is a good time to indicate what you want the group meeting to be like while also listening to what other members want. For the next meeting, start breaking the time into segments. The first part of your book club can be about sharing how your week went while having snacks. The second part can be discussion over the assigned reading. The third part can be about addressing any concerns or suggestions. If you want a larger group, decide how you’ll grow your group. Consider placing advertisements on bulletin boards around town, starting a page on social media, making a website, and having members recruit new members. The more the word of your group spreads, the better chance you’ll have of finding new people who keep the group going and provide new insight. Sign up for a website such as Meetup.com. There is a fee for listing the group, but the listing may make your group easier to find for interested people. In order to keep old members and attract new ones, it helps to get everyone in contact with one another. One way of doing this is a social media page. Another is a member’s forum. You can also design a newsletter you can email to your members. By creating contact, members talk to one another, which is appealing to potential members and helps you share information while promoting group solidarity.

SUMMARY: Decide when you’ll meet next. Establish meeting structure. Recruit new members. Conduct member outreach.


INPUT ARTICLE: Article: Look back at some funny times you and your friends had, or look at some scrapbooks, or old photographs. If you have permission to use the stove without adult supervision, cooking can be fun. Throw some stuff together, as long as it's edible, and make something good. Or you could make a salad. Maybe you can't use the stove, so? Cut up some lettuce and make a salad or make a no-bake cake. As long as you have permission to do so, go online and edit or write a wikiHow page, a fun way to pass time. If the topic already exists, consider what you can add to an existing one to improve it. Try text game emoticon. Text your friends random emoticons like:  (I love him) and then they have to guess your emoticons. Then they do it to you. Example:  so&so:  other person: you wish you were royal! You could just make something fun up, say you have a cat, you could crawl by your cat and pretend to be a cat. Or be a wolf, a mermaid or a hero. Or just text them and ask for some news. Staying in touch can pass the time. You could Skype them while playing games together. Arrange a sleepover and have your friends excited about the upcoming event. Spend some time on your laptop/computer. Watch TV shows that you normally never watch, like reality shows or Animal Planet. Play video games or with your gaming console or on the computer. On your mobile phone, have a look around, there may be stuff you haven't seen before. If you were looking at pictures, and never had a good look around the options menu, you could find something like insert clipart or add border. You learn something new every day, if you're open to this.

SUMMARY:
Have a good laugh. Cook something fun. Edit or create a wikiHow page. Play a phone game. Make something up. Talk to your friends on the phone. Use electronic devices.