You’ve been asking for years now. I’ve been listening. I know that we need a better “Get Started” section. I know that for someone like me before I started building furniture, things that are so simple to me now like cutting a board or changing a bit on a drill, were intimidating and foreign.

Some of you can learn by reading, some of you have someone who will show you how. But many of you are visual learners, and don’t have a husband, neighbor, friend, or anyone that can show you how to do simple building techniques. We need a library of simple skill videos to help beginning builders master skills like cutting, drilling, measuring, and everything else that goes into DIY furniture.

But creating videos is very expensive and time consuming. And with our three giant projects going on – The Momplex, my book, and our daughter Grace – it seems adding video tutorials would never happen.

But then the right opportunity came. The folks at 3MDIY.com reached out to me and asked if I was interested in creating some video tutorials with an emphasis on safety. Now I’m the kind of gal that has a pair of earplugs in every coat pocket, wouldn’t think of using a saw without safety glasses, and can rock a respirator in public with pride.

So I jumped at the opportunity to create some video tutorials that could potentially help someone learn to build – and build safely. We ordered a video camera, figured out how a mic works, and here’s the first of what I hope will be many, many videos featuring skill tutorials!

If you have any tips that can help enhance the content of the videos, please, share in the comments. We’d love to hear from you how you build!

And if you are as excited about seeing video tutorials, please comment below on video tutorials you’d like to see us take on. Want to know how to cut angles? What type of sandpaper to start with? How to check for square? Let me know so I can prioritize!

And a huge thank you to 3MDIY.com for making this happen!

Here are the first videos -

In this video, I use my ten year old palm sander to sand a project. If you've never sanded before with a power sander, take a second to watch this video.

I'll admit cutting with a circular saw has always been a challenge for me. But if I clamp a guide to a board, it really makes cutting with a circular saw much easier, safer, and more precise. Let the free end fall so your saw doesn't get pinched, and clamp everything down well!

Cutting with a jigsaw can be a challenge because everything looks great on top ... but your blade curves and ruins your cut!!! Definitely practice lots before cutting your good wood, and pay attention to not just where you are cutting, but to what the blade is doing.

Throughout these video tutorials, I use 3M TEKK Protection to protect my eyes, ears, and lungs. Be safe.

I also use 3M Advanced Abrasives to sand projects with in these videos and also at home.

These videos and this post were created through contributions from 3MDIY.com. 3M DIY is the ultimate meeting place for do-it-yourselfers who want to get things done the right way — with the right products. They are hosting a weekly product giveaway that includes a lot of the products that I will be using here in these videos, so enter to win them for free.

Thank you 3MDIY.com!

What video tutorials would you like me to tackle next?