Librarian Terrarium

Fleur Reading

Is that a frog reading a book on a mossy bank near a miniature Jade Tree? Why, yes. It seems that over the winter one of our reference librarians made a half-dozen terrariums and documented them in her crafting blog.  The Librarian Terrarium with a figurine of yours truly, Fleur the Frog Blogger, really caught my eye.
For more terrarium information, try our library books:
The New Terrarium, Creating Beautiful Displays for Plants and Nature by Tovah Martin (call# 635.98 MAR)

Fairy Gardening, Creating Your Own Magical Miniature Garden by Julie Bawden-Davis (call # 636,977 BAW)

Search for related subjects like 'Bonsai' and 'container gardening'  in the library catalog.

Follow the Crappy Crafters blog for more terrarium pictures and other easy crafting and upcycling projects. There is another terrarium with a frog figure, see if you can spot that in the slide show on the blog.

-Best Regards,

Fleur the Frog Blogger

New Craft Books

Craft Fail, when homemade goes horribly wrong by Heather Mann (2014) is a laugh-out-loud collection of pieces from crafter and blogger, Heather Mann who has immortalized those moments when the nifty little craft you saw on Pinterest and attempted to reproduce just turns into a lumpy blob, making you join the legions of crafters who realize, "I'm no Martha Stewart!"

Ms. Mann tells us that failure is all part of the learning process, an important part and a pretty funny one too as the examples in her book Craft Fail clearly show.

For examples of funny fails, take a look at her blog 'Craft Fail, where crafters go to fail' http://craftfail.com/
and be sure to check out her book for more laughs.

D.I.Y. Friday

Browsing the non-fiction shelves turned up these three do it yourself (D.I.Y.) crafts books.

Sue Havens' Make Your Own Toys, sew soft bears, bunnies, monkey, puppies and more! makes me remember the sock monkeys of my childhood. You could make one of the Simple Gifts, 50 Little Luxuries to craft, sew, cook & knit by Jennifer Worick in time for the holidays. Make it Wild! 101 things to make and do outdoors by Fiona Danks and Jo Schofield includes projects for ice lanterns, tie dying, go cars, natural paints and more.

Related websites:

A personal favorite of mine: The Crappy Crafters Be sure to leave comments about your own 'interesting' crafting attempts.
Or if you try to make some crappy crafts and make an awful mess instead, just post it on or read about others at CraftFail the brainchild, or maybe evil stepcraftingchild, of Heather Mann, creator of Dollar Store Crafts.

OK, blogophiles, you've got the whole weekend, get crafting or just lie on the sofa and peruse these and other arts and crafts books from BHPL. I know what my plan is.

PS: if you really have time to kill, Google 'sock monkey' and you will be amazed at the cult of sock monkeys that exists on the internet. http://www.sockmonkey.net/

OK, that's all, folks. Happy Crafting!

Crafts on the Internet: the dark side of hobbies

Clicking around on the internet (I don't think anyone says "surfing the web" anymore) can lead to the occasional treasure trove, some subset of the internet of like-minded people who record their experiences in such a funny and fresh way that you keep returning to their website. http://www.craftfail.com/ is a blog where crafters congregate to celebrate and commiserate about their failed efforts and the writing can be hilarious. The sidebar lists links to other craft blogs which are also very funny. Be careful to set aside some time for these (mostly) ladies. There are lots of humorists on the homefront, raising children, crafting and blogging about it on the side. Some of my favorite posts:
"Horton Doesn't Hear a Darn Thing" in which LovingMom describes her efforts to create a cute Horton the Elephant that sadly has only one ear. Sympathetic readers commented that Horton is a cute alien though.
Notagirlymom writes How Not to Knit a Stuffed Toy complete with photo of a very bedraggled toy mouse.
The Felted Frankenstein Bear could befriend the toy mouse maybe: toyland outcasts.
It's not that these crafters don't follow directions, although sometimes that is optional when the creative juices and available materials just call out to start a project now, but sometimes directions just aren't that good. In any case, if you have ever had a craft failure, take a look at this blog.
If you do want directions or craft books, go to the 745's which are shelved behind the circulation desk at BHPL. Wherever your local library is, the Dewey number will be the same.

Native American Beading Program

Program participants learned how to bead and sew a chamois pouch under the guidance of artist and Library Assistant, Linda Raedisch (in pink shirt) on Saturday, May 30.

What People are Reading

There are several ways to find out what people are reading: the bestseller lists of course, and running statistical reports of library circulation records, or skimming the holds and reshelving carts to see what people just returned and are about to take out. The holds cart (where we shelve books reserved by patrons) usually reflects the bestseller list, but the carts holding books waiting to be reshelved are real goldmines of random titles on every subject and by every author past and present. If you like arts and crafts, browse the 700's cart (700's are the Dewey numbers for those subjects.) This week I found eco-craft: recycle, recraft, restyle by Susan Wasinger, a nifty book about using everyday objects to create useful and unique household items. Ms. Wasinger has an amazing ability to repurpose mundane "trash" like old milk bottles for example to make quite stylish furnishings. A plastic milk jug light fixture looks very modern, like something from Ikea. Really. The idea of making art without an expensive trip to an art supply store is great. What's the worst that can happen? If you don't like the result, toss it in the recycle bin where it was headed anyway.