Book picks similar to
Creating Extraordinary Beads from Ordinary Materials by Tina Casey
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The Flashman Papers: The Complete 12-Book Collection
George MacDonald Fraser - 2013
Spanning from 1839 right through to 1894 the incorrigible Flashman fears all evil and when it comes to voluptuous queens and princesses he has be known to waver from his mission. Filled to the gunnels with escapades of unwavering excitement THE COMPLETE FLASHMAN PAPERS will quench even the most ravenous appetite for Flashman.
Lucy Mathers Goes Back To Work: A romantic comedy about the trials and tribulations of returning to the workplace!
Julie Butterfield - 2019
Four years later, she’s a stay at home mum with two adorable children, has swapped her Louboutins for rabbit slippers and spends her day making crustless sandwiches and colour co-ordinated lunches instead of signing up high profile clients. When her husband is suddenly made redundant, there is panic in the Mathers’ household. With a mortgage the size of the national debt and a credit card balance that’s in danger of toppling, Lucy reluctantly decides she must return to work. So she digs out her old power suits from the back of the wardrobe and leaves Will to become a house husband. But sitting in Lucy’s old office is Grant Cassidy, suave, handsome and ruthless and with no intention of letting Lucy walk back into the number one job. At home, despite his breezy declaration that swapping boardroom battles for toddler groups would be a doddle, Will’s belief that parental issues could be solved with forward planning and a spread sheet soon falls by the wayside. With both Will and Lucy struggling to adapt, could their previously happy marriage be developing some cracks?
Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People
Amy Sedaris - 2010
According to Amy Sedaris, it's often been said that ugly people craft and attractive people have sex. In her new book, Simple Times, she sets the record straight. Demonstrating that crafting is one of life's more pleasurable and constructive leisure activities, Sedaris shows that anyone with a couple of hours to kill and access to pipe cleaners can join the elite society of crafters. You will discover how to make popular crafts, such as: crab-claw roach clips, tinfoil balls, and crepe-paper moccasins, and learn how to: get inspired (Spend time at a Renaissance Fair; Buy fruit, let it get old, and see what shapes it turns into); remember which kind of glue to use with which material (Tacky with Furry, Gummy with Gritty, Paste with Prickly, and always Gloppy with Sandy); create your own craft room and avoid the most common crafting accidents (sawdust fires, feather asphyxia, pine cone lodged in throat); and cook your own edible crafts, from a Crafty Candle Salad to Sugar Skulls, and many more recipes. PLUS whole chapters full of more crafting ideas (Pompom Ringworms! Seashell Toilet Seat Covers!) that will inspire you to create your own hastily constructed obscure d'arts; and much, much more!
Chainmail Made Easy: Beginner's Guide in 7 Easy Steps!
Jeff Baker - 2012
Chain mail, also known as chainmail, maille, or chainmaille is a great hobby for any age that doesn't involve just making armor.You can make almost anything from chainmail. Below are just a few examples of what you can make:• Jewerly (Bracelets, Necklaces, Anklets, Earrings, Rings)• Clothing (Bikini tops, Belts, Shirts, Ties)• Art• Armor• Inlays (pictures in your maille)• And much, much more!In this beginner's book you'll learn the following:• A short history of chain mail• Different rings used and the kinds of metals• How to open and close rings correctly• Tools used like pliers and different kinds• An overview of the family of chainmail weaves• How to weave 7 of the more common, simpler weaves shown in 3D graphics• Resources for purchasing rings and tools3 Starter Projects:• Women's Choker Necklace• Men's Flat Bracelet• Pouch or Dice Bag Chainmail is neither difficult to learn nor expensive. All it takes is a willingness to try something new no matter your age, education, or income! Scoll up and click the "Look Inside" feature on the top left hand side of this page to see what's included in this book.A Personal Note From The Author:This beginner's guide blends 10 years of my personal experience chainmailling. When I first started chainmailling, I knew nothing about it except what I'd seen online or in movies; chainmail armor. Not very exciting for the average person but the idea of weaving metal rings into something I could create without any special skills appealed to me. I stumbled across The Ring Lord, a site that sells all kinds of rings in all kinds of sizes, colors, and metals, and I was hooked!Now ten years later after creating all sorts of projects from maille, some things I wouldn't have thought possible, I wanted to share what I've learned with someone just starting out. This first volume is not meant to cover everything about chainmailling nor does it include dozens of projects. It's meant for someone who's never mailled before or who's only dabbled a little but now wants a simple-to-follow guide with clear instructions and pictures on how to get started mailling immediately with the most common weaves applied to a couple starter projects.
March Book
Jesse Ball - 2004
A shockingly assured first collection from young poet Jesse Ball, its elegant lines and penetrating voice present a poetic symphony instead of a simple succession of individual, barely-linked poems. Craftsmanship defines this collection; it is full of perfect line-breaks, tenderly selected words, and inventive pairings. Just as impressive is the breadth and ingenuity of its recurring themes, which crescendo as Ball leads us through his fantastic world, quietly opening doors.In five separate sections we meet beekeepers and parsons, a young woman named Anna in a thin, linen dress and an old scribe transferring the eponymous March Book. We witness a Willy Loman-esque worker who "ran out in the noon street / shirt sleeves rolled, and hurried after / that which might have passed" only to be told that there's nothing between him and "the suddenness of age." While these images achingly inform us of our delicate place in the physical world, others remind us why we still yearn to awake in it every day and "make pillows with the down / of stolen geese," "build / rooms in terms of the hours of the day." Like a patient Virgil, insistent and confident, Ball escorts us through his mind, and we're lucky to follow.
Knitting New Mittens and Gloves: Warm and Adorn Your Hands in 28 Innovative Ways
Robin Melanson - 2008
Now this self-described “mitten and glove aficionado” shares her enthusiasm for these ordinary items by presenting 28 extraordinary ways to make them for year-round style.Featuring gloves, mittens, arm warmers, mitts, and fingerless gloves, this is the second book in a new SCT Craft series that introduces innovative approaches to creating popular knitted items. Knitting New Mittens and Gloves combines traditional and untraditional techniques—as well as influences as far-flung as Gothic architecture, Estonian lace, and Wagnerian opera—in a winning collection of patterns for adults and children. From wool mittens filled with unspun fleece and arm warmers with leather laces, to cotton-mesh fingerless gloves and silk-beaded mitts to be worn as adornments, each design has an unexpected twist.Because they are small, quick to make, and don’t require a lot of yarn, mittens and gloves are perfect projects for knitting throughout the year, and they also offer an ideal opportunity for beginning and more seasoned knitters to experiment with new techniques, yarns, and styles. With its fresh, original sensibility, Knitting New Mittens and Gloves will captivate knitters of every level.
Mr. Funky's Super Crochet Wonderful
Narumi Ogawa - 2007
Funky features 30 projects including stuffed animals (amirgurumi) and wearable accessories such as scarves, hats, crochet flowers, headbands, a water bottle carrier, fun kids stuff and more. If you love Hello Kitty, bohemian 70's inspired fashion, and Japanese style you will love these supercute projects. All of the projects are easy, super-hip and quick to make-perfect for teen knitters and beginners-and all feature inexpensive craft store yarns (i.e. Bernat and Lion Brand).
Micronesian Blues
Bryan Vila - 2009
street cop Bryan Vila’s hilarious road to cultural enlightenment as a police chief in the remote Pacific islands of Micronesia.Through lively narrative laced with wry humor, it chronicles his adventures and misadventures on Saipan, Ponape (now Pohnpei), Truk (now Chuuk), Palau, Yap, Kosrae, and Kwajalein.Trial and error was the name of the game in this dubious paradise, where Bryan had to learn the rules—or make them up—as he went. Yet he embraced island life, succeeded in his new role, and ultimately found himself profoundly changed by his experiences in Micronesia and the lessons he learned there.
Ghosts/Aliens
Trey Hamburger - 2008
On Saturday, March 8, at 7:12 p.m., Trey Hamburger heard a second hand account of a teleporting Hot Pocket and started wiggin' out bad. So he and his amigo Mike Stevens basically went into combat mode and ended up encountering some of the most seriously messed-up shit ever. And they're STILL FREAKED OUT ABOUT IT. Now, even though these guys aren't SCIENTISTS, it's pretty for sure that they might have extrapolated something HUGE, which will have the intellectual community going nuts for weeks.This is their story.Ghost/Aliens is probably the first time ever a regular person has investigated this sort of thing. So now the people of planet Earth will finally know the truth about all those levitating towels and dead grandpas popping up all over the place.
The Psychokitty Speaks Out: Diary Of A Mad Housecat
Max Thompson - 2005
With an attitude ... and opinions ... on everything. "The PsychoKitty Speaks Out" is the diary of Max, a put-upon and under-appreciated domestic feline with both a disdain and a fondness for Sticky Little People, an addiction to Kitty Crack, and an appetite for Stinky Goodness. He began his popular blog "The Psychokitty Speaks Out" in October of 2003, and this is an expansion of that journal; all those dates when he didn't blog--they're here, in all his snarky glory.
Paying Guests
E.F. Benson - 1929
Wentworth is terribly genteel, recognized not only for the comfort it offers but also for the social standing of its guests. Who — this being a Benson novel — are silly at best, stupendously annoying at worst. The stars of the show are the pompous, self-regarding Colonel Chase, a former Indian Army officer who lords it over the other guests at Wentworth, bragging incessantly about his excellent health and bullying them all at the bridge table, a pair of middle-aged spinsters who later become a couple and a Mrs. Bliss who espouses Mental Science, a thin disguise for Christian Science...
Journal Fodder 365: Daily Doses of Inspiration for the Art Addict
Eric M. Scott - 2012
Life is not always extraordinary in all its details, but it is the sum of those ordinary events that add up to extraordinary lives. The journal is no different.With Journal Fodder 365, the Journal Fodder Junkies will lead you on a year-long adventure in drawing and writing, in painting and collage, and in the flotsam and jetsam of your daily experiences. You will uncover simple strategies to make the visual journal a part of your life and you'll discover new techniques for refining your personal narrative in an authentic and unique voice.Inside You'll Find:12 themed chapters, ranging from Personal Mythologies and Histories to Connections and Relationships to Symbolically Speaking and beyondDozens of step-by-step demonstrations for painting, drawing, writing, and collage techniques12 suggested excursions for you and your journal12 exploded views showing real-life applications of the lessons and promptsLet your journal be a living, breathing document of your life, a personally meaningful and relevant artifact.
Celebrate Your Creative Self: More Than 25 Exercises to Unleash the Artist Within
Mary Todd Beam - 2001
You'll develop the skills you need to express yourself and explore your favorite mediums. Step-by-step demos show you how to:Capture and manipulate light in your workExperiment with new and unusual painting surfacesBreak the "rules" of color composition that inhibit your creativityCreate your own dynamic designs for paintings with more impactAdd layers of meaning to your work with the symbolism inherent in both man-made objects and natural elementsImbue your work with a touch of fantasy and recapture the magic you remember from childhoodMove beyond traditional 2-dimensional painting into 3-D reconstructionAnd much, much more!Once you've built up such a repertoire of skills, you'll be able to turn any idea into finished art by applying the techniques that best accommodate your inspiration. You'll also learn how to tap the deepest recesses of your creative wellspring by taking risks, getting personal and making meaningful statements with your work.No matter what your medium, no matter what your level of skill, Celebrate Your Creative Self can help make your artistic dreams a reality!
Stamped Metal Jewelry: Creative Techniques and Designs for Making Custom Jewelry
Lisa Niven Kelly - 2010
Using purchased metal stamps and sterling silver blanks, you can personalize your metal jewelry designs with words, textures, and creative designs. Lisa Niven Kelly, creator of the online Beaducation workshops and website, specializes in the technique and has been teaching stamping for more than six years to enthusiastic students. Although stamping is a simple technique, the right tools and skills will help you create professional and exciting results.Stamped Metal Jewelry teaches multiple metal stamping and texturing techniques, and the projects incorporate wirework and metalsmithing to create fabulous necklaces, beads, charms, bracelets, cuffs, and earrings. The book opens with an extensive section on stamping, wirework, and metalsmithing tools and techniques. With these skills, you can begin the inspiring jewelry designs with confidence.Nineteen projects cover a variety of techniques and designs such as creating charms, incorporating stamped links into beaded projects, making stamped links from flat wire and wire-wrapping them together, stamping on blanks and layering them, riveting, texturing metal, oxidizing, and more. In addition to Lisa's projects, the book features contributions by nationally known guest artists Tracy Stanley, Kriss Silva, Lisa Claxton, Kate Richbourg, Janice Berkebile, and Connie Fox.