THIS BELONGS TO ME

Snazzy! Funky! Cool stuff, not boring! Somehow the vocabulary seems a little dated, but the idea is fairly neat: making stencils, collages and other items to personalize backpacks, tabletops, jeans and even your skin (jagua or henna tattoos).

There are 14 projects divided into three sections: Clothes, Accessories and Room, as in your bedroom. While gender is not mentioned, the overall feel is girls-only, but most of these crafts could certainly be enjoyed by decorative-minded young dudes. For each project, there is a list of supplies and caveats (“ask an adult to help if you are not used to ironing”). Instructions are clear and straightforward, although possibly not detailed enough for readers who might never have used fabric paint before. Each project is preceded by a large double-page spread for practice, with an outline image of jeans, backpack, tabletop or other item to test ideas upon. The images used are very simple and meant to encourage any young designer to try a hand at appliquéing a T-shirt or making a polymer-clay doughnut to add to headphones. A glossary of terms is included, although some of the terms and their definitions have a definite British slant. A list of web sources would have been most useful. All in all, nifty stuff for the artistically inclined. (Nonfiction. 9-14)