#DIY Kitchen Projects - Fun Kitchen Crafts

Inject some unexpected personality into your kitchen with these fun do-it-yourself cutting boards, canisters, and more—they're guaranteed to put a smile on your face, every day.

Hand-Stamped Cutting Board

Hand-Stamped Cutting Board

An alphabet's worth of metal hot stamps transforms a wood-burning pen into a label maker for cutting boards (stamp set, $19.99, and wood-burning pen, from $9.99; walnuthollow.com. Cutting boards, $12.96 each; 12"L x 8"W x 1"H; hardwood-lumber.com ).

Embroidered Table Runner

Embroidered Table Runner

Butcher illustrations in an 1897 cookbook inspired librarian Jessica Pigza to make this topper, featured in BiblioCraft ($27.50; STC Craft). To follow her lead, you'll need two 12"W x 73"L pieces of beige linen and two sets of the cow, sheep, and pig templates from countryliving.com/animalrunner .

Step 1: Wash, dry, and iron both pieces of linen; set one aside. Place the other piece on a flat surface, right side down. Beginning eight inches from the left end and working toward the center, place one set of cow, sheep, and pig templates right side down, atop the linen, spacing them 2½ inches apart. Secure the templates with double-sided tape. Create the mirror image on the opposite end with the remaining templates. Then, flip the linen piece right side up.

Step 2: Use masking tape to temporarily affix the linen piece, templates side down, against a sunny window—the light shining through will illuminate the designs. Trace each design onto the front side of the linen using an erasable fabric marker (Marvy Uchida, $3.49; joann.com ). When finished, detach from the window; remove all templates and tape.

Step 3: Using an embroidery hoop and blue embroidery floss, backstitch along the solid lines of the designs, and use a running stitch for the dotted lines (see instructions at countryliving.com/embroiderytutorial ). Erase any stray marks.

Step 4: Place the linen pieces together, right sides facing, and pin around all four edges. Machine-stitch along the edges, leaving a ½-inch seam allowance and an eight-inch opening at the center of the bottom seam. Trim the corners. Turn the runner right side out, and hand-stitch the opening closed. Place the runner facedown and iron the seams flat.

Step 5: With red embroidery thread, hand-sew a line of running stitches ½ inch from all four edges of the runner.