Arts and Crafts Books

I took a beginners' sewing class that taught me the basics of sewing, and as my first solo project, I decided to make curtains for my living room and kitchen. I got practically every book that the library had on the topic of curtain-making, and I can tell you that this was the best one for an extreme novice.

The authors make very few assumptions about the reader's sewing ability. They expect that you know how to operate a sewing machine, that you know what a seam is, and that's just about it. Everything else is explained in easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions. And, they cover a variety of different treatments, which is nice if you want to do something simple that doesn't just involve flat sheets of fabric hanging from your curtain rod.

I decided finally to buy this one, because I wound up checking it out from the library so often. Definitely worthwhile for any beginner sewer who wants to make curtains.

This book was easy to follow, and the results look great....we saved hundreds by doing this ourselves.

Beginners should be VERY encouraged after purchasing this book. The directions are written in plain english and the photographs are terrific step-by-step guides. Every project was presented in an easy-to-learn fashion, and they tell you exactly what you'll learn and what you'll need. A must for anyone who wants to learn and is frustrated by the lack of true beginner sewing books.

Enjoy.

This a great book for crocheters. The animals are just adorable and the character description added for each one is hysterical. It really adds to their personalities. I can hardly wait to make each and every one for my grandchild!

This is a great book! The patterns are easy to follow, and perfect for a beginner. Simplicity without compromising creativity! My nieces and nephews will love these cute little animals.

This book is great. It explains everything to you and is very easy to read.
Very cute projects.

I think that writing this book with my mom was really interesting. Everyone will enjoy doing crafts with their family. There so many ideas in this book. My favorite projects were making stuffed animals and mod-podge purses. The stuffies are cute and cuddly and there's room for one in everybody's heart. The purses are very stylish and unique. This book is wonderful and you should definitely buy it.

i just love this book! i have tons of arts & crafts books because i like to engage my children's creativity. this book is one of the best! it's not only a compilation of creative activities that children and even grown-ups will enjoy doing. it's also a testament to the ingenuity of children as it showcases dozens (or is it hundreds?) of beautiful, quirky and interesting things made by children. the activities in the book will also spark your mind to think of other diy activities. most of the materials required in the book can be found in any home with kids. some require the use of a computer. you can always modify the activities to use whatever you have on hand.

the authors say that the book is for "families ... saying no to endless consumerism and yes to art, craft, and home-grown media." if that's you, then you must have this book! i'm buying the luptons' other books right now!

Within minutes of opening this smartly designed treasure-trove of craft ideas, the DIY kids of all ages in our household were designing icons, party invitations, and clothes for a community of real and imaginary friends. Beautiful and practical, this easy-to-use guide also teaches that we can liberate ourselves from our roles as passive consumers to create personally expressive and useful works of art--for the ages or just for today. Of course, the concept of a graffiti couch has also sparked intelligent debate around the breakfast table. A family-bonding bible, with or without hot glue.

This is a truly lovely book. It is eye candy for the knitter! My only complaint is that it is mainly knitting - just one or two of each other craft - very nice if that's what you're expecting. The description really doesn't indicate that. I will say that the knitting projects are for all different levels; however, you will need to practice a bit first if you are a beginner. The photography is outstanding, and the ribbon bookmark is a nice touch.

This book would make an excellent Christmas or holiday gift for a young ballerina or child ballet dancer. The photos are beautiful and inspiring.

The Dancer's Book of Ballet Crafts is a fresh and lovely collection of craft patterns for all experience levels. It is beautifully written, directions are easy to follow, and dance lovers young and old will melt into every page! The photography is warm and welcoming and the art work and history of ballet informative. Christina Haskin has shared her love of ballet and crafts with us and dancers of all ages will find this a useful and heartwarming addition to their libraries. Don't pass this one by!!

If you want a better understanding of David Hockney buy this book. It is a wonderful display of illustrations and information of a great British artist.

"David Hockney: Paintings" is well written and organized to foster a greater understanding of how Hockney evolves over the course of his career. Moreover, you will be impressed by the outstanding quality of the the black & white and color illustrations.

Authors Paul Melia and Ulrich Luckhardt provide the reader an excellent insight to the artistic thoughts of David Hockney. It also studies and explains the tremendous global popularity of the artist. This is a great book to have in the house.

I was more than pleasantly surprised by the extremely high quality of the reproductions. The book is split up in six chapters covering the main artistic phases in Hockney`s live and giving a lot of information about his paintings.
I find it extremely interesting not just to see Hockney`s work but also to read the details on the creative process leading up to the finished painting. A wonderful book!

Being a tremendous fan of Hockney's work, I was delighted to find this beautiful and informative book.

I liked the chronological organization as the book traced the artist's development over the years. I always find this such an interesting perspective, seeing how an artist's vision changes and evolves. And I also liked the way that the relationship between Hockney's life and his art is explored.

The illustrations were grand too!

A worthwhile book and a good study of Hockney, his life, and his works.

If it hadn't been for this little gem of a book, I'd have ended up with exactly what I thought a deck was: a 10x30' rectangle on stilts outside my back door.

Thanks to the inspiring designs outlined here, I was able to upgrade my $4K do-it-yourself deck with some snazzy details and useful layouts with little additional work and expense. Please do yourself the favor of flipping thru the pages of a book like this - if for nothing else than to see how it can be done by the best designers and builders.

No, just like me you will never be able to afford the hand-sanded grade A redwood beauties that are featured on a couple of these spreads - materials alone would run into six figures. But you will be able to steal the design of the railing, or perhaps the notion of a split level or a nifty little nook for a bench or some other detail from the top end decks. There's enough closeups and sketches of the design to run with a concept that you find appealing, and the narrative will help you think thru the elements of your design that might open up new possibilities.

After reading it from cover to cover a couple of times I shared the book and my comments on post-its with the contractor I had hired to help me complete my project, and it inspired him to come up with some ideas of his own, as well as better understand where I wanted to go with the project.

Deck Designs packs in a wealth of deck design ideas and patterns, featuring designer's unique approaches and their tips on how the deck feature was achieved. Color photos of patterns and decks supplement information on design considerations and details on construction techniques for the homeowner who wants to create his own custom deck.

I almost made the mistake of letting the contractors design my deck. They came up with a big boring rectangle. Thank goodness I bought this book first! It is packed with many wonderful ideas, including photos and tips to making a deck interesting and functional. It covers layout, railing design, and yard and use considerations. It is a very small investment for a big project, I suggest that anyone building a deck take a look at this book before proceeding.

I'd have to say this is one of the greatest quilt books ever--especially if you lean towards more contemporary layouts. The formulas for laying out a quilt and what blocks to make are fantastic; even beginners can expect a great result. I have bought this book several times and given away some as gifts. The only downside is that the book is out of print! I really wish the publisher would reprint it as more people are jumping on the quilting bandwagon every year. I think this book needs to be in every quilter's library.

I had a wonderful beige/yellow print of various lions. I wanted to cut up the lions--the lions came in different shapes, making them difficult to fit into a traditional pattern, like a sawtooth star. With Judy's book, I was able to design a quilt using the lions in different shapes, plus a variety of hand-dyed prints, creating a soft look, almost camouflaging the lions. I choose a pattern that best fit the lions, then worked with her concepts (although I didn't exactly follow her plan) to design the quilt. For anyone who wants to start designing your own quilt, but still need a little direction, this book is perfect!

My mother wrote this book and tested its premise on me and my friend many years ago. Neither of us had ever made a quilt. We followed the instructions for selecting fabrics and combining them and made two very different quilts that we were each immensely pleased with. Mom gave us our basic piecing instruction in person, but she does a very nice job of explaining the basics clearly in the book. This book has been updated with a lot of wonderful quilts made by mom and the many quilting friends she has made in her classes and travels. There are many different types of quilts pictured, from the traditional to the very contemporary, all using mom's menu-based method. Even people who don't consider themselves "creative" can make great quilts with this method.

If you miss reaching for the crayons and spending hours with a good coloring book, than this book is for you (that is, if you're an adult). Samaras's tongue-in-cheek take-off (literally, there are many topless devil girls in this book) on children's activity books is a riot - lots of hot'n'spicy recipes, mazes, even fetish paperdolls. It's really funny, but never goes so far as to be offensive, raunchy, or pornographic, and appeals to women and men. Samaras can really draw up a storm: she's obviously influenced by Catwoman from the old Batman series, Betty Page, and all of the other fabulous babes of the 20th century. We put this book on the coffeetable with a box of crayons and everyone finds it irresistable... Very unique and lots of fun!

A sex toy for your inner child; grrrl power for grown-ups - whatever you want to call it, this coloring book rocks! Artist and illustrator Isabel Samaras has put the joyfully erotic sensibility of her paintings into an interactive format for the masses with Devil Babe, a clean-lined, well-coiffed, oh-so-wicked representation of the bad, bad girl inside us all (lucky us!). For women who love their bodies, love themselves, and men who love them for it.

I liked it so much I tattooed one of the images on my right arm!

No kidding.

It's a fine, fine coloring book, too...

Tami Peterson's Digital Decorating offers designs and projects using a personal computer as a design tool. From manipulating clip art and photo images to translating them to home furnishing projects from pillows to lampshades, this provides techniques which require only a home computer, color printer and easily-used software programs.

Hello Digital Decorators!

Pardon my publisher's editor note, which stated only over 20 projects in my book. There are actually over 40! I hope you like them all, and try your own! (Check out HGTV.com, as well, for several of my projects seen on "Decorating with Style" and "The Carol Duvall Show".)

Best regards,

--Tami Peterson
author, "Digital Decorating"

Ms. Peterson has a unique and talented approach to home design targeted to the pc friendly community. Her ideas are refreshing and spur the mind to think of limitless ideas for home projects. I will be sure to purchase her sequel to this excellent first time authored book. I look forward to testing out many of her fun and attractive projects.

This is a great book! I have a lot of quilting books but this is the most complete one I own. I love the thoroughness of the history and techniques. Also, I appreciated the information on sizing and resizing of the quilt blocks. From color theory to design ideas, quilt blocks and techniques, this is the book I'll pull out first from now on.

I have looked through this book throughly. It seems like a well done, organized book with great pictures and diagrams. So much helpful information. This has the best explaination of freezor paper applique that I have seen and even shows a couple of ways to get the paper out. The other books I have do not even mention how to get it out. I am new to quilting and need to be led by the nose and this book seems to be a great reference. Has lots of good pictures of quilting designs and I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in quilting.

I love this book! I like the directions and diagrams and the fact that there is more than one way to do something demonstrated. It is up to date on tools, gadgets and techniques. I love the projects and all the beautiful quilts shown. The designer contribution was a great touch! Thanks for putting together another great "encyclopedia'!!!!