Welcome to the Craft Room—a cozy corner of our simple living blog where creativity meets purpose. Here, you’ll find a curated collection of sewing, paper crafts, and woodworking projects designed to inspire your hands and enrich your home.
Whether you’re stitching up reusable household items, crafting heartfelt gifts with paper, or building small wooden treasures, these projects blend timeless techniques with modern simplicity. Perfect for beginners and seasoned crafters alike, every tutorial emphasizes sustainable materials, practical outcomes, and the joy of creating something uniquely yours.
Let’s make crafting a part of your simple living journey—one project at a time. Ready to get started? Dive in and discover how crafting can add beauty, functionality, and fulfillment to your daily life!
For several years I’ve thought about what to do about rugs for my kitchen. Yep, years. While pondering this issue, I’ve had inexpensive rugs in the kitchen as a temporary fix. But they don’t hold up well to washings (or vacuuming). Finally I settled on making jelly roll rugs for the kitchen. There are many … Read more
There is a way to be be frugal but not cheap this holiday season. Want to know the difference between being frugal and being cheap? Attitude. Frugal says, “I want this Christmas to be handmade in order to give of myself to those around me.; Handmade is beautiful and a good use of my resources. … Read more
Between Christmas and New Years we ripped the carpet out of our house and laid down floors. It was something we’ve wanted to do since we bought our house five years ago. It was somewhat stressful but overall a great experience. We capitalized on our college age children being home and not having work or … Read more
For the past few weeks there have been a lot whisperings and shutting doors in our home. It happens every year as we realize that if we’re going to make the handmade gifts we’ve been “thinking” about all year, we’d better get on it. Every year we say we’re going to start our gift making during … Read more
Last week Esther and I spend some time making body powder for our family. It was such a fun project and we wrote up the recipe and shared it here. But what’s body powder without powder puffs? So, we made some powder puffs. This is a great beginning sewing project. It took us less than an … Read more
We had a wonderful holiday but goodness did we stretch it out! We seem to do that every year as the best time for all of my family to get together is New Year’s Day so that is what we do. Like previous years there was a mix of handmade and store bought gifts and … Read more
Inexpensive gifts CAN be meaningful, in fact, they are often more meaningful since they are often made by the giver. I’ve rounded up some of my favorite inexpensive Christmas gifts that cost a dollar or less to make. For many years our family lived at or below the poverty level. Carl, my husband, was in … Read more
Welcome to week four of our nine weeks of getting ready to have a handmade Christmas. Several people have asked me about why I’m doing this series in October instead of close to Christmas. I’m normally a “one holiday at a time” person. When one holiday is over, then I can think about the next … Read more
I have a thing for bags and sacks. Anytime my kids start a new activity I start asking “Do you need a bag for…art, dance, scouts, drama and now….crochet?” A couple of our homeschool co-op moms agreed to teach crocheting as a class this year. Oh, I wish I could sit in on that class! But since … Read more
Strip quilts are so easy and fun to make and are perfect for a quick win or for teaching children how to quilt. Using fat quarters instead of fabric yardage makes this project even easier. A couple of months ago I had the opportunity to get some official Little House on the Prairie® fabric from … Read more
Have I ever mentioned that since leaving home at 19 the longest I’ve ever lived in one home is 5 years? Well, it’s true. So, this is the second longest we’ve ever lived in a home and I’m learning quite a bit about myself. Like I have no idea what you are supposed to do … Read more
Note: Once a week I share a popular post from the archives. This post was originally published in June 2014. When my big kids were little we used to get matching flag shirts every year. I loved matching shirts. In fact, my children would match anytime we left the house. People thought it was cute. It was … Read more
ok, we (as in I) have fallen in love with making rope baskets. There is something fulfilling about taking something utilitarian (the rope) and creating a beautiful and useful basket. However, you know you’ve crossed a line when you “demand” that the kids take the new rope harvest basket out to collect eggs instead of … Read more
Twice a year (at Christmas and at the end of the year) parents everywhere are wondering what to give their child’s teacher as a thank you gift. Sometimes it can be hard, especially if money is tight or we have a quite a few teachers you want to give gifts to. Also, we want our … Read more
There are so many uses for beeswax that go beyond beeswax candles and salves – those are fun but so are lotions, growing mushrooms and wood polish. Let’s explore what beeswax is, where to get beeswax, and how to use it in your home and for your body. We have beeswax…and a lot of it. … Read more
Note: Once a week I share a popular post from the archives. This post was originally published in June 2012. This week we’re going to make a traditional pillowcase dress. If you’ve never really sewn before this will be a great first project. I had intended to use an actual pillowcase for this dress but … Read more
Note: Once a week I share a popular post from the archives. This post was originally published in June 2012. Even though pillowcase dresses are supposed to be simple and carefree, sometimes when you use a vintage pillowcase the fabric is see through and you really need to line the dress. Also, sometimes a pillowcase … Read more
Note: Once a week I share a popular post from the archives. This post was originally published in March 2012. One of the fun things about teaching an early elementary class at our homeschool co-op is getting to do some great art projects for kids. Our class is learning about Ancient Egypt in preparation to … Read more
While I love to make Christmas gifts for friends and family I usually have too many ideas for the time I have. So, instead of getting all stressed out about not making everything I wanted to, I just purchase handmade items. This way I can feel good about giving handmade but not have to be stressed … Read more
For several years I’ve wanted to have new Christmas stockings for our family. The stockings we have are totally fine, but they are a mix and match and are more mix than match, plus I’ve never really LOVED them. But y’all, stockings are expensive, multiplied by 8 (and now 10) and we just cannot do it. So, I think … Read more