Focus On: Seasonal Craft & DIY Blogs

• By Cheri Lucas Rowlands

Each day, we discover bloggers on WordPress.com exploring different passions and interests, immersed in unique industries, fields, and worlds. At The Daily Post, we’ll highlight more of these niche blogs and the various communities within WordPress.com. We hope these spotlights introduce you to new communities and ideas, and inspire you to find—and create—your own cozy corner in the blogging world.

__________________________________________________________________________

Strolling on a brisk morning amongst fall leaves. Sipping mulled wine at an outdoor market. Taking down boxes of decorations and ornaments from the attic. We’re deep into November, and in some parts of the world, the holiday season is upon us.

We’re excited to see what the craft and DIY enthusiasts in our community have up their sleeves. Take a look at some of the craft and DIY blogs getting into the spirit of the season:

Kate’s Creative Space

Kate, a mother and crafter living in a village on the outskirts of London, England, shares wonderful seasonal projects she does with her son, Harry. From homemade pinecone firelighters (seen on the right) to ornament-like winter birdseed feeders, Kate’s arts and crafts activities are not only fun and festive, but beautifully presented on her blog.

The Natty Knitter

An avid knitter and expat mom living in the San Francisco Bay Area, Clare shares patterns and how-tos for knitted toys. For a sampling of her craftiness, check out her hints and tips for these tiny Santa and Christmas fairy patterns and guide for a “three needle join” technique that she used to create Santa’s white, fluffy beard.

From Scratch Club

The collective of women behind From Scratch Club hosts local food swaps and runs a DIY food and cooking school in New York State. Each holiday season, they maintain a “From Scratch Holidays” category for holiday recipes (such as cranberry squares) and edible gift ideas (like apple leather, pictured at left). (Scroll back to posts from 2011 and 2010 to find more tasty treats, like vegan latkes for Hanukkah.)

Like a Saturday

At Like a Saturday, Rachel has published a holiday series of posts, 31 Days to a Stress-Free Holiday, which covers everything from Thanksgiving or Christmas meal preparation to charitable giving. The month-long writing challenge was a creative way to stay motivated and focused on a timely topic.

Charlotte’s Fancy

We’re equally inspired by sites that curate crafty gift and design ideas. At Charlotte’s Fancy, Molly discovers and shares handmade goods by independent artists and small businesses. Her holiday picks for him and for her are a fitting place to start your search.

In addition to these blogs, we discovered other seasonal DIY posts for those of you who want to dive in on projects:

• Grab some glue. Oh, buttons. I have a shopping bag of buttons accumulated over the years — orphans and extras waiting to be used — so this DIY fall leaf button card from M&J Trimming caught my eye. The M&J team’s festive roundups, like this top 5 DIY wreath showcase, are sure to inspire as well.
  

  Photo courtesy of http://blog.mjtrim.com.

• Sew it up. Consider bookmarking the sewing and craft tutorials at I’m Feelin’ Crafty, particularly this how-to on mini quilted magnets. Since we enjoyed recent posts on Halloween scrapbook and decor, we look forward to what she’s cooking up next.
• Brew homemade cider. Bryan, a homebrewer at This is Why I’m Drunk, discusses his process for making a beer-cider hybrid. He mixes malt, hops, and apple juice — a tasty harvest-style concoction for fall and winter.
• Play with paper, play with clay. Monique — a soap maker, knitter, crocheter, paper crafter, and beader — publishes DIY projects at Sowelu Studio, typically on Mondays. We like this paper pumpkin, which is fitting autumn decor. If you’re eager to work with clay, Stick Girl Jam shows you how to create gift tags, which you can imprint with rubber stamps.
• Make a toy. Claire at Craft Schmaft shares cute, whimsical fabric panels and patterns on her blog and online store. Her Rudolph the pull-along sock Reindeer is especially playful.
• Experiment with a pumpkin. Whether you can it in a mason jar, bake it in a delicious crunchy, crumbly bar, or turn it into an ice cream sandwich, a pumpkin is a perfect ingredient for your fall and winter dishes. (And many of you agree — just take a look at the pumpkintopic page in the reader!)
  

  Photo courtesy of http://thesmartcookiecook.com.