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Hello Color

Rachel Mae Smith gives beginning crafters 25 easy and fun home decor projects to liven up your life and make your home space vibrant. 

Whether she’s writing for her blog, snapping pictures for Instagram, or just living her life, Rachel Mae Smith is all about the simple joys of handmaking and bringing brightness to everything. And now beginning crafters, aspirational DIYers, and dorm dwellers can, too! Rachel shares her colorful signature style in each simple and fun step-by-step project like Dip-Dyed Napkins, Pom-Pom Votive Candle Holders, and Geometric Patterned Pillows. Helpful sidebars on decorating, like Staging a Beautiful Bookcase and building Bar Carts for Beginners, give you ideas for perking up pre-fab accessories so that any space can look colorful. Plus how-tos on working with specific materials, ideas for entertaining, and—of course—a guide to shooting pictures. And as a special bonus, tear-out posters in the back make it easy for you to decorate your walls in a snap!

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How to Eat a Lobster

Learn the answers to modern food and etiquette questions with this beautifully illustrated guide for curious foodies everywhere.

For adventurous foodies everywhere, How to Eat a Lobster is the perfect handbook for handling every tricky dining situation you can imagine (and a few you can’t) with grace, style, and minimal splatter. With easy-to-follow instructions and helpful illustrations, you’ll learn the answers to 50 food-related questions you’ve been afraid to ask. (What do you do when crawfish arrive? Twist and snap off the head. Peel the tail and pull out the meat. Then suck the juices from the head. Seriously: you’re supposed to!)

Topics include:
• How to Eat Crawfish
• How to Eat Raw Oysters
• How to Eat Escargots
• How to Open a Coconut
• How to Slice a Mango
• How to Use Chopsticks
• How to Hold a Wineglass
• How to Use Bread as a Utensil
• How to Eat Sushi
• How to Recover from a Tongue Burn
• And more!

Equal parts cheat sheet and cheerleader, How to Eat a Lobster not only shows you how to open a coconut—it shows you that you can!

Posted by Christina Schillaci

Pom-Poms!

Whether they’re perking up your clothes, brightening your home decor, or bringing a rainbow of color to your next party, pom-poms are perfect wherever they pop up.

Each project in this book has oh-so-simple instructions and photographs that’ll have you whipping up homemade tufts in all kinds of eye-catching patterns, from speckles to stripes to polka-dots. And don’t worry about running out of yarn. You’ll learn how to put a new spin on poms with a host of fun materials like tissue paper, tinsel, coffee filters, and cupcake wrappers.

With 25 fresh and fancy takes on a classic, Pom-Poms! will give crafters of all ages a reason to cheer.

SARAH GOLDSCHADT is a Danish American craft book author and designer who lives in Brooklyn. She has worked for Food Network Magazine, Do It Yourself, and Kids' Rooms and freelanced for Better Homes and Gardens, Martha Stewart Living, and Architectural Digest. Sarah loves to make things, travel, and take pictures. Say hello and find new craft projects at Sah-rah.com.

LEXI WALTERS WRIGHT is a writer, editor, and sometime librarian whose work has appeared on family and home design websites such as CountryLiving.com, FreshHomeIdeas.com, and many more. She chases her toddler through the woods of Florence, Massachusetts. Visit her website at lexiwalterswright.com.

Posted by impart

The Kickstarter Handbook

So you want to produce a short film. Or design a new line of jewelry. Or manufacture a revolutionary solar-powered garden sprinkler. There’s just one catch: You need $100,000 to bankroll your dream, and your checking account has barely enough to cover the rent.
 
Enter Kickstarter.com—the phenomenal “crowdfunding” website launched in 2009 that brings venture capital to the masses. At Kickstarter, it’s not uncommon for entrepreneurs to raise $50,000, $100,000, $250,000, or more. All you need is a great idea—and The Kickstarter Handbook.
 
Business journliast Don Steinberg has interviewed dozens of artists and inventors who launched their passion projects online. Through their voices, you’ll explore all the strategies of a successful Kickstarter campaign. You’ll learn the elements of a compelling Kickstarter video, innovative ways to market your projects, tips for getting donors onboard, and the secrets of irresistible Kickstarter “rewards.” You’ll also discover what to do in a best-case scenario—when your project goes viral and the cash starts flowing in. On Kickstarter, it happens to a few lucky visionaries every week. Here’s how to be one of them.

Posted by impart

Craft-a-Day

Make something new every day of the year! Craft-a-Day offers daily inspiration along with weekly themes to kick-start your creativity. Make magnets, cupcake toppers, garlands, cards, wall art, finger puppets, and more! With 52 different themes, from rainbows and snowmen to ladybugs and groundhogs, you’ll find fun and cuteness on every page. Author Sarah Goldschadt provides whimsical projects for easy crafts that require no advanced skills or crazy tools. Complete with handy patterns and how-to photos, Craft-a-Day challenges you to make something special, every day of the year.

Posted by impart

Walls Notebook

A blank city wall with a fresh coat of paint – is there anything more appealing to doodlers, dreams, and graffiti artists?

Walls Notebook invites you to indulge your inner vandal without the risk of jail time. Here are 160 pages of wall photographs for notes, sketches, drawings, and defacement, all packaged in a delightful lay-flat flexi-bind paperback. These textured urban walls provide an interesting backdrop for notes, musings, drawings, doodles, and more. Indulge your inner graffiti artist – without the risk of jail time!

Sherwood Forlee is a photographer and design engineer living in New York City.

Posted by impart