Take advantage of nature’s bounty and craft in time with the seasons! Whether potting up dandelion honey, cooking and crafting with rose petals or preserving autumn leaves and acorns, there are so many wonderful gifts, ornaments and treats that can be made from either a short walk in the woods or a rummage in your cupboard. With an emphasis on foraging and upcycling, Becci explores the ways we can create beautiful projects using materials readily available in the garden and home. Upcycled projects include gorgeous home textiles woven from bed linen, mini lampshade fairy lights for a summer’s evening and even a fabulous picnic table from an old suitcase. Capture the breeze of autumn with wind chimes made from old necklaces and cutlery and learn how to felt old sweaters, turning them into cosy wreaths, brooches and purses for winter. There is also a section on working with willow, with projects encompassing everything from woven bird-feeders (with home-made fat balls!) to festive ornaments.

Celebrating the seasons provides a wonderful opportunity to embrace creativity together as a family. It’s also a fun way to decorate for, prepare for, and learn about the holidays we celebrate. In The Artful Year, you’ll find a year’s worth of art activities, crafts, recipes, and more to help make each season special. These artful explorations are more than just craft projects—they are ways for your family to create memories and mementos and develop creatively, all while exploring nature, new ideas, and traditions. The book includes: • Arts and crafts, using the materials, colors, and themes of the season • Ideas and decorations for celebrating the holidays together • Favorite seasonal recipes that are fun for children to help make (and eat!) • Suggested reading lists of children’s picture books about the seasons and holidays The 175+ activities in this book are perfect for children ages one to eight, and for creating traditions that appeal to all ages.

Add a flannel flair to every corner of your life with this creative collection of DIY crafts: pillow covers, tote bags, fabric pumpkins, coasters, bookmarks, and more! Very few fabrics elicit such a cozy feeling as flannel. With its universal appeal and inexpensive cost, flannel is a terrific medium to create new décor for your home, a unique accessory to wear, or a thoughtful gift to give. Featuring more than fifty easy-to-follow tutorials, Crafting with Flannel is full of creative and inspired crafts appropriate for all ages and skill levels. From quick and easy projects that take just minutes to make, to more robust ideas on a larger scale, the step-by-step instructions inside this book will help you create: Handmade gifts Personalized accessories Cozy home décor Festive holiday trimmings And so much more! Plaid never goes out of style, so channel the flannel and start crafting with it!

For graduates, for their parents, for anyone facing change, here is a gorgeously illustrated and stunningly heartfelt ode to the challenges of growing up and letting go. A story of the seasons and stepping stones as poignant for parents as for their kids, from the creator of Otis the tractor and illustrator of Love by Matt de la Pena. "Long’s gentle but powerful story about a young tree who holds tight to his leaves, even as everyone else lets theirs drop, takes on nothing less than the pain and sorrow of growing up. . . . As in Long’s unaccountably profound books about Otis the tractor, a pure white background somehow adds to the depth."—The New York Times Book Review In the middle of a little forest, there lives a Little Tree who loves his life and the splendid leaves that keep him cool in the heat of long summer days. Life is perfect just the way it is. Autumn arrives, and with it the cool winds that ruffle Little Tree's leaves. One by one the other trees drop their leaves, facing the cold of winter head on. But not Little Tree—he hugs his leaves as tightly as he can. Year after year Little Tree remains unchanged, despite words of encouragement from a squirrel, a fawn, and a fox, his leaves having long since turned brown and withered. As Little Tree sits in the shadow of the other trees, now grown sturdy and tall as though to touch the sun, he remembers when they were all the same size. And he knows he has an important decision to make. From #1 New York Times bestselling Loren Long comes a gorgeously-illustrated story that challenges each of us to have the courage to let go and to reach for the sun. Praise for Little Tree * "The illustrations are beautifully rendered . . . Understated and inviting, young readers will be entranced by Little Tree’s difficult but ultimately rewarding journey."—Booklist, starred review "Long’s gentle but powerful story about a young tree who holds tight to his leaves, even as everyone else lets theirs drop, takes on nothing less than the pain and sorrow of growing up. Season after season, Little Tree clings to his brown-leaved self until he can take a leap and shed his protection. He feels ‘the harsh cold of winter,’ but soon grows tall and green, and it’s not bad at all. As in Long’s unaccountably profound books about Otis the tractor, a pure white background somehow adds to the depth."—The New York Times Book Review * "[Long's] willingness to take his time and even test the audience’s patience with his arboreal hero’s intransigence results in an ending that’s both a big relief and an authentic triumph. Long’s earnest-eloquent narrative voice and distilled, single-plane drawings, both reminiscent of an allegorical pageant, acknowledge the reality of the struggle while offering the promise of brighter days ahead."—Publishers Weekly, starred review "Long is sparing with the text, keeping it simple and beautifully descriptive. Brilliantly colored illustrations done in acrylic, ink, and pencil stand out on bright white pages, with Little Tree taking the center position in each double-page spread. Tender and gentle and altogether lovely."—Kirkus Reviews "Children will see the tree facing the scariness of change; adult readers may well feel wistful as the story underscores the need to let their babies grow toward independence. Beautiful. Grade: A"—Cleveland Plain Dealer

A guide to crafting knitted gifts, including scarves, sweaters, socks, and mittens, from master knitter and bestselling author Wendy Bernard An exciting book from Wendy Bernard, Knitted Gifts for All Seasons is packed with 30 new garments and accessories. Projects are organized by season and range from cozy slippers, mittens, and a pom-pom wreath to Fair Isle yoke-neck sweaters for the whole family. Embracing the full calendar year and a wide spectrum of reasons to gift knits, each project captures the season’s essence through color scheme and project type, resulting in a well-rounded and unique book. Some patterns include simple non-knitting embellishments like embroidery, needle-felting, and crocheted edging options, offering additional appeal to makers. Bernard has a keen understanding of today’s knitter and understands the desire to “make any project your own,” and in turn, provides numerous ways to customize and personalize. Knitted Gifts for All Seasons is sure to be a book readers return to again and again for ideas, and to gift from continuously.

Crafty handmade gift ideas to help you create presents at home Handmade Gifts covers all the popular crafts such as sewing, knitting, paper-crafts, candle-making, and crochet, plus making jam and baking, so you're sure to find something that inspires you to get crafting. Handmade Gifts contains over 70 craft projects with step-by-step instructions and photographs of the finished gift along with variations to ensure your item is unique and personal. From homemade cards and teacup candles to crochet blankets and chocolate egg truffles, it's full of ideas for every occasion including birthdays, seasonal gatherings, house warmings, and baby showers. Suggestions for green and up-cycled gifts as well as clever tips on how to wrap and present your handmade crafts are included. Plus, 20 technique lessons are peppered throughout such as melting soap, casting on and off, and simple embroidery stitches. Handmade Gifts is the perfect craft book for anyone who wants to make beautiful, affordable and unique gifts for friends and family. Gifting wine and shop-bought chocolate is out, homemade sweets and gifts are in!

Transform Paper into Thoughtful Cards, Fun Decorations and More with Easy, Mess-Free Crafts Learn just how versatile paper can be when creating fun, colorful crafts. Whether you have plain printer paper, a rainbow array of cardstock or just a few scraps of construction paper, you’ll be able to create inventive paper crafts that require only a few materials you already have, making them a thrifty and accessible alternative to more complicated projects. So grab your paper, scissors and glue and try these fun projects: • Origami Corner Bookmarks • Tin Can Pen Pots • Paper Pendants • Llama Cards • Origami Lucky Stars Bracelets • 3-D Paper Accordion Flowers • Kite Birds • Paper Dog Puppet • Confetti Bookmarks • Leaf Wreaths • Quick Ghost Garlands • Polar Bear Ornaments A whole slew of cute, exciting projects makes it easy for you to get your craft on no matter the occasion, and they provide hours of fun all year long. With easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions and plenty of photos to guide you, you can be on your way to creating paper masterpieces in no time.