September 2026 in Books

This was a slower reading month for me, a lot going on! Recaps below:

The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra (Baby Ganesh Agency Investigation, #1) - Vaseem Khan - detective - three stars - This was an audiobook that was just OK. Inspector Chopra has just retired from the police force, but begins investigating the drowning death of a boy that he suspects was murdered. He's also received a baby elephant. If you think these two things don't really go together well, you're right. Maybe reading vs listening to the book I would have enjoyed it more, but this whole thing just didn't really tie together well for me. Character development only so so. This is one series I won't continue.

When You Loved Me - Beatriz Williams - fiction - five stars - I really like all of Williams' Winthrop Island books. This one focuses on Lucy Cooper, who was coming back to the island to spend some time with her father, only he passes away just weeks before they were to arrive. She discovers that her old romance Ben Ressler, an ex-NFL player, is on the island as well. Characters from Williams' other Winthrop Island books come in and out. It's always a fun little reunion reading these. Williams does such a good job creating characters and weaving the story threads together. Loved it.

Road Trip - Mark Kay Andrews - fiction - three stars - Maeve and Therese Dunigan have not seen eye to eye for years. When their mother dies, they're brought back together. The home they thought would be their inheritance has apparently been remortgaged -- their mother in her final years fell victim to a scam, and the small allotment of funds they do receive are specifically earmarked for them to go to Ireland together. When they realize that a family painting might actually be worth millions, they head off with a plan to find out more about their family, and determine if the painting is real. This one was not my favorite Mary Kay Andrews book. I feel like this was a bit out of her wheelhouse in terms of subject/location. It was OK, but not what I expect from her.

Meet Me in Paris - Kristin Harmel - fiction - four stars - In this book, a whole bunch of people end up in Paris for a week. In particular, Piper and her mother who is dying, this is their bucket list trip; Jackson Quick, a famous musician who is having a bit of a resurgence; etc. etc. People meet, fall in love, make life decisions, etc. This one is a fine book, it was just a little too surface and predictable for me. Kind of a used formula. I did like the characters, but I wanted it to be something more. Three and a half stars rounded up.

Little Wonder - Sophie Chen Keller - fiction - five stars - I absolutely loved this one. The story of the love and the bond between mother and child. Song and River are relocating to Beijing. River is a musical prodigy, and they are coming to Beijing to work with a new teacher. Upon arriving in Beijing, they are separated, and the spend the book, and theier lives trying to find their way back to one another. River survives with the help of a number of good Samaritans that take care of him and help him on his journey, while Song find work as a food delivery worker, using her job to search all throughout the city. I loved the characters, and their love for one another. Must read.

Food Person - Adam D. Roberts - fiction - four stars - This was another audiobook this month (there was a LOT of driving happening this month). It was a cute book about Isabella, a food writer who is assigned the task of writing a cookbook with Molly Babcock, a has been TV star who is attempting a comeback. Molly spends most of her time partying, and not eating much of anything, so it's a pretty difficult assignment. This was a good one t listen to. I enjoyed the characters, the plot moved along, and I thought it was pretty inventive and entertaining. Definitely some plot twists I could not have predicted. Solid read.

Favorite this month was Little Wonder, and least favorite was Inspector Chopra. As always, I love to hear your recommendations!

SSS Sending Cheer Blog Hop, Christmas Ornaments

 *This post contains affiliate links to Simon Says Stamp.

Happy Friday! I'm hopping with Simon Says Stamp today, celebrating the Sending Cheer release. You should be arriving from Mindy Eggen's blog. 

As always, Simon is giving away a $25 store credit at each stop along the hop. All you need to do to be entered to win is leave a comment. Also, all Sending Cheer orders this weekend will receive the above Hedge Hugs set free, isn't it cute? 

OK, let's get down to the cards. Today I'm showing off my Christmas Ornaments stamps and dies. Each ornament in this set has a solid shape, and two layers of detail as well as an ornament topper. 

For my first set of cards, I really wanted to try and recreate the look of mercury glass ornaments. 

I created two sets of ornaments: One where I used Liquid Platinum embossing powder for the solid layer and then Silver embossing powder for the second layer, and one where I reversed that using Silver for the solid layer and Liquid Platinum for the second layer.

The third detail layer was embossed with Embossing Glaze. I used Lumberjack Plaid on the ornaments that had Liquid Platinum for the solid layer, and Mowed Lawn for the ones with the Silver base layer. For both sets, I used Gold embossing powder or the ornament topper.

The finished ornament were die cut, and adhered to my card panels, some directly, and some with foam adhesive. The sentiments, also from the set, were Gold embossed on black cardstock and popped up as well. A few sequins and colored cardstock mats finished things off.

I was having so much fun with the layered embossing, that I decided to create ornaments using Embossing Glaze as the base.

I stamped two ornaments in each of the color combinations: Kitsch Flamingo for the base, and Picked Raspberry for the main detail; Broken China for the base, and Mermaid Lagoon for the main detail; and 

Twisted Citron for the base and Mowed Lawn for the main detail.

For the secondary details and the ornament toppers I used Silver for the blue and pink, and Gold for the green.

I kept the panels very simple, just adding a little bit of inking using Distress Inks in Kitsch Flamingo, Broken China, and Twisted Citron, and added sentiments from the stamp set.

Just one last quick card. White on kraft is one of my happy places, and I thought the ornaments would look great white embossed on kraft. This time, I used only the detail layers.

I started by die cutting the ornaments. These were then placed back into the panel they were die cut from, in my stamping platform. This way, if they lifted out during the stamping process, I could easily re-align them.

The two detail layers and ornament toppers were stamped in succession with Versamark (I left off the second detail layer for the second ornament from the left), and the white embossed.

The sentiment was white embossed as well, and the ornaments were then added using a combination of liquid and foam adhesive.

I've got lots more ideas for how to use these ornaments, so expect to see them again!

Your next stop on the hop is Anne Fiene, and the full list is below. Don't forget to leave a comment to be entered to win the store credit, and enjoy the rest of the hop!

Simon Says Stamp Blog
Heather Hoffman
Suzy Plantamura
Cathy Zielske
Nicky Meek
Laura Bassen
Amy Rysavy
Bibi Cameron
Cheiron Brandon
Mindy Eggen
Miriam Prantner
Anne Fiene
Barb Engler
Kristin Sluhan
Betsy Green
Amanda Wilcox

SSS Sending Cheer Release, Acorn Silhouette

 *This post contains affiliate links to Simon Says Stamp.

It's a release day at Simon Says Stamp today! The Sending Cheer release is filled with all sorts of holiday goodness, but there's a bit of autumnal happy in there too, including my new Acorn Silhouette die. This little die is a great price point and is so striking.

For my first card, I went very clean and simple, blending a background using Distress Oxides. I used Candied Apple, Crackling Campfire, Wild Honey, and Fossilized Amber, and added just a bit of water splatter for some texture.

The die was cut from black cardstock and adhered directly to my blended panel, and I added a sentiment from my previously released Sketched Leaves set along with a black mat to finish it off.

This next card steps things up a bit. I again created a blended background, this time using Rustic Wilderness, Mowed Lawn, and Crushed Olive Distress Oxides.

The texture, and shimmer, comes from Antique Linen Distress Spritz.

The Acorn Silhouette was cut from both black, and  Gold Matte cardstock. These were adhered together slightly offset, and then to the blended panel.

I again used a sentiment from the Sketched Leaves set which was embossed in gold.

To frame the die, I die cut an arch from the center of a piece of Rustic White cardstock. I added some shine to the outer edges by swiping my Versamark pad lightly against the edges and then gold embossing. The frame was then adhered with foam adhesive.

I've got a couple of other items in this release:

Interlacing Trees

Christmas Ornaments

Be sure to head over to Simon and check out the full release. I'll be back tomorrow for a fun blog hop.

STAMPtember, Candle Cover

 *This post contains affiliate links to Simon Says Stamp.

Can you believe that it's the last day of STAMPtember? I've got just a couple more cards to share with you today featuring my Candle Cover from the STAMPtember release.

I love inlay, but was feeling a little lazy, so I'm sharing a quick 'cheat' to get a really gorgeous inlay look with minimal die cutting. I started by die cutting a piece of black cardstock, this was used for my 'webbing'.

Next, I die cut a panel of white cardstock. This is one of those cover plates where the pieces pretty much stay together when removed from the die, so as soon as I pulled it off the plate, I smoothed a piece of Press N' Seal across the back of the panel to hold it all in place. 

With everything stuck down, I then inked up the design using a variety of colors: Butter, Citrine, Mandarin, Cherry, Taffy, and Iris.

The ink blended pieces were then inlaid into my black webbing, and adhered to my card base. A Reverse Sentiment Strip was popped up for my sentiment.

I used the same basic technique for this next card, but instead of a white cardstock panel, die cut a watercolor panel.

After sticking the die cut panel to a piece of Press N' Seal, I then watercolored the image. Once it was dry, the pieces were inlaid into the black webbing.

I again used a Reverse Sentinent Strip to finish the card.

That's all for me today. Happy last day of STAMPtember!

STAMPtember, Christmas Tree Halves

 *This post contains affiliate links to Simon Says Stamp.

Hi folks, today I'm sharing cards created using my Christmas Tree Halves stencils. This is a set of four stencils. Two work together to create one set of trees in the row, one right side up, and the other upside down. These create every other row of the design. You then shift the stencils down to fill in the blank rows.

For my first card, I inked up the stencils using Sprout and Pearfection for the right side up trees, and Kale and Artichoke for the upside down trees. Fun fact, I originally planned to use this with the darker trees right side up, but decided I liked the brighter ones better. 

Anyway, to add a bit of definition to the trees, I very loosley outlined them with a journaling pen. I also added a bit of gold splatter using Pawsitively Perfect Splatter.

The Merry & Bright sentient was die cut from Gold Matte, adhered to a black shadow piece, and then popped up with foam adhesive.

For this next card, I stenciled the trees in Pine and Sage, and then Marine and Sweets. This time, instead of just shifting the stencils down, I also shifted them to the side, so rather than having the trees line up directly below one another, they are offset. I also only used Marine on every other row.

For the sentiment, I swiped my Sweets inkpad over some white cardstock, and then die cut my Joyful sentiment. This was then adhered to a white shadow piece and popped up with foam adhesive. I also added a secondary sentiment using a Sentiment Strip.

Next, I thought it would be fun to show off how you can use just a portion of the design to create some really simple one layer cards.

First up, the simplest version. I inked up one set of the trees using Pine and Sage at the bottom of my panel, and then added a sentiment from an older retired set called Holiday Greetings.

Next, I did the same thing, and added just one of the top sections with Morning ink. This might be my favorite of the three cards, I really love the modern vibe. The sentiment is another from the Holiday Greetings set.

For this last card, I used the full design, adding Sky for the final color, and this time used a sentiment from the Peaceful Trees set.

Hope this has given you some ideas for how to use these stencils, thanks for visiting!

August 2026 in Books

This reading recap is SO late, but it has been a crazy month. Still, August was a great reading month with a strong emphasis on historical fiction. Here are the recaps:

The Road to Tender Hearts - fiction - Annie Hartnett - five stars - This was a really cute book. PJ Halliday is a somewhat lost old man gliding his awy through life. Ever since the death of his older daughter, he has been struggling, and can't cope with any difficult or sad news. He drinks too much, which led to him losing his job, although he won the lottery, so that doesn't actually matter. He remains on good terms with his ex-wife who still takes care of him to a large extent. When she and her boyfriend go on an extended vacation, he is at loose ends. Then he reads about the death of an old friend who married the 'one that got away' and decides to go visit her across the country in Arizona. At the same time, he becomes the guardian of his half-brother's grandchildren, so they end up coming along as well. The book is light, and funny, and sweet, a great palate cleanser.

A Far-Flung Life - fiction - M.L. Stedman - five stars - This was a really good book, but hard to read because bad things just kept happening to people. I really almost stopped reading at some point because it was so depressing, but I did want to know what happened to the characters. Stedman does a great job creating the characters, and you are rooting for them, but it really was hard to read. It's about all the misfortunes that befall the MacBride family who live in Western Australia raising sheep. Stedman does bring it all together in the end, you get clsure, but this one is not for the faint of heart.

The Foursome - historical fiction - Christina Baker Kline - five stars - Based on the true story of the Bunkers (1800s). Chang and Eng Bunker are conjoined Siamese twins who have been a sideshow throughout Europe and the US. They are now rich and wish to retire from this life. They buy a plantation and store in Willkes County, North Carolina, and wish to start a family as well. Sarah and Adelaide Yates are from a good family, but due to a scandal, are unwed. The book tells of how their relationship develops from courtship to marriage, to establishment of a large family. Really interesting read.

The Parisian Chapter - fiction - Janet Skeslien Charles - four stars - This was pretty good. I really enjoyed Charles' previous books in this series, so was excited to read this one. It's focused on Lily, the young neighbor of Odette from the first book, traveling to Paris after college to work. Her story is good, although not as compelling as the earlier books, more fiction than historical fiction. My biggest is that it has been a LONG time since I read The Paris Library, and didn't remember all the exact details or how it ends. This book really doesn't provide much of the backstory, so I felt like I was missing things. If it's been the same for you, you might want to re-read that one first.

The Dream Hotel - fiction - Laila Lalami - four stars - This was my audiobook for the month. Set sometime in the future, the government has now instituted a policy of detaining citizens based on crimes they might commit based on a complicated algorithm that takes into account data from many sources: social media, complaints from neighbors, interaction with federal agents, and dreams. Sara is returning to the US from a conference and is detained at LAX. She's sent to a detention center for a 90 day hold which turns into months as those running the detention centers can extend your time for the smallest infractions. This was a really interesting premise, and I really enjoyed it, except for Sara, who I just didn't really like as a character. If it weren't for that, this would five stars.

The Half Life - fiction - Rachel Beanland - four stars - This was another book that could have been great if I liked the protagonist at all. Eileen O'Malley has a whirlwhind romance with naval officer Paul Archer, marries him and heads with him to his next assignment in La Maddalena, Italy, where the Navy has a submarine base. I had no idea that the US had a sub base in Italy, so it was really fascinating to learn about that, and to hear about life for the military at La Maddalena at that time. Beanland does a great job capturing all this and weaving in events and concerns for both the U.S. and Italians during this time. She doesn't have the greatest husband, but Eileen is basically a selfish, immature human being. Five stars for the book, two stars for Eileen.

The Seekers of Deer Creek - fiction - Thao Thai - four stars - Sisters Vivi and Calla Nguyen have been following very different paths, but when Calla finds a curious note/picture in her fathers effects after his death, she enlists Vivi, an art conservator, to help her unravel the mystery, which relates to the current exhibition Vivi is working on involving a painting by Vietnamese artist K.P. Ly. The sisters set off on an around the world hunt for how Ly connects to their father, and rediscover family they did not know they had. The sisters bothered me some, but not nearly as much as some of the other characters I've encountered this month.

The Brunswick - historical fiction - Callie Murray - four stars - The story of Cora, whose father built a grand hotel in a small town in Georgia which has struggled since the Depression. Her mother left years ago to return to France, and Cora, struggling to make ends meet, has turned the hotel into a general store. There are a several storylines: her burgeoning romance with Thomas, whose father recently moved to the area from Chicago after purchasing the town's pharmacy; Cora's decision to take in Jewish refugee children (it's 1939) fleeing Vienna; and the story of Charlotte, one of those children. This was a pretty quick read, and I enjoyed the characters, although I thought they could be fleshed out a bit more. There was also a thread about Thomas in Germany (he goes to help with the transport), that I thought was a bit of a distrction and the book didn't really need. The resolution of that thread was also somewhat hart to believe. In any case, I did like the book, and hope the author will be writing more. 

A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck - non-fiction - Sophie Elmhirst - three stars - The story of Maurice and Maralyn Bailey whose boat was destroyed by a surfacing whale when they were on sailing to New Zealand in 1973. They spent 117 drifting on their lifeboat until they were rescued. This one was OK. I thought the story itself was fascinating, what they did to survive, how they kept themselves busy, etc. The writing was a bit dry though, and the couple themselves were only somewhat sympathetic, so it took longer to get through than it should have. 

Favorite this month was probably A Far Flung Life which was so good, but also so hard to read. Least favorite was A Marriage at Sea. Would love to know what you guys have been reading.

STAMPTember, Dimensional Tree

 *This post contains affiliate links to Simon Says Stamp.

Today I'm sharing a couple cards created using my new Dimensional Tree die. This die doesn't actually cut out a whole shape, rather it cuts out three sides of the horizontal stripes of a tree, alternating the end that is not cut, creating a really cool dimensional effect.

For this first card, I simply die cut a dark green piece of cardstock, embossing a sentiment from the Peaceful Trees set in gold beneath it.

I carefully folded the layers up. The non-die cut ends are scored, so this is easy to do. The entire piece was then adhered to a panel of Gold Matte cardstock, so you can see the gold peeking through beneath the tree layers. I love this simple elegant look.

For the next card, I die cut a piece of white cardstock. Each of the tree sections was then masked off, and I inked them using Sweets, creating a blend from dark to light, darker at the scored end.

The sentiment is from my Holly Jolly set, and I added pink glitter cardstock beneath the tree as well as some Cottontail embellishments to add a little sparkle to the card.

This die is a great price point, and allows you to make some really striking cards very quickly!