Saturday, August 31, 2013

He's Gone by Deb Caletti

“What do you think happened to your husband, Mrs. Keller?”
 
The Sunday morning starts like any other, aside from the slight hangover. Dani Keller wakes up on her Seattle houseboat, a headache building behind her eyes from the wine she drank at a party the night before. But on this particular Sunday morning, she’s surprised to see that her husband, Ian, is not home. As the hours pass, Dani fills her day with small things. But still, Ian does not return. Irritation shifts to worry, worry slides almost imperceptibly into panic. And then, like a relentless blackness, the terrible realization hits Dani: He’s gone.
 
As the police work methodically through all the logical explanations—he’s hurt, he’s run off, he’s been killed—Dani searches frantically for a clue as to whether Ian is in fact dead or alive. And, slowly, she unpacks their relationship, holding each moment up to the light: from its intense, adulterous beginning, to the grandeur of their new love, to the difficulties of forever. She examines all the sins she can—and cannot—remember. As the days pass, Dani will plumb the depths of her conscience, turning over and revealing the darkest of her secrets in order to discover the hard truth—about herself, her husband, and their lives together.
 

 
I will come right out and say it.  I did not like this book. 
 
For starters when it was voted for our next read in my book club I didn't vote for it, just didn't' like the way it sounded.  But like I always do I went into it with an open mind because half the books I read I don't want to and end up loving them.
 
This book is written in first person, I usually love first person books.  But we spend over 75% of the book inside Dani's head.  Her memories of her first marriage, the affair and the second marriage with Ian.  There were long sections between when one character spoke and Dani replied.  Half the time I lost the thread of the conversation.
 
The write up makes it sound like there will be something exciting going on in regards to the missing husband.  Cop type stuff.  But there is hardly any of that and Dani doesn't really ponder what the police are doing.  There is absolutely no excitement or tension in this book just pages and pages of Dani's thoughts. 
 
When we finally do get to what happened to Ian it is insignificant and you don't really care because he hasn't been painted in the best of lights.  Heck, all the characters are flawed to the point where you can't understand why Dani had anything to do with them.
 
My advice, skip this one.  There are too many good books written about the same type of thing to waste your time stuck inside Dani's head.

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Monday, August 26, 2013

Deep Blue Sea

 I've fallen in love with Tussie Mussies!
 With summer coming to an end I thought one last Beach themed piece was a must do.
You can't see if very well but the background is blue lace, where the lace and navy blue glitter so the entire thing sparkles like water.
For the finishing touches I added a real sand swirl, a message in a bottle and a paper clay mermaid.
This piece is going to one of the fabulous members of The Circle of Friends. 
I hope she likes it.

Sunday, August 25, 2013

And the Winner is...

 Well it has been a very exciting week here, school started back up, got to play with some more Halloween goodies, and we are about to start a kitchen remodel. 
 
I would like to thank everyone for the super sweet comment on my Smoke Get's in Your Eyes Shrine.  They brightened my week.
 
So without further ado, the winner is...
who said...
This is just beautiful! Thank you for the give away... love IT! ann
Congratulations Ann!
 
Please shoot me an e-mail (hit the e-mail button on the left hand column please) with your address and I will post your shrine this week.
 


Monday, August 19, 2013

Phrenologist Halloween Hutch & Swap

Halloween, yahoo yahoo! 
I've pulled out all my spooky goodies and put together a fun Phrenologist Hutch. 
 And Alpha Stamps is hosting a Halloween Hutch Swap!
 
 Made from a Mini Masonite Hutch and covered with decorative paper. 
All Supplies are from Alpha Stamps.
And this one is on Sale in my shop!

Saturday, August 17, 2013

Smoke Get's in Your Eyes Shrine + Giveaway!

Alpha Stamps has come up with yet another Fabulous Kit, the Arabian Nights Kit (pictured below).  The Collage Sheets are absolutely stunning so I just had to create something with them. 
 
Not everything that I used is in the kit.
 I used the ATC Hutch Shrine Kit as the base of my piece and altered it's shape by adding House Shaped Die-Cut Chipboard.  My intention was to make it look like an audience was watching a dancer.
Originally I was going to light up the box.  However, when I drilled the hole and put the light in, the light did not disperse the way I wanted it to.  So I had to patch up the back.  Regardless I think this turned out very fun.
And I'm giving it away!
To enter please leave a comment
For additional entries, Facebook, Tweet, or post on your blog.  Make sure to come back and let me know what you did. 
Giveaway is open until August 24th
Winner announced on August 25th
 
Thanks for stopping by. 
I hope you enjoy your time on my blog.


Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Family Heirloom COF Journal

 The Circle of Friends fearless leader, Sandi of CREATiveE ARTeries, selected the theme of Family heirloom for her journal.  We were asked to fill in at least 3 of the compartments using real family images or collage images. 
The above picture is how I received the journal. 

 
 I decided to use collage images since the journal already had a vintage theme and I couldn't think of how to make some of my images really fit the style.  The images I selected are all from Alpha Stamps.
I had the most trouble with this one.  Originally I was only going to use the Charlotte head but it looked to plain so I went hunting in my goodie box until I found some other items to go along with it.  Also, I am not thrilled with the rick-rack around the image.  I thought it would add something to the overall piece but it just stands out too much :( 
 
 This is my favorite image, I love it so much that I went searching for the little gun charms to add to it.  A few of the other things I did to make the images look older was fray the edges and fold them in a few places.
 
Here is how the journal looked when I mailed it out.
I hope Sandi likes what I did, I think her journal is really coming together wonderfully.