Books, Books and Books!

Carol Duvall

Once again we took a few minutes out to briefly look at some of the more recently published craft books that are in our book stores and craft stores these days.

First up was Kids' Embroidery by Kristin Nicholas (Figure A) published by Stewart, Tabori and Chang Publishers. It’s a terrific little book that teaches many of the basic embroidery stitches and offers some grand little projects so the children can practice their new-found skills (Figure B). There are wonderful photographs along with good step by step illustrations and boys are included in the photographs along with the girls! It’s about time (Figure C).

Figure A

Figure B

Figure C

	Figure D
	Figure E

Keeping up with the times is Digital Scrapbooking published by Lark books and authored by Maria Given Nerius (Figure D). While Maria does include a number of ideas and suggested layouts for the scrapbook pages, most of the book is really telling you what you have in your computer and how to use it to help you and your photographs, whether they are taken with a digital camera or a 35 mm. It’s an easy read that makes it easy to understand the mechanics of it all, and makes everything seem like it is also easy to do (Figure E). That’s important to those of you who might feel as intimidated by your computer as I do.

	Figure F
	Figure G

Laura Glen Publishers have come out with two books by Gay Merill Gross one of which is titled, The Art of Napkin Folding, and the other titled, Origami, the Art of Paper Folding (Figure F). Both of these include not only the booklet on the subject with many step-by-step drawings, but each is packaged in a book "box" that includes the props to try things with...sheets of origami in the one and a napkin in the other (Figure G).

	Figure H
	Figure I

We’ve not mentioned many books on stenciling lately but we couldn’t ignore Jan Dressler’s latest, Jan Dressler’s Guide to Beautiful Stenciling (Figure H) published by Sterling Chappell. The book features many step-by-step how-to's along with photographs of completed rooms and projects. All are accompanied by very clever "helpful" photographs of Jan (Figure I).

	Figure J
	Figure K

Make your own purses seems to be a popular idea these days and there are a number of make your own purse books out there to prove it. The Hip Handbag Book (Figure J) by Sherri Haab published by Watson-Guptill is just one of them. This particular book looks as though the publishers had teenagers in mind but along with the young and hip looking purses are a number that any teenagers mother might like as well (Figure K).

Figure L

And speaking of mothers, the Dorothy Wood book Beautiful Beaded Bags (Figure L) published by David and Charles Publishers featured some lovely bags that almost any woman might love...and love to make.

	Figure M
	Figure N

Even more bags including some rather elegant examples, were featured in Eva Weichmann’s book Pursenalities (Figure M) that’s all about knit and felted purses (Figure N). This was from Martingale and Company.

And last was not one book but several all on the subject of knitting. It really is the "in" craft these days. The books on my desk were Knitting for Two from Watson-Guptill, Knitting in the Round from The House of White Birches, Knit It Now from Martingale and Company and Hot Knits also from Watson-Guptill. There was also Module Magic by XRX Books and Scarf Style from Interweave Press.

So many books, so little time.

Resources
Kids' Embroidery
by Kristen Nicholas
Stewart, Tabori and Chang (September 2004)
Order this title from Amazon.com.
Digital Scrapbooking
by Maria Given Nerius
Lark Books (May 2004)
Order this title from Amazon.com
Origami: The Art of Paper Folding
Laurel Glen Publisher (September 2004)
by Gay Merrill Gross
Order this title from Amazon.com
The Art of Napkin Folding
by Gay Merrill Gross
Laurel Glen Publisher (June 2004)
Order this title from Amazon.com

Jan Dressler's Guide to Beautiful Stenciling
by Jan Dressler
Sterling/Chappelle (April 2004)
Order this title from Amazon.com

The Hip Handbag
by Sherri Haab
Watson-Guptill (September 2004)
Order this title from Amazon.com

Beautiful Beaded Bags
by Dorothy Wood
David & Charles Publishing (August 2004)
Order this title from Amazon.com

Pursenalities
by Eva Weichmann
Martingale (September 2004)
Order this title from Amazon.com

Knitting for Two
by Erika Knight
Watson-Guptill (September 2004)
Order this title from Amazon.com

Knitting in the Round
by Jeanne Stauffer
House of White Birches (August 2004)
Order this title from Amazon.com

Knit It Now
by Julie Mantari
Martingale (June 2004)
Order this title from Amazon.com

Hot Knits
by Melissa Leapman
Watson-Guptill (June 2004)
Order this title from Amazon.com

Module Magic
by Ginger Luters
XRX Books (November 2004)
Order this title from Amazon.com

Scarf Style
by Pam Allen
Interweave Press (September 2004)
Order this title from Amazon.com
Also in this Episode

Carol Duvall Show : Episode CDS-1907
•	Cloisonné Style Frame
•	Terra Cotta Birthday "Cake" Centerpiece
•	Books, Books and Books!