Artful Halloween: Book Review and Giveaway

Hello there!

It's already October 10, how is that even possible? I thought I was getting started early on Halloween costumes this year, but I have a feeling I'll be scrambling once again, ha! I'll be sharing our costume progress so far tomorrow. In the meantime, I wanted to tell you about a new Halloween book that Lark Crafts sent me for review.




Artful Halloween: 31 Frightfully Elegant Projects by Susan Wasinger is pretty awesome as far as holiday craft books go. Lark Crafts has proven to do an excellent job in the holiday category, with gems like Fa La La La Felt and Pretty in Patchwork: Holidays. Fresh off the presses, Artful Halloween belongs in the same basket, featuring a beautiful layout and a solid offering of craft projects that are creative, aesthetic and more importantly, not cheesy (which matters a lot to me, when holiday decorating is concerned!).




I already loved Susan Wasinger's work in her books Eco-Craft and Sewn By Hand (also published by Lark). Artful Halloween will surely become my go-to craft resource for October in years to come. Wasinger offers a variety of spooky projects to decorate outside as well as inside the home, along with ten pumpkin-decorating ideas! Some projects are very quick, some are a bit more involved, and most use craft supplies you already have on-hand or can easily find at your local craft store. Love that!

But instead of gushing on and on, let me show you a few examples of why I think this Halloween book kicks butt. And keep scrolling down to see a project I made from the book as well as a giveaway!!

A post about keeping house, and all that entails

Oh my, a chill is in the air even in these parts! Hard to believe summer is almost over. I'm always sad to see the main growing season go, but by now I'm also worn out by super hot and humid weather and mosquitoes as big as hummingbirds. So, bring on Fall!

Thoughts of cleaning, organizing and nesting have set in, and as I look around the house I can see I have some major work to do. I never really got back into a routine after we moved back into the house in March, and my sanity (and the state of my house) has suffered greatly for it. I make valiant attempts to "get back on track" but they never seem to stick. I need help!

Enter in my favorite new book, Home Comforts: The Art and Science of Keeping House. This comprehensive housekeeping guide, written by Cheryl Mendelson, is not only an encyclopedia of indispensable explanations and tips for every household task, it is also brilliantly written. Sort of like a cookbook that you want to read even when you are not actually cooking......




The book is a large one, at almost 900 pages the hardback version is formidable. The pages are divided into the broad categories of Beginnings, Food, Cloth, Cleanliness, Daily Life, Sleep, Safe Shelter and Formalities. Those eight sections are further divided into 72 chapters, so you can find exactly what you need when you need it without getting overwhelmed by all the rest.

Mod Podge Rocks! Giveaway: 12 more hours!

If you didn't get a chance to enter the awesome giveaway for the Mod Podge Rocks! book and prize package, there's still time! We're extending the deadline to 12:00 Midnight CST, tonight (July 16, 2012)! Go enter the giveaway here.

And for all of you that got your name in before now, thank you! Here's a little free download (PDF) from the book Mod Podge Rocks! by Amy Anderson to kick off our Christmas in July series. Thank you to Lark Crafts for sharing this project with us!

Cheery Recycled Gift Tags PDF

Check back here though the end of July for more projects, free downloads, links and fantastic giveaways, all focused on gift giving and holiday decorating!

Mod Podge Rocks: Giveaway!!

Hello friends! Today we're hosting a super giveaway courtesy of Lark Crafts and Plaid!

As you may have seen around the blogosphere, Amy Anderson, the crafty lady behind the popular blog Mod Podge Rocks, has just authored a brand new book.




Mod Podge Rocks!: Decoupage Your World is a collection of 40 simple and inexpensive decoupage projects designed by Amy as well as other well-known folks in the crafting world. There are accessories, wearables, jewelry and even holiday projects. Some are shabby chic, some are modern, there are a lot of styles and inspiration, as well as instructions and techniques for using Mod Podge on various surfaces for fabulous results.




(Did you know Mod Podge has been around for 45 years?! We didn't!)

Here are some of our favorite projects in the book:












I love that step-stool!

Angel and I were lucky to receive some Mod Podge along with our review copies of the book (thank you Lark Crafts!) and we've been playing around with some projects. We can't wait to show you and hope you come back tomorrow to see...

In the meantime, check out what's up for grabs in this fabulous Mod Podge Rocks giveaway!

Giveaway

One lucky winner will receive a copy of the Mod Podge Rocks! book along with an array of Mod Podge supplies including t-shirt, tote bag, collage paper, and an awesome variety of Mod Podge glues and products to try out all sorts of decoupage projects! (See photo below for all items included. There's stuff in the tote bag too!)




A second winner will receive a copy of the book!

How To Enter

For a chance to win either prize, simply leave a comment on this post! If you'd like, tell us the first thing you've ever Mod Podged -- or thought of Mod Podge-ing.

Please make sure and include a link or email address in your comment so we can contact you if you win. This giveaway is open until Sunday July 15, at midnight PST. U.S. residents only please, apologies to our international friends!

We will draw the two winners randomly on Monday July 16. We'll announce them here and contact them via email. One entry per person, please. (Void where prohibited)

Good luck everyone! And huge thanks to Lark Crafts for sharing all these goodies!

This giveaway is now closed. Thank you to everyone who participated! Congratulations to our winners Aubrey (#10) and Promise (#74). Check your email for a note from us!

You can find Mod Podge Rocks online here: blog / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest.

If you're new to Stumbles & Stitches, welcome! We hope you'll stick around, browse and subscribe. You can find all our social media links in the sidebar to the right!

Book Review: Stash Happy Appliqué

Hello there!

I've been meaning to write this book review for weeks and weeks!! Lark Craft sent me Stash Happy: Appliqué a few months back and I finally, FINALLY completed the project from it that I wanted to make: an apron for Craft Hope's Project 17 (more on that in a minute). I am so glad I can now share my thoughts on the book!


Stash Happy: Appliqué -- 25 Fresh Projects for Fabric Lovers
by Cynthia Shaffer




Like the rest of the Stash Happy series (which includes Stash Happy: Felt and Stash Happy: Patchwork) the Applique version delivers a whole bunch of creative patterns to help you make the most of your stash while building your skills and making some cute stuff for your home, your kids, your friends and yourself.

This series is well-crafted and the books are laid out in a pleasant fashion with modern fonts and crisp photos. The book begins with a quick "basics" section that provides an overview of all the various ways one can appliqué fabric and explains techniques you may not already know, with lovely graphics and photos.




The projects that follow range from embellishing existing items like shoes or a t-shirt, or creating from scratch. The appliqué techniques and motifs cater to a wide variety of styles and tastes. Here are a few of my favorites.



Scrappy & Scrumptious Mug Rugs


Fresh & Shabby Pillow Houses


Treasures-to-Go Drawstring Bag


Colorful & Portable Tic-Tac-Toe


Sweet Dreams Tooth Pillow


Your House Hoop Art

I'll stop there but I could share more!

As I mentioned above, I made the adult apron from the Mother & Daughter Apron Set last week. Here it is in the book, along with a preview of mine. I share more photos of my finished apron in this post.



Mother & Daughter Apron Set



The instructions were quite clear and accompanied by detailed and helpful photos. It seems the author does expect that you have some basic sewing knowledge. I didn't feel babied at all, and was even challenged a couple of times to try things I never have before. I learned some stuff and my apron turned out great!

What appeals to me most about this book is that the projects also stand on their own without the appliqué factor. The designs are modern, stylish, cute and well constructed. You could skip the appliqué and simply use the pattern. Similarly, the appliqué motifs and techniques are usable on projects other than what is suggested in the book. That clever flexibility opens up a myriad options, and I love that!

Thank you Lark Crafts for once again sending me a lovely book to add to my crafty library.

We've hosted a big Stash Happy giveaway already, but if you're interested in some freebies from this book, check out the free downloads for Little Miss Mason Jars and Pretty-ful Lampshade we shared during our Feather Your Nest Series.

Check out photos of my apron here! What kind of applique do you like to do? Does this look like a book you'd like to own?

Book review: Harvesting Color (How to Find Plants and Make Natural Dyes)

Dear Jenny,

When picking items to take over to the rental, I only allowed myself to pack up and move a small number of books (by my standards at least). I tried to focus on the main categories: a few favorite cookbooks, a few favorite craft books, design magazines and some DIY books. Mostly I brought my gardening books, knowing that I would be in this space during prime garden planning time.

I also put this little gem of a book into the pile: Harvesting Color: How to Find Plants and Make Natural Dyes by Rebecca Burgess, with the goal of using it to help plan the dye garden portion of my Spring planting.  (Joanna passed this book and several others along to me, wasn't that nice?)

The book is organized by Season, and each Season has a selection of dye plants (and a regional map of where you can find them) as well as information on mordants, dye processes and harvesting plants.

Two plants that I already have access to also happen to make beautiful dye. Pokeberry (we call it "poke salad" around here) grows like a weed in my yard, and I love the idea of using the beautiful berries from the gigantic plants that always seem to fly under the radar until they are six feet tall! The dye it makes is gorgeous, isn't it?

Another one I'd like to try is fennel, I'd need to grow quite a bit more of it than I normally do (apparently it naturalizes in some parts of the country, but not down here) but Ian loves to eat it, and whatever I don't use for dyeing I can leave for the butterflies and their caterpillars later in the season! I love the celery green it produces, don't you?

Each Season even has a knitting project, using yarn dyed with natural dye recipes included in the book.

Also, I remember our conversation the other day about how much different living sustainably looks when you live in an apartment instead of a house with a garden and chickens, this book: Fresh Food From Small Spaces made me think of you! Check it out and let me know if you're interested, I'll mail it to you!

Maverick Star Pillow

Hi Angel, I hope you're enjoying the morning and not pulling your hair out over all this Flickr trouble (dear readers, you may notice some broken photo links on the blog right now, we cannot figure out what happened and have contacted Flickr to help us out... Cross your fingers for us!). In the meantime, I wanted to show you a few more photos of the pillow I made with the Maverick Star quilt pattern from Pretty in Patchwork: Doll Quilts.


Pillow covers are so fun and fast to make, and they're a great way to give a room a quick makeover! I like switching out our pillows every so often and make the living room look fresh and new. Since I had just re-upholstered our ottoman, I was on a roll to spruce up that room!

Pretty in Patchwork Doll Quilts: Book Review and Giveaway

Dear readers, today I'm excited to share my thoughts on the book Pretty in Patchwork: Doll Quilts which Lark Crafts sent me for review a couple of months ago. Lark Crafts is generously giving away a copy of the book to a lucky reader, and Angel and I are throwing in some fabric to make your own patchwork projects, so read on!


Pretty in Patchwork is a new series by Lark Crafts. In this book, Cathy Gaubert leads a group of 20 top designers who contribute an array of patterns for doll quilts featuring applique, piecing, embroidery and more. Doll quilts are the perfect size to try out new techniques and quilt designs without the commitment of a full size quilt. The quilts featured in this book would look great as works of art on a wall.