Introduction from Craft Classics, the eBook

          This book began over twenty-eight years ago, when my eldest child was in pre-school.  It was a time before digital cameras and desktop publishing, before web pages and print-on-demand books. 
          We had two children at home, a boy and a girl, who were three years apart. I was an aspiring writer, stay-at-home mom, with a degree in Communications. As a hands-on mom, I attended “Mommy and Me” classes, obsessed over feeding our children healthy food and frequently organized outings and craft projects.
          My maternal grandmother, Hilda Glandon Meredith, was an avid crafter for most of her 86 years.  She dabbled in ceramics and china paints, fashioned Christmas ornaments from recycled items and made dolls with apple heads.  Some of my fondest childhood memories are when she and her sister, Helen prepared craft projects for me to complete.  Even when I was a young teen, I enjoyed those projects and never felt too old or too cool to participate in one of Grandma’s creative capers.
          When our son was a toddler, I began incorporating art projects into his regular schedule.  As I began searching for new ideas, I decided to compile an arts and craft book.  My children happily tested the projects (first my son and then his younger sister joined him). If they enjoyed the activity, it was a sure bet other children would too. I regularly took photographs during the projects.
          In the 1980s, I started a community magazine and included a regular craft column in the publication. Each month we featured one of the craft projects.
Fast-forward twenty-plus years and several of my websites feature many of the projects.  Several years ago, I gathered most of them into a book and offered it for sale on my website, as both an e-book and paperback. My sister looked at the book, and asked…where are the pictures?  She was right; without graphics, the book was lifeless and failed to spark any imagination.
          After a little digging, I uncovered those long ago prints and slides, converting them to digital images.  I confess, some are not of the best quality. Yet, they capture the essence of the projects.
          I revamped the book and gave it a new name, Craft Classics. It features the basic staples in a craft diet, which include recipes for molding dough, finger paint, papier-mâché, gingerbread house frosting-glue and so much more. I am not claiming these are original projects (although some are); many are classroom favorites.
My sister, the one who asked about the pictures, is an elementary school teacher. From her came ideas and inspiration. Whatever happened to those two children of ours, the ones who unwittingly played such an instrumental role in the production of this book?  Today they are both imaginative and creative young adults.  Our daughter is a professional graphic artist, and when she was going through college she worked with the local parks and recreation program, where her duties included preparing craft projects for the young children.  As for our son, he too is creative, with a passion for photography and married to an artistic young woman who is a true crafter at heart.
My Grandma Hilda passed on before our children were born. She made the Christmas ornament pictured at the beginning of this segment. Each year we lovingly hang it on our Christmas tree.  It was fashioned from an egg carton, glue, glitter and bangles.  Unfortunately, I don’t have instructions explaining how to make it, but if you have a true crafter’s spirit, I think you can figure it out.
          Enjoy!

Bobbi Ann Johnson Holmes