This week on the web....

This week has been a bookish kind of week So here are some recommendations....

I've been looking for something to send a friend who is going through something tough and I think it's going to be The Red Tree by Shaun Tan.

At the library this week we heard this one: The Diggers Are Coming which Tama would totally recommend. It's ok but Roadwork is much better for your construction loving little people. What I would totally recommend though if you are a librarian doing story-time is reading the damn books to yourself first before you read them to the kids!!!

From Roadworks by Sally Sutton

At the book swap shop this week we got There was an Old Sailor which is a fishy version of There was an Old Lady who swallowed a fly. Lots of fun and fabulous illustrations!

I think I have recommended some of Sir Ken Robinson's Ted Talks before this week I have been reading and enjoying his book: Finding You Element. And I am really wishing that my local library also had The Element too.

I learned about Fox's Garden by Princesse Camcam on Brain Pickings. It's beautiful and I hope to get it soon.

Talking about Brain Pickings I thought the article on How Love Rewires the Brain was interesting and it would be interesting to read the book that the article references.

Who we are and who we become depends, in part, on whom we love.

I found the article on The Happiness Project Blog that touched on Addictions interesting in particular I liked the list of things that Behavioural Addiction are defined by. Was interesting to relate the things in the list to the things that I 'feel' like I am addicted to.

If you like interesting and weird flowers then this pinterest board is a goldmine of floral goodness! Funnily enough a few of them are flowers that I see most everyday. :-)

I'm not political or particularly interested in the mechanics of organisations like Unions but I did find the discussion of  unions from Teacher Tom's perspective informative and interesting especially considering the bashing the NZEI (NZ Primary Teacher's Union) is getting right now.

And while I am on the subject of teacher Tom my post of the week is: Deep Democracy. It's such a stunning example of why kids are awesome and some adults are so dumb. It reminds me of one of my favourite quotes. From The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery: “Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them”


It's a pretty sad state of affairs when the research suggests that young children are coming to school not able to hold a conversation because their parents are too busy to talk to them. Perhaps we need to team little kids up with some of the elderly and it will benefit us all.

I spoke on this blog a long time ago about Will's favourite humanitarian Cate Bolt. She started her own Orphanage in Indonesia. One of the ways she funds it is through her Etsy shops which sell amazing things. So this week I wanted to highlight her three Etsy's shops that help fund her work and the two that help fund her family.

BuFairtrade sells incredibly beautiful crocheted blankets which would totally be a heirloom item I'd love to give to a new baby or a newly married couple. Could totally imagine snuggling under one of these:

Cabo Pickles has a variety of cool textiles and art.

  Skull Buttonry is a treasure chest of scrappy goodness and also great for other crafters too. Cool buttons, charms, jewellery bits and bobs, beads and findings, cabochons, ribbons and trims.

The stores that support her family are 4815162342 which has tv show Lost inspired cushion covers. 

And PrettyFknEmbroidery. Cate describes it best: This shop contains items which may lead to pearl-clutching and raising the back of your hand to your forehead and gasping in dismay. If you don't like rude words you should probably look away.

 Talking about Etsy I loved this tutorial for Upcycled Book Art on their blog.

Some great ideas in this list of 100 ways to create sharper photos from Katrina Kennedy I need some more time to work through it, but I am already behind in my class at capture you 365 so I'll need to come back to it!

Talking about photos and things scrapbooky. This week I picked up some paper in both the real life and digital format that I am in love with. It's the dreamy Ocean Melody by Adrienne Looman in paper for Websters Pages and Digital at Snap Click Supply Co.

 And something a bit on the funny side to end the post with: