Hot off the trail of the runaway hit craft book The Cute Book and the Aranzi Machine Gun series, Cute Stuff shows you how to make everyday items and accessories like hair ties, book covers, purses, key holders, and a slew of appliques out of the Aranzi Aronzo denizens!

    When used effectively, line and mark-making convey texture, tone, form, movement, and mood. With Drawn to Stitch by your side, learn creative uses of line in embroidery and textile art.Artist and teacher Gwen Hedley shares a series of exercises designed to explore line’s potential as well as develop your creativity. Drawn to Stitch also covers line and mark-making tools, materials, and processes, including printing and mixed-media techniques. Gwen explores stitch, explaining how to interpret different line qualities from crisp and sharp to soft and diffused and from raised and overlaid to recessed and inlaid.Full of inspiring ideas, Drawn to Stitch is illustrated with stunning examples of stitched-textile work from leading artists.

    These pages are grounded in the wisdom and experience gleaned from a long and buzzing career as creative juggernaut Lilla Rogers shares her analysis of leveraging various working styles and ways to keep your art fresh. Artist interviews provide inside details about the best jobs, as well as tips on how to work smart and stay creative. You’ll also find annotated case studies of several successful art jobs, in addition to coloring book pages, hand-drawn charts, and lots of crazy fun.Acquire real-life, professional advice from an artist known for setting the trend with I Just Like to Make Things!

    Now, the influential needlecraft guru has become a “two-timer,” bringing the same ingenuity, innovative eye, and solid fashion sense that she’s always exhibited in her knitting design to the world of crochet. In Loop-d-Loop Crochet, Durham presents more than 25 designs that are as up-to-the-minute, style-wise, as they are thoroughly steeped in crochet stitchwork tradition. Each of the projects, which range from purses, skirts, shawls, and sweaters for the whole family to a hammock and a pair of brocade boots, epitomizes Durham’s signature design sensibility, which she describes as “a tension of opposites—rough-hewn yet delicate, stark yet feminine, organic yet structured.” Decked out in evocative color photographs (by Adrian Buckmaster), a diverse cast of models show off the finished garments. Beginner and advanced crocheters will find Durham’s novel approach refreshing and inspiring. And for newcomers just making the switch from knitting, Loop-d-Loop Crochet provides the perfect introduction to what Durham terms the “flip side” of needlecraft’s heritage. Crochet is a freeing experience, Durham says—a sentiment with which her many fans are certain to agree.

    Urban sketching--the process of sketching on the go as a regular practice--is a hot trend in the drawing world. In this aspirational guide, French artist France Belleville-Van Stone offers motivation to move beyond the comfort zone, as well as instruction on turning rough sketches into finished work. By sharing her own creative process, which includes sketching by hand and digitally, Belleville-Van Stone emboldens readers to craft a method of their own and devote more time to art, even if it's just 10 minutes a day. "Sketch Your World" will inspire artists both established and aspiring to rethink their daily practice, sketch for the pure joy of it, and document their lives and the world around them.

    Employing traditional styles and contemporary colors, crocheted blocks inspire crafters to create a dynamic palette of color, pattern, and texture by mixing, matching, and combining. Step-by-step instructions accompany each pattern, along with stunning photographs that encourage crocheters to explore a range of color combinations and coordinates. A directory of blocks is cross-referenced with symbols that describe the techniques used and the degree of difficulty, and each pattern is designed so that finished blocks are the same size when they are worked in yarn of the same weight. A useful refresher course of crochet stitches and techniques is included, as are patterns for edgings and instructions on making fringes to finish off afghans in style.

    Pretty cool! The popularity of these resins for jewelry making has soared with the introduction of easy-to-mix, low-odor products, ideal for crafters. Now best-selling author Sherri Haab shows how to put the miracle of modern technology to work making necklaces, bangles, bracelets, pins, earrings, and rings. Projects range from simple to sophisticated, from Bakelite-style heart pins to faux amber earrings to glitter gem bracelets, from scrimshaw bracelets to cloisonné pins to transparent resin necklaces backed with gold leaf. Packed with tips on tools, supplies, finishing, and creating special effects, including ideas on combining resins with polymer clay, The Art of Resin Jewelry is a beautiful and practical introduction to an exciting craft.

    The result is an explosion of amazing new work by contemporary artists. This volume surveys the current revival of this loveliest of mediums, in portfolios from more than 20 of today's top watercolor artists from around the globe. From the evocative visual journals of Danny Gregory and Fabrice Moireau, through the fashion-inspired portraits of Samantha Hahn and Virginia Johnson, to the indie art stylings of Jane Mount and Becca Stadtlander, Watercolor stunningly showcases painterly brilliance. With artist profiles, an informative history of the medium, and an inspiring preface by DailyCandy's Sujean Rim, this is the guide to a beautiful revolution.

    With bright photographs and clear diagrams.

    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.

    Learn the basics of this simple and beautiful craft with valuable information on basic stitches, tools needed, and even how to make your own looms. Split by loom type—circular, rectangular, and even found objects—24 lush, bohemian, and uniquely modern projects for the home and to wear draw deeply on the nostalgic quality of vintage textiles. In addition to the how-to, this is the ultimate resource for finding your own creativity and style through this medium, from learning which materials to use for different effects to discovering how to use color to create vintage-inspired projects with a modern twist.

    Packed with wonderfully eclectic examples, this book explores the intriguing creative possibilities of bookmaking as a modern art form, including a wide range of bindings, materials, and embellishments. Featured techniques include everything from Coptic to concertina binding, as well as experimental page treatments such as sumi-e ink marbling and wheat paste. In addition to page after page of inspiration from leading contemporary binderies, Little Book of Bookmaking includes a practical section of 21 easy-to-follow illustrated tutorials.

    In this book, you'll discover the secrets of minimalist design-how to find beauty in the basic elements of your environment. These projects deliver exciting, vivid results with solid color fabrics. City Quilts was named one of the Best Books of 2010 in the Fiber Crafts Category by Library Journal, and is a finalist in the 2010 Foreword Book of the Year Awards."

    Natural Color explores the full spectrum of seasonal plant dyes, using nature as a color library. Unlike its competitors, Natural Color is structured by season, not plant, focusing on achievable projects with easy-to-follow recipes for dyeing everything from dresses, scarves, and hats to rugs, napkins, and table runners, ensuring that even the most savvy home decorator will be inspired.

    It's an insightful artistic philosophy that boils down the many technical principles of composition into a single master rule that's easy to remember and apply: Never make any two intervals the same.You can make every painting more interesting, dynamic and technically sound by varying intervals of distance, length and space, as well as intervals of value and color. The rule also applies to balance, shape and the location of your painting's focal point.Greg Albert illustrates these lessons with eye-opening examples from both beginning and professional artists, including Frank Webb, Tony Couch, Kevin Macpherson, Charles Reid, Tony Van Hasselt and more.You'll discover that the ONE RULE is the only rule of composition you need to immediately improve your work - the moment your brush touches the canvas.