Coming up with an unique gift for the holidays for a family member or friend can be a bit of challenge. This is one of the reasons why I started an annual Holiday Gift Guide on this blog, so I can help other people pick out the perfect gift for their loved ones.

I am recommending "journals" as a Christmas gifts. Journals can be either cheap or expensive, all depending on what type you are buying.

Today, I am highlighting three beautiful Ellie Claire Art Journals from Worthy Publishing Group - Illuminate Your Story Journal ($18.99; Amazon, B&N), The Illustrated Word: An Illuminated Bible Coloring Journal ($15.99; Amazon, B&N), and Faith & Lettering Journal ($15.99, Amazon, B&N).


Illuminate Your Story Journal is a lot more than just your average journal. It's a step-by-step guide to teach you how to draw illuminated letters, like the ones that once adorned the pages of books and Bibles. The first few pages gives you an introduction and a brief history lesson about the world of illuminating. Then you are given instructions on how to use the journal. In six steps, you'll learn how to illuminate each letter in the alphabet. Plus, you'll learn how to draw a flourish shape with leaves. There is a two-page journal entry after each letter, where you can put your new illumining skills to use.


The Illustrated Word: An Illuminated Bible Coloring Journal is a coloring book journal. There are forty illustrations to color in the 160 page journal that are recreations of the ones found in ancient manuscripts. It also features fully-colored illustrations from the archives of the Museum of the Bible.



Faith & Lettering Journal features a step-by-step guide to teach you the basis of hand-lettering. The
journal has a short introduction by the author Krystal Whitten. There are several exercises through throughout the journal that will help you learn to hand-letter beautiful letters, saying, and phrases. There are also Pro Tips which will show how to draw banners, leaves, flowers, arrows, bibles, etc.. Lastly, there are many lined pages where you can put your hand-lettering skills to the test.

Final Thoughts

The Ellie Claire Art Journals are high-quality journals with sturdy hardcovers. My favorite out the three is Illuminate Your Story Journal, only because of the "History of Illuminated Letters" section at the very beginning of the journal. I've always been fascinated about illuminated letters and now I can learn how to create these marvelous letters.

Faith & Lettering Journal and The Illustrated Word: An Illuminated Bible Coloring Journal are both gorgeous journals in their own rights. Faith & Lettering Journal has easy to follow tracing and drawing instructions for making letters and phrases. The Illustrated Word features very detailed illustrations to color. The actual journal pages are beautiful.

Overall, if you're looking a great gift this holiday season, I recommend getting the Ellie Claire Art Journals.

What Am I Currently Reading?

I'm still on page 78 of American Mirror: The Life and Art of Norman Rockwell by Deborah Soloman.

What am I reading next?

Giving someone a simple calendar for Christmas might feel like a shallow gift at first, but there are so many different kinds of calendars out there, you can easily personalize it. There are calendars featuring sports, movies, television series, cartoon characters, superheros, animals, landscapes, and just about anything your heart can imagined.

Andrews McMeel Publishing releases a huge variety of wall and desk calendars each and every year, including the Garfield 2019 Day-to-Day Calendar ($14.99 USD; $18.99 CAD; $24.99 AUD; $26.99 NZD; €11.99 UK).

Created by Jim Davis, Garfield has been entertaining millions of fans since the fat cat first debuted in 1978. It's now the world's most syndicated comic strip and has spawned an slew of merchandise. From 1982 to 1991, the character starred in 12 animated specials. A popular Saturday morning cartoon series, Garfield & Friends, aired from 1988 to 1994. Two CGI/live-action films and three direct-to-video movies have been released, as well as a short-lived CGI animated series, The Garfield Show.

"February 21, 2019"

The Garfield 2019 Day-to-Day Calendar measures 6.2 x 1.6 x 5.2 inches and features 365 days of Garfield comic strips, which were original published in newspapers in 2015. Each daily comic is colorized with a "Garfield" log on the very top of the page and an image of Odie hugging Garfield in the lower right corner.

There's a "Daily Extra" on the back every page, featuring fun facts, world play of the day, jokes, quotes, trivia, puzzles, and other games.


All major holidays are listed on specific dates. All Jewish holidays begin at sundown the previous day.

The paper used to make the calendar came from FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) approved sources. 

"March 22, 2019"

Final Thoughts

MILL CREEK ENTERTAINMENT; AMAZON

Are you ready for a blast from the past?

The 1998 teen comedy Can't Hardly Wait (PG-13; 100 minutes; $14.98) is now available on a "20th Year Reunion Edition Blu-ray," which was recently released by Mill Creek Entertainment.

Written and directed by Deborah Kaplan & Harry Elfont, the movie stars Ethan Embry, Charlie Korsmo, Lauren Ambrose, Peter Facinelli, Seth Green, and Jennifer Love Hewitt. It also features special appearances by Jaime Pressly, Selma Blair, Jerry O’Connell, Jenna Elfman, Jason Segel, Freddy Rodriguez, Sean Patrick Thomas, Clea DuVall, Melissa Joan Hart, Breckin Meyer, and Donald Faison.

The movie centers around a high school graduation party, where Preston Meyers (played by Ethan Embry) is planning on declaring his love to his four-year-crush Amanda Beckett (played by Jennifer Love Hewitt), who was recently dumped by her jock boyfriend Mike Dexter (played by Peter Facinelli). Since anyone and everyone is at the party, Preston never gets one second alone with Amanda, so he leaves behind a love letter for her before he goes to the railroad station to leave for Boston.

Attending the party with Preston is his best friend Denise Fleming (played by Lauren Ambrose). She accidentally gets locked in a bathroom with Kenny Fisher (played by Seth Green), who came to the party with the purpose of losing his virginity.

Meanwhile, Mike tries and fails to win Amanda back. Unknowingly to him, the school nerd William Lichter (played by Carlie Korsomo) plans on getting revenge against Mike for bulling him for the last four years.

Bonus Features include:

• 2 Commentary Tracks featuring the Cast and Filmmakers
• Huntington Hills Class of '98 Reunion Special
• The Making of a Teen Class Featurette
• Deleted Scenes
• "I Can't Get Enough of You Baby" Music Video by Smash Mouth

Final Thoughts

Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @  Caffeinated Book Reviewer!

Good Evening, Everyone!

My Current Reads!

Last week was a little hectic for me with Thanksgiving and Black Friday shopping. I didn't have time to read Girls of Paper and Fire, so I will begin reading it today! I also have a borrowed Fear Street eBook that I would like to read in the next few days.

 

Last Week's Reviews

Attack of the Killer Donuts

(Midnight Horror Review)

Elevation by Stephen King

(Fall Reads)

Ripley's Believe It or Not! A Century of Strange

(Holiday Gift Guide)

Anime: 3 - Series Collection

(DVD Review)

 

In The Mail

What do you get for a book lover besides books? Maybe you want to get them something extra to go along with a bestseller, or perhaps you are just shopping for yourself.

Books have an amazing way of transporting us into worlds, stories, and meeting characters we would never have the chance to meet here in the real world. Great books are meant to be discussed and shared. There have been so many times that I have set down a newly finished book and wanted to talk about the ideas with someone. Unique artwork based on books has an amazing way of generating conversation. A simple compliment can turn into a friendly discussion between book lovers.

Here are just a few ideas to spark your interest and hopefully give you some ideas for some great book related gifts. They come from a small online store that I started in hopes of bringing books to life and into our everyday conversations. I will share with you a few of my favorites in the collection and talk a bit about the designs.

The Edgar Allan Poe Tote Bag is a subtle yet classy piece for any discerning book or poetry lover. Poe published the 'The Raven' in 1845. It's hard to believe that a work of literature published such a long time ago can still be so relevant today. This tote bag is a crimson red and made of strong polyester with black lining. The words 'Edgar Allan Poe' are displayed in bright white along with a skull and old hardcover book. The raven is perched atop the skull ready to take flight at any moment.

Dante Alighieri wrote Dante's Inferno as part of the Divine Comedy. This Dante's Inferno T-Shirt in a vintage and distressed print. The graphic is an antique gold with your choice of background color. Choose it on a black or navy shirt for one look or a crimson or maroon shirt for a different look entirely. Men's shirts come in sizes S - 5XL. All shirts in the store are 100% cotton for comfort and durability, with the exception of the heathered colors which contain varying amounts of polyester and have a marbled look.

Mill Creek Entertainment; AMAZON

Every Saturday morning during the late 1980s and early 1990s, I would wake up early, get a bowl of sugary cereal, sit in front of the television set, and watch mindless animated bliss. Well, that was back when network TV actually aired cartoons.

While there are still cartoons being aired on cable channels, as an adult, I have no interest in watching any of them.

Why the change of heart?

I just don't care very much for today's animation styles and many of the new cartoons are way too silly for me.

This morning I found myself watching a few episodes on the Anime: 3-Series Collection DVD (NOT RATED; 13 hours 52 minutes; $24.98), which was released earlier this year by Mill Creek Entertainment. The 3-disc set includes Ultra Violet: Code 044, Kurozuka, and Viper's Creed.

Ultraviolet: Code 044 is based on the 2006 dystopian science fiction film Ultraviolet starring Milla Jovovich. Created by Madhouse animation studio, the series is centered around 044, a nineteen-year-old female super-solider who was genetically manipulated by a virus which gives her superhuman abilities. The only downside is that her life expectancy is reduced significantly. During the series 12-epsiode run, 044 goes on a mission to destroy the outlaw group Phage.


Based on the Japanese novel of the same name by Baku Yumemakura, Kurozuka is a 12-part series centering around a swordsman named Kuro who falls in love with Kurozuka, a vampire. After being attacked by the Red Imperial Army, Kurozuka attempts to turn an injured Kuro into an immortal. However, things don't go as planned. Kuro awakens to find himself in a future post-nuclear Japan that is controlled by the Red Army.


Viper's Creed is a a mecha action anime series that aired for a few episodes in 2009 (or was it 2008?) before being pulled from the air due to low ratings. Only 12 episodes were produced. The series is set in a post WWIII world where an environmental catastrophe has caused the world's cities to flood. To help rebuild civilization, the governments hired PMCs (Private Military Corporations) to enforce the law. One of the PMC units is called Argon Global Security Corporation, which uses an elite military unit, Viper, to stop terrorism and other violent crimes in Fort Daiva City.

Final Thoughts