If you have ever wanted to play with walnut ink and didn’t know where to start, here’s a booklet that will help you immensely. Explore new and old techniques to get your creativity flowing. This booklet tells you about walnut ink and what to do with it. There are ideas for texture, adding colour, paper casts and experimentation. Try walnut ink on a variety of surfaces.

Let’s Play With The Flower Stitcher

This is a creative book showing how to use a flower stitcher. The flower stitcher is a foot attachment that fits most sewing machines. It’s a versatile attachment and Dale will show you how to use it. Dale creates some very exciting and interesting pieces as evidenced by the front cover of this booklet.

Surface Tension

This is the biggest booklet and is subtitled ‘Embellish and Stitch for the Creative Artist’. Explore the real possibilities of the embellisher machine. Dale plays with different materials and there’s lots of photos so that you can see all the experiments. There’s also a gallery of other artists’ work. It shows the basics of layering and meshing fabrics, felting, creating backgrounds, creating cloth, knitted fabric that is embellished, loops and using your embellished pieces.

All Dale’s work is highly creative and experimental. I have seen her wonderful wearable art pieces in Quilting Art magazine too. She never disappoints. I’m looking forward to more of her booklets. Dale runs The Thread Studio in Australia.

The Complete Book of Fantasy Designs, softback published by Search Press. ISBN 978-1-84448-624-3, price 9.99 available from www.searchpress.com

This book is the best of four previously published books, Halloween Designs, Christmas Designs, Angel & Fairy Designs and Mythical Creatures. This book has a broad base to entice craftspeople interested in fantasy projects. The book includes over 250 illustrations from simple borders and motifs to mythical creatures, flowers, symbols and lettering. Judy Balchin has designed several projects to show you how to use the book. This is not a project how-to book however, it simply provides you with drawings that can form the basis of your own art or craft work. There is also a bonus CD.

Sew La Tea Do by Pip Lincolne, hardback, spiral bound published by Hardie Grant. ISBN 978-1-74066-860-6, price 17.99 available from twitter.com/HardieGrantUK

Craft books have to lie flat so that you can use them properly and patterns are always useful – this book has both. In this book, you’ll find contemporary children’s clothes and useful items like Pyjama bags – the cutest you’ve ever seen. Adults get the same treatment, with simple contemporary dresses for women and just one pants pattern for men. My favourite is the Miss Marlo dress. Then there are blankets, cushions and pillowcases (very cute), quilts and more for the home. Whilst you are busy making, have a stack of Pip’s choc chip biscuits on hand, the recipe is at the back of the book. That’s it then, life sorted in one chic book.

Make Hey! While The Sun Shines by Pip Lincolne, hardback, spiral bound published by Hardie Grant. ISBN 978-174270131-8, price 17.99 available from twitter.com/HardieGrantUK

I love books that provide pattens in pockets and are spiral bound, so that they lie flat when you are crafting – and this book does both. This book is full of projects to get you crafting – a welcome flag, good gift bags, finger puppets, bunting, cushions, bike seat cover, tote and so much more. I adore the piggy back pocket monkey – he’s so cute. The geography seat is a great idea, could be used as a table – now why didn’t I think of this? Ideas for all the family using a variety of crafts including sewing, embroidery, crochet and more. A fun book that will help to usefully occupy any spare time you have.

Textile Adventures mixed media and stitch by Isobel Hall, softback published by Isobel Hall Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9569029-0-0, price 17.00.

Isobel promises an adventure and delivers one. Experiment to your heart’s content and produce your own unique projects using the techniques. The instructions for the techniques are easy to follow. New ideas for using relatively inexpensive mediums – some found in the kitchen. This is a technique book and not a how to complete projects book. However, there are plenty of very good photos of finished items. Bowls, bags, journal covers and more. You’ll enjoy the inspiration this book has to offer. Not for the absolute beginner, but for everyone else who loves textiles and experimenting.

Microcrafts, harback compiled by Margaret McGuire, Alicia Kachmar, Katie Hatz and Friends, published by Quirk. ISBN 978-1-59474-521-8, price 11.99 available in the Uk from www.newhollandpublishers.com

This book is full of little treasures to make. Things don’t get much tinier. These guys have set out to prove that good things come in small packages. There are twenty five projects from tiny boats, creatures, jewellery and more. This is a treasury of microcrafts. Many techniques and materials are used throughout the book from bottle caps for jewellery and polymer or modelling clay to make tiny creatures. Felt is used for owls, dogs and more. The book will appeal to those who like to work in miniature and also those with a quirky nature.

Wonderful Ways With Wax by Jann Visser, softback published by Search Press. ISBN 978-1-84448-790-5, price 12.99 available from www.searchpress.com

Encaustic art is very intriguing and can make wonderful effects. The author shows how to apply wax to many mediums including paper, fabric, canvas, sea shells and porcelain. She provides ideas on how to use encaustic art including cards, mosaic and more. This book is full of ideas and techniques presented in a clear way with good photographs. This book thoroughly explores the fascinating world of encaustic art. It is most useful to beginners.

Pergamano Parchment Craft by Martha Ospina, softback published by New Holland. ISBN 978-1-84773-928-5, price 7.99 available from www.newhollandpublishers.com

This book presents 15 projects with step by step instructions and a full explanation of basic techniques. Templates are given but do need to be enlarged on a photocopier. Parchment paper can be used to make greetings cards, lampshades, flowers and more. It can be coloured with a variety of materials. One project uses Dorso crayons – I have never heard of those but they are a Pergamano product available in many countries. The projects are interesting and varied and this book can be used by beginners and the experienced alike.

Pompom Pals by Michelle Tilly, softback published by New Holland. ISBN 978-1-78009-029-0, price 6.99 available from www.newhollandpublishers.com

Bright, fun and fuzzy, these creatures will quickly become pals. I remember making pompoms with my Mum, so this brings back memories and it is a great ‘family’ craft, something the kids can do. This book includes 14 characters and detailed instructions to make them. The photography is good and the creatures have a contemporary look. Templates are included.

A Green Guide to Country Crafts by Nicola Gouldsmith and Jacqueline Mann, hardback published by Cico. ISBN 978-1- 907563171, price 16.99 available from www.cicobooks.com or www.cicobooks.co.uk

If you love the simple life and the ethics of homemade, then you’ll love this book. All the crafts can be tried at home and have an emphasis on thrifty living – recycling, reusing and crafts passed down from generation to generation. Discover the basics, techniques and projects with step by step instructions. This is a great taster book for a number of crafts such as soap making, patchwork, candle making, weaving and natural dyeing. The techniques are good and seem easy to follow but I was not too keen on most of the projects.