Top five 'Coffee Table' books

Here's a list of books I've read that I would love to stack on my coffee table. I own one of them ( Cupcakes and Cashmere) and plan to to own the others one day :)

1. Cupcakes and Cashmere by Emily Schuman: This is a great book to flick through and get tips for decorating your home, packing for trips and how to achieve that perfect smoky eye. Beautifully photographed and designed. Her blog is also well worth checking out.

2. Hers: design with a feminine touch by Jacqueline de Montravel: This book has tons of great ideas to spice up different areas of your home. A very glamorous book with achievable ideas. Be warned: this book will make you want to go and revamp every nook and cranny of your home! 

3. Shabby Chic Interiors by Rachel Ashwell: I love Shabby Chic style! Enough said.

4. At my French table by Jane Webster: I haven't actually read the text in this book through properly but it is so pretty and filled with gorgeous photos, I had to include it.

5. My Amalfi Coast by Amanda Tabberer: This book single handedly started my obsession with Italy! Love this glimpse into rural/local Italian life. Stunning photographs and just an all around gorgeous book.

Weekly inspiration ~ 18- 22 March

Phew, another busy week gone by. Here's what has been inspiring me this week:

1: Managing your information flow. I found this useful as I can get quite addicted to Twitter and Facebook and not realise how much time I'm spending looking at these sites.
http://schools.natlib.govt.nz/blogs/libraries-and-learning/13-03/infowhelm-strategies-managing-your-information-flow#.UTfWdjPX6oU.twitter

2: Teen Librarian Toolbox: Another cool blog to follow :)
http://www.teenlibrariantoolbox.com/

3: This hilarious blog by Moara Tamaira
http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/blogs/moatas-blog-idle/8429618/Kick-it-in-the-guts-Trev

4: Personal branding by Courtney Lambert
http://courtneylambert.co/a-personal-conversation-about-personal-brandi

5: Instaframe app for Twitter- so good! Here’s an example:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Book Review: Making your House a Home by Clare Nolan

Hi everyone,
Here comes review number two of the 30 Day Book Challenge!
I'm a bit of a magpie when it comes to pretty books, so when I saw this new book in our library I couldn't resist :)

Basically, the book is all about how to decorate your home on the cheap, seasonal living and appreciating the small things in life. It is beautifully photographed and very sensible in the tips and ideas mentioned. My favourite part of the book was the fact that it had sections devoted to the seasons. The Americans have such distinct seasons and seem to decorate their homes accordingly- oranges and reds for autumn and cozy throws and candles in winter for example. I'd love to apply this way of living to me in New Zealand- the book gave me some good inspiration for this.  A great weekend read- I've flicked through it multiple times already. Technically, this wasn't really reading but it was a nice break from some of the other deep and meaningful books I've been reading for this challenge :)

 

 

Does anyone have any other great books about home decorating etc that they would recommend? I'd love to hear from you! Just leave a comment here on the blog or tweet me @JuliadeRuiter

 

Julia

Give the people what they want!

For these school holidays the library offered craft activities like scrapbooking and bookmaking and boy, were they a hit! We haven't offered activities like this for a while and I was so happy with how popular they were. For me personally, it was a great 'out of comfort zone' experience. I love craft but haven't really taught it to a group of people as such. After talking with my colleague who is also the youth librarian, I decided to keep it really simple. I figured that the children probably wouldn't be that interested in all the finicky details. I/we were right! I did a brief introduction of what scrapbooking is all about, a show and tell of how I put a page together and what materials were available. After that chaos reigns! I'll let these pictures tell the rest of the story :) I'd love to hear some more school holiday tales, either here or on Twitter @JuliadeRuiter

Introducing what scrapbooking is all about

He made a sweet card for his Mum :)

Getting into the complicated side of things!

Explaining how colours work together.