Craft Books

Origami - For years my family and I would go to the Museum of Natural History in New York where they had a huge Christmas Tree decorated in Origami decorations.  Last year when we went they had lessons on how to do it, but it's pretty tricky.  This book maps out really fun origami creatures from the jumping frog and paper airplane to a picture frame and box.  The book comes with a huge stack of colorful paper and great ideas.  Just another great craft that once you master requires no tools, or special items and isn't costly.  Just paper and time!  

American Girl Room Crafts (American Girl) This is a great tween/teen book to give to your granddaughter.  They'll get ideas on how to redo their room with crafts that they can make for themselves.  They have simple easy directions, good clear pictures and great ideas.

Sticker Art (American Girl)  Stickers have never been more fun.  This book has a ton of ideas on how you can design jewelry or embellish furniture (with mom's permission) using more than 1,000 stickers and supplies that are included with the book.  Our tester updated her glasses, her eyeglass case, and according to her mom it didn't stop there!  She's covered her lampshade for a real cool effect!

Painted Pet Rocks  -  Did you grow up in during the Pet Rock phase?  Well our tester remembered them well.  She didn't own them, but her kids did and she had a great time reliving this memory with her granddaughter.  This kit comes complete with a paintbrush, eight colors of acrylic paint, five pairs of wiggle eyes, and a river-smooth rock.  The nice thing about this kit is that you can find tons of rocks and still have paint leftover!

The Klutz Book of Paper Airplanes  Ever struggled to remember how to make a paper airplane for your grandchild?  Well, suffer no more.  This fabulous book not only takes the guess work out of making paper airplanes, it also provides a hefty stack of colorful paper to make them with.  Paper airplanes provide hours of entertainment for little ones and big ones alike.  Have a blast with this book - our testers did!

Me and My Friends: The Book of Us  According to our 8-year-old reviewer, "It’s kind of cool because you can do all of this stuff with your friends and you can figure out what all of your friends are like in this book.  There are quizzes, fill-in-the blanks and places to doodle."

Christmas Window Art Here's a fun craft that will spread holiday cheer throughout your house.  This book includes six bottles of a special peel-off window paint in all the holiday colors.  The step-by-step instructions make it very easy to do.  The book includes 101 Christmas designs, but don't feel limited to those - try your own too.  This craft is for 9-12 year olds but we found that younger children can easily do this too.  Just provide the outline and let them do the rest!

Handmade Cards: Simple Designs for Beautiful Cards A beautiful handmade card is a gift on its own. This book comes with everything you need to make unique cards: 22 sheets of paper, measuring grid, folding tool, and templates. The instruction book has easy step-by-step instructions. Creating the more intricate cards with flowers takes some time, but is well worth the work. Definitely for older grandchildren. A beautiful, fun craft that grandma will enjoy too!