Classic Crafts Roundup

Years ago, I had a lot of short articles that were basically nothing but links to various neat craft tutorials I’d found around the internet. They were practically Twitter entries before we had Twitter. I decided it would be better to consolidate all those into one big giant post. Here it is for your enjoyment – a bunch of random, nifty craft projects to try out.

First, a Snappy Living original: Junkmail credit card placemats. You know those fake credit cards you get in junk mail offers? Just lay them face-down on a table, using a straight edge to line them up. Line up 5 cards across (lengthwise) and down. Use a strong sealing or masking tape to tape the rows and columns together. When you’re done, turn it over and you’ve got a funny, unique placemat.

Craft links

1. The Homemade Sun Jar from Not Martha. A frosted jar with lights inside, beautiful in a garden or inside the home.
2. Make gorgeous little doily and tissue paper rose cubes (for table settings and similar uses) with these two tutorials: How to Make Doily Flower Cubes (for the doily cube) and How To Make Tissue Flowers (for the tissue rose).
3. Zakka Life has a tutorial for personalizing children’s clothes hangers.
4. Green Bee has a tutorial for covering Altoid tins in fabric to make cute and convenient cases for sewing supplies or anything else you want to put in them.
5. You can use crayons to tint color detail into your embroidery before stitching in the outlines.
6. ResurrectionFern shows you how to knit a scarfette with vintage buttons.
7. Whether you’ve got a naked basket that could use a nice soft liner or a lined basket whose liner is no longer cleaning up as nice as it once did, you can make your own liner. You can use all sorts of fabrics, including scraps from around the house or found in a local thrift shop.
8. Etsy Labs Archive shows you how to fuse plastic bags together to make a more durable plastic material from which you can make all sorts of crafty stuff.
9. Make a neckerchief collar for a dog.
10. Make a Mardi Gras necklace entirely out of recycled stuff.
11. How to make a key leash for a handbag.
12. A collection of soaps and scrubs you can make at home.
13. That lamp needs a new cover. Why buy one, when you can make it yourself?
14. DIY CD cases made out of paper are more eco-friendly than plastic ones, and more personal when you’re giving them away as gifts.
15. A tutorial for a truly flat top knitted hat – this is such a cool project, and the tutorial is so detailed.
16. Or check out this adorable button-tab knitted hat, based on a similar one from Banana Republic.
17. A really easy free pattern for a zigzag lace scarf that’s delicate and gorgeous.
18. A tutorial for making your own “hobo” bag.
19. A simple tutorial for making a bamboo beach bag.
20. A collection of free vintage crochet potholder patterns.
21. DIYLife has a really simply tutorial for making spring earrings that don’t look simple at all – they’re stunning!
22. Ever thought of a trashcan as an object that could be pretty? Maybe you will after you check out this tutorial for making a beautiful fabric covered waste bin.
23. Got an old dining room chair that needs repainting? Or maybe you’re about to spend lots for a new chair because the ones you’ve seen at garage sales need a touch-up? Here’s how to paint a dining chair the right way, so it’ll truly look like new.
24. If you’re tired of keychains, you can just rivet your keys together – you have to see this to understand what I mean. Not the best solution if you change keys often, but most of us don’t.
25. Instead of buying a corkboard, you can make a fabric pin board for stashing notes, calendars, pictures, whatever.
26. TipNut has a 1945 pattern for making a gorgeous tafetta knitting needle case.
27. Make yourself a little boxy pouch with this tutorial.
28. PurlBee introduces you to Sashiko embroidery, a Japanese form of embroidery that doesn’t require an embroidery hoop, so you can carry your project anywhere.
29. The Little Green Bean walks you through turning old sweater scraps into an appliqued pillow.
30. Turn an Etch-a-Sketch into a Kitschy Picture Frame in Just a Few Minutes – title says it all, except these are so cute!
31. Make your own gift bags out of cereal boxes instead of spending several bucks on slick, cutesy store-bought ones.
32. Carina at CraftBlog has translated into English some patterns for making crochet bicycle seat covers. While you’re at it, you can turn your bicycle into a pedal-powered blender. Who’s got a crochet pattern for a blender cozy?
33. ZakkaLife has a tutorial for making a great-looking suncatcher out of clear hard plastic packaging.
34. Curbly has complete, photographically illustrated instructions for making CD cases out of standard sheets of typing paper.
35. Doe-c-doe shows you how to take a pair of screwback earrings – the kind you can wear without pierced ears – and convert them into dangling leverback (you could also use french hooks) earrings. Without removing the screwbacks.
36. I never thought of making a wallet out of a cassette tape before, but what a way to re-purpose old cassette tapes! This could be a very cool party favor/stocking stuffer kind of gift, too.
37. Here’s a pattern for making your own water bottle carrier, so you can sling a bottle of water over your shoulder when you’re on the go.
38. Make a magnetized embroidered bookmark that clips to the corner of your page.
39. Linda Permann has a two-part tutorial for crocheting little layered flowers.
40. Who knew you could make jewelry out of old inner tubes?
41. Strip Your Pics! — Create Photo Comic Strips Online with Comeeko – could make hilarious greeting cards
42. Or, make a greeting card that kind of explodes.
43. Angry Chicken made ridiculously easy ribboned hair bands that look like a million bucks. (I just love crafts that are so easy, anyone can do them, yet they look like a big deal.)
44. Make your own suncatchers – get lots of patterns here
45. Make a wallet out of duct tape. MacGuyver would be proud of you.
46. Make a fabric book cover.
47. Let the kids make coffee filter butterflies – no, I’m not obsessed with coffee filters, it’s just a coincidence they keep coming up
48. MarketingMommy makes a better breast pump bag out of an old towel.
49. Make yourself a pink daisy gardening boots.
50. Film in the Fridge shares a tutorial for making Reversible Rick Rack napkins.
51. Artists and crafters: make yourself a cheap light box.
52. Purlbee’s Super Easy Baby Blanket is soft, warm and inviting.
53. You could pay over $100 for a makeup brush carrier, or make one yourself.
54. Instructables shows you how to make your own sealing wax.
55. Make a handbag that looks like a 12-sided die. So cool!
56. Design Sponge has the tutorial you need to create beautiful paper lanterns.
57. You can make a fruit bowl out of tubes from paper towels and toilet paper rolls.
58. Crochet an ice cream cone necklace purse.
59. Knit a big floopy hat.
60. How to dye yarn with food colouring (and small children).
61. Make a very cute gift package by wrapping it as a Surprise Ball.
62. Recycled cans plus some crochet work equals a really cute hat.
63. Make your own birdhouse out of twigs
64. Hexagonal Stacking Boxes from Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories. These really look cool, and they’re made mostly from recycled cereal boxes.
65. Felt candy dish – if you’re worried about candy melting in it, stick to wrapped candies.
66. Re-purpose an old towel into a fashionable turban.
67. Make a fake stained glass window.
68. Who knew you could make dumbbells out of old CDs?
69. MamaMay shows you how to make a DIY fabric coupon holder.
70. DIY refrigerator photo magnets – a slightly techie project in which you use printable magnetic business cards and software with your inkjet printer to make magnets with any sort of image you want
71. How To Make Roach Clip Memo/Picture Clips – looks like a fun project, with good clear instructions
72. DIY Vinyl LP Coasters – If you want something more stylish and wood friendly than old CD’s to use as coasters, here’s a very cute project, once again with good clear instructions. And pictures! Oh, the pictures help!
73. Check out LollyChops’ Abraham Owl, a cute little guy you can sew from a PDF pattern, with a pictoral tutorial to help you through the steps.
74. GreenBee’s gratitude wrap – the actual pattern is on this PDF link. It holds stationary and other writing supplies.
75. UK Lass in US has a wonderful tutorial for making a crayon roll up.