Craftside

How to Make Neatlines from Map Art Lab

I wasn't familiar with the term "neatline" until I read this page from the new book Map Art Lab: 52 Exciting Art Explorations in Mapmaking, Imagination, and Travel. A neatline is a border commonly drawn around the extent of a map to enclose it and all its decorative pieces and parts, keeping all the information pertaining to  that map in one "neat" box. The other cool feature is if one side is missing you know part of your map is missing!

Click on this page from Map Art Lab to enlarge and read how to make a striped neatline and some ideas on other materials and ways to make neatlines for your maps and other mixed-media art.

Oh and if you would like to get yourself in the running for a copy of Map Art Lab pop on over to Goodreads or enter below.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Map Art Lab

by Jill K Berry

Giveaway ends April 21, 2014.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

 

Enter to win

More about the new Quarry craft book:

Map Art Lab: 52 Exciting Art Explorations in Mapmaking, Imagination, and Travel

by Jill K Berry & Linden McNeilly

Travel through the exciting world of cartography with Map Lab. This fun and creative book features 52 map-related activities set into weekly exercises, beginning with legends and lines, moving through types and styles, and then creating personalized maps that allow you to journey to new worlds.

Authors Jill K. Berry and Linden McNeilly guide readers through useful concepts while exploring colorful, eye-catching graphics. The labs can be used as singular projects or to build up to a year of hands-on creative experiences. Map Lab is the perfect book for map lovers, creative/DIY-inspired, designers. Artists of all ages and experience levels can use this book to explore enjoyable and engaging exercises.
Everyone loves maps. And what’s not to love? They are beautiful and fascinating, they teach you things, they show you where you are, places you long to go, and places you dare to imagine.

 

Jill K. Berry, author of Personal Geographies: Explorations in Mixed-Media, teaching scheduled for Art & Soul Portland, Valley Ridge Art Studio, San Diego Book Arts, Tucson Paperworks, Petaluma and Eureka Art Centers, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, Virginia Beach and Taos.  Jill’s first book with NorthLight has sold over 10K copies in the first year.

 

Linden McNeilly (Jill’s sister) Public school teacher 25 years, designing curriculum for children and adults in math, science, geography, reading, writing and art. MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts, BA in UC Santa Cruz. Works in progress: three young adult novels.

Easter Basket full of Craft Books Giveaway and how to make a Grassy Garden Gnomes

Because that's what a craft Easter Bunny brings to crafters! This Easter basket of books includes the new book:

Gardening Lab for Kids: 52 Fun Experiments to Learn, Grow, Harvest, Make, Play, and Enjoy Your Garden

Along with...

-Once Upon a Quilt: A Scrapbook of Quilting Past and Present 

-One-of-a-Kind Wedding: Faux Florals and Candles

-Bead Quilled Jewelry: New Beadwork Designs with Square Stitch

-Designer Machine Embroidery and Textile Decoration: Creating Accessories for Your Body and Sole

-A Priceless Wedding: Crafting a Meaningful, Memorable, and Affordable Celebration

-Realistic Painting Workshop: Creative Methods for Painting from Life

(Note: Easter basket not included, just to make a fun photo! With these 7 books on gardening, painting, quilting, stitching, decorating, beading and wedding planning, you will surely be inspired to make all sorts of fabulous stuff!)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Now, I want to share with you a fun project from the brand new book Gardening Lab for Kids.

Click on these pages from Gardening Lab for Kids to enlarge and read how to make grassy garden gnomes out of recycled nylons and a few simple craft supplies.

 

More about the new kids gardening book from Quarry:

Gardening Lab for Kids: 52 Fun Experiments to Learn, Grow, Harvest, Make, Play, and Enjoy Your Garden

by Renata Fossen Brown

A refreshing source of ideas to help your children learn to grow their own patch of earth, Gardening Lab for Kids encourages children to get outside and enjoy nature. This fun and creative book features 52 plant-related activities set into weekly lessons, beginning with learning to read maps to find your heat zone, moving through seeds, soil, composting, and then creating garden art and appreciating your natural surroundings.

Renata Fossen Brown guides your family through fun opportunities learning about botany, ecology, the seasons, food, patience, insects, eating, and cooking. The labs can be used as singular projects or to build up to a year of hands-on outdoor experiences. The lessons in this book are open-ended to be explored over and over–with different results each time! Garden Lab for Kids is the perfect book for creative families, friends, and community groups and works as lesson plans for both experienced and new gardeners. Children of all ages and experience levels can be guided by adults and will enjoy these engaging exercises.

So, slip on your muddy clothes, and get out and grow!

As Associate Director of Education, Renata Fossen Brown (Cleveland, OH) oversees the thousands of school children visiting Cleveland Botanical Garden yearly, as well as the development and implementation of teacher professional development workshops. She assisted in the planning and facilitating of a 10-day teacher workshop that traveled to Costa Rica to study biodiversity. Brown is involved in the writing of interpretation and exhibit graphics at the Garden and served as president of the Cleveland Regional Council of Science Teachers.

New Books: Map Art Lab and The Quilter's Palette Giveaway and more crafty news

Happy crafty Monday! To kick off the week, I have to book giveaways to tell you about. Map Art Lab: 52 Exciting Art Explorations in Mapmaking, Imagination, and Travel by Jill K. Berry and Linden McNeilly and The Quilter's Palette: A Workbook of Color, Texture Techniques, and Effects by Katy Denny are available for pre-order, but you can get yourself in the running at Goodreads. I will be sharing inside peeks into these books soon so be sure to subscribe, follow on Facebook and Pinterest so you won't miss any crafty goodness!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Map Art Lab

by Jill K Berry

Giveaway ends April 21, 2014.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

 

Enter to win

Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Quilter's Palette

by Katy Denny

Giveaway ends April 21, 2014.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

 

Enter to win

 

Body Mind Beauty Health

How chia seeds can help to improve your digestion

Quarry SPOON 

Recipe for creamy coconut ceasar salad dressing

Whole Home News

Recipe for state farm applesauce by Paula Pentel and Callie Wilson

Rock Paper Ink

How business cards tell the story

Walter Foster

How to draw Disney Princess accessories

 Q Geek Books

Vintage Crossword Puzzles

 

Recipe for a Peanut Butter Banana Milk Shake from the Book, 500 400-Calorie Recipes by Dick Logue

This milk shake sounds so yummy; I love every ingredient in it right down to the quick cooking oats! It's from one of my favorite books 500 400-Calorie Recipes: Delicious and Satisfying Meals That Keep You to a Balanced 1200-Calorie Diet So You Can Lose Weight without Starving Yourself.

Click on this page from to enlarge to read the full recipe for a low-cal healthy peanut butter banana milk shake.

More about the Fair Winds Press book:

500 400-Calorie Recipes: Delicious and Satisfying Meals That Keep You to a Balanced 1200-Calorie Diet So You Can Lose Weight without Starving Yourself

by Dick Logue

For people looking to shed pounds and live more healthfully, eating meals in the 400-calorie range is your secret weapon to weight loss success. Not only do these meals fuel your energy, rev metabolism, and keep you feeling full longer, but they also help you stick to a daily caloric range of 1200 to 1500 total calories, which is ideal for tipping the scales in your favor. 

Whether you’re on a weight loss plan already, or looking to begin anew, 500 400-Calorie Recipesis your one-stop shop for healthy, deliciously comforting meals that won’t bust your fitness goals, but rather boost you to them!

The book works by expertly focusing on nutrient-dense, low-calorie ingredients that you can eat in abundance—such as leafy greens, artichokes, and berries—and combining them with smaller portions of equally filling foods like whole grains, beans, eggs, and poultry. The result? Four hundred mega-satisfying meals that cover your every craving and desire, from wholesomely hearty breakfasts to decadent treats that won’t break the (calorie) bank.

Start losing weight—by filling your plate!—with 500 400-Calorie Recipes.

Dick Logue is the author of several cookbooks and founder of the website http://www.lowsodiumcooking.com. 

Easy Frame Update Idea Inspired by the Book, Paint Lab

Today, I have a fun little idea that is simply the combo of a line, a square, a marker and an Ikea natural wood mirror. My inspiration came from Lab #37 in the book, Paint Lab: 52 Exercises inspired by Artists, Materials, Time, Place, and Method. It uses the simple square shape as its base. I got a brand new pack of BIC Metallic markers and nothing inspires a new project than a new set of supplies.

I simply took my quilt ruler and drew squares with the different colored markers. It was easy and added a nice touch to the plain natural wood mirror. And guess who I found that looks really cute next to my new decorated mirror? My little Retro Fawn I made using the little stuffed retro deer pattern.

So look around your world, see what could use a little personal touch, grab a set of markers or paint and draw concentric squares or try on another shape. I bet you will be happy with the outcome!

More about the Quarry book:

Paint Lab: 52 Exercises inspired by Artists, Materials, Time, Place, and Method

by Deborah Forman

Paint Lab is packed with unique and experimental techniques and ideas in painting. This hands-on book is organized into 52 units, which may, but don't need to be explored on a weekly basis. The labs can be worked on in any order, so that you can flip around to learn a new mixed-media technique or be inspired by a particular painting theme or application. The underlying message of this book is that, as an artist, you should learn and gain expertise through experimentation and play. There is no right or wrong result, rather you will find new forms of expression in your work and gain confidence in your skills.

 

Designed to inform and inspire new artists and rekindle passion for painting in experienced artists, this book offers a range of exercises broken down by theme: Who (artist-inspired), What (tools and materials), When (a time-based concept), Where (a sense of place), and How (inspired by a technique or method). 

 

Deborah Forman is a practicing artist and a passionate teacher of art with twenty years of experience instructing students from ages two to eighty. She is currently a visiting assistant professor at Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts, and an instructor in continuing education at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). Deborah specializes in teaching the fundamentals: drawing, two-dimensional design, color theory, beginning to advanced painting, and conceptual approach to painting and materials. In her own painting practice, Deborah works within the realm of geometric abstraction, with emphasis on the phenomena of color interaction. Visit her website at www.blueorangeworkshop.com.