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Color Works! Finally A Color Guide For The Rest Of Us!

December 27, 2008 by Terrye

Color Works, The Crafter’s Guide to Color by Deb Menz, Available from Amazon

Hardcover and spiral bound, built to take with you and take the abuse.

Stumped about which colors to use in a craft project? Ths book give you practical, hands-on tools for using color in nine crafts, including knitting, spinning, weaving, quilting, surface design (including stenciling and rubber stamping), hand and machine embroidery, beadwork and paper collage.
Color theory principls are demystified with clear explanations, examples, and more than 270 hand-crafted swatches that bring color palettes to life in all nine mediums.
Contents include: Describing Color, Basic Color Relationships, Understanding Value, Color Contrasts, Color Harmonies, Characteristics of Media (knitting, spinning, weaving, embroidery, quilting, collage…), Choosing Colors and Design.
Includes several pull out tools to take with you to make sure you pick colors that harmonize and play well together.

If you signed up for a Color and Texture class in college, I imaging this would be one of the textbooks that you’d be reading.

So much information. One of the most useful tips I’ve ever received for matching colors is to use the black and white settings on my camera to take a picture. Almost like magic, the hues, and shades just jump out of the frame! It actually made me commit to memory, that particular feature on my digital camera. That in itself is huge!

When asked about color, Eunny Jang sums it up by saying: “Eunny Jang says: ” “Pick two color families (hues). Then pick three variations of each–dark, medium, light. Now you have six colors that go together beautifully!”

Sandy Wiseheart of Knitting Daily has worked up two different swatches using the principles in this book. To download the charts for these swatches, go here (you have to be a member and log in to get the swatch charts).

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Make Your Own Nourishing Stretch Mark Oil

There’s something really lovely about a project like this DIY nourishing stretch mark oil. It feels gentle, thoughtful, and the kind of homemade self-care recipe that fits beautifully into real life rather than some impossible spa fantasy where nobody has laundry on the couch. The tutorial uses chamomile flowers, lavender flowers, marshmallow root, and a carrier oil to create a slow-infused body oil designed to nourish skin and support elasticity. It makes around 4 to 6 ounces, which is a nice manageable batch for personal use.

What I like most is that this isn’t trying to be dramatic. It’s not pretending one little bottle is going to magically erase every line your body has ever earned. It’s more about care, consistency, and giving your skin something soft and soothing. That makes it feel especially relatable for pregnancy, postpartum, weight changes, and yes, even perimenopause, when skin can suddenly feel drier, more fragile, and just generally a bit less cooperative than it used to be. It’s one of those quiet body-care projects that says, “Let’s be kind to ourselves,” and I’m very much here for that.

The method is simple enough too. You add the herbs to a clean jar, cover them fully with your chosen carrier oil, then let the mixture infuse in a cool, dark place for at least six weeks, giving it a gentle shake every few days before straining and bottling it. There’s even a practical little tip about putting parchment paper under the lid so the herbs don’t sit against the metal, which is exactly the kind of small homemade detail I appreciate in a DIY tutorial.

I also like that the project leaves room for flexibility. It mentions using different carrier oils such as avocado oil, coconut oil, or jojoba oil, depending on your skin type and preference, and it notes that you can add essential oils if you want a little fragrance or extra skin-loving benefits. That sort of custom feel is part of the appeal with homemade bath and body recipes. You get to make something that suits your own skin instead of just grabbing whatever is shouting the loudest on the chemist shelf.

Another nice touch is the extra ingredient suggestions. The post includes ideas like vitamin E oil, rosehip seed oil, aloe vera, cocoa butter, hyaluronic acid, gotu kola, argan oil, glycolic acid, and retinol as ingredients often associated with improving the look of stretch marks. It also sensibly reminds readers to patch test first and speak to a dermatologist if they have concerns. I always appreciate that kind of balance. Homemade skincare is wonderful, but so is remembering that not every skin type wants to join the party.

This feels like a very approachable project for anyone who enjoys herbal body care, slower beauty rituals, and making useful gifts or personal self-care items. It has that handmade, nurturing quality that a lot of commercial products try to fake with expensive packaging and words like botanical on the label. Here, it actually is botanical, and you made it yourself, which somehow makes the whole thing feel even nicer.

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