Novels for Summer Reading

Looking for a couple of good reads this summer - check out these books Sunshine Nails and You Were Always Mine.

Holiday Gift Guide

As the end of the year approaches and the holiday season is around the corner, we put together a list of items that would make wonderful gifts for family and friends! Take a look at the list for unique gift ideas from memories, games, books to toys. Enter the giveaways below to have the gifts delivered before the holidays!

Books from Canadian Authors

Books make wonderful holiday gifts for anyone, any age! The recently published Nosy Parker by Lesley Crewe makes a wonderful novel for young adults and adults. The following two picture books by Canadian authors - Beautiful You, Beautiful Me and Revenge of the Raccoons, would make meaningful gifts to give young children.

Creative Art Books for Beginners and Giveaway

Finding time to explore and use our creative outlets can be challenging. Books that inspire us to get creative in very less time are useful during these times. We like the 15-Minute Painting: Effortless Watercolour and 15-Minute Drawing: Getting Started series that help us complete projects in one sitting and feel accomplished. These books are easy to follow as the instructions are written in a simple approachable way, and it has step-by-step projects that are easy and fun to follow and complete in 15 minutes. Since both books, give a quick overview of the basics tools and materials, it would be useful for beginners.

Inspiring books and Giveaway

If you enjoy drawing Manga style drawings, then check out Draw Manga Style by Scott Harris. It is a step-by-step instructional guide. We found Caylee Grey's Get Messy Art to be an inspiring art journal that helps us try things out, explore emotions, find our artistic style, and grow as an artist. If you want to win these books enter the giveaway below.

Creative Art Books

Creative art books are not only inspiring to get us back to our favourite hobbies, but they are also a good way to detox and pay attention to our mental health and well-being. Here are three books that we are inspired by: Paint Every Little Thing, Drawing Lessons for Beginners Cute Animals, and Creative Gouache.

Creative Activities: Anime Drawing, Kawaii Crochet, Pixl Cross Stitch, Colour Mixing

During the summer we engaged in a few creative activities inspired by some books and kits. If you love amigurumi, then you will enjoy this Crochet Your Own Kawaii Animal Cuties kit. If you want to show off your creative skills on cross-stitch then Pixl People helps to make fun, personalized portraits with a needle and thread. Manga fans will enjoy learning how to draw anime figures following the Anime Art Class. Anyone that enjoys painting with Oil, Acrylic, and Watercolour will find Walter Foster’s Color Mixing Recipe books useful. 

Stories of Migration by Women from Around the World book giveaway

The most recent anthology I have been reading is an inspiring and timely collection of stories about migration, written from the perspective of twenty women. Somewhere Stories of Migration by Women from Around the World edited by Lorna Jane Harvey brings a refreshing and uniting voice to this compelling and trending topic of migration. 

Gardening in Small Spaces and Giveaway

Gardening is one of our favourite hobbies. In the past years, we have passionately done a variety of DIY projects and improved our gardening to become a backyard oasis. We have built a variety of different gardening structures, put in a pond with aquatic plants, made spaces for birds, planted fruit trees, invested in different types of perennials over the years, and more. When it comes to growing vegetables, we usually buy transplants from garden centres and put in a few seeds directly in the garden.

Novel, Poem and Practicing to Draw

Finding inspiration from all around us isn't always easy. I am always grateful for anyone that inspires to see the beauty in little things, which sometimes gets lost between our everyday routines. This reminder to look beyond the surface of things was on a few books we looked at recently; poetry journal by Sabina Laura, the novel Misfit in love by S.K. Ali, and two drawing books from Step by Step Studio series.

Welcoming Kobo Nia

With more time spent at home these days, reading on the Kobo has a been a source of comfort for us. Everyone in our family loves reading regularly on the Kobo - and we are happy to welcome the newly released Kobo Nia into our family! Kobo Nia is an affordable, compact, easy to use device with lots of cool features for our reading comfort! 

For the love of animals and Giveaway

We love watching different types of birds come to our garden. Over the years, we invested in adding features to attract birds and other pollinators from bird feeders, pond, water features, bee hotels, bird houses, and more. We find it exciting to observe the birds, and have been reading books such as DK Canada's fully updated 2nd edition Pocket Birds of Canada to identify the types of birds that visit our garden.

Learning about the wars of the past will teach us to be careful of our actions

It is sad when parts of our history keeps repeating itself, it is as though humanity hasn't learned anything from its past actions. We know many people have sacrificed their lives for justice, and we are still seeing a world of injustice around us, it is probably because of peoples' ignorance. I think it is important for us, as parents, to teach ourselves and our children about past events, hoping they will be kind and not repeat the past that has led to many problems we face today. The consequences of colonization, slavery, greed for land and power from generations past are still haunting us in the injustices and wars we see happening all over the world. When humans haven't created life, they don't have the right to take it or judge it.  We can all do our part by learning, becoming more empathetic, and always remembering to treat others better than the way you want to be treated.

Win a copy of Sew Step by Step and Knit Step by Step

We love books that give detailed explanations, especially useful when we are trying to master hands-on activities.  We have been reading and learning about two of our favourite hobbies sewing and knitting from two new DK book: Sew Step by Step and Knit Step by Step.

Novels for adults and teenagers

We have been reading a few books (for adults and youth) that you can add to your list of books to read. Read below to read a synopsis and our thoughts for Grown-Up Pose, Indelicacy, My Summer of Love and Misfortune, Don't Ask Me Where I'm From, The Complete Sherlock Holmes, and Solving Sherlock Holmes Puzzle Your Way Through the Cases. 

Brushstrokes Acrylic Painting

Brushstrokes: Acrylic Effortless painting with minimal tools and materials by Angela Marie Moulton gives a unique introduction to acrylic painting. We did a few projects following the step-by-step instructions in this book, and love how the paintings turned out. This approach of using colourful bold strokes strategically felt relaxing and fun, and the paintings didn't take too long to do.

Signs and Symbols, Myths and Legends, and Zoology

We have been taking a closer look at three DK books: Signs and Symbols, Myths and Legends, and Zoology. Smithsonian Zoology invites us to explore the animal kingdom up close, and will be loved by all those interested in wildlife. It will delight, fascinate, surprise, and spark our interest in specific animal groups. The book takes a closer look at a variety of wildlife from tiny insects to sleek sharks and majestic elephants. As Albert Einstein said, "Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better."

Books that spark creativity

We enjoy books that spark our creativity and inspire us to try different types of art. We checked out a few books that are good to have as reference or to give as gifts to creative friends and family. Some of the books we have been getting our inspiration from are... The Ultimate Fluid Pouring and Painting Project, LEGO Book of Bedtime Builds, The Art for Joy's Sake Journal, Patchwork Quilt Designs Colouring Book, and Draw Like an Artist series.

Learning to appreciate what is around us and Giveaway

It is important we take the time to educate ourselves and teach our children about the beautiful things that surrounds us. When we forget to appreciate nature, things like Climate Change will not feel like a big deal. In recent years, we have seen major concern for climate change, but have we taken the time to reflect on how we can help reduce it?

These books from DK Canada such as Trees, Leaves, Flowers and Seeds; The Wonders of Nature; Manmade Wonders of the World; and Ice takes a closer look at the beauty of nature and man-made things around us.

End of Summer Reads

We have been reading the pioneering and groundbreaking work of the narrative nonfiction The Mosquito by Timothy C. Winegard that offers a dramatic new perspective on the history of humankind, showing how through millennia, the mosquito has been the single most powerful force in determining humanity's fate.