This lush, visual book is a must-have volume for both beginning and experienced art journalers. Each chapter presents crucial, basic information for how to get started, and is layered with in-depth sidebars and activities covering advanced techniques, approaches to working, as well as interviews with well-known journaling artists. The book comes with a beautiful blank journal in a take-along size (made from paper upcycled from the printing process), ready to catch your daily inspirations.

    From the clever decorations and take-home gifts, to classes, games, and a Hogwarts-worthy feast, no detail is forgotten. Your party guests will marvel at every magical moment of their journey into the world of witchcraft and wizardry.

    More than a dozen categories include Alphabet, Asian Chic, Baby, Celebrations, Embellishments, Fruits & Veggies, Space, Trees, Flowers, Winged Wonders, and Woodland Creatures-and each section includes one motif stitched by the author. The motifs on the CD are in simple black lines, so readers can easily manipulate them using their own image-editing software, print them out, and transfer them onto their substrate of choice using the instructions in the book.PROJECTS INCLUDE:Wearables: Jewelry, pajama pants, hat and mittens o Home Décor: Fabric basket, decorative wall hangings, more o Gift Items: Keepsake gift bags

    Watercolor Painting For Dummies shows you the fun and easy way to create breathtaking paintings so beautiful you won't believe you made them yourself. This friendly, guide gives you hands-on instruction and easy-to-follow, step-by-step exercises to help you master the basics. Filled with full-color projects and sample paintings, it shows you how to work with color and texture, practice composition, and make smooth changes. You'll find out how to select the best tools, materials, and supplies, practice basic brush strokes, and use the three best common techniques: flat wash, graded wash, and rough texture. Discover how to:Select the right brushes, pigments, and paper Mix colors and work with white Create backgrounds and foregrounds Transfer your drawings to watercolor Avoid common watercolor mistakes Experiment with texture using salt, sponges, plastic wrap, and more Find your way around the color wheel Practice the principles of design Plan compositions using thumbnails Work with one-point, two-point, and three-point perspective Paint fabrics, shiny surfaces, and organic textures Paint landscapes, seascapes, animals and more Complete with strategies for improving your painting immediately and marketing and selling your work, Watercolor Painting For Dummies, is the resource you need to make your creative dreams come true.

    From the lovely English Garden Quilt to the playful Road Transport Pillow, the projects collected in Whip Up Mini Quilts cover all sorts of themes and looks. With plenty of step-by-step instructions and helpful how-to illustrations, this book showcases an artful approach to design basics while outlining the fundamentals of quilting techniques. Best of all, it all comes in a user-friendly format with lay-flat binding and pattern sheets tucked into the front pocket.

    With the turn of each page, Liz Fourez leads you on a tour through her family’s house, restored to its 1940s rustic farm style, and teaches you how to make each handmade decoration yourself. The projects require minimal effort, yet add instant charm to any room. With your blue jeans on and a few of the most basic supplies in hand, you’ll be on your way to your dream home in no time.You’ll learn how to make a custom wood Family Name Sign for your living room, a Wooden Boot Tray on Casters for the entryway, a Ruffled Stool Slipcover for the kitchen and a Rustic Wooden Frame for the bedroom, plus decorations for the office, bathroom, kids’ bedroom and playroom. Farmhouse style is about cultivating a connection among family, home and nature; A Touch of Farmhouse Charm helps you bring the warmth and beauty of simpler times to your modern life naturally.

    . . What is remarkable about this book is that a history of knitting can function so well as a survey of the changes in women's roles over time."--The New York Times Book ReviewAn historian and lifelong knitter, Anne Macdonald expertly guides readers on a revealing tour of the history of knitting in America. In No Idle Hands, Macdonald considers how the necessity--and the pleasure--of knitting has shaped women's lives.Here is the Colonial woman for whom idleness was a sin, and her Victorian counterpart, who enjoyed the pleasure of knitting while visiting with friends; the war wife eager to provide her man with warmth and comfort, and the modern woman busy creating fashionable handknits for herself and her family. Macdonald examines each phase of American history and gives us a clear and compelling look at life, then and now. And through it all, we see how knitting has played an important part in the way society has viewed women--and how women have viewed themselves.Assembled from articles in magazines, knitting brochures, newspaper clippings and other primary sources, and featuring reproductions of advertisements, illustrations, and photographs from each period, No Idle Hands capture the texture of women's domestic lives throughout history with great wit and insight."Colorful and revealing . . . vivid . . . This book will intrigue needlewomen and students of domestic history alike."--The Washington Post Book World

    A full-color page of the finished dolls accompanies each character, along with large, easy-to-follow instructions and whimsical descriptions. Learn how to create 20 different characters in all, including favorites Sprite, Bad Guy, and Pinkie, and new additions Munky and Spritekin.

    This book can help you bring all of these together in one beautiful creation.Here you'll see magnificent collages by leading artists who show you--in step-by-step demonstrations--how to begin, how to design, how to apply collage techniques in exciting ways.Plus you'll get your chance to use those techniques with nearly fifty projects that challenge you to do your most creative work.

    

    You're free to quiet your inner critic and spill color (as well as your thoughts) all over the page. Author Diana Trout offers a double-dose of encouragement for you to try out new techniques, to ask yourself new questions and to see how safe of a place your private journal can truly be.Whether you've been carrying around an art journal for years, or have been waiting for just the right push, in the pages of "Journal Spilling" you will learn new ways with mixed media as well as new insights about yourself. Step-by-step instruction will make the process easy and you'll explore such techniques as: Using salt, alcohol and wax paper as resists for watercolorSpilling" color over your page with the help of watercolor crayonsCreating unique lines and shapes with a fun ink-blowing techniqueMaking secret pockets and flaps for storing wishes and private reflectionsCarving and stamping with hand-carved stamps, making your pages even more personalGetting out of a writing rut with prompts and inspiring exercises and much more Find out just how fulfilling using creative expression in your personal journal can be and let "Journal Spilling" be the friend to offer you support for each page you create."

    Focusing on a popular art medium that has been around for over 50 years, The New Acrylics illustrates how artists can create lush textures, color, and luster with the modern acrylics readily available in any art supply store. These are nontoxic, environmentally sound, and exist in the most dazzling array of chemical formats—from the most fluid to the highly viscous. Not only do artists paint with acrylics these days, they can create rich metallic effects, or even 3-dimensional sculptures. Traditional technique based books on acrylics cover traditional methods of painting. However, The New Acrylics is geared toward more nonconventional ways in which to manipulate modern-day acrylics, and demonstrates new applications such as glazing, textured effects, soft sculpture effects, or staining, thus reinventing the old way of handling acrylics, and revealing a fabulous new artistic medium. The underlying theme of this dazzling and sophisticated book is to encourage artists to interpret and handle acrylic paints in a vibrant, fresh, and above all, individualistic style.

    Many crocheters make mandalas as a meditative activity, while others love them simply for the wonderful opportunities they offer for mixing colors and stitch textures. A new take on traditional shapes, like granny squares or hexagons, these attractive crocheted circles are causing a real buzz in the crochet community.Included are complete written and charted directions for a variety of types of circular designs, plus a range of creative techniques and ideas to make yours stand out from the crowd. With full patterns and inspiring photos, a review of crochet techniques, a discussion of materials, colors, finishing techniques, and lots of project ideas including bags, shawls, blankets, and pillows, this book guarantees many hours of happy mandala-making.

    A chapter on understanding color principles offers novice spinners the skills needed to easily work with color while providing advanced spinning techniques for the expert dyer. A gallery of finished pieces as well as appendixes on dye workshops and metric conversions are included.

    You’ll learn several approaches for getting started, and you’ll also discover how to shape comfortable toes, create heels that fit, and ensure stretchy cuffs that can be counted on to keep your socks up. Druchunas’s useful tips and tricks include working confidently with double-pointed needles, knitting socks on one or two circular needles, and even knitting two socks at the same time. Once you’ve mastered these basic techniques, you can adapt them to create your own custom sock designs.