Tree Craft

Publisher's description:
The eco‑friendly crafter can give their home a touch of rustic elegance by bringing the outdoors in with these unique and versatile projects that range from easy to ambitious. With using nothing more than found wood, twigs and branches, a few basic tools, and the step‑by‑step instructions, woodworkers and crafters can make the 35 projects that will add the natural warmth of wood to their decor. Inspiring readers with beautiful full‑color photography of completed items, this guide is packed with affordable and environmentally friendly ideas, and covers everything from where to find wood to choosing the right tools.
Utilizing twigs, branches, and found wood, this manual provides step-by-step instructions for versatile projects that range from easy to ambitious. Inspiring readers with beautiful full-color photography of completed items, the guide is packed with affordable and environmentally friendly projects for both inside the home and outdoors, including a curtain rod, coat rack, ring, chess/checker table, walking stick, and rustic seat. Also included is a gallery of contemporary rooms showcasing ideas for decorating a modern home with rustic accents. Covering everything from where to find wood to choosing the right tools, this guide is the perfect gift for thrifty and eco-friendly crafters, naturalists, woodworkers, and decorators.

My Review:
 So this is my first crafty book review and all I can say is what a way to start!  Now I am NOT a wood worker, wood burner, or wood artist by any stretch of the imagination.  However the thought  that I could use found wood (of which I have plenty thanks to a storm with strong winds and a downed tree in my back yard), a few tools (which I also have thanks to raiding my hubby's supplies) I could create something beautiful and I was hooked.

I wish I could share some pictures of the projects in this book with you.  They are absolutely beautiful and many require no more tools than you probably have on hand such as a saw, a small sharp knife, time and patience.  Let me say that patience is something I don't have lots of, so for the smaller projects you won't need a lot of that.  There are some great beginners projects that even those opposed to power tools can do such as wooden beads.  Simply take a branch, cut it into small sections and drill a hole through each section.

I love that one because there are so many uses for such a thing.  I plan to make some wood beads for Princess a to practice her fine motor skills by stringing them to make a necklace.  I have also unburied my woodburner (I bought a really inexpensive one YEARS ago and I think I used it once) and will use it to burn a letter on each bead so she can practice letters.  Maybe a set of capitol and lower case letters for matching.

I even made this little goodie:

which has a hole drilled through it so my little girl can wear it on a necklace (as the books shows) or she can use it as a backpack tag.  Not impressed?

The book also includes step by step directions to create napkin rings, picture frames, coat racks, chess/checker tables from tree stumps, hooks from branches and much more.  If you like crafting you will find a project in this book for you, and none of the projects involved expensive wood working materials such as a lathe or power tools.  Can't wait to get started on some new towel hooks for my bathroom and I bet the kids would love an outdoor checker set!