Handmade Underground Jewelry: 25 Fun Projects for All Occasions

Handmade Underground Jewelry: 25 Fun Projects for All Occasions

About the Book: Haute couture meets street culture in Handmade Underground Jewelry, where you'll find 25 cool jewelry projects to recreate the boutique look right in your own neighborhood. With basic skills that are easy to pick up and directions that echo the camaraderie of a craft group, the spirit of Handmade Underground Jewelry is fun, loose, experimental, and creative. Each chapter is devoted to a specific skill or technique, including beading, knotting, wire wrapping, and sewing. Plus, you'll learn how to combine techniques to make stunning pieces. For every project, you'll get

Step-by-step instructions and templates

Four-color photos and illustrations

Color charts and project variations with anecdotes

Helpful hints and cool ideas

From a vintage Whimsy Locket to a seared silk and seed bead bezel Nostalgia Brooch, the 25 projects in Handmade Underground Jewelry allow you to make truly unique pieces that look like they came straight out of a hip boutique, while still reflecting your personal style.

Our Take: One of my passions in life is to make jewelry.  It is one of my releases from stress, as many hobbies can be.  I buy books quite often for inspiration. I mean, we all need a little inspiration now and then don't we?!  Well, I did find this book inspiring for someone of my experience with beading and jewelry making skills, but I also think this book is ideal for new beader’s that would like to learn the basics.  The first 25 pages teaches you everything you'll need to know about how to construct a piece.  I truly wish I'd had this book 10 years ago when I was first learned about beading!  I spent countless hours trying and trying to figure things out that had someone with experience, or a decent book, shown me it would have saved me a lot of time.

As you get further in the book you'll find a lot of simple, yet beautiful projects to try.  25 of them to be exact.  The projects are very modern and a good reflection of what we are seeing currently in the jewelry shops and boutiques. For that matter, one of the mall stores I went into today had a piece that was nearly the same as one in this book.

I personally love the idea of incorporating feathers into my pieces.  I took that out of this book... I've never done it before and they told me step by step how to do it with ease!  I was very thankful for that!  I ran to my local craft store to buy a bag of them and instantly and made earrings full of personality. So,  hopefully this book will make you do just what I did....run to the store and buy a few things to incorporate into your bead stash and most importantly, spark your creativity.

-Holly, Book Legion

How to Buy: Amazon or Wiley Press

Upcycled Accessories: 25 Projects Using Repurposed Plastic

Upcycled Accessories: 25 Projects Using Repurposed Plastic

About the Book: Ever wondered what to do with all those plastic grocery bags you have piling up? Fusing bags to make plastic fabric that you then sew with is not an entirely new concept, but never before has a book improved upon the existing technique by giving you creative add-ins to make the finished pieces more unique with an added artistic flavor. You will be guided through instructions on fusing plastic, then through 25 stepped-out projects that feature techniques such as incorporating crayon shavings, paints, stencils and plastic tulle. The book also includes projects that feature collage, fabric appliqu? and permanent marker designs. The book marries two hot subjects: eco-craft and sewing, yet stands apart by focusing on using a genuinely recyclable material - plastic.

Our Take:  I'm just like everyone else in the world these days, trying to do my part to save our planet for future generations.  Well, there is a large movement, especially among the young, to repurpose everything.  This book tackles one of the most common items we all throw away....the plastic bag.  You know, the ones you put your groceries in.  The one every single store puts your new purchases in.  I personally get nearly one hundred a month. Before, I'd repurpose them in a mannerism I won't share here.  Let's just say a lot of mine made there way to a landfill courtesy of our catbox! 

This new book teaches you how to bond these old bags together to make them thicker and easier to deal with.  Not too difficult, I must say.  Once you can do that there are 25 projects to make.  First,  I suggest you tackle one of the straight forward and easy projects such as, the little robot toy.  After that you can learn to insert additives such as glitter, paint, tissue paper to make your plastic even more interesting!  I personally really loved the coasters. I mean, they are made out of plastic and keep your furniture free of rings!  They're Perfect, in my opinion.

All you need for the book's projects is some plastic bags from a grocery store.  I'd recommend getting a variety so you will be able to use a variety of colors, maybe some things for inclusion, basic to moderate sewing skills, a sewing machine is ideal but I'd say all of these could be done by hand. I don't recommend it though, as it would just take a bit longer and who has the time?! But, hand sewing has the advantage of adding more character to your project.

I must comment that I've seen a few of these projects as products in some major retailers. So save yourself money and do it yourself (DIY)! Being in fashion and saving the world all at once?! Go super woman!

-Holly, Book Legion

How to Buy: Amazon.com and North Light Books

Stick It!: 99 DIY Duct Tape Projects

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Stick It!: 99 DIY Duct Tape Projects

About the Book: Duct Tape: Dream designer material or simple adhesive used for binding purposes? Thanks to Stick It!, duct tape will become a valuable commodity in your house now that it can be coaxed into wacked-out wallets, wild wearables, punked-out paper goods, and funky jewelry that will bedazzle any outfit fit for all occasions! 

This invaluable guide—complete with folders and step-by-step directions—will lead you through 99 different craft projects so you’ll become your own ‘DT’ aficionado. Each project is leveled from: “Dude, my five-year-old sister could do that” to “Don’t even think about operating heavy machinery.” Told in an accessible “teen-speak” language hip tapesters will love, and reminiscent of Stitch ‘N Bitch and The Big Bad-Ass Book of Crafts, this book is appropriate for the new generation of cool and funky hand made craftsters. Read, unroll, and express your rockin’ self through creativity and, of course, duct tape!

Our Take:  The first time I encountered a Duct Tape wallet was in a little boutique. I was fascinated!  My father had always joked that anything could be fixed with Duct Tape, but I had always laughed at the idea.  Well, here was a wallet made completely of Duct Tape before my very eyes. How extraordinary!  I examined it and thought to myself "I'm not paying 40 dollars for this! I'll make it on my own with a 2 dollar roll of Duct Tape!"  I'm a DIY kind of girl, after all.

Well, here is an entire book with functional items made out of Duct Tape!  It has the wallet, which has now become a staple in most all the boutiques in my area, along with accessories, purses, and there is even a men's tie made of Duct Tape!  Everything from the very practical to the extremely eccentric.

I made my first wallet about 2 years ago and I was excited to have a reason to pull out my Duct Tape again!  After all I had bought nearly 10 different colors of it for wallet making.  I made several of the projects, like the necklaces, most of them were a quick make!  A book like this is always nice when you are a mother who doesn't have a lot of free time and want to make something quick!  Naturally some of them take a bit more time and more elbow grease but they are worth it for the amazing things you'll make!

-Holly, Book Legion

How to Buy: Amazon.com or Running Press