No matter what yo have heard before, size does matter, especially when it comes to the number of craft projects in a craft book, and Mark Montano’s book The Big Ass Book of Crafts 2 is packed full of craft projects, 150 plus. Other than volume, the other aspects of this book that caught my attention was the variety and accessibility of the projects. As far as variety goes, well, it’s all here, everything from jewelry to shrines. The projects are just never ending, and for me at least, I found myself thinking of more projects that were variations on these.

When I talk about accessibility, I am talking about two areas: materials and skills. All the projects are made with materials you can find anywhere, many items just around the house. For example, there’s a whole section on making things with card board. One project, the Astro Bright Candle Tower, also incorporates pages from an old phone book. So you have inexpensive materials, many of which are recycled materials. Besides the fact that you won’t go broke making any of the projects, you also don’t have to be a craft genius to handle the tasks required, and in fact, I felt many of these could be made by or with children. I could see this as a go-to book on a rainy day. Pull your children away from the video games and have some fun for a change.

My only comment against this book is that it is very quirky as far as some of the crazy craft projects inside, so all 150+ projects may not appeal to every single reader, but that would be a tall order.