Take up arts and crafts with your PC

For many people, arts and crafts provide an outlet for creativity. Whether you are keen on knitting, an enthusiastic artist or a budding gardener, the possibilities for exploring your ideas are endless ­ and, believe it or not, your computer can help out. In this feature we’ll show you how a PC can extend the scope of your chosen craft. So, if you want to create a cross-stitch pattern from a family photograph, give your garden a design makeover, take up a digital paint brush or simply want to learn a new craft, there are plenty of programs and advice online to get you started.

Sowing the seeds of success
The UK is renowned for bad weather, so unless you’re a stalwart of the gardening world, how do you cope with being cooped up indoors when really you would like to be pottering outdoors? The cold, wet months provide you with time to plan your garden and research a maintenance routine ­ – all you need is your computer.

There are many programs on the market to help you redesign your garden either online ­ visit Garden Design Pro (from £19) or using a software package like 3D Garden Designer Deluxe, but there are also many freeware applications and online tools.

Garden Planner online lets you design the basics of your garden. This free online version lets you draw the shape of your garden, add fencing, decking, plants and even a pond (you can print your plan but cannot save it). You can buy the full version for $19.95 (about £14 at Smallbl ueprinter).

Find a forum for your craft
If you are searching for inspiration, forums are a great way to interact with fellow gardeners to explore their expertise. Simply type in your thoughts, post them to the relevant subject board and wait for a response. Some sites require registration.

Here are our top 10 forums:

The Sewing Forum: Contains a knowledge base and discussion forums.

Sewing support: Includes a list of forums containing advice for all levels.

Knittingforums: Includes web links to free patterns, discussions on techniques and tutorials.

Letsknit: Covers knitting and crochet, charity projects and solutions to knitting problems.

Ozzu.com: Features examples of digital artwork from the novice to the expert.

Wet Canvas: Includes advice and tutorials. You can also get advice about starting out in digital painting.

Craft: Features new design ideas covering a variety of paper crafts.

UKscrappers: Includes craft show information and guidance on creating digital scrapboo ks.

Gardenbanter: General gardening tips and advice, including specialist skills, including Bonsai.

Growsonyou: Upload garden photos and read other gardeners’ blogs.

Maintenance tipsEven if your garden does not need a makeover, maintenance is a must to keep your flowers looking fresh and you lawn luscious. Visit Gardenadvice for a guide to looking after your garden or the Garden Network for video tutorials on tasks including deadheading roses and protecting plants from frost.

There are also plenty of garden planners online – ­ visit the Garden Planner and the BBC website or type ‘annual garden maintenance’ into a Google search. Just make sure you search UK websites (click the ‘UK pages only’ button before pressing Search in Google), as the climate in this country differs from other countries.

Some gardening websites now offer RSS feeds, and you can ­ subscribe to one of these for updates on all sorts of gardening topics. Our favourite was the one at Safegardening which included features on plants to avoid if you have pets, gardening for the disabled and even how to help a person suffering from anaphylactic shock following a bee sting.