Does your tween need to make a gift for an upcoming birthday party? Is your daughter having a sleepover and you need craft ideas to keep the girls busy? Then here is the book you are looking for.
The Girls' World Book of Friendship Crafts (ISBN 1-57990-471-8) by Joanne O'Sullivan is divided into three sections: Best Gifts, Best Memories, and Best Times. Each section is filled with crafts, ideas, and even learning.
The first section, Best Gifts, has a number of crafty gift projects for friends who are worldly, book lovers, and fashion divas. Each craft project is original, such as the purse made from a map and a decoupage picture frame made with stamps from around the world.
What I love most about the Best Gifts section is that some of the projects are educational and can be adapted to a school or home school setting. For example, the cartouche necklace involves writing someone's name in Egyptian hieroglyphs. This is a great project for tweens and teens to learn more about ancient Egypt while they create a stylish necklace that can be worn by both boys and girls. There is also the Chinese zodiac sign necklace. This project involves learning about the Chinese zodiac and can be used for a history or social studies lesson.
The Best Memories section is all about preserving memories between friends. Here you will find ways to personalize photo albums, decorate journals with beadwork, make a really neat picture frame from foil candy wrappers, and sew a t-shirt quilt.
The final section, Best Times, focuses on craft projects that girls can make with their friends. This section is a parent's blessing because the materials that are needed for these projects are relatively cheap, and the crafts keep the girls busy and out of trouble. Some of the projects included in this section are a tissue paper and decoupage jewelry box, a wall clock that screams 1950s, pillows made from outgrown or unwanted cardigans, button necklaces, and hand pendants.
The 50 craft projects in The Girls' World Book of Friendship Crafts are very original and fun to make. A parent or adult should be present to offer assistance for some of the projects in this book, however I feel that most crafty parents will want to try their own hand at these craft projects.
