Hobbies & Crafts 2003

The hottest thing they found is an entirely new craft in itself called altered books. It's a cross between scrapbooking and collage, plus recycling (the books used as 'canvases' are throwaway quality before being altered) and old-fashioned artistic license. There's no limit to the supplies you can use, and the result is one of a kind, every time, with no rules on how to get there. Jan Mollet-Evans, Suzanne McNeill and Beth Cote gave Carol a lesson on what altered books are; click the video at the right to learn more about altered books from the show.

Entrants this year were asked to make leather pillows. Winners were (from top to bottom) Rhonda L. Knauf for "A Tribute to Helen Keller," embroidered with an entire poem; Alba Monros for her Dream Pillow & Journal, which unlaces at the bottom to reveal space inside to store a dream journal; and Kristin Detrick for her Gothic Mona Lisa.