Newest Crafts Reviews

Outdoor Wonderland by Josie Jeffery

Children's Non-Fiction

When I was growing up we had ‘Why Don’t You’ to inspire us what to do during the summer holidays, but I still don’t understand why a TV show would encourage me to switch off the telly – how am I meant to know what to do? A far more sensible guide for outdoor fun is a book like Josie Jeffery’s ‘Outdoor Wonderland’, an informative book full of interesting things to do outside no matter the weather or time of day. Full review...

Flowerpot Farm: A First Gardening Activity Book by Lorraine Harrison

Children's Non-Fiction

With the demand for us to eat seemingly more fruit and vegetables every day, the world of grow-your-own is back. Why buy from the supermarket when you can release the kids into the garden to graze like cattle? However, before you do this, perhaps you should pick up a book like ‘Flowerpot Farm’ by Lorraine Harrison and Faye Bradley which will show them how to create their own fruit, veg and flower garden no matter how small a space they have to work with. Full review...

This Belongs to Me: Cool Ways to Personalize Your Stuff by Anna Wray

Crafts

This Belongs to Me contains 14 design projects that describe how to customise everything from clothing to furniture. The book encourages people to get creative by showing the basic techniques and skills involved for each project, but leaving the actual creative design up to the personal preferences of the reader. Full review...

Make a Mobile: 12 Cool Designs to Press Out and Hang by Lydia Crook

Crafts

Make a Mobile is a delightful crafting book crammed full of projects for parents and children to share. The book contains 12 unique designs that fit together beautifully and are surprisingly easy to make. The perforated pages allow the components of each mobile to be simply pushed out from the page without the need for nimble scissor skills. Full review...

Paper Play by Lydia Crook

Crafts

Paper Play is a virtual time machine, taking us back to an era before the PC, tablet and games console, when children had the ability to amuse themselves for hours with a few sheets of paper, some scissors and some glue. Simple papercraft skills were passed down from generation to generation, arming creative minds with a seemingly endless supply of crafting ideas, including paper dress-up dolls, flying contraptions and finger puppets. Full review...

Woodworking for the Weekend: 20 Projects Using Reclaimed Timber by Mark Griffiths

Crafts

I realised a long time ago that there's a great deal to be said for reclaimed timber. Not only is there virtue in reusing wood (and it's often hardwood) which might otherwise end up on a bonfire or in landfill, it has character, with marks and shadings which speak of its history. Used in the right place it can sing as no completely new piece could ever could - but the trick is in knowing the right place and how to use the wood. Mark Griffiths has come up with twenty projects, most of which are likely to be complete in a weekend and all of which will give pleasure to the woodworker and to the people who use the end results. Full review...

Craft it Up Around the World by Libby Abadee and Cath Armstrong

Children's Non-Fiction

With long summer holidays looming ahead along with uncertain British weather it's alway a good idea to have plans about activities which will involve and interest children. In Craft it Up Around the World we've got thirty five suggestions for projects which will keep children entertained. As the title suggests we're going on a world tour and you can pick the projects to suit other activities you have planned, as a reminder of a holiday or just on a random basis. Full review...

Fiona Goble's Fairy Tale Knits: 20 Enchanting Characters to Make by Fiona Goble

Crafts

It's a lovely idea: knitting patterns for twenty fairy tale characters and a brief story to go with them. There's the pleasure of knitting the characters and then of a child playing with them alongside a story and then being able to use their imaginations to built their own stories. Best of all, it's done without a battery or a computer/games console in sight. It's a winner all round. Full review...

Furniture with Soul: Master Woodworkers and Their Craft by David Savage

Crafts

David Savage is a master furniture maker and one of the artists featured in the book, so he is not – as he says himself – a neutral observer and nor can he be neutral in choosing who to include in the book. Having said that, the pictures alone will tell you that he has chosen people who create furniture of great beauty and – often – originality. It's the text that makes the book shine, though – as it seeks not to give a critical appreciation of each man and one woman's work, but to look at what makes them tick, what drives them on and how they have handled the good times as well as the bad. It is, if you like, ten in-depth biographies of artists who work in a common medium and ten shorter pieces about those we should look out for in the future. Full review...

Creative Parchment Cards: Incorporating Siesta Grids by Patricia Wing

Crafts

Here at Bookbag we've long admired Patricia Wing's ability not just to produce beautiful hand-made cards but to guide us through the process of making them. We've seen her regularly in 'Crafts Beautiful' magazine, so we know that she's a name that you can rely on. Equally reassuring is the fact that she came to card making in middle age – giving hope to anyone who feels that they have left it too late to learn a new craft. We know that we're in a safe – and very creative – pair of hands. Full review...

Dadcando: Build, Make, Do ... the Best Way to Spend Quality Time with Your Kids by Chris Barnardo

Crafts

The ideas in this book originated as a website that Chris Barnardo set up for divorced and separated fathers to help them spend quality time with their children Now he's written a book that although aimed at single fathers is equally as useful for married dads, and mums too or grandparents or carers to inspire crafty ideas of things to make with kids. Full review...

The Girl on the Wall: One Life's Rich Tapestry by Jean Baggott

Autobiography

Jean Baggott is now seventy two and in the final year of her history degree at Warwick University. After almost a lifetime of bending her life to the needs of other people she has decided that now is the time to look after herself – the eleven year old girl whose picture hangs on her wall. She plans to achieve what that girl would want her to achieve and from this she's found great fulfilment. Full review...

Abc 3d by Marion Bataille

Crafts

Wow. This is an ABC book with a difference. The publisher's notes say it's "astoundingly beautiful" and it is. Marion Bataille's careful, ingenious alphabet pops up from the pages to amaze and entrance all who look. From A, a proud pyramid on the inside cover, to Z, standing on its side at the end, each letter of our alphabet has a personality of its own. E morphs into F, V mirrors itself and becomes W, and U is a cascade of parabolas. Full review...

How to Research Local History by Pamela Brooks

Crafts

Find out all about your house, village or town, the subtitle of this book announces. In my view, it tells you much more than that. For any historian, and not just in the field of purely local studies, this volume is probably as near to indispensable as they come. Full review...

Writing for Magazines by Adele Ramet

Crafts

From being an avid reader (and maybe a passionate book reviewer) to writing for magazines yourself is a pretty logical progression. Yet like any other competitive field in life, it's a very hard one to get into – and doubtless getting harder all the time. Full review...

Times of Our Lives by Michael Oke

Crafts

I am currently writing my autobiography as a long-term project and something to leave for my children, so I was interested to receive Times of Our Lives by Michael Oke, which is advertised as the essential companion for writing your own life story. Full review...

A Writer's Book of Days by Judy Reeves

Crafts

I have always written really – diaries every day for years, letters, stories, poems… Ciao and Dooyoo fitted into this perfectly and increased my confidence, as I received better feedback over time, gaining crowns here and Premium Fund payments on Ciao. I am not a particularly confident person, I have quite low self-esteem at times, but I love writing and believe it is my one talent. I think everyone has something they are good at. Full review...

Dragons in Watercolour (Fantasy Art Series) by Paul Bryn Davies

Crafts

This is where my love of the fantasy art range of books from Search Press continues...

So far I have reviewed Painting Fairies in Watercolour and Painting Unicorns in Watercolour and I'm pleased to say that this book lives up to my expectations as much as the last books did. Full review...

The Calligraphy Handbook by Emma Callery

Crafts

I chose to try and learn calligraphy, as it was something that would enhance all my many other craft projects. So did this book help me? Full review...

Stash-Busting Quilts by Lynne Edwards

Crafts

I have got a frighteningly-large stash of fabric. There are shelves full of it here in the workroom. Some of the drawers in the bedroom are used for fabric and let's not even mention the boxes up in the attic. I've started being a bit secretive about exactly how much I have and when I intend to use it. "Oh, yes," I'll say "I know exactly what I'm going to do with that" and hastily change the subject. If you're at all serious about doing patchwork you'll be nodding your head and probably muttering "The attic! I never thought of the attic!" Full review...