Ideas for Making More Often

Lists of things to make with your hands this year, music to play while you create, a nostalgic printable conversation starter, and a fictional read.

Feeling of the Week: a mood board concept of a design direction for your week.

JANUARY 20: MAKING

Last week, I attended an event with Shop App with Ella Emhoff of Soft Hands Craft Club at the helm, teaching a large group of editorial writers how to make our own beaded card holders. I sipped on blood orange Ghia and carefully threaded a string through vibrant beads, struggling a few times with the pattern and starting over.

At one point, I looked around the room and saw, to my delight, this giant group of chicly-dressed New York writers huddled over their technicolor beads like a Kindergarten class. And I smiled.

Every time I make something with my hands, I remember why I love doing so. It is a challenge, filled with some colorful problem-solving. And while I work out any snags, my brain is no longer filtering through a to-do list or fears; I am solely focused on the work at hand. This is probably why I was immersed in the “Wreck This Journal” and “Smashbook” in middle school, coming up for air occasionally for snacks. And why in high school I insisted on becoming Yearbook editor and would engross myself in learning Photoshop on weekends as if I was responsible for coding a rocket. And how in my first apartment, I insisted on painting every single piece of thrifted furniture.

Making is a balm. It’s a familiar friend. And I remembered that I need to do it more often. Making is actually my job, but I needed the challenge of stringing beads in a pattern to refresh my love for making.

This week, I encourage you to make something that is a new challenge — something you can become engrossed in so that not one single thought occurs. Something that, when you are on the other side of it, you have beauty and joy in your hands that you feel proud of.

P.S. Make sure you scroll all the way to the end, because I have a printable craft for you!

Colors of the week: sunset fade + fig & ricotta toast

To jumpstart ideas about making for you, I have some lists!

Making and all things crafting will be trending this year, but I encourage you to think beyond trends and more about delight.

Make something to delight you, or make something to delight someone else. Also, making does not always require a trip to the craft store. Making can be a lifestyle choice related to things you already use, need, or have. Think homemade butter instead of store-bought, or hand-dipped taper candles for a dinner party.

Here is a brief index of ideas:

Things to make that will improve your day:

• The bed

• Homemade tea lattes

• A perfect cup of matcha

• A new system for that cabinet that bothers you - with hand-drawn labels

• Your own oat milk

• Butter (endless opportunities with flavors there, too)

• A card to a friend

• A call to someone you love

• A new playlist with a perfect cover design

• A grocery list that is more like a menu

Skills to learn that can make you a stronger maker:

• Improving handwriting

• Hand-lettering

• Color theory

• Fictional storytelling

• Editorial storytelling

• Photo framing, composition, and coloring

• How to make coffee the way you like it (and anyone else in your house likes it)

• Basic web code

• Basics of graphic design

• Basic sewing skills

• Cooking basics — chopping, flavor balancing, sourcing ingredients

Things to make that will reconnect you to childhood:

• Shrinky dinks

• Keychains

• Chunky bracelets, necklaces

• Box-mix confetti cake

• Fleece blankets

• A journal for dumping angsty feelings

• Homemade milkshakes

• Color by numbers

• Beads — anything with beads

• The printable at the end of this article

Things to make as gifts:

I found some photos to couple with these ideas as a reference. All of these make me want to make! These are ideas with a little more effort to give away to someone as a gift. Making breeds generosity, and I love that.

Really well done keychains/bag charms. Pair favorite colors, relevant charm images, and textures together for an extremely thoughtful “just because” gift.

Re-purposing frames as artful memories is so giftable. Upgrade a frame you already own with some colored cardstock, and frame a special memory with someone to delight them.

I just think it would be cool to hand your group of friends a fish based on each person’s personality.

Use shells, sea glass trinkets, clay pieces, or other memories from a trip to create beautiful magnets.

Crochet a little wine carrier, and fill it with a bottle! This would be a great housewarming gift or a way to finally introduce yourself to a neighbor.

Make a rosette pin for someone to wear on their birthday. Or after a new job, promotion, or just generally surviving something. We all need a gold star sometimes.

Show up to the birthday function with puffy, fabric letters as a garland. They can reuse it every year!

Here is a playlist to put on when you get in your crafting zen:

Inboxes get very full, and I send a good amount of emails to you! I just wanted to share some pieces I am really excited about, to make sure you get a chance to read them too:

• The Whimsy Dispatch is so back. Think of it as an annual food curriculum for turning your home into your favorite restaurant. (I am actually a full-time curriculum writer, so this is the real deal for lesson formats, haha!) I focused on learning to make homemade black sesame butter this week.

• Can home become a third place? This piece brought some really cool discussion to the table in the comments — I would love your take!

• Don’t miss the annual board meeting for stakeholders of Feeling! Magazine. I detail what to expect this year, and ask for some feedback on the publication that I am already working on implementing. Feel free to pop by and leave your thoughts.

Every single thing on here is a win.

1. Fellow Kettle: If you're looking to up your tea game in 2026, having a temperature-controlled kettle is such a help for bringing out loose leaf flavors the way they are meant to be experienced.

2. My favorite coasters: I picked up a set of these coasters from Coming Soon years ago, and now I have three sets. It’s one of those things where I want to own every color. They are see-through, and this fascinating polly-pocket-esque texture. I am complimented on them more than any other item in my home.

3. Blok Parti Sets: These sets contain everything you need to block print totes or your own cards. I think this is such a fun, creative kit to develop your own stationery or create endless gifts! Ooo, and wrapping paper for the gifts! You could also buy a set, then host a craft night with friends, block printing.

4. The best hot chocolate ever: This cacao-driven blend of hot chocolate does not have all the crazy artificial ingredients and tastes delightful, in every sense. Froth it up with 8 oz. of milk and enjoy without going into a sugar coma.

5. The sweater I am currently wearing as I write this: I am warm because of my bright blue sweater with giant buttons. It is thick!

6. What revived my skin: My skin was falling apart from cold days, and I returned to my 100% rosehip oil as a moisturizer, and a certain glow is back. My skin was so thirsty, and this helped nourish it without clogging it.

7. The side table of my dreams: This glacier blue side table is a dream. It can be sat on like a stool, which is the kind of adaptability I need in a small apartment. The wood grain within the vibrant color makes it a delicious statement piece.

Inspired by American Girl’s Coconut and Licorice, a fictional tale of my own dog and cat, Genevieve & Rose, will be coming to you in small chapters every week. Follow a whimsical story of a dog and cat duo navigating New York City when no one is looking. The story will have you on the edge of your seat, and perhaps so invested in their joyful, silly world so much that you pause scrolling just to sit with them for a bit.

The amazing multi-chapter fictional story is written by Devon Taylor, D.B. Taylor of Paper Mirror.

Cozy up, relax, and enjoy a whimsical, light-hearted story. If you are just joining in, you can read Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, and Chapter 4.

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Chapter 5: The Pigeon Got a Boy.

Oh, he was so very excited to finally have one! He had heard that humans threw quite
the party. You could fly and feast whenever you wanted. However, what the pigeon didn’t expect was the friendship.

He loved his boy. He would nestle into the boy’s soft hair and fall asleep while the boy
read fairy tales aloud. Together they traveled all across New York, visiting bakeries, candy shops, art museums, and everything in between.

In those days, nearly everyone had a pigeon perched in their hair or proudly sitting on
their shoulder. They didn’t beg for scraps or make a fuss. They were family, and they were welcome.

The boy had a friend named Trey. Trey didn’t have a pigeon, but he had a dog. The four of them—two boys, one dog, and one pigeon—met often in the park to play. They played tag, cops and robbers, all sorts of games. The boy laughed the hardest whenever the dog barked, how it yipped and yowled, woofed and whined, and the boy laughed and laughed and laughed.

This should have made the pigeon happy. But the more the boy laughed at the dog, the sadder the pigeon felt.

The more they played, the less the pigeon seemed to belong.

“I know!” thought the pigeon one night. “I’ll learn how to bark!”

So he tried. Oh, how he tried! He spent night after night practicing. But no matter how he strained, he could only—

“Coo.”

Loud coos, soft coos, in-between coos, but never a bark. His nature simply wouldn’t
allow it. The boy grew frustrated. The louder the pigeon cooed, the more the boy woke in the night. “Stop it!” he’d shout, not knowing the pigeon was only trying to make him happy.

Then the pigeon noticed something else. The boy loved giving the dog treats, watching its slimy tongue scoop the snack from his hand, watching it bounce up and cover him in happy licks. The boy would squeal and laugh, and the pigeon’s heart would ache again.

So when supper came, the pigeon waited for his turn. He cooed and bounced around the table, trying to lick like the dog did, but his tongue was too small and his beak too big. Instead of laughter, the boy frowned. Sometimes he’d swat the pigeon away as though it were a fly.

One night, desperate to get it right, the pigeon rushed at the boy, hoping to knock him
over in a joyful, dog-like hug. But instead—poke!—his beak jabbed the boy’s cheek.

The boy cried.

And the pigeon’s heart shattered.

He panicked—flapping wildly, wings a blur—and before he could think, he flew straight
into the ceiling fan. Thwack! The blow sent him tumbling into the wall.

When he woke, everything hurt. His wing throbbed, his feathers bent at odd angles. But what hurt most wasn’t his body; it was the look on the boy’s face.

The boy sat frozen, clutching his cheek, his parents hovering behind him with anger in
their eyes. The pigeon was no longer loved. No longer welcome. And he knew it.

So he left.

He flew out the open window into the night air, wounded and weeping, vowing not to
return until he learned to be like a dog.

And so he practiced, cooing, begging, licking—over and over and over again.

But he was not alone. Other pigeons began to notice. They too had felt the same
rejection. One by one, then two by two, the pigeons of New York began to change. Not in feathers or beaks or wings, but in heart. They thought, perhaps if we bark too, the humans will love us again.

So they gathered on rooftops and windowsills, in church towers and alleyways, and
practiced together. Their voices filled the city nights, soft coos trying to curl into growls, gentle flaps trying to sound like paws on pavement.

And more joined, and more, and still more. Until every house, every home, every
apartment in New York stood empty of pigeons. Now it is the skies that hold them, flocks upon flocks of pigeons, circling and circling above the city, still practicing. Still trying to become dogs.

If you listen on a quiet morning, you might hear it.

Not a bark, not quite a coo, but something in between, the sound of love misunderstood, echoing across the rooftops.

The final chapter will be released next week!

Puzzle Time!

Print out this old-school “cootie catcher” and fold it into shape for a fun conversation starter.

Thank you, Hailey Howe, for lovely work on Feeling! Magazine Graphics! You made this Monday Letter magical!

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Here are some pieces I think you will really love to explore:

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