Crafty Christmas Countdown: 19

 It's puppet time, friends! This is a fairly simple one. Start with a small stuffed animal.

Cut a slit in the bottom of the animal and remove some stuffing. In the case of this dinosaur I had enough room for a couple of fingers.

Next find a box that your animal will fit in with enough room to move around but not so big that there's a lot of extra space. You want a box with a lid or top flap. Cut or collapse the bottom of the box. Then wrap the box like a present, leaving the top able to open. Glue a tube of fabric, like the leg of a sock or part of a shirt sleeve, between the bottom of the box and the opening in your animal. Now you have a little toy that can pop out of a present.

Crafty Christmas Countdown: 20

 Our local dollar store had these tree toppers among their offerings this year.

While it was a bit rough, something about the design spoke to me and I knew I could improve it. I started by removing the extra twine, keeping the loops around the star tips. The fabric was loose, so I glued it down as I went. It looked much better at that point but was still missing something. I wanted to add some sparkly black wire trim but it was out of stock when I was at the store. So instead I added a thin line of glue all the way around that I coated with black glitter.

Crafty Christmas Countdown: 21

 I have several dozen of these wooden ornament blanks, so I'm always trying to think of ways to decorate them. These faux stained glass designs may be some of my favorites. I colored these entirely with colored pencils instead of my typical acrylic paints.

 

Crafty Christmas Countdown: 22

 I bought this reindeer a year ago, intending to give it as a gift. But after I got it home I kept looking at it, feeling like there was something wrong. It finally struck me - it has no ears. That immediately disqualified it as a gift, as far as I was concerned. I tucked it away, hoping I would come up with a use for it.

This year I came up with a plan. I felt very strongly that it needed ears to look right, so I took the back off of it and cut ear shapes. I lined the ears with some scrap knit fabric. Then I had a face that looked cute but it needed a purpose. Luckily I had some little plain tote bags hanging around that the face fit on perfectly.

 

Crafty Christmas Countdown: 23

 Our dollar store has a wide selection of these little plastic buildings . For dollar decor the general look is decent. They're just a little rough around the edges. I picked out this lighthouse for an upgrade.

 

A fresh coat of paint and a pipe cleaner wreath does a lot to improve it, I think.

Crafty Christmas Countdown: 24

December snuck up on me this year, so I'm starting my crafty countdown with an easy one this year. I bought this little Jurassic World figure at the dollar store.

While it is appealing on it's own, with a hook, paint, glitter, and fabric bits it makes an excellent ornament for my tree.

Book review - Roxy

 

Title: Roxy

Author: Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman

Genre: realistic fiction

Similar books: You'd Be Home Now by Kathleen Glasgow

                      Fadeaway by E.B. Vickers

Rating:

 

well intentioned but less than ideal

Summary (provided by publisher): The freeway is coming.
It will cut the neighborhood in two. Construction has already started, pushing toward this corridor of condemned houses and cracked concrete with the momentum of the inevitable. Yet there you are, in the fifth house on the left, fighting for your life.
Ramey, I.
The victim of the bet between two manufactured gods: the seductive and lethal Roxy (Oxycontin), who is at the top of her game, and the smart, high-achieving Addison (Adderall), who is tired of being the helpful one, and longs for a more dangerous, less wholesome image. The wager—a contest to see who can bring their mark to “the Party” first—is a race to the bottom of a rave that has raged since the beginning of time. And you are only human, dazzled by the lights and music. Drawn by what the drugs offer—tempted to take that step past helpful to harmful…and the troubled places that lie beyond.
But there are two I. Rameys—Isaac, a soccer player thrown into Roxy’s orbit by a bad fall and a bad doctor and Ivy, his older sister, whose increasing frustration with her untreated ADHD leads her to renew her acquaintance with Addy.
Which one are you?

My opinion: Let's be honest: addiction narratives are inherently predictable. So anytime an author finds a unique approach it's worth a look. And Shusterman has found a unique approach in personifying the drugs. In fact, I would argue that this is not Isaac and Ivy's story. Roxy and Addy really take center stage. Thus we are empathizing with the drugs rather than the people. Ivy and Isaac are fairly underdeveloped. We also meet a wide variety of other drugs, identified primarily by nicknames, so unless you're familiar with drug culture some of them are hard to recognize. It's a unique story to be sure but I don't know what readers will take from it.

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley