4th Day of Christmas

On the Fourth Day of Christmas, my True Love gave to me . . .


Free Gift Wrap on All Purchases!


12 DAYS of Christmas Spirit!  Celebrate these last few days, and gather last-minute gifts, by using coupon code:   3rdDay to save 14% on all orders + TODAY, on the 4th Day of Christmas, all orders will receive Free Gift Wrap and a Free Laminated Bookmark with order (my choice of colors).


Today's the Fourth Day of Christmas!  Follow along each day, and earn increasing coupons, prizes, and free stuff each day from now until Christmas day for any order in the Etsy Shop!  :)

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Making Bookmarks

A few weeks ago, I was browsing around on http://www.goodreads.com/ and came across this thread on "What do you use for a bookmark?".  As an avid reader, bookmarks are fact of life.  I read several books a week (usually sequentially), but rarely do I finish a book in one setting.  Hence, a bookmark. 

I have a hidden passion for bookmarks.  Beautiful ones with colorful tassels, cartoons with jokes, inspirational quotes, even those impractical metal ones with the beads and ribbons hanging off the end.  When I was younger I had quite the bookmark collection going.  In my modern, book-reading life, however, bookmarks are most often a scrap of paper, a receipt, an (unused) Kleenex, or even a dryer sheet.  In short, whatever happens to be near at hand at the exact moment that the book needs to be set down.  I've found over the years that my fancy bookmarks are often top-heavy and fall out of books while I read, or I put them down and then don't find them, or even more likely, they end up staying in the book and I move on to a new book with no bookmark.

But, back to the book forum.  Reading through this thread of fellow book lovers re-inspired my thoughts of beautiful, fun, creative bookmarks.  There were several readers, like me, who used household scraps to hold the place in their book.  There were several more who told of creating all sorts of fun personal bookmarks.  After reading several people's ideas, I decided to try for myself.  Here are the results of my first set of bookmarks.

My plan was to use colorful scrapbooking paper and a small personal laminitor that I've bought for my classroom.  My first night of efforts turned out pretty good, but kind of rough.  They were different lengths as I adjusted what felt most comfortable to me.  I used several different sheets of scrapbooking paper, so ended up with a fun variety.  I shared a few of those with some of my fellow teachers who like to read.  I did want to go a bit further, and get a bit more elaborate, so on my next go-around, ended up with the bookmarks pictured here. These were inspired as 2 individual sets to give to some friends as a host/hostess gift slash Christmas present.

In this first set of pictures - for her.  She's a Harry Potter fan, and has read the books and watched the movies.  In fact, we've watched 2 of the movies together, so I can attest to her fanhood. I decided I wanted to create something Harry Potter themed, but give it a fun, girly twist.  In the set of 5 bookmarks, each has a fun tassel, ribbon, or beaded ribbon that will stick out of the book.  On the front, on white cardstock, I printed out some fun phrases and pictures that have to do with Harry Potter.  On the back of each bookmark I put a fun colored pattern of scrapbooking paper.

Here is a close up of the tasseled bookmarks.  I actually found a website that gave instructions on making bookmark tassels, so they worked well here.  I have a Super Fun tiny hole punch that punches a Star instead of a round circle.  I used that on the bookmarks to create the hole for the ribbons and tassels to thread through.  For these bookmarks, the pink tassel has a quote from Luna Lovegood, "You're just as sane as me" with her fun glasses.  The blue tassel has a quote from Albus Dumbledore to Harry in the first movie, "It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live."

This is one of my favorite fun tassels.  This tassel consists of 3 different ribbons, beads, and some charms.  The main ribbon is a colorful white with bright stars.  The thinner two ribbons are complimentary colors that match some of the stars.  Each of the solid ribbons are threaded with bright, primary colored plastic tube beads on one strand and a metal star charm on the other.  The beads and charms are spaced out using knots to give it more dimension.  The star ribbon is also tied at the end (to prevent fraying) and has a small black bead at the knot.  On the bookmark itself, there is an envelope, complete with stamps, addressed to Harry Potter in the Cupboard under the Stairs.

This bookmark is one of my favorites.  It starts out with a quote from Hermione to Ron, "You've got the Emotional Range of a Teaspoon."  It has an elegantly simple tassel of a soft, satin-finished deep maroon ribbon.  This thick ribbon drapes elegantly from the book, reminding me of Hermione's simple elegance.

For this last bookmark in the series, I chose the quote that applies to many of us, "I grew up with the boy who lived in the cupboard under the stairs."  I think this is true, especially for this series.  This was a long series of books, realistically appearing about every year, so you really did feel like you were growing up with Harry and living his life.  Having the movies come out in the same timespan, with the same actors who we watched grow up, reinforced this idea.  Now that all the books are out, people will be able to read the books much quicker and not have quite this same experience.  I wanted this tassel to be simple, but again, a little more interesting than the basic tassel.  I chose a two-toned black ribbon with a thin gold ribbing.  I cut it just long enough that it will stick out above the books pages perhaps an inch, and cut the ends into a finished V shape.

Here are the backs of all the above bookmarks.  I chose color-coordinating prints to go with the tassels and what was on the front of the bookmark.  After putting the scrapbooking paper together with the front of the bookmark, each was laminated, and then trimmed to shape before the tassels were added.  Overall, I'm fairly pleased with these bookmarks and hope that they will be enjoyed for years to come.

Now, on to the next set.  They aren't as "bookish" - being more themed based for the person they were made for than related to any literary excerpts.  The theme of this was for a first-year science teacher.  He's teaching middle school science, so a little bit of all the basic science themes.  My plan for his set was to have some sort of science or teacher related graphic on the front, and colorful paper on the back.  No tassels here, because - well, are tassels manly?  Not sure about that. These bookmarks will work equally well for reading books or to mark the place in the textbook between classes.

These first two.  A mad scientist.  What else for a science teacher?  As a science teacher myself, you have to be a bit mad during class, and the crazier the experiment is, the more the students will remember it and get involved.  (And anyway, they probably think we're crazy anyway because we care about all this science stuff).  Then, the second one has a basic science rule that is true, but always makes us laugh during the safety video,  "What I learned in the Lab:  Hot Glass Looks the Same as Cold Glass."  Oops.  It's funny because it's true.

Next up:  "Trust me, I'm a Science Teacher."  Just a fun science phrase.  Then, "Warning:  Mad Science At Work."  Same reasoning as the mad scientist.  And my favorite, "Back in my day, PLUTO was a planet."  LOL.

And here are the backs of these bookmarks.  Some repetition, because I'm afraid I had quite a few girly scrapbooking pages, and not so many neutral ones.  That's okay - I think that makes this look more like a set, anyway. 

On the Third Day of Christmas

On the 3rd Day of Christmas, my True Love gave to me........

14% off and a F-R-E-E Bookmark with every order.  Yeah!

Use Coupon Code:  3RDDAY

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Book Review: Deadly Straits by R. E. McDermott

 Deadly Straits
by R.E. McDermott (Goodreads Author)

 Miranda's review Dec 08, 11 

 

Bookshelves: first-reads

Recommended to Miranda by: R. E. McDermott

Recommended for: anyone; it's a fine example in this genre of action thriller

Read from December 04 to 08, 2011, read count: 1

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Very impressed! This is one of my "first-read" books, which is awesome. In fact, I didn't win a print copy of the book, but Mr. McDermott sent me a Kindle book to read. My first "first-read" book, and the first book I read on my new Kindle. Double awesome! :)

Reading this book, I would never have guessed that Mr. McDermott was a first time author. The story line is smooth and well-written, characters are developed and interesting, and the plot moves along very quickly with lots of twists and turns. I was definately always interested in what was on the next page.

The plot line was complex - moving from one character's viewpoint to another, reminiscent of David Baldacci's books. That is a very intricate style of writing - to be able to keep track of several different viewpoints and what is happening in the plot in many places, and make them blend together to make sense in the story's timeline. Again - kudos to a first time author here!

The topic of the book deals with political terrorism involving industries & economies of many different countries around the world. The main industry was the shipping industry, particularly big tanker ships, but involved many other types of merchandise that would be shipped across the ocean on the ships. The main characters involved shipping CEO's, national political leaders, spies, fanatical terrorists, and general "worker class" people. From early on, it was easy to connect with the 'good guys' and I was rooting for them throughout the story.

The book starts out with a bang, and is a page-turning, action-packed story all the way through. Several times I was suprised by where the story turned, but in the end it all tied together and enriched the plot.

I give this book 4 stars, as it was interesting, well-written, and one I highly recommend to anyone interested in this genre of book.

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On the 2nd Day of Christmas, my True Love gave to me . . .

Good Morning.  Welcome to the Second Day of Christmas.  My Etsy Store is counting down the days until Christmas.  Each day there will be a new prize/coupon with each order. 


So, on the Second Day of Christmas my True Love gave to me:  a FREE Laminated Bookmark with each order AND 12% off all orders with the coupon code:  1stDay.

What will tomorrow bring?  In the spirit of the song, each day the coupon+prizes get larger until Christmas itself!

Bedtime

My eyes are crossed,  fingers weak.....it's highly time to get some sleep!

12 Days of Christmas: On the First Day of Christmas, my true love gave to me....

Today's the First Day of Christmas.  Only 12 more days left until the big day.  Are you excited?  Nervous?  Anxious to get that last minute shopping finished?  Me too.

I'm very excited that I have two more days of final exams, and then I'm free for Christmas break along with the kids. 

To finish our of Christmas season, I have one last promotion for the Etsy store.  The 12 Days of Christmas.  Each day from now until Christmas, check back in to see what new coupon, discount, prize, or free stuff you can get when you make a purchase. 

Today, to kick us off:  Take 12% off any order using Coupon Code:  1stDay.  What will tomorrow bring?  In the spirit of the song, each day the coupon+prizes get larger until Christmas itself!



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