Crafty Chica Creates- my new book

It’s finally time to order Crafty Chica Creates! This is my twelfth book and it’s super special because it marks 20 years of Crafty Chica!!! This book is meaningful in so many ways, first of all – it’s by the original publisher who gave me my first book deal back in the day. 

CraftyChica.com was a little site back in 2001, I didn’t know what I was doing, but I learned how to level up each week.

My whole goal was to share creative motivation, which has stayed true to today. I used a self-build site called GoBizGo and I worked every angle of that platform the company hired me to film a commercial for them! All of that hard work helped me build momentum and longevity. At the time, it was a fun, late-night hobby that connected me with dozens and dozens of others who were into crafting and DIY, especially other crafty Latinas.

Back then I had commenters who were like, “She’s watering down the art of our culture!” and I responded with the fact that many of us grew up with our nanas sewing dresses and costumes for us, embroidered napkins and dish towels, Mexican ceramics and weaving, beading and so much more. And the fact that the craft industry ring sup 40+ billion a year and I know our community is a big part of that number. I wanted to celebrate creativity with other crafty Latinas (and/or people who loved Mexican culture) across the country. Our goal wasn’t to be fine artists, but more so exercising our skills and talents in art and craft.

I kept on and each year I became busier and busier until I finally made CraftyChica my full-time job.

And now 20 years later, I’m thriving! In this blog I’ve shared business tips, craft tutorials and BTS of the good and the bad. To be honest, I miss the storytelling aspect and hope to get back on that soon. My inspiration is reading old posts, I forgot so much of what happened back then!

 

 

Here is a sneak peek of one of the layouts. I made about 25 new projects for the book, and we kept some of the favorites from one of my first books, The Crafty Chica Collection.

I made this heart from air dry clay and used it as a promo at the publishing trade show, and even shared it on TikTok!

@craftychica

Air-dry clay, part 1! #LearnOnTikTok #TikTokPartner #airdryclay #clay #corazones

♬ Buttercup – Jack Stauber

And here is part two:

@craftychica

Part 2 Air-dry clay! #LearnOnTikTok #TikTokPartner #airdryclay #varnish #clay #corazones

♬ Mozart ‘s a Little Night Music – Classical Music

 

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In The Crafty Chica Creates, Kathy Cano Murillo brings her vibrant style to Latino-centric art and craft projects galore. With completely new projects joining previous favorites, get fun techniques for painting, sewing, mixed media, clay, and paper crafts, and learn how to incorporate recycled materials into artwork. The projects and techniques are ideal for all skill levels.