Potter GiftReseñas

Five year journal. Great fun to see what was on your mind in previous years. Getting one for my thirteen year old daughter.

I received this book as a gift. It is a pretty little book that looked very nice on my shelf with my Funko figure of Jane Bennett from Pride & Prejudice & Zombies. I am sure Jane Austen wouldn't have minded her character being morphed into a monster hunting badass....

But.....I finally decided to crack the cover and read the Jane Austen quotes that awaited me inside....

Only to find numerous incorrect attributions (quote from one book listed as being from another), incorrect quotes and even a tagline from a movie adaptation.....

What??

I'm sorry, but much as I enjoyed the look of this little grey and gold book on my shelf, I can't rate this more than 2 stars. Do research. Get the quotes right. Ugh. A movie tagline? Seriously?

What would Jane do? She would be sorely inconvenienced and vexed! She might even need smelling salts (her mother has some, I'm sure). Sigh.

This book is great fun! It has lots of space for you to write summaries and notes for reviews while adding flares of games and questions that make you think about your reading habits. I highly recommend this book as anyone's reading companion!

This small book would make a wonderful gift for someone either just starting out or moving to a new home. The fabric cover makes it look elegant and expensive. Inside it offers some good tips about which pieces of tableware to select and why one might want one as opposed to the other.

Having purchased a new set of flatware recently from Oneida, I was quite pleased to be able to review this book. While to be honest there isn't a great deal of depth to this book; it does provide a source of inspiration for creating beautiful table settings. It doesn't just focus on formal dinner parties either; it shows examples for informal dinners or even takeout dinners. So why keep all the good pieces locked away in the China cabinet, have some fun once in a while, or every night for that matter and set a beautiful table. It just might elevate dinner to another level.

Thanks to Blogging for Books for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
More reviews at: www.susannesbooklist.blogspot.com

For the past three years, I've enjoyed Potter' Style's Q&A A Day 5-Year Journal. It's perfect for reflecting on your day when you're pressed for time, feeling writer's block, or lack an interesting topic. It's amazing to see how much my answered have changed since 2013. Really a personal time-capsule. I highly recommend it.

When I discovered Potter Style's new journal for creatives, I was super excited! I love to draw and doodle, but I lack the time, space, and subject matter to fill a sketchbook. I feel that Q&A a Day for Creatives offers a quick, easy, and organized solution. Each day it poses a question and encourages creatives to draw their answer in the space provided.

My only criticism is the thin pages. It is suitable for pencil, ink, or crayon. But, personally, I wouldn't use watercolor or other paints because it would probably bleed through the book. Maybe in the future they could created a paint and mixed media version with thicker paper.

Otherwise, it's wonderful, and will be my go-to gift this year for artsy-fartsy friends and kids. Give the gift of daily fun and reflection for 4 years to come!

I was given a copy of this book via Blogging for Books for an honest review.

Makes me crave a Tofutti Cutie every time I journal!

(Full disclosure: I received a free book for review through Blogging for Books.)

So here's the deal: I kind of love this journal in spite of myself.

Like many of Potterstyle's journals, Brain Freeze is small: 4.1" wide by 6.1" tall, and a whopping 1.4" thick. The teeny tiny pages + the thickness of the book makes it quite difficult to write in: my hand starts to fall off the bottom of the page a mere 1/3 of the way down, and it's such a long drop that it's a struggle to continue. My handwriting's bad enough without the extra help, thanks!

It's a mystery why they design the books this way. So they can easily fit in your pocket or a purse? But who wants to carry their journal into the world, where it can get lost or stolen? I'd much rather have a journal that's comfortable to use, you know?

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Even though I knew I'd end up loathing the dimensions, I just had to have this journal. Ice cream is literally my favorite, and this book looks so much like a Neapolitan ice cream sammie that I salivate a little every time I look at it. The outer edges of the pages are colored chocolate, white, and pink. While the pages themselves are white (obvs), the lines inside are dyed to match the theme. Weirdly, this means that the middle section is one huge blank space (white on white = all-white). I guess you could use it to highlight much-loved quotes or important thoughts? Either way, the lines are spaced 1/4" apart (similar to college ruled), with a 2" gap in the middle white area.

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The brown cover is stamped with dots, similar to the cookies in an ice cream sandwich, to complete the look. Before ordering I worried that it might be made of leather - I'm a vegan - but now that I have it in my ends, I'm pretty sure it's a high-end, fancy-pants cardboard. It has a luxurious, smooth feel. The journal's title is also embossed on the cover in a yellow-gold, all-caps font. The whole thing feels quite rich, much like a sundae, or maybe some homemade cookie butter ice cream.

http://www.easyvegan.info/2016/06/22/brain-freeze-journal-by-potterstyle/

[Sunday, ‎August ‎18, ‎2013] Marked this, I just got the journal today from Readers at Taj Mall. What a beautiful little thing for any Jane Austen fan.

Unique and Imaginative; Not Just for Illustrators and Sketch Artists

(Full disclosure: I received a free copy of this book for review through Blogging for Books.)

Q&A a Day for Creatives: A 4-Year Journal is the latest in a series of guided journals produced by Potter Style, a "lifestyle gift" imprint of The Crown Publishing Group. Other specialized titles are aimed at moms, teenagers, book lovers, college students, and list-makers.

My first foray into Potter Style's Q&A a Day journals was the Q&A a Day: 5-Year Journal, which features 365 writing prompts - one for each day of the year, with enough space to record five years worth of entries. It's a pretty rad idea, but the design of the book makes it difficult to use. At nearly 1 1/4″ thick and 6 1/4″ tall by 4 1/4″ wide, it’s a little smaller than a mass market paperback - but just as thick. Since my hand starts dropping off the end of the page about halfway down, I find it terribly difficult to write in. Plus the lines are tiny! I used it for about a month before personal issues proved too much of a distraction; looking back, I'm not surprised to see that many of my entries are borderline illegible thanks to the ill-devised layout.

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So I was kind of psyched when I saw the oversized, rectangular cover of Q&A a Day for Creatives. The book is significantly larger than its predecessor - 9 1/2" wide by 7 1/2" tall (those measurements are for the cover; subtract 1/4" off each the width and height for the pages) - and MUCH easier to use. The soft cover also makes it easier to open and lay flat for comfortable use.

Each page features a prompt, along with four 3 3/4" x 3 3/4" squares to sketch your entry. While the book's obviously aimed at illustrators and sketch artists (and possibly even painters; e.g., "Draw a human skeleton without looking at reference images."), anyone with an interest in the visual arts can bend the rules to play along.

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Can't draw or paint? No worries! Scrapbook the heck out of this sucker! Treat it like a Pinterest board. If you're into graphic art, complete the prompt using Photoshop and print out and paste in your answer. When Potter asks you "What was the happiest purchase you made in the past few weeks?," attach a picture of your rescue dog wearing that shiny new ladybug outfit your bought her - or just include a clipping of the catalog listing. Some of the prompts are even open to written answers, traditional journal styley.

That said, I'd caution against cutting and pasting in every answer: all that additional paper will add up, eventually making the journal too thick to close or even easily flip through or store away. (I've had similar problems with various dog and cat memory books I've purchased over the years.)

Just to give you an idea of what you'll be asked to draw, here's a random sampling of ten prompts:
- "What does your hair look like today?" (June 25)
- "Draw yourself drawing. What are you drawing in the drawing of you drawing?" (October 10)
- "This page is full of bugs!" (March 28)
- "A four-parter! Over the course of the next four years, fill each panel with the life of a tree, from acorn to sapling, and onward to maturity." (March 19)
- "Dream up a creative way to combine two animals into one. A frog and a goat? A seal and a blowfish?" (December 3)
- "Draw a key. What does it open?" (April 9)
- "What monster lives under your bed?" (August 16)
- "Draw a tiny desert island. Who is on it?" (October 4)
- "How would you illustrate a smell that you love?" (May 20)
- "What's the one item you're most embarrassed you own?" (March 7)

I really love these guided journals; they're an excellent choice for people who want to keep a daily journal, but don't have a whole lot of time or discipline to maintain the habit. The short, specific entries help keep you focused and motivated, and the four-year span offers a fun way of comparing your answers over a longer period of time.

http://www.easyvegan.info/2015/09/11/q-and-a-a-day-for-creatives-by-potter-style...

This attractive little book has lovely layout, color scheme, and photography. These elements make it appealing to flip through. As far as its stated purpose is concerned, it presents step-by-step written instructions and photographs for each of its 33 styles. They're often presented to fill up page space (e.g., "1) Drape the scarf around the neck; 2) Fan out the scarf in front" could easily be condensed into on step), and the written instructions occasionally omit important intermediary steps on the more complicated styles (luckily, these can be deduced from the photographs). The chapter on accessorizing with scarves is the true gem.

End verdict: How to Tie a Scarf" is first and foremost a fun coffee table book. Readers are probably already familiar with most of the styles it presents but might find one or two new ones as well.

An Awesome Idea Marred by Lackluster Execution

(Full disclosure: I received a free copy of this book for review through Blogging for Books.)

When I was younger, I kept a diary and wrote in it fastidiously, especially during my tumultuous teenage years. College was predictably hectic and I soon fell out of the habit, never to return - but not for lack of effort. As an adult, I've tried to resurrect my journaling several times, with little luck; mostly I don't have the time, or don't know what to write about. Also it doesn't help that my handwriting sucks, thanks to the ubiquity of computers. (My third grade teacher would be horrified!) So when I spotted Q&A a Day on Blogging for Books, I thought I might give it a try.

It's a cool idea that seems to surmount many of the obstacles I've encountered when journaling as an adult. Laid out kind of like a day planner, the book features a question or prompt for each day, with enough spaces to cycle through five years. Due to both the pointedness of each question, and the limited space provided per response, each question should take only a minute or two to answer. Maybe five if you really want to think on it. With such a small time commitment per day, it should be easy for even the most harried among us to keep up.

The questions run the gamut, from "How could today have been better?" to "What can't you forget?"

Here are a few of my favorites:

"If this day was an animal, which animal would it be?"

"How do you describe home?"

"How can you help?"

"Who are you fooling?"

"What advice would you give to a second-grader?"

While the idea gets a full five stars from me, the execution leaves something to be desired. The book is impractically tiny. At nearly 1 1/4" thick and 6 1/4" tall x 4 1/4" wide, it's a little smaller than a mass market paperback (though just as thick), when I expected something closer in size to a trade paperback.

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You know how, when you reach the end of a page in a notebook, your hand starts dangling off the bottom of the page? And this makes it increasingly difficult to write, let alone write legibly? And the problem only gets worse the thicker the notebook - and thus the higher the drop off? Q&A a Day has that, and then some: since the book's so ridiculously small, my palm starts dangling just halfway down. Not good.

And the lines! They're so tiny! I did a side-by-side comparison with my current wide-ruled notebook, and the lines in Q&A a Day look to be half the size. According to the internets, wide ruled paper has 8.7 mm spacing compared to 7.1 mm for college ruled - making the lines in Q&A a Day significantly thinner than even college ruled. People with manual dexterity issues (or big and bubbly handwriting) need not apply.

I predict that I'll use this journal anyway, because the idea is aces; but each morning, as I answer the question of the day, I shall silently curse the book's designer for ruining an otherwise awesome journal.

On the positive side, Q&A a Day is a handsome, attractive book. The cover has an earthy, cardboard feel that I really like, and the cover design is pretty swanky too. I just wish it was a few inches larger on either side. Someone make this happen please?

This charming journal completely missed my radar when it was released last November. Not surprising, really. Who would know from the title listed online that it was inspired by Jane Austen?

The actual cover is more helpful; it has a subtitle, 365 Witticisms by Jane Austen, that was unfortunately omitted in the online listings. Bingo! Janeites will also recognize her silhouette in the cover design, but the uninitiated will be clueless. Honestly, Jane-a-Day could be for any famous Jane, like: Jane Eyre, Jane Marple or Calamity Jane! Regardless of this miss by publisher Potter Style, who have brought us a slew of beautiful Austen ephemera like: Jane Austen Puzzle: 500-Piece Puzzle, Jane Austen Mini Journal and Jane Austen Notecards, this is a gem that Janeites should be made aware of.

This classy new 5 year diary has a lot of pluses in its favor to make up for the title flub. Here is the publishers blurb from the back:

"Let the wit and wisdom of Jane Austen guide you throughout the next five years. Each journal page features a memorable quote from the iconic author’s oeuvre that can be revisited each year. Created to help you make a time capsule of your thoughts, simply turn to today’s date and take a few moments to comment on the quote. When you finish the year, move on to the next section. As the years go by, you’ll notice how your commentary evolves."

Of course the best thing, besides the opulent binding, gold leaf on the edges and the prayer book size (how apt), is the selection of quotes. The unnamed editor who selected them from Jane Austen’s novels and letters did a superb job. Even this die-hard Janeite was pleased to discover a few that have not been featured in every Jane Austen quote book since time began. Here are a few of my favorites:

“She hardly knew how to suppose that she could be an object of admiration to so great a man.” – Pride and Prejudice
“I could easily forgive his pride, if he had not mortified mine.” – Pride and Prejudice
“Women are the only correspondents to be depended on.” – Sanditon
“Where youth and diffidence are united, it requires uncommon steadiness of reason to resist the attraction of being called the most charming girl in the world.” – Northanger Abbey
“There are as many forms of love as there are moments in time.” – Personal Correspondence
“His cold politeness, his ceremonious grace, were worse than anything.” – Persuasion
“There are people who the more you do for them, the less they will do for themselves.” – Emma
“Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery.” – Mansfield Park

For those book lovers (like me) who would never think of defacing a book by writing in it, this journal may sit on your Jane Austen book shelf looking pretty forever. If you are a doodler and want to keep track of your annual reaction to Jane Austen’s pithy quotes and quips throughout the years, I can think of no finer way than including Austen in your life every day for the next five years!

Laurel Ann, Austenprose