Archives for February 17, 2015

Belinda’s Book Nook: Book Giveaway and My Top Ten Book Related Problems I Have

toptentuesday1Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. Every week they post a new topic/top ten list and invite everyone to share their own answers.

At the bottom of this list I have included information about my first book giveaway.

The Top Ten Book Related Problems I Have:

  1. Buckling Bookshelves – Too many books, no place to put them. I even set up a space in my craft room to put books and now they are outgrowing that shelf. Can I get a collective sigh? hmmm…
  2. Book piles – All around my house I have little piles of books. I start reading some or pull a few I plan to read and then they end up left at that spot in a pile.
  3. Reading all that I have purchased/Too Many book hauls – Growing up, I used the library most of the time and as I began making my own money, I started buying more than one book at a time. It’s not like the books are going to sell out but let’s face it, a box delivered to my doorstep full of books is the happiest time ever for me.  But I read entirely too slow for my book buying habits.
  4. GoodReads TBR overload – I love GoodReads and always tell people about it. It’s a great idea – a place to share your love of books with others, join online bookclubs, find great reads by reading the reviews, and the best part, a place to keep track of what I have read and what I would like to read. Well I didn’t have a system when I started using Goodreads so I would put all books I was interested in on my TBR and the list grew. I now have learned that you really need to filter yourself and don’t let impulse push you to add books that you most likely won’t read. So now I have started to rethink and am slowly going through the list to remove books I really won’t read. This will take away some of the guilt from my TBR. –
  5. Stingy with sharing – I hate to admit it but I am one of those people who doesn’t like to lend out books. I like to think I am nice and that I like sharing. But I fear that my book won’t come back to me in the condition they are lent out or that I will have to manage the return of my book.  So I rarely lend out my books.
  6. Nightstand tower – I can’t help it but I always have a “tower” of books on my nightstand.  Sometimes, ridiculously high and close to toppling over. Many I “intend” on reading and only a few that I actually might be reading.  In contrast to my neat husband that has only one book at a time on his nightstand, I am a mess. It’s something about having my books close to me, that is a comfort before I go to bed. I know that doesn’t make sense. Don’t judge.
  7. Cover Love – I am so guilty of falling in love with a cover and buying it based more on it’s beauty than it’s content. What? I know, what am I thinking? But let’s face it, the covers of books help sell them. They catch your eye and then you read the back. I also have started collecting Susanna Kearsley books because not only the covers are amazing, but the spines match and are so lovely. I can imagine them all on my shelf one day.
  8. Hard to say goodbye – Purging old books by donating them is difficult for me even after I have read the book and know I will not be reading it again.
  9. Goodwill Binging – I love going to used bookstores and finding new and old books at great prices. The problem is it is a total binge. I buy way too many.  I justify the low prices into reason to buy many.
  10. Guilty reading – Sometimes there are books that “everyone” says you absolutely have to read. Somehow I convince myself they are right and sometimes I even go as far as buying the book only to find I never read them or I do and don’t care for them at all. The beauty of reading is the variety and I am also feeling more and more comfortable with my choices. I enjoy pleasure reads that I don’t learn anything, I just go for the ride. I also enjoy books that I learn while I go for the ride, particularly historical fictions and non-fictions. But I don’t and won’t just read one genre of books. I want the variety and know I don’t have to answer to anyone.

That’s my list. What’s your book related problems?

Book Give away!!!

fairest-3I also wanted to share with you an opportunity to win a book on my first book giveaway.

I pre-ordered the latest book from Marissa Meyer, called “Fairest” which is a more in-depth look at Queen Levana from the Lunar Chronicles.  I have an extra copy to give away to a lucky winner. I have to limit this to the US only since mailing elsewhere will be a bit too much.

fairest2So if you would like a chance to win, leave a comment below and let me know who your two favorite characters is in The Lunar Chronicles (Cinder, Scarlet, or Cress)? I will put all the entries in a bowl and let my son pick a random name out. On Tuesday, February 24th  I will announce a winner and then we can exchange mailing info so I can mail you this beautiful book.

Happy Reading!

Belinda

Project Life: week two

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Here is my week two project life layouts. I filled it with the happenings for the week which was a lot of food, books, and cold weather.

week2aOne thing the boys like is Taco Tuesday which we do twice a month. So it’s really special to them. They like that they can assemble their tacos themselves. Apollo loves the meat, salsa and romaine lettuce on his and Nicholas likes only cheese and ketchup on his. I have never tried ketchup but I know Nicholas loves it. I even captured some homework help from Leao in one of the photos. The photo of the books were the workbooks I used with the boys when I kept them home due to the bitter cold. They thought they would be home and play and I told them school is still in but I believe it was too cold to go so I kept them home for a little homeschooling.  Leao thinks half way through the day, the boys were missing school!

week2bI thought it would be cool to include a picture from my pick up routine. I always go at least 40 minutes early, find a great spot and read until I have to get out and get them. It guarantees me at least 30 minutes of reading each day.  I love it and it helps me relax before their burst of energy enters the car.

week2eWell I will be back next week with week 3. I kept the design simple for this week and guess what? I’m ok with that.

I hope you are all finding ways to keep your precious memories. I like the ease of pocket scrapbooking to capture ours.

Happy memory keeping!

Belinda

Silhouette Sunday #15 – Making Valentines

 

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I haven’t been posting much about my Silhouette on my blog because life seems to keep me busy but I grabbed the opportunity to play and bought some great files from SVGCuts. So I’m posting my Silhouette Sunday on Monday. Don’t hate.

I received the new Cameo for Christmas so I am anxious to cut large files. So I bought some great box cards I could use to make some Valentine’s.

feb15_2015cI think I could use this one for birthdays. My girlfriends would love this. It ‘s so cute in person. I cut out plastic to put inside the frames to make them really look like glasses.

feb15_2015dAfter I assembled all of the components then I glued it all together. A great tip I received from my friend Cathy is to turn off the cut for the dashed lines intended for folding and use the bone folder and hand-score them yourself. This way, you can insure it won’t rip from overuse.

feb15_2015eI just realized while typing this I forgot the black buckle that is suppose to go over the gray rectangle! Oops.

feb15_2015fThe back has a large place to leave a sentiment. I think I might even embellish it with some stamps.

ignite1This second card I made for Leao for Valentine’s day. It is so stinkin’ cute. I used a textured paper to make the matches and they are so cute.

ignite2It even cut out little tips for the matches to make them look real. I really like the cut files from SVGCuts.

ignite3Here is the fully assembled card. It’s so creative. I will definitely be making this one again.

ignite4On the back it had a nice size area for writing sweet sentiments. I didn’t fill it out before photographing because that is for my Valentine’s eyes only!!!

ignite5I added purls instead of the paper for the dots for more bling and used a sparkly yellow paper for the light parts of the flame for a cool affect.

He loved it and now has it on desk in his home office.

I hope you are having fun with your Silhouette. I will try to get back into posting more because my love for that machine is still strong.

Happy crafting!

Belinda

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