Book Giveaway - July 1-4 - Canada Only

Happy Canada Day!

For a change, I have a book giveaway on my other blog, Callista's Ramblings. It's part of a blog party but any Canadian can enter. It's only open for Canada Day, till 11:59 PM EST July 1, 2010 It's open July 1-4, 2010!

I'm giving away We Know What You're Thinking: What Canadians Think and Why by Darrell Bricker and John Wright of Ipsos Reid which I reviewed here. You can read the review by clicking the link.

GIVEAWAY CLOSED

The Great Camping Event - July 26 - Aug 6, 2010

I'm pleased to announce a great cross-blog event I'm holding called The Great Camping Event. On BOTH of my blogs Callista's Ramblings and SMS Book Reviews, I'll be featuring product reviews and giveaways (on Callista's Ramblings), book reviews and giveaways (on SMS Book Reviews) and camping posts and guest posts (on Callista's Ramblings and SMS Book Reviews.)

Stop by my two blogs during the two week period for everything camping. Okay well maybe not everything. I won't be camping with bears or wolves, I won't be camping in a handmade teepee or digging my own latrine. (outdoor toilet) So most of what I feature or talk about will be related to tenting or cabins in an area with mostly squirrels, bunnies and birds. We do cook outside, hike, put up tents, build gadgets, light campfires and learn basic tracking, exploring, animal and nature skills.

I would however love some guest posts from people who do a different kind of camping (see below.)

ATTN: Companies, PR and Bloggers
I'm looking for companies, publishers and PR groups who wish to donate products for review and/or giveaways and bloggers who are interested in guest posting about camping or camping books or reading books while camping. I will be testing out any products or book knowledge July 18-25 at Girl Guide Camp. I am a leader and can have the girls and adults help me test everything out. So you'll get many opinions for the "price" of one. I will also be featuring a list of sponsors during the entire event on Callista's Ramblings and SMS Book Reviews. You may want to check out my PR page and Review Policies on each blog for more information.

Spread the Word and Get Extra Giveaway Entries
Please help me get the word out. If you put the following button in your sidebar of your blog and come back and let me know in the comments here, I will add 5 entries into EVERY giveaway you enter during the event on either blog.

You can scoop the code from the sidebar or you can save it and upload it yourself.

Urban street art right up my alley

I like art that is clever.  On a recent trip to Powell's Books, I was highly amused by the miniature art in Slinkachu's book Little People in the City.  Slinkachu takes little figurines and creates scenes in the urban enviroment that are humorous and thought-provoking. 

His tiny installations have been in a number of European cities including London, Amsterdam, and Barcelona.  After photographing the models, Slinkachu leaves the installations on the streets for others to discover.

Slinkachu's urban art reminds me of another artist's work.  German artist Jan Vormann fills small gaps in walls with Legos, one of my favorite toys.  His work was spotted in New York City just a few months ago.  Other cities he has "repaired" include Tel Aviv,  St. Petersburg, and Quito.  A visual documentation of his Lego constructions can be found here. 

Do Nothing But Read Day - How did I not know about this???

Seriously, how did I NOT know about this? Did YOU know about this?

Do Nothing But Read Day is held twice a year, June 27 and December 19.

So that is what I'll be doing tomorrow as much as possible. I'll be reading.

I'll be reading The Cinderella Society by Kay Cassidy and reading the text in some of my cookbooks for an upcoming cookbook week. Perhaps something else, we'll see.

Will YOU be reading?

My Week

scenic drive to crater lake, oregon

. . . . . . . . . .

the deepest lake in the u.s. proved to be a wondrous sight indeed

stairs in the historic crater lake lodge

. . . . . . . . . .

me, snapped by my 7 year-old

central valley, california

yosemite, the park that ansel adams loved

. . . . . . . . . .

mirror lake

my new drawing

The Book About Tony Chestnut by Laurie Monopoli (The Learning Station)

Stars: ****

Learning Station (2010)
Picture Book
48 pages
3-7 years old

Summary: Most North Americans know the song "Tony Chestnut." Well this is a book version. It comes with a CD with the song and different versions of the story being read aloud. In this story, Tony Chestnut is trying to help his sister Eileen with her friendship troubles. 

About the Song
For anyone who isn't familiar with the song, the song goes as follows:

Tony Chestnut knows I love you. Tony knows. Tony knows.
Tony Chestnut knows I love you. That's what Tony knows.

Actions:
For the actions, you touch the part of the body indicated by the words.

TO-NY (Toe-Knee)
CHEST-NUT (Chest-Head(your nut))
KNOWS - nose
I - eye
LOVE - heart
YOU - point to someone else

No one knows who created the original version but in 1997, The Learning Station released an extended version featuring the characters of Eileen, Neil, Pat, Bob, Russell and Skip which has become very well-known and is sung by kids all around the world.  Lyrics to Learning Station version.

About the Story
I think the story is really cute and a great reminder of how to be a good friend. It's a true friendship story and as a Girl Guide leader, I could easily use the story during a friendship theme. It would be perfect for Kindergarten. My girls (ages 3 and 4) love the book and although they normally aren't fans of books on CD, they love to "read" along with the CD. Tony is a great brother and friend to his sister Eileen when she is sad about leaving her friends.

The Book About Tony Chestnut has already received 4 outstanding 2010 awards including, Disney’s iParenting Media Award of Excellence, Creative Child Magazine MEDIA OF THE YEAR, Dr. Toy’s Best Vacation Products for Children, and Tillywig TOP FUN. 

About the CD
The accompanying CD has 5 tracks. You can hear the story read aloud by British storyteller Jeanne Bowyer with or without page turn sound, or hear the story read by Tony Chestnut himself with page turn sound. You can listen to the Tony Chestnut song and you can even hear some thought-provoking questions for interactive discussion. These are tailored to the 3-7 age group and could be used with your own children, as part of a kid book group or in a school setting.


About the Learning Station
The Learning Station is a multi-award winning children's recording and performing company. The trio comprised of Don Monopoli, Laurie Monopoli and Jan Hrkach has combined backgrounds and degrees in early childhood education, child development and music.

Links of Interest: The Learning Station, Tony Chestnut, Tony Chestnut Training Handout (PDF),

Other Reviews: NONE YET

Buy The Book About Tony Chestnut at amazon.com and support SMS Book Reviews

* I received a copy of this book for review. All reviews are honest and are not affected in any way by how I acquired the book.

Michelle Ramin's art auction

Portland artist Michelle Ramin just sent me an email announcing an art auction extravaganza.  Michelle is headed to San Francisco Art Institute this summer for grad school, and she needs our help getting there!  To help pay for tuition and living expenses, Michelle is auctioning off one original work a day for the next four weeks.  Some of the pieces up for bidding include the works shown in this post.  To view the complete gallery of works for auction, go here. 

I'm a huge fan of Michelle's art (read my interview with her). I attended the opening of her show in March where her mixed media portraits of friends and family were featured.  Below is one of her latest portraiture works.  I absolutely love the patterns and colors in this piece! On July 24, Michelle will be auctioning this art work, along with other larger pieces, at FalseFront in Portland.  If you're in the area, come by and show your support.  There's even talk of homemade ice cream! 

Tell Me a Story 3: Women of Wonder: Stories by Amy Friedman (Review and Opinion on Audio Books)

This week is Audiobook Week at Devourer of Books. I said I'd participate by sharing a audio book review. This has turned into more of a post on why audio books aren't for me.

Warning: I don't like audio books. I've listened to two in my entire life. So consider this an audiobook review from a non-audiobook reader.

Stars: ***

Stories: Amy Friedman
Music: Laura Hall
Part of a trilogy of kid's stories from Universal Press Syndicate


Summary: Legendary heroines and goddesses seek and struggle, win and lose, laugh and cry in magical stories and marvelous music from around the world.

Disclaimer: I did not finish this book. I normally wouldn't review a book I don't finish but since I didn't finish it because of me, and not because it was bad, I still wanted to tell my readers about it.

The only other audio books I've listened to was Heidi on an ipod. It was a free download and I really enjoyed the book but I had seen the movie and knew I liked the storyline at least.

When I was offered to review this audio book CD, I was going to say no as I don't listen to audio books but I liked that it was about heroines and goddesses and figured since it was children's stories, they would be short and I could handle it. So I said yes. That was quite some time ago and I just kept putting off listening to it and putting it off some more. I finally tried listening to it during the last readathon because I'm often busy with something else and can't read so I figured this would be a good idea. I forced myself to listen to one story and couldn't anymore.

Audio books just aren't for me. There was nothing wrong the story and Amy Friedman's voice was pleasant. I just find it really hard to imagine what it happening when someone else is telling the story. I was never fond of read-aloud stories unless I had a book to follow along with as well. I prefer to hold the story in my hand and read it at my own pace. That's one reason why I don't like audio books. I read fast. Really fast. Audio books sound like they are speaking like a snail to me. By the time they get the sentence out, I've forgotten what was being talked about.

This is a good story. Women of Wonder won the 2010 Audie for best original work. You can find out the name and synopsis of the stories on the CD at Myths and Tales.

Let  this be a lesson to me, no more audio books.

Links of Interest: Myths and Tales,

Other Reviews: NONE YET

Buy Tell Me a Story 3: Women of Wonder at amazon.com and support SMS Book Reviews

I've got mail

I received handmade cards from two of my readers this past week- one from overseas! I was so encouraged, not only by the kind words inside, but by the lovely art as well. 

Embroidering my art

I needed some twill tape earlier this week, so my daughters and I took a trip to the fabric store.  As I was getting 8 yards of twill tape measured, my youngest daughter was checking out the array of embroidery floss nearby. I could see her softly touching some of the brightly colored thread as if to say "I would choose this one."  So, after my twill tape was cut, I asked her if she wanted to help me pick out a few colors.  That few quickly became a dozen. 



In recent months, I have had an urge to use embroidery thread in my work, especially after seeing the works of this artist.  My embroidery floss stayed packed away until I printed out this design on fabric a few days ago.  

The design is based on my drawing "Pods."  I liked how the center of the design turned out and thought that a monogram would fit nicely in the space.  Instead of a person's initials, I decided to use "PDX," which is another name for Portland.  After cross stitching the letters, I accented some of the details in the work, which totaled over six hours of work. (I'm sure an expert embroiderer could've completed the task in a third of the time!)  I still have a few more hours of embroidery ahead of me to finish the piece, but I anticipate that the most challenging part of this project will be the framing.  The finished work will measure 8" x 8", and I'm thinking that I would like to make a frame for it.  Hmm, did I just say that?

Honest Scrap Award

I received the Honest Scrap award from Tribute Books!

As with most blog awards, no one knows who started it anymore and the rules keep changing. A google search showed this as the most common set of rules:

A) List 10 honest things about yourself—and make them interesting, even if you have to dig deep!
B) Pass the award on to 7 bloggers who you feel embody the spirit of the Honest Scrap and whose blogs you find brilliant in design or content.

10 Honest Things About Me (that you may not know)

1. I was run over by a school bus when I was 5 years old.
2. I'm Pagan.
3. I bought my own house at age 23.
4. I find spelling and grammar interesting and important and it REALLY bugs me when people spell things wrong or say them wrong or use improper grammar (well the basic grammar anyways.)
5. When I was a kid and a teen I wanted 8 kids. Not anymore.
6. I don't like carnival rides that go upside down or go too fast. I don't ride roller coasters.
7. I never went to college or university because of mental illness but I was going to pursue child psychology or child and youth worker.
8. Now I'd like to be a medical transcriptionist or something like that as I can work on a computer and I love filling in forms and typing things. I'm a fast typer.
9. I love playing Wii, especially Wii Fit Plus. I also like Rock Band, Mario Party 8 and Mario Kart.
10. I'm a Girl Guide Leader.

Okay now to the 7 bloggers I'm passing this on to:

1. The Book Bug
2. The Sweet Bonjour
3. Once Upon a Bookcase
4. Peace, Love and Reviews
5. The Window Seat Reader
6. Book Snob Wannabe
7. Niki's Book Reviews

Fabric tape now in shop

I'm having so much fun with this fabric tape idea.  Yesterday, I just bought a gizmo off of Craigslist that can put adhesive on the back of my printed fabrics, and it can take sheets up to 9" wide!  So now I'm able to create larger pieces of fabric tape. This gives some versatility to how the fabric tape can be used.  In addition to decorating gift boxes and letters, you can use it to create custom bookmarks.  Just place a strip of the tape on cardstock and trim the top and bottom edge with pinking shears.  If you can think of other ideas, I'd love to hear them!

I am currently selling the fabric tape in my Etsy shop.   I can only make a few at a time, though, since I prepare and print the fabric in my home studio.  So, there may be a wait until the next batch is complete. 



Just so that you know, I will also be closing my Etsy shop for a couple of weeks starting Tuesday.  I'll be going on a road trip.  One of my stops will be Sisters, Oregon.  I'm sharing a booth with a dear friend of mine at the Sisters Summer Faire.  If you happen to be in the area on Saturday, July 3, please stop by and say hello!

Book Blogger Hop: June 18

Well I haven't participated in the Book Blogger Hop in a while because I keep forgetting but

Welcome

to all visitors.

This blog has been around for 7 years, regularily updated for 3 years but I"ve been reviewing books for 9. I mostly review nonfiction ( for all ages) and children's books (from picture books to YA.)

I created the Delicious Book Blog Directory because I was unhappy with most of the other directories and wanted a more comprehensive one (no offense to those who created the others!)

I just created a facebook page for my blog and I'm trying to up my numbers for that and Google Friend Connect so if you follow me on GFC or like me on facebook, leave me a comment on here or on the facebook page and I'll follow/like you back.

making your own fabric tape

I was thrilled to discover last week a wonderful new blog called Annekata.  The first post I read was a tutorial on how to make your own fabric tape, and I knew that was the first thing I wanted to do with my printed fabric.



The steps are quite simple.  (And I'm sure you could even improvise with double-sided tape, but I wanted to create a more permanent bond between the fabric and tape.)

I bought some packaging tape and laid a strip of it on some wax paper.  Since the tape had some gloss on the non-sticky side, I used sand paper to prepare the surface for glue.  (If you skip this step, you'll find that the fabric will just peel right off of the tape.  Believe me, I tried it!)



I applied some Tacky Glue on the tape (the bottle comes with a handy brush), and then laid a strip of fabric onto the tape. 



I smoothed out the fabric with my fingers.



Once the glue dried, I used a rotary cutter to cut out the fabric tape and presto!  My very own custom fabric tape.

Printing your own designs on fabric

Lately, I've been determined to print my own designs on fabric.  After browsing some diy blogs, I finally ran a test run yesterday on my pigment inkjet printer.  It was surprisingly easy and so much fun! The bulk of the work is actually designing the fabric. I didn't want to spend too much time on a new design before seeing the print quality, so I used one of my drawings from this year as the basis of my fabric design.

I formatted the design to fill an 8.5" x 11" space.  Then I gathered some basic supplies to prep the fabric for printing. 

I used two different types of fabric.  One was a muslin and the other a cotton canvas.  I also experimented with using different backings for the fabric while printing, since fabric alone doesn't have the rigidity to run through a printer.  For the first test run, I ironed the muslin onto freezer paper cut to the same size (shiny side to the fabric).  With the cotton canvas, I decided to use cardstock as a backing.  I didn't adhere the fabric to the cardstock.  I just held the two pieces together as they were being fed into the printer.

Both fabrics and backings seemed to work fine in the printer.  I had to refeed the fabric several times, but eventually it took.



The print quality is not as vibrant as the original design (as expected), but the details on the printed fabric were impressive! And I didn't waste any time in using the new printed fabric.  See what I made in tomorrow's post!

Delicious Book Blog Directory

There are a few things I was supposed to work on during Bloggiesta that I wasn't able to because of camp but I've been working on them now and one is ready.

Introducing... The Delicious Book Blog Directory.

Why another directory?
There are other book blog directories but most of them have only some blogs or certain kinds of blogs or aren't kept updated or you have to submit your blog to it.

How many blogs do you have?
I've been bookmarking every book blog I come across for quite some time now and I have 829 blogs. As I find more I will add them. I'd like to make them accurate though and I couldn't find certain information on some blogs (like location or common genres or whatever.)

Added: Just wanted to say that just because you aren't in the directory yet doesn't mean I've never been to your blog or even that you aren't in my Google Reader. I had lots of blogs I read regularly before I decided to do this directory and they just never made it into the directory yet.

What do you consider a book blog?
Book related posts at least 50% of the time. It doesn't have to be reviews but the majority of them are. Must be a blog and not a website. If you aren't sure, submit anyways.

How do I get added?
First see if your blog is in the directory by searching for your blog name. Then fill in the google form here to add your blog or make changes. If your blog url changes or you want to change anything else in the future, just fill out the form again.

I have no idea how quickly I will make additions or changes as I have my own blogs to keep up as well.That's why I'm using a google form, because it will save the information in the order it comes in so when I'm ready to work on the directory, I can just get started.

Inactive Blogs
If a book blog hasn't been updated in 6 months or more, I'll mark it as Inactive and if it goes a year without entries, I'll take it out of the directory although it can always go back in if the blogger comes back to it. There may be some inactive blogs not marked as such because I haven't visited in a while and didn't notice it's inactive (some of those bookmarks were done years ago.) If you notice an inactive one, please let me know.

Twitter
I've also been adding book bloggers on twitter to my twitter book listing at http://www.twitter.com/callista83/books so add your twitter id to your listing to be added there.

Spread the Word
Please spread the word about this directory so those who aren't on it can get on it and those who are, can update their information. Link to this post, tweet about it, stumble it and tell your friends. You can also add the buttons provided to your blog if you so choose but it's not a requirement.

I have four buttons for you to choose from but I'm having trouble with the textarea html to allow you to copy the html. If you want to save and upload it yourself though, you can do that right now.




 

If you know how to do basic html, here are the links to the above graphics:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/1003/callista83/keep/delbookblog1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/1003/callista83/keep/delbookblog3.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/1003/callista83/keep/delbookblog2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/1003/callista83/keep/delbookblog4.jpg

Comments?
Please share what you think of this. Is this a good idea for directory? Do you see yourself using it to find new book blogs? Any suggestions for improvement?

Got Books? Event - July 23-24

Got Books? is a new event from Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers and There's a Book.

It's like Blogmania and Blogfest but for Book Bloggers only.

If you are a book blogger and you want to host a giveaway during July 23-24 as a celebration of book blogging, head on over to find out the details and sign up.

This blog will be participating and the giveaway will be open internationally!

I will be away from July 18-24 but the post will go up automatically.

Tahoe's heavenly light

The way the sun falls on Lake Tahoe is as breathtaking as the altitude.  Located a mile above sea level, Tahoe's alpine terrain lends itself to wondrous treks and picturesque photos.  These are just a few from my weekend getaway. 

a table set at Vikingsholm, a 1929 "summer home" mansion on Lake Tahoe's Emerald Bay

the house- inside and out- is modeled after early Scandinavian design

dancing aspen trees

a bride and groom exchanging vows in the evening sun

BBAW: Book Blogger Appreciation Week

It's that time of year again! Here is some information followed by some posts I'm proud of that I"m hoping will put me in the running for Best Nonfiction Blog.

From: http://bookbloggerappreciationweek.com

What:  Book Blogger Appreciation Week is a week long festival celebrating the community of book bloggers and their contribution to preserving a culture of literacy through book reviews and recommendations, reading reflections, and general bookish chat.  BBAW also includes an awards component.  For more information on the BBAW 2010 Awards and how to participate, please visit the BBAW 2010 Awards Blog.  BBAW events include daily blogging topics, blogger interview swaps, special guest posts, and so much more!
Who:  If you self-identify as a book blogger, this festival is for you!  We have been excited to welcome participants from all over the world for past BBAWs.
When:  September 13-17, 2010.
Where: Right here at the Book Blogger Appreciation Week blog.  You can participate in the comfort of your own home and the convenience of your own time zone. 
Why:  Because book blogging is a fun and time intensive hobby that has created communities around books and played a crucial role in the continuing evolution of what books mean in our society.
How Can I Participate?
You can participate by filling out the registration form for BBAW 2010. Subscribe to the blog’s feed and follow us on Twitter to keep up with all of the developments!

So as I said I entered my blog for the Best Nonfiction Blog. The process is different this year and by submitting my blog, I'm just getting it in the running. It's still up to others to determine how far I make it.

So I have to share 5 posts that I think show me as the Best Nonfiction blogger.

1. Writing for the Web by Crawford Killian & Do The Web Write by Dan Furman 
2. The Man's Book by Thomas Fink
3. The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller
4. Burn! The Life Story of Fire by Tanya Lloyd Kyi
5. Let's Discuss Nonfiction