Upcycling: Create Beautiful Things with the Stuff You Already Have


Danny Seo - 2011
    Have neglected items around your house? They can be the source for exciting craft possibilities! Turn your old leather belts into a cool doormat (or even a briefcase!); worn-out paperbacks into gorgeous bud vases; tennis balls into a quaint country swing; chopsticks into a handsome trivet, and many more.With full-color photos throughout to guide and inspire, Danny shows that it's easy to be crafty, and fun to be budget- and eco-conscious.

Knitted Toys


Zoe Mellor - 2006
    From a cute chick and a stripy snake to colourful mice and a patchwork tortoise, this title presents 25 knitting patterns for adorable toys for newborns to teens.

Steampunkery: Polymer Clay and Mixed Media Projects


Christi Friesen - 2010
    Step-by-step pictures combined with detailed and humorous instructions keep the pace quick and the excitement level high. Steampunk look combines a Victorian-era sense of romance with a clockwork mechanical-ness. This book adapts those characteristics to polymer clay creations and offers projects that are sophisticated yet playful, challenging without being difficult. This eighth book by well-known author/artist Christi Friesen is her best yet!

Stupid Sock Creatures: Making Quirky, Lovable Figures from Cast-off Socks


John Murphy - 2005
    Crafters with a sense of humor, a taste for the weird, wacky, and way-out, and a hunger for the outrageous will find themselves captured by this wildly creative menagerie of sock monsters.Possessed of irresistible charm, these creatures offer all the inspiration anyone needs to transform cast-off socks into wickedly funny toys. There's Claude with his perplexed expression and tiny tail that stands at full attention. Jordan's always on the prowl; he's got three eyes, so nothing escapes him. And there's something really odd about Estelle. Maybe it's her silly conical head balanced precariously on four tiny feet--or perhaps it's just that she's always sticking out her bright red tongue. Great instructions and charming illustrations make it easy to bring these unique personalities to life. A Selection of the Crafters Choice Book Club.

Vogue® Knitting The Ultimate Knitting Book: Completely Revised Updated


Vogue Knitting - 2018
    The second edition, released in 2002, further cemented its place as the most trusted knitting resource. The past 15 years have seen many exciting advances in knitting, and this update encompasses them all. It features an expanded library of cast-ons, increases, decreases, and bind-offs; in-depth sections on newly favorite techniques such as brioche, entrelac, double knitting, and mosaic knitting; and design and construction chapters that go beyond just sweaters to encompass dozens of options for hats, mittens, socks, gloves, and more than 25 shawl shapes. Comprehensive chapters cover lace and cabling, and provide even more Information than before on knitters' tools, correcting errors, finishing, embellishing, and garment care to give you a masterly understanding of every stage of knitting. With updated, revised, and fresh material throughout, 65 additional pages, and more than 1,600 photos and hand-drawn step-by-step illustrations, Vogue Knitting The Ultimate Knitting Book is surprisingly easy to navigate with thorough indexing and footnote cross-referencing. From beginners needing to learn the very basics to seasoned knitters wanting a refresher on a complex technique, every knitter will cherish this guide for years to come.

The Ultimate Sashiko Sourcebook: Patterns, Projects and Inspirations


Susan Briscoe - 2005
    - Easy-to-follow instructions for creating beautiful, elaborate designs with more than 90 Sashiko patterns- 33 projects incorporate different designs and techniques- Features a full-color inspirational gallery of Sashiko work from contemporary textile artists.

The Better Bag Maker: An Illustrated Handbook of Handbag Design Techniques, Tips, and Tricks


Nicole Mallalieu - 2014
    In this how-to book accomplished bag maker, Nicole Mallalieu, reveals her high-end techniques, shortcuts, and secrets for professional design and finishes. The 10 featured projects teach a range of expert skills from adjusting the proportion of the pattern to constructing pockets, straps, flaps, and bases.. By the end of this book, you ll have a closetful of polished bags and most likely sew better than you ever imagined you could."

100 Flowers to Knit & Crochet: A Collection of Beautiful Blooms for Embellishing Garments, Accessories, and More


Lesley Stanfield - 2009
    As a finishing touch for all your handmade garments or a great pick-me-up for a vintage find, these lovely blooms are the perfect way to use up scraps of yarn or try out interesting new yarns.Breeze through this gorgeous collection featuring a colorful palette of simple spiraling roses, saucer-sized poppies, delicate lilacs, an assortment of vegetables, and more. All are shown full-size and in scale and is complete with stitched leaves and embroidered stems. Each flower pattern has full instructions, yarn requirements, and a suggested skill level. An additional section serves as a refresher course with basic techniques and provides inspiration for embellishing your finished flowers with beads, buttons, and sequins. You can also learn how to use the flowers in a range of fun projects, from customizing clothing and accessories, to decorating gift-wrapped packages.This book will inspire all knitters and crocheters to pick up their needles and start creating their own beautiful blooms.

The Polymer Clay Techniques Book


Sue Heaser - 1999
    It then moves on to marbling effects, simulating textiles, making frames, building miniature pots, and creating faux stones.Inspirational examples of work from some of the best polymer clay artists in the world will fire your imagination and provide ideas for developing your own designs.

Scrapbookers Almanac


Elizabeth Dillow - 2007
    Includes meaningful ways to use your existing & future photos. Has creative ideas for preserving precious details of your life. Includes tips for finding inspiration in each day!

Alabama Stitch Book: Projects and Stories Celebrating Hand-Sewing, Quilting and Embroidery for Contemporary Sustainable Style


Natalie Chanin - 2008
    Alabama Stitch Book brings us a collection of projects and stories from her clothing and lifestyle company, Alabama Chanin, known for the cutting-edge twist it puts on tried-and-true sewing, quilting, and embroidery techniques, applied mostly by hand to recycled cotton jersey.This long-awaited book from Chanin begins with her story. After living in New York and Vienna for over 20 years, she began to transform cotton T-shirts into high fashion using the needlework skills she learned as a child in Florence, Alabama. When she moved home, Chanin hired local women (many of whom had worked in the state’s now defunct textile factories) to stitch her couture collections with her.What follows is a step-by-step guide to the stitching, stenciling, and beading techniques used in the 20 projects showcased in the book: T-shirts, skirts, and corsets that are sold at chic shops around the world, plus a journal cover, sampler quilt, and tablecloth, among others. Also included are a pullout stencil, perforated postcard for bead-embroidery, and reusable patterns. Throughout are Robert Rausch’s beautiful photographs set against the back roads, farms, and homesteads of the rural South.

The Artful Year: Celebrating the Seasons and Holidays with Crafts and Recipes--Over 175 Family- Friendly Activities


Jean Van't Hul - 2015
         Celebrating the seasons and holidays is a wonderful opportunity to embrace creativity together as a family. It's also a fun way to decorate, prepare for, and learn about the holidays we celebrate. In The Artful Year, you'll find art activites, crafts, recipes, and more to help make each season special. By doing so, your family will create memories and mementos, you'll develop creative growth in your children and yourself, and you'll have lots of fun! The book includes:    • Arts and crafts, using the materials, colors, and themes of the season    • Decorations to make as a family    • Favorite seasonal recipes that are fun for children to help make (and eat)    • Ideas for celebrating the holidays together    • Suggested reading lists of children's picture books about the seasons and holidays The Artful Year is a fun and active resource for crafting and celebrating around the year!

The Decorated Journal: Creating Beautifully Expressive Journal Pages


Gwen Diehn - 2005
    It simply brims with suggestions and instructions. Find out about the wealth of contemporary supplies, from papers and adhesives to paints, pens, and pastels. See how to create the actual journal from scratch, including a quick-to-complete Three Minute Pamphlet. Use the tips for customizing a store-bought book that could use a little flair. Build layered pages, take advantage of the creative potential of transparencies, and more.

Christmas Curiosities: Odd, Dark, and Forgotten Christmas


John Grossman - 2008
    It’s time for . . . rowdy bands of drunkards roaming the streets, lighting firecrackers, and firing off guns? Gangs of masked youths invading people’s houses, demanding food, drink, and money—and threatening to break the windows (or worse) unless they’re given what they want?Welcome to Christmas, circa 1800. Yes, the season of light, joy, and gift-giving was once regarded as a time of darkness, danger, and dissipation—and celebrated with all-too-public displays of noisemaking, inebriation, and gluttonous overeating. (Well, maybe not everything has changed.) And though we tend to imagine Victorian-era Christmases as sentimental gatherings around the candlelit tree, blazing hearth, and festive punchbowl, the 19th-century evidence tells us quite otherwise.Drawing from his extensive collection of antique postcards, greeting cards, advertising giveaways, and other ephemera, author John Grossman presents a picture of Christmas past that, frankly, looks a lot more like Halloween. Broomstick-riding witches and vampire bat–borne cupids deliver New Year’s greetings. Fur-clad fairies gather ’round a campfire to roast their Christmas dinner—a huge dead rat. And Saint Nicholas? He’s that skinny guy in the bishop robes who arrives with his dark companion, the Devil-like Krampus brandishing switches to punish the badly behaved.With Christmas Curiosities, STC wishes you a very merry, very scary Christmas.

Making Bead & Wire Jewelry


Dawn Cusick - 2000
    The projects include: - earrings - necklaces - bracelets - pendants - a contemporary eyeglass chain - - hair clip - filigree choker - finger rings - pins - eyeglass cord - There are complete instructions on bead and wire crafting basics; materials, tips and techniques, tools and work spaces are all thoroughly covered. * Two best-selling craft subjects - bead jewellery and wire jewellery - together in one book. * Styles range from the delicate and graceful to bold and chunky. * Beads range from small delicate crystals to large brilliant pieces of turquoise. * Wire includes the new wires currently available, textured and dyed every colour of the rainbow, plus copper, gold and silver options.