CRAFT LOOKS AT BOOKS
M ore hands-on tool than flip-through craft book, Stencil 101 presents
2 5 graphic stencil designs to instantly make your mark. Whether
y our canvas is a shirt, wall, tabletop, or poster, Roth shows you how
t o customize anything with his iconic images. An A–Z of his clever
m otifs such as deer, turntables, and cans of spray paint packs a visual
p unch. The sturdy full-page stencils are reusable — just wipe them
c lean and stash them in the cover folder. —SB
Stencil 101
By Ed Roth Chronicle Books $25
T his is an amazing book, whether you’re a scrapbooker or not. Helfand,
a graphic designer and cultural critic, has created a coffee table
b ook that puts modern scrapbooking in context. She covers broad
m ovements in scrapbooking (from honeymoon albums to soldiers’
j ournals), but also takes an in-depth look at individual scrapbooks. You
g et a jolt of recognition as you look past the crumbling pages to map
s omeone else’s life against your own. A powerful moment for me was seeing honeymoon scrapbook pages and finding out they were created by a young Anne Sexton as she experimented with poetry. —AG
Scrapbooks: An American History
By Jessica Helfand Yale University Press $45
I ”m a bit of a fabric addict, but I’m not quite a good enough seamstress
t o take the plunge with my favorites. Fabric Inspiration really is full of
i nspiration — now I have a whole list of things to do with the scraps
a nd yards I’m afraid to touch. It’s definitely an aspirational book, full
o f drool-inducing antiques and lush fabrics, but most of the ideas are
s traightforward and they’re tucked into every gorgeous photo. The
b est part is that some of the ideas don’t even involve sewing: you can
c over matchbooks with leftover pieces, re-cover an office filing tray,
o r use a quilt as a bench cushion cover. —AG
Fabric Inspirations
By Kate French and Katherine Sorrell Ryland Peters & Small $30
I wish I’d had this book when I was a kid: illustrated with beautiful vin-
t age art, it’s full of slightly old-fashioned things for kids (or nostalgists)
t o play with. Organized by season, how-to projects like a pumpkin seed
n ecklace or a coffee can lantern are mixed in with fun tidbits like the
n ames of all the children present at the first Thanksgiving. The book
h as a quaint sensibility, but it’s a nice change from some of the more
s cience-heavy kids’ project books. For the aspiring chefs in the house,
G rant has a companion book called Cooking Fun. —AG
Crafting Fun: 101 Things to Make and Do
w ith Kids By Rae Grant St. Martin’s Griffin $20
