I LOVE Craftsy!

I recently saw the funniest (yet very accurate) saying on Pinterest:

I definitely agree with this, but perhaps a place that makes me feel even more creative (and gives me directions on how to do it) is Craftsy.  It's like an online craft class where all the best crafters are playing Show and Tell.  Craftsy has experts who will teach you how to do pretty much any craft through a video class.  There is a fee involved, but the videos are on demand and very detailed.  You can watch them repeatedly too.  I haven't taken any classes, but there are several that look very interesting.

For me the more interesting part of Craftsy is under the Projects tab.  There you will find crafts (sewing, knitting, crochet, jewelry, gardening, embroidery, quilting, paper crafts, cake decorating and home decor) submitted by other users, frequently with free patterns or tutorials.  There are over 9,500 projects to see!  I get lost and could spend hours looking at all the beautiful creative things other people are making all over the country.  Although I love to see handmade things on selling sites such as Etsy, I prefer looking at Craftsy projects because in many cases the artist is telling me how to make it myself.  You also have the opportunity to post your own projects.  I have posted less than 10 projects, but have been able to drive great traffic back to this blog with tutorial links.  It's also nice to get encouragement and compliments from other crafters.

Craftsy also features its own blog which has tips for using Craftsy, descriptions of new class offerings, instructions on particular techniques and projects for charity.  One great charitable project they are doing right now is to collect and donate 1000 blankets to Project Linus and 1000 hats to Kaps for Kendall by December 15, 2011.  To see more about this project, check it out here.  They're getting a nice response so far and it's a great outlet for people like me who love to make things and just don't have any siblings, parents, children, aunts & uncles, cousins, close friends to give them to :)  (Plus these are awesome charities)

Just for the record, like my post about Pinterest, I was not asked, nor will I receive any renumeration/credit/acknowledgement from Craftsy for the contents of this blog post.  I just genuinely like the site.  If you would like to see my projects or follow me on Craftsy, my crafter name is ccisme.

Happy crafting!

cindy