Saturday, February 21, 2015

Books On Film | The DUFF


This weekend an adaptation of teen novel The DUFF (designated ugly fat friend) will be released in theaters. The novel is about a non-nonsense girl who's enemies-with-benefits relationship turns up being more than she expected.
Seventeen-year-old Bianca Piper starts sleeping with Wesley Rush, a notorious womanizer who disgusts her, in order to distract her from her personal problems, and to her surprise, the two of them find they have a lot in common and are able to help each other find more productive ways to deal with their difficulties.

Thursday, February 19, 2015

She's Crafty | Bright and Fearless Decorating

Are you craving an immediate change to your interior decor? Do you feel as though a few spaces in your life need a mega dose of color and a touch of whimsy? Are you stumped as to how to pull a colorful room together? Well, my answer is yes to all three so I pulled two books off the shelf in hopes of getting some inspiration for home and office decor.

Feast your eyes on these book covers:






Beautiful, right?!

Bold too. Both of these books have style ideas that reach way beyond the average or typical.

If you want to get some pattern mixing inspiration I suggest checking out Decorate Fearlessly. As you can plainly see on the cover, a space can exist that mixes over a dozen different patterns and it will still work. Also, your pug will most likely approve the combination. Although my brain can't handle that much pattern mixing, I did enjoy the creative texture and color combinations featured in the book. Almost every single one I would have never thought of before.


Kitchen decor from Decorate Fearlessly.

The next book, Bright Bazaar, is bold and whimsical. The focus of the book is on learning to use colors and textures effectively for a style that is one-of-a-kind. Will Taylor packs Bright Bazaar with inspirational case studies, tons of tips, and plenty of ideas.

Looking at bright colors and white walls in Bright Bazaar.

Many of the spaces Taylor features in his book contain decorative objects that are obviously DIY and not something you can find at the store. Taylor doesn't give step-by-step instructions for the pieces but if you're the crafty sort you can probably figure out how to replicate what you see. Like the wall string art below.


Be forewarned, walls, I realllly like this idea!

Geometric Gems from Sea Lemon DIY
Now for some DIY. Sea Lemon is one of my favorite craft gurus. She uploads video tutorials to YouTube and I discovered her while researching how to make bound books. She uploaded a video recently showing viewers how to construct 3D geometric gems to display on the wall or set on a table, which is perfect for me since I can't get enough geometric designs in my life and I have a thing for simple line representations of gems.


I see a great many of these gems in my future. if you're interested in finding out how to make these wall gems, click here for the youtube tutorial. All you need is some wooden dowels, hot glue, and some paint. I was able to find all the stuff I need to make all four designs at my local craft store.



Malia

Monday, February 16, 2015

Just Life | Unexpected question

Sometimes we get the most unexpected questions at the reference desk.  

A few months ago, I was working at the reference desk and a patron approached the desk and asked me point blank:

Do you have horns?

MMMMMMMMMMMM.

To tell the truth, I was a bit shocked by that question.

So, if out of the blue, a person walked up to you and asked you this question, what would be the first thing that would come to your mind? 

I posed this question to my family over dinner, and here were their answers:

Do you have horns? ....answer    How did you know?

Do you have horns?.... answer    Yes, a Trombone and a Tuba.

Do you have horns?.... answer    Yes, but I left them at home. 

Do you have horns?.... answer    No, but I have a tail.

Of course after my initial shock wore off, I asked the patron " What do you mean?" and the patron explained that she was looking for a book by that title. 

And yes, our library carries "Horns" by Joe Hill. By the way, did you know that Joe Hill is Stephen King's son. 

I tell you, working at the Reference desk is anything but ordinary.

Signing off until next Monday- Pantreha