We make to share. We make to connect with others. Crafters all over the world are using their hands and hearts to make a statement, change the world, and build community.Craft Activism is an inspiring celebration of this growing movement. Inside, dozens of superstars of this grassroots phenomenon share their experiences, tips, and advice on living, teaching, and promoting a more meaningful DIY lifestyle. Learn to craft for your cause, connect with other crafters, think green, organize a fair, host an online exchange, create yarn graffiti, and more. The book also includes 17 creative projects from designers who challenge you to reimagine how your craft skills can be used to make a difference. Whether you knit, sew, crochet, or collage--and even if you're not sure where to begin--this book is your guide to the incredible power of handmade.

    From an Ombre Painted Canvas and Ribbon Chandelier to Chalkboard Frames and Sequin Curtains, this guide shows you how to create the fabulous room decor crafts that you've spotted in magazines and online on your Tumblr dashboard. With just a few simple tools and Smith's guidance, you'll turn your bedroom into a super cool space your friends will envy. Every page also includes step-by-step photographs that guide you through the process, so you'll never have to worry about how your projects will come out.Filled with easy-to-follow instructions for 50 imaginative ideas, DIY Bedroom Decor helps you transform your current space into the bedroom of your dreams!

    There's a Russian Shawl Quilt, inspired by traditional motifs of Russian folk art, a Floral Frocks Quilt inspired by summer dresses, flower gardens and herbaceous borders and a Suits and Ties Quilt reusing sober woollen suiting contrasting with extravagant silk ties designed in an Irish Chain.Finally, a practical section covers all the knowledge you’ll need – from chainpiecing, hand-quilting and sandwiching to binding, storage and caring for your quilt. Armed with the design tools, you can embark on your quilting journey and begin creating your own personal masterpiece.

    Then rev up the sewing machine for fast mends that put the pedal to the metal. Even with a limited budget and not much time to spare, you can create eye-catching repairs with visible mending--35 examples and more than 150 photos make it easy to put your unique mark on everything you mend!

    Explore intriguing methods of combining bookbinding with specific crafts such as quilting, jewelry making, or polymer clay with Adventures in Bookbinding! With different levels of expertise including basic, novice, and expert, this book is filled with illustrated step-by-step instructions and photographs that demonstrate how to construct the cover pages, create unique bindings, and much more with a diverse range of media.From a needle-felted journal to a quilted workbook (and many more), each project also features two other versions with the same binding geared to those with more or less experience.  The novice version is for those who have no knowledge of the craft and want shortcuts, but love the look. The expert version is for those who have a great deal of knowledge and proficiency of a certain craft—the master art quilter, for example.  For this version, an expert guest artist has created the cover and the author has created the binding.  This offers yet another creative opportunity: the collaborative project.  If you love getting involved with round-robins and other shared endeavors, this will show you yet another way to combine your skills with other crafters!Discover endless possibilities and challenges that will forever inspire you with Adventures in Bookbinding!

    Hoopla rebels against the quaint and familiar embroidery motifs of flowers and swashes, and focuses instead on innovative stitch artists who specialize in unusual, guerrilla-style patterns such as a mythical jackalope and needlepoint nipple doilies; it demonstrates that modern embroidery artists are as sharp as the needles with which they work.Hoopla includes twenty-eight innovative embroidery patterns and profiles of contemporary embroidery artists, including Jenny Hart, author of Sublime Stitching; Rosa Martyn of the UK-based Craftivism Collective; Ray Materson, an ex-con who learned to stitch in prison; Sherry Lynn Wood of the Tattooed Baby Doll Project, which collaborated with female tattoo artists across the United States; Penny Nickels and Johnny Murder, the self-proclaimed Bonnie and Clyde of embroidery; and Alexandra Walters, a military wife who replicates military portraits and weapons in her stitching.Full-color throughout and bursting with history, technique, and sass, Hoopla will teach readers how to stitch a ransom note pillow, mean and dainty knuckle-tattoo church gloves; and create their own innovative embroidery projects. If you like anarchistic DIY craft and the idea of deviating from the rules, Hoopla will inspire you to wield a needle with flair!With a foreword by Betsy Greer.

    * Easy to follow How To Crochet illustrations * Fun and simple projects to make * Learn a variety of crochet stitches and skills * Perfect for absolute beginners * Projects include hats, scarves, mittens, baby blankets, scented hearts, granny squares and more! This is the ONLY beginner's book you'll need to start to crochet today!!

    Noah made 365 skull-themed projects . . . now he invites you to choose your obsession and get creative! The book offers 365 project prompts to kick start your creativity, plus plenty of room for journaling, sketching, and jotting down ideas. Learn how to choose your subject and document your work, and see examples from other artists and crafters who took the 365 challenge. In addition, master new techniques to incorporate into your projects, including quilling, clay-making, paper pop-up engineering, and more. Share your progress with other 365-ers at www.MakeSomething365.com. With 365: A Daily Creativity Journal you’ll get charged up, get messy, and get inspired, and you’ll see how making something every day can change your creative process—and change your life—forever!

    It is also an exploration of how mending can be a gently healing practice in our daily lives and a small act of rebellion in a world where many things are discarded without thought.Mending Life encourages us to cherish our things by repairing them rather than discarding them. It also encourages us to change our consumption habits so that with small mends here and there, we extend the life of our garments and other household items. This handbook is for beginners but also offers more advanced techniques to those with some experience in mending. You'll learn basic techniques such as patching, but will have options to take it a step further with decorative sashiko stitching; you'll also learn how to darn socks and mend sweaters, as well as things like a tear in a bedsheet or down jacket. And along the way, the authors share heartfelt stories about the powerful act of mending, which strengthens not only the object we are repairing, but ourselves as well. Vibrant, full-color illustrations are woven throughout the handbook. Mending Life is a timeless, practical guide to cherishing and caring for our belongings.

    challenges designed to really get you to think about your life, your art, yourself. In this book, the authors showcase some of the best challenges from their site along with over 25 new challenges to get your creative juices flowing. And the layouts inspired by the Dares, created by the authors and their amazing contributing artists, are the perfect jumpstart to get you thinking about your scrapbooking in a whole new way.

    Ultimate Crochet Bible is the ideal guide for anyone casting the first time, but is also the definitive reference for more experienced practitioners who just need to brush up on a technique. Filled with more than 400 images, it explains exactly how to create garments, jewelry, accessories, and more, from the basic chain stitch to finishing touches like a picot trim. Additional topics include creating texture, structure and shaping, color work, and embellishments.

    In BiblioCraft, Pigza hones her literary hunting-and-gathering skills to help creatives of all types, from DIY hobbyists to fine artists, develop projects based on library resources. In Part I, she explains how to take advantage of the riches libraries have to offer—both in person and online. In Part II, she presents 20+ projects inspired by library resources from a stellar designer cast, including STC Craft authors Natalie Chanin, Heather Ross, Liesl Gibson, and Gretchen Hirsch, and Design*Sponge founder Grace Bonney. Whatever the quest—historic watermarks transformed into pillows, Japanese family crests turned into coasters, or historic millinery instructions worked into floral fascinators—anyone can utilize library resources to bring their creative visions to life.

    Go for a swim with the mermaids and nymphs, go Nessie-spotting and dragon hunting and follow the fairies and unicorns on a walk through the forest. And there’s much more waiting for you at the end of the rainbow! Beginners as well as advanced crocheters can conjure up these adorable fantasy creatures with a flick of their hooks. All patterns are accompanied by easy-to-follow instructions as well as explanations of all stitches used, and are easily customizable, so it’s a small step to imagine your very own fantasy amigurumi!

    Amy Atlas gained an international following when she introduced the concept of meshing baking and crafting to make beautiful sweets spreads. She has designed tables for Brooke Shields, Electrolux with Kelly Ripa, Gayle King, Martha Stewart Weddings, Mindy Weiss, and O Magazine. Since 2008, hundreds of thousands of readers have flocked to her award-winning blog, Sweet Designs. Now they'll learn how she does it for the first time in her first book filled with brand-new tables, original recipes, do-it-yourself instructions, and dozens of tips and secrets.Sweet Designs includes 15 chapters filled with more than 100 recipes for every kind of irresistible treat, plus over 75 easy, affordable DIY craft projects to make them even more special. Each chapter features an amazing dessert table that reflects themes Amy's clients most often request: a favorite color, design, flavor, destination, passion, or holiday. Amy tells readers how they can make just one item, mix and match items from different tables, or make the dessert tables as shown. For every maid of honor who needs to plan an epic bridal shower (and then later the baby shower), every mom who needs to put together a birthday bash her kids will never forget, and every Scrabble aficionado who wants to throw the game-night party to end all game-night parties, Amy serves up that elusive "wow factor" to make every celebration an event to remember.

    Hand colored in vivid combinations of painterly hues, Noro yarns are as striking to behold as they are easy to work with. This follow-up to Knit Noro features 32 small projects knitters can complete in a weekend, including Leg Warmers, Cabled Mittens, a Lace Flap Hat, and even an iPad cover.