The introduction gives the reader a candid look into the knitting world of the daughter of America’s first famous knitter and author, Elizabeth Zimmerman. Full of original designs, this book includes instructions and charts for 22 sweaters, three vests, four fitted-arch socks, and three convertible-top mittens, each rendered in four-color fashion photography taken on-site at Meg’s home. A section on techniques includes a glossary of relevant knitting terms, the famous EZ Percentage System, and various ways to cast on, bind off, increase, and decrease.

    In 15 projects organized in three levels, from novice to intermediate, Trish provides expert, easy-to-follow guidance on techniques for surface stitching that provide subtle shadings and a soft, paintlike blending of colors. Sections on materials, the long and short stitch, and helpful practice motifs lead to gorgeous projects like Burgundy Rosebuds, a Wild Pansy, and a Racquet-tailed Roller.

    Families decorate grave sites with marigolds and set up stunning altars. Streets flutter with paper banners. Store windows glisten with sugar skulls. Skeleton figures grin rakishly from every corner. Day of the Dead Crafts is filled with dozens of terrific projects that allow you to participate in the excitement of the holiday while expressing your own creativity. You'll enjoy showcasing these unique, fun, and meaningful projects throughout the year.Inside you'll find step-by-step instructions, ideas, and inspiration for a wide range of projects, including:Calaveras, those comical and clever skeleton figures caught in the act of enjoying life's favorite activitiesMasks and skulls made from paper mache, gourds, and even sugarA meaningful and artistic ofrenda, or altar, to honor those who have passedNecklaces, earrings, bracelets, and more to wear day or nightPieces guaranteed to liven up any decorColorful, whimsical, and often dramatic, Day of the Dead art is steeped in rich history and symbolism. The projects in Day of the Dead Crafts honor the traditional, while taking advantage of today's materials for a fresh and exciting twist.

    Features classic patterns with contrasting colors that stand out beautifully!Whether you’re searching for the perfect gift, creating a family heirloom, or just looking for a simple pattern to crochet, Afghans are a great place to start! Easy step-by-step instructions for 20 vintage crochet afghan patterns.Feeling adventurous? These classic Afghans can be created using a variety of modern yarns as well as the vintage yarns called out in these patterns. Designed and formatted specifically for your Amazon Kindle, you can easily navigate through chapters using the linked Table of Contents found at the start of this edition.

    You will learn to create simple, balanced features and add shading with colored pencils and paint. From there, you will learn how to draw the rest of the figure and put it into a unique, textured, mixed-media background.- Learn to design costumes and personalities for your girls and adapt them to fit your own artistic style.- Create vivid, exciting backgrounds by layering paint, collaging with fabric, carving beeswax, distressing wood, and building up texture with mediums and pastes.- And the accompanying online videos include a mini workshop full of whimsical mayhem, motivation, and real-time video with Suzi Blu, showing you detailed drawing and shading techniques for faces, beeswax finishes, and how to make a mixed-media art journal start to finish.

    The Prayer Shawl Companion presents 38 wondrous wraps for all occasions from baptism to remembrance. The book includes easy intermediate to challenging patterns that include heartwarming stories to and from shawl recipients. 176 pages.

    By referring to the sketches in the book, you can select photos, papers and embellishments and then bring the page together quickly and easily. In addition to an inspiring, design-filled idea book, you'll get a deck of laminated cards that includes a thumbnail of many of the sketches in the book along with corresponding finished layouts. Helpful resource information such as a supply list and photo sizes are included on each card, along with page information cross-referencing the sketch back to the book. Scrapbook PageMaps is the essential book for beginning scrapbookers as well as those short on time.

    A must-have book for any quilt or craft library." --Denyse Schmidt (author of Denyse Schmidt Quilts). . . My approach to quilting is an approach for true beginners. I don't like triangles, circles, hexagons, diamonds, rhombuses, or any shape that makes measuring a chore. (Can we stop right here and ponder the word rhombus? Man, that word is hilarious.) In this book, every project is designed using only squares and rectangles. Why just squares and rectangles? Because straight seams are easy to stitch!Craft a modern quilt with independent quilt-maker Boo Davis, whose fun, slightly quirky designs take quilts into new graphic territory. Using only simple shapes like rectangles and squares you'll see robots, skulls, alarm clocks, and owls come to life as fabulous, full-size quilts. With 10 charming quilt patterns, and 15 eye-popping patchwork projects perfect for afternoon or weekend crafting, Dare to Be Square Quilting reinterprets quilt traditions such as basket weave, rail fence, and housetop designs in a bold new way. With advice on color and fabric selection, and an extensive how-to section on quilting, Davis teaches the fastest, simplest, and most reliable methods modern quilting has to offer.Dare to make a quilt that's funny, fabulous, and from the heart . . . Dare to be square!

    Featuring a beautiful layout and magnificent photography, this keepsake volume features stitch pattern flowers, petal constructed flowers, cord flowers, and the extremely popular felted flowers. Some make fanciful pieces of jewelry; others can adorn handicrafts for a fabulous finishing touch. Epstein offers yarn suggestions and colors, and encourages crocheters to experiment with all the interesting choices in the market today to create breathtaking corsages and bouquets. Among the pretty garden blossoms: a calla lily, blue and purple pansies, a delicate and lacy white wedding boutonniere, complete with a pearl center; and a selection of floral corkscrews.A Selection of the Crafter’s Choice Book Club.

    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.

    That is creativity," say award-winning craftsmen Beiderman and Johnston in this well-organized and highly instructive guidebook that tells you everything you need to know to create attractive woodcarvings.Especially written for the novice, it shows how to produce realistic animals, flowers, and humorous figures in a variety of forms: in the round, in relief, and as line carvings. A wide spectrum of more than 60 project patterns offers practical plans and ideas for carvers at all levels of expertise.The authors provide a detailed yet easy-to-follow introduction to carving tools and how to use them. There are also helpful hints to guide beginning carvers through difficult stages of carving, and expert advice on painting and finishing, woodcarving as gifts, how to exhibit and enter carvings in competition, and much more. You'll even find a whole chapter devoted to carving birds.Abundantly illustrated with over 200 photographs and detailed line drawings, this first paperback edition of The Beginner's Handbook of Woodcarving will be welcomed by any would-be woodcarver seeking a thorough, reliable, and crystal-clear introduction to the age-old art of carving wood.

    Artists of every level will be inspired by the amazing new techniques created by Alyona Nickelsen, presented in Colored Pencil Painting Bible for the very first time. Nickelsen’s innovations will delight readers and detailed you-can-do-it processes bring her striking results within reach for every artist. Take colored pencils beyond the ordinary with Colored Pencil Painting Bible!

    The gentle rhino, the energetic otter, the chatty crocodile, the dreamy donkey and many more: each and every one is a happy member of the Pica Pau band.Toy maker, character designer and crochet knitter Yan Schenkel has gathered many colorful amigurumi around her. In this book, she shares her love and knowledge of amigurumi crochet in 20 new designs, and she also gives away the secret ingredients that go into every single project.All patterns contain detailed instructions and are accompanied by step-by-step pictures and explanations of all techniques used, so both beginners and advanced crocheters can easily get acquainted with her amigurumi companions. Immerse yourself in the wonderful world and marvelous magic of Pica Pau and friends.

    Find the motivation to change what's not working for you. Choose a smart solution for organizing and storing your stash. Turn scrapbooking into a sustainable hobby that fits comfortably into your life. Learn real organization solutions that work for you.

    It's an ancient art, dating as far back as Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire, and today is enjoying a revival. Here is the first comprehensive guide available on mastering this beautiful yet demanding medium. In The Art of Encaustic Painting, readers will learn surefire ways to achieve vibrant color and create surfaces that look as light as a wash or as densely textured as impasto. They will see how to produce effects from abstract to figurative to minimal. Finally, they will discover dozens of clear, step-by-step directions detailing how to use these various encaustic techniques in their own art. This remarkable reference also includes 200 attractive full-color photographs of the author's own work, as well as stunning examples by such premier encaustic artists as Jasper Johns, Arthur Dove, and Nancy Graves.