10 Handmade Arts & Crafts to Learn while bored at home


Finding a craft that relaxes you, takes away your stress and keeps away the boredom can be hard to find, but there are lots of arts and crafts out there like this and it doesn't have to be a 2 week or even months-long project. A 5-minute to 1-hour craft can do the trick. Best of all you also learn a new skill.

10 Crafting projects to learn while in-home Isolation

In this post, you will find 10 Arts and Crafts you can try while being stuck at home in quarantine, that won't take up much of your time or eat up your bank balance.

1. LEARN HOW TO CROCHET MODERN BUT BASIC STITCHES

Crochet is not just granny's squares anymore! Although I do still love them! Crocheting has come a long way with talented artists and designers creating unique patterns and designs that are stylish and totally doable. With a few good tutorials, you will be creating unique baby blankets & scarves in no time. 

DIY lessons for free 

There are so many tutorials on youtube and links on Pinterest to watch and learn from, below are some of my top 3 go-to's, all with easy-to-follow instructions.
Bella Coco Crochet - Lots of easy unique modern stitches to try 
TL Yarn Crafts - Great tips & tricks from an expert
Sewrella - Lots of beginners tutorials

EASY Tutorials to try that are cool and on-trend

Hooked for Hope - Rainbow Blanket
Simply Daisy - Puff 3d flower
Claudetta CrochetWinter scarf & Earwarmer

Supplies you need

A Crochet Hook & Wool/Yarn

Crochet & Amigurumi ideas you can make

A Handmade Gift for the new baby in your family or friends circle.
This could be Beanies, Booties, a Baby Blanket for the cot or pram, Rattles and soft toys. I recommend you start small with hair bows, headbands or a Bassinet blanket for a longer project.

For inspiration, you can look here
Decor for your Home.
There are lots of easy quick projects for your home, coasters and pillow covers are the ones to try. Table runners are a great way to bring earthy tones into your home, as are floor rugs, crochet baskets and throw rugs for your bed or sofa.

For decor ideas, you can look here
Unique fashion pieces to wear
A great time to crochet is pre-winter as most clothing and accessories to crochet are cold weather-related, so if you are in Australia like me, now is the time to start. Easy projects to make are scarves & ear warmers, but with so many winter fashion pieces to make the list is endless. Beanies, gloves, socks & cardigans are always popular to make once your skills get better and you can follow a pattern.

For clothing inspo, you can look here

2. TEACH YOURSELF TO FOLD PAPER WITH ORIGAMI

Origami is the art of paper folding a single square sheet of paper into an object without glue or tape. Traditionally from Japan, origami has become popular across the world with children, teens to adults.  Origami would be one of the cheapest crafts you could learn, any piece of paper around the house can be made into a square!

DIY lessons for free 

Origami has come a long way from paper cranes and aeroplanes, below are some of my top 3 favourites, all with easy-to-follow instructions & unique designs
.Paper Kawaii - Cute, easy & fun paper art to try, fun for all ages
Sweet Paper - Lots of boxes for gift-giving
Paper Art 013 - Great projects for Iso homeschooling

EASY Tutorials to try that are cool 

Origami Plus - Pyramid Pixal wall art tutorial
EzOrigami - How to Make a Heart
Hello Origami - Cute Koala Bookmark

Supplies you need

Square paper

Origami papercraft inspiration you can make

Decorations for the Holidays
Christmas decorations for the tree, fireplace or to hang from the ceiling can look stylish and so pretty, also if the kids have helped make the decor it adds some warmth and love to the room
Easter & Halloween are wonderful times to get creative with Papercrafts, you could make rabbits, ducks, paper eggs, ghosts, spiders & monsters
Projects for home isolation & quarantine
Homeschooling the kids can be costly, draining and hard, so when you can buy a $2 origami-coloured paper pad from the local department store and throw on some youtube tutorials, it can give you an hours of peace and quiet while still feeling like the kids have been productive and creative. The kids can make a mobile for their room or different animals for creative playtime

For origami mobiles, you can look here
Paper gift boxes
There are so many little gift boxes to create that would make any present memorable. They are the perfect size for small gifts like lipsticks, jewellery, money or lollies

For origami boxes, you can look here

3. LEARN HOW TO RELAX BY SKETCHING OR DOODLING

Grab a sketchbook, old notebook or some loose paper because this can literally cost you nothing by just using what you have at home already. Getting creative by drawing can be daunting as most people think they are not skilled enough to draw and can not create any art that they will love. I am here to tell you that is wrong & that you may actually fall in love picking up a pencil and just drawing.
You see every piece you draw does not have to be gallery-worthy, it can just be a basic line art piece or a page of different shaded lines. I find my most relaxing times are just doodling all different shapes and squiggles all over a page for an hour or so. 
If you want to learn to sketch and build up your drawing skills, there are many ways to do this and not just with a pencil on paper.
These days almost everyone has a device they can use which can have a  drawing app on. So there are no excuses if you do not have a sketchbook, download a drawing app like Pro Create or Adobe Illustrator Draw is free

Drawing tutorials worth watching

Christopher Hart - Cool Cartoon characters for beginners 
Pic Candle - Cute Doodles for beginners
the ART gEEK - Super Quick Doodle Pattern tutorial
Projects to draw while bored 
Shayda Cambell - 12 easy flower doodles you need to know
Kristy Partridge Art  - How to draw faces for beginners

Supplies you need

Any type of pen, pencil or marker & some paper

Projects you can make with your drawings

Handmade Cards
These days with technology, not many people send or receive mail in the post box anymore. So why not bring back cards with a beautiful handwritten note inside and make someone's day special. Popular cards are Birthdays, Christmas & Valentine's Day, but while we are all bored at home in isolation, why not make some appreciation or thank you cards for those people in your life you never get a chance to tell how much they mean to you.

Cute funny handmade cards are a great idea to make to cheer up family or friends who may not be coping well at the moment.

Handmade cards have always been popular in my house over the last 20 years, basically, due to the fact I always would forget to grab a card from the shop for the 100's of Birthday parties the kids would be invited to. So I would fold some cardstock in half and let the kids be creative and write a lovely comment inside. 
After a while, this became the norm and to this day my daughters still create their own cards for their friends. Just last week they both made a card each for a dance student of theirs who turned 8 and couldn't have a birthday party, so for her Quarantine Birthday, we placed some cards in her letterbox to make her feel special.
For card ideas, you can look here

Shrink Plastic Jewellery
Shrink plastic is so fun to try but it can be expensive to set up. Some food packaging containers though have the same properties and work the same way as Shrinky Dink-type sheets from the store.  What you need to look in your recycling bin for, is #6 plastic containers, which will be embossed on the bottom of your clear food packaging.

You can draw on to the plastic, cut it, shrink it in the oven and just like that you have created some personalised jewellery. Check out our Tutorial here

For jewellery ideas, you can look here

Turn your Doodles into Colouring in pages
With all those doodles you have been drawing, why not add some more lines and turn them into colouring in pages for the children. Kid's are getting as bored as us while at home and finding some cost-effective arts & crafts projects for homeschooling that you don't need to supervise is hard to find. So why not use your own mini craft project, photocopy it on your printer and let the kids add some colour and their own flair to your doodles.

For inspiration, you can look here


4. LEARN HOW TO HAND EMBROIDER

Hand embroidery is a traditional craft that has evolved into its own art form. There are so many styles of stitches from easy to difficult for you to try. Design patterns can be purchased from talented stitching artists around the world or you can create your own with very little knowledge or artistic talent.

There are a lot of websites that also offer free designs for you to create which is great when you are learning and do not want to outlay a lot of money.

How-to tutorials 

DIY Stitching - Learn how to do modern stitches and designs for beginners
Swoodson Says -  How to embroider shoes
Jessica Long - Basic videos on how to hand-stitch designs & stitches

 Free Patterns to try

Flamingo Toes - I love us flower design
Stitching Cards - Easy cards to stitch for adults & kids to practice on

Supplies you need

A needle, thread & a suitable item to Stitch on

What to apply your hand embroidery to

Canvas Shoes & Headwear
There are so many items of clothing you can hand embroider on, the list is endless. Popular fashion craft trends at the moment are Canvas shoes, Jeans, Sun hats, Beach bags and Caps. But you can add some stitching to almost anything.

Canvas sneakers & Caps look great with contrasting stitching of little designs. Flowers, words &  symbols work great in small spaces.

Sun Hats & Beach Bags are a chance to try larger designs


For inspiration, you can look here
Blankets
Blankets and Throws give warmth and a homely feel to home decor but some store-bought blankets can feel dull and boring. So adding some personalised stitching to a blanket can create an expensive unique feel. Adding a child's name to a baby blanket or toddler's snuggle blanket can become an heirloom over time and a beautiful unique piece in your child's room.

Plain throws with stitching will create texture and style. Stitching a pattern around the edge, the corner or the middle of the blanket would be a nice afternoon craft while watching a movie and drinking tea.

For different stitches to use, you can look here

Hoop it up
Hoops come in so many different sizes, which means you can create some embroidery art in little time if you choose a tiny frame, or decide on a larger or harder design and take your time stitching it.

Hand Embroidery can be hung up on walls straight in the hoop or can be placed in a frame. There are no rules on what to stitch or how to display, so get creative and have fun.

For hoop ideas, you can look here

5. GET CLICKING AND LEARN SOME NEW PHOTOGRAPHY SKILLS

In this modern tech age, you do not need a fancy expensive camera to have fun with photography and create great photos. Your phone can take stunning photos with little effort other than learning how to use the settings on your phone.  If you already are into Mobile Photography which has become popular in the last few years, now is a great time to try some new photo editing apps to help you take your photos to the next level.

If you are lucky enough to have access to a camera that you have never mastered or learned how to use, nows is the time to pull it out, charge the battery and start clicking!

How to create beautiful photos

With there being so many phones & cameras on the market & everyone having different products, I would recommend typing in your phones model into Youtube with "How to take photos on ### model"

When I typed in my phone  "How to take photos on Samsung S20+" there was so many video tutorials and tip & tricks which amazed me as the phone is a new release. So I guarantee your phone or camera will have lots of videos for you to choose from, so I will not be adding any links other than the one below that will help everyone. 

Kenneth Wayne - "8 Tips on how to start killing it in mobile photography'

Free Photo Apps to try

VSCO - Easy-to-use photo editing app that is popular with Instagram influencers, Bloggers & Teenagers
SNAPSEED - Advanced editing app

Supplies you need

Your mobile phone or camera & some imagination

Where can you take photos while in Quarantine 

Home is basically the short answer, we can not go anywhere else haha which means we need to get out in our gardens or balconies and start looking at the world differently and through the eyes of the lens.

A photographer friend takes the exact same photo of his neighbour's house across the street from his front yard at different times of the day and the photos are brilliant and my favourite thing to see on my Instagram feed every week. The varied light, skies and weather create unique photos even though the subject is exactly the same.

If you are lucky enough to be living with family or friends, start taking photos of them. Why not use this time to get some photos of the kids playing in the yard which you never have time to take or photos of the family cooking a homemade cake. Now is the time to capture this Covid 19 time in history so when you look back you will remember how special being together 24 hours a day really was.

What to do with your photographs

Print
Your wall art can always need refreshing, print off some of your best photos and place them in frames on your wall. Printing can be ordered online and delivered to your door so there's no need to even leave the house.

Most department store photo-developing kiosks and other online printing stores can also print your photos on mugs cushion covers, magnets, canvas, calendars and t-shirts. All make great gift ideas for loved ones

For printing ideas, look HERE
Show the world
Share your new pics on social media platforms like Instagram & Facebook. There are also many photography platforms to share and get inspiration from. Flickr, VSCO & Photoblog are where you can do this and are all free

View Mobile Photography Award entries HERE

Make Money
Stock Photos that are in demand can make the creators money by doing little ongoing work. Media outlets, Bloggers, Influencers, businesses and content creators are always searching for new and unique photos to add to their content. 

Niche photos can be hard to find, so if you have a hobby at home that may be a niche that stock photographers have not taken many photos of, here's your chance to take some high-quality photos, upload to sites like Shutterstock or istockphoto and make some money. You won't become rich overnight, but if it brings you in small amounts of money every month, that's a bonus!

Your Niche could be you grow lavender in your garden, beauty creators, soap makers, craft bloggers and gardening sites could all use these photos and I'm sure many more. Your subject can be as simple as that.

For stock photos, make sure your lighting is good, photos are of high quality & resolution and can be cropped in different sizes for different types of uploads (Square for Instagram, Portrait for Blogs, Social media & Pinning, Landscape for banners)

For photo examples look HERE

6. LEARN HOW TO PAINT WITH WATERCOLOURS

Watercolour is one of the prettiest arts to learn and is always rewarding. You can apply Watercolour to many different mediums these days, even cake decorating!

One of the reasons Watercolour is so popular today is that it's a form of art that everyone can do, it's very pretty & even if you have no talent the end result will still be rewarding.

DIY Watercolour tutorials 

Makocinno -  Lots of video tutorials with easy-to-follow instructions
Kelogsloops - Wet rn dry techniques
Kristy Partridge Art - How to use watercolour

Free creative watercolour design tutorials to try

Shayda Campbell - Every watercolour flower you will need
Kelogsloops - How to paint watercolour waves
Makocinno - Basic Step-by-Step for Beginners

Supplies you need

A Paintbrush, Watercolour paints & paper

What to create

Artwork
Watercolour artwork is on-trend in home decorating but can be costly. Creating your own artwork can cost a fraction of the price and you can paint a design to match your decor and style. If you have that blank wall that needs a huge piece of artwork, watercolour is a great way to fill the space while it looking expensive.

For ideas on what to paint, look HERE
Ceramics
Painting watercolours on plates, bowls and mugs can brighten old homewares and bring life back to pieces you never use.

You need watercolour food-safe ceramic paints if using on plates or where food will be, if you are only painting for decorative purposes, then your paint does not need to be food safe.

Garden Pots look so lovely having a watercolour design on them, paint your plain pots white if you have no plain white pots and you can make unique designs for your yard or balcony.

For beautiful ideas look HERE

Fabric
There are so many fabric projects you can watercolour on and best of all you don't need watercolour fabric paints if you add a fabric medium to your paint. White fabric will give you the best results, Pillowcases, Aprons, Tea towels, T-shirts, Pants, Bags & Throws, the list is endless. All you need is some imagination, a nice space to create and a paintbrush!

My favourite watercolour fabric project is a white 50's full circle skirt that had been handpainted, it was just magical. I wish I could find the skirt again to show and inspire you.

For inspiration, look HERE

7. LEARN HAND LETTERING

Remember when you were at school and would draw headings in your workbooks and school projects creating a different font for each. Well, that's basically what hand lettering is, creating words or phrases in all types of fonts and colours.

Hand lettering is used in so many ways, not just on your corner stores signage trying to get you to buy the special of the week or product packaging. Today hand-lettering is used on anything from pillowcases, and home decor,  to craft projects like embroidery and screen printing.

How-to tutorials 

Made By Marzipan - Hand Lettering Step by Step
Will Paterson - How to use a Brush Pen

Free tutorials to try

Loveleigh Loops - Hand-lettered Greeting Cards
Crafty Nica - Cool Handwriting projects 

Supplies you need

Markers & Paper

What to apply your hand Lettering on

Posters
You would have seen quote posters in Homeware shops, social media and maybe even purchased a few for your home. Now is the time to create your own with what you want to say!

Typo posters look great in kids' bedrooms and small rooms like the toilet that can be bland and not inviting. Think of a quote or word that will give the space some personality and get to work. You can frame your new art poster and for the cost of nothing, you can change regularly when you get sick of looking at it.

For Typo Poster inspiration, look HERE
Cards
If you are like me and still love to give cards, then Handmade typography cards can make card giving extra fun.  You and your best friend might have a favourite saying you both say or a quote from a movie you love. Words like those are the quotes you can use to make a card memorable and show how much you mean to each other.

For inspiration, look HERE

T-shirts
Text T-shirts are a huge fashion trend and it looks like it is not going anywhere.  Some of the best tee's are witty, so why not create your own t-shirt that makes you smile, especially now we are stuck at home, we might as well be comfortable in Tee's and ones that make us smile. 

You can add typography graphics to t-shirts with cutting machines, screen printing, hand fabric painting or using fabric markers.

For T-shirt inspo, look HERE


8. TEACH YOURSELF HOW TO MACHINE SEW

When you first buy a sewing machine you have big expectations and imagine you will be sewing your dream summer dress in no time. Reality kicks in when you realise sewing is harder than it looks and your machine rarely likes to cooperate, with needles breaking, thread snapping and the tension wrong to name a few.  So you put the shiny new machine away never to want to look at it again.

Now is the time to pull that machine back out or buy yourself your first one while they are all on sale at the moment and get to know your machine. Trust me it will be worth it and you will wonder why you didn't persist with sewing.

The only way to learn to machine sew is to start small with easy sewing projects, that have basic lines and stitches and won't take too long to sew.

How-to tutorials 

Free templates to try

Made Easy - Zipper Pouch

Ideas to machine sew as a beginner

Scrunchies
Everyone needs one, wears one and if they don't they want one. My Scruntchie sewing tutorial is one of my most popular beginner sewing projects and because Kids, Teenagers to Adults wear them, this is a great project to learn by yourself and with your kids.

For Scrunchie colour inspiration, look HERE
Bags
There are so many types of bags to sew for beginners like Tote Bags, Kids Library bags, Drawstring bags & zip pouches. All are eco-friendly, reusable & easy projects. Shopping Tote bags are a wonderful project to learn the basics of sewing straight lines and getting used to a basic pattern. 

Library bags & Drawstring bags are the next steps to learning to sew on handles. Small zip pouches are the easiest way to learn how to sew in a zipper, testing your sewing machine's zipper foot and learning the steps on how to sew a zipper in.

Here is my FREE Tote Bag tutorial with a free pattern to try

For eco-bag ideas, look HERE

Homewares
Basic square Pillowcases are the number one sewing project that will not make your head explode or scare you. You can learn basic fold-over covers or ones with a zip.  Pillows can be any fabric or colour and you can add extra details like embroidery or fabric paint to add some more crafting skills to this simple design.

For Pillow inspo, look HERE


9. MAKE SOMETHING UNIQUE WITH AIR DRY CLAY

Air Dry Clay has come a long way in the last 10 years, even the cheap $2 shop clay can create some amazing things and can be an enjoyable lazy craft afternoon project to do while at home.

Because there is no need to have a Kiln, Air Dry Clay is the perfect craft to try with the children for Quarantine homeschooling and getting creative. Most Air Dry Clay takes 24 hours to set and become rock hard which is a great time to think up your next clay project.

How-to tutorials 

Free DIY Projects to make

Gathering Beauty - Stamped air dry clay bowls
Lauran Johnson - DIY Earrings 
Creativelife TV - DIY Hand incense holder

Supplies you need

Air Dry Clay & imagination

What should you create

Bowls, Bowls & more Bowls
Trinket bowls are my favourite air dry clay project because they don't take long to make, you can make them to suit any current style trend and you can personalise them to create unique designs. Trinket bowls are a beautiful gift to make and an affordable project for children to make Mum for Mother's Day.

For trinket bowl inspo, look HERE
Accessories
Air Dry Clay earrings, brooches and pendants are all great small projects to try while learning and getting familiar with the texture of the clay. You can instantly (well in 24 hours 😂) make new fashion accessories to match your new outfit.

Fashion Accessories can be hand moulded, and cut or you can use a silicone mould to get lots of detail. The possibilities are endless with clay.

For Air-dry Earring ideas, look HERE

10. LEARN BASIC MACRAME KNOTS

If you haven't heard of Modern Macrame then I am sure you have definitely seen it over the last few years. Learning Macrame has been huge in the craft communities because your projects can be as big or as small as you like and with many different levels of knots, you can easily get swept away in Macrame.

How-to tutorials 

Bochiknot Macrame - How to choose Macrame cord

Free Beginner Macrame templates to try

HolmMade Macrame - DIY Coaster
Rox Shana - Macrame Keyrings

Supplies you need

Macrame cord

What you should Macrame first

Plant Pot Holders
One of my beautiful lifelong friends Jamie from JAC.HOME.ART regularly hold workshops and creates the most stunning Macarame pieces. She is one of the most talented artists in Australia today and recommends you start small with a beautiful hanging plant Macrame holder like the one in her photo above this post.

You can follow her on Instagram for inspiration and new rope, cord & string for sale in every colour under the sun.

Macrame Plant Holders are easy to make with basic knots and look great inside the house near a window or under your backyard pergola or front veranda.

For Plant Pot Macrame hangers inspiration look HERE
Accessories
Before you start that huge wall piece you have always wanted to macrame, practice your knots on smaller projects like earrings and keyrings. Keyrings may sound a bit boring but macrame rope isn't cheap so by practising knots on a smaller scale you can master basic patterns and knots and it will not cost you the earth to make, nor make you upset if you ruin a huge design.

Keyrings and Earrings also make great gifts for friends and family, so if you make 10 practice pieces, you can also end up with 10 mini gifts for future celebrations!!

For Keyring inspiration look HERE

Table Decor
Placemats & Coasters look stunning on any table and are an easy way to freshen up your home decor. A kitchen table with natural rope-coloured macrame placemats instantly adds texture and style that can be hard to achieve with standard tableware.

Coasters and Placemats are an easy beginner's project and a great way to start learning Macrame.

For Coaster ideas, Look HERE

With all of these projects, practice is how your skills will advance and your chosen craft becomes easier. When you find the craft you like, do it regularly and you will see some wonderful results in no time.

HAPPY CRAFTING!!!
Stay safe & smiling

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