About this product: From choosing a delicious menu to assembling the guest list, hundreds of details go into planning a successful wedding. The DIY Bride helps brides put their stamp on the big day without breaking the bank. Written by the creator of the number one Web site for wedding crafts, DIYBride.com, this fun, easy guide showcases unique, easy-to-do craft projects that range from beautiful handmade announcements and invitations to personalized favors and much more. Khris Cochran includes valuable cost-comparison sidebars that clearly detail the huge savings involved. She also shows brides how to involve their friends and families in the project-making process, making this a fun journey for all. The DIY Bride is an essential purchase for any woman who dreams of an unforgettable wedding--from the inside out.
About this product: Goodbye, caterers. So long, wedding coordinators. Here is the bride's guide to thinking outside that robin's egg blue wedding-industry box. In this, the only comprehensive do-it-yourself wedding book, you ll find everything you need to pull off a personalized celebration. No cookie-cutter weddings here! With how-to info on flowers, invites, food, the ceremony, and more, The DIY Wedding makes it easy to spend less and create an event that is entirely original. Inspiring ideas, countless resources, budgeting tips, contract templates, plus start-to-finish projects ease the planning pressure.
From the creators of the hugely popular craft site, Supernaturale.com, comes a hip and funky compendium of new DIY projects that reshape, reuse, and redefine the concept of "handmade," moving away from country–cutesy, granny craft into utilitarian craft art for the 21st century.
Got a pile of extra buttons and don't know what to do with them? Make a cool bracelet. Need some pillows for your new couch, and have a bunch of old wool sweaters? Turn those sweaters into felt! Knitting, felting, leather tooling, glass and metal work––it's all here. CRAFTIVITY is filled with 60 amazing DIY projects that make the most of what you have by taking old stuff and turning it into functional, breathtaking art.
Faythe Levine traveled 19,000 miles to document what has emerged as a marriage between historical technique, punk culture, and the D.I.Y. ethos. For "Handmade Nation" (along with the documentary film of the same name, coming in 2009), she and Cortney Heimerl have selected 24 makers and 5 essayists who work within different media and have different methodologies to provide a microcosm of the crafting community. Participants in this community share ideas and encouragement through websites, blogs, boutiques, galleries, and craft fairs. Together they have forged a new economy and lifestyle based on creativity, determination, and networking. Twenty-four artists from Olympia, Washington to Providence, Rhode Island, and everywhere in between show their work and discuss their lives.
"Handmade Nation" features photographs of the makers, their work environment, their process, their work, and discussions of how they got their start and what motivates them.
About this product: Sew Subversive is about making fashion your own, whether it's embellishing or customizing off-the-rack clothing or transforming clothes that have lost that loving feeling. The three twenty-something co-owners of Stitch Lounge, an urban sewing studio in San Francisco, teach you, in plain, fun language, how to do it, whether you're hand sewing, machine sewing, or, in a few cases, simply wielding a pair of scissors.
The first three chapters lay the ground work: Hand Sewing Basics, You and Your Machine, and Gearing Up, which includes Fabric 101, how to set up a sewing space, and a run-through first project on the sewing machine. Then the fun begins with Embellishing and Customizing projects, including adorning your pant legs with ribboning, turning a computer-scanned image into an iron-on that you can apply to a t-shirt or skirt, taking in a skirt, or untapering a pair of pants (the authors believe tapered pants are the devil's work). Then move onto Refashioning: The Next Life of Your Old Clothes and turn a t-shirt into a skirt, a sweater into a halter top or legwarmers, or a pair of pants into a hip belt. There are 22 projects in all, some of which only require an iron and/or pair of scissors, while others can be sewn by hand, for those readers who haven't yet made the sewing machine plunge.
Anyone who has ever imagined plunging bare hands into cool, moist clay and shaping it into a vase, platter, or tile can now experience the pleasure of pottery. Lifelong potter Bill van Gilder has a bounty of time-tested advice on all the basics, and a plethora of fantastic techniques. That means novices will enjoy the advantages of a master teacher guiding them through each stage of the process—while intermediates will eagerly soak up every new idea he has to offer. With van Gilder’s help, beginners can try hand building, and progress onto the fundamentals of wheel-throwing. They’ll get expert tips on shaping spouts, handles and feet; adding texture, color, and luster; and combining techniques to create a variety of attractive projects.
A production potter for more than 30 years, Bill van Gilder, host of DIY Network’s Throwing Clay, has traveled around the world to learn, teach, and exhibit his craft. He is a regular contributor to Clay Times magazine, and is on the faculty of The Art League School in Alexandria, Virginia. In 2000, he founded the Frederick Pottery School in Maryland.
Inventive, (mostly) edible DIY gadgets and projects guaranteed to captivate
The Hungry Scientist Handbook brings DIY technology into the kitchen and onto the plate. It compiles the most mouthwatering projects created by mechanical engineer Patrick Buckley and his band of intrepid techie friends, whose collaboration on contraptions started at a memorable 2005 Bay Area dinner party and resulted in the formation of the Hungry Scientist Society—a loose confederation of creative minds dedicated to the pursuit of projects possessing varying degrees of whimsy and utility.
Featuring twenty projects ranging from edible origami to glowing lollipops, cryogenic martinis to Tupperware boom boxes, the book draws from the expertise of programmers, professors, and garden-variety geeks and offers something to delight DIYers of all skill levels.
Every homeowner wants to make the most of his "outdoor home." Black & Decker The Complete Outdoor Builder begins with sections on Tools & Materials, Building Codes, Yard Surveying, Drawing Plans, and includes a lengthy section on the basic techniques of working with wood, concrete, brick, stone, and roofing materials. Then comes the heart of the book-detailed chapters on Pathways; Fences, Walls & Gates; Patios; Decks; Porches & Entries; Sheds & Outbuildings; and Accessories. With 150 projects, there is value here for every reader, from the beginning DIY'er to seasoned veterans of outdoor building projects. Featured projects include: a three-season porch, a timber play structure for children, a Victorian gazebo, retaining walls, brick barbecue, cobblestone walkway, decorative fountains, a raised garden bed, and a garden pond. As with all Black & Decker home improvement books, this handy manual contains the most precise, detailed and easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions in home improvement publishing.
About this product: The Creative Entrepreneur is a visual, results-oriented, step-by-step method of business development for creatives from all walks of life who want to turn their passions into viable business opportunities.
Whether you are and artist, designer, or small business owner, this book will empower you to renew and nurture your vision with the steps required to take an idea and make it real.
The Creative Entrepreneur offers a dynamic left brain/right brain approach to developing a business focus that evaluates underlying internal issues unique to creative types and shows how to practically address them.
You'll gain a combination of powerful business and strategic planning tools and learn how to use them like a pro. Related journal exercises further explore each concept in a visual and engaging way that appeals to how creative types think, learn and process information. Your journal becomes a companion and map for your creative business journey.
Say goodbye to appliance installers and repairmen!
When today's consumers buy new stoves, refrigerators and other major appliances, the usual choice isn't an installation contractor, but a home improvement or electronics warehouse store, which simply delivers the unit to the front door. Arranging for installation is now the homeowner's responsibility.
Installing the appliance themselves is the choice of increasing numbers of homeowners purchasing appliances in this way. For some appliances, DIY installation can cut the cost of an appliance by more than 50%. And equal cost-savings is achieved by the homeowner who is able to perform basic maintenance and repair tasks themselves.
DIY Guide to Appliances is a comprehensive guide to installing and performing basic maintenance on all major household appliances, including washers and dryers, refrigerators, garbage disposers, dishwashers, water heaters, ovens, ranges and more.
Perfect companion book for homeowners buying appliances from warehouse stores
Includes complete installation instructions
Repair and maintenance instructions can save homeowners thousands of dollars