Stitch Camp
ISBN 9781612127507
Regular price $26.95 Sale price $25.50 Save 5%by Nicole Blum and Catherine Newman
In today’s thriving maker culture, kids are hungry for hands-on guidance in creating stylish wearables and practical objects, or hacking and customizing existing ones. Authors Nicole Blum and Catherine Newman get them started with complete instructions for mastering six favourite fibre crafts. Step-by-step photos teach kids ages 9–14 the basics of how to sew, knit, crochet, felt, embroider, and weave, plus how to make three projects for each craft. (In our experience, children as young as 6.5 or 7 years old can well manage and be inspired by several crafts from the book). From woven patches and a knitted backpack to embroidered merit badges and a crocheted bracelet, the fresh, kid-approved projects encourage creative variations and build confidence along with valuable life skills.
Softcover, 208 pages. 20.3 x 2.3 x 25.1 cm
Storey Publishing, 2017.
Ready, Set, Make!
Nicole Blum and Catherine Newman are the coauthors of Stitch Camp. They are longtime friends and cocreators who have been crafting for many years with each other, their families, and groups of kids at home camps and studio workshops. Blum is the coauthor of Improv Sewing. Newman edits ChopChop, a nonprofit family cooking magazine, and is the author of One Mixed-Up Night, Catastrophic Happiness, and Waiting for Birdy. Blum and Newman live in western Massachusetts.
Read more at the publisher's website.
Beanbag Hand Warmer
The project description below is an excerpt from “Stitch Camp” by Nicole Blum and Catherine Newman (Storey Publishing, 2017).
Toss them into a bucket and keep score — and they’re toys. Heat them in the microwave and pop them in your pockets — and they’re hand warmers. Either way, this is a project that comes together quickly, and it makes a great gift. Make your beanbag as big or small as you like, or vary the sizes for different projects.
What You Need
♦ Enough craft felt, polar fleece, or felted wool to cut a front and back piece
♦ Straight pins
♦ A small bowl (or a square cut from cardboard) for tracing (any size 3 to 5 inches is good)
♦ Chalk
♦ Scissors
♦ Embroidery floss or sturdy thread
♦ Sharp needle
♦ Rice or other grains, lentils or other small dried beans, or popcorn, for filling
♦ Kitchen funnel or a piece of paper or small spoon
How You Make It
1. Stack or fold the fabric so there are two layers and stick a pin through the middle to hold the layers together while you’re cutting. Trace the bowl or cardboard square onto the top layer with chalk. Keeping both pieces of fabric pinned together, carefully cut the shapes out. Taking your time here will make sewing easier, and you won’t have to fix rough edges later.
2. Measure an arm’s length of embroidery floss, thread your needle, and knot the end. Starting in between the two layers, push your needle up through the top piece of fabric and pull the thread through until the knot is snugly against the underside.
3. Stitch around the edge of both layers using a nice, even backstitch. It is important to make your stitches very close together so the filling won’t pop out, especially if you’re using rice.
4. When you have about 1 inch left open, stop sewing but don’t tie off your thread yet; just lay the needle and thread out of the way or push the needle into the fabric to keep it safe. Use the unstitched hole to fill the bag with rice, beans, or the filling of your choice. A kitchen funnel makes this easy, but you can roll up a piece of paper to make a funnel if you like, or just use a small spoon and some patience.
5. When the bag is full, finish stitching until you meet up with where you started, then tie off your thread and snip it close to the fabric. If it’s important to you to conceal the knot, you can push the needle between the two layers before knotting.
Tip: Materials for Hand Warmers
If you’re planning to offer your beanbags up (or use them yourself) as hand warmers, use wool felt for the outside. Synthetics can behave strangely in the microwave, which is where you’ll heat them up. Rice is our favorite choice for filling hand warmers (it smells good when you heat it.), but whatever you choose, don’t use popcorn.
Show me a Story
ISBN 9781603429887
Regular price $22.95 Sale price $20.99 Save 9%Encouraging children to let their imagination run wild, Emily K. Neuburger offers 40 inventive projects and activities that will inspire kids ages 5 to 12 to express themselves through storytelling. Younger children will love making story stones and a storytelling jar, while older kids will open up and thrive as they embark on guided story walks and inspiring journaling exercises. Sparking creativity while developing a child’s love of language, Show Me a Story will kindle a lifelong passion for both writing and telling original stories.
Imagination is often strongest during childhood, manifesting in stories of make-believe worlds, wondrous creatures, and exciting adventures. In this day and age, though, it’s easy for a child’s natural imaginative inclinations to be smothered by digital overload — TV, video games, the internet. In her new book, Show Me a Story, teacher and crafter Emily K. Neuburger presents 40 craft projects and activities designed to jump-start the imaginations of children of all ages — to get kids to turn off the TV, engage in imaginative play, and connect with the world around them by telling stories about it.
Storytelling is the perfect nourishing food for growing minds because it helps children exercise creativity; expand emotional awareness; develop language, communication, and listening skills; strengthen connections with family and friends; solve problems; and institute moral thinking practices. The projects in this new book are designed to help children begin, develop, and play with storytelling. From visual prompts for younger children, such as story stones and a storytelling jar, to word grab bags and journaling exercises for older ones, this book contains everything needed to spark an infinite number of child-created stories.
Show Me a Story isn’t just for children — it will also inspire and encourage the adults who care for them, be they parents, teachers, librarians, therapists, camp counselors, or child care workers. Its strong educational component incorporates storytelling prompts, group activities, writing exercises, art and drama, mapmaking, and language development. The book will appeal to anyone seeking to nurture children’s imaginations, language, and learning, and will lay the foundation for a lifetime of memorable tales.
8.06 x 10 inches.
Paperback. 144 pages. Storey Publishing.
About the Author:
Emily K. Neuburger is a writer, artist, and freelance art and creative writing teacher. She is passionate about encouraging people to get pumped about creativity, especially when it comes to the intersection of words and art. She is the author of the award-winning book Show Me a Story (Dr. Toy Best Picks, Family Choice Award, National Parenting Products Award honors, USA Best Books, International Book Awards finalist) and writes regularly about creativity and unexpected treasures on her website, emilyneuburger.com, as well as in print magazines and around the web. She lives in western Massachusetts with her husband and three children.
Journal Sparks!
ISBN 9781612126524
Regular price $22.95Journal Sparks! Fire Up Your Creativity with Spontaneous Art, Wild Writing, and Inventive Thinking
By Emily K. Neuburger
Using words, drawing, collage, and observation-based list-making, Journal Sparks highlights the many paths into journaling.
With 60 interactive writing prompts and art how-tos, you’ll expand your imagination and spark your creativity.
Every spread invites a new approach to filling a page, from making a visual map of a day-in-my-life to turning random splotches into quirky characters for a playful story.
It’s the perfect companion to all those blank books and an ideal launch pad to explore creative self-expression and develop an imaginative voice.
Recommended for children beginning ~8-10 years old to do on their own, but truly suited for any child older than this right through to adults of all ages.
Softcover, 164 pages.
Storey Publishing, 2017.
Nest Notes from Lisa: Some of the activities are also well-suited to doing together, with a parent and child, or for children to do together. We found a few games and activities to do together as fun family time and wind-down in the evenings before bedtime when my children were just 5 and 7 years old. Others I'm looking forward to doing alone or with them as they get older. It definitely sparks some good creativity and joy and exploration and enthusiasm in us when we pick up this book. The printing by Storey was so well done as well, with respect to the paper and inks. It's just a lovely treasure trove that will continue to spark for years in our home. The notion of journalling as an activity that can be done in more ways than one, not just with a pencil and paper, but in various art forms, opens up our minds to why we journal, and to the activity of exploration and the joy and discovery always waiting for us.
Reviews:
“A visually adorable and joyful book full of inspiring and creative ideas for seeing, gathering, and experimenting. You will stay motivated to create for a long time!”
(Jennifer Orkin Lewis, artist and illustrator at augustwren.com)
“A great roadmap for getting started with journaling. These thoughtful writing prompts and playful art activities will inspire and engage!”
(Susan Schwake, best-selling author of Art Lab for Kids series)
“My family’s favorite kind of any-age book. These friendly, fabulous, and imaginative prompts are great for journaling but they’re also approachably small, stand-alone creative projects. You’ll soon be busy charting your world of favorite things and places and words and dreams.”
(Catherine Newman, author of Waiting for Birdy and Catastrophic Happiness)
“I dare you to make it halfway through this book without running to grab your journal and a pencil! This trove of inspiring and practical ideas encourages us to push our creative boundaries and revel in the play between words and pictures.”
(Alexandra Kennedy, executive director of the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art)
“Transcendent! At a time when all of us — children and adults — are deluged with pixels and information, Emily Neuburger inspires us to use a journal to notice, feel, connect, and reflect.”
(Sam Intrator, professor of education and child study at Smith College)