Whether you call it a puff quilt or a biscuit quilt, this particular patchwork method provides maximum coziness and charm. Artist and quilter Faith Hale has explored the myriad methods of piecing, stuffing, quilting and binding this vintage-inspired quilt, and she walks you through her favorite methods, along with a few variations. First learn how to sew the puffs and assemble them together into a top, then decide whether you want to use bar tacks, machine-sewn lines, or hand ties to quilt it all together. In this class Faith demonstrates how to make a 14" square that can easily be enlarged to make lap or even bed-sized quilts right out of a story book. 

Turn your favorite fabric scraps into a quilted heirloom holiday stocking with author, designer, and modern quilter Blair Stocker of Wise Craft Handmade. The super-tiny half square triangle units (HSTs) that make up the intricate front piece of your stocking will truly sparkle like multi-faceted gems. To achieve this "quilt sparkle," Blair teaches you about color value, how to determine it in your fabrics using a tool she invented called the Ruby Ruler, and how to use it in your quilt designs. You'll move on to straight-line quilting your stocking panels and sewing together the complete stocking with a cuff and a hanging loop. This is such a special project for using bits of your treasured fabrics to create a one-of-a-kind piece that you and your loved ones can cherish holiday after holiday

Take your crochet skills on a wild adventure and decorate your home with a menagerie of cozy, crocheted animal rugs. Crochet designer and author Twinkie Chan teaches how to make three different animals, all worked in rows and mainly in half double crochet. You'll use big yarn and a large hook, so these big projects go a bit faster than you might think. Start with the bear, which is the most basic pattern, and see how increasing and decreasing your stitch count can create shapes. The tiger rug is a very similar pattern with the fun addition of color changes, lots of eye-catching applique, and discovering how to create a curved tail. For the crocodile rug, you'll incorporate lumpy bumpy popcorn stitches which create extra fun texture - plus lots of pointy claws and pointy teeth. With modular construction, it's easy to experiment with your own patterns, shapes, and colors to create tons of different animals from real life or your imagination.

Once you've been marbling for a while, you may have amassed a bunch of prints you aren't sure what to do with. Or maybe you someone who loves to add that personal touch of handmade to everything you do. Either way, this celebration-focused class demonstrates how to jazz up your gifts with colorful, unique wrappings. Surface designer Mercedez Rex leads you thorough how to reuse your previously marbled papers as wrapping paper and envelope liners, then how to marble ribbon, gift tags, and balsa wood ornaments in festive jewel tones.

For a comprehensive look at basic marbling techniques, please see Mercedez's class Creativity Through Marbling: An Introduction.

Learn how to emboss metal with artist Mia Semingson of Two Hands Paperie. Inspired by traditional Mexican tin art, Mia shows you how transformative and flexible metal can be - you can even use the metal from a tube of tomato paste or paint. She begins by demonstrating how to transfer a paper template to thin metal sheet, then learn how to push and pull the metal to create embossed textures and designs with tools you might already have on hand. Find out how to paint your metal projects with alcohol ink to add touches of color. Start with a metal test strip to experiment with your tools and paints, and then Mia will guide you through three different projects: a low-relief ornament with an image of a hand, a sacred heart which includes layered pieces with lots of dimension, and a high-relief embossed box lid which is a wonderful opportunity for upcycling.

Salt dough ornaments have a rustic elegance and can easily be made with common kitchen ingredients. Courtney Cerruti teaches you her favorite recipe for this perfect holiday home activity. These simple "cookie" ornaments can be hung on the tree, strung together with greens for a mantle display, used on a wreath or placed atop a package. Leave them plain for a homespun look, or decorate with paint for a customized palette.
Seasonal variations:
Create salt dough ornaments in any season, all year 'round. Make variety of shapes by working with differntly shaped cookie cutters. Make rabbits and flowers for Spring, rainbows for Summer and leaves and pumpkins for Fall. You can also make celebratory ornaments for birthday, package toppers or mobiles. Change your painted decorations accordingly. 

Make the holiday season even more special with one-of-a-kind, personalized projects. Artists of all ages can craft along with illustrator, toymaker, and storyteller Suzy Ultman as she upcycles regular cereal and cracker boxes into handmade holiday magic. Learn to make a menorah that looks like a unicorn by tracing a template, cutting cardboard, painting it, and creating play-candles with clothespins. Suzy also shows you how to turn cardboard into different holiday shapes with a robust collection of templates to trace as well as tips and ideas for painting the shapes in unique ways. Learn how to bring your own holiday shapes to live and then use them to make gift tags, ornaments, mobiles, and garlands

A beautiful tree can be the highlight of your holiday decor, and nothing gives your tree a perfect finish like a gorgeous tree skirt. While this project is big in size, it is surprisingly easy in technique. Expert sewist Leslie Schucker guides you through making your own colorful tree skirt using EZ Quilting templates to cut out eye-catching geometric appliques. You can sew and embellish this entire project by hand, but Leslie also shows you how to use a sewing machine to add bias tape for strength and giant ric rac for an extra touch of fun. Thick and cozy wool felt creates a high quality piece that can last for generations.

Keep your hands busy and your heart full during this year's Festival of Lights. Artist Faith Hale demonstrates how to make two iconic Hanukkah motifs: the Star of David and a driedel. Use simple folds and paper specific to origami paper (or any text-weight paper in the color palette of your chosing), these projects take only a few simple steps that are easy to complete and memorize. Use the resulting projects to adorn gifts, string on garlands, or mark seating placements at the holiday table.

Make every day feel like a celebration by adorning your home with garlands. They add instant color, joy, and festive vibes to your space, and the best part is that you can make them out of almost anything. Artist Twinkie Chan shows you how to create three different styles of garlands: a cheerful pom pom garland that's also a great craft for kids, a beautiful crepe paper leaf garland that introduces you to some basics of floral design and paper flower construction, and a crocheted popcorn garland that you can use year after year. There's something fun for everyone in this class, and garland-making is a fabulous reason to throw a craft party with your friends and family.

Living a More Thankful Life is about much more than saying thanks. In this 30-day creativity series, the staff at Creativebug shares favorite ways of expressing gratitude, helping our community, loving our neighbors, and honoring past, present and future family traditions – all through crafting! Each day, we’ll provide you with a new project idea or exercise that is easy, fast, fun, and will leave those around you feeling warm and fuzzy. Leave inspiring messages on Post-It notes for strangers to find, knit afghan squares for the homeless, stitch cozy beds for shelter animals, and so much more. These are our favorite ways to use creativity to shine a positive light in the world – we hope these ideas inspire you to make something for the power of good and shine your own light.

 

Use your patchwork piecing skills without committing to a full-sized quilt with expert sewist Michele Muska's Dresden Plate pillow class. Learn how to use an acrylic template to make your Dresden Plate, then work hand and machine-quilted details to add texture. Finish by making your own piping and sewing the pillow envelope-style.

Crochet designer Twinkie Chan loves making crocheted stockings around the holidays. They evoke such warm and nostalgic feelings, and they truly seem like something her Grandma Wendelton would have made. Join Twinkie and learn how to crochet an heirloom granny hexagon stocking. This classic granny hexagon motif is perfect for the season because it resembles a giant snowflake, and Twinkie teaches you the basic granny stitch, which is made of double crochet stitches and chains. You’ll also learn how to work in the round to create a six-sided shape. Choose your own color scheme and how many colors to use, and easily adjust the size of your motifs to change the size of the stocking. To assemble the hexagons into a stocking shape, Twinkie provides several diagrams and guides you through her preferred method of putting it all together with a hand-sewn fabric lining and a hanging loop. Imagine how sweet your home will look with a line of cozy, handmade stockings, waiting to be filled with special treats and holiday magic.

Learn polymer clay basics while creating a thoughtful and inventive ornament with artist and clay enthusiast Faheema Chaudhury of Unicorn Crafts. Begin by mixing a custom color as you condition the clay, then use classic cookie cutters to make holiday shapes. You’ll explore the possibilities of personalization as Faheema demonstrates how to select and print a custom design and adhere to your ornament. Finish your ornament by sanding and glazing, creating a holiday gift or adornment to use for years to come.

The soft light of a candle has a way of setting up an idyllic atmosphere for celebration or contemplation. That feeling is even more profound when the glow of that candle is one you have made yourself. This class covers three variations of small, handmade beeswax candles. Cobrina of Creativebug demonstrates how to roll celebration candles from sheet beeswax, some best for sticking in a cupcake and others for a candleholder, such as a menorah. Next, learn how to melt beeswax and dip small double-sided tapers layered with colors from a crayon. If you choose to make both candle types, you can then use the leftovers to make a votive.

This adorable plush toy is anything but abominable. Crochet designer Twinkie Chan shows you how to work in the round with simple stitches to build your Yeti. You will also learn how to stuff him, whipstitch him together, and finally, how to create an optional Santa hat. 

Create a beautiful, dimensional, woven paper star using paper strips. Lightweight and airy, this star adds a delicate, geometric presence and can be hung as an ornament, garland, or as paper artist Dawn M. Cardona will show you, string a few together to make a unique door hanger. In this class you will also learn how to customize using hand painted papers and alter the size of your stars so that they can be adapted for any occasion.

Nothing says Christmas like gingerbread cookies and a candy-covered gingerbread house. In this class, Emily shares the classic Wilton recipe for making gingerbread from scratch, and then demonstrates how to make adorable gingerbread boys and girls. She then moves on to the crowning achievement of any holiday bake-a-thon – the gingerbread house – showing how to expertly construct and decorate a charming little holiday abode.

With the Cricut Explore Air 2 Wild Rose bundle, there’s no such thing as starting from scratch. Your first projects – empowerment hashtags – are ready to make right out of the box. Artist, designer, and avid Cricut user Natalie Malan shows you everything that comes with the bundle and three ways to connect your machine. Use transfer tape and the scraper to attach a vinyl hashtag to your machine, then learn to cut, weed and transfer a design of your choice. After completing this class, you’ll have the skills and confidence to begin working independently on your Cricut machine.

Learning to sew clothes can be intimidating, especially if you’re working with a multi-size pattern. Joy Macdonell of Simplicity Patterns breaks it down for you in this comprehensive course. Learn everything from how to set up your sewing machine and read a pattern to how to create darts, facings and hems—basically, all of the must-know sewing techniques that you'll use over and over again to create your own clothing. This class is the perfect introduction to garment sewing for newbies, and a great way to brush up on your skills if it’s been awhile since you last sewed.
 

Learn the basics of knitting with Carla Scott, the editor of Knit Simple and Vogue Knitting magazines. Carla will teach all of the essential skills a beginner needs to know, from casting on to binding off and troubleshooting mistakes. Best of all, you’ll learn how to read knitting patterns, so you can take the information you’ve learned here and try it out on any beginner’s project you please. Everything included in this information-packed class is used by the Craft Yarn Council to educate new knitters, providing a perfect foundation for anyone who wants to learn how to knit, or simply needs a refresher.

Learn the basics of crochet with hook-and-needle expert, Carla Scott. In Part 1, Carla will teach you everything you need to know to get started, from fundamental stitches to the importance of understanding gauge. Then, in Part 2, Carla will walk you through more advanced techniques, like changing colors and decreasing and increasing. You’ll even learn how to read basic crochet patterns, so you can take these skills and follow any beginner pattern you like. These techniques are all endorsed and used by the Craft Yarn Council to educate new crocheters, making it a great course for newbies or anyone who needs a refresher.
 

There's a uniquely good feeling that accompanies making something to give away. Whether you're a knitter, crocheter, or general crafter, there are many places that could use your generous donations. In this class, staff artists from Creativebug talk through some of their very favorite projects they personally make for charitable crafting. Faith Hale talks you through three knit hat patterns and her favorite charities for gifting these toasty toppers. Crocheter Twinkie Chan shows how to make a rectangle that can be incorporated into a larger, group blanket, and Courtney Cerruti demonstrates a no-sew fleece tie blanket project that's so simple, you can even get the kids involved.

This workshop offers a mother lode of information about patchwork and piecing. Liza covers tips and advice from her decades of experience – starting with selecting, prepping and cutting fabric all the way through machine piecing for blocks, triangles, diamonds and the dreaded Y-seam. She also covers chain piecing and different kinds of foundation piecing. Consider this a master class in all aspects of patchwork and piecing.

 

This is a kid friendly version of the four-hole Japanese Side Sewn Binding, no needle required! Kids can use the finished book to write in, draw in and tell a story. And they’ll be very proud of themselves after making a book!

This workshop is a perfect introduction for those interested in book making. An accomplished book artist, Jody takes you through the terminology used in book making and introduces the many tools used. She talks about different paper types, paper grain, cover vs. text paper and also shows how to tear paper three different ways. She covers multi-signature preparation, bookbinding knots and a variety of glues.

 

Quilting has a vocabulary unto itself. In this workshop, Liza deconstructs quilt construction and its vernacular – explaining patches, blocks, batting, sashing, binding, borders, quilting and more. This is a beautiful show and tell of different quilt traditions and techniques – from antique log cabin and crazy quilts to applique, string piecing and paper piecing quilts. Throughout, Liza emphasizes the “make-do” tradition of quilting with a warmth and reverence that inspires.

 

Crochet is an endlessly versatile technique for making hats, scarves and sweaters, not to mention sculpture and rugs. And all you need is some yarn and a crochet hook. In this workshop Cal will explain and demonstrate the foundation crochet stitches and finishing off. You can create reference swatches of each stitch, or alternate them to create a stitch sampler.

Want some help when it comes to learning your way around a machine? Liesl points out the main components of a sewing machine as well as how to thread the machine and wind a bobbin so you will be ready to dive into the sewing process with confidence.

Bring the night sky into your home with hand-embroidered zodiac constellations. Crafter Faith Hale demonstrates two methods of transferring the patterns included in the class PDF, then how to work the star stitch and the straight stitch using metallic thread. 
 

In this class, Liana Allday shares three different ways to make and finish cloth napkins. Learn how to make playful fringed-edge napkins, faux rolled-hem farmhouse napkins, and classic mitered corner napkins. Whether you’re throwing an extravagant dinner party or making a batch to give as a gift, Liana shares how easy it is to select fabrics that will cater to your occasion. These napkins require minimal sewing, making them the perfect skill-building project for beginners.
 

For beginning artists, nothing is more elusive than learning how to use simple lines to create dimensional artwork. In this class, artist and illustrator Molly Hatch starts at the very beginning, covering all of the elemental tools and materials you’ll need to get started, and demonstrating how simple lines can be used to create contoured shapes. From there, you’ll learn fundamental exercises for adding depth and dimension to line work. This course is designed to give you a basic understanding of line drawing that will serve as a foundation for all of your artistic endeavors.