Free Stuff for Crafty Kids

Book Review: Read my review of this book by Judy Heim and Gloria Hanson (C&T Publishing).

Actually the full title of this book is Free Stuff for Crafty Kids on the Internet. This books 176 pages are brimming with online craft resources. Judy Heim and Gloria Hanson no doubt spent countless hours scouring the internet to find the wonderful resources listed throughout this book.

The front part of this book is very helpful. It has easy to understand directions and suggestions for commonly asked questions related to the Internet. It explains things such as common error messages, bookmarking, printing pages, saving pages and graphics, and other topics. I especially like the pages that explain how to do some detective work to try to find a Web Site that suddenly disappears! It even has a few pages helping AOLers with common browsing problems they may face!

The resources in this book are broken down into many categories. It shares general URLs to larger Internet sites that offer many projects and valuable resources. You could easily spend many hours on these sites exploring and finding creative craft projects. It also lists many specific categories of crafts. A few of these are rubber-stamping, painting, jewelry making, sewing, and holiday crafts. There are also a few sections dealing with crafts using mainly paper, such as paper dolls, origami, airplanes, and coloring pages.

There are also three helpful icons scattered throughout this book. There is one icon that urges you to read the helpful hint that is being shared. Another icon warns you of a common mistake you can avoid. The third icon lets you know if the Web site being shared also sells related craft items.

The co-authors of this book do a great job of sharing their Internet knowledge and craft related experiences in this book. Judy Heim is an avid needle crafter and writer of many craft related articles and books. Gloria Hansen has won significant awards for her quilts, most of which were designed using her computer. She has also written numerous articles and co-authored a few books.

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