The back-to-school stuff is already filling the stores, so maybe I
shouldn’t be surprised that I’m up to my elbows in new books. I seem to
get a new one in my in box everyday. Here are some that grabbed me:
beadsimple
by Susan Beal (Taunton Press, $19.95)
Though it’s no relation to Real Simple, one of my favorite magazines, beadsimple reminds my of Real Simple. It has a clean, straight-forward design and is packed with ideas — 150 designs for earrings, necklaces, bracelets, embellishments, etc.
Altered you!
by Karin Buckingham (Kalmbach Books, $19.95)
This one is going to take care of a lot of Christmas shopping for me. It has a ton of simple, fun projects (with step-by-step photos) geared for teens. Some projects are beading, some sewing, some scrapping, some a combination. Your favorite teenager can use the ideas in the alter their clothes, accessories and space — in non-scary ways, I promise. I also got a scrapbooking book geared for teens, Ready, Set, Scrap, by Heidi Schuler (Kalmbach Books, $17.95) that takes scrapbooking beyond an actual “book.”
The Beader’s Color Pallette
by Margie Deeb (Watson-Guptill Publications, $24.95)
I have to say this gets my “What a great idea” prize. The book contains 220 color palettes taken from different historical times, places, cultures and natural elements and translates them into beautiful jewelry. I couldn’t put it down.
Ceramic Bead Jewelry
By Jennifer Heynen (Lark Books, $24.95)
We’ve used Jennifer’s colorful beads in BeadStyle a number of times – they’re always really popular. Not surprisingly, she uses her own beads to great effect in the 30 projects in the book.
Wire Style
by Denise Peck (Interweave Press, $19.95)
Denise, editor of Step by Step Wire, gathered 50 impressive projects to inspire the wireworkers out there (being a bit wirework deficient myself, I was more than a little awed the wirework skills demonstrated.) Also cool from Interweave — stones by Marlene Blessing and Jaime Hogsett ($22.95). Part of the Create Jewelry series, stones includes gemstone projects as well as interesting background on the stones and their origins.