Easy Crafts to Try Out

Hi everyone! I don't have any big projects to show you at the moment so I thought it would be fun to do a chit-chatty blog today that was more geared towards someone who is just starting their crafting journey. I have been crafting for quite some time so have accumulated a good amount of tools and supplies, but many of my preferred crafts can be easily started on a very small budget. So in this blog I will be touching on some of the crafts that I love to do and the very basic things you would need to get started with each! This will not really be a tutorial on each craft, but a basic guideline of what you will need in front of you before you begin.

Crocheting
The one I am going to start with is actually the most recent crafty skill I have picked up: crocheting. Just to get the basics out of the way, knitting is when you use 2 needles and crocheting is when you use 1 hook. Anything I say here will be referring to crocheting as I do not know how to knit! I have heard many people say that crocheting is usually considered the easier of the two and is a better option for someone who wants to get started. 

I do think its important to point out that crocheting does put a decent amount of strain on your fingers and wrists. Your fingers will be gripping both the yarn and the piece you are working on and one of your hands will constantly have to be adjusting the tension of your yarn. If you struggle with pain or numbness in your fingers it may be the case that crocheting is not a great fit for you or it may help keep your fingers moving to combat that pain; that is up to you to choose!

At its most basic level you really do only need 2 things to start crocheting, yarn and a crochet hook. You could probably walk out of a craft store with a few balls of yarn and a variety pack of crochet hook sizes for less than $20. Every ball of yarn I have seen has information on the packaging to help you know the size of crochet hook you will need to work with it; essentially the thicker or chunkier the yarn, the bigger the hook you need. If you would like to invest in a few more things, I would recommend some stitch markers and a plastic yarn needle. It honestly took me until about 6 months into my crocheting journey to understand how helpful stitch markers can be so if a pattern calls for using them, I would listen!

Once you have your yarn and hook (and stitch markers and needle if you have grabbed those) you really just need some time and a YouTube video to get started. There are countless free tutorials on Youtube that can get you started and help you learn different stitches. I would recommend starting with some videos before you try your hand at a written crochet pattern as it really helped me to be able to see someone's hands making the movements that I needed to repeat.

Beading
Another crafty skill that I find I use in a lot of different craft projects is beading. If you are interested in giving this a try, I would recommend starting with the classic stretchy bracelet. That may seem boring but the great thing about beading is that there are endless types of beads out there so you can really make any style of bracelet that you'd like.

To get going on your stretchy bracelets you really only need 3 things: beads, some type of jewelry cord and a strong adhesive like SuperGlue. SuperGlue is technically not necessary, but I have found it invaluable for ensuring that my knots are extremely secure and my bracelet does not come undone. I am a big fan of tiny glass beads and letter beads and the style of bracelets I like to make is a cutesy friendship bracelet style. If you are looking for a different style of bracelet, just pick beads that match what you are going for!

When talking jewelry cord, I would always personally recommend an elastic plastic or rubber cord. Any kind of fabric cord may get ruined if the bracelet gets wet at all, but a plastic/rubber cord will be fine even when wet. I also feel like plastic cord keeps its stretch longer. Also just make sure that the thickness of cord you buy will fit into the hole in your beads! As I said, SuperGlue is not needed, but I always do a tiny dot of a strong-hold, fast-dry glue after I have knotted the cord to finish the bracelet.

Acrylic Pour Painting
Finally, let's talk about acyclic pour painting. Anyone who has been following the blog for a little while knows that I am a big fan of pour painting and have tried many different applications of it. I saved this one for last as it likely will need the most supplies and time and will have the greatest cost of any craft on this list. However, I do think that people might assume that pour painting is much harder than it actually ends up being. At the most basic level, you really only need a canvas and some pour paint. For someone just starting out, I would recommend getting a pack of smaller canvases like 4 by 4 or 6 by 6 inches. I would also recommend buying a set of premixed pour paints. You have the option of buying regular acrylic paint and then buying an additional pouring medium that you have to mix into the paint to make it thinner and easier to pour, but you can also buy paint that is already mixed and will be the texture you need straight out of the bottle.

If you feel like investing a little more, I would recommend some gesso (which will also require a paintbrush to paint onto the canvas), disposable gloves, plastic or paper cups, thin wooden dowels or shims that you can lay your canvas on, some sealer and a drop cloth if you don't have something like newspaper or cardboard you can lay down on your surface. Gesso is not required at all, but think of it like priming a wall before you paint. It helps to seal your canvas before applying the paint and generally creates a more even texture for your paint to stick to. Gloves and a drop cloth will simply help ensure you and your surfaces stay protected as pour painting can be quite messy and acrylic paint can be nearly impossible to remove from porous materials once it has dried. The cups will allow you to create more interesting paintings as you can layer different colors together before pouring them on the canvas. The wooden dowels or shims are helpful when you set your pieces down to dry; it will create a little space between your canvas and the surface they are drying on and allow any excess paint to drip off the sides. Finally, sealer will just protect your piece once its dry!

The great thing about pour painting is that it's meant to be abstract so don't worry about perfection. Find a YouTube tutorial that interests you and see what you can make!

Obviously these are not the only crafts out there, but these are 3 that I love and feel that I know enough about to give a little advice on. If you are interested in starting a craft and learning a new skill, always remember that everyone had to learn. Don't compare yourself to someone who has been doing something for 20 years if you have been doing it 20 minutes. Just enjoy yourself and give something a try to make sure you like it before investing in additional supplies for it. Happy crafting!

 - Rebecca