Mini Envelope Bookmark and a Book Review

I am having a lot of fun playing with and figuring out my Silhouette Cameo!  Today I made this cute little bookmark out of scrapbook paper.  Two sides are open and two are closed, letting it rest easy on the corner of the page.    

It makes finding your place even easier than a traditional bookmark does!  On the back side, I added a polka dot stamp and am now thinking I need to order the sketch pens for the Silhouette so I can finish it off with an address.

Have you read any good books lately?  My latest read was Diary of a Mad Fat Girl by Stephanie McAfee.  Although I really didn't care much for all the profanity, sex, and infidelity, I found myself turning page after page to find out what was going to happen next.  I didn't enjoy the book, but I couldn't put it down either.  I give it 2 stars.

Loud, outspoken Graciela Jones, aka Ace, is a young high school art teacher who recently left her boyfriend and returned to Bugtussle Mississippi with her chiweenie, Buster Loo.  The drama begins when her best friend Lily bails out on a trip to Florida to spend time with a man she has been very secretive about.  Lily is also a teacher and the next thing you know, she's being accused of sleeping with one of her students and is fired.  The ridiculousness continues and escalates with the discovery that another friend's husband Richard has been cheating on her.  Ace and Lily set out to document his immoral actions and are successful.

All the while, Ace struggles with her body image and won't let herself accept the love of her ex-boyfriend who appears at her doorstep to woo her back.  In the end, Ace finds happiness and so do her two best friends.    

BlogHer Book Club provided me with this book and I was compensated for this review.  All opinions expressed are my own.  To read more about Diary of a Mad Fat Girl and how Stephanie McAfee self published it, visit BlogHer.

A Monogrammed Book Band

As I mentioned a couple of months ago, I joined a book club!  We met for the first time a few weeks ago and discussed Saving Cee Cee Honeycut by Beth Hoffman.  It was so much fun to get out of the house and meet up with a bunch of women who also love to read!  We enjoyed stimulating conversation and laughed a lot as we recounted the story of Cee Cee living through the death of her crazy mom and then getting rescued by her generous Aunt Tootie and all her female friends.  While it wasn't my favorite book (not even close!), I did come to appreciate it more and even like it a little bit more as we talked about it.

So what does all this have to do with a book band for my polka dot notebook?  Well, as I read books I like to slap a sticky note on passages and quotes that I really like.  After I finish a book, I flip back through the book and type them up.  Problem was that they weren't organized.  Scattered in different folders and what not, they weren't accessible.  So I decided I would transfer them to a notebook and record new ones as I read.

That way, they are all in one place.  And I can go back and read through them with a flip of the page.  I have quite enjoyed writing them all down and it has made me want to reread some of the books.

So here's the how to and used what?

I dug through my stash of fold over elastic and found a piece that matched, wrapped it around my book and cut it an inch smaller than that, sewed it together and hot glued a chip board letter over the seam.  All in one breath.  That quickly.

I like it because it is thin and it won't fall off!  I can keep it securely attached while I am jotting down notes.  And if I want to slip a piece of paper in between the cover and first page, it won't fall out.

           
And I decided to write it all in cursive.  For fun.  I almost always write in manuscript, so this is a nice change.  Plus there is something really lovely about flowing, connected letters and it reminds me of my mom.