Sometimes I think that living in the Midwest means living in a kind of art/craft vacuum. The retreats, classes and other cool artsy/crafty things are mainly on the east or west coast. Once in a while we will have something fun in the area but the larger events are nearer the coasts.

So what’s a Midwest living gal to do when she is in need of inspiration, instruction, or simply the sound of  someone else who knows SOMETHING about creating in the same room with her?

Craft Daily might be the answer.

Craft Daily is run by F+W media, the people who also own Interweave, publishers of some of the best creative magazines out there, in my opinion. According to the site they have 150+ video workshops with plans to continually add more.

From the site:

Subscription options start at as low as $11.99 a month. All you need is a broadband internet connection. The site offers commercial-free viewing of over 150 crafting videos and is the online home of the long-running PBS television shows, Quilting Arts TV, Knitting Daily TV, and Beads, Baubles & Jewels. New craft tutorial workshops are added weekly, so you’ll never run out of new ideas & inspiration.

I’ve been hearing about Craft Daily quite a lot lately, they even had space at The Country Living Fair when I went last month, so I jumped at the chance to review the site when I was contacted. I wanted to see what it was all about.

I watched three different videos, one each in Mixed Media, Jewelry and Beading and here are my overall feelings.

Here is what I loved:

• I can learn new techniques and how to use new tools.
• Some of the best instructors in the industry
• I can stop, rewind or pause as I watch and do in order to learn at my own pace.
• The quality of the videos is really good – and this coming from the wife of a video/TV producer/director
• The projects on the three videos I watched were of a high caliber – not something you could learn from a craft store demo.
• The instructions are clear and easy to follow.
• The supplies needed seemed to be things you would have on hand if you were already working in that particular area. No super crazy supplies to buy.
• You can subscribe to the whole site or to just sections of it.
• I can watch the videos an unlimited number of times
• The pricing. I think the pricing is fair – even if you only end up watching one or two videos per month it’s still cheaper than taking a class if you can’t afford the travel
• The videos can be viewed on mobile devices

The few things I didn’t love:

• Some of the shows have aired on PBS so if you watch them there you will have fewer “new” workshops to see.
• You can subscribe to all of the workshops or workshops in one area but there isn’t a subscription for 2 or 3 categories
• Some of the categories currently only have 4-24 videos so you could get short changed by subscribing to one of these – but then you could watch them all in a month and then cancel, I suppose.

And a few things to keep in mind:

• The video workshops on Craft Daily are streamed like Netflix videos. That means you will need a high-speed internet connection. If you do not have high-speed internet you could still possibly purchase a DVD of the workshop you want.
• Streaming videos means there is no downloading of content but you can watch the workshops as often as you want while your membership is current.

All in all, I think that Craft Daily is an excellent service. High quality instructional workshop videos allowing you to learn new techniques from some highly recognized artists. The pricing is reasonable and supplies will often be items you have nearby if you already dabble in that area. Of course, there are always new tools to purchase, I mean ,even I don’t own ALL THE TOYS.

Have you taken any online workshops? Which ones did you try? Love them or hate them?