The best vegetable fermenting and picking kit
Fermented foods aren't just tasty — they are excellent for your health, as well. The bacteria that carry out the process of fermentation are also very friendly to your gut, and once inside their new home, they do their best to regulate your digestive health. But that's probably not the main reason you'll have so much fun with the Easy Fermenter Wide Mouth Lid Kit.
You'll get three specially designed fermenting lids that fit onto standard wide-mouth canning jars, though you'll have to buy jars separately. The lids let carbon dioxide escape while keeping mold and harmful bacteria out. You also get three glass weights to keep your veggies below the brine level for superior results and a pump to remove oxygen from the bottles.
There's no need to "burp" the jars during the fermenting process — just sit back and wait. Within a couple of weeks, you'll be enjoying your first batch of delicious pickles or other fermented fruits and veggies.
You also get full access to the "Fermenting Club," where you'll find recipes, instructional videos, fellow pickling fans, and everything you need to know to enjoy your new hobby.
In the words of one pleased Amazon reviewer, "These lids make it so easy, I can't stop! I've got six kinds of fermented veggies in the fridge and another six fermenting in the cabinet. Right now, it's radishes, eggplant, sauerkraut, and some others. Enjoy!"
Pros: Lids prevent food from molding and control gas exchange during fermentation, a dialed date indicator makes it easy to track the progress of your fermentation, excellent online support community for recipes, suggestions, and ideas
Cons: A few buyers had mold even with the lids, or complained of air leaks
Buy the Easy Fermenter Wide Mouth Lid Kit on Amazon for $34.99The best book for learning crochet
There are so many things you can make once you learn the basic crochet stitches. Clothing, home accessories, toys. With a little bit of know-how, a skein or two of yarn, and a crochet hook, the hours will fly by while your hands are busy crafting and creating.
While it does take practice and patience to gain skill at crocheting, the two-page lessons, color photos of every step, detailed instructions, and thorough coverage of the basics in Teach Yourself Visually Crochet will soon have you working the yarn like a pro.
The book covers basic stitches, advanced techniques, reading patterns, troubleshooting, choosing the right hook and yarn, edging your crocheted piece, and everything else you need to know as you advance in your skills. It also includes a wide range of patterns, including socks, sweaters, stuffed toys, and many other fun projects.
Of course, to crochet, you need crochet hooks, and with BeCraftee's Ergonomic Crochet Hook Set, you'll get a set of nine high-quality crochet hooks in all the sizes you'll need, plus stitch holders and counters, measuring tape, yarn needles, row counter, and a handy carrying case.
Add the dozen skeins of colorful yarn from Mira Handcrafts, which includes seven free ebooks loaded with patterns, and you're all set to start crocheting.
Pros: Visual format makes it easy to learn crochet techniques, thorough coverage of the basics plus techniques that are more advanced
Cons: A handful of customers felt the lessons weren't clear
Buy Teach Yourself Visual Crochet on Amazon for $16.99 Buy the Ergonomic Crochet Hook Set on Amazon for $19.99 Buy Mira Handcrafts 12 Yarn Skeins on Amazon for $17.97The best book to learn how to sculpt with polymer clay
Unlike traditional clay, which comes from the earth, polymer clay is actually made of a moldable plastic that hardens in the oven — no kiln necessary. Nor do you need to paint or glaze the finished project, as you'll find polymer clay in a wide range of colors.
The Polymer Clay Techniques Book guides you through all the basics of working with this fun and versatile crafting material. You'll learn about color mixing, how to cut, carve, buff, and manipulate the clay, how to create millefiori and other types of beads, all about armatures, the basics of sculpting figures, and so much more.
By the end of the book, you'll be ready to move on to more advanced projects, such as those found in Creating Lifelike Figures in Polymer Clay: Tools and Techniques for Sculpting Realistic Figures, which covers the basics before moving into the techniques involved in turning a lump of polymer clay into a realistic sculpture of a person or fantasy creature.
Before getting started, you'll need some polymer clay. The Sculpey III Multipack contains 10 vibrant colors, including red, yellow, blue, green, and brown, and is excellent for beginners.
Pros: The best guide to all the basics of working with polymer clay
Cons: None to speak of
Buy The Polymer Clay Techniques Book on Amazon for $16.03 Buy Creating Lifelike Figures in Polymer Clay: Tools and Techniques for Sculpting Realistic Figures on Amazon for $21.99 Buy the Sculpey III Multipack on Amazon for $14.99The best guide to hand lettering
Beautiful handwriting doesn't come about on its own: It takes practice. And really beautiful handwriting — writing that's art as well as words — takes a bit of extra training in the art of calligraphy.
In Lettering and Modern Calligraphy: A Beginner's Guide, you'll learn different styles for writing uppercase and lowercase letters and numbers, and the ways to connect those letters. Five projects at the end provide inspiration, but you'll also find plenty of ideas on Pinterest.
Soon you'll be posting your own framed, calligraphy sayings, or using your new skill for journaling or letter writing, or even making some extra money as a calligrapher.
Along with the book, you'll need a set of hand lettering pens and tools. The Tombow Advanced Lettering Set includes everything you need to learn and improve at your new hobby: four colored brush pens, a blending pen, two calligraphy pens, a permanent marker, one drawing pencil, and an eraser.
Pros: Well laid-out lessons for beginners, practice pages, and five different font styles
Cons: A few customers complained that the practice pages were thin and allowed ink to bleed through
Buy Lettering and Modern Calligraphy: A Beginner's Guide on Amazon for $4.42 Buy the Tombow Advanced Lettering Set on Amazon for $20.64The best beginners needlepoint kit
I first learned to needlepoint — as well as embroider and do macramé — back in third grade. Thanks, Mrs. Mauz! In the decades since then, I've finished several large needlepoint canvases, most of which I stitched while sitting through my son's several years of karate classes.
In fact, needlepoint is the perfect handicraft for such situations. It takes just enough focus to engage your mind, but it's very easy to pause and look up whenever necessary.
Dimensions Needlepoint Kits include everything you need to learn this simple needlecraft. You'll get a 5x5 canvas printed with the design, a needlepoint needle, enough embroidery floss or yarn to complete the pattern, and detailed instructions.
There are loads of designs to choose from, including an adorable ladybug that's perfect for beginners. But if that's not your thing, try a beautiful water lily, a hovering hummingbird, a red poppy, a white horse, colorful koi, or seashells.
All are easy enough for a newbie to needlepoint, are small and easy to tuck in your purse or backpack, and will make nice framed wall hangings once completed.
Pros: Small kits are perfect for beginners, as they don't take too long to complete, easy-to-follow patterns, all supplies included, inexpensive
Cons: A few customers said they did not have enough included embroidery floss to complete the design
Buy Dimensions Needlepoint Kits on Amazon for $11.18The best themed gardening kit
If you love potted plants but are a little bored with simply plopping a new houseplant into a container and calling it a day, it's time to take things up a level or two.
With My DIY Garden, each month brings you a new box filled with everything you need — plants, soil, container, decorations, growing tips, and design directions — to create a themed plant container.
Past themes include "The Art of Bonsai" and "Jungle in There," but every month brings something different. If you run out of room for more plants, these make great gifts, as well.
Pros: Fun way to try new houseplants and gardening methods
Cons: Expensive
Subscribe to My DIY Garden on CrateJoy for $35.50 per monthThe best book to teach yourself to draw
Whether you tackle one lesson per day for a month, or spread the 30 lessons in You Can Draw in 30 Days: The Fun, Easy Way to Learn to Draw in One Month or Less out over an entire year, the end result is the same: You might not end up with Da Vinci level skills, but you definitely will draw much, much better than when you started.
The lessons, which are written in a clear and fun style, build on each other, so by the end of the book, you'll have covered all of the basics of drawing, including shapes, shading, perspective, and foreshortening.
The book includes practice pages, but it's best to have a separate pad of drawing paper, such as the Strathmore Series 9x12 Sketchpad, for extra practice, as well as trying out the techniques in drawings of your own creation.
With almost 700 reviews on Amazon and an average of 4.6 stars, You Can Draw in 30 Days: The Fun, Easy Way to Learn to Draw in One Month or Less is a shopper favorite.
Says one happy buyer, "This a great introduction to drawing for the complete novice. It covers the basic techniques of shading, scale, and perspective in easy to digest units with very clear instructions. I tried other beginner books, but they always seemed to assume the reader knew basic art techniques; they were never clear enough on how to do the details. Kistler broke the concepts down into small pieces with both clear directions and diagrams."
To complete your drawing toolkit, you'll want a good set of drawing pencils and tools. You'll find everything you need in the Pro Art 18-Piece Drawing Set, which includes eight graphite pencils, three charcoal pencils, one sketch stick, two charcoal sticks, one pencil sharpener, one charcoal sharpener, one kneaded eraser, and one white plastic eraser.
Pros: Fun and clear lessons break down drawing concepts into easy steps, lots of illustrations to help guide you, samples from other drawing students
Cons: None to speak of
Buy You Can Draw in 30 Days: The Fun, Easy Way to Learn to Draw in One Month or Less on Amazon for $14.02 Buy a 2-pack Strathmore Series 9x12 Sketchpad on Amazon for $18.26 Buy the Pro Art 18-Piece Drawing Set on Amazon for $8.13 (originally $9.99)The best book for learning to paint with watercolors
Here's another teach-yourself-a-new-hobby-in-30-days guidebook. Go ahead and do a lesson every day, or spend more time and spread it out over as long a period as you'd like — either way, you won't believe your improved painting skills by the last lesson.
Everyday Watercolor: Learn to Paint Watercolor in 30 Days starts with the basics, including basic shapes and brushstrokes, and then slowly eases you into more advanced topics such as layering, blending, shadows, foreshortening, and perspective.
Finally, you'll tackle a week's worth of landscapes that put all you've learned to practice. It's a highly effective program that's earned a 4.5 rating on Amazon.
Of course, you can't paint without supplies, so go ahead and include the Bianyo Professional Watercolor Set, which includes 30 colors, the Crafts 4 All Set of 12 Paintbrushes, and a Watercolor Sketchpad from Bellofy.
With these high-quality supplies, you'll be ready to work your way through your lessons, and then continue to develop your painting skills on your own.
Pros: Very clear, gradual lessons that break down painting concepts into easy concepts
Cons: A handful of customers didn't feel the lessons were easy enough
Buy Everyday Watercolor: Learn to Paint Watercolor in 30 Days on Amazon for $15.63 Buy the Bianyo Professional Watercolor Set on Amazon for $16.99 Buy the Crafts 4 All Set of 12 Paintbrushes on Amazon for $8.99 Buy a Watercolor Sketchpad on Amazon for $14.99The best kit for learning wool felting
Felting wool isn't difficult: Basically, you stab a special needle into your ball of wool over and over again to create a fuzzy, cute figure, such as the absolutely adorable llama you'll make with the Dimension Feltworks Kit.
The kit includes everything you need, including the felting needle, a felting mat, wool, embroidery needle, thread, and instructions. Within a few hours, you'll have your llama, ready to pose for the pictures you are absolutely going to post on all of your social media.
Not crazy about llamas? That's okay, because there are also Dimensions Feltworks Kits to make a bird, a hedgehog, a snowman, and a fox. All of the kits contain everything you need to get started in your new hobby.
Once you've learned the basics with a kit, you'll be ready to duplicate the many cute projects found on Pinterest and other crafting sites.
Pros: Kit contains everything needed to create a cute felted animal
Cons: Wool felting takes patience, it's easy to poke your finger with the needle if you aren't careful
Buy a Dimensions Feltworks Kit on Amazon for $11.95 and up, depending on the kitThe best craft-of-the-month subscription
Some people don't want to focus on just one craft — they prefer to try a wide range of handicrafts, or simply enjoy making something pretty for their home on an otherwise open day. If that sounds like you, you'll love the Craft in Style Box.
This month-to-month delivery plan provides everything you need to complete the projects. Past projects include gilded dinosaur planters with air plants, chalkboard mason jars with hot chocolate, marbled stationary in a wooden desk calendar, seashell terrariums, and candle making, to name just a few.
One pleased customer writes, "I received the kit this month and immediately loved the way all was packaged with clear labels and instructions, enabling even a complete novice to follow along. I received a candle kit and greatly enjoyed the project."
You can cancel the subscription at any time, but with such a wide range of projects, the odds are good you'll be enjoying the Craft in Style Box for a long, long time.
Pros: A great way to try a wide range of crafts, everything you need is included
Cons: You might not like the monthly craft, expensive
Subscribe to Craft in Style Box on CrateJoy for $30 per month
