Today I thought I would share with you the YouTube channels that I follow and watch regularly. These crafters all cover popular paper crafts such as stamping, colouring, card making, journaling and so on. Some of them also cover many other types of crafting too. I have also included a sample of their YouTube channel so you can see why I like them 🙂
thefrugalcrafter – Lindsay Weirich
First up is the amazing and prolific Lindsay Weirich – aka The Frugal Crafter.
Pretty much every day Lindsay posts great videos on many aspects of crafting. Mostly it is a little tutorial on how to do a fun technique. As her nickname suggests, she likes to share ideas of how to craft on a budget. I particularly like her many videos showing how you can use cheap children’s crafting supplies.
She is a very talented craftswoman and covers many, many different types of crafting. Her painting videos are terrific.
Lindsay also does regular videos especially for those of us who sell our crafts, covering things such as networking, branding and getting featured in magazines – lots of useful stuff.
I have to admit that sometimes her enthusiasm causes her to talk a bit too fast and now and then it is a bit hard to understand her, especially if she is mentioning brand names that I am not familiar with. But I really do love Lindsay’s personality, she is so bubbly, guaranteed to brighten the day.
The example video here is one of my favourites – how to make really great looking European style paper beads. I have been making paper beads for years, but these are a whole new ball game! I bought some of the end caps so I can make some myself, and they are very cheap from eBay. And the results are just so stunning!
Vicky Papaioannou
From the day I first watched one of Vicky’s videos, I have been totally hooked. I paricularly like her journal videos, they are so inspiring and have influenced quite a few of my own journal creations. She makes it all seem so very achievable and fun. She also has some great videos in conjunction with American stamp company “Simon Says Stamp”, where she uses their “kit of the month” or latest stamps to make cards.
Even though it is hard to get hold of the Simon Say Stamp products here in the UK, these are still well worth watching for inspiration and simply because Vicky is so wonderful to listen to. She has the most beautiful Greek accent and I know I am not the only subscriber who finds her so relaxing and uplifting to listen to.
I can honestly say that I always smile when I see there is a new Vicky Papaioannou video on my feed.
The example I am including here is her wonderful Art Journal video, Take Life One Cup at a Time. The end result is a stunning journal page, but each stage is surprisingly simple and so clearly explained. After watching this I felt sure I could get just as good a result myself.
Sheena Douglas – sheenad29
I first discovered Sheena from watching her on Create and Craft television.. and bought some of her fantastic stamps too! She is famous for creating the amazing faux leather effect that turns a piece of humble kraft card into something that really does look like leather. She has pioneered many other fantastic techniques, all of which are demonstrated on her YouTube channel.
Sheena is know as “The Queen of Messy Crafting”, and it is hard not to love her friendly, casual style. She has been crafting for a very long time and knows her stuff. I love how she understands that crafters want to get as much value for money from their stash as possible, and she often uses everyday items as economical substitutes for “proper crafting” versions.
Sheena has her own range of rubber stamps and very good ones they are too. I have a few of them now, and they are excellent quality and beautiful designs. Here is a journal page I made with some of Sheena’s stamps.
My example video is the famous Faux Leather technique. I have tried this myself and it really is easy and looks fantastic. There are so many ways you can use your faux leather too.
Barbara Grey – ClarityStamp
Barbara is something of a legend in the UK crafting scene. Watch a few of her videos and you will no doubt see why her DVDs sell so well and why so many watch or record her shows on Create and Craft TV.
She has such a lovely down-to-earth style. When I watch her videos I feel like she is talking just to me, personally.
On her YouTube channel she demostrates lots of great techniques to use with your stamps (and without of course), many of which were very new to me (and I am a long time crafter). She really shows how to get the most out of stamps. Obviously she pretty much always uses her own brand of stamps, Clarity Stamps, which are very high quality and hugely popular because of this. Most of the techniques and ideas could work with many other stamps too though, and she also shows lots of ideas and techniques that are of use to crafters in many fields.
The example video I would like to share with you here is the “cling film trick”. I was really impressed at the stunning results that this gives, and have been trying it myself with assorted paints and inks. A really useful technique for your crafting repertoire.
Jennifer McGuire Ink
Jennifer has lots of videos showing interesting techniques for paper crafters.
She does do quite a few product reviews, but in these she makes a project and demonstrates tricks and ideas – so they are great inspiration even if you don’t have the particular stamps or dies being used.
She has some excellent videos on craft organization (something many of us really need, hehe), and some very useful ones to show how to use particular crafting products that you may have seen in the shops, but hesitated to buy because you were not sure exactly what to do with them. There are also some really good ones on making backgrounds, I am working my way through all of those as they are very handy.
The example video I am going to share with you is this one on Stamping Patterns, which she recently added to her YouTube collection. I thought this was a very useful and versatile technique and have enjoyed trying it with my own stamps.
I hope you have enjoyed sharing my favourite crafting bloggers YouTube channels. I would love to know who your favourites are too.