Customer Reviews

Crafter's Devotional: 365 Days of Tips, Tricks, and Techniques for Unlocking Your Creative Spirit (The Devotional Series)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Barbara Call's Crafter's Devotional: 365 Days of Tips, Tricks, and Technique for Unlocking Your Creative Spirit is everything its title promises it to be.
While there are daily entries, you are able to wander aimlessly through the book looking for whatever inspiration might grab you. I like the idea of just letting the book fall open and letting destiny land you on an entry to inspire you for the day.
I would also like to suggest that you consider taking notes in the margins of the pages so that you can revisit what worked (or didn't work) for you.
The book is a thoughtful collaboration of Barbara's words and the unique, artwork, interviews, techniques and more from over 100 talented artists, designers and crafters.

This book would also be a great service to open minded artists like myself looking for creative spirit recharge or a cure for painter's block...but a Artist's Devotional book might be a great follow up!

Full disclosure: My work does appear in this book but I am not compensated in any way. Because the days are 10 hours shorter than I need them to be, I only contribute work to projects I believe in. Barbara's book, Crafter's Devotional is fully worthy. It also is a great resource for people looking to live more creatively which is a passion of ours [...] .
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Barbara Call's Crafter's Devotional: 365 Days of Tips, Tricks, and Technique for Unlocking Your Creative Spirit is a must for artists, crafters, teachers and more. This book should become a classic. Go out and buy it for every teacher and artist or creative soul you know. Anyone can learn from this book, it is so much more than instruction and pretty pictures. It provides keys to unlock areas in your life that could be joyfully expressed. I plan on buying a many more copies for my crafty friends. I'd like to see Barbara Call speaking with Martha Stewart, Rosie O'Donnell (well known "crafter", I suggest a PBS special) and even Oprah. I truy believe that it would be a huge bonus to any teacher. Every primary educator should be given a copy. I am a Professor of Art and Art History and found each and every page provides me with some inspiration. It holds all from "high art" to a child's delightful unrestrained creativity. Do yourself get yourself a copy, actually get at least 2 and share it, it has already come back to me ten fold. Trust me this should be one every book shelf!

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) tells us that Devotional is an (a.)
Pertaining to, suited to, or used in, devotion; as, a devotional posture; devotional exercises; a devotional frame of mind.

The Crafter's Devotional encompasses a series of art and craft "exercises" and as such, is one of those books that can be gone straight through from beginning to end OR the reader can turn to any page and find either self-contained mini-workshops on techniques from crochet to different methods for creating prints, or prompts and ideas to use for guided explorations in a myriad of mixed-media arts and crafts. Ms. Call has organized the book into a very cool day-by-day breakdown: the Monday prompts and techniques can all be filed loosely under the heading, Journaling. Tuesday is devoted to Recycling, Reusing, and Reviving. On Wednesdays the reader is invited to explore Collections and Materials, while Thursdays are dedicated to delving into one's Personal History. Start the weekends with a little "Noncraft Inspiration" on Friday and finish out the week on Saturday and Sunday Collaborating and Experimenting. While I suspect The Crafter's Devotional will hold a special appeal for those just setting out on their artistic journey, there are invaluable prompts and specific techniques for the rest of us when all we need is a little inspirational jumpstart...With over 100 contributors, including Catherine Witherell, Jane Wynn, Julianna Coles, Lesley Riley, Karen Michel, Kathy Cano-Murillo, Melissa McCobb-Hubbell, Sas Colby, Stephanie Lee, and Teesha Moore.

I have bought this book for myself and all my friends. The ideas are inspiring and fun. Most are things I know how to do but don't think of. The days are set up well and the book easy to work with. Good find!!

What a sweet, well-designed book. I'd never seen a "crafter's" devotional, so I had to get this. I'm so glad I did! Each page has something wonderful and inspirational for an artist/crafter.

I'm pretty busy with children, family, and life, but this book is a daily reminder to me that creativity is something that you should always make time for. It's sitting on my drafting table open right now and that way, it reminds me to look through the book at least once a day. It's reasonably priced, too. I've seen plain scrapbooks priced higher and this book is full of great ideas. This would also be a sweet gift for the artistic person in your life.

Recommended!

Great book. . .great layout . . .great information. I teach a class and work with a support group and the ideas are inspiration for me. Love the setup of the different topics for each day so when you need journaling ideas you look for the pen icon for Mondays. Thanks for a great book. JM

What a pleasure this book is. It has daily tips, interviews with artists, journal points. I've been carrying it with me pretty much daily since I purchased it. I don't follow day by day but just open the book and let it inspire me from whatever I see.

This book is a wonderful tool for any crafter or artist to own. It is a well of inspiration. The ideas in here are really great.

The book is great. I'm working through each of the days and learning new things about myself. The book is not necessarily just about crafting, but about what you craft. I like that Mondays are for journaling and Tuesdsays are for recycling....helps me know what to expect on my busy days.

This is a great book for someone that wants to try many different media's at a slow pace. I was looking for more of a "wake up" for my creativity. This one starts kinda slow in idea's but is an overall good devotional type of format.