Contest(s)

• Becky Black is giving away a selection of her books. Closes 6 pm GMT, May 14.

Bookity

• New releases: Fiction Vixen (romance) and Dear Author (romance)
• Book and publishing news from Dear Author.
• 40 A words. And 13 punctuation marks.
• Amazing sort of urban mythology story – highly recommended!
• “Queer subtext in The Little Mermaid“.
• Minimalist posters of famous libraries.
• Minneapolis is having a Little Free Library Festival next weekend.
• Summer reading road trip. (via neighborhoodr-minneapolis)
• Academic reading LOL.
• “If literary characters wrote fanfiction“.

Do, Learn, Make, Think

• Planks are hard work. (Definitely go read the linked article.)
• Patagonia timelapse.
• “…Composite photos retell the horror of the London Blitz“.
• Binary and hex basics.
• Minnesota had the first indoor shopping mall in the US…

Cookity

• 24 Mediterranean recipes.
• Greek scramble.
• Quick green curry braised salmon.
• Key lime smoothie bowls.
• Black tea and orange juice ice pops.
• Sweet and savory lime granita.
• Fish sauce vinaigrette.
• Chai tea and honey butter.
• Chocolate cobbler. (via The Kitchn)

Gluten Free

• Paleo muffins.
• Chocolate desserts.
• Breakfast puffs.

Artsy Crafty

• DIY journals.
• Knitting and crochet coloring books. (via Knitteapolis)
• Knitting linkity from kmkat.

Cool

• A tribute to David Bowie that benefits Feline Rescue.
• “Prehistoric octopus painted with its own 95-million year old ink“.
• Retro national parks posters.
• The Lake Harriet elf house.
• Flask-shaped water bottle. Flat water bottles make so much sense!
• A short film about a pair of scissors.
• A silent film about hand-drawn cartoons.
• A short film about a spaceship.
• Linkity from kmkat.

Cool or Wha…?

• Playing card notebooks.
• Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup with Reese’s Pieces in it. Is that meta?
• Facehugger facewarmer.
• GlowBowl.

Wha…?

• “There’s a Burger King in Helsinki that’s also a spa“.
• The Walking Dead coloring book is now available.
• You can turn  your Instagram photos into swimming trunks.

LOL

• Super 8 held a gallery show for its wall art.
• Message in a bottle. (Hover cursor/long-press for additional text.)
• This… would explain a lot, actually.
• “Life hacks from cats“.
• Kitten chasing a ping pong ball.

Teh Cute

• Meerkat and babies! Polar bear and baby! Baby clouded leopards! Gentoo penguins and babies!

Reading Update
Amplified Art: Dynamic Techniques for High-Impact Pages by Kass Hall. I liked this one more than I expected to – it had some ideas and techniques that weren’t just variations on most of the other art journaling books. Not feeling inspired to go buy it, but I did take a lot of notes as I read.
An Illustrated Journey: Inspiration from the Private Art Journals of Traveling Artists, Illustrators and Designers by Danny Gregory. I enjoyed peeking into all the different ways people use art journals to document their travels, especially as I saw common themes emerge. And I’m a sucker for reading about the different supplies artists use, especially when they’re away from home.

He’s going to be asleep in 3…2…1…