Category: Inspiration

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The Art of Enameling: Techniques, Projects, Inspiration

With this lavish introduction to the centuries-old art of enameling, even beginners can effortlessly create imaginative designs. Written with clarity and passion by a leader in the field, it covers all the popular techniques, the fundamentals of setting up a studio, and 14 fabulous projects. The various styles range from traditional cloisonné, champlevé, and plique-à-jour to experimental techniques such as firing enamel onto mesh forms. Even more creative possibilities await in the firing: use copper oxide to create cool color variations or try raku firing for unique effects. All the well-photographed projects, from a vibrantly toned flower ring to an elegant set of buttons with a delicate leaf pattern, encourage novices to use their skills and imagination.

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Rachel Ashwell’s Shabby Chic Inspirations

Welcome to Rachel Ashwell’s world: as beautiful as it is comfortable, as inspiring and spontaneous as it is practical and personal. In this book, Rachel shares her inspirations and her humour, celebrates the charm of the old and battered, and demonstrates time and again how interiors touched with Rachel’s magic transcend fashionable trends, extending a calming, personal welcome to all. In this new book, Rachel takes us to homes in the US – from a shabby shack on Malibu’s oceanfront to a ranch on the wide, open spaces of Texas and to the wooded hills of the Catskills – and in the UK – from a houseboat and a city townhouse to a centuries-old manor house deep in the country, and Rachel’s own London apartment. All the houses, regardless of their size or location, embody Rachel’s ethos and share the same qualities: a respect for beautiful objects from the past, an extravagant sense of comfort, an eye for the unexpected and that signature touch of bling. All are inviting, artistic, soulful, inspired and inspiring, beautiful, gentle, considered and, in their own way, perfectly imperfect.

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Cracking Your Church’s Culture Code: Seven Keys to Unleashing Vision and Inspiration

Strategies for transforming a toxic church culture

Why is it that the best strategic plans and good leadership often are not able to move churches in the desired direction? Sam Chand contends that toxic culture is to blame. Quite often, leaders don’t sense the toxicity, but it poisons their relationships and derails their vision. This work describes five easily identifiable categories of church culture (inspiring-accepting-stagnant-discouraging-toxic), with diagnostic descriptions in the book and a separate online assessment tool. The reader will be able to identify strengths and needs of their church’s culture, and then apply practical strategies (communication, control and authority, selection and placement of personnel, etc.) to make their church’s culture more positive. Discusses how to diagnose the state of a church’s cultureReveals what it takes to put in place effective strategies for creating a more positive church cultureAuthor served on the board of EQUIP (Dr. John Maxwell’s Ministry), equipping five million leaders world-wide.

This important book offers a clear guide for understanding and recreating a healthy church culture.

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Inspiration Dior

“Inspirations Dior” offers an exclusive and comprehensive look into one of the world’s most successful names in fashion. Showcasing works of art, archival photographs of the gowns and of fashion shows, unpublished images specifically taken for this catalogue by Laziz Hamani, and sketches, this elaborately illustrated book also contains text from an impressive array of respected art and fashion experts – including Florence Muller, Edmonde Charles-Roux, Jacques Ranc, Vitali Michin, Irina Antonova, Bernard Arnault, John Galliano, Daniel Alcouffe, Stephane Guegan, and Frederic Bourdellier. Moving from 1947 to the present day, this book defines the roots of Dior style, showcasing the distinctive lines, materials, and shapes that have been loved throughout the decades. The first section of the book, ‘Art and Fashion,’ introduces the many aspects that make Dior unique, highlighting the corollaries between art, painting in particular, with the designs. Tracing themes and sources of inspiration, the second part of the book “The Waltz of Time” reveals how elements from the past – the French eighteenth century (a particularly significant era for Dior), the Belle Epoque, Ancient Egypt, and more-have influenced the designs. Then, the global nature of Dior is explored, finding parallels with specific pieces in the art and culture of Spain, Russia, and Asia.

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Priceless Inspirations

On her hit television show ‘Tiny and Toya’, Antonia ‘Toya’ Carter seems to be living the good life: she has a beautiful home, good friends, and is pursuing her dreams in fashion design. But hers has been a life of peaks and valleys. Abandoned by her parents as a child, she was passed from family member to family member as her mother sank deeper into her drug addiction. Feeling unloved and unwelcomed, Toya fell into the arms of a 15-year-old rising musical star—Dwayne Michael Carter, known these days as the rapper ‘Lil Wayne’– and ended up pregnant at the tender age of 14.

In Priceless Inspiration, Toya takes the reader through the pain of being a teenage mother struggling to raise a child while still a child herself—without the benefit of the guidance of her own mother. Using the words she recorded in the journals she kept as a teen—and the wisdom she has gained in the years since—Toya bares her own struggles, using them to offer young women real and heartfelt understanding and advice about sex, relationships, motherhood and growing up.

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Mark Making: Fresh Inspiration for Quilt and Fiber Artists

Discover how the simplest marks–stitched lines and knots–can be used to create graphically compelling art! In Mark Making, art quilter Helen Parrott, known for her strongly graphic and landscape-inspired textile art, demonstrates how marks can be used in textile work and explains the crossover between stitch and drawing.

This fascinating book is divided into the different types of marks or lines that can be made on fabric varying in complexity, arrangement, and ‘feel’.

You’ll also learn techniques in both hand and machine stitching, which offer limitless potential for surface effect. Mark Making aims to help you take inspiration from the world around you to create marks, develop your own mark-making skills, and strengthen your personal creative voice! This is an essential book for any textile artist.

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Return: Daily Inspiration for the Days of Awe

In her new book, Return: Daily Inspiration for the Days of Awe, Dr. Erica Brown, one of today’s most sought-after Jewish educators, leads the reader on a transformative journey spanning the ten days between Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur. In her distinct interdisciplinary approach, Brown presents an original guide to teshuva that is both highly scholarly and deeply personal. For each day, the book offers a biblical- or rabbinic-themed essay, passages for textual study, and a practical exercise of self-improvement. The result is an engaging dialogue with both text and self, empowering Jews of all backgrounds to connect to the Days of Awe.

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50 Days of Hope: Daily Inspiration for Your Journey through Cancer

You’ve just heard a diagnosis that shakes your world: It’s cancer. And what you long for most is the hope that everything will be okay. You are not alone. As a longtime cancer survivor, Lynn Eib knows firsthand how that feels. And as a patient advocate helping thousands facing cancer, she also knows what gives people hope. In 50 Days of Hope, Lynn shares amazing, true stories of those who have been in your shoes and discovered that when God and cancer meet, hope is never far away. Whether you’re a cancer patient or walking with a loved one on a cancer journey, you’ll find 50 Days of Hope packed with the daily dose of encouragement you need.