Set Up a Simple Spring Crafting Kit

Before you buy anything new, raid the kitchen drawers and the recycling bin. Most spring projects come together with supplies you already own: jam jars, newspaper, cotton buds, string, ribbon offcuts, buttons snipped from old shirts, coffee filters, and the cardboard from your online deliveries. Add a roll of masking tape, a small bottle of white craft glue, and a pot of acrylic paint in a fresh green or soft yellow, and you have almost everything you need for a weekend of making.

Set yourself up properly and the work becomes far more enjoyable. Use a baking tray lined with baking parchment as a portable paint station, so spills stay contained and you can move the whole project off the table when dinner is due. Keep a damp cloth and a jar of clean water to hand, and wear an apron you do not mind spoiling. If you share the space with children or pets, work at the kitchen table rather than the floor, and store half-finished pieces on a high shelf between sessions.

Painted Eggs You Will Want to Keep Out All Year

Painted eggs are the quickest way to bring spring indoors, and they last for years if you prepare them properly. To empty an egg, pierce both ends with a darning needle, break the yolk with a cocktail stick, then blow gently through one hole over a bowl. Rinse the shell through with cool water and a drop of washing-up liquid, shake out the excess, and leave it to dry overnight standing on a sheet of kitchen roll. Wooden or papier-mâché eggs are a good alternative if you would rather skip this step.

For a look that feels considered rather than chaotic, choose three colours and stick to them. Try these techniques:

• Stripes: wrap narrow masking tape around the egg, paint the exposed shell, then peel the tape away while the paint is still slightly tacky.
• Speckles: dip a stiff brush in paint, then drag your thumb across the bristles to flick fine dots onto the shell.
• Dots: use the blunt end of a pencil or a cotton bud for perfectly round marks.
• Wash: thin acrylic paint with a little water and brush it over the whole egg for a soft, chalky finish.

Seal finished eggs with a coat of matte varnish so they wipe clean. Display them in a white jug, a shallow bowl of moss, or on a cake stand layered with dried leaves, and they will carry you from March well into summer.

Paper Flowers for Windowsills and Mantelpieces

Tissue paper, crepe paper and even ordinary coffee filters make convincing blooms for very little money. For a simple layered flower, cut five circles roughly 8cm across, stack them, and pinch the centre. Twist the base tightly and secure it with a green pipe cleaner, then fan the layers out and curl the petal edges around a pencil. A button or a small bead glued in the middle lifts the whole thing.

For something softer, soak coffee filters in a few drops of food colouring mixed with water, dry them on a radiator, then layer and wire them in the same way. Group flowers in odd numbers — three, five or seven stems — and arrange them in mismatched glass bottles along a windowsill or a mantelpiece. Florist tape wrapped around the stems disguises the wire, and a sprig of dried rosemary or eucalyptus tucked into the bunch adds a scent that lasts for weeks.

A Fresh Wreath for the Front Door

A spring wreath needs no floristry experience. Start with a willow or grapevine base, which you can reuse season after season, and wind a length of twine or jute ribbon around it to cover any gaps. Tuck in sprigs of rosemary, bay or eucalyptus, then fill the spaces with dried stems such as bunny tails, pampas or dried orange slices. Secure everything with a low-temperature glue gun or fine floristry wire twisted at the back, so no fixings show from the front.

If you want the wreath to survive wind and rain, favour dried and artificial elements over fresh foliage, and hang it with fishing line looped over a hook rather than a nail. A simple bow in a soft colour — sage, blush or natural linen — is enough decoration. Make two while you have the supplies out: one for the door and one, smaller, for an interior wall or a bedroom door.

From Hobby to Handmade Business: Selling Your Spring Makes

If your kitchen table is starting to overflow, spring is a sensible moment to test whether your crafts could earn a little money. Begin by working out a real price rather than a hopeful one. Add up your materials, then decide on an hourly rate you would be pleased to earn — £12 to £15 an hour is a reasonable starting point for handmade work — and multiply your time by that figure. Add a small amount for packaging and table fees, then double the total to cover your costs of selling and to leave room for the occasional discount.

Batch your makes. Producing ten wreaths at once is far quicker than making one at a time, because your tools, templates and drying space stay set up. Photograph finished pieces in daylight near a window, on a plain wall or a linen cloth, with one or two props at most; the product should be the star. Write a short care card for each item explaining how to dust, store or refresh it, and package in recycled kraft boxes tied with twine.

Start small and local. A church hall fair, a school spring market or a village fete will teach you more about pricing and presentation than months of guessing. Keep a notebook of what sells, which colours customers ask for, and what people say as they pick items up. That feedback shapes your next collection — and a seasonal range of painted eggs, paper flowers and wreaths gives you a natural reason to refresh your display and welcome customers back each spring.