Stella Fields

reviewed from **uncorrected** egalley.

nonfiction / crafting for tweens (description specifies ages 9-13--though older teens and even adults might be inspired to try some of these as well).
Although it's more or less aimed at beginners (with descriptions of basic supplies and picture examples of how they might be used), in order to make sense of the meager directions, you'll need to have some crafting experience--particularly with the sewing and decoupage and some of the more "advanced" crafts (which are not actually labeled by level of difficulty) like the freezer paper stenciled t-shirts.
To sew a fabric headband, for example, the (uncorrected draft version of the) instructions say to fold your fabric strip in half, right sides together, but it doesn't say lengthwise (probably? I haven't thought my way through the entire directions so I'm not sure) or width-wise, so a little picture or hand-drawn diagram would be helpful there. It does helpfully define "right side" for you in a sidebar, though, so that's something. The "decoupage glue" page doesn't really say how to decoupage, it just suggests you do a test (by decoupaging a small bit of your material onto your surface, letting it dry, and then seeing if it peels off) first, so if you don't know how to use your brand new bottle of mod podge, you might not immediately get it--though one hopes you'll be able to figure it out from the instructions on the bottle.
As any good craft blogger can tell you, a good tutorial takes a fair amount of work. One does not simply write up some directions and post, you have to also include a bunch of step-by-step illustrations (gorgeously photographed or painstakingly hand-illustrated) in order to make your tute worth anything. So compared to that (as written before publication--changes may still be coming??), this book falls short.… (más)

This is really a very feminine book, geared towards pre-teens. There were some filler crafts like rock painting, fabric bunting, putting a small piece of washi on a paper clip... There is a lot of washi in this book! It is cute and easy and fun to work with, but the washi density is very high.

The crafts look easy, but at times the explanation is not quite clear. The photos look fun and colorful. There are a lot of good ideas in this book, it just feels like something is missing or lacking.

The card making ideas are nice, as well as the diffuser necklaces and the ribbon organizer (a mix of ribbon and bulletin board to store notes).

Most items would probably have to be bought. There are not too many household objects used, so advanced planning would be needed.


**eARC Netgalley**… (más)

Lazy Crafternoon by Stella Fields
5 stars

This is a great book for a young crafter. The directions were clear and easy to follow. The needed materials are relatively inexpensive and the vast majority or the crafts can be done with minimal adult assistance or supervision.
My only area of concern is that nearly every craft in the book is geared towards girls. Many boys like crafts just as much as girls and so using girl nearly everytime the crafter is mentioned may discourage boys from wanting to do even the gender free crafts. Most of the crafts themselves are gender free or can be used as gifts. I did a couple of the crafts with my nephew and he had a great time. He had no trouble reading the directions and following them.
I would recommend this book to anyone with crafty kids or anyone looking for simple crafts. There a few that I plan to use and I am an experienced crafter.
I received this book free in return for a fair and honest review from the publisher on netgalley.com… (más)