Gourmet Gifts }{ Book Review and Giveaway

It's been a while since I've done a book review and a giveaway, but I'm glad I waited. This book was very much worth the wait.

Gourmet Gifts by Dinah Corley is a book that bakers, crafters, and everyone on their gift list will love, I'm sure of it. How much better can it get than putting together baking delicious treats, making pretty little packages for them, and giving them away as gifts? *swoon* Well, at least for me this makes the perfect combination. Below are just some of the reasons I'm enjoying this book so much.

Perfect Timing

I don't know what it is about the Fall and Winter seasons, but the kitchen becomes my main spot in the house for the colder months of the year. I love to bake treats, cook hearty soups, and fill the house with the smells of this time of year. So when I received an invitation to review Dinah's book, I jumped at the opportunity. If you haven't had a chance to check her blog, I would do so sometime soon. Her projects look as amazing as they taste. And since we're coming up on a major season of giving gifts, this book truly comes at the perfect time, for it is filled with ideas to give as edible gifts.

Unique Gifts

I grew up with a cultural tradition of giving (and receiving) baskets overflowing with meats, cheeses, drinks, jams, panetones, and other delicious fares during the holiday season. You'd particularly exchange these baskets with those you wanted to remember but who weren't family. It was a more formal, one-size fits-all gift giving. This book reminds me of this tradition, but with a more personal touch and a more unique gift as a result.

Nice Features

• the sections cover smaller gifts, luxury items, budget-friendly, and even care-packages to send away! (I think my best friend who lives a few states away will be getting a surprise in the mail soon) 
• Each item comes with information on the time it takes to prepare and make (active prep and total), how expensive it is, how easy or challenging, and the storage and packaging information.
• There's lots of room for creativity in the packaging section especially. She gives suggestions, but you're only bound by the type of storage the item needs. Oh the possibilities....

Of course, beautiful photos of some of the items don't hurt anything either. I wish there were more, but I also understand that it would be just too much, especially since the book is packed to the brim with information and there are so many projects.

Here's one project I tried this weekend - Cantaloupe Agua Fresca. It's a refreshing drink made on cantaloupes and lime, packaged in glass bottles. I happened to have a bunch of pretty glass bottles with corks waiting for a project, but believe me it was a difficult choice to make. There are so many projects I've bookmarked to try.

It was a success. I had most of the ingredients ready, as well as materials I could use for the packaging. It took me a bit longer than the time listed in the book since I triple filtered the drink, but in the end it was worth it. It's delicious! And it looked so cute in the bottles that N. kept begging me to drink them right away. I had to convince her to give me at least enough time to take photos.

Now that the photos are taken, the drinks are all gone. Yep, all three bottles we made. Gone. In one day.

Check the Giveaway for a chance to win Dinah's book

To keep this post from becoming its own book, I'm putting the rules and details in a separate post. Head on out to this post for a chance to win  Gourmet Gifts.

Expressive Photography }{ Book Review

The philosopher David Chalmers said in "The Conscious Mind" that "to be conscious is to have subjective experience." He proposed that our conscious experience has a subjective quality, our cognitive agency. As we experience the world, that experience is uniquely ours. No one can feel and experience exactly the same as another. We feel life differently.

But I do believe we all share a need to interpret the world. How we feel it and understand it makes our perspective unique, but we all try in our own ways to make sense of it. And share it. Though we never quite accomplish this, we try so often to share with others how we feel.

Or maybe that's just me. Do you do that too? Try to help others understand how you experience something? Try to understand how others experience something?

Photography to me is at the epicenter of this. Visual experience can evoke powerful feelings and by sharing an image we hope to share certain feelings. Of course, this same image will evoke a different experience for someone else. Still...

Again I'm letting my thoughts wonder too much away from the point at hand. The review. But there is a connection, I promise.

"Expressive Photography" by the Shutter Sisters proposes to "not only show you why certain images sing, but will also teach you how to create your own compelling images." The aim is to achieve those photographs that you "not only see, but feel." You see the connection now? This book speaks directly to the need to share our feelings through images (or for some of us, text, movement, taste, sound, etc). 

The things I like in this book:

• It has a poetic quality to its prose and approach to photography. The Shutter Sisters do shoot from the heart, and they share this vision with their readers in the blog and here in the book.
• The topics (ranging from childhood, togetherness, and stillness to documentary, spaces, and table among others) each include a short section on approach, perspective, composition, lighting, details, and processing. Each of these aspects of a photograph can make it or break it, and giving attention to them individually for each topic elucidates the differences between subjects.
• They share settings and strategies behind many of the images in the book.
• And of course, lovely photos.

Although I love this book, I'll also include a warning/con:

• It's not easy for someone who's just beginning. What I mean is that to fully take advantage of what the book offers, it helps to have a basic understanding of exposure and the settings on your camera. Of course, this is just my opinion and if you're interested (because it does have a lot to offer) but have no experience with a camera, I'd check it out if you can. 

I love this book and I frequently take it out of the shelf to re-read suggestions like this (in the portraiture section):

"A portrait is not just an image; it's a vibrant collaboration between photographer and subject. Just like stopping and listening to someone share a story with you, we are listening to the stories people tell with their eyes and their hands, their gestures and their expressions, and distilling them in photographs."

disclaimer: If it feels like I've been giving really good reviews to the books in my review posts, that's because I've been reviewing the books I have kept, used, and enjoyed. 

How do you like to share your experiences with others? 

Crafting with Kids }{ book review

There are numerous books on crafting out there, many of which involve crafting with kids. There are even more websites and blogs devoted to the same purpose.

So how do you know where to start?

Which book is worth taking out of the library and which book do you want to have on your shelves to go back time and time again?

And what supplies do you need to make projects? Is there a basic tool kit or an essential materials list that you have to have on hand?

One of my goals for the reviews I'll be doing every Wednesday on the blog is to give you information on some of the books, sites, and tools that I've used or come across over time. Hopefully you can use this information to make your choices in crafting with (or without) children.

Ok, enough introduction, let's get to it.

Jennifer Casa is an experienced designer and crafter who clearly knows how to work with her children. She also has a rock band - that alone makes her awesome in my book. But back to crafting.... She just came out with this book that has 75 different crafts for you to try with kids - seasonal, for parties, recycled, you name it, the book probably has it. Here are some of the features I liked and one that I think could be changed.

Pros:

• Lots and lots of pictures along with easy to follow instructions. If you don't believe you're very crafty but would like to try some projects with your kids, this book includes step by step written instructions and visuals for most of them. 
• Great section on setting up for crafting. Many of the crafting books I have come with an introduction on what materials to get, how to set up your area, and even what to expect when crafting with children. What I really like about this one is that the materials are divided into things that you can find around the house, recyclables, and then a list of things you may need to buy or put on your "wish list." That means you don't have to go running to the arts and crafts supply stores to stock on things you may already have in a different shape or form. Bonus!
• The projects are imaginative. One of my favorite things about crafting with kids comes from letting them run wild with their creativity. The projects in this book not only allow for that in creating them (easily customizable), but many of them can inspire creative play after the fact as well, like the felt story board project. Love it!
• It gives you an estimated amount of time the project takes. Out of the books I have used, this is the only one that gives you this information. It is incredibly useful for busy moms like me to see how long something takes and whether we'll have time for it today, tomorrow, or maybe we need to do it installments. This has got to be one of the best parts about this book for me. 

So what don't I like about this book? It's tough to say because overall I really liked it, but there's one thing worth mentioning.

Cons:

• Age appropriateness and amount of adult help. The projects are appropriate for kids of different ages, some easy enough for the little one in my house, but many require quite a bit of help. Since I like to do my activities with N. whenever possible and she doesn't like to wait for some of the adult-only steps, she got bored with some of the activities. Actually, quite a few of the projects will only work for us if I do them when she's not around and give them to her as a toy later. So, at least in our household with a young toddler, this is more of a "crafting for kids" then a "crafting with kids" book.... for now. As she gets older, I'm sure that's going to change.

Overall: great book for mamas who are beginning to craft with their kids and need step by step instructions. This is something that I want in my library as N. gets older, and we'll probably do most of the projects eventually. 

What kinds of reviews would you be interested in reading next week? Crafting books, products, or something else?