Styled as a cookbook for the beginning miniaturist "chef," the introductory chapters discuss the "basic ingredients" and techniques used for polymer clay and jewelry-making. The remainder of the book offers 20 "recipes" grouped by category: fruits, breakfast, lunch and dinner, sweets and snacks, and holiday foods. Each recipe has a list of "ingredients," step-by-step directions with photographs, and suggested variations. Each piece is presented as a particular finished jewelry item, such as a necklace, but readers are encouraged to adapt the piece into any type of jewelry they choose. Each chapter also includes one of the authors' own cherished recipes for real food, including Sunday Morning Cinnamon Rolls, Grandma's Pasta Sauce, Decadent Raspberry Chocolate Cupcakes, and Mom's Holiday Sugar Cookies. Throughout, the authors--who are sisters--share their enthusiasm for family, sisterhood, and the tradition and feelings surrounding our favorite foods.

    The author instructs in coil, slab, mold, and pinch techniques to produce pots, bowls, vases, tiles, and other decorative pieces. She also advises on acquiring basic tools, mixing and preparing clay, and using coloring agents. Newcomers to pottery crafting will especially appreciate her tips for making projects easier to accomplish, such as use of a hairdryer at regular intervals for drying out too-wet clay, and easy methods for keeping clay soft and pliable. Step-by-step color photos with detailed captions guide handcrafters through each project from start to finish. Many photos are of the cutaway type to show correct hand positions for controlling the clay, both inside and outside the form. Here's the book that takes the mystery out of handbuilding in clay, demonstrating each step in the pottery-making process. More than 400 color photos.

    The patterns range from designer sweaters and knits for kids to small take-along projects. More than a pattern book, this delightful collection is like a trip to the yarn shop, a private session with the best knitters around, and a friendly chat with the country’s most passionate knitters all rolled into one.

    Fans of the wildly popular “60 Knits” series are already into the lighter sportweight wool, exclusively from Cascade Yarns-and new readers will welcome its many advantages. Projects include the Paris Cardigan and Birdhouse Sweater from Pat Olski, Amy Barht's Bunny Blanket, and Veronica Manno's Smart Striped Vest.

    Several projects are easy enough for children to make for their own toybox, but you'll want a bunch of these irresistible cuties for yourself, too! Socks Appeal is a finalist in the 2010 Foreword Book of the Year Awards.

    Consider this a superscript above all other entries.”—Booklist. “Encourages those who hesitate to start in on the pristine pages of a nicely bound blank book.... Lively and interesting illustrations make this a good selection for public library collections.”—Library Journal.

    From wire wrapping and knotting to weaving and polishing, you'll get all the skills you need to make necklaces, bracelets, earrings, pins, key chains, wine charms and items for the home. Discover how to * Create funky and elegant designs * Work with leather, silver, and stones * String, knot, and weave beads * Avoid common mistakes * Host a trendy jewelry party

    Whether you knit, crochet, sculpt, weave, quilt, tat, draw, or bind books—working toward small, attainable goals gives us a sense of purpose, accomplishment, and control that is proven to positively impact our mental health and happiness.Davidson and Tahsin illuminate how craft practice re-introduces balance into our lives and our habits by cultivating creativity, carving space for ourselves, promoting focus, creating a safe space for failure, and ultimately, how to make peace with imperfection.Like Matthew B. Crawford’s Shop Class as Soul Craft, Ken Robinson’s Out of Our Minds, or Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s Flow, Craftfulness helps us to see our world in a new way, offering opportunities to disconnect from the world, and pay attention to ourselves.

    guide to peace of mind, you'll find inspiring ideas for how to do exactly that through a wide range of creative exercises. In this book, author Maggie Oman Shannon explores crafts and creativity as a practice with enormous physical, mental, and spiritual benefits. By immersing ourselves in a craft with intention and mindfulness, we can quiet those voices around us and in us--we can enter sacred stillness. Through revealing interviews, personal stories, and forty suggested activities, the author shows how creative processes can become spiritual practices. Whether you're an aspiring artist, longtime craftsperson, or someone who has never set foot in a craft-store (yet!), you'll find something in Crafting Calm to inspire you.Crafts and how-to ideas include contemplation candles, visual journals, prayer shawls, collage mandalas, intention beads, finger labyrinths, personal prayer flags, spiritual toolkits, and tabletop altars.Features inspired craft ideas from luminaries such as Angeles Arrien, Mary Ann Radmcher, Shiloh Sophia McCloud, Sister Marianne Heib, May Ann Brussat, and many more.

    ""Learning to Weave" is a four-shaft weaving course which makes learning to weave, with or without a teacher, easy and fun."

    Each project uses just one skein of yarn, many take just a few hours to complete, and plenty are suitable for beginners. Hats and caps, bootees and socks, mitts, dresses, tops and bottoms — plus blankets, bibs, soft toys, bottle cozies, diaper bags, and more — there’s something here for every baby! These original patterns were contributed by 54 designers around the world, and each one comes with complete instructions, charts, schematics, and beautiful photographs.

    Color photos accompany detailed step-by-step instructions for transforming the original square pattern into rectangles, triangles, and circles with eight wonderful designs. Featuring seven unique projects—including an afghan, a basket, a table runner, a hat, and a scarf—this creative manual illustrates how this perfect, two-round stitch offers versatility of color because of its unique, textured color overlap.

    Ideal for those with some sewing experience looking to break away from the restrictions of traditional patterns, this guide offers the details for both hand and machine appliqué techniques, as well as a history of appliqué and how it was rediscovered in the fiber arts. Featured are 20 modern, stylish sewing projects ranging from aprons, skirts, pillows, and totes to a duvet cover, wall clock, blouse, baby quilt, and scarf. With step-by-step instructions, color photographs, and comprehensive how-to embroidery instructions, this is an all-in-one resource and guide.

    It's Simple. It's pure Cathy. And it's still totally cool. Cathy Zielske, creative director for Simple Scrapbooks magazine, is back with the sequel to her best-selling book, Clean&Simple Scrapbooking. In her new book, she revisits the core tenets of the hobby: telling good stories, making well-designed pages, letting go of unrealistic expectations, and remembering to have a really good time while you're at it. She reminds us that scrapbooking isn't an obligation, but an opportunity to capture the bits and pieces that make up our lives. From scrapbooking about her intense love of paper towels to her obsession with heavily-tattooed rock stars, Cathy throws open the window on her life and shares how she chooses to record it. You'll laugh, connect, and be inspired to record your own life with pictures, paper, adhesive and above all, authenticity.

    There is also general advice on choosing materials, construction methods, and an insight into the Tudor tailor's sewing kit.