How to use this Page

 solitaire have introduced new designs for winter including notebooks, trays, christmas cards and wrapping paper. solitaire's christmas theme is 'partridges and pears', and the new robin card matches an existing wrap. the new tray design is made in sweden, although these are the only things solitaire sell which are made outside the UK. made from sustainable birch wood they are dishwasher safe 

Add a Comment

 gabriela m rivera has just graduated from SCAD ( in savannah, GA) with a degree in fibers, focusing mainly on surface design. gabriela was born in monterey in mexico but grew up in new york where she is now looking for freelance work and commissions.

Add a Comment

Really looking forward to tonight's event at Waterstone's Piccadilly with Oliver Jeffers and David Almond! I'm so excited that I have drawn a piranha:



Details here! There might be a few tickets left, click over to the Waterstone's website for details and scroll down, or ring them at for tickets at 0843 290 8549.

Add a Comment

Cool daily poster project from Anna Kövecses. Aside from being a wonderful creative exercise, the intent is to highlight successful color palettes and provide inspiration.

I’m really digging the illustration style and folkiness of the collection. Reminds me quite a bit of various Czech matchbox labels. In addition to the tumblr, Anna has the entire batch for sale as prints on her society6 page.

Share This

A Huge thanks to Squarespace for sponsoring this week’s RSS Feed!

©2012 Grain Edit - catch us on Facebook and twitter

Add a Comment

As reported previously, J.K. Rowling will be at the Southbank Center for the release of her book on Thursday, September 27. The event can be watched via live streaming at this link, beginning at 7:30 PM. Comments can be made via Twitter, with #JKRLive.

Add a Comment

J. K. Rowling Interview Transcript

Anyone who has followed this blog over time will know that I have not been the hugest fan of the Harry Potter series.
The reception of her adult novel, published tomorrow, will be very interesting.
The opening pages of her debut Harry novel, Harry and the Philosopher's Stone, suggest to me that it could be very good indeed.

an extract from the BBC interview:

Do you aspire to be the Dickens of our day?

No [laughs]. Again, I think it's a curious thing being me, because it was all an accident and then, when you become very successful, people assume there was a game plan. So there are no motivational posts on my wall saying "Be next Dickens" - well, because he's Dickens. It would be so outrageously presumptuous to say that. You pay your respects to him and then move on.

What do you aspire to as a writer?

To get better. I think you're working and learning until you die. I can with my hand on my heart say I will never write for any reason other than I burningly wanted to write the book. I very rarely think about who I'm writing for, except that clearly there is an adult/child divide and certainly my next book is a children's book, if that's what I do publish next - she said, covering all her bases.

The one thing Potter has left me with is an absolute dread of committing myself because it came back to bite me so often.

This is your first published adult novel. It is inevitably going to sell truckloads. It is going to get reviews good, bad and indifferent. People around you are going to say nice things about it. How will you judge if it's been a success or failure?

The simple answer is speaking to readers. I have to say that latterly with the Potter books, when the hype became insane, it was a monster that was out of control. Speaking to readers really brought you back to what it should be about.

So ultimately, the people who have read the book, who are not paid to have an opinion, are generally the best benchmark of whether you have done what you set out to do. But you're right that that was a consideration for me, particularly with being published next time round.

Add a Comment

Hello again! While I haven’t had energy to write in this space after long play+farm+work days, I did take some photos and wanted to share a glimpse of the magic that has filled our summer. For starters, this barefoot garden fairy in jammies during a golden rainbow sunset. And I have to point out the shade covering with the red roof — someday, this is going to be my studio and I’ll be creating art with this lush, green view out my window. Baby steps.

After a lonnng drought, this year we were blessed (and surprised) by monsoon after monsoon which nourished our spirits (and skin!) and transformed our garden and landscape. I never tire of the Tibetan-like mountains growing in our backyard.

It’s funny how every year we get equally — if not more — giddy over our first fruits! We learned less is more, for us, with tomatoes in the greenhouse. Two plants are perfect for us. I also discovered why my cucumber plant was gigantic and covered in flowers but had only 2 fruits. Pollinators were not finding their way into our greenhouse…so I opened another window screen AND I buzzed around, painting each female flower with a male’s ‘paintbrush’. (I didn’t know the females all come with a teeny tiny fruit, like an egg, waiting to be fertilized!) By the way, have you seen this???! Still, other mysteries were left unsolved.

In August, Tulsi and I took a homesteading workshop at the Lama Foundation. I loved gathering with so many others geeking out over worms and compost, live bacteria, poop, and strange smells. We made kimchi and our own sourdough starter with Sandor Katz. It was great energy going into the harvest and preserving season!

I was especially proud of my cabbages! Which I then turned into quarts and quarts of sauerkraut that fill a shelf in our fridge. And just last week, we harvested our first 4 GORGEOUS (and decadent) winter squashes! They are almost too beautiful to eat. (Almost.) About 2/3 of our onions are now braided and hanging to cure, under my red studio roof. And aren’t these the happiest, most colorful beets?! Many are now pickled and canned, others are waiting to bake, and about twice as many are still maturing.

I think this season (our 6th) has been our best yet! Why? We were more relaxed (and experienced) and didn’t stress over weeds. We didn’t grow massive amounts of cut flowers, but our house was always full of bouquets. And we seemed to grow the right amount of everything. I think we have a TON of food for the winter (loads of squash and roots that we can store and don’t have to preserve NOW) and we didn’t waste any food. That might sound funny, but it happens! It can be tricky knowing how much to grow of what. And although I am not a Queen Preserver like some friends of mine (they are AMAZING), I have preserved a LOT already and a sweet variety. I learn more each year! (Of course, I need to figure out how to finish on canning days by bedtime so Tulsi and Patrick don’t have to migrate to the tent. Ha.) I’ll try to post a final tally later this Fall of what I preserved, and please, please share what you have preserved! Sometimes I don’t know ‘what’ to preserve!

I love this last picture. It is a seed pod dangling from a Cleome/Rocky Mtn Bee Plant. One of our favorite ‘to-do’s’ this time of year is collecting seeds. We have thousands, millions, billions of seeds stored in jars to plant and to share. It reminds me of the infinite possibilities in life, if we give our attention and love to our intentions.

We have a few weeks of exciting travel coming soon — Colorado, Chicago, Madison, St. Louis, and Maryland! I’ll share on the flipside. I’m also blogging (most) Fridays at motheringwithsoul.com if you haven’t wandered over yet. I hope you are enjoying garden goodies, too, and enjoying your Fall! It’s my favorite time of year.

Add a Comment

James Roy, On The Writing of his Latest Book, City

A guest blog post on WestWords:

Cities are different from towns - we know this. They're bigger, for a start. Much, much bigger, both geographically and in terms of population. By virtue of that, they generally cover a much more diverse range of characters. Of course many of those characters are connected, but it's the way they're connected that really caught my attention: it's often in anonymous ways, such as through found objects, chance meetings or random acquaintances. It fascinates me that in small communities we think we know everything there is to know about pretty much everyone (even if we actually don't) while those of us who live in cities will think nothing of driving for an hour across town to have coffee with a friend, yet we don't know that name of the lady who's lived across the hall from us for years. If the story about taking the cricket catch by accident was the first seed-point for Town, this book started with a couple. One was Veronica, or Ronnie, from Town, who was the much-maligned 'scarlet woman' at the high school. It was Ronnie who found herself stranded up in a dark bush clearing with a bunch of drunk and sex-crazed guys, and had to do some rapid diplomacy to make a terrible situation a little less bad. Perhaps more than any other, The Clearing was the story that people most liked to talk about when we discussed the book. But as is usually the case with the short form, the character's story continues on after the last full-stop...

Roy's earlier book, Town:

Add a Comment

September 26th 2012

Add a Comment

Harry Potter Readalikes

You know when you find an amazing book, and you never want it to end? How do you find another book to read after that? Our answer: Readalikes to the rescue! We hope our Readalikes will rescue you from the what-to-read-next question, and help you find lots of new amazing books.

Today's Readalikes are for the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. Just before Harry's 11th birthday an owl tries to deliver him a mysterious letter with a very special message. The letter tells Harry that he has been invited to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It turns out that Harry is not just an unwanted orphan, but a hero in a wizarding world that he never even knew existed. This starts him on an amazing path to magic, adventure, friendship, and family. In other words. . . . BEST. BOOKS. EVER!

There are 7 books in the Harry Potter series, plus The Tales of Beedle the Bard, plus the movies. Once you are done with all those, try out these other magical books for ages 9-11. Click on the book cover below to see more Harry Potter Readalike books you might also love.

Hope you enjoy our Readalikes!

—Emily, Scholastic Booktalker

Add a Comment

Display Comments Add a Comment

It has been almost a year since I reviewed Velva Jean Learns to Fly by Jennifer Niven.  As you may recall, Velva Jean married at 16, learned to drive and at 18, drove from North Carolina to Nashville by herself, leaving her husband and hoping to a sing at the Grand Ol' Opry.  Talk about coming of age.

But then World War II began and VelvaJean found herself in the WASP Program (Women's Airforce Service Pilots.)  Now, in Becoming Clementine, it is June 16, 1944, Velva Jean is 21 and a seasoned pilot.  So seasoned that she has just become the first woman to fly a B-17 Flying Fortress across the Atlantic Ocean to Preswick Airfield, Scotland.  Proud of her accomplishment, she also has an ulterior motive for accepting this challenge - her beloved brother Johnny Clay, a paratrooper, hasn't been heard from since October 18, 1943 and Velva Jean is on a personal mission to find him.

As luck would have it, Preswick has been short of pilots since D-Day, less than two weeks earlier and Velva Jean decides getting to Europe would be the best way to find Johnny Clay, so she convinces all relevant authorities to let her copilot a mission to France.  On July 13, she gets orders to fly to Roun, dropping supplies and a team of OSS agents and returning immediately to base.

Naturally, over France, the plane is hit by enemy ground fire and badly damaged though still flying.  Then, when they finally find the place to make their drop, they realize it has been compromised by Germans.  In an attempt to avoid them and singing "My Darling Clementine" to keep herself calm, the plane nevertheless crashes. Velva Jean's flight crew is killed.  The team of five she was to drop does survive, but, angry and disgusted, they want to leave Velva Jean behind and try to find their own way.

Well, they may have wanted to leave Velva Jean, but she was a woman with a mission and a strong will.  Eventually, the survivors meet up with a member of the resistance and that begins their journey through occupied France with the aid of the Underground, eventually ending in Paris.  Through all this, Velva Jean finds herself more and more attracted to the leader of the OSS team, Émile Gravais and eventually this becomes a mutual attraction.

In Paris, Velva Jean is given a new identity, Clementine Roux, an American who married a Frenchman, unable to return to the US after the war began and her husband was killed.  Now, she is pulled into the mission Gravais and his team are to accomplish - rescuing an important agent code-named Swan being held in a woman's prison in Paris.

Velva Jean alias Clementine's new mission: get herself picked up and sent to the same prison.  Is that what happens?  No, it isn't.  And don't think for a moment she has forgotten about Johnny Clay.

One of the things I found very interesting in Becoming Clementine was how difficult it was for Velva Jean to embrace her new identity as Clementine Roux.  It is a testament to her strong sense of who she is that made Velva Jean want to keep surfacing, even in the face of danger.

I did feel that some of the technical bits about planes and things like that could have used some editing, mostly because I have no idea what I was reading about.  Confession: I thought skipping those bits but actually read on, all the while realizing that my fear of flying was getting the best of me and that some readers would find this fascinating.

Becoming Clementine has something for everyone: excitement, espionage, romance (but not much sex, none explicit), action, but it also has violence, lots of it and cursing, lots of that, so be warned.  It is a gritty, fact-paced novel but I felt it may still have the same level of YA appeal that Velva Jean Learns to Fly had even since it is still a coming of age story of sorts.  After all she had been through, it was hard to realize the Velva Jean is only 22 by the end of this novel.

And yes, there will be a fourth Velva Jean novel in autumn 2013.

This book is recommended for readers age 18+ and sophisticated teens with an interest in WWII
This book was received as an E-ARC through Net Galley

For another review of Becoming Clementine at So Much So Many So Few, followed by a wonderful interview with the author Jennifer Niven

Display Comments Add a Comment

In Part 1, we began by preparing our hearts with confession and the receiving of forgiveness. As mothers, we are so aware of how often we blow it! We ended with the declaration, "Not I, but Christ in me."

This next quote unpacks that idea so practically:

I will cease striving in my own strength and goodness, and walk in Yours. I will celebrate my smallness, my inadequacy apart from You. Apart from you I can do nothing. You alone are my righteousness. I will live in the present moment, always looking to Christ, always practicing His presence, always moving in tandem with him. (Leanne Payne, Restoring the Christian Soul, changed to first person)

For we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves. (2 Cor 4:7)

Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses...in hardships...in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Cor 12:9-10)

My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness. (2 Cor 12:9)

There is something so restful about accepting that I am small and He is great, that I am weak and He is strong.

My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from Him. Find rest, oh my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from Him. He is my mighty rock, my refuge. Trust in Him at all times, O people, pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. You, O Lord, are strong and You, O Lord, are loving. (Ps 62:1-2)

In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength. (Is 30:15)

May your unfailing love rest upon me, O Lord, as I put my trust in You.  (Ps 33:22)  Let me know how fleeting is my life. (Ps 39:4) My times are in your hands. (Ps 31:15) Teach me to number my days aright, that I may gain a heart of wisdom. (Ps 90:12)

It is good to praise the Lord, to proclaim your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night. For you make me glad by your deeds, O Lord; I sing for joy at the works of your hands.(Ps 92:1-2,4)

I shall run the way of Your commandments, For You will enlarge my heart. (Ps 119:32)

This verse brings back to mind the opening call to "enlarge the place of your tent." It is God who enlarges my heart and makes me capable of more than I am in my own strength. This verse also begins a turning of my thoughts to the responsibilities of the day before me, especially the challenges of parenting and educating children.

Display Comments Add a Comment

It’s book review Wednesday and that means time to acquaint yourself with another of our fabulous Inky shortlisted novels.  Handpicked from the Silver Inky shortlist, we’ll be looking at all things Green today but earlier in the year Liz Kemp composed an in depth exploration that is worth checking out.

Despite the tumour-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel’s story is about to be completely rewritten.

John Green is quite the young adult phenomena managing both critical and commercial success to the point that there is a substantial online community (Nerdfighters) build around the catch cry ‘don’t forget to be awesome’.  I mention this as The Fault in Our Stars made an impact before it had even debuted.  Green promised to sign every book pre-ordered and this resulted in the author signing 150,000 copies. Not bad for an author who writes contemporary tales instead of paranormal romances or tales of wizardry.

There’s reason for this popularity, outside the bounds of internet hoo-ha, is that Green is a gifted writer and this can be witnessed in startling form in The Fault in Our Stars.  Hazel is a girl of great sensitivity and humour knowing that her time on Earth is nearing its end.  She’s not grappling, or struggling to make peace with it – she’s already there.  Accepting but depressed.  In meeting Augustus, a fellow cancer sufferer in remission, she finds a whimsical soulmate.  A person who can distract her with the strength of her feelings, the wonderful absurdity of his mind and the rush of the unexpected.  It’s potent.

While quirky is executed exceedingly well in this title, it is so much more.  There is a humour that resonates every character and each sentence that allows the reader to laugh even when tears hover.  The first chapters set the tone wonderfully weaving authentic observations, morbid humour and an acceptance that stretches out of the bounds of the cover and into the reader’s heart.  It’s powerful stuff.

And also why this book graces our Silver Inky shortlist.  Make sure you read The Fault in Our Stars and vote for your favourite at www.insideadog.com/inky.

 Penguin

Display Comments Add a Comment

Add a Comment

“Markel’s well-chosen episodes begin with the purchase of his first paints and brushes–at age 40. Compact sentences convey this self-taught artist’s rocky journey, leaving room for [illustrator Amanda] Hall’s interpretation.” SLJ

Display Comments Add a Comment

A new illustrated children's book from Guardian Angel Publishing, author Dixie Phillips and Journey Dai Muhammad, and artist K.C. Snider.  It will be coming soon!  Watch for it!

Add a Comment

I've been tagged by the amazing Catherine Stine for the Next Big Thing. Thanks, Catherine! So here I go!

What's the working title of your book?  
INTO THE FIRE

Where did the idea come from for the book?
I've loved the idea of Phoenixes ever since I saw the original Dark Shadows TV series from the 70s. (I saw it in reruns.) There were only about two episodes that featured Phoenixes but they got to me.

What genre does your book fall under?
Paranormal

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie?
I'd say Candice Accola (Caroline on The Vampire Diaries) for Cara. And Logan Lerman (Percy Jackson) for Logan.

  

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Sixteen-year-old Cara Tillman, a descendant from the mythical phoenix bird, is nearing her rebirth where she will forget everything, including the love of her life, Logan, and attempts to embrace her last days with him even if it means drawing deadly phoenix hunters to her doorstep.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
I'm represented by Lauren Hammond of ADA Management and the book is being published by Month9Books in spring 2014.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
8 days, but I made a major change in edits so I'm rewriting most of it. LOL

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
I can't think of another Phoenix book!

What else about your book might pique the reader's interest?
Phoenixes! They die and are reborn. What more do you need? ;)

Here are the people I'm tagging:
Sheri Larsen
Darcy Karchut
Emily White

Now for all of you, what's your WIP about?

Add a Comment

Sometimes God tells me to do some little something, or become involved with something, that sounds small enough.   You know, small enough that I can handle it myself. Or small enough that I can squeeze it into my busy schedule. Or small enough that it won't require too much of my energy, intellect or emotion. But somehow, someway, those things seem to grow, and grow, until they become

Display Comments Add a Comment

From Tiina Nunnally‘s introduction to her translation of Kristin Lavransdatter:

Sigrid Undset’s great gift as a writer might best be described in her own appraisal of Charlotte Brontë, whom she much admired: “[Her] sense of self is grounded in her awareness that her art is bitterly true, that her talent is merely the courage to look honestly into her own heart. [She] wished to depict life and reality the way they are—life and reality as they existed in her own heart, in the limitless possibilities of her heart, in her dreams and yearnings, in the mirages of hunger and thirst—and in all the tiny gray-pebble days over which life flows.”

And this:

Undset had been an avid botanist. As an eighteen-year-old she described in a letter her love of nature as “that hypnotic immersion in the corolla of a rose when you have stared at it for so long that all outlines are erased and you become dizzy with crimson.” She said that she longed to “disappear into nature so that you cease to feel or think, but with all your senses you greedily draw in the light and colors, the rustling of leaves and the trickling of underground streams, the sun and the shifting shadows—that is happiness, nirvana.”

Add a Comment

Teaser... Why is "THE BEDBUG WHO WOULDN'T BITE" so excited? Why is he singing and dancing and celebrating? How come he can change his color?—What happened to cause this? Coming soon, the first COLORING BOOK with captions that begin Bedbug's coming colorful journeys... Become a Follower at this site for chances to win Bedbug Books I & II.

Add a Comment

LATEST NEWS

Artie’s new story The Race for Space was published in the September issue of the Teachers.net Gazette. To read the story please click on the image below. (This story is dedicated to the memory of Neil Armstrong, whose courage and heroism will live on forever)

Artie’s children’s book Living Green: A Turtle’s Quest for a Cleaner Planet is now available as a free video for kids through StoryCub. A shortlist finalist for the national 2012 Green Earth Book Award, Thurman the turtle is tired of seeing the land he loves cluttered with trash and decides to take action.

To watch the Living Green video on Youtube, please click on the cover below. StoryCub videos are one of the most watched programs on Apple’s iTunes Kids & Family section.

Use of any of the content on this website without permission is prohibited by federal law

Add a Comment

Teaser... Why is "THE BEDBUG WHO WOULDN'T BITE" so excited? Why is he singing and dancing and celebrating? How come he can change his color?—What happened to cause this? First Bedbug Coloring Book! Coming soon, the first COLORING BOOK with captions that begin Bedbug's coming colorful journeys... The publisher and I have been 'busy as bugs' working on the first coloring book. The pages are

Add a Comment

Halloween promo image....I'd say more about this, but am rushed with a deadline, currently...you'll have to get a magnifying lens and read the fine print.

Add a Comment

Add a Comment