It’s a runaway best seller in the UK, especially to baby boomer men, who are also buying it for their sons.

It’s Conn and Hal Iggulden’s The Dangerous Book for Boys. DBB, as we’ll call it, summarizes all those activities and crafts that boys used to do before TV, computers and video games came on the market. Many of them are now effectively banned by the Health and Safety “police” who dog our lives and make them unnecessarily miserable — especially for boys.

For North Americans, I should tell you the book is very Britain-oriented, in that it contains bits from Shakespeare and poetry from Kipling and other patriotic poets and authors.

Nevertheless, it contains a lot of Boys Crafts, which is why I like it. For instance, how to make “the greatest paper plane in the world”. Now there’s something to know about.

How to construct a battery, build a treehouse (oh, the danger!), make a bow and arrow (is this a terrorist’s manual?), make water bombs (it is a terrorist’s manual), and invisible inks, marbling paper, understanding girls (very coyly done), tricks with dogs and skimming stones on lakes.

In short, my sort of book. If you want to know about “The Golden Age of Piracy”, it’s all here. From making a pinhole projector and a crystal radio to grinding an italic nib, it’s a veritable treasure trove.

So, if you’re interested in boys’ crafts, or crafts for Real Men, you know where to go.

Nothing to do this weekend?  It is still hot; I think it is hot everywhere now and staying inside in the air conditioning and doing some family crafts seems right up my alley.  Brave the heat long enough to go up to the hardware store and pick out some pretty tiles.  Get large enough ones to work on the surface, say a foot square or so, and then head to the craft store and pick up some decoupage and a clear sealant.  The rest is going to come from things in your own home and your imagination.

Old photographs are a nice touch on these tiles.  Glue the photograph down and run your hand or something over it to remove any bubbles.  Many decoupages are meant to use as the glue and will bubble less; I prefer those.  Just be sure to remove the air bubbles from under the picture.  You can use magazine photos, antique photographs, seed packets (just the front layer)… anything you like. 

Once it is sealed on, follow the instructions on the decoupage bottle and then on the sealant container.  Be sure you are in a well ventilated room.  Then you can attach hangers and display your work or you can use them as trivets for hot plates (don’t put anything too hot on it to protect the photograph if it means a great deal to you).  I would recommend if the photograph is one of a kind and cannot be replaced, that you spend a few dollars and have it photostated by a professional photocopying service and save the original in a safe place.

These tiles will make great gifts and a great memory of a fun day.  These crafts are easy, inexpensive and totally individual to each crafter. 

Now this is a great idea!  I wish I had thought of it.  If you buy CD’s and don’t leave them in the original case, but put them in a larger binder or whatever, you probably have wondered what you could do with all of those cases.  They seem like a craft just needing to happen.  I keep my CD’s in a big leather binder and I have often wondered that but unfortunately didn’t keep them!  Now I see what could have been done with them.  Get the family, Girl Scout Troop, class, Sunday school members, or whoever together to turn these CD cases into photo frames!

This is a wonderful craft for kids.  It is also a fun one for adults.  It is quick, easy, inexpensive, and would be so enjoyed by so many.  Kids could make these for grandparents or people who reside in nursing homes to remind them they are not forgotten.  A graduating class of elementary school kids could make these with a collage of their friend’s pictures.  And what a great gift for a teacher that would be!  No excuse for the lack of a Mother’s Day present now!  Make a little nature scene out of things you find on the beach or on a hike.

There are so many ideas for this that I am sure you will come up with even more.  What is best is that this is essentially a free craft; the CD case probably would have been thrown out and all of the trims and paints you will already have.  Instead you will be recycling something into a meaningful and quite charming gift.

I have never been much for getting into the crafts that are all mucky and dirty.  I guess I am truly one of those “indoor” girls.  Every now and again I’ll get a burr in my bonnet and do something with houseplants and maybe transplant an outdoor set of flowers, but basically I lean to the fiber crafts and other “soft” crafts.  Ones that require clean hands!  This is neat craft for people like me because you do get to muck around a bit but it is in clean material that won’t make you feel like you need a complete manicure later that night.  I tried this craft about a billion years ago (okay, more like 15) and I loved it.  Papermaking is a great craft, its inexpensive, and the results are absolutely fabulous.  It is a unique craft that will express your artistic and creative side.

The materials are easy:

• Different sources of paper (different textures, colors, and weights are fun to combine)
• A blender (use one you don’t plan to use for food again)
• A window screen stretched tightly on a frame
• Plastic tub (at least as big as the screen frame)
• Liquid starch
• White flannel or felt
• Tacks or staple gun

This particular set of instructions will tell you how to make flat “sheets” of paper.  Decorate them as you like to make stationery, greeting cards, artwork to frame, or any other use you come up with.  Be generous with leaves, silk ribbons, flowers, glitter… whatever you like.  Your imagination is the only limit. 

Tomorrow I’ll present another idea for paper making that is truly unique.  This is a process that takes a little longer but is my favorite thing to do with papermaking crafts.  You may get hooked too!

Paper Making

Papermaking

Making Paper From The Garden

Papermaking Recipes