Author Archives: amysolovay

Bead Crafts for Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day is coming up soon. This year, in the USA, Mother’s Day will occur on Sunday, May 12, 2024. As of right now, you still have plenty of time to make or buy Mother’s Day cards and gifts for all the mother figures in your life.


If you love and adore making pretty things for the people you love, there are zillions of possible things you could make for your mom, grandmas, mother-in-law and / or stepmom. If you aren’t sure what to make, bead crafts offer you a fantastic starting point to consider because beads are beautiful, popular, readily available, reasonably affordable and really easy to work with.


If your mom and other gift recipients enjoy wearing jewelry, there are many pretty beaded baubles you could be making for them.


Furthermore, if you wear beaded jewelry yourself, and you’re taking any of the moms in your life out to Mother’s Day breakfast, lunch, brunch or dinner, you might also want to make something pretty for yourself to wear when you go out. Why not?

Beautiful Beaded Jewelry for Mother’s Day

Beaded Lace Crochet Choker Necklace Pattern

Beaded Lace Crochet Choker Necklace Pattern

This pretty beaded choker is easy and inexpensive to make, but it turns out stunning if you do a careful job of crocheting it. It’s also really easy to personalize, because you can easily make it exactly the right length for its intended wearer. Beyond that, you can choose just about any color and shape of small beads for embellishing it, and pretty much any fine yarn or crochet thread for working it. The crochet pattern for making it is available on this website for free, and the materials for making it can be reasonably affordable if you choose inexpensive beads, crochet thread and findings; it’s also possible to splurge on precious metals and other exquisite materials to make the finished project truly, luxuriously spectacular. So if you’re thinking of making a choker-style necklace for your mom, this one gets my vote as one that’s ideal for most crafters to try. You can get the free crochet choker pattern HERE.


The only exception: This really isn’t a fantastic choice if you’ve never crocheted anything before, ever; in that case, I recommend taking a look at this list of crochet projects for total beginners and choosing an item from that list to make first. Then after you’ve made an item or two to get comfortable with crocheting, you’d be better equipped to succeed at making this project. But if you’ve already made a few crochet projects before, I’m positive that you could handle making this beaded choker necklace easily.

If you want to find more ideas for pretty beaded jewelry you could make for Mother’s Day, check out this list of jewelry making ideas and this list of crochet bracelets HERE.

Beaded Gadget Cozy

Beaded Crochet Gadget Cozy: Free Crochet Pattern

Beaded Crochet Gadget Cozy: Free Crochet Pattern


If your mom carries a cell phone, camera, or other similar small gadget, this pretty beaded gadget cozy might be a useful gift for her. Alternatively, this little pouch could be a pretty way to giftwrap a small gift.

These ideas only just scratch the surface of what is possible to make for Mother’s Day using beads. Want even more ideas? Check these out:

Posted By: Amy Solovay

Craft Ideas for the Month of April

Happy April, crafty friends!


Are you interested in finding creative, fun, useful, unique, interesting and engaging craft ideas for the month of April? Whether you enjoy needlecrafts, paper crafts, or some other sorts of crafts, you’ll find many possibilities for lovely things you could be creating. I’ve rounded up a bunch of project ideas and suggestions for April craft ideas you can use this month. If you have other suggestions to add to this list, I invite you to post a comment at the end letting me and the other readers here know about them.

April Holiday Crafts

Earth Day Crafts

Fabric Crochet Tote Bag: Free Crochet Pattern

Fabric Crochet Tote Bag: Free Crochet Pattern


Earth Day is coming up soon. This year, Earth Day will happen on Monday, April 22, 2024. I have a huge list of recycled crafts and upcycled crafts you might want to check out if you’re interested in making crafting a part of your Earth Day (or everyday!) celebrations.


One possible idea is to upcycle old sheets or garments and transform them into useful projects like the fabric crochet tote bag pictured above. If you’d like to make a bag like this one for yourself, you’re welcome to use the free pattern posted here at this website. I also have bunches of other rag crochet patterns available for you to use.

See Also: How to Upcycle Clothes for Use in Quilts, Sewing Projects or Crochet Projects: 3 Methods

April Planner Crafts

April Garden Journal Pages

April Garden Journal Pages

If you maintain a physical planner, junk journal, scrapbook, or art journal, you might want to decorate your April calendar pages, journal pages or scrapbooking layouts with seasonal stamped images or embellishments. I invite you to check out the following pages for ideas:

Spring Craft Ideas

Get Your Spring Cleaning On! You Can Make Yourself a Puff Lace Crochet Dishcloth or Washcloth With This Free Crochet Pattern.

Get Your Spring Cleaning On! You Can Make Yourself a Puff Lace Crochet Dishcloth or Washcloth With This Free Crochet Pattern.


Spring has already sprung; the first day of spring this year was Tuesday, March 19, 2024. I hope your spring got off to an enjoyable start.


Are you ready to get your spring cleaning on? If so, I offer you bunches of free patterns to use for making your cleaning supplies. Check out earth-friendly upcycled scrubbies HERE, and make yourself some irresistibly pretty spring dishcloths with these crochet dishcloth patterns.


The projects posted above are just a small sampling of the ideas posted on this website. I’ve put together a list of spring crafts that are seasonally appropriate for April crafting in many regions of the Western hemisphere. Of course, if the weather in your neighborhood is still wintery, please feel free to continue using this list of winter craft ideas instead.


For even more ideas, you’re invited to check out our main index of craft project ideas. Happy crafting!!

By Amy Solovay

April Monthly Happy Planner Layout Featuring Graphic 45 Papers from the “Time to Flourish” Collection

Here’s a Low-Tech Idea for Creating Your Own Planner Layout for Discbound Planners Such as the Happy Planner, Maggie Holmes Freestyle Planner, Martha Stewart Planner, Arc Planner, Tul Planner, ETC. No Die Cutter Is Needed for Creating This Page Layout.

April Happy Planner Layout Featuring Graphic 45 Papers From the Time to Flourish Paper Pad

April Happy Planner Layout Featuring Graphic 45 Papers From the Time to Flourish Paper Pad

Hello crafty friends!


I originally made this April planner layout in 2022, but I still think it’s pretty and relevant in April of 2024. You can also feel free to use this idea for any month; it’s a totally versatile design.

I took what was supposed to be a daily planner page layout and hacked it to use for monthly tracking.


If you use a Happy Planner, and you want to make a page similar to this one for your own planning and tracking purposes, the logical spot to place it would be right before the tab for April, beside the April monthly overview page that comes stock with most dated Happy Planners.


I made pages like these for multiple months in 2022 and loved them, but found that they didn’t really work as intended for me. This is actually more a problem with Happy Planner’s overall setup than it is with the page itself. This is because I suffer from “Out of sight, out of mind” syndrome, and having this page before the month’s tab meant I forgot to use it. I would also forget to use them monthly overview page, too.


When I was actively using these pages, I found that they worked better if tracked the things I wanted to using weekly pages and then used this page at the end of the month to summarize. This was time consuming to do but gave me a really clear picture of how I did and what I needed to work on.


Although I love Happy Planner, I haven’t found a way to fix the things about it that aren’t working for me. So I’m trying out some different planners right now to see if I can find an option that will work even better for me than Happy Planner did. But if the Happy Planner layout generally works for you, please feel free to adapt this habit tracker layout for your own planner.

Craft Supplies You’ll Need for Making This Planner Layout

  • Graphic 45 Time to Flourish 8×8 Pad — For this particular planner layout, I used the papers for the month of April. The papers in this pad follow the same basic format, so you can make a similar planner layout for any month of the year using the current month’s patterned papers from the Time to Flourish pad.
  • The tracker stamps are from the P13 Tracker Stamp Set.
  • I stamped “2022” using number stamps by Hampton Arts, but you can use any number stamps you happen to have stashed.
  • Page from the classic sized Papillon undated planner or from the Papillon undated extension pack
  • The round sticker is from a Happy Planner sticker book.
  • I have my planner pages on gold metal expander discs, because I really hate the smaller plastic discs that most Happy Planners come with. I think the gold metal discs are a lot prettier, and they are also much sturdier.
  • You can use the paper-friendly adhesive of your choice to put this planner layout together. I used Cherry Tape adhesive, but there are zillions of possible choices that would work well for this project.
  • You’ll also need scissors and a paper cutter, but not a die cutter; you can easily cut everything you’ll need for this layout using either your scissors or a paper cutter.

Thanks for looking!

Craft Ideas for the Month of March

Hello March! Read on to Find Craft Ideas for the Month of March. Photo Courtesy of Elena Mozhvilo.

Hello March! Read on to Find Craft Ideas for the Month of March. Photo Courtesy of Elena Mozhvilo.

Happy March, crafty friends!


Are interested in finding creative, unique, engaging and useful craft ideas for the month of March? There are SO MANY interesting things you could be creating — and I couldn’t begin to even think of them all, let alone could I mention them all here in this brief blog post. However, I’ve been a craft blogger long enough to know the types of projects my typical readers often like to work on in the month of March. The following suggestions will point you in the direction of the most relevant March craft ideas you might want to look at right now. If you have other suggestions to add to this list, I invite you to post a comment at the end letting me and the other readers here know about them.

March Holiday Crafts

March Is National Craft Month

If you ask me, any month is a good month for doing craft projects. But for whatever reason, March has been designated as “National Craft Month,” so it’s an especially great time to get your crafting on.

St. Patrick’s Day Crafting in the Month of March

You can crochet and wear this pretty green beaded necklace for St. Patrick's Day or any day.

You can crochet and wear this pretty green beaded necklace for St. Patrick’s Day or any day.


I’m neither Catholic nor Irish, so I do not claim to be an expert on this March holiday or how to celebrate it. I shall defer to Wikipedia’s explanation in order to communicate the most important points about it. According to Wikipedia,


Saint Patrick’s Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick (Irish: Lá Fhéile Pádraig, lit. ’the Day of the Festival of Patrick’), is a religious and cultural holiday held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick (c. 385 – c. 461), the foremost patron saint of Ireland.


This holiday is associated with shamrocks, green ribbon and green accessories.


If you want to make yourself some green accessories to wear for St. Patrick’s Day, I invite you to use any of these crochet accessory patterns. You can see one example of a green necklace pictured above. Most of my project samples aren’t green, but you could certainly use green yarns and other green materials to make your projects if you are so inclined.

March Planner Crafts and DIY Calendars

March Garden Journal Pages

March Garden Journal Pages


March 7 Planner Layout With Lawn Fawn Stamps and Papers

March 7 Planner Layout With Lawn Fawn Stamps and Papers


Student Planner Layout for March. Designed and photographed by Mel Nunn; All rights reserved.

Student Planner Layout for March. Designed and photographed by Mel Nunn; All rights reserved.


If you maintain a physical planner, junk journal, scrapbook, or art journal, you might want to decorate your March calendar pages, journal pages or scrapbooking layouts with seasonal stamped images or embellishments. I invite you to check out the following pages for ideas:

Spring Craft Ideas

Tuesday, March 19, 2024 is the first day of spring this year. Happy spring to you!!


I’ve put together a list of spring crafts that are seasonally appropriate for March crafting in many regions of the Western hemisphere. Of course, if the weather in your neighborhood is still wintery, please feel free to continue using this list of winter craft ideas instead.


I hope these ideas are useful to you as you start on your March crafting. Thanks so much for your interest!


By Amy Solovay


This page was last updated on 3-11-2024.

March Garden Journal Pages for Discbound Planners Like Happy Planner, Martha Stewart or Tul

March Garden Journal Pages for Discbound Planners Like the Happy Planner, Martha Stewart Planner, Arc or Tul

March Garden Journal Pages for Discbound Planners Like the Happy Planner, Martha Stewart Planner, Arc or Tul


By Amy Solovay

Happy March, Creative Friends!


Are you planting a garden this spring? If so, what are you planning to plant, and how are you preparing your property for the growing season? Are you starting your own seeds or relying on a nursery to supply starts?


To those of you who are busy gardening this spring, I wish you much success this growing season with whatever it is you have planned. I’m hoping to join in the gardening fun with a modest container garden this year.


Do you plan to maintain a garden journal for recording your gardening successes and failures? If you haven’t created a garden journal, now is the ideal time to get one started. You might want to map out any garden beds you’re building, make a note of the seeds you’re starting, and keep records of what you’re planting, when you’re planting it, and all the other details you want to keep on top of.


I’m gardening in a new-to-me location this year. However, this location’s weather and climate are similar to a place where I’ve gardened before. I kept a garden journal in those days. So, instead of spending hours plotting out companion plants for my planters, I’m simply going to re-use the ideas I worked out last time I was container gardening in that similar locale. That way, I feel as if I already have a head start on what I need to do.

I also have bunches of notes about what NOT to do, because I already tried things that ended up not working. Mind you, I don’t remember any of them because it has been a few years since I did any gardening of any kind. But I don’t need to remember; I took such careful notes that I can just follow them and pick up right where I left off.


If garden journaling is of interest to you, I invite you to check out more of my garden journal pages and read more about my process for making them.


If you maintain a garden journal, I’d love to know more about what you record in it and how it has helped you achieve your gardening goals. What do your garden journal pages look like? The floor is open for comments, so please feel free to ask questions or share insights in the comments area below.


Thanks so much for visiting! I truly appreciate your presence here.


By Amy Solovay


About the Author: Amy Solovay is a longtime paper journaler who started recording her thoughts on paper on a daily basis sometime when she was in middle school. She was born into a family of “green thumb” gardeners; her mom worked for the US Department of Agriculture, and her grandparents grew most of their own food on their expansive farm. Despite those experiences, Amy still has a lot to learn about gardening. She invites your comments on any topics related to gardening, journaling, garden journaling, knitting, crochet or crafts.

This page was last updated on 3-12-2024.