Craptastic Crafts and Hobbies Archives - Page 2 of 28

Angel a Day

August 31, 2020 Mary Kelly Craptastic Crafts and Hobbies 11 comments

Crafting an Angel a Day
Scott, ed.
2000

If you are a fan of rather weird looking or cartoon-like angels, this book might be for you. There is a wide variety of angel themed crafts. I am not a fan of these types of decorations, but I know a lot of people like this stuff. What I did like about this book were the instructions. The skills required were not ridiculous like some of the books we have featured. Good craft books are really about instruction. This one is better than most. Depending on condition, this might work fine for your collection.

1 or two angels for the Christmas tree, perfectly fine at my house. Any more than that, especially given how these angels look, and I am going to have a problem. If I had to craft an angel a day, I would probably have to be medicated.

Crafty Cats

Cat Crafts
Hendry
2002

Did someone say “cats”?

This wasn’t too bad or too great either.The book is marketed to youth, but I think some of these projects require too much stuff and/or too much skill. When I was in youth land, there would be that craft that was supposedly for the kids, but the parents ended up doing the whole thing. So as a library program idea, it’s not going to get anyone particularly excited but I also have seen the right librarian doctoring up a okay craft into something spectacular.

Quick aside: As a person who has done both adult and youth librarianship, the level of skill, creativity, and the ability the youth librarians out there bring to the table is impressive. Adult services is easy, comparatively speaking. Kids always ask questions that constantly stump me. My colleagues at all the libraries where I have worked are amazing and so creative. The business nerd in me also thinks these are the people to develop into library management. Anyway, back to our regular show…

Double your fashion statement

June 24, 2020 Mary Kelly Craptastic Crafts and Hobbies 6 comments

Easy Reversible Vests
Doak
1994

If you look back on the books we have posted about sewing and knitting, vests seem to be the fashion accessory. I honestly don’t get it. I love quilts and quilting, I just don’t want to wear one. The only person I can think of that pulled off the vest look was Diane Keaton in Annie Hall.

And yet I bring you another vest book. This time you will really get your money’s worth with the whole reversible thing. If they were actual quilts instead of a “fashion statement” I would be all over the color choices and techniques. I think I am going to say that the quilted vest needs to be retired as a concept. (Right next to the fancy sweatshirts) Make a lovely quilt for the guest room instead.

Tiny Hat Decor

June 8, 2020 Mary Kelly Craptastic Crafts and Hobbies 16 comments

Doilies to Crochet for Little Hats
Thomas
1985

The word “doilies” always makes me think of my great-grandmother or any other seriously old person. I mean REALLY old. I can’t remember the last time I saw a doilies for decoration. Anyway, now doilies have a new purpose: little hats. The little hats are for decoration not for wearing on tiny people. I am going to bet that the fashion trend of tiny hats isn’t as strong as it was back in the 80s.

Sculpture in Paper

May 13, 2020 Holly Craptastic Crafts and Hobbies 4 comments

Sculpture in Paper
Roukes
1993

Submitter: Here is one submission, based on condition and age. I missed it in my first weeding of the section because I didn’t open the book. It’s a cool idea for a book, but I believe that a new edition would circulate.

Holly: It has definitely seen better days, as you can see from the water damage in the first image below. This one could definitely be replaced if it has circulated well! On the other hand, often patrons will immediately let staff know about damage like this so that they don’t get blamed for it, so maybe no one has looked at it for a while. On the other other hand, I have found items on the shelf with peanut butter on the cover and pages held together with duct tape and prayer, so it could have been checked out several times like this and no one bothered to do anything about it!

Bodacious Documents!

February 26, 2020 Mary Kelly Craptastic Crafts and Hobbies 16 comments

Bodacious Borders
Armstrong
1992

Are you looking to make your reports more bodacious? Look no further! You can jazz up your reports with a variety of borders. With a copy machine, and some rubber cement, transform your documents into something special.

Prior to the widespread use of programs such as Photoshop and word processing, combining graphics and text was difficult. It also wasn’t practical for most people. (Those of us of a certain age might remember the dittos, which predates all of this. Raise your hand if you remember inhaling that new ditto smell.)

Clear Crafting

February 20, 2020 Mary Kelly Craptastic Crafts and Hobbies 14 comments

Plastic Crafts
O’Meara-Humphrey
1977

I really wasn’t sure what to expect with these plastic crafts. In this book, plastic crafts are clear acrylic items that end up being sign holders, shelves, and other basic containers. I thought these things were churned out by Big Plastic Factory and not something one would craft. The clear plastic theme was indeed a thing back in the day for the really modern look. If you are a librarian, you probably have a hundred of these things to hold the latest signs, flyers, etc for your library.

Looking at the detail involved, it does require some skill. Nowadays, someone would probably use a 3-D printer and call it a day.

Mary

Fashionable Quilted Vests

January 16, 2020 Mary Kelly Craptastic Crafts and Hobbies 11 comments

Classic Quilted Vests
Fons and Porter
1982

I am a fan of quilting and although I lack real skills, I can appreciate the skills and would love to make a quilt with any of these patterns. However, I just don’t want to WEAR a blanket as a fashion statement. In terms a fashion, these quilts are just a step above the sweatshirt makeovers we have featured all the time on this site. In fact, how about the combo of sweatshirts AND and quilting?

I am impressed with the skills. I just wish they had used their quilting skills for good rather than evil.

Mary