Review: Everything Alice - The Wonderland book of makes by Hannah Read Baldrey & Christine Leech

Lost in a creative land of designing an Easter bonnet for my children, I began to realise the beauty of art and craft. Especially in this day and age when after finishing a piece you can upload your finished piece to the Internet for admiration and constructive criticism. It is so rewarding......

I gleaned so much pleasure from producing something novel and that in my mind was not only a beautiful piece of art but served as something educational for my children that I wanted to complete more projects that would bring books to life. My Humpty Dumpty Easter bonnet (above) was a lovely way to bring the character to life for my three year old, and many characteristics I gave to him were ones which I imagined of Moonface from Enid Blyton's 'The Faraway Tree.'

I began to browse the Internet for some books to give me some creative inspiration. I had also just finished making Alice in Wonderland cupcakes which I will do a separate blog post about but when I laid my eyes on the 'Everything Alice' book I knew that I had to have this book.

The authors of the book are people after my own heart and what they have achieved in writing this book is amazing! Their creativity is endless and this shows in the wide variation of projects in the book.

I have many craft books, but usually I use them as reference, this book was on a different level. It was so delightful to look at that I spent a happy half an hour with my three year old looking at all the interesting and inspiring pages and then another two hours browsing the book myself.

The first few pages offer an intriguing look at the lives of the authors and what prompted them to write the book. The pages are light-hearted and yet contain enough enthusiasm in the words to prompt you to want to try the many enchanted projects that have been created by the authors. And that is in fact what I will be doing over the coming months; recreating many of the projects from the book.

I loved the fascinating photography in the book, and I adored the Alice in Wonderland quotes and illustrations dispersed throughout the book. But my favourite part of the book has to be the wild variation of projects, each do-able and very appealing. Creations that would look fantastic in any book-lovers home!

I have photographed a few wonderful pages for you to get a feel for the book:
The Red Velvet Cupcakes were something quirky and new to me, and that's what I love about this book; a constant source of new ideas.
I've tried my hand at many crafts but I'm ashamed to say I've done hardly any sewing, so I think it's great that the authors of this book don't expect you to have a knowledge of the crafts and break down each craft with easy to follow photograph step-by-steps as well as easy to follow written instructions.

And if these adorable projects don't make you want to get in to sewing, I don't know what will! Amazingly cute!
So much thought has been put in to providing a variation of crafts; you have cake decorating, egg decorating, sewing, baking, jewellery-making, candle-making etc. I feel rather like the Mad Hatter as I could ramble on about this fantastic book for some time.
I have gained so much from this book. I feel that this book has given me enough inspiration to turn Alice in Wonderland in to a book that you are able to touch, taste and see! Not many books can boast that! And if that isn't enough there is a whole section of links and addresses at the back of the book where you can have more Alice in Wonderland fun, from museums, tours and craft suppliers. This book is quite simply everything you could want from a book and more.

Over the coming months you will see me complete projects from this wonderful book, but in the meantime if you want more info you can go to www.quadrille.co.uk or if you want to grab your own copy then you can head over to www.amazon.co.uk