She's Crafty | Coloring Craze

Imagine you are on a much needed break at work. Or, you're at home and for once it's quiet. I know it might be hard to conjure an image of such an event, but give it a try.

You grab a coloring book filled with abstract animals and flip to a page with a bird and a lizard chilling in a tree.

From Animal Kingdom by Millie Marotta.

Then, with glee in your heart you grab some colored pencils and lose yourself in filling the little spaces on the pages with color.

Sounds nice, huh?

But you might be thinking, what is this coloring business?! You're a grown up now and you don't color in coloring books anymore. You have big people things to do, even during what is supposed to be your downtime.

You do have downtime, right? I sure hope so, your brain needs it.

Don't knock coloring. It's hot stuff right now. I just checked Amazon's bestseller list this morning and five of the top twenty bestselling books are coloring books! One of the titles, Secret Garden: An Inky Treasure Hunt and Coloring Book by Johanna Basford tops the list at number three, right after What Pet Should I Get? by Dr. Seuss and Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee.


Popularity aside, coloring is simply a fun and easy way to relieve stress. For those who find it hard to let go of their worries, coloring can help you do it with ease. It doesn't need much set-up, it's not expensive, and there is no right or wrong way to do it.

If you need more convincing just poke around the internet a bit and you will see the world is enjoying a bit of coloring. Here are just a few of the articles I encountered online:

• The New Yorker, Why Adults are Buying Coloring Books (For Themselves) by Adrienne Raphael.

• Parade Magazine, 50 Shades of Happy: The New Joy of Coloring by Hillari Dowdle.

• Parade Magazine, How Should You Color Your New Grown-up Coloring Books? by Hillari Dowdle.

I currently own two coloring books. One is a collection of Mandalas, published by Dover and the other is Animal Kingdom by Millie Marotta. I eyed Animal Kingdom for a while and finally convinced myself that it would be beneficial for my brain health to buy a really pretty coloring book. Not to mention fun. 

From Animal Kingdom by Millie Marotta.

Now, coloring books are not an item you can typically checkout from the library (except for maybe this Anatomy Coloring Workbook) but with an internet connection, which you can access on a public computer at any branch in our system with a library card, you can find coloring sheets online.

Coloring Pages for Adults is a website devoted to offering free printable coloring pages. This website has a lot of content. It also has a lot of flashy ads, so just be aware of what you're clicking on when you've found a page you want to download and print. There's a lot of good stuff here, so definitely give it a visit.

Parade Magazine also has a list of free coloring sheets. Just visit this article to grab them up, Free Download: Coloring Pages from Popular Adult Coloring Books. 

Turn coloring into a fun group activity. Have a family or friend night without phones, tablets, consoles, or computers. All you need is a pile of coloring pages, and whatever tools you like to use to lay down some sweet color: crayons, color pencils, watercolor pencils, pastels, gel pens, highlighters, markers, soft colored chalk...

Before I go, let me share this hilarious picture book with you fine readers. This gem popped up during a catalog search for items related to coloring or coloring books:

Bad Day at Riverbend by Chris Van Allsburg follows Sheriff Ned Hardy and the people of a small village known as Riverbend. All of a sudden their peaceful lives are turned upside down by a bunch of mysterious and colorful streaks of slime.

THE HORROR!

And of course if you want to pair story time with a coloring event that includes little ones, grab a copy of Bad Day at Riverbend along with The Day the Crayons Quit and Red: A Crayons Story.

Have fun!


Malia

Just Life| New Books

Mmmmmmmmm, I love the scent of a new book. A few weeks ago, an eager reader was looking for a Harry Potter book and I ended up giving her a brand new Harry Potter that I had just received that morning in the shipment. 

I wish I had a camera to record her reaction. She was so happy that she would be the first person to read that brand new book. Joy is just one of the side effects of reading my friends.

On your next visit to the library, make sure to stop by the "New Books" section. In each library, we have a designated area for New books and they all have yellow tapes on the spine.

With your free library card, you can check out 25 of these brand new books. 

Lets see how much it would cost to buy 25 books from Barnes & Nobles in a year.

Let's say that a new hardback is around $25.

So 25 books X $25= $625/year

I don't know about you, but I don't have that much money lying around for buying books.

I am really thankful that I work in the library and tons of books are at my fingertips for FREE.

So on your next trip to the library, please check out "The New Books."

Here are a few new books from your local library:

• Audrey at home : memories of my mother's kitchen with recipes, photographs, and personal stories

• Around the world in 50 years : my adventure to every country on earth 

• A girl and her greens : hearty meals from the garden 

Happy reading and let's .....

Signing off until next Monday- Panteha





 

Just Life| Our Health

Recently, a health scare made me realize that I have been taking my health for granted. 

How often, do you pause and appreciate a breath you are taking. We take our lungs for granted. Let's hold our breath for one minute and see how we would feel. I have never thanked my lungs for breathing for me for the past 42 years. 

I have been thinking about all the big and small things that I have been taking for granted in my life, especially my health.  

One of our family members recently came home after spending over 3 months in the hospital enduring a double lung transplant. Before that, she had to carrying an oxygen tank wherever she went.

I never pause and thank the lord for giving me healthy lungs. I just take breathing for granted. 

So, if you are reading this blog, I recommend you pause for a minute and count your life's blessings.

Here are some books to help you have a long and healthy life:

Staying well : your complete guide to disease prevention

The complete idiot's guide to the superfood cookbook

The roadmap to 100 : the breakthrough science of living a long and healthy life

Signing off until next Monday- Panteha

She's Crafty | You Are Awesome

As much as I can't stand the heat, Summer without a doubt makes me happy. The sun is out and spreading its rays of . Birds are chirping at all times of day. My cats are no longer restless from being cooped up all winter. And the cobwebs are clearing from my brain.

However, even just a few weeks ago I was battling a bout of lingering winter blues. In an effort to raise my spirits, I sat down one day and browsed the internet for books with fun little crafts, which is when I came across You Are Awesome: 21 Crafts to Make You Happy by Abbey Hendrickson. Sounds like the perfect medicine.

You are awesome combines a beautifully designed book with content that is whimsical, colorful, and quirky. The projects look fairly easy and seem to come together pretty quickly too.

Cardboard mailbox.

Ring toss!

Since I'm thoroughly in love with gems and geometric shapes at the moment, the "Faceted Necklace" project spoke to me loudly, saying, "Go ahead and make it for yourself. We both know you'll rock it."

Yes, yes I will.

This project uses polymer clay to simulate gems. In the book they use black clay and it ends up looking like shiny chunks of coal, which is pretty cool if you ask me! 

I wouldn't mind finding this necklace in my stocking!

Instead of black, I choose an assortment of neon and pastel colors. Narrowing down my color combinations and refining my palette instead of making hundreds of beads of every color possible ended up being the hardest part of the project. Once you get your clay and your colors all figured out, the rest is easy peasy. Roll some balls, skewer them to make beads, bake them and use a craft knife to shave of bits and pieces to make facets. My favorite part is shaving the facets into existence. In fact, this project fullfilled its creator's promise and made me happy.

Polymer clay in a few of my favorite colors.

Shaving the beads. I found this to be the funnest part.
Goes pretty quickly once you get the hang of it.

Wanted to keep the flakes but I made a deal with myself
that I could no longer save anything unless I
had a clear idea of what to do with it. Alas, I do not.

I call this my Wilma Flintstone necklace.

There's a w-i-d-e variety of things to do in this book. It's not just for kids or just for adults, or just for women, or just for men. These are rainy day crafts, last minute gifts to make for friends who appreciate a little handmade smile to brighten their day, crafts to spark the imagination and be silly, and crafts to fill a nice summer afternoon with fun and happiness.

Try these other books out for more quick, handmade happiness:

• Oh Joy! 60 Ways to Create and Give Joy
• Materially Crafted: A DIY Primer for the Design-Obsessed
• Make & Give: Simple and Modern Crafts to Brighten Every Day

Stay awesome!

Malia

Just Life| Travel Photos

Travel photos are great treasures. You can look at them years later and somehow they can transport you back in time.

I just got back from vacation last week and I am still in vacation mode. I love taking pictures with my phone. It's so darn convenient, but I have to admit that I believe the picture quality is nowhere close to an old fashion camera. 

So, if you have a favorite travel photo, please send it to me and I will try to post it on a future blog.

Please email me your favorite travel photo to: 

panteha.paknahad_jabarouti@stocktongov.com by July 16th, 2015.

Here are some travel books from your local library:

• Discover California : experience the best of California
• Fodor's Puerto Vallarta
• Art of adventure

Signing off until next Monday- Panteha

Just Life| Fun & Free Family Programs At Your Local Library

Did you know that your local library has tons of free & fun programs for you and your entire family to enjoy?

I have been organizing the children's programming at Troke Library for the past year. In that time, I have taken numerous pictures of these fun programs. Below are a few of these pictures.

We have tons of fun family programs during the summer to celebrate our summer reading challenge. You can check our library system calendar of events to learn more about fun family programs at your local library.

Serpentarium at Troke Library

Acrylic Painting class at Troke Library

Stockton Ports players are reading to kids at Troke

Halloween Arts & Crafts at Troke Library

Serpentarium at Troke Library

signing off until next Monday-Panteha

She's Crafty | Defining Tailor's Tacks and Jodhpurs

Even though I have been around a sewing machine all my life and have heard a lot of sewing terms used by my mother, I am a complete newbie when it comes to sewing. I feel fortunate to have someone like my mother around who knows quite a bit about sewing and sewing terminology. However, since I'm a DIYer to my core, I've been seeking out the knowledge available in sewing dictionaries and reference sets. They're handy in a pinch and entertaining even when you are not actively sewing.

The Fashion Dictionary by Mary Brooks Picken is one such interesting read.

Although our copy is a reference
book available only at Cesar Chavez,
you can request a copy via Link+.

Speaking of growing up with sewing and fashion terms, whenever my mother and I went clothes shopping and tried on a pair of pants with excessive hip space my mom would say something like, "these look like I'm wearing jodhpurs!" At a young age, I gleaned from this exclamation and the subsequent laughter she would emit that a pair of pants that look like jodhpurs but were not meant to actually be jodhpurs was not a desirable pair of pants. Comical, yes, but not appealing in that "I'm gonna wear these in public" sort of way. She would then put her hands in the pants pockets and flap her hands around creating "wings" out of her extra hip space.

To my delight, a definition for jodhpurs appears in the Fashion Dictionary:

jodhpurs. Breeches cut full above the knee, closely fitted below, with cuff at ankle, sometimes with strap under foot; designed for horseback riding.

Reminds me of pants worn by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police...and Katherine Hepburn.

Royal Canadian Mountie.
Photo by Smudge 9000. Some Rights Reserved.

Fibula, pinafore, Battenburg lace (and all the other styles of lace known to humanity), flamefoil, and The Beatles (yes, the band), all have definitions in the Fashion Dictionary. You can even find a step-by-step illustration of how to properly wrap a sari!

Finding such a gem at the library came at a perfect time since I just started a new sewing project a few days ago. It's only my second sewing project following a pattern and when I came face-to-face with a scattering of seemingly random circles on my pattern pieces, I vaguely remember my mother saying something about tailor's tacks in the past. These circles are not alien artifacts like crop circles, nor random decoration. In fact, they mean something that humans like my mother actually know about. So, I asked her again about these circles and tailor's tacks and she went over the concept as only a patient mother of a terminally forgetful offspring can--she's had about thirty-plus years of grueling practice!

Sewing patterns come with markings that need to be transferred from the paper pattern piece to the piece of fabric you will be cutting out. Sometimes these will be solid dots, open circles, or even squares. These markings refer to important areas that will be addressed in the pattern instructions at some point.

Most fabrics do well with marks made with a special fabric pen or pencil or a piece of fabric chalk. For heavier fabric and pieces cut on a fold (thus cutting through two layers of fabric) a tailor's tack is an easy way to get the most accurate marking on all layers in one movement. Sewers like my mom also prefer to use tailor's tacks to make all her marks since all you need is a needle and some thread.

The Fashion Dictionary and the Tailoring volume of the Singer Sewing Reference Library, both have an entry about tailor's tacks. Tailoring offers a step-by-step "How to Make Speed Tailor's Tacks" section with pictures.

Tailor's tacks or speed tacks in action. From Tailoring.

Elsewhere in the book, Tailoring also introduces readers to what is known as a tailor's ham. It actually looks like a fabric ham. A tailor's ham is used to press curved parts of apparel for a better fit.

From Wikipedia. Creative Commons License.

I'm telling you, these books are entertaining even if you're not actively panicking about what the next step in your pattern instructions mean by, "Baste stitch along the fly curve."

Malia