Stationery
items, Home and Garden
Accessories, Wearable crafts, Toys,
Kitchen crafts, Gifts, and Celebration decorations and accessories are some
projects you can start out with.
There is a joy and satisfaction in making something
with your own hands. Even if you think you aren't creative enough to make anything,
why not try and find a craft you can enjoy and share with others. There is
special value in something we have spent time and effort on, whether we keep it for
ourselves or give it as a gift.
Start out with something simple and continue on to
bigger projects when you are more confident with your skills. Here are some ideas to
help you get started:
Stationery items
These are a good first project because they are
relatively simple and the materials are readily available. I remember making
giftwrappers using plain paper decorated with potato
stamping. My daughter, who was just 3 years old at that time, and her 2 friends
helped out and had a lot of fun. Other projects include giftcards, greeting cards,
bookmarkers, recipe cards, decorated notebooks, scrapbooks, albums, address books and
letter sets. You can also decorate these with rubber stamping, stencilling, paper
weaving, handmade paper, pressed flowers and countless other ways.
Projects
to decorate your home and garden
Throw pillows, quilts, wall hangings, collages, picture
frames, embroidered pictures, 3-dimensional paper art, boxes of all sizes, placemates, napkins,
coasters, candles, framed silhouettes and paper cuttings
(scherenschnitte), windchimes, mobiles, bird feeders, flower arrangements,
wreaths, planters, even lamps and furniture!
Projects to wear
T-shirts and sneakers decorated with stencilling, tie-dying, fabric
paint or iron-on designs, hair accessories and costume jewelry are good projects.
Sewing simple clothes is also not that difficult if you have a good
pattern.
Toys
Dolls and stuffed toys are favorites. Dollhouse furniture, puppets,
doll clothes, play jewelry ( of pasta, beads, play dough), puzzles, storybooks, play dough sculptures, play costumes, tincan walkers, pom pom
animals, and play food are other ideas. Paper projects like origami, paper weaving,
pinwheels, boats, airplanes, simple kites, baskets, stars and paperdolls are projects you
can teach your kids to make. You'll find that the toys we make, even if more simple
than store bought ones will often have a special place in your kids' hearts just because
you made them. I still remember the fried egg and noodles made out of felt that my
mom made for us, and that was ages ago!
Kitchen crafts
Cooking, baking, food preserves, candlemaking, soap, soap crayons, potpourri, pomanders
and sachets, teas, candy making, corn husk dolls, dough baskets, decorative
dough ornaments and figurines are just some kitchen crafts you can try.
Gifts
Make family and friends feel extra special by giving them gifts you
made with your own hands. Any of the ideas above can be gifts, depending on who
you're giving the gift to. Make part of your gift the way you have packaged it, like
decorating the jam jars and stationery boxes. Have the kids decorate brown bags for
your gift of home-baked cookies.
Some of my favorite things are crafts made by friends
and family - a collage with a topiary
design, a heart collage by my daughter
(using calico scraps, paper, buttons and ribbons) and a personalized cross-stitched sampler I received for my wedding (complete
with names and date).
If you make your gifts yourself, it is also easy to
personalize them. Personalized gifts are great for weddings, anniversaries,
baptisms, birthdays, and many more occasions. Among the gifts I've made are little
baby shirts decorated with drawings and the baby's name, framed cross stitched
and schrenschnitte (paper
cutting) projects personalized with the newly married couple's names and the
date of their wedding, and notebooks or albums covered with cloth or wallpaper and
personalized.
Projects
for celebrations
Christmas decorations like lanterns, tree trimmings, wreaths, garlands, advent wreaths,
advent calendars, paper snowflakes, nativity sculptures, stockings, Easter eggs, decorations and baskets, decorations and
other accessories for parties and other celebrations (banners, garlands, party hats,
name tags), costumes, hats, crowns and masks, paper Valentine heart baskets,
seasonal table decorations, are just some projects you can make.
