This beautifully illustrated and inspiring guided watercolor-a-day book is perfect for beginning watercolor artists, artists who want to improve their watercolor skills, and visual creatives. From strokes to shapes, this book covers the basics and helps painters gain confidence in themselves along with inspiration to develop their own style over the course of 30 days. Featuring colorful contemporary art from Mon Voir design agency founder and Instagram trendsetter Jenna Rainey, this book's fresh perspective paints watercolor in a whole new light.

    Through their shared enthusiasm for this time-honored craft, these two women have worked together to strengthen and deepen their spiritual selves and they encourage readers to do the same. Through the sharing of stories, hands-on explorations, and daily cultivation, the authors help readers to see beyond the surface of a simple craft in order to discover ways in which nuances of knitting can apply to the larger scheme of life and spirituality. The Knitter's Way is a spiritual friend, a teacher, a sanctuary, and an opening to the sacred place beyond thought that will help readers to find community, authenticity, and satisfaction.

    It is the place where our families meet and mingle, where we share our meals and share our dreams. So much more than just a space to live, our homes offer us a place of comfort, nourishment, and love for us and for our children. In Handmade Home, Amanda Blake Soule, author of The Creative Family and the blog SouleMama.com, offers simple sewing and craft projects for the home that reflect the needs, activities, and personalities of today’s families. As Amanda writes in the introduction, “As a crafter, I’m always looking for the next thing I want to make. As a mama, I’m always looking for the next thing we need—to do, to have, to use—as a family. The coming together of these parts is where the heart of Handmade Home lies.” Filled with thirty-three projects made by reusing and repurposing materials, all of the items here offer a practical use in the home. From picnic blankets made out of repurposed bed sheets to curtains made out of vintage handkerchiefs, these projects express the sense of making something new out of something old as a way to live a more financially pared-down and simple life; lessen our impact on the earth; connect to the past and preserve a more traditional way of life; and place value on the work of the hands. Also included are projects that children can help with, allowing them to make their own special contribution to the family home. More than just a collection of projects for handmade items, this book offers the tools to create a life—and home—full of beauty, integrity, and joy. Projects include:    • Papa’s Healing Cozy: This hot water bottle cover becomes a simple way to offer comfort to a sick child    • Baby Sling: A simple pattern for an object that offers so much to a small child—refuge from the world and a place to lay their head next to a parent’s heart    • Beach Blanket To-Go: Repurpose old sheets to create the perfect picnic blanket for special outdoor meals    • Cozy Wall Pockets: A creative solution for storing a child’s small treasures

    Unlike the typical watercolor textbooks, this unique, beautiful volume is a field book of inspiration, creative ideas, how to's, and projects, all from an artist's perspective. Each creative exercise features a technique, shows step-by-step photographs, and includes a clever idea for a gift or project that can be made from the painted samples.

    Not only will Violette inspire you with her own journal pages, she'll teach you techniques for creating your own unique pages.You'll learn to:Create juicy backgrounds and whimsical borders for your pages to help get the ideas flowingLove doodling, even if you think you can't drawMake image transfers of photos or even your own artworkDevelop your own fanciful lettering and so much more!Create freely, express yourself and enjoy the journey with Journal Bliss!

    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 Book A lively how to and why to sew tutorial that marries attitude and instruction while teaching everything you need to know:How to find the right machine, and become one with itEssential skills, from winding a bobbin to sewing a dart to customizing a patternPreparing a workspaceThe Ten Fabric CommandmentsLaying out and cutting patternsWith step-by-step instructions and full-color photographs and illustrations throughoutThe ProjectsCuddle-Up CardiganTender is the NightieFoxy BoxersCanine Couture CoatCape ModPower TieTokyo Tie BagLucky Scrap ScarfNaughty Secretary SkirtFouncy Tank TopKnockout KnickersAnd more!The Patterns Includes ten original patterns—an $80.00 retail value—rated from One Spool (easy) to Three Spools (advanced Beginner) and designed to build skills.

    They provide examples of a dozen alphabet styles, as well as many decorative details. Color photography reveals more than merely the necessary brush and pen techniques—it also shows a vast range of ideas for using calligraphy in new and surprising ways.

    Even better, this is not about how to use costly, artsy paper, but how to turn stuff around the house—magazines and shopping bags, candy wrappers and paint sample cards, wrapping paper, old maps, and paper towel tubes—into stunning jewelry, gifts, home decor, party favors, and much more. Chances are you’ve seen the author’s cutting-edge work in the windows of Anthropologie, where she is the chain’s merchandising manager. An inveterate crafter who creates projects and styles photo shoots for magazines like Parents and Vogue Knitting, Kayte Terry takes the most versatile of materials and the most basic of crafts (remember snipping valentines out of construction paper?), and creates something completely trans- formative. Turn a sheaf of any white or graph paper into an amazing Scrap Happy Globe Lantern for the dining room. Fashion colored tissue paper into Songbird Votives, leftover raffle tickets into a Prizewinning Bowl, that out-dated pile of holiday catalogs into a picture frame. There’s a necklace made of playing cards, a gum wrapper bracelet, and barrettes made by quilling—a paper technique that goes back to the Renaissance. Every project is photographed in full color, and includes step-by-step illustrations and instructions. Truly a book that shows how to think outside the (cardboard) box.

    It's the only current, comprehensive guide to working with cabochons--a flat piece of rock or mineral--and it covers all the basics, along with a range of new creative techniques and hot trends. Find out which tools and materials to use, which beads work best, and how to wrap them round the stones. Craft turned, pointed, twisted, brick stitch, ruffled, or scalloped edges, or add decorative fringe. For something dramatic, combine more than one cabochon in a single piece. Or, instead of natural stone, use dichroic glass or other found objects. Make a glittering brooch, funky bracelets, a wearable art necklace, and other showstoppers.

    You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

    And it's not as hard as we may think! This hand written and drawn book of charming tutorials is both fun and accessible. It's full of simple skills that anyone can and should learn. From creating tinctures and salves to concocting all-natural cleaners and body products to gardening basics, this book is great for anyone looking to live more simply, create a comfortable nest, and truly do it yourself.

    Have neglected items around your house? They can be the source for exciting craft possibilities! Turn your old leather belts into a cool doormat (or even a briefcase!); worn-out paperbacks into gorgeous bud vases; tennis balls into a quaint country swing; chopsticks into a handsome trivet, and many more.With full-color photos throughout to guide and inspire, Danny shows that it's easy to be crafty, and fun to be budget- and eco-conscious.

    Learn to determine your cost of goods, set prices, identify the competition, and understand the ins and outs of wholesale and retail sales. Explore the various sales venues available, including independent craft fairs, Web sites such as Etsy, and traditional stores, and learn to maximize your visibility and sales in each one. Want to start your own website? Chapin shows you how to style and prop your crafts for photography and explains how the most popular Web marketplaces operate. You’ll find everything you need to turn your talent into profits.

    Every tool and every technique you require for making your own home furnishings or clothing is closely and sharply photographed, carefully annotated, and clearly explained. The Tools section begins with the basic toolkit, opening up into everything you could possibly need every type of cutting tool and machine foot is shown. This section also includes information on patterns how to measure, how to use, and how to adjust them. Gallery spreads appear throughout the substantial Techniques section and showcase darts, zips, pleats etc, as well as showing key stitches. Plus, you can bring your acquired and refined skills to fruition as you make some of the 25 home decor and clothing projects at the back of the book. With "The Sewing Book" on your shelf, you've got every sewing question covered. Written by a passionate stitcher and teacher, with her own sewing school, eager to produce a one-stop sewing bible for her students, this book leaves no hem unturned. You can dip in at any level whether you're new to sewing or refining your art, whether you want to repair an old skirt or create a new one, whether you want to spruce up a curtain or design one from scratch. And with a Foreword by U.S. sewing teacher, Diana Rupp, this book has it all sewn up."