The weather is bad, the days are short, and that means it’s time to stay inside and do crafts! Here’s a selection of new craft books full of ideas for kids, adults, and cats. Decorate for the holidays, create personalized homemade gifts, and whip up enough baked goods to last until New Year’s Day. Keep the kids busy during school break with some parent-child projects. And if you find yourself overwhelmed by all the STUFF piling up around the house, check out the last item on our list: a bestselling guide to de-cluttering (you know, so you can clear a space to fill with more craft supplies).
Decorating Cookies Party: 10 Celebratory Themes – 50 Designs
Author: Bridget Edwards
One of my favorite holiday memories is of decorating sugar cookies with my grandma in her kitchen. With colorful sparkling sugars and cinnamon red-hots, we made Xmas stockings, wreaths, trees, and stars, and I was incredibly proud of my creations (but not too much to eat them, of course). This book includes classic cookie recipes (including a gluten-free one), icing tips, and themed party ideas for everything from a tailgate party in your team colors to weddings and baby showers. You can either use it for your own holiday baking, or bake up a mountain of cookies and throw a cookie-decorating party.
Catification: Designing a Happy and Stylish Home for Your Cat (and You!)
Authors: Jackson Galaxy, Kate Benjamin
If you’ve seen “My Cat From Hell” on Animal Planet, then you know Jackson Galaxy, the bald, bearded, bowling-shirted dude who looks like a tattoo artist and is a big ol’ softie when it comes to cats. Galaxy has an uncanny ability to look at a living space through feline eyes and solve behavioral problems that are really environmental flaws, and he brings the knowledge to this how-to guide. You’ll learn how to protect your furniture with table-leg scratching posts, kitty hammocks, climbing bridges that look like art, and even how to create a “catio,” or cat patio, for the apartment cat with cabin fever.
Maker Dad: Lunch Box Guitars, Antigravity Jars, and 22 Other Incredibly Cool Father-Daughter DIY Projects
Author: Mark Frauenfelder
Why should craft moms have all the fun? Mark Frauenfelder, editor of MAKE Magazine, has created a collection of DIY projects that dads and daughters can do together. (Of course, they’re equally suitable for dads and sons.) It’s a relief to see that the projects are actually cool and interesting, and not just pink and glittery: you can make a retro arcade game, design a silkscreened T-shirt, rig a kite with a video camera, and more. Not only will you be having fun, but you’ll be teaching girls how to use tools, solve creative problems, and introduce them to STEM skills. Cool dad!
Glitterville’s Handmade Christmas: A Glittered Guide for Whimsical Crafting!
Author: Stephen Brown
As further proof that we shouldn’t equate “girl” with “pink and glittery,” Glitterville’s Handmade Christmas is a sequined, bedazzled wonderland created by costume designer Stephen Brown. You’ll find 20 winter-themed projects including decorated wreaths, glitter villages (that’s where I want to live), and a charming glitter gnome made from a pinecone. The holidays are no time for restraint, and Brown fully appreciates this, loading everything up with silver, gold, and sparkle.
Creative Lettering and Beyond: Inspiring tips, techniques, and ideas for hand lettering your way to beautiful works of art
Authors: Gabri Joy Kirkendall, Laura Lavender, Julie Manwaring, Shauna Lynn Panczyszyn
Just thinking about writing out all my Xmas cards makes my hand cramp up. But if you have better penmanship than me, Creative Lettering and Beyond shows you how to master the art of hand-lettering to make beautiful personalized gifts and notecards. Tutorials and practice exercises take you through the steps, and you’ll learn how to hand-letter on fabric, coffee mugs, and all kinds of surfaces. Oh, and the elaborate chalkboard displays you see at coffee shops and cocktail bars? You’ll learn how to make those, too. Imagine how impressed everyone would be if you gave framed, hand-lettered inspirational quotes for holiday gifts this year! (And it would be cheap!)
Gertie Sews Vintage Casual: A Modern Guide to Sportswear Styles of the 1940s and 1950s
Author: Gretchen Hirsch
Here’s another one I can file under “skills I don’t even hope to acquire, but I sure do like looking at the book.” If you love vintage clothing, but have trouble finding sizes or styles that suit you (always a problem for curvy, big-footed ladies like me), why not just sew your own? Gretchen Hirsch lays out gorgeous postwar and midcentury fashions with timeless appeal: cigarette pants, rompers, and fit-and-flare dresses. You’ll learn how to wrangle a variety of fabrics and customize patterns for you. In the second part of the book, you’ll see how the separate pieces come together into a vintage-inspired but up-to-date casual wardrobe. A lovely “hint” gift for your favorite seamstress.
Flea Market Fabulous: Designing Gorgeous Rooms with Vintage Treasures
Author: Lara Spencer
If thrifting is an art, then making vintage finds work with your home decor is definitely a craft. Anyone who’s fallen in love with a quirky painting or over-the-top chair, only to banish it to an unused corner when it turns out to clash with the entire house, knows the pain — but it doesn’t have to be like that! Author Lara Spencer takes you through the process of identifying a room’s problem areas, coming up with a plan, finding vintage items with potential, and updating and refitting them as needed to bring everything together beautifully. Before-and-after picture spreads show you how it’s done and give you ideas for stylishly corralling all those amazing Goodwill finds.
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing
Author: Marie Kondo
So you’ve been a little too good at crafting this year, and every flat surface is piled high with craft supplies, projects in progress, and patterns torn out of magazines? Maybe it’s time to learn from Japanese cleaning consultant Marie Kondo and her “KonMari Method.” This guide helps you sort your possessions by category, identifying the items that bring you joy, and eliminating those that don’t. She has a three-month waiting list for her services, so the magic must be working for her clients. If household clutter is ruining your holiday joy, maybe you should add this book to your wish list.
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- Spring 2020 Book Preview - May 15, 2020
- Winter 2020 Book Preview - January 1, 2020
- Fall 2019 Book Preview - September 26, 2019
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