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Paperie for Inspired Living Book Review and Giveaway

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No matter what your fiber of choice, you will stockpile inspiration from Karen Bartolomei’s “Paperie for Inspired Living”.  First off this book is a beautiful hard covered addition for your library and brilliantly illustrated.  Each page holds divine designs from stunning invitations, awesome decorations, gift tags, place holders and so many ideas even for the budget conscious crafter.  If you have never created a card this book will force you to make one or several and you will never want to buy a card or invitation again.  Karen shows us how to customize and coordinate fabulous paper products for any occasion from the most elegant event to your most casual outdoor picnic.     Each chapter contains several projects, from the all important invitation to smaller touches like labels, tags, and keepsakes. How unforgettable your personal stationary be when Karen demonstrates step-by-step how to make a monogrammed, Thank-You cards, Mailing Labels, Business Cards, Letterhead, and Note Cards. The chapter on New Year’s Eve projects includes Invitations, Menus, Resolution Sign-in/Postcards and Drink Signs.

Karen also offers us vital advice for invitation wording and etiquette, and provides tips for throwing unforgettable parties, like choosing a color scheme and ideas for breaking the ice.  She has also thoughtfully included several useful templates and source ideas as to where we can purchase your materials for these paper fiber creations.  I am sure you all have some of the materials needed for many of her projects in your craft areas.  Have this book on hand as the summer fades and fall explodes into radiant colors signifying holiday parties are close at hand and the gifts and cards desired that will bring you back to this book over and over for ideas.  Maybe you saw something in the book and stored it in your mind for a special occasion and you know just where to find it and put your own spin on Karen’s idea.

Are you getting married in the near future and need invitation and planning ideas?  Well, you do not have to spend a fortune using ideas from Karen’s book.  “Paperie for Inspired Living” can be pre-ordered today at Amazon.com or nay of the favorite book stores.  The release date is July 7th 2009 so put your order in today. 

Karen Bartolomei’s 

Here is a lovely video by Karen Bartolomei of Grapevine grapevinepaperie.com, she designs elegant and expensive wedding invitations. This video will offer a little about Karen and above is also the link to her site.  Now you can reproduce some of her stunning ideas by using this book.

For this giveaway, in the comment area, tell what event you are planning and why this book would be a money saver for you.  This giveaway will begin July 1, 2009 through July 12, 2009.  Good luck!

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Learn about China for Kids

China is such a big country with such a long history we can’t possibly cover it all in one blog post, but let’s get to the basics of the People’s Republic of China for kids.

China Basics

  • China is a country in East Asia and is the second-most populous nation in the world, with a population of more than 1.4 billion people. That’s 17.4 percent of the world’s population.
  • Its area is 3.7 million square miles, or almost 9.6 million square kilometers, which makes it the third largest nation by land area. It borders 14 countries: North Korea, Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam. It also borders Hong Kong and Macao, which are considered special administrative regions. Its land border is the longest of any country at 13,954 miles, or 22,457 km. It also has a 9,000 mile/14,500 km border on the Pacific Ocean. 
  • China has been inhabited by humans since the Paleolithic Era and is considered one of the cradles of civilization.
  • Gunpowder and paper, among many other things, were invented in China.
  • The country has been the People’s Republic of China since 1949 when Communists took control of the country. It is a one party socialist republic, where the leader of the Communist Party is the president.
  • Beijing is the capital but Shanghai is the largest city by population (and Chongqing is the largest by physical size).
  • The nation is 91 percent ethnically Han Chinese, and about 33 percent of the people are Buddhist.
  • Because it is so large it has many different climates, including deserts, subtropical forests, mountains, coastal and river environments, grasslands and plateaus.

Chinese National Symbols

The Chinese flag is red with a large gold star and four smaller gold stars in the upper left corner. The flag was adopted in 1949. Red represents the revolution, and the large star stands for the Chinese Communist Party. The smaller starts are for the unity of different classes of Chinese people.

The national anthem, “March of the Volunteers,” became the official national anthem in 1978. The lyrics were part of a poem written in 1934 about armies that opposed the Japanese invasion of Manchuria.

There are many symbols of Chinese heritage including the Great Wall of China, Tiananmen Square and the terracotta warriors.

Chinese dragons and pandas are also considered symbols of the country, and the panda is the national animal. Plum blossoms and chrysanthemums are popular flowers. Unofficially, the red-crowned crane or Manchurian crane is the national bird.

Chinese Learning Activities for Kids

There are so many options for activities related to China, but here are a few things to get you started.

Pack More into Life has a great China unit study broken down into three days that includes crafts, food, music, folktales and more.

Mr. Donn has a great set of informative pages about ancient China, including an introduction to Confucius, Taoism, Buddhism, the major dynasties, oracle bones, cultural achievenemts and more.

Learn more about the Great Wall of China, the terracotta soldiers, and the giant panda. You can even throw a panda party with help from Red Ted Art. Or have kids build their own Great Wall of China with this activity from How Wee Learn.

Play Mahjong online or learn the basic rules of mahjong (not very basic!).

Learn about the lunar new year, make dragon crafts and snake crafts for the year of the snake (2025).

Check out more activities at Activity Village and Teachers Pay Teachers.

It’s hard to say what the national dish of China might be because it’s so large and diverse, but one you can make at home is Hot Pot. Check out the recipe from The Woks of Life. Listen to some traditional Chinese music while you eat!