There are an overwhelming number of books filled with craft projects of every style, theme, skill level and occasion, so even a glance at the shelves at Barnes and Noble is daunting. One happy, little book is “Craft A Day” by Sarah Goldschadt, and its beauty is in its simplicity.
Most craft books have specific purposes for their projects – a decorated lampshade will only go on a lamp, a picture frame really only holds a picture. In “Craft a Day,” each of the 52 weeks of a year gets its own theme (such as whales, pine trees, foxes, birds, etc) and within each week there’s a variety of easily adaptable projects made of felt and/or paper. The animal, holiday and geometric motifs are cute and cartoonish as well as tastefully minimal, and they can work for a vast variety of projects.
The projects include sweet, hand-sewn felt plush toys that are the perfect size to fit in the palm of your hand (so easy and cute to accompany a present), paper gift tags and greeting cards, T-shirt graphics (use with iron on transfer paper), cupcake toppers, holiday ornaments, wall art and more.
The best part is each piece can be used as a part of any project – for example, the T-shirt transfer in particular would work for a pillowcase.
One of my favorite parts of each chapter is the decorations – super fast ways to make personalized banners, cake toppers and streamers for a friend or roommate’s birthday or a holiday. Set aside studying for finals for 30 minutes to break out the glittery paper and string to have pretty and fun decorations. The Halloween themes – a Charlie Brown-esque ghost, a pumpkin and a witch hat – are ripe for personalization: A few strokes of a Sharpie can turn a pumpkin garland into caricatures of your friends or classmates.
The supplies needed for all of the projects are straightforward and frankly cheap. All you need for most of the projects are felt, cardstock paper, good sharp scissors, string, hand sewing needles, thread and a basic glue stick. Even with these elementary supplies, the projects are anything but grade school.
Go to the scrapbooking aisle and stock up on good-quality paper like glitter, translucent, solid colors, anything felt that’s sold in the general crafting aisles by the pipe cleaners and sequins. It will be in the same type of holder as the cardstock paper which both cost less than $1 each.
A pack of blank, greeting cards with matching envelopes will make hand-making a card faster than going to the store. A personalized card with a penguin on it for your penguin-obsessed best friend says a lot more than just a Facebook wall note.
Got any favorite DIY books? Share your picks in the comments on easternecho.com.
