Daily Archives: August 28, 2009

Otherwise titled Martha Stewart’s Encyclopedia of Crafts. From albums for scrapbooks, botanical pressings, and fabric flowers, to mosaics, rope crafts, soap-making, and tin punching — this book honestly has it all. The best thing about it is that the projects aren’t tacky or cliché, they are quite tasteful and subdued (not just glittering everything). The only reason I don’t have anything to show for it (read: no finished projects) as a number of the techniques are quite involved. In true Martha style, these are not “quick ‘n easy” projects. Many of the projects, such as silkscreening, candles, and soap-making all require a number of supplies and materials. Despite that, this is still my Big Book of Inspiration. There is a lot of useful information in here if you’re already into a certain craft. For example, I like making earrings. So, there is a jewellery section that includes diagrams on how to make certain beads and projects, and also a gem glossary.Or if you just want to learn more, xyz are all the tools and materials, and all the back matter is brilliant. In the back, there are all the templates used in the book for calligraphy, glass etching, origami and other paper crafts, scrapbooking, silkscreening, and rubber stamping. The templates are also available online at MarthaStewart.com. There is a list of sources for supplies as well; some of which are international chains, others located all over North America (both Canada and the USA). This is great as well as a [...]