Mini Review: Daily Zen

An inspiration to take 5 to 10 minutes out of your day for a peaceful relaxing few moments. Start a drawing, read an inspirational quote, and let yourself relax while you're mind is focused.

The Good: 
It's fun to see the different drawings and to draw on the pages to see what you can create - especially if you're not talented at drawing. The beginning pages give you a head start in the right direction, but soon, you're left to your imagination.
The quotes are great and often go with the drawing for the day and leave you something to think about.

The Bad:
Just a nit-picky thing - but the numbered pages don't correspond to the days of the year.

Overall:
What will inspire you today? It's great to have a plan for a whole year on how to relax your mind, especially for those moments when life gets you down. You can turn towards something creative and inspiring. A fun book, a great idea for a holiday gift. 

* Sent for review

Mini Review: Instacraft

A craft book filled with easy crafts with easy to find materials if you don't already have them on hand.

The Good: I love the set up - the post-it notes for instructions and materials make the pages stand out. I like how it's broken up into sections according to how you create the craft. There are several projects that I tagged for myself and to use at the library with teens: Cookie Cutter Frames, Memory Wrapping Paper, Celebration Napkin Banner, Little Lined Frames, and Spaghetti-Stamped Tote Bag. 

The Bad: Nothing

Overall Verdict: It's cute, fresh, and fun. A great book for crafting.

Cover Thoughts: Cute
Source: Sent for Review

Mini Review: Color Me Couture

A book on fashion - starting from late 1880 with Vintage dresses and moving forward in time. Each dress contains information on the date, season, style, material of the dress, and a description. The opposite page allows the reader to take the dress and re-create it. After 1960, there's a section on contemporary dresses along with a section of coats, nightgowns, and slips. The final section is dedicated to shoe and hats. 

The Good: I really enjoyed looking at this book. I loved the history of the clothes and seeing the various styles. I thought the idea of creating your own style for the dresses was unique. A fun book for anyone who likes fashion, especially vintage fashion. I tagged several pages to try my hand at a few of them. 

The Bad: I only wish there was a section on evening bags and purses too. I'd like to see how they changed over time.

Overall: A fantastically fun book for fashion lovers.

Library Idea: Copy of few of the dresses and ask your teens to create their own style of these famous pieces. 
Cover Thoughts: Cute
Source: Sent for review