National Craft Month Project Ideas (Video)
The Morning Show
I stopped by The Morning Show to get hands-on with hosts Liza Fromer and Jeff McArthur for National Craft Month. I showed them some easy DIY home decor projects using supplies from DeSerres, and I gave them some ideas for what to do with your completed colouring book pages, using the book What Lifts You by Kelsey Montague (published by Harlequin).
Watch here…
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Liza Fromer:
DIY crafts can be a relaxing and stress-free hobby you can do alone or something that can be fun for the whole family, and since March is National Craft Month – who knew? – we’ve invited sewing and craft expert Denise Wild to show us how to embrace our creative side. Good morning.
Denise Wild:
Good morning. I knew it was National Craft Month.
Liza:
Of course you did. I’m glad you did. Of course you did.
Denise:
You knew it? You know now.
Jeff McArthur:
Here’s what I don’t know and/or believe though. Is it truly stress-free?
Denise:
It is! Well –
Jeff:
Really?
Denise:
—okay, so, here’s the trick: You can’t be too hard on yourself and you can’t think that it has to be perfect.
Liza:
Yeah.
Denise:
If you make a little mistake, it’s a design detail, right?
Liza:
Oh, I like that!
Jeff:
Okay.
Denise:
Yeah.
Jeff:
You’ve made it yours.
Denise:
Exactly.
Liza:
And so, tell me why we still have Easter eggs?
Denise:
So, because we’re crafting, it’s all about making and getting hands-on. If you still have eggs left over, here’s how you can make them part of your spring décor. So, it’s a great way– one great thing about crafting is you can save money; you can reuse supplies and materials. So, something like this, you take an egg that was around – maybe for Easter – you can do a fantastic craft using this paper. It’s called decoupage. And, basically, you take a Mod Podge, you just put it on, and it’s kind of a one coat is the adhesive, one coat is the varnish, and then, all of the sudden, your eggs look gorgeous. You can glam them up. You can make them more earthy and rustic by just painting.
Liza:
Right.
Denise:
So, it’s awesome. They’re, you know– you go to a place like DeSerres where they have amazing supplies and it’s practically done for you, because you don’t have to think about it. All of your gorgeous materials are already laid out for you.
Jeff:
Okay. You know what? I’m a creature of habit.
Denise:
Yes.
Jeff:
And every day I bring in two hard boiled eggs. I’m going to start bringing them in like this.
Denise:
There you go!
Liza:
Like that.
Jeff:
Really fancy.
Denise:
I love that! People won’t be too sure about what to do.
Liza:
This is fun.
Denise:
Okay so, here’s a little phone – personalized phone case that I did. Now, colouring is so hot right now. Everyone’s colouring, everyone’s talking about it.
Jeff:
Yeah, like adult colouring books are like –
Denise:
Exactly!
Jeff:
—crazy popular, right.
Denise:
But what else can you do with it? So I’ve got this fantastic book. It’s called “What Lifts You.” It’s by a street artist. Her name is Kelsey Montague. She is huge. And what you can do, it really encourages you to use those pages. They’re one sided –
Liza:
Um, hum.
Denise:
—and you’re supposed to cut them out and get creative with them. So I actually want to have you –
Liza:
Oh!
Denise:
—start to work with this. So, I have some ideas for what you can do. If you’ve been coloring and you’ve done all these things, what are you going to do with it next? Actually, maybe I’ll get you to start off.
Jeff:
Alright.
Denise:
Jeff, do you want to get hands-on with this?
Jeff:
Absolutely.
Denise:
So you can just get a clear case –
Jeff:
Trace around my case?
Denise:
—and then trace around it. Exactly. When you cut it out with your scissors, you’ll cut it just inside those lines and then you can pop it right in. So you have your coloring book, but now, what are you going to do with that? You don’t want to leave the pages in the book. You want to show them off, enjoy them –
Liza:
Masterfully done.
Denise:
—personalize them for your phone.
Jeff:
Thank you.
Denise:
Then you can make a cute little key chain like this.
Liza:
That’s great.
Denise:
Yeah. So this is a great, you know, project for yourself or it’s a great gift too. You could even put it into a little acrylic block over here, put a photo inside. You could decorate some magnets. You know, create those mini-frames.
Liza:
Yeah.
Denise:
Put your coloring pages behind them, add some card stock behind, and a magnet. And then when you go to someone’s house, wrap them up with a bow – you have a great hostess gift. Instead of bringing a bottle of wine–
Liza:
So personal, right?
Denise:
—why not bring something personalized. Yeah.
Liza:
What is it about things that are small?
Denise:
Yeah.
Liza:
I just love these mini-frames. They’re so great.
Denise:
They’re cute! You just want to touch them. They’re so cute.
Liza:
I love them.
Denise:
Okay, perfect! So Jeff’s done this–
Liza:
So, let’s check back with Jeff.
Denise:
Actually – so then, awesome!
Jeff:
There you go.
Denise:
Lovely.
Jeff:
It goes right in there. Look at that. Perfect fit.
Liza:
Done!
Denise:
So personalized, yeah.
Jeff:
Yeah.
Denise:
And then, of course, you–
Jeff:
Oh, yeah, this screams me! This is my phone.
Denise:
I love it. Actually, it does match. It does match.
Jeff:
Very spring. That’s nice. Okay.
Liza:
And then–
Denise:
And then, of course, you can buy kits. You can do stuff with kids. Crafting is a great thing to do with the whole family.
Jeff:
Um, hum.
Liza:
Um, hum.
Denise:
So, something like this is a little pom-pom gift. It’s almost like paint-by-numbers, but it’s kind of redone. You’re taking the pom-poms; there’s a sticky back–
Liza:
Oh, I see!
Denise:
—on the paper. So you peel off the paper, all of a sudden it’s sticky. You just take the pompoms and place them on.
Liza:
Oh, that’s fun.
Denise:
And I should have had– I should have had, Jeff, you doing the rainbow unicorn–
Liza:
So–
Denise:
—instead. While Liza was doing the phone case.
Liza:
I know!
Jeff:
That’s all good. So, sorry, you just glue these on? Is that what you do?
Denise:
So, it’s already adhesive.
Jeff:
Oh, okay.
Denise:
It has adhesive on it. You peel the paper backing off –
Jeff:
Oh! I gotcha. Okay.
Denise:
—and then you just lay them on top. So, you know again, you don’t have to worry about making a mistake.
Jeff:
It’s easy.
Liza:
Like I can’t even get to it. I’m ruining the paper. Okay, that can’t be true.
Jeff:
There you go. Oh, yeah, I see. It sticks right on there and –
Denise:
Exactly.
Jeff:
—beautiful.
Denise:
Exactly.
Liza:
Well done. Denise Wild, such good ideas. Thank you so much.
Denise:
Thank you.
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