Jewel Loom Inspirations by Julianna C. Avelar | Review

Jewel Loom Inspirations by Julianna C. Avelar is wonderfully done book filled with colorful and beautiful projects for making loom jewelry using her Jewel Loom (from Beadalon). I did a book flip though so that you can enjoy the beautiful projects, however I did  cover the materials lists for each project and quickly passed through the instructions to preserve the joy of actually owning the book.

The “Jewel Loom Inspirations” book is a wonderful book for the first time and beginning Beader to learn how to use a loom and how make a variety of different type of jewelry projects.  The more experienced Beader may enjoy the many beautifully designed projects that are included in this book.  The Book is perfect to use along with Julianna’s Jewel Loom kit from Beadalon.  

The technique pages include well thought out photographs so that the reader can truly follow along. 

There are some great step by step photo for each technique, as well as the project. Below is a picture I took of Julianna demonstrating her "Jewel Loom" at a local Craft Show.  It really is easy to use the loom and her designs for it are excellent.

The projects included in the "Jewel Loom Inspirations"  book are very contemporary and can be worn by anyone wanting to make and show off unique and beautiful jewelry.  

The book contents includes:

• ·      Introduction
• ·      Getting Started
• ·      Materials (easy to find materials, including adhesives)
• ·      Tools (she lists tools that are specific to these projects)
• ·      The Jewel Loom (A great explanation of the Jewel Loom and how to use it)
• ·      Stringing The Warp Threads
• ·      Building a Base
• ·      Finishing Techniques
• ·      17 Projects:
• o   Checkered Cuff
• o   Ocean’s Desire Beaded Bracelet
• o   Elegant Pearl Bracelet
• o   Ombre Cubed Bracelet
• o   Great Pyramid Cuff
• o   Surf’s Up Beachy Cuff
• o   Bugle Bead Leather Cuff
• o   Mix-and-Match Beaded Band
• o   Boho Happiness Wrap
• o   Mardi Gras Beaded Band
• o   Funky Fringe Headband
• o   Loopy Jewel Ring
• o   Victorian Choker
• o   Goddess Amulet
• o   Sunshine Sparkle Earring
• o   Swarovski Crystal Brooch
• ·      And a wonderful Inspiration Gallery that features the work of other Designers & Artists.

I really found that the “Jewel Loom Inspirations” project photographs, explanations and tutorials in this book were so very helpful in figuring out how to properly use the jewel loom.  She also offers some tips throughout the book to help the reader gain some additional insight and/or skills.  The step-by-step directions in this book are well thought out and very easy to follow. The photography of the jewelry projects in this book is beautiful.  The projects are fairly easy to do and do not involve a tremendous investment in time and money.  

For those that love using beading charts, this book does have one for a more difficult project.  However, the design of most of these projects truly does not require a graph to be able to complete the projects. 

I love this book and would recommend it as a great accompanying gift with the Jewel Loom Kit.

You can buy either through Amazon.  I am including a link for you. 

Parchment and Old Lace by Laura Childs | Book Review

Parchment and Old Lace is another addition from Laura Childs that combines scrapbooking, crafting and a murder to solve.  This is an enjoyable read that draws the reader in with the colorful characters and fun crafting tips.

Laura Childs does such a wonderful job of making her characters likeable. I love the fun and independent nature of the main character, Carmella Bertrand.  Carmella owns and runs the "Memory Mine" scrapbooking store.  Memory Mine is described so realistically,  from the types of materials offered to clients in the store to the various classes offered by Carmella and her assistant Gabby.

I was so caught up in the story line, from the murder of Isabelle, to Carmellas'  often dangerous investigation of the various suspects in the book.  I had a hard time putting the book down to go to work. The author just kept me guessing as to who the true murderer could be.

I also enjoyed the fact that the author included so many useful crafting tips in this book.  My favorite tip is the use of a concept board in chapter 10.  The concept board is often used to help people plan their scrapbook pages, art projects, wedding decor, and so much more.  It can be applied to so many things.   I have always enjoyed using concept boards and found the inclusion of such a great source to have been a wonderful tip to offer readers in her book.  She gives the reader enough information in the story to afford the reader suffcient knowledge to be able to apply the use of a concept board to their own projects.

I love reading myteries and feel that this is such a fun read.  It was a great way for me to relax while drinking my tea.  I can't wait for her next book.

Note: I received my advance review copy (without corrections) for my honest review.  However I am huge fan of Laura Childs books (I own a lot of them), so I would have purchased this book anyway.  Thank you to Nancy Nally for the advance copy so I could get a jump on my reading.

20 Ways to Draw a Mustache by Cara Bean | Book Review

20 Ways to Draw a Mustache and 44 Other Funny Faces and Features: A Sketchbook for Artists, Designers, and Doodlers is a great source book for anyone who needs a reference book for drawing characters, illustrations, cartoons, doodles, and card making.   I have my own collection of this series of book because of their great content.  Each book is its own treasure trove of ideas.  This book is not limited to just drawings of mustaches but also shows how to draw eyes, facial expressions, facial hair, hair and more.  The selection is vast and the drawings are easy enough for the reader to copy or just be inspired to create their own version.

20 Ways to Draw a Mustache Table of Contents:

• Introduction
• Mustaches
• Lips
• Eyes
• Monsters
• Ears
• Noses
• Eyeglasses
• Bean Characters
• Beards
• Braids
• Curly Hairstyles
• Straight Hairstyles
• Mohawks
• Star Characters
• Ponytails
• Hats
• Helmets
• Block Characters
• Feet
• Mask
• Mullets
• Eyebrows
• Teardrop faces
• Collars
• Leaf Characters
• Hands
• Skulls
• Smiles
• Frowns
• Bottoms
• Cupcake characters
• Legs
• Arms
• Doodle Faces
• People Taking
• Walkers Walking
• Sittings Sitting
• Hairlines
• Different Ages
• Circle Characters
• Emotions
• Monkey Faces
• Cat Faces
• Dog Faces
• Heart Characters

As you can see, there is a vast amount of drawings included in 20 Ways to Draw a Mustache . Each page has simple straight forward sketches that help one get a good idea of the elements of each drawing while at the same time inspiring one to be creative with their own version.  One way to utilize the book is to just use the basic shape of a drawing as a base idea to create your own inspired drawing.  I use this book as a resource when I am sculpting my paper clay creatures.  The eyes, noses, ears, hands and feet sections are particularly helpful for me.  Additionally, this book is so straightforward that it can be used by readers of any age.

If you want to check out one of the projects from the book, just go the Craftside Blog to view a free project.

Review of The Skinny Gut Diet by Brenda Watson

The Skinny Gut Diet: Balance Your Digestive System for Permanent Weight Loss by Brenda Watson (from the PBS "Brenda Watson's Heart of Perfect Health PBS Special)  includes a 14-day Start-Up Food Plan and over 75 Recipes to get the reader started on her recommended gut cleaning diet.  The diet plan is fairly restrictive and may be challenging to follow, especially if you like to eat a lot of carbs.  The majority of the recipes, in this book, are for smoothies, which I found to be really easy to follow and convenient. The meal recipes are a little more challenging to make.  However, if you use the provided shopping list and follow the recipes, then it should not be too difficult.

The focus on the book is to improve the reader's gut health more than to lose weight.  For those who are or have suffered from digestive issues, you are probably already on a restricted diet anyway and may not be able to follow some of the suggestions in this book.  She recommends taking supplements, which you need to be wary of it you are on a restricted diet and taking medication.  The author is very thoughtful of her readers and does stress to check with your physician to make sure that this diet meets his or her approval.

If you are not on a doctor approved diet, then this book might be of help to you.   The author starts the book off with a discussion of how sugar is bad for your gut and how it directly affects the health of the gut.  She also reviews how important bacteria is for improved gut health and how that affects the body.

Here is a look at the "Table of Contents" for the book and a brief description of each:

Chapter 1 - A Remarkable Discovery - Guess who's coming to dinner.
                   This chapter goes over the importance of gut microbes and all the other interesting things that can be found in the gut area. 

Chapter 2 - Gut Bacteria - The Surprising Weight-loss Solution.
                   Good Bacteria = Fewer Calories
                   This chapter discusses what gut bacteria is made up of and how it leads to a lean gut or obese gut type.

Chapter 3 - Where did it go wrong.
                    This chapter goes over gut bacterial balance, how it is established and how it affected by what you eat.

Chapter 4 - The Proper Care and Feeding of your own gut bacteria.
                    This is a short chapter that goes into the performance of Probiotics and Prebiotics .

Chapter 5 - Your Gut Connection to Obesity and other common conditions.
                    This chapter is the cause and affect section.  You can see how IBS or Acid Reflux is directly related to the gut health.

Chapter 6 - The Gut-Brain Connection.
                    This chapter goes over the gut-brain connection and how what you eat affects how you feel, think, and more. The information in this chapter is really interesting.

Chapter 7 - The Skinny of Food.
                    If you think you are eating healthy, then think again.  She goes into the hidden sugars in refined food.  How some fruits and vegetables are better than others.  How important fiber is and different ways to add it to your diet in a healthy way.  The importance of staying hydrated and how you should drink a lot of water.

Chapter 8 - Teaspoon Tracker
                    This chapter gives you some tools to be able to more realistically track the amount of sugar you have in your diet and how to avoid it.

Chapter 9 - The Get Lean Phase
                    The author breaks down her recommended diet into two phases:
                     1) Get Lean 
                      2) Stay Lean 
                     This section is where she goes into more detail on the foods, fats, fermented foods, fruits, vegetables, proteins, etc. that are best suited for each phase.

Chapter 10 - Power Tools
                     This sections has recipes and snack ideas.

Chapter 11 - Skinny Gut Supplements
                     This section is on supplements that are good for the body.

Chapter 12 - The Stay Lean Phase
                      This is another really short chapter that just gives you the formula for staying lean and finding the right sugar balance for your body.

Chapter 13 - Food and Recipes to Get You Started
                     This chapter provides the reader with a two-week meal plan, healthy recipes (like turkey sausage patties, mini spinach omelets, Chicken salad and so many more), and some desert recipes as well.

Chapter 14 - Rescue Kit for Success
                     This is a very helpful chapter that shares with the reader ideas on how to eat out, dinner party tactics, Carb substitutes, Grocery shopping strategy, shopping list, and so much more. 

This is overall a very helpful book for anyone who is concerned with their gut health.  It is also helpful, if you are trying to minimize the amount of sugar you are exposed to in your diet.  The book is written in such a way that the reader can quickly read through the more technical stuff and jump to the recipes.  I really liked the recipe area, although, I should mention that there are no photos of the various dishes or anything else in this book.  It is truly focused on giving the reader as much information as possible to be successful on this diet.

Note: Thank you to the author and blogging for books for providing me a review copy of this book.

The Complete Photo Guide to Crochet by Margaret Hubert | Book Review

If you have every wanted to add to your crochet stitch knowledge base then this book is for you.  

The Complete Photo Guide to Crochet: *All You Need to Know to Crochet *The Essential Reference for Novice and Expert Crocheters *Comprehensive Guide ... *Packed with Hundreds of Tips and Ideas  by Margaret Hubert is an excellent visual reference book of stitches for the not only the beginner but for the more advance individual who wants to add new stitches and techniques to their repertoire.

This is not a typical step-by-step how to book.  The author does include some step-by-step instructions for the more basic stitches.  However, I think that it is the vast selection of stitches that Margaret has chosen to include that make this such a fabulous book to add to my personal library.  The book is more technique driven than a traditional book.  I love that.  The book also offers some very informative tips and ideas to help the reader. 

The collection of stitches in this book are beautifully photographed so that the reader gets a clear idea of how the stitch should look with a photo of a swatch made up with that stitch.   I also enjoyed the challenge of learning some of the more complicated stitches and am looking forward to designing some holiday projects using those stitches.  

Note: this is not a sponsored post.  I enjoy reading craft book and sharing them with others.