The Craft Room Podcast

The Craft Room Podcast is fully dedicated to crafts of all kinds. Card making, quilting, crochet, stamping, painting, embroidery ... there's so much craft to talk about, so let's get started.

45 Forgotten Gems 04/17/2026

45 Forgotten Gems Hello and welcome to The Craft Room Podcast. I'm so glad you're joining me today, as we are talking about forgotten gems. If you’ve been crafting for a long time, like me, then you likely have a LOT of amazing products and resources. Back in episode 40 I talked about The Craft Stash, and this is kind of an extension of that episode. Usually when people talk about forgotten gems, they’re referring to old movies or television shows, paintings or travel destinations. But this is a craft podcast, so, of course, we are going to be talking about them in the context of crafting. In thinking about this for a few weeks, I’ve found that forgotten crafty gems tend to fall into one of three categories … 1. Physical (which falls into 3 sub-categories - Consumables, Tools, References/Resources) 2. Virtual/digital 3. Techniques/knowledge So … what can we do to uncover our forgotten crafting gems. Well, before we talk about that, I would like to remind you of one important thing. If you were out in Lightning Ridge mining for opals, not everything you dig up is going to be a beautiful gem. There’s going to be a whole lot of rubble, and, let’s be honest … there’s going to be some dirt. The same applies when searching for forgotten crafting gems, in your stash, on the internet, on your computer, your phone or in your memory. Be prepared to find a few things that you look at and wonder ‘Why did I keep this?’, and I suspect there will be some dust, and potentially a dead bug in there somewhere. The easiest way to find anything is to look for it, and I'll walk you through from low effort / low time options, then we'll level up. 1. Look 2. Closer Look 3. Sort 4. Organise If there’s anything I hope you take away from this episode, I hope it is this … * It’s worth pressing pause on bringing new things into your home so you can take some time to look at what you have, decide what you love and curate a craft stash that is a true treasure chest. * Keep track of your virtual and digital gems so you can enjoy them before they disappear. Block out some time to watch that video, look at old bookmarked pages, work your way through that online course or print those checklists and templates and use them. * Sometimes we need to clear the rubble and the dirt (and the dead fly) so our gems can truly shine. One crafters rubble is another crafters treasure. Mostly I hope that you find great joy in your craft stash, and if you find a truly amazing treasure, please feel free to share it, maybe in the Craft with Dawn Lewis Facebook group (link in show notes and on the blog). Enjoy the gem hunt, and happy crafting! LINKS /episode/index/show/dawnlewis/id/40906580

44 The No-Spend Year (and alternatives) 03/05/2026

44 The No-Spend Year (and alternatives) Today on The Craft Room Podcast, let’s talk about something that most crafters will probably consider at some point in their lives … a no spend year. Sometimes it’s a month, a quarter, six months … but most commonly I see people setting this goal for a whole year. It might sound drastic, even unthinkable to some, but in this economy, especially with the rising prices of craft supplies, there are plenty of people doing a no-spend year. I’m not trying to talk anyone into such a dramatic situation, and, of course, there are some alternatives, so let’s talk about the difference between a no spend, low spend and mindful spend year, the reasons you might consider them, and how you can succeed at such a challenge. If you’ve never heard of a no-spend year, the goal is to spend zero dollars on non-essential items for a full calendar year. On TikTok I see a lot of people doing this specifically for fashion, beauty products or home decor, but as this is a crafting podcast, we are talking about spending zero dollars on craft supplies. There are a lot of reasons why someone might go no-spend, usually falling into one of two categories … voluntary or involuntary. For involuntary, it’s usually due to a lack of finances, but I have known people forced to stop their retail therapy due to a lack of space, downsizing or moving house, travel or loss of employment. For voluntary, again, there could be any number of reasons … including a change in lifestyle, lack of time, change of craft preference, injury or illness, change in family dynamics, personal challenge or even a dare. Whatever your reason, if you are considering a no-spend year, there are some things you can do to set yourself up for success. 1. Create your roadmap 2.Assess your craft stash 3. Set the Rules 4. Remove Temptation 5. Have a support person 6. Gamify it 7. Look for freebies So, what if you’re not doing a no-spend year, but I’ve piqued your interest with low-spend or mindful spending. Let’s talk about those. Low spend and mindful spend are different, financially speaking, but often go hand-in-hand. Let’s talk Low spend Usually the goal here is to spend less than you have been spending, and it might be voluntary (to redirect money to something else) or involuntary (like retirement). In order to spend less, you kind of need to know what you have been spending, and from my experience of owning an online craft store for 11 years, a lot of people are … hesitant … to add up their receipts. They just don’t want to know, but knowledge is power. So even if it’s difficult, I do recommend you at least get a ballpark figure from your Paypal or bank statements. Then you have some decisions to make. Are you going to set a firm budget for the year or per month? Or are you aiming to generally spend less than you usually would? Are you going to buy essentials only? Just like with a no-spend year, knowing why you’re doing this, and what success is going to look like for you will be helpful. Mindful Spending Mindful spending is less about budgeting and saving money, and more about taking time to consider the purchase. Essentially, it’s a pause. When you take a little time to truly consider what you are buying, and how it fits into your existing collection, as well as your current crafting habits, you are exercising mindful spending. Doing a full audit of your craft supplies before starting will help. If you have it in you to catalogue your supplies, even better. Each time you’re adding to cart, you can refer to your catalog, or check your stash, and see if you already have something that will do the same job. Sometimes the way we shop for craft supplies changes with our financial situation, our phase of life, or general interest in a particular craft. Sometimes it’s unexpected and we have to react on the fly. Sometimes we can spot patterns, and adjust accordingly. Sometimes it’s an epiphany, a life changing event or new information. Whatever your situation, if you find yourself staring down the barrel of a no-spend period of time, I hope that these tips help you achieve success, whatever that looks like for you. Happy crafting, and I will see you next time. LINKS /episode/index/show/dawnlewis/id/40322865

#43 The Benefits of Swatching 02/05/2026

#43 The Benefits of Swatching Hello and welcome to The Craft Room Podcast. I'm so glad you're joining me today, as we are talking about the benefits of swatching. Yes, I am on a swatching kick right now and it all started thanks to my friend Sally. I went to visit her last month and she showed me her beautifully organised craft supplies, but more importantly she showed me her ink pad swatches. I knew the second I saw it that this was the solution I had been looking for for years. It’s not like I’ve never swatched before. My Copic markers are swatched out on a hex chart, I’ve swatched some pencils and a watercolour palette. But I didn't have what I have always wanted … a swatch folder with all the colours in one place. Until I saw Sally's I didn't know why I was baulking at it, and the reality is … I wanted more swatches to a page. It’s not like a plastic sleeve with pockets is a revolutionary product, but I’d never seen coin collecting sleeves used for swatching before. I will link to the ones I used below. Benefit 1 - Accurate Colors Benefit 2 - Know What you Have Benefit 3 - Quick Choices while Crafting Benefit 4 - Making Educated Decisions Benefit 5 - Reducing Decision Fatigue Benefit 6 - Viewing Variations Benefit 7 - Get more use from your Supplies Let's consider the age old conundrum … ‘To swatch or not to swatch?’, which is a really good question, and thank you William Shakespeare for asking that. Sometimes you benefit from swatching, and sometimes you don’t, and swatching requires a significant time investment. The swatches that I’ve already made took up the majority of my time for 3 days, so in order to answer the first question, we must ask another. Do the benefits of making these swatches outweigh the time investment? How you decide if you are going to swatch your craft supplies depends heavily on how you use them, and how you store them. As much as I would love to go into loads of details right now, telling you how I did the swatching, and why I swatched that way, it’s a very visual explanation, and podcasts aren’t exactly a visual thing. So here’s what I’m going to do instead. I have scheduled a livestream on my YouTube channel on Friday 20th February 2026 at 8:30pm Sydney time. Remember that I am in Australia, and right now we’re in daylight savings time, so that’s AEDT (I’ll link to a timezone converter so you can figure out when that will be in your local time). I will also link to the scheduled live on YouTube. There’s a button you can click to be notified at the scheduled start time, but it’s helpful to note that notification will be sent as an email, so you might prefer to pop a reminder into your calendar with the link. We are also talking a lot about swatching and choosing colours over in the Craft with Dawn Lewis Facebook group. If, however, Facebook is not your cup of tea, then you don’t have to miss out. I’ll be showcasing more of my swatching adventures on other socials … Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest. And if you would like it all distilled down into one juicy bite, you can subscribe to my email newsletter, where I’ll be sending just 2 emails per month. This year we are using our craft supplies, we’re not being Pinterest perfect about it, and all of my content will be centred around that. So, until we meet again, happy crafting, happy swatching, and I hope to see you on my YouTube livestream … until I see you next time. LINKS Note: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases /episode/index/show/dawnlewis/id/39989625