Craptastic Crafts and Hobbies Archives - Page 4 of 16

Country themed crafts for home decor

December 16, 2020 Mary Kelly Craptastic Crafts and Hobbies 12 comments

American Country-Crafts
Time-Life Books
1989

This is part of a 15 volume set on country themed art. The books have various themes: Country Kitchen, Country Quilts, Country Style, Country Entertaining, Country Furniture, etc. I guess if you really want to be “country-styled” this is the set for you. Personally, I think this is probably overkill. This book isn’t really for the “how-to” craft crowd. It is more about stylized decorating with the crafty looking items. I can’t imagine what the library was thinking by adding this book. Want to bet it was in a donation pile and someone thought it looked like it was in great shape?

DIY Crowns and Tiaras

November 13, 2020 Holly Craptastic Crafts and Hobbies 13 comments

Crowns & Tiaras
Judd and Montecinos
2007

Submitter: Why would anyone want a crown made of chicken wire? Maybe I’m the odd one, but I really don’t want almost-garbage on my head. We’re a small public library and this hadn’t been circ’d in over 3 years. Plus, it’s just plain weird!

Blanket Fashion

October 19, 2020 Mary Kelly Craptastic Crafts and Hobbies 20 comments

Quilted Clothing
Laury
1982

As a half-baked fan of sewing and quilting, I can appreciate the skills that these examples show off. I can also appreciate that they are warm enough for the toughest winters. I recognize that my uniform of dresses and cardigans for work hardly make me a fashionista, even among librarians. I still have to say no to wearing a blanket.

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.

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