Learning with Craftsy ~ Review

Back forever ago, I was offered a free Craftsy course in exchange for an honest review, and now I'm finally getting around to sharing this company with you!

This post contains affiliate links.

I had only heard of Craftsy just before being offered a class and had no idea how it worked. Turns out, there are all kinds of hands-on classes, taught in several lessons on video. A few of the classes that stood out to me were:

Drab to Fab Furniture Upcycling
Beading with Wire, Chain, and Leather
Cooking Essentials: All About Chicken
Make Your Own Wirework Findings

However, I decided to go with what seemed like the most immediately useful option and chose "Shoot It!" to learn more about product photography.

A few of the perks of classes at Craftsy:

Pace: Once you choose a class, you can watch the videos and learn at your own pace. And once you buy a course, you have access to it forever.

Customization: Since the classes are videos, of course, you can pause and go back as much as you need to, and there is an area at the bottom of your screen for notes. And when you go to type a note, the video automatically pauses.

Resources: The classes are made as easy to follow as possible, as are what you learn in each lesson, as course materials and bonus resources (like checklist for photo sessions) are included. They really can't make things much easier for you--you bring the money and your brain, and they do everything else.

Interaction/Realness: The class begins with the teacher introducing herself  and telling her background just like a "real" class. And there is homework (which, no, I did not do. Because life.) And students are free--and encouraged--to leave comments, post messages, and share their photo homework for critique and advice. While I never took part in that aspect of it, that is a very helpful feature to have and solidifies the confidence that you're learning from real-life, involved teachers.

As far as "Shoot It!" specifically, while a few things talked about felt like no-brainers, I did learn a few things. And the lessons covered all the way from understanding color choice in photography to basic shooting rules to planning a shoot. It included a very wide range of the aspects of product photography and never went too deep.

So overall, I do recommend this site if there is a topic you really want to learn more about and also have a little bit of extra money lying around. Definitely jump on a class when they're having a sale (as they do often), like right now! Today through Christmas Day is Crafty's Best of 2014 Course Sale where classes are $19.99 or less! (Classes are usually more than twice that.) I say go for it--take advantage of the sale and then get started on the class of your choice in the new year!

Book Review: A Matter of Heart

*I received this book from Bethany House in exchange for an honest review.

I recently was given another opportunity to review a book from Bethany House. When I saw A Matter of Heart by Tracie Peterson involved a heroine who had to choose between two men, I had to go with it. Not being too keen on the whole obvious, one hero-one heroine, hmm, wonder if they'll end up together in the end?? stories, as in the last book I reviewed, I was excited for a story that supposedly wouldn't be so blatantly obvious.

To catch you up, Jessica Atherton is a spoiled, early-twenties' woman in the late 1800s looking to mend her ways and become a better person, while all of her friends are getting married and having babies. She must choose between two men: Harrison Gable, a smooth lawyer, and Austin Todd, a former Secret Service agent and current Texas Ranger with a past full of tragedy.

It's not really a hard choice though. It was clear from the very beginning who she would end up with. Harrison was just a distraction, painted as a villain from the start. A couple of chapters in, I really did not want to finish this book. But I did anyway. And while the plot did get more interesting, there were just too many issues overwhelming it.

The little things: 
There are way too many typos. One, maybe two is okay. But five or more? This probably means one of two things: the book was in horrible shape before it reached the editing stage and this is the really good version, or, as Tracie Peterson is a very popular author, there was a rush to get this book out and it didn't get the level of editing it needed. I'm leaning toward the latter.

Sometimes when we're reading about a flashback, the incorrect past tense is used--but I doubt that would bother many other readers. (And some of you may have no idea what I'm even talking about...)

Reading a story told from the point of view of two or three characters is very interesting and often desirable. But, in addition to the points of view of the main two characters, scenes sometimes take place from the limited point of view of minor characters, in scenes that really didn't even need to happen, that made me think, "Wait, what are we here for?" There were already a lot of characters, many of them related in ways I gave up trying to follow, so trying to read through different points of view, while not terribly frequent, was confusing.

It's always hard to introduce your characters to readers in a way that is natural and not forced in the slightest. I get that. But in the beginning, about a chapter in, the main character, Jessica, is sitting at the dinner table with her parents, having a conversation, when all of the sudden a Tyler Atherton is referred to. I mentally reeled and thought maybe there was suddenly another man at the table, then finally figured out that was her father's name--but as far as I could recall we didn't yet know Jessica's last name was Atherton. So that was very confusing, and not the right foot to begin this story on.

At one point, I could be wrong, and I reread it and reread it trying to wrap my brain around it, but I believe while two characters are having a conversation, the wrong name is used in the speaking tag, and/or a character then replies to himself. Confused? Me too. I don't know what happened, but for a minute there, something went wrong.

In short, too much mental reeling from scenes that were slightly hard to follow, to know who's talking, to know how these people are all related, etc.

The big things: 
Often an important scene would begin, and then it would end abruptly and pick up when the event was over--like Jessica becoming seriously ill all of a sudden. Immediately thereafter, we learn she was ill for over a week. And we saw none of it. Similarly, Jessica gains permission from her parents to take an overnight trip with a couple she's friends with and go to a concert, where the distraction-lover will be. It's clearly gearing up for a big event--but it just ends with her leaving for the trip. The story picks up on another day without us getting to see anything about the trip. Christmas finally comes, with big things clear to happen, and we see only a glimpse of the morning, before Christmas even starts. When huge events like that are lead up to and then ended before they begin, it's not only confusing and a lost opportunity to develop the story even more, but it makes you wonder if the author just didn't feel like writing through the rest of those happenings and so just conveniently cut out before things really got started.

Throughout the book, there is a threat going on against one of the minor characters, but it involves Austin, the former Secret Service agent. The threat arises toward the beginning--a man who murdered the minor character's father is back in town to, most likely, murder her and hurt her family too while in the quest for some forged gold certificates and printing plates. But when this man arrives in town very suspiciously and is very quickly discovered to be using a fake name and lying about why he's there, the issue is rather ignored for a couple months. Even though it's an underlying plot in the story, it's never really taken very seriously until months down the road, for some very strange reason. Completely unrealistic and unbelievable.

In the end, Austin goes off to a nearby state to settle the above threat and criminal activity going on. And though he knows he's being watched by the two men in question and that they're capable of murder, he becomes uncharacteristically oblivious to the danger, dropping his guard long enough to be cornered by the men in his own hotel room, alone, without a gun, the recovered gold plates and such strewn out over the bed. He ends up being attacked and shot because of it, which puts him in the hospital for a month. I find it very hard to believe that a man with his experience and seriousness--with a brand-new fiancee waiting for him back home--would be as careless as he was.

There is a further unrealistic, unbelievable occurrence. Austin promises Jessica that he'll be back from the case within a few days. It takes him being gone for two weeks before Jessica even asks anyone if they've heard from him and does anything about it--and that only after she convinces her father to, as he thought she was overreacting. Her friends, the family of the woman being threatened, when asked if they've heard from Austin, basically all say, "Well, no, I haven't," like it's nothing and they hadn't really thought about it. They all knew how dangerous it was, where he was going, and yet somehow they're all oblivious to the fact that no one has heard from him. They send out a telegram to try to check on him, and then, evidently, just sit around and wait. Next thing we know, a month in total has gone by without word from him, when Jessica finally finds him in a hospital. Absolutely, frustratingly unbelievable. Slow communication or not, if you had just gotten engaged and your fiance went off on a case that you knew was very dangerous, would you really sit around and wait on him for weeks before trying to find out what happened? Not a chance. Even if everyone else was somehow in a fog of oblivion, someone as independent and headstrong as Jessica would have gone off to find him on her own.

In short, the reader feels robbed of scenes we should have been privy to, the big things were downplayed as not important, and no fiancee would sit around and twiddle her thumbs for a month while her true love might be lying dead in a hotel room. Just too much unbelievability.

All in all, the book got better as it went on and did get a little suspenseful at times but was still not a book I would recommend or read again. I would give it 2 1/2 out of 5 stars.

If you made it all the way through this, wow!

And don't worry--I plan on this being my last book review, as I clearly rock at them...

I promise there are books I like--come back tomorrow, and I'll prove it! ;)

Abe's Market Common Good Natural Cleaners Review

The following is an honest review in exchange for products of my choice. This post contains affiliate links.

I'm back again with another product review courtesy of Abe's Market. My shopping spree covered more than just mascara, and I was eager to try their Natural Home Products, so I'm here to share with you the rest of my chosen items: 

I chose a Natural Household Cleaner, Natural Hand Soaps, and Natural Dishwashing Soap.

Daniel got to do the honors with testing out the all-purpose cleaner: 

The good news: 

It appears to be free of the toxins we're avoiding.

It didn't take much to do the job when it came to cleaning the bathroom sink. 

It was strong enough to conquer some red mold even.

The bad news: 

It didn't, however, work on the bathtub.

It also smells like decomposing leaves and pine needles. Which may be your thing but wasn't Daniel's. 

I give it 3 out of 5 stars.

The hand soap:

The good news: 

It's natural, of course.

 Seems to work well and smells good. The coriander scent is a bit odd but not bad, and the lavender scent is very strong.

The bad news:

Not much besides the price. Not awful (a whole lot less than the mascara I reviewed a few weeks ago), but still more than I wish I had to pay for natural hand soap.

I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

The dish soap:

The good news:

It smells good. And again, it does appear to be free of the main toxics we're trying to avoid.

The bad news:

Its woeful performance. Picture proof:

I used a normal amount of soap and got a couple plates, a couple cups, and just a few utensils done before the suds were all gone, as you can see. I gave it a few more tries and had to use a lot at a time and it still wasn't sufficient. We gave up on it and will have it on hand for when we run out of other brands. I know you can't really compare the performance of a natural soap to Dawn, but ... you really should be able to, shouldn't you? Is it too much to ask?

I give it 2 out of 5. I would give it 1, but you gotta give it another star for being natural.

You knew if I was reviewing it, it wasn't going to be all sunshine everywhere, right? Oh to be able to give a totally positive review. One can dream right? ;) But the quest for natural is not over, and I have nowhere near exhausted the options. :) You never know what you might find at Abe's Market--they have some of everything, all natural, so if you're like me and wanting to remove chemicals and toxins from your life, there are all kinds of options for you at Abe's Market. Just because these weren't perfect, that doesn't mean there aren't all kinds of other awesome things to be found!

Have you tried this brand before? Do you have any natural cleaners or soaps you love?

Lola Lash Natural Mascara Review

The following is an honest review in exchange for a product(s) of my choice. This post contains affiliate links.

I recently discovered Abe's Market and was excited at the prospect of browsing their natural and organic products, particularly their Natural Makeup & Natural Cosmetics. As I'm in the journey of cutting chemicals out of my life, I knew right away I wanted to try their mascara when I was given the chance to go on a bit of a shopping spree in exchange for an honest review.

Lola Lash Mascara by Antonym was the only complimentary option, so I went with it even though the only color available was black and I generally wear dark brown or brown/black mascara. 

Initial observations: While the ingredients list is not short and contains some long words that I don't know, it is, however, free of the major chemical offenders, like those listed here. So that's definitely a step in the right direction.

Also, the wand is curved, which I'm not used to, but it still worked well.

I finally got to test it out for a date with Daniel, and I do like how it looks.

I've been using Covergirl forever now, most recently Lashblast Fusion, in brown/black. So how do they compare?

 

The Lola Lash mascara is clearly black, and the Covergirl is clearly not. Lola Lash seems to focus more on length, while the Covergirl Fusion focuses more on volume, but the difference is very slight.

All in all, I really have only two complaints: I wish the Lola Lash was dark brown instead of black; then I would really love it. And also, while I am wanting to use chemical-free makeup, I'm not really wanting to pay quite so much for mascara. So it's a choice between affordable, chemical-filled options or not-really-affordable natural options. Considering how rarely I even go anywhere and need to put on makeup, the cost would probably be worth it in my case, since one tube will last me so long.

There are also a few much more affordable options that are worth looking into, from both Abe's Market and elsewhere, which I plan to explore before actually purchasing another tube of this particular mascara.

Abe's Market has all kinds of natural makeup options that you should totally take a look at if you're also trying to remove chemicals from your life. If you do try some of their Natural Makeup & Natural Cosmetics, please let me know what you think!

{Linking up with Thinking Out Loud, Treat Yo' Self Thursday}

eShakti Review: Not Quite Perfect

I received this dress from eShakti in exchange for an honest review. You can bet this is that.

 

I have seen bloggers all over the place positively reviewing their complimentary, "customized" dresses from eShakti. So when I had the opportunity to receive my very own dress of choice, I was very excited. They have all kinds of gorgeous clothes, but I knew I wanted a maxi dress, and this one stood out to me right away. After looking through all my options, I eagerly went with this one and could not wait for it to come.

It finally arrived a few weeks after ordering, but I was quickly very disappointed. But let me just break it all down for you with a full review:

location || I looked through eShakti's website before ordering to try to determine where they are located and assumed since they have business hours listed in PST that they were located on the west coast. Silly me. I discovered later that the dresses are actually made in India. (This is mentioned in their About page, but for some reason I missed it.) No offense, but had I known this, I probably wouldn't have ordered from them, as you probably know I am all about supporting American businesses.

shipment and packaging || I was told the dress would ship in about 7-9 business days and that I would be kept posted on the status. When it hadn't shipped in that time and I had heard nothing, I contacted them to check on the status and was told "Our samples typically take 7-9 working days to be processed and shipped," and was told they would email me as soon as it shipped. It did finally ship the next day and arrived just a few days later.

It arrived folded up in a flat box, so it was, not surprisingly, pretty wrinkled as you can see. Which was not desirable but I don't see how it could be avoided.

dress quality || I was afraid that my hopes for this dress were too high, and they turned out to be. As soon as I pulled it out of the box, I thought, Man, it's long! And once I held it up to me, I saw it was definitely too long, by nearly a foot. Call me crazy, but when I think maxi dress, I think long, but not dragging several inches onto the ground. I had entered my measurements based on the range choices I was given and didn't go with the option of exact measurements because I'm not sure that that option was free, and I also gave my height. While the dress could have been tighter in the waist, the issue here was obviously the length. And you would think since they had my height, they should have known how long to make the dress, since it's supposedly made for me. But even with my tallest wedges, it drags the floor.

Then I read a review for this dress in particular that mentioned the surprisingly long length of the dress (though they liked it), so evidently it was not a mistake, but rather how this dress is always made. If that's the case, the description should include that info, and it does not.

value || The color is gorgeous and the cut is flattering, and I do like the feel of the fabric. So I love, love, love those aspects of the dress. But it is very thin and see-through (so much so that you can see the pockets) and wrinkles easily (besides the natural wrinkle of the fabric). I definitely would not have bought this dress from eShakti--it costs as much as I would spend for at least 3 dresses. Everything on their site is expensive, even if it is supposedly customized to your size. But I would only have purchased this dress if I had found it on a clearance rack.

communication and accommodation || I contacted the company right away to let them know about the evident mistake on the length of the dress, and after emailing back and forth a few times was told that I could ship the dress back at no charge to me, and they would evidently remake the whole dress (not just hem it--you know, they put lettuce on a customer's burger, they didn't want lettuce, so the customer sends it back and they throw the burger away and make a whole new one). But the catch was that, as best I can read the rather confusing email, they would reimburse me any alterations charges in the form of store credit. That would mean in order to "get back" my money, I would have to buy something--everything is pretty expensive, so I would be out money in the effort to "make back" my money by buying something. They really wanted to just replace the dress but weren't sure on fabric availability and suggested I might pick another. (Sure enough, it's still out of stock.) But I really wanted this particular dress; I just wanted it to fit. Finally when I told them I would not be sending it back if I had to pay anything or pick another dress, I didn't hear from them again.

So in short, the initial hesitancy I had in ordering from this company was for good reason. I hate writing negative reviews, but I have to be honest. Basically I'm harder on this dress because, though it was free to me, it is very expensive otherwise, and it should live up to its price.

All of that aside, it was free! And I did wear it out successfully on a date with Daniel and do plan to wear it again, because hey, it's free! And maybe since I don't trust myself to do it, I can convince my best friend to hem it for me when she comes to visit.

Have you received or purchased a dress from eShakti? Was yours perfect like everyone else's?

Are you familiar with maxi dresses dragging all over the floor?

{Linking up with Treat Yo' Self Thursday}

Miracle in a Dry Season Review

While perusing my choices of books to review from Bethany House*, I knew that I just had to go with Miracle in a Dry Season by Sarah Loudin Thomas when I saw that it was set in West Virginia. Pair its setting with the fact that it's a Christian historic novel, and I knew it would be right up my alley.

*I received this book from Bethany House in exchange for an honest review.

Needless to say, I really wanted to like this novel from the start. Unfortunately... I didn't. There were four main issues I found while reading this book. {I won't go into the whole storyline, but spoilers are ahead!}

1~ Predictability. The ending was predictable from the start. When a book begins with a single guy and a single girl as the main characters, we know how it's going to end, no matter how many obstacles there seem to be. I know they had to go through a lot before they got together, but I would rather it not be so obvious from page one that they will indeed. There was a bit of a twist with the preacher toward the end--making the preacher so evil was unique. (Though I didn't like that Casewell didn't get more upset when he found out what the preacher had done to Perla. Some righteous indignation would have been quite satisfying.) And I was a little surprised when Perla ran away for a bit at the end--that was a good turn of events. But the twists all came to the conclusion I was expecting.

2~ Wording. You may know that I spent four years of college as a proofreader and then a year after as an editor of all kinds of books, including novels. And in those years I discovered that I have very high expectations for a book's quality in every way possible, sometimes even higher standards than the publishing house I was working for. In short, I simply could not reign in the editor in me, and though I don't think I found a single mistake--a very rare occurrence--there were several sentences that I couldn't help feeling could have been worded clearer, or less clunky. Nothing horribly glaring, but I should be so pulled into the story that I don't notice sentence structure. But it didn't pull me in enough to help turn off that switch of mine.

3~ Confusion. This is a realistic, Christian novel. So when we're going through the normalcy of the story and then find out that the heroine, Perla, has an unexplainable gift for making small amounts of food go unnaturally far--yes, like feeding the 5,000--I couldn't help reel a bit mentally. Though her "gift" bothered many townspeople, it was pretty much settled that it was her gift from God. God does give people gifts, yes, but I found this a bit out there. It did work with the plot (they were in the middle of a drought, so such a "gift" was certainly handy) but was so unrealistic that it was jarring in the midst of the rest of the story and lowered the believability level of a story that should have been nothing but totally believable.

4~ Lack of capturing WV. I saw that the author lives in North Carolina (small world!) but while reading the portrayal of West Virginia wondered if she was familiar with it or had just chosen it as her setting. Come to find out she grew up there! (Further that small world...) Maybe it's just me, maybe it's just her writing style, but I would have thought a novel about West Virginia, by someone who knows and loves it, would here and there attempt to get across the beauty of the state, but I didn't see that. Some events that happened did rather have an authentic feel, like the dances and several playing instruments, but mostly I just saw characters who happened to be in a rural setting. And some of the characters seemed to be a bit too polished, verbally, for mid-century, average West Virginians.

Overall, the book was adequately entertaining for late nights while Daniel and I were in our three weeks of long distance. But I don't plan to read it again and would not necessarily recommend it to my friends to read.

In a nutshell, I have super high expectations for anything I read and a BA in Creative Writing, plus the editor's disease. Add in that the book is set in West Virginia, and my expectations multiply, along with the book's chances of falling short of my expectations. It had a whole lot to live up to. So while others very well could find this book clever and entertaining, I was pretty disappointed.

However, I was proud to find a West Virginian who moved to North Carolina basing a book in the land she loves most!