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Renee Day

Crafting Expert

Renee Day is a Crafting Expert and Content Creator based in Michigan. She is a master of paper crafts, and also specializes in brush lettering, journaling, embossing, stamping, stenciling, doodling, and crocheting. Her Instagram account, thediyday, has over 300K followers. She published a book called "Creative Journaling: A Guide to Over 100 Techniques and Ideas for Amazing Dot Grid, Junk, Mixed-Media, and Travel Pages". The book contains 52 projects, from crafting colorful pages to creating dot grid, junk, mixed-media, and travel journals. She also created Chunky Letter Calligraphy, a 30+ page (PDF) all about lettering. She runs a thriving Amazon Storefront, where she curates craft supply collections for her followers. She previously worked as a photographer, capturing engagement sessions, weddings, boudoir, and landscapes.

Education

  • MS, Marriage and Family Therapy
  • BS, Sociology

Professional Achievements

  • Author of "Creative Journaling: A Guide to Over 100 Techniques and Ideas for Amazing Dot Grid, Junk, Mixed-Media, and Travel Pages"
  • Renee has been tapped to work with many craft and hobby companies throughout the world

Favorite Piece of Advice

When you are crafting and creating, go with the flow and have fun; perfection is a myth.

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Q&A Comments (10)

How do I cut them if I use thick cardboard?
You can use a crafting knife and a metal ruler instead of scissors. A metal ruler is important here because the blade is sharp and the plastic ruler could get damaged. For cutting, align the metal ruler along your cutting line and guide the knife to ensure a straight cut. When you’re cutting, make several light passes with the craft knife instead of trying to slice through in one go—this gives you more control and helps prevent the cardboard from tearing or fraying. Take your time, apply steady pressure, and keep your fingers clear of the blade path for safety. If the cardboard is really thick, flipping it over and scoring the other side can also help you get a cleaner cut.
Can I make an envelope using used paper?
Yes, you can! All you need is some used papers, scissors, and glue. Start by choosing the recycled paper you want to use—it could be pages from an old magazine, leftover wrapping paper, or any paper you have that's lying around. If you have an existing envelope, open it up carefully and use it as a template by tracing its shape onto your recycled paper. If not, you can draw a simple template yourself and just make sure there’s enough room to fold the edges. Once you’ve cut the shape, fold the sides and the bottom edges inward to form an envelope, leaving the top flap open. Use glue along the side flaps to secure everything in place. If you want to decorate your envelope, you can keep it simple and draw using pens, markers, and stamps, or be creative by layering on bits of decorative recycled paper for a unique look. You can even take it up a notch by adding washi tape or stickers to give it some flair.
What else can I use to decorate pop-up cards?
If you don't want to spend a lot of money, you could use some washi tape. You could do a striped card and make them either vertical or horizontal, which adds fun colors and pattern. Another budget-friendly idea is to grab a few supplies from a dollar store, like stickers or alphabet letters, and personalize the card with your recipients initials. You can also get crafty with supplies that you already have at home. Try using crayon markers for a watercolor effect. Just add your markers to a plastic bag, a little water, and press your cardstock onto the bag. And when you lift it, you’ll get this awesome splotchy pattern that feels artsy and unique.
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Co-authored Articles (120)

How to

Make a Paper Popper

A paper popper is perfect for scaring or pranking your siblings and friends. By folding a piece of paper correctly, you can create air pockets that will make a loud popping sound if you snap the paper down using the righ...

How to

Make a Paper Hat

Hats are a great way to add character and fun to a party, play, or dress-up game. Instead of buying hats from the store, however, consider making your own. It is a simple, fun project suitable for all ages. Once you know...

3 Ways to Fix Your Dried Out Markers

Have you ever needed to write or draw something, but the marker you’re using looks faded and dried out? Rather than throwing the markers away when they stop working, there are a lot of things you can do to get a little...

How to

Restart a Dry Ball Point Pen

Ballpoint pens have smooth ink that’s resistant to drying and wonderfully responsive to different levels of pressure. Unfortunately, they also tend to suddenly stop working. If you’ve tried scribbling in circles on a...

How to Make a Strong Truss Bridge with Popsicle Sticks

An easy, step-by-step guide to making a popsicle stick bridgeBuilding a bridge out of popsicle sticks is a fun craft project or an educational school assignment. You might even be thinking of entering a bridge-building c...

How to

Staple a Booklet

Made a booklet at home and need it stapled? It can be a pain trying to reach the spine of the booklet with an ordinary stapler, but as long as the arms of your stapler can swing apart, there are at least two ways to achi...

How to Easily Load a Packing Tape Gun

Set up, use, & adjust a tape dispenser to make packing boxes a breezeWhether you’re moving houses or running your own business, using a packing tape dispenser makes sealing boxes quick and easy. If you’re not sure ho...

How to

Fix a Jammed Manual Stapler

When you’re on a roll stapling together papers for an office meeting or an assignment for class, it can be really disruptive to experience a sudden jam! Thankfully, it shouldn’t take you more than a couple of minutes...

How to

Coptic Bind a Book

Coptic binding is favored by many readers and hobbyists, as it allows a book to lay completely open when flat and at an angle. It also showcases a clear view of the spine and the colorful threads holding the signatures (...

How to

Make a Pop up Book

Pop-up elements add an exciting new dimension to any book (sure wish textbooks had them). If you are looking for a craft to make for a young child you know (or anyone!), you can create your own pop-up book rather simply....

How to

Use a Stapler

Staplers are an efficient way to bind paper together. Manual desktop staplers are most common in an office environment, but there are also electric staplers and heavy-duty staplers. Heavy-duty staplers and manual desktop...

How to

Make a Homemade Teacher's Day Card

It's your teacher's day tomorrow and you want to give your teacher something to remind her that you appreciate her? One option is to make a homemade card to show that you are grateful for the work your teacher does. A ca...

How to

Use a Laminator

If you have a brand new laminator and you're not quite sure how to use it, never fear! A laminator is fairly simple to use. You load the paper into a laminating pouch, and then insert the pouch into the preheated machine...

How to

Get Wrinkles out of Paper

Paper is pretty fragile, so sometimes, no matter how careful you are, it can wrinkle. If it's a significant document, such as your homework, a favorite sketch, or an important form, creases and folds can be a serious pro...

2 Simple Ways to Make a Homemade Book

Craft a unique DIY book to give as a gift or keep for yourselfAnyone can create a homemade book to give as a gift, use as a journal, or create a DIY photo album. You only need basic supplies and a little time to put one ...

How to

Make a Temporary Personal Nameplate for an Office Desk or Computer

Are you a business person? Has your nameplate fallen apart, your name tag broken, and now you've been requested to keep a name plate nearby? Here's a quick and easy way to make a temporary paper nameplate to use, while...

How to

Make a Bookmark

As a literary creature, do you often find yourself at a loss for the perfect page-saver in your favorite novels? Have no fear, you can make your own bookmark in dozens of styles so you never lose track of your reading ag...

How to

Create Chainmail from Pop Tabs

Although you can purchase chainmail from a dive or sporting good store, why not put all those empty soda cans to good use and create your own with the tabs? The supply you will need most is time as it will take approxim...

How to

Make Pipe Cleaner Flowers

Pipe cleaner flowers provide all the beauty and color of real flowers without the pesky bees. They are as simple to make as they are cute. They look adorable in old, glass soda bottles and fit perfectly on window sills. ...

How to

Cut Thick Cardboard

There are a variety of easy ways to cut thick cardboard. The odds are high that you have some of the tools you need stashed somewhere in your home right now. However, if you plan on cutting a lot of cardboard, you may wa...
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