Learn how to make a Californian home landscape more attractive and functional with California Home Landscaping, 4th Edition. This must-have resource is an updated edition of Creative Homeowner's award-winning best seller on landscaping California-style. The 48 featured landscape designs are created by professionals from the region and use more than 200 plants that thrive in California's climate. Detailed instructions for projects, such as paths, patios, ponds, and arbors, are also included...

Create an eye-catching outdoor oasis with this no-nonsense guide to landscapingAs families spend more time at home, they're expanding their living space to their yards, decks, and patios. When you're ready to upgrade the look of your landscape, Landscaping For Dummies offers advice on installing fences and walkways, choosing hardy plants and trees, and enhancing natural habitats for the critters and creatures lurking in your neighborhood. You'll find out h...

Learn to create amazing paintings with this complete acrylic painting course featuring expert tips, step-by-step exercises, and clear demonstrationsThis guide is packed with the best of Lee Hammond's lessons and tips on working with acrylics, including more than 80 step-by-step exercises and demonstrations that will have you creating amazing paintings in no time flat.With just seven to nine pigments, you can paint anything. You'll learn how to add layers an...

Painting pretty, prized flowers is easier than you think!Using an uncomplicated palette and simple techniques, Mary Backer shares the secrets behind her prize-winning watercolor flowers. From first strokes to final touches, you'll learn everything you need to know to paint brilliant orange poppies, plump peonies, graceful lotus blossoms, classic roses and other garden favorites.Features:• an exciting variety of flowers and compositions, from individual flow...

Discover the simple beauty of adding natural style to a space!Not everyone has a garden—but with only a handful of materials and a little bit of time, everyone can bring the beauty of nature into their home. Plant Craft features projects inspired by the natural world and made out of live plants, cut flowers, foraged branches, and more. You’ll learn how to create a colorful floral mural, an elegant table centerpiece, a serene underwater sculpture, a whimsic...

A must-have resource for graphite and charcoal artists, this guide offers step-by-step instruction on drawing key textures found in any illustration.Accurately rendering surfaces and textures is one of the most challenging aspects of working with graphite pencil and charcoal. 101 Textures in Graphite & Charcoal gives artists essential techniques for capturing a wide variety of surfaces, including sand, water, metals, foliage, wood, fabrics, stone, grass, ha...

Learn how to paint in four different media! Taking the first steps to learn how to paint can be a challenge, especially when beginning artists are unsure which medium best suits them. With this book, aspiring artists will discover the qualities and benefits of four painting media-acrylic, oil, pastel, and watercolor-making it easier for them to begin their artistic journey. After an in-depth introduction to the tools and materials needed for each medium, five accomplished artists guide rea...

With step-by-step projects that are designed to help sharpen artists' skills and heighten their confidence, this book demonstrates simple techniques for rendering the textures of everyday objects, such as metal, wood, plastic, hair, fur, feathers, and more. This 64-page book simplifies the process with easy-to-understand instructions and comprehensive illustrations.

The author of The Natural Shade Garden offers a comprehensive new guide to climate-conscious gardening—beautifully illustrated with 400 photos.There is a new generation of gardeners who are planting gardens not only for their visual beauty but also for their ability to reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. In The New Shade Garden, Ken Druse provides expert advice on creating a shade garden with an emphasis on the adjustments necessary for our ch...

The ultimate guide to the art of cleaning, this reference is packed with professional secrets for getting maximum results through minimum results through minimum effort. Discover how to save time, money, and elbow grease on every cleaning problem, as well as how to prevent housework with surprising tricks of the trade. From aluminum siding to zoom lenses, this alphabetical index covers every job, big and small.

With easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions, veteran horticulture teacher Miranda Smith provides a complete reference showing every step for cultivating new plants—whether from seed or cuttings or with techniques such as layering, grafting, and budding.Propagating new plants from existing ones is not only sustainable but also rewarding for gardeners of all skill levels. The Plant Propagator’s Bible offers a solid and complete, go-to ref...

A step-by-step, full-color VISUAL guide to the art of jewelry makingA 2006 study found that beading and jewelry making is the nation’s sixth most popular craft. This guide shows readers how to do everything from basic bead stringing to wire wrapping, all in the series’ easy-to-follow, full-color format. The book includes 20 detailed patterns for making earrings, necklaces, bracelets, and more.