From Drab...

...to foliated and fab:

I have a bin full of felt scraps and decided to dress up my pen & pencil holder last week. The project took about an hour, and was inspired by the scarf featured on the cover of Sewing Green by Betz White. I plan on making that too :)

Pretty cover image from spoolsewing.com

All I did was measure my pencil holder, cut out a rectangle of felt, cut some leaf shapes (no pattern necessary, and no need to make them all the same size) out of felt in various colors, and attach them with two or three little running stitches made with embroidery floss. I used stick-on velcro to fasten it around the holder. The velcro comes off easily, but since I don't plan on playing with the holder a lot it'll do.

Ta-da!

Anti-Musical Monday (3) on a Tuesday + a Contest worth entering

There was no song yesterday because...

1. I'm moving back to my dorm room next week, and I have packing to do.

2. I'm not usually at the library when the elementary school across the street lets out, but I dropped in yesterday afternoon to help out with a short-staffing problem, and at 2:45 a bajillion kids ran in and dumped their backpacks in a corner. It was like a backpack sea. School years are fun :)

3. My aunt Charleen, who lives on the other side of the country, flew in last week. We've been hanging out and eating cupcakes.

Char and me with our sweet treats

4. (Not a reason for lack of music, but why stop numbering things? ) Gayle Forman (author of If I Stay) reviews some intriguing fall reads in this post. She's also giving away some ARCs of books like Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins (there's still time to enter her contest, btw), and all you have to do to enter is answer a simple question and leave a comment. It couldn't be easier.

Happy Tuesday,

Waiting on Wednesday (11)

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine that invites readers to share the unreleased books they're most excited for.

This week, I'm waiting for Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. (I'm also waiting for my pre-ordered copy of Mockingjay to come in tomorrow's mail. *jumps up and down*)

Cover image from Fantastic Fiction

 Ethan Wate used to think of Gatlin, the small Southern town he had always called home, as a place where nothing ever changed. Then he met mysterious newcomer Lena Duchannes, who revealed a secret world that had been hidden in plain sight all along. A Gatlin that harbored ancient secrets beneath its moss-covered oaks and cracked sidewalks. A Gatlin where a curse has marked Lena's family of powerful Supernaturals for generations. A Gatlin where impossible, magical, life-altering events happen.

Sometimes life-ending.


Together they can face anything Gatlin throws at them, but after suffering a tragic loss, Lena starts to pull away, keeping secrets that test their relationship. And now that Ethan's eyes have been opened to the darker side of Gatlin, there's no going back. Haunted by strange visions only he can see, Ethan is pulled deeper into his town's tangled history and finds himself caught up in the dangerous network of underground passageways endlessly crisscrossing the South, where nothing is as it seems. (From Amazon.com)

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Beautiful Darkness comes out on October 12th, and it sounds like a wonderful (and at 512 pages, deliciously lengthy) October read. I enjoyed Beautiful Creatures, and it sounds like this sequel will be good, too.

Book Review: Flash Burnout by L.K. Madigan

Release Date: October 19, 2009

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

Age Group: Young Adult

Pages: 336

Source: My local library.

Cover image from BTSB Bookstore

Summary:

Fifteen-year-old Blake has a girlfriend and a friend who’s a girl. One of them loves him, the other one needs him.

When he snapped a picture of a street person for his photography homework, Blake never dreamed that the woman in the photo was his friend Marissa’s long-lost meth addicted mom. Blake’s participation in the ensuing drama opens up a world of trouble, both for him and for Marissa. He spends the next few months trying to reconcile the conflicting roles of Boyfriend and Friend. His experiences range from the comic (surviving his dad’s birth control talk) to the tragic (a harrowing after-hours visit to the morgue).

In a tangle of life and death, love and loyalty, Blake will emerge with a more sharply defined snapshot of himself. (From the author's website)
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I didn't pay attention to this book when it came out last year because I didn't like the cover--shallow, I know. Other people paid attention to it, though. Flash Burnout won the 2010 William C. Morris Award, an ALA award that honors YA debut authors. I looked past the cover after author Stephanie Perkins recommended Flash Burnout in this post.

I now understand why it won an award.

Flash Burnout is a love story: first love, love going well, love gone wrong, parental love, brotherly love, friendship, and self-acceptance. Blake, the main character and first person narrator, has a likable, humorous voice that made me laugh even as bits of Blake's life were falling apart. Blake has a girlfriend he loves and a girl friend and fellow photography student he likes spending time with, and who, after Blake unknowingly snaps a picture of her meth-addict mom, needs him.

Author L.K. Madigan navigates first-relationship awkwardness and the tension between Shannon and Marissa, the two girls in Blake's life, well. Each scene flows neatly into the next; Flash Burnout is well-paced and well-suited for long sittings. I liked all of Madigan's characters--Blake has a great family that includes a Medical Examiner dad who occasionally brings his work home, a no-nonsense mom and a surprisingly awesome older brother, as well as a dog named The Dog Formerly Known as Prince. Half the fun of this novel is watching Blake's family interact and support each other.

Anyway. The drama of Blake's girl issues escalates until it explodes, and Blake does a Bad Thing. I won't say what it is, but Blake's actions and their fallout invite much serious thought about a mature subject. Through it all, though, I never disliked Blake, nor did I feel sorry for him. Madigan walks a tightrope of feelings and ends up with a beautiful, sad (not oh-no-somebody-died sad, but rather realistically bleak), and funny novel. The plot is intense--externally and internally--and but for one awkward sneaking out at night scene, I have no complaints.

I recommend Flash Burnout to readers of contemporary fiction, those who enjoy juicy internal conflict, and anyone looking for a thoughtful, funny read.

Musical Monday (46)

Every Monday I post whatever song I can't get out of my head or just can't get enough of, because Mondays can often be less than marvelous, and music is happy--even when it's sad. If you'd like to join the party, just make your own Musical Monday post and leave a comment!

This week's song is "Red-Robin Hood" by Brooke Waggoner, and (in my opinion) it's a winner. "Red-Robin Hood" is a B-side Brooke released earlier this summer, and the lyrics loosely portray her idea of what would happen if Little Red Riding Hood and Robin Hood, who already have the same last names, got married.

Enjoy!



Wishing you a Marvelous Monday,

Waiting on Wednesday (10)

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine that invites readers to share the unreleased books they're most excited for.

This week, I'm waiting for Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins.

Directly between my feet is a coppery-bronze octagon with a star. Words are engraved in the stone around it: POINT ZÉRO DES ROUTES DE FRANCE.

"Mademoiselle Oliphant. It translates to 'Point zero of the roads of France.' In other words, it's the point from which all other distances in France are measured." St. Clair clears his throat. "It's the beginning of everything."


I look back up. He's smiling.


"Welcome to Paris, Anna. I'm glad you've come . . . Now make a wish."

Anna was looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. So she's less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris — until she meets Étienne St. Clair. Smart, charming, beautiful, Étienne has it all . . . including a serious girlfriend.


But in the City of Light, wishes have a way of coming true. Will a year of romantic near-misses end with their long-awaited French kiss? Stephanie Perkins keeps the romantic tension crackling and the attraction high in a debut guaranteed to make toes tingle and hearts melt.  (From the author's website)

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I've been waiting for this one for awhile, and (sob) it doesn't come out until December 2nd. In light of that, I was thinking of featuring it closer to that date because it's nice to post about drool-worthy books when they'll be available soon so we can all spend less time drooling.

BUT.

Stephanie Perkins is holding a contest for her last ARC of Anna right now. (Hooray!) The deadline is August 30th. Roundabout links to details HERE.

Ready, set, go!

VAMPIRES ARE NOT IRONIC, STEVE.

How The Vampire Boom Really Began: A Totally Fictional Flight of Fancy from NPR. My friend Amber (she of the knitting super powers) pointed this out to me, and I'm still giggling a bit.

Excuse me,