Plano Reads: National Craft Month

March is National Craft Month, and is the perfect opportunity to begin a new project, try a new hobby, or learn a new skill. As they work with their hands, crafters can be creative, be inspired, and enjoy sharing their work with others. Here is a list of books from our collection intended to celebrate the pleasant rewards offered by the “art of craft.”

The Art of Papercraft by Helen Hiebert – Paper artist and teacher Helen Hiebert compiles a one-of-kind collection of 40 unique projects, each using just one sheet of paper, combining decorative paper techniques like marbling, stamping, and stenciling with dimensional techniques like origami, cutting, folding, quilling, stretching, weaving, and pop-ups. Print |

A Beginner’s Guide to Quilling Paper Flowers: Beautiful Japanese Style Paper Art by Motoko Maggie Nakatani – Create exquisite, long-lasting quilled paper flowers with this detailed step-by-step guide! With the help of Japanese quilling expert Motoko Maggie Nakatani, you can create breathtaking quilled flowers with just a few inexpensive tools and paper quilling strips. Her simple roll-shape-and-paste method is perfect for beginners. Print | 

Bird House Make and Makeover: Mix and Match to Make a Unique Project by Alan Goodsell – Turn your garden into a haven for your feathered friends with this book of simple and attractive birdhouses to make and makeover. Only basic woodworking and crafting skills, materials and tools are needed. There are easy-to-follow step-by-step photography and instructions throughout, and diagrams where required to help ensure your measurements are accurate. Print | 

Daydream Journals: Memories, Ideas & Inspiration in Stitch, Cloth, and Thread by Tilly Rose – Talented English textile artist Tilly Rose shows you how to create beautiful cloth journals to record precious thoughts and ideas – from fleeting memories to treasured items, sketches, poems and photographs. She uses a range of innovative embroidery techniques to inspire gifted crafters. Print | 

Dude Crafts: The Man’s Guide to Practical Projects, Backyard Ballistics, and Glorious Gags by Mike Warren – Whether making life easier with ingenious hacks or providing self-amusement, the 50 projects presented in Dude Crafts are sure to get any guy’s creative wheels turning. These DIY projects will get you on the path to developing your own creations, and impressing your friends. Each project is accompanied by a parts list and step-by-step photo instructions to get you building – often by hacking subpar stock goods or upcycling discarded objects into functional works of art and conversation pieces. Print |

Mending Matters: Stitch, Patch, and Repair Your Favorite Denim & More by Katrina Rodabaugh – This book explores sewing on two levels: through projects that showcase visible mending in styles that are edgy, modern, and bold, and also as a look at the ways in which mending teaches us new creative skills, self-reliance, and confidence. eBook |

Quick Craft for Parents Who Think They Hate Craft by Emma Scott-Child – Crafting doesn’t have to leave you cranky, and with a messy house and sticky floor. The 40 projects presented here are perfect for parents filled with glittery dread when confronted with craft activities for their children—and play will definitely continue for kids once the crafting is done! eBook | 

Quilting By Hand: Hand-Crafted, Modern Quilts and Accessories for You and Your Home by Riane Elise – “Handwork has a special way of connecting us to our heritage, to modern handicraft and to ourselves,” says this author, adding that “we are linked by the stitches, whether made for pleasure or necessity, connected to each other by something as simple as fabric, fibers, needle and thread.” She urges her readers to enjoy the meditative and grounding experience of her beautiful quilt designs. Print |

Whittling: 20 Mindful Makes to Reconnect Head, Heart & Hands by Barn the Spoon – Maker Barnaby Carder, aka Barn the Spoon, reveals the meditative nature of the whittling process and its empowering skill set for creating, and mindfulness. Drawing on the traditions of green woodworking, Barn the Spoon has created 20 modern makes, ranging from simple tools including the classic spoon to decorative items such as animals and wood prints. Print |

The Wisdom of Our Hands: Crafting, A Life by Doug Stowe – Woodworker and crafts teacher Doug Stowe lives and works in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, a town dedicated to crafts and art. Here he offers a guide to living fully and humanely through the wisdom of tangible manual work. The use of one’s hands and body to make physical things and to creatively reshape our surroundings can be immensely rewarding for all of us. Print |