Tag Archive: Art



FELT IT for beginners: 25 PROJECTS FOR DECORATION AND THERAPY (THE CRAFT OF FELTING- FUN AND THERAPY Book 1)

Though this book is about felting, it is more about wet-felting. And though there is a bit of needle felting and some ideas for what to do with defective or broken needles, it wasn’t enough for me and my need to learn about needle felting.

Another cool thing about this book is that it is for parents or teachers/counselors of children with disabilities. I can see how the wet felting could be fun and how it could be a great bonding experience for everyone. And the squishing wonderful feeling of wet felting has to be a lot of fun. Maybe as good as making slime, but you get to keep the item you make, not just clean it up.

But for me, it is getting cold and I just don’t have the room that is warm enough to do wet felting. Maybe next summer I will revisit this book and this part of the craft of felting.


Needle Felting for Beginners: Sculpting with wool - cute, easy projects with step-by-step tutorialsNeedle Felting for Beginners: Sculpting with wool – cute, easy projects with step-by-step tutorials by Lori Allen

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I want to give this book 5 stars. I really do. But with no Text-to-Speech for some of us, it is hard to read. Maybe I could give it 4.5? Because…

It is the perfect book for a felting newbie. It really does start with cookie cutter easy felts. And there are a few websites to go to from the book. Too bad they aren’t links. And you can’t copy the URLs to paste into an address bar, so … just not as well formatted as it could be.

STILL, for those just getting started on this craft, this may be the best book to get. I have ‘leafed’ through it several times on several of my readers. The best one is the PC Kindle as the pictures and fonts are much larger.

Maybe a warning I just picked up on, one shouldn’t use upholstery foam because it has fire-retardant. I cut up an old neck pillow that I gave up on a while ago. Since I’ve already spent my fun cash for this new hobby, I can’t afford another. But I’ll try to get a new felting cushion soon. I hope I don’t get to the point of it being dust that would be bad for my lungs.

So get this book if you can. There’s a lot to learn in it despite the formatting.

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Felting: The Complete GuideFelting: The Complete Guide by Jane Davis

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a beautifully illustrated, how-to book. I loved that it was ring-bound rather than a glue and stitching binding. It makes it easy to hold the book open on the page as you try the methods. If I were working on the projects presented I would be ever so grateful. But I’m trying to make other things.

I think if one were working on a wet felting this would be even better as your hands would be too wet to turn pages that accidentally flip.

If I had read this before the era of YouTube I might have given it five stars. But, hey, there are so many tutorials out there to walk you through everything. So, if you don’t have a computer go check this out at the library, or if you have the cash, buy it. You’ll love it. I’d love to see what you make!

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Heart Felt Knits: 25 Fresh and Modern Felting ProjectsHeart Felt Knits: 25 Fresh and Modern Felting Projects by Tamara Mello

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

How can I fairly review this book? The wool that was donated to us is good for cores of toys but I don’t think it will do well for wet-felting. It certainly can’t be spun into a decent yarn. This book centers on felting that is done from knitted items.

Yet, if this appeals to you, and the pictures are certainly appealing, you might want to go out and buy good wool yarns and get busy. In fact, the scarf featured on the actress on the front of this book is beautiful. If you recognize her, from the show Popular, it may be even more fun to read this book. Ms. Tamara Mello spent much of her downtime on set, knitting. Reading about her path of learning knitting was fun. I loved the looks of all the items pictured in the book. The instructions, even for learning to knit, were thorough and well illustrated.

So I guess I should mark this 5 stars, even though it isn’t helpful now. Who knows how far I will get into the felting hobby? I may find myself buying this book later instead of borrowing it from the eBook library.

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Hop and Chomp: A Caterpillar Story: Children's Books - Picture Books for Kids - Story Books for Children - Beginner Book for Children - Age 3-7Hop and Chomp: A Caterpillar Story: Children’s Books – Picture Books for Kids – Story Books for Children – Beginner Book for Children – Age 3-7 by Gita V. Reddy

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

We live in the desert outback of Oregon. When you picture Oregon, you probably see green trees and oceans. This is mostly sagebrush and sky. I love it. There is room to breathe and did I mention sky? Many of us don’t have grassy lawns, between critters and the amount of water it would take to keep it green, it seems silly to attempt. So instead my family and I have dedicated to saving bees and inviting hummingbirds into our yard. I think because of the heavy snows of the winter we have a lot more vegetation than usual. More butterflies. And just yesterday I saw a Mourning Cloak. I realized I hadn’t seen one of those for decades.

And then this little sweet book comes into my life. How adorable the grasshopper and caterpillar are! I love how the author explains why the caterpillar needs to eat so much and about the pupa stage. The pages are colorful with butterfly backgrounds and the Rangoli designs on each page above the main characters. Those are inspiring me to try my hand at drawing them.

This book is great for the early reader but great fun for a read aloud and learning about everything from caterpillars to India and lots of art to play with. All while learning to read. I would have had a ball reading this with my kids back in the day.

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Source: About — Samantha Mitchell

Here is another of the impressive artists I was lucky to meet at the Playa last Sunday. Her work is so Zentangle like each thin line of the grains of wood placed with consistent and patient care. Please check out her website: http://www.samanthadylanmitchell.net/


Source: LowDown blog — Tidal Grove

I have to admit that Rebecca Welti had the most exciting artwork at the retreat. I wanted to be a marine biologist when I was in junior high. That passion never left me even though I was told math would be involved so I pulled myself out of the possibility. But Ms. Welti is self-taught and her passion for the tiny marine beings is contagious. Those strange space aliens are all microscopic creatures of the deep. She wants to make action figures and trading cards for folks to get more involved in this wonderful field. Please go check out her website to learn more. http://www.rebeccawelti.com/


The Seven Lady GodivasThe Seven Lady Godivas by Dr. Seuss
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Some books are meant to be devoured. Others you want to take your time and enjoy every nuance. This was one of the latter. If you’re like me you’ve read to your siblings and your children, every Dr. Seuss, you could find. So when this came along from my friends in the Reno BookCrossing group, I had to grab it. I’ve had it in my possession for far too long. But when I finally settled into my new house. I decided this would be one of the first reads.

In a world, where the common sense that we all know and love, is totally missing, it’s nice to get back to just plain old horse sense. You know those old sayings and wondered where they came from? Dr. Seuss tries to explain in this book. What a strange, and humorous book this is!

For some fuddy-duddies, this book might not be so good. It has cartoon nudity, okay? But there’s a reason for that. Dr. Seuss explains it quite well as he goes along. So ‘don’t get your tidy Whitey’s’ in a knot as my husband says. Enjoy this book for the prize it is.

As I said before, this is a BookCrossing edition. BCID 639-13580476 If there are no objections from my group. I plan to set this book free at Christmas Valley Library.

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Night of Cake & Puppets (Daughter of Smoke & Bone, #2.5)Night of Cake & Puppets by Laini Taylor

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh, this was so fun! I didn’t even want to write the review yet because I wanted to leave the glow that this story left me in. I loved the whole series, but I think I loved this one little story the best. That’s because Zuzana and Mik were my favorite people. They were so gutsy, smart, and vulnerable. Moreso, I think, than Karou, who was supposed to be the star of the trilogy. In fact, I don’t think I have ever fallen in love with the secondary characters in such a way as I did these sweeties.

Yet… this is a love story. Girl wants to meet guy, guy wants to meet girl, but neither know how the other feels. Rather than being full of angst as most teen romances are, this is full of confidence and imagination. Sure there are self-doubts, but these two find ways to rise above and make it happen in spite of themselves and because of themselves.

This little book is so full of magic. Yes, Karou’s magic but. also, the magic of spirit. I believe that the whispersync for voice with the narration of Khristine Hvam and Kevin T. Collins respectively playing for Zuzana and Mik. They both did marvelous jobs. And though this book has text-to-speech, if you can get the audio version to read with, do so.

I hate leaving the series behind. I have so enjoyed every moment of it. It engulfs the reader and doesn’t let go. I do plan to re-read these. Suggestion: If you are going to read this one either read it after number two or after the third book. It will make more sense that way. Oh, how I wish for more!

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Drawing AutismDrawing Autism by Jill Mullin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received my book from FirstReads in the mail today: Feb 27, 2014 It is a very exciting looking book. I can hardly wait to sit and actually pour over the drawings and descriptions!

And here it is April 18, 2015. What took me so long? Why isn’t this a 5 star rating? FONT! If it were for the artwork and the inspiration I felt from them it would be worth 10 stars! But it took me months to get through the reading part. I just couldn’t read the tiny faded gray font. There are a couple pages at the beginning which are by Temple Grandin (Forward). I really wanted to read it as I was reading/read her book Thinking in Pictures. But I found I could only read it a line or two at a time. Even with magnifying glasses, or my large magnifying page reader. It took me a long, long time! The next two pages were by the editor Jill Mullin. I just finally gave up. My eyes were hurting so much! After the torture of the first few pages, I found I could get by, a page a day. The pictures were wonderful! But, again, it was the font explaining the artist or the work that nearly killed me.

Still, I highly recommend this book for anyone who loves art and are curious about those who think differently than yourself.

I found that I will have to make this part of my permanent collection as the pictures gave me ideas I’d like to try in my own artwork. BCID: 745-13301987

Thank you, First Reads at GoodReads.com for this win!

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