How To Window Box: Small-Space Plants to Grow Indoors or Out Book Review

I received this book free to facilitate this review. Affiliate links may be in this posting. Thanks for supporting my blog.

Chantal Aida Gordon & Ryan Benoit are authors of the popular garden blog, The Horticult. It chronicles their learning experience about gardening and design. I personally love their blog and want to incorporate more of a "plant-infused lifestyle" into my everyday existence.

You don't have to have a lot of space to garden and window boxes create the perfect space for plants both outside and inside your window sill. Chantal Aida Gordon & Ryan Benoit's new book, How To Window Box: Small-Space Plants to Grow Indoors or Out, is a nod towards traditional container gardening, but with some exuberant flair. The book takes window boxes and breaths new life into them.

Book Contents.

This small hardback book is just under 6 x 9 – and less than 180 pages, but has a tremendous amount of  information. There are 16 total designs that this tiny book features: from herbs to succulents to carnivorous plants, to jungle plants to woodland plants and other plants in between. This book has a window box for everyone. Projects range from super simple to challenging. This book shows how to: choose plants, know where to purchase them, arrange them, cultivate them, make window boxes for them, use lighting, know how much to water them, know where these plants will likely thrive, fertilize them, prune them, do other fun projects to maximize your space, etc. The photos are colorful and inviting and help give reference to the plants and completed window box projects.

Inside Sneak Peek.

I am loving this gardening book! I highly recommend it to others that: don't have a lot of space to garden, need more ideas for container gardening, want to bring more plants indoors, want to brighten your window spaces, or just love gardening. I can't wait to try out the projects in this book!

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BUY IT
You can purchase How To Window Box on Amazon for $10.52 (at time of post).



DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: Thanks to Blogging For Books for sending me this book for free to review. My thoughts are mine and my family's own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else. I did not receive any other compensation for doing this review. Affiliate links may be in this posting. Thanks for supporting my blog.

Sarah Rosedahl Books Review

Sarah Rosedahl is artist, author, and illustrator for Sloggers Rain Boots and Garden Shoes. She loves to draw and paint farm animals and birds. Living in Vermont on a small farm, she gets inspiration from wildlife and agriculture of Vermont's Lake Champlain Islands. She loves to paint in watercolor, acrylic, and mixed media. This is one very talented lady!

Sarah is also the author and artist behind the coloring books: Difficult Chickens, Difficult Sheep & Friends, and Chickens! Illustrated Chicken Breeds A to Z, as well as the Chickens! Illustrated Chicken Breeds A to Z book. These have such fun illustrations! I have admired her work on the Sloggers and love this set of books! The color books have pages printed on one side to prevent bleed through to the next page. Now you can get the newly redesigned covers! The interior illustrations all remain the same as before. I love the whimsical nature of the pictures. I have greatly enjoyed the fun and lighthearted details of these coloring book and love to put color to the pages. The pages are pretty enough to frame as well.

Orpington begins to take color in Difficult Chickens Color Book.

Difficult Chickens is an intricate coloring book that is inspired by the Chickens! Illustrated Chicken Breeds A to Z books and Zentangle designs. These decorative pages are home to 26 breeds of chickens that are alphabetically organized from A-Z and two chicks. Since I keep my own chickens I have started collecting fanciful chicken things. This is a lovely addition to my collection.

Llama in the Difficult Sheep & Friends Color Book.

For the lover of ruminants, camelids, bovids, and more, Difficult Sheep & Friends is a fun, elaborate coloring book that has great appeal for all ages. I especially love the whimsical interpretations of all these neat animals. This includes 26 sheep and fiber-producing animals that are friends of the fiber arts trade. I love all things yarn myself and I have two llamas! Sheep breeds include: Border Leicester, Cheviot, Icelandic, Lincoln, Merino, Oxford Down, Rough Fell, Rambouillet, Scottish Blackface, and Shetland. Friends include: Alpaca, Angora Rabbits, Angora Goat, Bison, Bactrian Camel, Cashmere Goat, Highland Cow, Horse, Llama, Muskox, Old English Sheepdog, Pygora Goat, Vicuna and Yak. Great for adult coloring enthusiasts everywhere.

Orpingon to color in the Chickens! Illustrated Chicken Breeds A to Z Coloring Book.

  
Chickens! Illustrated Chicken Breeds A to Z Coloring Book is a great addition to the set. It has 40 pages of chicken breeds, decorative chickens, friends and foes to color. These are mostly the outlines of the chickens and other critters. It shows a picture and specific breed or animal name on most pages. Although there are a few with designs on them, these are certainly not as intricate as the Difficult Chickens book. I love how you can either match the colors to the actual breed, design your own chicken or other animal with Zentangle art, or just color the animals how you want. The sky's the limit. Great for chicken lovers everywhere!

Zari found the Orpington in the Chickens! Illustrated Chicken Breeds A to Z book.

Chickens! Illustrated Chicken Breeds A to Z is a great children's book. It has pretty colorful illustrations that are accompanied by the breed of the chicken and fun facts about them. Some of these fun water-colored illustrations are the same as the ones on the Sloggers Rain Boots and Garden Shoes. I was eggstatic to get this book and I love to look at the many different varieties. Some are even rare breeds! So pretty! My favorite has to be the Orpington because we have a Buff Orpington that we named Buffy and she is one of my daughter's favorite chickens out of our 11.

Zari with our Buff Orpington March 2016 when she was a chick.

BUY IT


DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: I received these books for free to facilitate this review. My thoughts are mine and my family's own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else. I did not receive any other compensation for doing this review. Affiliate links may be in this posting. Thanks for supporting my blog.

Free Online Intro to Permaculture Course from OSU

Intro to Permaculture is a free, four-week course provided online by Open Oregon State University that teaches the process, ethics and principles of permaculture (sustainable landscape design). This course is taught by Andrew Millison who brings more than 20 years of experience in permaculture design and has a M.A. in Horticultural Preservation, and B.A. in Ecological Design and Sustainability.

Starts: Monday, May 2, 2016
Ends: Monday, May 30, 2016
Cost: Free


I have signed up myself and am going to be taking this free course. I am also going to try my hand at getting the badge that is offered for completion by doing and handing in all assignments. The course is launching Monday, but you can register anytime through this Friday, May 5!

DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: I wrote this blog post because I thought you might be interested in knowing this information and taking part of this free course. My thoughts are mine and my family's own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else. I did not receive any compensation for doing this post.

ZOOB Glow Dinos: The Moving Mind Building Modeling System Review

I received ZOOB Glow Dinos free to facilitate this review. Affiliate links may be in this posting. Thanks for supporting my blog.

ZOOB, from Alex Brands, is a fantastic toy that is based on a natural and living system. It lets your child or inner child create neat jointed 3D structures, geodesic shapes, and organic formations. This toy is so versatile that you can construct unlimited designs and make them able to move. There are 5 separate pieces that snap, click or pop together 20 different ways to form joints that rotate, axles that spin, limbs that extend, and so much more! It is truly an interactive engineering experience. Sets are recommended for ages 6 and up. Let your imagination run wild!

The ZOOB Glow Dinos Kit has instructions with it to build 6 distinct dinosaurs. It comes with 250 pieces total, 239 classic colored ZOOB pieces and 11 glow-in-the-dark ZOOB pieces. Learn to put together Baby Raptor, Mega Raptor, Z-Rex, ZOOBasaurus, ZOOB-Dactyl, and Stegosaurus. It has a cardboard carrying case with a handle and Velcro closures that stores all the pieces neatly within it.

Teela playing with the ZOOB Glow Dinos.

When I got this out for my children to play with they were excited, as was I. We had seen this toy on the shelves on display at the store, but never before seen it in action. My daughter Teela, who is eight on the 15th of April, (this is an early birthday gift for her) started building a Baby Raptor. She had a bit of trouble on the very last section where the head and neck pieces came together, but up until that point the instructions were very clear to her.

My kids playing with the ZOOB Glow Dinos.

After she made her first dinosaur my other kids joined in the fun and started creating their own ideas. My boys have awesome engineering expertise that they have acquired from their father who is going to school right now for mechanical engineering and all my kids love building and construction toys. They were fascinated by this toy, played with the set for hours, and just kept building these really fantastical things. My husband also played with the ZOOB Glow Dinos pieces and gave the toy a huge thumbs up which is something amazing from him because he likes to be a critic.

You can build all kinds of extraordinary things with this set because of the amount of pieces that comes with it. Also, we absolutely love that some of the pieces glow-in-the-dark. It makes things like the Dino eyes so much more eerie when they are looking at you. I think this set would look so cool under a black-light. Even though this set is all about dinosaurs you can make just about anything you can imagine with it. The possibilities are limitless.

BUY IT
Right now you can purchase this toy for only $34.45 on Amazon.com! That is more than half the retail price of $79.99 that Alex Brands has it listed for!




Zoob Glow Dinos are also available at Discoverystores for $44.95.

DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: I received this product for free to facilitate this review. My thoughts are mine and my family's own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else. I did not receive any other compensation for doing this review. Affiliate links may be in this posting. Thanks for supporting my blog.

LivingPlug Energy Efficient INLET with Faceplate Review

This review is sponsored by LivingPlug. This post contains affiliate links which means I may receive a commission if you click a link and make a purchase. Thank you for supporting my blog!

INLET is San Francisco-based LivingPlug's multi-use, energy efficient and child-proof outlet and USB source. The INLET comes with a screw to attach it to the outlet and has tamper-resistant outlets so it is safer. It turns a standard outlet into three receptacles plus a 2.1 USB charger and features the “UNplug button” which shuts off power and eliminates the need to physically UNplug devices from the outlet, thus reducing “Vampire Charges” caused when electronics suck power even when turned off. LivingPlug estimates consumers can reduce their electrical bill 15-25% by using the “UNplug” button. What a great way to take a bite out of utility bills!

Besides being very functional and practical their INLET is also decorative. Outlets are in every room and they don't have to be boring. You can make them fabulous looking with INLET faceplates and enhance the aesthetics of your home. Faceplates cover the outside of the INLET to match your home decor. LivingPlug has hundreds of designs that you can pick from ranging from nature scenes, graphic prints, noted artists, inspirational quotes, holiday and seasonal, as well as a line of children's inspired looks. You can choose from several Halloween-inspired designs like: a Happy Pumpkin, Silly Ghost, Haunted House, Black Cat, and variety of fall scenes to decorate before the first Trick-or-Treaters arrive. Additionally, the company offers a line of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and other holiday season designs. LivingPlug also offers an option to create a customized faceplate for you as well: upload a personal photo, school mascot, favorite quote, or child's artwork, etc. for them to make you a unique design. These faceplates are a duplex electric outlet cover, printed domestically on an ABS faceplate. The Faceplate is super easy to place onto the INLET, just slide the ABS formed brackets that are on the back of the frame onto the INLET front chrome pins. You can interchange these faceplates with one another so you can change the decor of your home with the seasons, holidays, or your mood.

From left to right: The front of the INLET and back of the faceplate, The back of the INLET and front of the Pin Oak faceplate.

I received an INLET with a Pin Oak faceplate. This design is by Seymour Leichman and Riverside Park illustrations and is of a lovely tree. I love this design because it fits with my love of nature and goes with the fall and autumn season well.

LivingPlug INLET with Pin Oak Faceplate. Coffee maker and reader plugged into it.

There are a few problems some outlets and plugs have using the INLET. The INLET only plugs into a three prong outlet. Unfortunately, if you have an older home with two prong outlets you will not be able to use the INLET. Also, if your three prong outlets are installed in an incorrect orientation (upside down or sideways) you will have issues using the INLET with the faceplate unless you choose a faceplate that can be oriented upside down or sideways also and still look the normal (there are actually quite a few to choose from like this). The faceplate can be put on the INLET "wrong" so that it plugs into an upside down outlet and be right side up, but then the faceplate covers the INLET outlets so you cannot plug anything in. There is a lip on the faceplate that even when put on correctly still won't let larger plugs plug into the INLET outlets. You could plug these bulkier plugs into the bottom without the faceplate on, but then the INLET is very plain and you still might not be able to use all three outlets at once because of the close proximity of the three plugs.

Problems some outlets and plugs have using the INLET.

I believe LivingPlug INLET is a revolutionary product when used with the proper outlets and plugs. It is ideal for people that want to upgrade their 3 prong outlets into something more: functional, practical, beautiful, and safe. The LivingPlug INLET, by itself or with the faceplate, would make a great gift for someone as well.

The LivingPlug INLET is super affordable. It retails for $25 and each faceplate is sold separately from the INLET and other LivingPlug base products for an additional $25. To learn more about the INLET and faceplate designs or to purchase, please visit LivingPlug.

BUY IT!


DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: I received this product for free to facilitate this review. My thoughts are mine and my family's own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else. I did not receive any other compensation for doing this review. This post contains affiliate links which means I may receive a commission if you click a link and make a purchase. Thank you for supporting my blog!

Invent It Board Game

I would like to introduce y'all to a unique board game called Invent It. This game is great for anyone looking to plug into their creative, imaginative, inventive, nerdy or entrepreneurial side. It is great for homeschoolers, teachers, parents, families, children, or really anyone who likes to play board games. My husband's cousin, Ross, designed this game. Please go check it out on Kickstarter. Your support in backing this project will help with the production tremendously. Thanks!

"Unleash your inner genius with this unique game! Invent, build, draw & describe your invention with healthy competition, trivia & more!"

DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER:  This is a shameless plug for my husband's cousin. My thoughts are mine and my family's own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else. I did not receive any compensation for posting this. I did, however; back the project myself and would love it if you would do the same. Thank you for your support.

Pony Feathers - My Shameless Plug For My Husband

My husband owns a business called Pony Feathers. He has a CNC (computer controlled) router (ShopBot) with which he can make you beautiful custom woodworking: signs, doors, boats, cabinetry, furniture, etc. His specialty are signs and plaques, but in the past he has made other things like: doors, a medallion for a wood floor, a partitioned bowl all cut in one piece, fireplace mantel, a rocking chair, burl mirrors and tables, trivets, custom fencing, etc. He loves thinking outside the box and working with his clients to make something truly special and unique for them.

Here are some pictures of some signs he has done. Most of these signs are located in and around Reedsport, Oregon because we lived there for a while. If you have visited Reedsport you probably would have seen at least one of these signs. From left to right and top to bottom: Thai sign in Winchester Bay (we made both top and bottom portions), Rainier Days in the Park sign for our local Chevron gas station, Portland General Electric Beaver Generating Station plaque made for a retiring friend at his work (the top lettering is raised, the metal is inset and the bottom lettering is carved out), Rowan's Apothecary & Cafe sign (again the leaf pattern and larger words are raised and the smaller words at the bottom are inset), Kidz Place sign (a transitional sign for a children's consignment and resale shop in Rainier Oregon. The bear and the block letters are raised and the letters at the bottom are inset. Then it was painted by hand), Beartown Carvings sign (made for a good friend of ours, Brad Sharp, that is a chainsaw carver for his shop), Pepa and Preston's House sign (a simple sign in different fonts), Mr. Beans sign (except for the letters this sign is cut out of a single piece of plywood. This was a fun one for him to design and watch his machine cut!), lighthouse sign made by my husband and I for the L.U.H. Home Health Hospice in Reedsport Oregon, large Hahn Memorial Park sign in Reedsport Oregon (did in conjunction with our friend Brad Sharp: Brian did the lettering and Brad did the faces on it), Jim Barrone Memorial Fields sign in Reedsport Oregon (also did in partnership with our friend Brad Sharp: Brian did the lettering and Brad did the faces on it), Flag and Blanket  People sign (we made in trade for some dolphin/whale blankets).

Here are some pictures of other woodworking projects he has done. From left to right and top to bottom: trivet with the tiles set into a piece of wood and the design of the tiles continuing into the wood as a carved design, a Myrtle wood saddle for the a Radio Flyer rocking horse (this is unfinished), the saddle again now on the horse and finished, a burl mirror, a dolphin carved out of a gorgeous piece of Myrtle wood, an eagle engraved into a beautiful piece of Burly Maple, our son's derby cars for Boy Scouts: a serpent and an alligator, a rocking chair, a burl, a church door in Reedsport Oregon for the local Episcopal Church, and part of a dolphin fence gate. Unfortunately we do not have pictures of some of the things he has made, among them are: the fireplace mantel, partitioned bowl and the medallion for a wood floor.

Right now we only have a Facebook page for our business and would love some more likes. Please if you like what you see here give us some Facebook love. Thank you!

Dawson Park in Portland, Oregon

As I was going to an appointment for my 4 year old daughter at Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital in Portland, Oregon we passed a park that had this beautiful gazebo. I immediately fell in love with it. The park is called Dawson Park and it is at N Stanton St & Williams Ave if you ever have the chance of going. The gazebo that was built in 1978 was made from a 120 year-old cupola salvaged from the Hill Block Building that was torn down. Renovated in 2008 it is absolutely my favorite thing about the park! Here is a picture of it that I found online. I will have to go back and actually get some pictures of my own to share with all of you as well. If anyone has pictures of this gazebo please share them with me. Thanks!

Architecture

There are things that I love in architectural design a lot. I love arches, spanish /oriental tile roofing, mosaics, stained glass, greenhouse windows, bay windows, oriel windows, palladian windows, fanlights, skylights, etc.

I love organic architecture that incorporates nature and the outdoors so that the house looks like it blends in with the surroundings. I love the Neoeclectic, or Neo-eclectic style because it incorporates many styles. I would put together styles of old world, moroccan, persian, mediterranean, tropical, and tuscan with a hint of african, hawaiian, and oriental.

If I had my dream house landscape I would use lanterns as indoor and outdoor lighting. I would have a large yard with a swimming pool oasis. It would have a waterfall falling into or out of the pool maybe with a waterslide going into it also. I also would love a jetted hot tub. In my yard would have a gazebo with a chiminea and sitting area. I would have a greenhouse for my garden of flowers, herbs, vegetables, and fruits. My deck/patio would have an outdoor brick oven, a canopy for shade, and an entertaining area. I would have room to have horses and/or mini ponies.