Photo by goXunuReviews

I’ve mentioned before that I own a Kindle and was going to post a review. I haven’t posted it yet because, despite owning my Kindle for over a year, it’s taken me until now to really decide how I feel about it. I’ve also owned a Sony Reader so will review that as well. But first I thought I should explain why I made the switch from paper books to ebooks.

I am a book lover. I love the smell of a new book. I love the feel of a book. I love the weight and the texture. I like to play with the pages as I’m reading. You can’t get that with an electronic book. I’ll keep my tree killing, space taking, paper books thank-you-very-much. This is probably the biggest objection I hear to ebook readers. “You can’t get the same experience from a cold, unfeeling piece of plastic” and it’s true.

But…

Did you know you can put thousands of books on an ebook reader? That’s a whole library full. A LIBRARY! And you can take them ALL with you. Everywhere.

Photo by ccacnorthlib

At any given time I have 20-30 books checked out of the library. Business books, craft books, writing books, organizing books, cook books, fiction books… I never know what I’m going to be in the mood to read. Anytime we go out of town, even just for a few days, I have to decide which books to bring, and which to leave home. What if this story is lame? What if it’s so good I can’t put it down and I finish it before the trip’s over? What if I’m I the mood to work on my writing, or what if I get motivated and want to learn how to improve my business? I will be so bummed if I don’t have the right book with me! So I used to pack a bag with the top 10 (or 15, I’m not a very good decision maker) and will probably need shoulder surgery some day because of it. (I couldn’t even go to my daughter’s soccer games without at least two books because, what if?) And that’s why I made the switch from paper to electronic books.

Most ebook readers use e-ink. It’s really amazing stuff. The words are so crisp and clear, very much like words on paper. When I turned my Kindle on for the first time I looked at the screen from every angle for at least half an hour trying to figure out how it worked. (Ok, maybe only 3 or 4 minutes but it felt like a long time. And no, I never did figure out how it worked.) There’s no backlight or anything so it’s just… amazing! How do they do that? Go to Best Buy or Target or Barnes and Noble, anywhere that has ebooks on display, and check them out. Even after a year I am still amazed.

Photo by Horia Varlan

There are some things that I miss about paper books, though. You know how you can flip through the pages to find a diagram or a phrase that you know is on the right side towards the middle of the book? You can’t do that with an ebook. Well, you can, but it’s slow. This is the one time I really miss my paper books.

I just remembered that there’s a search function so you can search for a particular word within a book. I haven’t used it but will see if that helps and report back.

Another thing I miss about paper books is… um… color pictures?

So color, smell and flipability. That’s what paper books have on ebooks.

Oh, and about 5,000 pounds.

I know everyone’s trying to cut back on their holiday spending this year and I’m here to help. Today I’m going to share some super easy, inexpensive and nice gifts you can make this year. I know crafts are tacky and cheap looking sometimes but I think I’ve found some really great gifts you can be proud to give. I would be thrilled to receive any one of them.

Note: I am not creative. I couldn’t come up with a new creative idea if my life depended on it, but I’m a very good copy cat. I’ve gotten these ideas from other bloggers and will include links. A lot of these were found at Just a Girl’s “I Can Make That” Party. Thanks Chris!

First, Scrabble tile pendants courtesy of Homestudio and MakeandTakes.com.

These are really cute and don’t cost much to make. It’s a bit of an investment to gather all of the supplies. If you’re making several it turns out to be a pretty inexpensive but impressive gift. Even buying them pre-made from Homestudio is a good deal. It will definitely look like you spent more on the gift than you did.

For the little kids on your list – I Spy Bags.

Heck, I want a couple of these for myself! They’re basically little pillows filled with beads or rice and small items – shaped buttons, coins – anything small enough to fit in the bag and hide among the filling. I’ve even seen one with scrabble tiles – letters on one side and a picture of familiar faces on the other. You sew a window into the bag using clear vinyl (found at fabric stores) and attach a list of hidden items. The child (or adult in my case) then tries to find as many items as they can. You could include a timer so they can see how many they can find in a certain amount of time. I plan to give these in pairs so that the child can compete with someone else if they want to. Tutorials can be found here, here and here. Search for I Spy Bags on Etsy for more examples.

If you know someone who has a house they love – or any building, really – give them a pencil drawing of it for just pennies.

Coco, at Ordinary Miracles, shares how she turns building photos into great looking drawings with a few clicks of her mouse. I’m trying to do this with an old blurry black and white photo I have. It doesn’t look as nice as hers. I’m going to have to try it with a better photo.

If you like this idea, but have folks with more modern taste on your list, try turning them into cartoons! Lori King at Parking Lot Mommas points us to BeFunky.com where you can upload your pictures and turn your friends and family into cartoons. FOR FREE! Just play around with it a bit until you figure out what to do. Goodness, this one’s going to be addicting… I love the block of family pictures she has on the blog.

Another project that will cost pennies is to print a word cloud using Wordle.

Start by doing some brain storming – write down every word or phrase you can think of about your recipient. Take out anything that’s not nice and enter the rest into the Wordle tool. You can play around with the layout, the font, and the color scheme then print it, frame it and wrap it up! I’m doing this for my husband so don’t tell!

M.L. at House of Whimsey has created a tutorial showing how to make really cute purses out of placemats! I know what you’re thinking, but honest, I would use one if I could find such cute placemats. She even has tips on how to find handles at thrift stores.  Cute and cheap – you can’t beat that!

I know, most of these are very girly gifts but I didn’t forget about the men in your lives. You know what they say about the way to a mans heart… Make the men on your list some of these homemade caramels and you’ll be their favorite.

Make them for me and you’ll be my favorite, too.

Alright, that’s enough for today. Are you making something great this year? Please share. I’m always looking for more ideas.