Posts By: Heather

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Mom’s Monday Begin Smart Board Books

21 Jun, 2010 by in Uncategorized 8 comments

Today’s Mom’s Monday are the Begin Smart Board Books sent to us by the publisher for review. When they arrived in the mail my four children fought over them. They held each of their attention which is saying a lot because they range in age between 2-7 years old! I even had to put them away to prevent fighting. We scoured the chunky books which are indestructible and the touch and feel pictures. Pages are full of shimmery raised illustrations, flaps to lift and furry, bumpy textures. The text varied between Newborn-six months, six-months-twelve months, twelve-eighteen months and two- three years. I have to say that “Pete’s Potty” is a big hit for mom who is trying to potty train a two year old! Five stars from a mom who knows!!

We are giving away two board books… “Round, Balls, Round Balls” and “Counting Duckies” !

To Enter to win
leave your name and email address below. Contest ends July 21, 2010 and is open to U.S. residents and International residents willing to pay shipping upon winning. Good Luck!!

Contest Winners

21 Jun, 2010 by in giveaway, the near witch Leave a comment

Congratulations to Creative Taylor who won the HexHall Bloodstone Pendulum necklace http://fireandicereads.com/2010/05/bloodstone-pendulum-necklace.html Check out her Velusa series and website we LOVE them! http://www.creativemel.com/

and to Confrosh/ Joyson who won the Middle World Jaguar Stone earrings http://fireandicereads.com/2010/05/jaguar-stone-earrings.html It pays to retweet @FireIcePhotos!

In other news we have added a lot of new items to our Little Red Reads shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/LittleRedReads on etsy including The Near Witch inspired items and Siren/ SEA inspired photography!

Thanks to author Heidi R Kling and our SEA shoppers we will be able to send two boxes of earthquake relief to Chile this week. Mucisimas Gracias!

Vintage Sewing Machine Scrabble Tile

19 Jun, 2010 by in etsy, necklace, spiffy cool, the eternal ones 11 comments



Todays’ ETSY shop giveaway is another seamstress inspired necklace for Haven of “The Eternal Ones” donated by shop owner Spiffy Cool…”Hey there – I thought I would devote a spot on etsy to gather my random cool things. You know, those things you really like, but they kinda don’t fit into the “elegance” of general etsy stuff.

I thoroughly enjoy sarcasm, wit, intelligence, learning, science, and poking fun at all of the above. Hey, if we can’t smile and laugh at the world and ourselves, well, I shudder to think what that would be like.

I also like wearing your heart on your sleeve – what you believe in, what you stand for, what is dear to your heart – I started making pinback buttons for just such occasion. Honestly, you’d be surprised who will randomly start a conversation with you based on a pin or piece of jewelry with a statement. Birds of a feather do tend to flock together. Or was that misery loves company? Suppose that would depend on the statement, eh? :o)

To Enter To Win this tile with chain: leave your name and email address below
+1 for hearting her shop on etsy http://www.etsy.com/shop/spiffycool
+1 for each retweet @FireIcePhotos
+1 for following us on Twitter @FireIcePhotos
+5 for blogging or facebooking this contest
+1 for telling us who you would want to be if you had the chance at a second life

Contest ends July 19, 2010 and is open internationally

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In My Mailbox #15

18 Jun, 2010 by in Spells 6 comments

I went out to get the mail yesterday and lo and behold…Harper Teen sent me an ARC of Paranormalcy by Kiersten White. SWEET! I think I literally cheered in my driveway. SO excited to read this one and she was born in Utah!! I truly enjoy reading her blog http://kierstenwrites.blogspot.com/2009/11/everyone-has-book-inside.html. Luckily, I am reading Spells by Aprilynne Pike; any other book would have been pitched on site. But really who can resist the fae folk… especially Tamani? I am entranced. Reviews on these books coming soon because I can’t wait.

Current Books/ ARCS on Tour

17 Jun, 2010 by in new YA fiction 3 comments

What is up with the mail?
I have learned a lot this week. Mainly that delivery confirmation is worth the 80 cents extra for peace of mind. Just this month over $400 of jewelry orders and books have been lost or stolen. YIKES! No more trusting my postal workers! Thanks to those of you who have emailed us to let us know you received your prizes!
Miraculously our Shadow Hills ARC resurfaced after 15 days in the Bermuda Triangle of USPS delivery.The awesome news came from Avonlea/ “Violet” at The Eager Readers
http://theeagerreaders.blogspot.com/ She wrote three days ago…”Shadow Hills arrived today!!! The package looks like it was ripped open and taped back together, and it has a “Rewrapped at the Seattle Network Distribution Center” sticker on it. Crazier still, it was delivered at 5:15 pm (completely separate from our normal mail) by a carrier that isn’t even on our route. He is on a different postal route altogether but had two packages for our address. I am still in complete shock & was totally amazed to see it! So, if in doubt fellow book bloggers and ETSY sellers…– USE delivery confirmation!! We are…

Here are the books we currently have on tour:
Shadow Hills by Anastasia Hopcus
The Cinderella Society by Kay Cassidy
Scones and Sensibility by Liz Eland
Raised by Wolves by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
The Mark by Marilyn Bunderson
Siren by Tricia Rayburn
The Tension of Opposites by Kristina McBride
Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins
The Eternal Ones by Kirsten Miller
The Hourglass Door #1-2 by Lisa Mangum
More coming soon! Email us if you are interested in reading and reviewing any of these books on your site. Must be willing to ship with DC and send us the link to your review. Thanks!

Book Review- The Eternal Ones by Kirsten Miller

17 Jun, 2010 by in new YA fiction, razorbill, the eternal ones 1 comment


To Be published August 24th 2010 by Razorbill (first published 2010)
details Hardcover, 432 pages
isbn 1595143084
four stars

Synopsis from goodreads:
What if love refused to die?

Haven Moore can’t control her visions of a past with a boy called Ethan, and a life in New York that ended in fiery tragedy. In our present, she designs beautiful dresses for her classmates with her best friend Beau. Dressmaking keeps her sane, since she lives with her widowed and heartbroken mother in her tyrannical grandmother’s house in Snope City, a tiny town in Tennessee. Then an impossible group of coincidences conspire to force her to flee to New York, to discover who she is, and who she was.

In New York, Haven meets Iain Morrow and is swept into an epic love affair that feels both deeply fated and terribly dangerous. Iain is suspected of murdering a rock star and Haven wonders, could he have murdered her in a past life? She visits the Ouroboros Society and discovers a murky world of reincarnation that stretches across millennia. Haven must discover the secrets hidden in her past lives, and loves¸ before all is lost and the cycle begins again.

This is a really tricky review for me to write because I had a hard time figuring out why this book stuck with me so much. It’s been several days since I finished reading it and it has been with me the entire time, even while reading two other books. I won The Eternal Ones in an ARC giveaway and when I first picked it up I almost stopped reading after the first few pages. Everything was too “in your face” for me…the best friend, the naivity of Haven, the contant sexual talk, near nudity and her grandmother’s personality. As a whole, the book read more like an adult book for me rather than a YA book. There was too much mature content as filler. I kept picturing the characters as older that High School even though the author tries to fir them into that age group. I don’t picture 17 year olds getting married, traveling to Italy or being involved in a murder trial with a 900 year old attorney. However, since the premise of the book is that the characters are really older and reincarnated I suppose it may work.
All of this aside, I must say I really loved the book. It spoke to me. I soaked in the settings, lived the history, the mystery and the main protagonists. Still scratching my head about what to say but I give it four stars because it is rare that a book stays with me so long and deep after I close the pages.
Anyone else want to give it a whirl and converse? Send me an email to join the ARC tour!

Silver Spool Necklace Giveaway

17 Jun, 2010 by in sewing, silver jewelry, the eternal ones 25 comments

Today’s Etsy giveaway is in companion to Haven’s love for sewing in “The Eternal Ones.” A silver spool necklace from JustJaynes. JustJaynes started out as the destash shop for http://www.lydialayne.etsy.com/, where I have been selling on etsy since April 2006. It became a thriving commercial supply shop, and is now my sole sterling silver jewelry shop.

To Enter to Win: leave your name and email address below. +1 for each visit to her OTHER SITES and commenting below
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lydialayne/
http://www.myspace.com/cathyjayne
http://www.justjaynes.blogspot.com/
http://www.lydialayne.etsy.com/
http://www.justjaynes.com/

+2 for subscribing to her NEWSLETTER
If you would like to receive my newsletter to be updated on sales and new items, go to my website. http://www.justjaynes.com/
+1 for each retweet @FireIcePhotos

+5 for blogging or facebooking this contest, leave the link
+3 for following us on Twitter @FireIcePhotos @JustJaynes
+3 for becoming a fan on facebook http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/JustJaynes/120872209291?ref=ts

Thank you! and Good Luck Contest ends July 17, 2010 and is open internationally

Werewolf Journal Giveaway on Inksplasher

16 Jun, 2010 by in Stephenie Meyer, twilight Leave a comment

We are sponsoring a giveaway today and tomorrow on the Chasing Eclipse contest at InkSplasher. Hop on over there: http://inksplasher.blogspot.com/2010/06/chasing-twilight-sponsor-question-june_15.html today for a chance to win our handmade werewolf journal!
And check out our twilight inspired shop on Etsy for more fun swag! New items were added today. http://www.etsy.com/shop/HeatherZahnGardner?section_id=6659152