I enjoy collecting and reading all kinds of free magazines, but free craft magazines by mail take a special place in my heart.
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Whenever I receive arts and crafts magazines, I’m transported to my no-internet-yet teenage years when I get project ideas from magazines. No YouTube crafters and craft bloggers to tell me the way.
If you’re like me, this list of FREE arts and crafts-focused magazines hopefully brightens your day/week/month!
20+ Free Craft Magazines By Mail
There are two kinds of arts and crafts resources:
- Free craft magazines by mail – These magazines are developed by publishers and include a few sponsored content mixed in with educational pieces, tutorials, and
- Free craft catalogs by mail – these printed catalogs are produced specifically by companies to advertise their products. The arts and crafts industry has plenty of free catalogs.
Sometimes, people also use the magazine and catalog term interchangeably, so I’ll be posting both magazines and catalogs below:
1. American Craft magazine
This traditional craft magazine has been around since the 1940s.
The featured pieces here tackle everything from handmade crafts that have been done for centuries, to modern, newly invented crafts that kids enjoy today.
Note that the current issues are paid, but the digital copies (that are back issues) are free. American Craft also has a newsletter subscription available for everyone.
2. Popular Mechanics
Claim your complimentary 1-year subscription ($10 value) today by filling out the form here.
Popular Mechanics magazine is geared towards innovation and emerging technology.
If you’re curious about how things work (from cars, trucks, motorcycles, electronics, woodworking, and home improvement), you’ll love how this magazine teaches you to do it yourself.
3. Dick Blick’s Art catalog
This catalog is an art book on its own.
It has hundreds of pages of art and craft tutorials for teachers and parents of pre-K through 6th-grade children. Of course, expect the catalog to promote many of Dick Blick’s branded products, but this doesn’t feel like a big ad slot.
4. Craft Focus
This magazine is a bi-monthly publication for the craft industry, distributed to art & craft shops, toy shops, model shops, haberdashers, and needlecraft retailers.
Each issue contains detailed information on influential trade shows and includes reviews of hundreds of new or innovative products, enabling retailers to make informed buying decisions.
5. Connecting Threads Catalog
This free craft catalog is perfect for anyone looking to begin a quilting project or business.
Connecting Threads is an excellent source of quilting supplies and accessories, including fabric, threads, patterns, and kits. No matter your quilting skill level, this catalog can make the art of crafting quilts a whole lot easier.
6. The Stitchery
The Stitchery provides everything you need to do cross-stitching, embroidery, and other needlepoint projects.
If you buy from their shop, they’ll provide you with their latest catalog, and you can also fill out a form to request a free catalog.
7. Fun for Kidz
Inspiring both boys and girls with stories written specifically for 6- to 12-year-olds, this kid-focused magazine features stories and educational content about science, arts & crafts, puzzles, comics, and personal stories.
8. Clay Times
This award-winning magazine is one of the world’s favorite ceramics magazines that serve studio potters and professional clay artists, teachers, and students of the ceramic arts an informative, inspirational, and free resource.
9. Delphi Glass Catalog
Get a free craft catalog from Delphi Glass, once you fill out their form. Delphi Glass gives you access to all your art glass supplies, mosaic-making, pottery, and jewelry-making supplies in one book.
It's a giant box of free samples and it comes right to your door at no cost.
Click here and get yours.
10. Fire Mountain Gems
If you prefer making your own jewelry to wear or to sell, Fire Mountain Gems can supply all you need, from beads, charms, chains, earring backs, wires, tools, and other jewelry-making supplies.
Their catalog contains supplies plus designs and other inspirations.
11. Burda Style
Published by Hubert Burda Media, this magazine has been around since 1950 (named Burda Moden, then Burda Fashion, and now Burda Style).
Each issue contains patterns for every design featured that month.
If you access these magazines via Issu.com, you can read almost 100 back-issues of Burda Style magazine.
12. Make Magazine
This magazine is geared toward older kids (9 to 18 years old) who are interested in engineering, tech, and sciences.
You’ll read experiments, tested projects, in-depth reviews and interviews, inspirational stories, and plenty of skill-building tutorials that they can replicate at home. Available in both print and digital copies.
13. Handmade Business Magazine (formerly Craft Report)
This distinguished publication is a must-have of anyone getting serious with their handmade business.
Formerly called “The Crafts Report,” the Handmade Business magazine features articles on best marketing practices, the latest news in the crafts industry, and different genres of craft.
*** Note that this is a digital paid magazine. To get access for free, you’d need to wait for subscription promos. The wait is worth it, I promise.
14. Vogue Knitting
There isn’t a free subscription promotion right now, but there’s no other way to know once the promo comes back but to subscribe to the newsletter or follow Vogue Knitting on their online spaces (Facebook, Instagram, and others).
This magazine combines the traditional knitting techniques to modern-day fashion, which results in some of the best knitted patterns you can find around the craft market.
15. Crate & Barrel
If you need inspiration for your home improvement projects, check out Crate & Barrel’s free catalog to help you with ideas.
You can request a catalog by filling out this form.
16. Country Living
This magazine is mainly a resource for country-living enthusiasts with a focus on cooking, gardening, homesteading, and more, but there are also arts and crafts featured in this magazine.
17. Annie’s Craft Catalog
Annie’s Craft catalog is a favorite needlecraft resource with many knitting, crocheting, and craft projects, designs, and patterns in every issue.
This is one of the most popular crafting catalogs around, which is why it’s a paid catalog, but the site does offer freebies every now and then. Subscribe to its newsletter to learn about promotions with free subscriptions.
18. SchoolArts
This free craft magazine is geared towards kids and teens.
SchoolArts magazine has been giving art inspiration to kids all over the world since 1901. Each issue of SchoolArts is filled with current, relevant information for the classroom.
19. Lego Life Magazine
The LEGO Life magazine is free for kids ages 5 and 9.
It is delivered straight to your home 5 times a year (even the shipping is free). The magazine features many things such as LEGO products, special offers, comics, games, contests, modeling tips, project tutorials, and more.
20. Crazy Shirts
Do your kids have a tie-die shirt project? Are you planning to paint on shirts as a business? Crazy Shirts is an online store that sells t-shirts, face masks, hoodies, pants, accessories, and a lot more.
To request a free Crazy Shirts Catalog, just fill out the form on their website.
Where Else Can You Find Free Craft Magazines?
Many catalogs are given free to customers if they buy in-store.
If you’re visiting general art & craft shops, ask what catalogs are available at no cost. Industry-specific shops such as toy stores, hobbyist shops, woodworking stores, and other similar retailers would also be good sources of free catalogs.
You can also find a lot of online magazines with a treasure of content. For example, Knitty is aimed at helping those who want to improve their knitting skills with free patterns from pattern-makers around the world. Interweave publishes several arts& crafts online mags (such as Quilting Daily, Artist Daily, Beading Daily, and Crochet Me.)
While you’re waiting for your free craft magazines by mail (it usually arrives after several weeks), make sure you sign-up for other freebies that you can use for your upcoming projects.
Check out these lists of goodies and supplies:
- Free craft supplies
- Free wood pallets and milk crates (for woodworking)
- Free stickers and bookmarks (for journaling)
- Free soap samples and bath bombs (if you’re trying to make your own)
- Free magnets and other free stuff for kids (for parents who want to keep kids busy with arts & crafts)
For all other kinds of catalogs (beyond arts & crafts), check out this huge list of free catalogs.
