Scarlet by Stephen Lawhead: Day 3

Ooops, missed day 2...how embarrassing.

So today is a review of Hood, the first book in Stephen R Lawhead's Ravenking trilogy. Because that's the one I've read.



I have to start off by explaining something. I'm kind of a Robin Hood fangirl. It's pretty much my favourite folk tale and I was obsessed with it as a kid. I loved the Disney movie (although I was a wee bit disapointed that they were all animals...but what can you do?). I loved the computer game (I even made my own strategy guide, complete with drawings)...you get the idea. Many hours were spent running around in the forest (or any small grove of trees) pretending to be Maid Marian...

I've never quite outgrown it.

So when I found out that Stephen R Lawhead (who I've loved for almost as long, ever since Mom read us the Dragon King books as kids) had written a Robin Hood book my thought process was pretty much: Robin Hood + Lawhead = obviously the best book ever!

I think I'm trying to say that I might be a wee bit biased here.

Seriously though, this is an excellent book. The idea is that instead of just retelling the story, Lawhead did some research and came up with a theory as to what the origins of the legend could be. So it's not the Robin Hood you're used to reading about. His name is Bran, and he's a Welsh prince. When Normans kill his Father the King and take his land, Bran is forced to decide wether he will take responsibility for his people, or run away to safety.

I found the historical aspect of the book to be really interesting, and the story and characters are fantastic. So in conclusion. Go read Hood! Do it now! (why are you still here?!)


Also, as I was going to mention yesterday...if you want to know more about Lawhead or any of his books, you should check out his webpage. I think it's a fantastic site (and you should know by now that I don't say that about everyone!) and has some information about all his books as well as a bio and a forum :)

Also, you should read Byzantium, which used to be my favourite book by him :P

A Peek at my Bookshelf

Well, I just finished another blog re-design. This one was for Deena at A Peek at My Bookshelf. She wanted something booky and cute. I love it when people want cute!

So go check it out, and if you want a blog layout (makes a good christmas present!) send me an email or a comment as I've lots of time these days. My prices are quite reasonable and I have been known to work for books...and beads... I'm also still available for illustrations :)

Scarlet by Stephen Lawhead: Day 1

So for the blog tour this month we are reviewing Scarlet by Stephen Lawhead. This makes me want to cry a little bit because I never received it and I want to read it bad! Tragic. I did however read Hood, which is the first book in the trilogy and I loved it with an undying love, so check back tomorrow for a review of that. Maybe on Wednesday we could talk about what makes a Christian novel Christian...but maybe we've beaten that one to death already... In the meantime here's some links to keep you occupied:

Scarlet on Amazon
Stephen Lawhead's Website

And of course, the other lovely blog tour members:

Trish Anderson Brandon Barr Wayne Thomas Batson Jim Black Justin Boyer Grace Bridges Amy Browning Jackie Castle Valerie Comer CSFF Blog Tour D. G. D. Davidson Chris Deanne Jeff Draper April Erwin Linda Gilmore Beth Goddard Marcus Goodyear Andrea Graham Jill Hart Katie Hart Sherrie Hibbs Timothy Hicks Christopher Hopper Becca Johnson Jason Joyner Kait Karen Dawn King Tina Kulesa Mike Lynch Margaret Karen McSpadden Melissa Meeks Rebecca LuElla Miller Mirtika or Mir's Here Eve Nielsen John W. Otte John Ottinger Lyn Perry Deena Peterson Rachelle Cheryl Russel Ashley Rutherford Hanna Sandvig Chawna Schroeder James Somers Rachelle Sperling Steve Trower Speculative Faith Robert Treskillard Jason Waguespac Daniel I. Weaver Laura Williams Timothy Wise

Friday Five

Well...I'm still sick but I think I'm on the mend. I've been keep poor Craig up at night with my coughing though, which makes me feel pretty bad because he can usually sleep through anything :(

1)Monster Stockings by Crafty Robot :)



2)Line Tship. Adorable french illustrator.



3)Beautiful little hammered metal candle holders at VivaTerra.



4)Ahaha, knitted turkey hat for a baby!



5)Celeberty plusies by Kezzaroo...look, it's Mr T!

Who wants some art?

Let's play the good news/bad news game, shall we?

Good News: My car is fixed!
Bad News: It's still not insured because the fax from AMA came through all black!

Bad News: I'm so sick I coughed up blood this morning!
Good News: Between being diseased and carless I have lost 7 pounds!

Good News: I got time off over Christmas to spend with my lurvley family!
Bad News: I got a whole more time off then I wanted/can afford!

Life is exciting huh?

The moral of this story is that when I said I was too busy to take more commissions before Christmas I was apparently a big fat liar. So if anyone wants some art (makes a nice present!) drop me a comment or an email. Because I will apparently have all kinds of time and no kinds of money. Don't be afraid, my germs can't attack you through the computer.

And just to remind you how fun my art is, here's this year's Christmas card...which are in the mail to me as we speak from Moo-land!

A cool offer and a hacking cough

So it turns out that Anna Woltz, the creator of Wondertoast (as featured in the previous post) is not only talented and amusing but also the nicest girl ever. She has offered that if any of you lovely people want her (very cheap only $4) book, if you order it this month and mention that you saw it here, she will not only sign it for you, but also draw you a little picture in it! Does it get any better than that? I'm totally ordering one. Also you can use it as a colouring book :)

The hacking cough? My new fun cold symptom. Make it stop!

Friday Five!

Sorry about my lack of posts this week :( I've been sick (still am) and therefore hermitlike. Also I have done some art but I'm going to wait till it's December to post them as they are of a Christmasy nature.

1)Look at the little mushrooms! They are by Tamar Mogendorff and you can get them at Rose and Radish. I would buy one immediatly...if they weren't $54 per mushroom! Honestly.



2)Jeff Canham makes these cool paintings..each word is on a different block of wood, so they are all on different levels.



3)Wondertoast wonders about the Alphabet! I want this book and I don't even have kids yet. It goes through the alphabet learning about food from around the world. N is for Ningari! (psst, and there's t-shirts! K is for Kimchee!)



4)Mi So Happy shirt by Spicy Brown. Aaaah, I want this shirt!



5)Look at the pretty butterfly bookmarks :) by de de ce +

Personality Tests

Found the link off Karenee's blog :)



INTJ's are kinda scary, however CS Lewis was one, and he was The Man, so I guess I'm okay with it. What are you guys?

Saving my Pennies

So it's time. Time for a new camera. Well...more realistically it's time to be saving up for a new camera. I'm trying to save my art money and I've got about $200 at the moment...and a cheque in the mail (the cheque's in the mail, right?). So I'm getting somewhere. But before I arrive at my shiny new camera destination I need to figure out what it is. I was leaning towards the Canon XTi...because I have the film Rebel G and I've always liked it (it's still alive and well it's just...film). But everyone and their dog seems to have a Nikon. So conflicting! So, all you camera people out there (and I know you're out there), please let me know what camera you have and why you chose it out of all the pretty options. Help me make an informed decision.

I'm looking for a digital SLR, under $1000 (the more under the better, obviously). I mostly take pictures of nature and people, but I'd like to be able to take good indoor pictures...of food and the like. All the better to blog with my dear.

Because this point and shoot Kodak Easyshare that turns off when I zoom? A little limited.

Friday Five

1) Panda Bear Skillet! Huzzah!



2)Delightable is a pressure sensitive coffee table that lights up wherever you touch it!



3)Check out these finger puppets at Dwell Studio, I especially like the raccoon :)



4)Lapland Candelabra at Anthropologie, love love love.



5)Your Welcome Mat by Jeni Rodger. It's a bunch of letters and spaces that you use to create a welcome mat with whatever message you want :)

Stale popcorn is yummy, and other adventures

- Yes, I love stale popcorn...as does my brother. Dad used to make big batches of popcorn late at night and not eat it all and we'd find partial bowls of congealed buttery goodness the next morning and eat it for our prebreakfast. Mmmmmm. Whatever, don't judge me! *munches on her leftover popcorn*

- Yoga was super fun, the teacher was excellent and I remember a lot more than I thought I would. I'm very excited to be back at it.

- My car is not coming home for a bit yet. I mean, car? What car?

- Finished another commission! That leaves only a couple blog layouts and I'm all caught up. If your interested in commissioning me send me an email (hannasandvig at gmail.com) but if you want something finished before Christmas it'll cost you $50 extra because I am a buuuusy little girl. Here's Mirtika's character Selah...she was fun to do, especially the outfit, I would kill for that outfit.

Ahahahaha!

Perhaps this video is mostly funny if you're a designer...

Make my logo bigger cream

meh

Poor little insuranceless car. Sits in the parking lot. I think she's lonely :(. But she gets to go to the car doctor on Thursday and then hopefully it is only moments until she gets reinsured. I mean, I know I said I wanted to excercise more...but it's a loooong walk to work. The buses in Castlegar don't feel the need to run evenings and weekends. I signed up for Yoga (because I can take it for free! Yay for perks!) and it starts tomorrow. But do I really want to walk 45 min there and 45 min back for a one hour class on my day off? Maybe? Yikes. Well, I'm taking the bus to work today (but not back, because 7:00 is past the buses bedtime) so I will buy a yoga mat in my 1 1/2 hours of spare time downtown and leave it at work just in case.

I thought I was rich but it turns out that my rent cheque hasn't been cashed yet :(. Maybe they are waiting until Friday? That would be nice...

Enough senseless rambling for one day?

Oh oh, wait, here's a quick Pool Story for you all. We had a couple guys in the pool last night...who seemed quite recklessly cheerful. When we cleaned the changerooms later we found the liquor bottle to explain why...but the one guy had a tattoo on the very lower part of his back/right buttcheek (which I saw part of, lucky me...) which said "Your Name". So that he could walk up to girls and say "I have your name tattooed on my butt!"

Classy.

Mir, I'm almost done your commission! Hopefully tomorrow as it's my day off.

Family Portrait

Look, it's everyone's favourite family, The Muellers! They commissioned me to do a family portrait of them in my illustration style...which was a new one for me and a lot of fun. They're going to use them for Christmas cards, which I think is a super cute idea.

Here's what they actually look like (and yes Am did get a hair cut for real, it's not just me being crazy):



Aw, I miss you guys!

Friday Five!

1) DanceWriter by Typotheque...you type in a word and watch the little man make the letters. Strangely amusing.



2)Oeuf Squeeze-Me Mittens at giggle. They're made so that you can hold little hands!




3) Bacon Bandaids! No explanation needed.



4)Le Train Fantôme makes such cute plushies...I want the bird!



5)Modern Gingerbread House by RedEnvelope...because Christmas is lurking just around the corner! *dances with glee*