Tag Archives: ideas

How to get FREE Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) Books from NetGalley

by Sparkbark | Leave a comment

I had signed up for NetGalley years ago, but had never pursued receiving a FREE Advanced Reader Copy (known as an ARC) of a book because…life…but as I was browsing book reviews on Goodreads, I noticed several great books had been reviewed by ARC readers and I wanted IN on the latest and greatest — and to follow my favorite authors. Here’s how I got my first ARC books to read from NetGalley:

  1. Create an account at NetGalley.com.
  2. Fill out your profile AS COMPLETELY AS POSSIBLE! This helps publishers confidently approve you to review their ARCs. Registration does ask for a business name, but you can be an Amazon or Goodreads consumer book reviewer.
  3. Choose the categories you are most interested in reading about — I selected nearly EVERY category and there were plenty of books to choose from!
  4. Connect your social media accounts: Goodreads, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
  5. Browse the books available and select whichever ones interest you. To increase your chances of receiving an ARC, you may want to choose lesser known authors or niche-markets such as cooking, biography, or knitting — whatever appeals to you!
  6. I received 2 of my first 4 ARC requests within the first 24 hours!

You can even request audiobooks IF you request them through netgalley.com on a browser THEN listen to them in their mobile app – easy!

Join me on Goodreads here!

First: Create an account through NetGalley.com on a browser.
Once you’ve got your ARCs, install the NetGalley mobile app

Have fun reading! Let me know how long before you received your first ARC. #ARC #amreading #books #publishers #publishing

Favorite Knitting Ideas

by Sparkbark | Leave a comment

I was going through a VERY old hard drive on my computer and ran across this batch of ideas for things to knit. This was so long ago that I have completely lost the source of the images to give them credit. I am going to share them here but, please, if you find they are yours, do let me know so I can attribute them correctly and so that many others can find their way to the actual pattern or source for some of these wonderful knitting ideas!

knitideas8

knitideas7

knitideas6

knitideas5

knitideas4

knitideas3

knitideas1

felt crochet on the go

knitideas2

bokaclavajr devil knit mask

Link Love & Giveaways for a Rainy Wednesday

by Sparkbark | Leave a comment

It’s a wonderfully rainy day in Houston today and I have lots on my plate. Mainly getting my office straightened up – still – so I thought I’d just share with you some wonderful links including great ideas and giveaways. Hope you enjoy them! They’re from some of my favorite sites to visit when the need for inspiration strikes.

Grosgrain Fabulous always offers the most beautiful creations. Now she’s offering a poppy boutonniere, but even if you don’t win, there’s always the tutorial on how to make the beautiful things. Click on her link and be sure to check out the blue one attached to the pillow – gorgeous!

Dudecraft made a bookshelf from an old ladder – I don’t know how practical this would be with children shaking walls and all but it looks fantastic, doesn’t it? And oh so clever. I love repurposed things.

So I’ve been searching for what to put in my kids’ lunch boxes other than the usual fare and I ran across this idea from Bakerella (isn’t that site wonderful?!): pancake muffins. With chocolate chips. Sounds like something my kids would eat and it’s not quite as sinful as a full-on brownie for lunch. Sometimes you do whatever you can to get calories in a child or they would not eat at all.


If you have thousands of extra dollars, be sure to check out Get Back‘s website full of beautiful vintage chairs, tables, you-name-it. It’s a fun reminiscent kind of thing and the restoration of the items has been just lovely. It would be kind of nice to step back in time…but we probably wouldn’t appreciate it like we don’t appreciate our current design trends. Anyway – it is surely fun to look around the site!

The Long Thread has this adorable little house pouch. I just love this cute design.

Design Sponge has the cutest lunchbox creation. And it actually looks like something I could do! But I’m not sure if it’s something any of my B-O-Y-S would carry to school or use. Maybe if I made a camo lunch box out of other repurposed fabric. But I do love this notebook version.

Wool & Hoop make the cutest crewel-work kits. The only crewel thing about it (ha! I crack myself up!) is that I don’t do crewel work. But the work is just gorgeous, no?

Artist Jeni B. Gochnour makes adorable festive fall and Christmas holiday items, doesn’t she? What great faces these characters have!

Cathe Holden of Something I Just Made created these items from pictures of a cherished quilt. What a great way to remember the quilt in a more permanent fashion.

There. I think that’s enough browsing for today. Hope you enjoyed some of the links!

Great Quilting Ideas!

by Sparkbark | Leave a comment

Blogs continually inspire me. Here are a few great quilting ideas I ran across this morning. I cannot wait to get sewing again – even if I don’t quilt. I just might convert someday. The rag letters are adorable!

This Polka Dot Quilt Tutorial qfrom And Other Silly Things is beautiful!

What a great way to “plan” a random quilt by Oh Fransson.

Whip Up has listed some resources for free quilt patterns.

Oh So Happy Together had a great, easy tutorial for quilted rag letters.

Craft / Sewing / Knitting Room Storage Ideas

by Sparkbark | Leave a comment

I ran across a few articles with some great ideas on craft room storage. Check out these pictures and follow the links to the original postings for even more ideas! Hope they spark a little cleaning on your craft room! The pictures above are from Apartment Therapy. There’s also a fabulous video or two showcasing her studio on Anne’s Crafty Storage blog here.

New Knitting Magazine: Knitscene

by Sparkbark | Leave a comment

I have a thing for magazines. Even if I never get all of the projects done! This new Knitscene magazine looks interesting – I love the cover project! Wish I were 18 years old again so I could wear most of the stuff!

Before & After: Simple & Spectacular Design!

by Sparkbark | Leave a comment

Just received my latest issue and it’s always a lovely surprise in my email. I have been subscribing to Before & After for a very long time. It’s cheap ($24/yr for the online version) and short (easily read!) and is usually stuff I already know but presented in such a way that it gets the creative juices flowing again. This mag would be perfect for any kind of designer: print, web, scrapbook, fabric, you name it! You can check out the mag here and the design blog here. Bonus – the blog is holding a design contest for a boring book! Check it out. It’s all about the ideas, baby…

My Mummy Halloween Ideas

by Sparkbark | 1 Comment

Okay – I couldn’t find my mummy cupcakes (they were like Kara’s except the lines were mostly horizontal only having chocolate cupcake underneath and leaving a swath where the eyes would be so you could just peek at the cupcake and then having red dots for the eyes). They were cute but I have no witnesses – sorry!


I did find an old mummy cheese log surrounded by crackers that I had made for a church event. You can make any recipe cheese log you’d like. Pre-made and purchased worked great for me. Just make a savory cream cheese based dip, fill your piping tube and mummify the orange cheese. Olives for “eyes” and other veggie accoutrements work great, too. Use your imagination!


One of my favorite magazines for a Mom with and a home based business is Working Mother. I no longer subscribe but they have the best time-saving tips, recipes, etc. I think every Mom should read it – just to save time (isn’t every mother strapped for time?). I don’t think I got this costume idea from there, but…one of the easiest, cheapest and cutest costume ideas I’ve ever seen was this mummy – this was Jack in 2006. So very scary. Ah, the memories…they are growing too quickly for sure!

Kara’s Cupcakes – Halloween Ideas

by Sparkbark | 1 Comment

I was out to lunch yesterday with a friend and we stopped by the bookstore to look at some quilting and knitting and design books and she said, “What is up with cupcakes? They are everywhere these days!” and I’m not sure what I replied but I wholeheartedly agree. They are everywhere – and for good reason. It’s the perfect little sugar package.

Fast forward to this morning, I open my email and another friend, Kara, has started a new blog. Kara is the sweetest (and one of the prettiest) girls you’ll ever know. It makes complete sense that everything she makes is ultra sweet and adorable. She had more talent in her pinky toe when we met (she was 10 and I was 20) and she still could teach me a few things. Anyway – her new blog is all about cupcakes and I wanted to share her beautiful creations with you! There’s some adorable Halloween ideas here. I made the mummy cupcakes a couple of years ago – I’ll see if I can’t dig out a picture of my own from way back when!

Another Beautiful Set of Cupcakes…

Another adorable blog that is one part sugar, one part presentation is Amy Atlas. I do not personally know her but wish I did!

UK Pub: Photoshop Creative

by Sparkbark | Leave a comment

HPIM2221.JPG

Field trip to Barnes & Noble last night. Always dangerous, pocketbook-wise. The kids each got to choose a book and I walked out with two issues of a British pub: Photoshop Creative. Very nice! At $15 each, not cheap but great content. I was looking for ideas for a catalog cover on my plate this week. I don’t scrap but, oddly enough, found some of the best cover from the latest issue of Digital Scrapbooking magazine. Who knew? Fun stuff!