Have you seen Vickie Howell’s new book yet?

It came out in May and it is called Craft CorpsCelebrating the Creative Community One Story at a Time by Vickie Howell. Great title, nice book cover and with a cool logotype – plus I’m in it! It’s very exciting of course.

Here’s the blurb about the book:

Bestselling author and stitchery dynamo Vickie Howell puts down her needles to pay tribute to her fellow crafters! Her extraordinary new collection features interviews with 30 successful professional craftspeople as well as profiles of a diverse group of approximately 60 amateurs. And every interview includes a photo of the subject, plus a peek at their work or their studio.

Craft corps
Yummy reading!

It is jam packed (288 pages) with interviews and profiles of interesting crafty people making money from their creations!

The longer interviews that Vickie Howell has made are fun reads. She has talked to 30 influential artists, designers and business people, also known as our own “crafty celebrity.” There are favorite crafters most of us know something about, like fabric and pattern designer Amy Butler and crafty chica Kathy Cano-Murillo for example. And some I’ve never heard of but will now know more about.

I'm next to Claudine Hellmuth!

I got the book in my mailbox last week and could finally see that my own profile was indeed printed in the book (just as promised by the publisher Lark), just below Odette and next to the lovely collage artist Claudine Hellmuth on page 240! It is just a small blurb with a crafty story that I submitted, but it is still fun to be published. Actually; fun fun fun!

Crafts to live by (Photo by iHanna - Hanna Andersson)

The book includes little blurbs like the one above about me for 60 Everyday Crafters telling the tales of making a creative life real. They are called “extraordinary people” by Vickie and “amateurs” in the Amazon product description. I like Vickie’s description better! We are said to be living “the new American Dream”… I don’t know that that’s what we’re doing, but we sure have dreams, right? This is what Amazon writes:

A celebration of the great?and growing?crafting community by everyone?s favorite crafty grrrl: the fabulous VICKIE HOWELL

Bestselling author and stitchery dynamo Vickie Howell puts down her needles to pay tribute to her fellow crafters! Her extraordinary new collection features interviews with 30 successful professional craftspeople as well as profiles of a diverse group of approximately 60 amateurs. And every interview includes a photo of the subject, plus a peek at their work or their studio.

New book out (Photo by iHanna - Hanna Andersson)

This project – a true labor of love – also documents how social networking sites, groups like Stitch n Bitch, and alternative sales outlets such as Etsy have helped create a close community of crafters passionate about their work and each other.

I ♥ Jenny
I ♥ Jenny’s artful embroidery. Visit Jenny Hart.

I ♥ Traci!
I ♥ Traci Bautista’s very cool mixed media art projects too. So visit Traci Bautista too.

Right now I have only read through a few of the first profiles but I am enjoying the reading so far. And I’m looking forward to read more about embroiderer Jenny Hart and mixed media artist Traci Bautista that are in the book.

Join the Community

Get Craft Corps at Amazon, I think it will be a great summer read.

Also visit the Craft Corps Site where you can find more “everyday crafters” and register your own profile. I think that Vickie Howell’s site is impressive and her youtube channel is full of humor and knitting – and there you will also find her blog! Check it out.

Please help Vickie spread the word about her book by sharing the news with your own twitter followers… Thanks!