Craft! Make your own journal April 18, 2008

Look what I made!

Since I haven’t blogged much about crafts recently, here’s the teen craft we did on Wednesday, a National Library Week special. As usual, the teens’ journals were more creative than mine, but I still like the one I made. I think I’ll use it as a reading journal, someplace to take notes as I read and for books I don’t blog about.

And some of the pages inside:

This is an easy, fun, and creative craft for teens. I only had to buy the chipboard for the covers and one pad of 12” x 12” scrapbooking cardstock expressly for this program, so it wasn’t too expensive, either. However, it does require some special equipment, namely a Zutter Bind-it-All machine to punch holes through the chipboard covers and paper we put inside, and to put everything together. If you know someone who scrapbooks, see if they have one you can borrow. My library’s children’s librarian borrowed the machine we used from a friend, and the wire for the binding was leftover from an adult program. I had additional scrapbooking paper leftover paper from previous programs; gluesticks, paper trimmers, and other supplies on hand; as well as die cuts (which someone donated to the library) and punches, which the teens always enjoy using to add decoration.

The price of this program will vary depending on what, and how much, you need to purchase. If you’re looking for a just plain cheap teen craft program, there’s always shrink art, which we did on Monday, again, but with an entirely different set of teens than last year’s NLW, all of whom (guys and girls) enjoyed it. Or try the marbled paper—Coolest. Craft. EVER.—or make your own sticker ideas. But I am definitely doing this journal program again, probably during Teen Read Week or a future National Library Week. Next time, though, I’ll get a teen volunteer to punch holes in the cardstock before the program.

Additional thoughts about this program:

• Buy 8½” x 11” chipboard. It’s a lot easier to cut a couple of sheets of 12” x 12” scrapbooking paper to fit the chipboard than to cut your interior pages to the dimensions of the chipboard.
• Use cardstock or heavy weight paper instead of regular 20 lb. paper for the interior pages so teens can also decorate the inside of their journal. Plus, I think it makes the journal seem a little more special.
• I’ve had teen guys at other papercraft programs, but none came to this one, other than the guy who was just there watching two female friends. In any case, there are a few scrapbook paper sets, like this one, that will appeal to teen guys and girls.
• Try it as a two-day program. One day for making the journals, the other day for a journaling/writing program.

So what else did folks do with teens for National Library Week?

Fantasy Crafts January 18, 2008

I’ve always fantasized about being a great crafter. However if the craft involves any real skill, I’m not your go to person.  I fancy myself to have found a few fun crafting books for teens and young adults.  Here’s the short list:

Plush You!: Loveable Misfit Toys to Sew & Stuff by Kristen Rask

Plush-O-Rama: Curious Creatures for Immature Adults by Linda Kopp

Super Crafty: Over 75 Amazing Craft Projects

Alternacrafts: Hi-Style Low Budget Crafts to Make by Jessica Vitkus

Amigurumi: Super Happy Crochet Cute by Elisabeth Doherty

Mr. Funky’s Super Crochet Wonderful by Narumi Ogawa

When assessing the quality of these titles I was judging them from an aesthetic point of view.  If the pictures were nice and the projects looked cool they made the list.  Some of these books got pretty bad reviews by serious crafters.  

This is so cool! August 1, 2007

I’m having way too much fun with this tape transfer thing.

So, yes, this is totally going to be my next teen craft program. Here’s a really bad scan of my flyer.* I’m thinking each teen can photocopy two images/pages of their choice for free, then pay for their own copies if they want more.

And more Aranzi Aronzo love.

* “Cheapskate” sticker made from Aranzi Aronzo’s The Bad Book, “Don’t forget” sticker made from Microsoft clipart.

Updated 8/14/07: The teens thought this was cool, too. Yay! Even better, it drew a decent amount of guys.

I’ve been remiss July 30, 2007

So here are some Crafty Librarian links.

Holly of A True Reality and her Traveling Pants program. Or you can try this In-jean-ious binder.

DIY Life’s roundup of Harry Potter-related crafts. (I know; should have posted this one before the book came out.)

How to make lip balm from Etsy Labs and natural skin care recipes and tips from Fashiontribe (via the craft: blog).

We don’t have enough jewel cases to do this project from Craft Chi, but the tape transfer? Looks so cool. Must try it. I’ve also been meaning to try freezer paper stencils to see if it could work as a program, and look—screenprinting with freezer paper stencils!

Felt magnets from How about orange… Hmm, something else to try with The Cute Book.

If you’ve had to plan make-and-take crafts, here are some tips from CraftyPod.

Flat Marble Magnet Craft Time June 17, 2007

The flat marble magnet craft has got to be the easiest and most rewarding craft time I’ve had yet. Here’s a picture of the craft.

Thanks Trisha for this great idea!

How to Make Flat Marble Magnets

Step 1: Gather your materials.  You’ll need clear flat marble magnets (can be found at any craft supply store), glue (any glue that dries clear: Elmer’s,  Aleene’s,  etc. if you’re not endangering anyone but yourself you can also try silicon glue used to repair aquariums), cool images (origami or scrapbooking paper looks nice but the real gems are found in old magazines–the images from the National Geographic were awesome), scissors and/or a craft punch, magnets (we used ceramic magnets that were slightly smaller than the diameter of the flat marbles), and last but not least creative crafters.

Step 2: Find your images. Flip through magazines and find images that you like.  Trace the image out using your flat marble.  Cut image out.

Step 3: Glue your images to your flat marble.  You’re going to want to glue the image to the flat side of the marble.  I thought this would be self explanatory but a grandma who happened to be at our little craft time accidentally glued her image on the curved side.  Whoops!  I found applying the glue to the marble easier than applying the glue to the image.

Step 4: Let the glue dry. Sounds simple enough, but I can’t stress enough how much patience is a virtue.

Step 5: Glue the magnet to the back of your new creation.  

Step 6: Let the glue dry.  Transporting your still wet project may cause some heartache for some tender souls who find that their magnets have shifted enroute home.  I actually employed a ploy to have the kids come back to collect their creations after they dried.

Step 7: Get your magnets back from that nutty YA Librarian who wants to keep them all.  Yes I have to admit I want to keep all of the teens’ creations!  They’re so much nicer than my own!

Gayle’s May Roundup June 2, 2007

Haters by Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez 5 Stars for having a multi-cultural cast of characters.  4 Stars for the actual storyline.  I wish there were more to this girl meets guy, has a crush, guy has a girlfriend, guy breaks up with girlfriend, ex-girlfriend goes psycho, guy and girl live happily ever after.  I liked the aspects where Paski is embarrassed by her dad being ultra-ethnic, but didn’t really dig the inaccuracies in the portrayal of his Japanese American love interest. I could totally see Haters as a teen movie probably somewhere in between the feel to High School Musical and Mean Girls.  I could see Brenda Song from the Suite Life of Zack and Cody playing Jessica Nguyen, Paski would be that High School Musical actress Vanessa Ann Hudgens and Zac Efron as Chris Cabrera. We’ll be chatting and posting about Haters at a later date.  Stay tuned…

Wait for Me by An Na Mina is stuck in a web of lies and she doesn’t know what to do or where to go.  She feels obligated to stay home to care for her sister but can’t stand her mother.  Although Wait for Me evoked a feeling that made me want to eat Carnitas, I can’t say I related well to the protagonist.  To be honest, I disliked Mina because she never fully accepts responsibility for her actions or her life.  She’s reactionary and lukewarm at that. Overall storyline was okay although I didn’t see any resolution to the protagonist’s problems which left me somewhat dissatisfied. 

Paranoid Park by Blake Nelson (Read this one totally because of Trisha’s post, she never steers me wrong with a book suggestion.)  An unnamed 16 year old protagonist is involved in the death of a security guard and doesn’t know what to do.  Will his guilt lead him to confess to the police the events of that fateful night or will he stay in silence?  A cool read for those who want to get into the psyche of someone with something pressing on their mind.  I’ll be sure to add this one to my booktalks alongside Black and White by Paul Volponi.  One of the neat things about this book is because I was so enthralled with the story I didn’t realize the protagonist goes unnamed throughout the book.    

My DIY: My Stylin’ Girl’s Guide to DIY Projects by Kimberly Potts  Text heavy but easy to follow instructions.  It’d be the perfect book if there were illustrations.  The explanations are clear and the projects executable. 

Whatcha Mean What’s a Zine by Mark Todd Great fun to follow these instructions.  This book inspired me to have a Make a Mini-zine program at the library.

CosmoGIRL! Make It Yourself: 50 Fun and Funky Projects May 24, 2007

Now this is what I call a straightforward title. Make it Yourself: 50 Fun and Funky Projects says it all.

The book is divided into three main sections (Clothes, Accessories, and Beauty), and each has its own table of contents. Projects are arranged by difficulty (Easy, Medium, and Hard) in the contents, but not on the page. For example, the first project is a tie-dyed miniskirt (difficulty: medium), followed by a ruched tube dress (difficulty: hard), and boys-of-the-week panties (difficulty: easy). But the difficulty levels are clearly indicated, and the Easy projects are by far more numerous than the Hard. I also liked that there are color photographs of nearly every project so you can clearly see what your finished project will look like. Or is supposed to look like, at any rate.

Materials needed are clearly indicated at the start of each project. The directions can get a bit complicated, most likely due to the size of the book. The book is small, a little larger than pocket sized, and most projects are limited to two pages for the photograph, introduction, materials, and directions. Some of the projects would benefit from longer, more in-depth directions, or at least companion sketches to accompany some of the more complex steps. It’s still possible to complete the project, but you may want to warn inexperienced crafters to read the directions several times carefully before beginning the clothes and accessories projects, in particular. Another criticism is that some of the projects require a lot of handsewing. The ruched tube dress? Sewn entirely by hand. It is cute, though…

In fact, most of the projects are cute and would appeal to teens. While it’s nice to see clothing, accessories, and bath/beauty project all in one book, I do wish that there was also a section on crafts you could make for your room or as gifts, like in Kathy Cano Murillo’s Crafty Diva books. Still, at $7.95 for a hardcover completely in color, the book is a good deal. Because of the skills required and the fact that the projects include a strapless dress, a strapless top, and a halter (not to mention the boys-of-the-week panties; I may not have kids, but I’m still a prude when it comes to kids and clothing), recommended for high school and up.

I’m keeping my eye on this series of CosmoGIRL! books from Hearst. I do hope they’ll be publishing a cookbook in the future, because a lot of the recipes in the magazine look delicious.

The Cute Book by Aranzi Aronzo April 15, 2007

I had been planning on reading this weekend, but I borrowed this book instead. This is how I spent my time:

(The red blobs on the bird? They’re supposed to be flowers. And I didn’t have dark brown thread for the monkey, so you can see how bad I am at sewing. Those stitches are so uneven!)

Anyway, until the new issue of Craft: magazine arrives in the mail, I’ll spend my time working on these Japanese crafts. It’s not temari or sashiko, or even origami, but these Aranzi Aronzo felt mascots are, well, so much cuter. (Oh look, there’s a short article on page 53 about it, along with the White Cat/Striped Cat/Black Cat pattern. Ah, the benefits of subscribing to a magazine with an exact digital edition available online.)

The Cute Book is exactly that. It’s cute. Even better, it’s a great craft book, too. You know a craft book is doing something right when, as you flip through the book, you can’t decide which project you want to do first. The table of contents includes a picture of each mascot so you can see all of them at once, but I think it’s more fun to jump from page to page, saying “Oh, that is so cute!” After a brief introductory section describing the general materials and techniques used for all 20+ mascots, you’re ready to get crafting. Each mascot is covered in two pages, as in the Craft: excerpt. The left page has a large picture of the finished project, a cute description of the character, and templates to photocopy or trace. The right side lists the materials required and contains step by step directions. Cutting the templates and felt is the hard part, but once you start putting the toy together, it’s pretty fun. The book is a hardcover and not spiral-bound, but the binding is such that I had no problems getting the pages to lay flat so I could refer to them as needed. The last four pages of the book show how you can use the basic templates and designs in other projects, like making a keychain or on shirts and tote bags. And at only $12.95, the book is very reasonably priced, considering it’s in full color on glossy pages.

The mascots do require a bit of time to make (closer to two hours than to one, if you’re like me and rarely sew), and it can be hard to cut out all the skinny and/or small shapes out of the felt, so if you’re doing this with younger kids or a group, you probably want to have everything cut before you start. That said, the mascots are simple and fun to make. Most of the patterns fall in the “Oh, how cute” category, but there are several with guy appeal.

Get this book! Kids, teens, and adults will all want to borrow it.

Also reviewed at CraftyPod and MangaBlog, the latter complete samples made by a 12 and 14 year old. My library’s copy of The Bad Book is still being processed, so no review of that yet.

And do check out Vertical’s website to share pictures of your finished mascots and for information about other Aranzi Aronzo books. Although they should really include a mention of this in the book, not just list their homepage, so more people can find it.

I Can’t Resist April 7, 2007

This is one project you can’t do in a library. But it’s too brilliant not to share. If you’re doing a Peeps-related program (and there was a megalong list of ideas in PUBYAC Digest Volume 13, Issue 150), this might be fun to make ahead of time or to share with teens.

Now for some crafts you can do in the library. For lack of any better ideas before we had to set our schedule, my National Library Week teen craft is shrink art.

Sorry for the bad picture. The design is from Treasury of Chinese Design Motifs. As I said before, I have no artistic ability. Teens may be able to come up with a picture freehand; I need Dover Pictorial Archives.

As for upcoming crafts, I’m going to try out a couple of ideas from CraftyPod. Hopefully I can use at least one in a program. First, an envelope accordion book.

Instructions and the first sample from Paper Source, the second a sample from CraftyPod. Other projects I’ll be trying out are this letter presentation card and matchbook notepad.

Save this one for the New Year April 2, 2007

I wish I had found this a couple of months ago. Wouldn’t this be a perfect New Year’s craft, either for January 1 or Chinese New Year?

Check out the other plants you can make. I love the cactus! Unfortunately, the projects does not appear to be available on Epson’s American site, but the directions are pretty self-explanatory, even if they are written in Chinese.

And look! Even the container and pebbles are paper.

Via How about orange…