8 Books About Women in History
March 3, 2021April Spring Inspiration Posters
April 6, 20216 Books to Inspire Crafting
Sometimes you need to keep your hands busy. Especially if you are stuck at home watching movies all Saturday. What are some books you can use—or recommend to your patrons—to inspire fun crafts? We’ve collected the following from crafters here at COMPanion!
I Am Not a Toilet Paper Roll: 10 Incredible Things to Make with Toilet Paper Rolls
Includes step by step instructions for upcycling toilet paper tubes into cool animals and toys like rocket ships. It’s part of a series of books for making craft projects from common household items and encourages kids creativity in kids.
Sew Unicorns, Dragons, & Mermaids, What Fun! by Annabel Wrigley
Eighteen adorable sewing projects to help spark magic in your life with step by step photos. From a mystical mermaid tail blanket to a narwal softie and dragon pillow, these colorful gifts and accessories will delight children and unicorn lovers of all ages.
Quilling: 20 Beautiful Designs by Sena Runa
The 20 projects cover a wide range of subject matter that will appeal to all ages, including a rainbow, llama, hot-air balloon, ice cream, airplane and scooter. Using Sena's signature subtle gradations of colour and pops of bright, sunny tones, once framed the projects create gorgeous artwork for the home. They can also be used to decorate greetings cards. For quilling novices there is information on the tools and materials needed and a complete guide to quilling techniques.
Respect the Spindle by Abby Franquemont
Handspinning has been a staple of civilization for thousands of years. Learn about what it is, how the physics of the spindle work to make yarn, and how to get started spinning on your own. Plus it is just cool. You can find very basic spindles for under $10 that work to make lovely yarn. Or you can search on Etsy for spindles with some personality for a little bit more cost.
Beginner's Guide to Japanese Braiding (Kumihimo) by Jacqui Carey
Kumihimo is the Japanese art of cord making. Learn how to make several standard cords, as well as endless ways to customize the patterns. Kumihimo is very soothing and produces beautiful cords for a variety of projects. Here is a low cost, pretty kumihimo marudai from Etsy.
Chain Maille Jewelry Workshop by Karen Karon
Chain Maille is a very different way of making handmade jewelry and it produces some very lovely and interesting pieces. It isn’t as challenging as it looks (the basic weaves anyway), and isn’t that expensive to get started with, you just need two pairs of needle-nose pliers and some jump rings (you can find cheap ones on Amazon, or a fantastic selection at https://theringlord.com/).
