ThisNext ThisOne: Etch-a-Song

This looks like such fun.

Add us to your address book Unsubscribe Subscribe One Product. Once a Day. Monday, September 24, 2007 Etch-a-Song Yamaha TENORI-ON Etch-a-Sketch and Light Bright haven't got a thing on the TENORI-ON. Designed by Toshio Iwai, the TENORI-ON is a "keyboard" instrument... >> more For people who like: cool, gadgets, keyboards, lights, music Recommend Add to wish list Forward to a friend Previous Ones see all previous Ones Friday, September 21, 2007 Gameday Customs Ultimate Tailgate Thursday, September 20, 2007 Benefit HerGlossiness Wednesday, September 19, 2007 Fully Modular Recycable Trainer Forward to a friend Subscribe Manage your subscription Contact us ThisNext.com - 1409 3rd Street Promenade Ste A, Santa Monica CA 90401. This email may contain advertisements.

Weekend Wordsmith Blog

Weekend Wordsmith is a blogspot for would-be writers to pick up the Word of the Week as a challenge to write-write-write. There is a word of the week to get the writing started.

Paper Tiger Blog

Paper Tiger Blog covers the topic of mulitcultural books for children and young adults.

Saints and Spinners blog

Saints and Spinners is a blog about children's storytelling. (The name is fantastic) It's one I hadn't known of before, and enjoyed finding.

Ask.com and blogging

Did you know that Ask.com has a blog search...very cool.

Reading Rockets

Wow. I just saw Cachibachis listed on Reading Rockets blog roll. I don't know how it got there, but I'm grateful. They have a wonderful focus of helping young readers and encouraging reading in general. Thank you to whoever listed it.

Amazing 3D Sidewalk art!

This 3D sidewalk art is incredible.

Mayra Calvani Interviewed on Radio at Internet Voices Radio

Mayra Calvani, author of The Doll Violinist was interviewed by Lillian Cauldwell at Internet Voices Radio.

And here's another link to the interview in another place called Oh My News International Reviews.

WRITE YOUR LIFE workshop -- September 22 + 23, 2007

Ibtisam Barakat wrote the wonderful book TASTING THE SKY: A Palestinian Childhood.
It was one of the rare books that I've read in one night.
If you're anywhere near the workshop, it would be well worth attending.

Subject: WRITE YOUR LIFE workshop -- September 22 + 23, 2007

WITE YOUR LIFE
========
A weekend workshop

September 22 + 23, 2007

10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Saturday
10 a.m. - 3 p.m. Sunday

Led by award-winning Author and poet Ibtisam Barakat.

Ibtisam is the author of
TASTING THE SKY: A Palestinian Childhood,
Farrar, Straus and Giroux (2007)

Nationally, Booklist named TASTING one of the Top 10 biographies                                    

for youth in 2007.
Locally, Tasting the Sky is the #1 best selling book at 

the Peace Nook in Columbia
for the past five months). 

Cost of WRITE YOUR LIFE weekend workshop:$250. 

Location Access Arts -- 1724 McAlester, Columbia, MO 65201.
To register and for more info:

Tel  (573) 442-9213
Cell (573) 808 – 1936

or Email: i_barakat@yahoo.com 

What former participants wrote:


"This workshop is absolutely phenomenal. My decision
 to attend has been one of the most positive and
 valuable decisions that I could have made for myself.
 I developed, experienced and changed. 

It's very empowering."- Tashel Bordere

"I enjoyed this workshop. I learned a great deal and
 felt supported emotionally in those areas I felt I
 could not face  up to. I discovered a few things about
 myself and others. Thank you for doing this work. It
 is a wonderful gift to this community and to the
 world!! I am so glad I came."- Becky Matsiga

"Thank you for a great workshop! WRITE YOUR LIFE

has been a truly wonderful experience for me.

I will recommend it to my friends."- Steve Buchels.

From the King of Ogoni Land.

I could not resist posting this....

I received an email from THE KING OF OGONI LAND.....
the honorable King James Goloma. He wants me to hold $4 million dollars for him. He writes in true intenet-ese.....no formalities with good King James of Ogoni land. I guess he trusts me fairly well, although we have never met or corresponded.

Doesn't it sound like a book title? I think the king has missed his calling. He needs to write a good fiction novel.

I could use the 5000 barrels of crude oil though.

-----Original Message-----
From: King James Goloma <king_of_ogoni_land@yahoo.co.jp>
To:
Sent: Tue, 18 Sep 2007 9:11 am
Subject: From the King of Ogoni Land.

新しいメールアドレスをお知らせします

新しいメールアドレス： king_of_ogoni_land@yahoo.co.jp

Sir, pls can u help my community to hold $4Million? U will be compensated with 15% of the fund and 5000 barrels of crude oil. Pls reply on time for more details. Regards, King James Goloma of Ogoni Land.

- King James Goloma

The American Chronicle- An Interview

The American Chronicle has an interview too...how fun.

The Picture Bookies Showcase has a theme of Friends up this week.

BlogCritics Interview of Me is Up!

This is fun.....BlogCritics has an interview of me up on their blog right now!

The 5 Minutes for Mom Blog Highlighted Us!

The 5 Minutes for Mom Blog, blogged Mayra Calvani's book (and my illustration of it) The Doll Violinist in the ABC COntest. Check it out.
I also just saw that LauraWilliams blogged about us as well. She has a homeschooling blog called Laura Williams' Musings here. Thanks so much Laura!

Vote for My Illustration and Win Possible Prizes!

Vote for my Illustration of The Doll Violinist
and Enter for a chance to Win a Pen and Ink Rendering of Your House!

Click on this link for voting info....(voting starts on Sunday the 16th at www.abcbookcompetition.org.

My illustration for THE DOLL VIOLINIST by Mayra Calvani, is a finalist at the ABC's Children's Picture Book Competition!

The author and illustrator finalists have already been chosen by judges, and now the winner will be chosen by online public vote. YOU the viewer, will choose the winner—the illustrator and author who will walk away with a publishing contract!

The Doll Violinist is a heart-warming Christmas tale set in Victorian Europe, written by Mayra Calvani, and features illustrations by me, Amy Moreno.

To view the finalists in the competition and vote for my illustration, please visit the
competition website at http://www.ABCbookcompetition.org . The two week voting
period starts September 16, 2007 and will continue through midnight
September 30, 2007. The winning illustrator and author will be announced October
8, 2007.
People who vote for my illustration of The Doll Violinist will be entered in a drawing and the prize will be as follows:
A customized pen and ink rendering of your house, created from photos provided by you. Final art is created on 11” x 14” acid-free paper.
I have created pen and ink renderings nationally for many Inns, Bed and Breakfasts, restaurants and clients.
Second prize is your choice of an item on my cafepress store
http://www.cafepress.com/amymoreno
from $15.00 and under.
All you need to do is vote for THE DOLL VIOLINIST illustration, starting on Sept 16th, then send a message to dearlake@aol.com and write ‘You got my vote’ on the subject line. You must send a message in order to enter the drawing, so please don’t forget! The winners will be announced here on Cachibachis, on October 1st, 2007.
Vote for Amy Moreno’s illustration and make sure to email me to be entered in the drawing for the prize. I will not share your email address with anyone else or use it for any purpose except to keep it for the prize drawing.

Check out the Picture Bookies Blog

The Picture-Bookies are discussing our favorite children's illustrators right now. It's always fascinating to me to see who other artists favor.
My top favorites are listed there, and are: Howard Pyle, Bernie Fuchs, Kinuko Craft, Leo and Diane Dillon, Helen Ward, Gennady Spirin, and Jerry Pinkney and David Diaz

SCBWI LA Conference 2007

Here's a clip from YouTube that I found of some of the folks who took part in this Summer's SCBWI LA conference. It's fun to see a few familiar faces (the famous ones)

Illustration Friday- Momentum

Here's my image for this week's Illustration Friday topic....Momentum.

Phaidon Press

Here's another great spot to visit for great designs in art, books, architecture, you name it Phaidon Press.

NotCot.org

NotCot.org...definitely not your normal design spot. Wowee. I could spend way too much time there.

Edgar Allen Poe and Harry Clarke

My Edgar Allen Poe book arrived today. I ordered it to get some close-up views of Harry Clarke's wonderful black and white illustrations. (I'm not normally into Poe or macabre illustrations, although I think Edward Gorey is a genius) The book did not disappoint. I am thrilled with the illustrations. It's called Edgar Allen Poe Tales of Mystery and Imagination. There are a few versions, so if you're interested, make sure you get the one with the 24 plates.

My Updated CafePress Site

I've just updated my CafePress store. This new image is up on many of the products now. It's an oil painting illustration I created for Mayra Calvani's children's book, The Doll Violinist.

Daily Bits and Pieces

Daniel's illustrations are gorgeous. I saw his work on Illustration Friday and was struck by the soft gentleness of them, combined with a quirky edgy feel at times. Really beautiful work.

Trying something out

I'm trying to do something..have to use this photo for something and am posting it here for a sec. It's me and my twin (the REAL artist) and our younger brother...don't ya just love those little purses and shoes? I think this was Easter Sunday.

Lilipip

Lilipip is a publisher of mobile educational content for children, delivered to their parents’ cell phones via direct download. It's due to open in October, but there are already short clips to view and some good info on their blog. I enjoyed the Get In The Car clip...I can SO relate.

Lady Liberty

I created this illustration awhile back for a rubber stamp design. It came to mind as I've been listening to Reading Lolita In Tehran (book on tape)...very thought provoking regarding freedoms that we take for granted.

Jacketflap has a new Bookshelf Feature

Jacketflap.com has a new Bookshelf feature, where you can add a list of your favorite books, or books you've read. They've even made it easier by allowing you to import lists from LibraryThing and Shelfari and other places. I added my Shelfari list on mine. (It's not in the same order as it is on Shelfari for some reason.) I love online bookshelves. I've found some of the best books recently by perusing other people's online shelves, recommendations and lists. I've also met some amazing people through the lists and groups on the groups.

Back to School

School has started here in our area of Virginia now. What a mix of emotions and energy in our home. Scurrying to schools to sign up and get schedules, calling friends to see what group and classes they are in, running from store to store to find specific required items for classes, and clothes shopping. Seeing old friends and faces, all a bit more grown up and taller.

Time to dig in to fall and hit children's book/magazine market and the drawing board with renewed strength. Send out those postcards marketing your art, write more, draw more, create new images just for yourself and for promotion, continue to work on the projects you've got going, keep your chin up, take heart, there's a place in this field for you if you love it, and give yourself to it with the passion it deserves.

The 2008 CWIM is out now. (a MUST-HAVE for anyone serious about children's writing and publishing). Alice Pope's CWIM blog tells more about it, and is also a fount of info about the field.

Illustration Friday-Visitors

Here's my illustration for this week's Illustration Friday topic-Visitors.

Mental Floss Magazine..and other Cachibachis

Here's a few interesting cachibachis....Mental Floss Magazine. I found it on ThinkWoman's This Is Not A Blog blog. (great stuff there...really funky unusual posts and thinking. LYZA's blog is also a fun one to visit, and will keep you on your toes..

Kim Baccellia's Online Book Tour

Kim Baccellia's book Earrings of Ixtumea is currently on a virtual online book tour. Go see.

Check out the Picture-Bookies Blog

There are some fun news items up at our Picture-Bookies Blog. Take a sec to see what's new.

Children's Illustration Portfolio

Check out my new blog/portfolio, Children's Illustration Portfolio. (Like I need a new blog) It's another venue for an illustration portfolio. I've been working on lots of new things, but cannot put them online yet, so I may unearth some older pieces for now and stick them up on the new blog.

Learning to Illustrate Children's Books-Kathryn Shoemaker

Kathryn Shoemaker has an article online about Learning to Illustrate Children's Books. I found the article on The Looking Glass, an online Children's Literature Journal.

Zuda Comics...coming soon

Have you heard of Zuda Comics? It's an all new line of web comics. It will open online in October. Check out the postcards. You can create one and send it in to be included there. Make sure to the "click here to continue" at the top of the page.

New Book Review Blog at Shelfari....coming soon

A Shelfarian has a soon-to-open Book Review Blog. It's not open yet, but check it out if you've got a book you want reviewed and blogged there. You've got to be a member of Shelfari . (free..and well worth the time to do.)

Childen's Book Blogs

About.com has a nice listing here of Children's Book Blogs (most very familiar). Today I braved the stores for the yearly Back-to-school Shopping. It wasn't too bad. I actually enjoy looking through aisles of pencils, pens, backpacks, binders, paper, erasers, scissors, notebooks, folders, glue-sticks and other essentials. It can be a bit addicting for an artist...there's always some new pen or funky folder, but I restrained myself and kept it to the kid's stuff. We've only just begun...still have to get that exPENsive calculator, (WHY do they think a middle schooler needs a fancy $100.00+ caculcator???) flash-drives, clothes, sneakers, gym uniforms...yikes......I am already weepy about school beginning soon.....

Harry Clarke's Marvelous Illustrations

Need Inspiration? Take a look at Nocloo's page of Harry Clarke's amazing black and white illustrations....

Old Friends

Here's a pastel painting I created years ago. These were my three favorite stuffed animal friends growing up. I still have them.

Pen and Ink of a Gazebo

I've been creating lots of illustrations, but can't post any yet, so I figured I'd post an old one. I'm yearning to do more pen and ink renderings of people and animals, children's illustrations rather than buildings. My favorite disposable rapidographs went out of stock....(Why does that always happen?) Maybe it's a good thing...it may force me to face my unreasonable fears of quill pens and return to them.

Library Thing Blog

Library Thing...I'm blogging it's blog again. The links, groups, books, cataloging system there are fantastic for book lovers. While I'm blogging, I'm listening to the wonderful CD of Bolivian Music played in a classical guitar style by Pirai Vaca...it's called Aires Indios....beautiful.

Go MediaZine

Check out the Go MediaZine. Lots of great design info and links there.

Art Swappers Blog

I just started a brand new blog called Art Swappers. It's a blog open for membership to artists of all types. The main point is for artists to be able to exhange their art for art from others. It's in the beginning phase right now, and all artists interested may email me for membership with a short bio. Once you are accepted, you may post a piece for exchange with someone else. Exchanges are done by the honor system, and are your responsibility to work out. Any glitches are also in your hands.
I'll work out the details and the bugs if they come, as they come...but for now...it's OPEN!
(I'll post a piece of my own later for exchange)
You can post anything you have created yourself from oil paintings to digital work or photography, prints, fabric art, jewelry, sculpture, quilts, sketches, etc.
All copyrights are retained by the artist who created the piece of course.

A Bit Off-Topic...but Micro-enterprises

OK..it's off -topic to children's illustration, (although at times I feel like I could use some micro-enterprise donations to my own cause as an illustrator), but here are two Micro-enterprises that do a fantastic job. I've heard of Opportunity International and know that it is a reputable and amazing organization. I'd love to give to them some day. The other one I found this afternoon is Kiva. Both of these organizations make it possible to change someone's life for the better in a profound, instant manner, without costing a huge amount of money.

I got started thinking about this again due to a newsletter called PND...Philathropy News Digest. There was an article about the Getty Museum promising to return 40 antiquities to Italy...which got me looking at some links and things and finding a book called A Billion Bootstraps, Microcredit, Barefoot Banking and The Business Solution for Ending Poverty, byPhilip Smith and Eric Thurman.

It's on my wish-list now.

Come to think of it...these things really aren't off-topic when it comes to kids...I think I feel a story idea coming on right now....

Crayonville...A New Marketing Company

Crayonville...A new marketing company. What can I say..the name got to me. Check the links. There is a lot here to look into just to see the trends going on in marketing and the world.

Potato Head Transformers: Optimash Prime

I couldn't resist posting this. It's just too funny. I want one.

Reading Is Fundamental and Macy's Team up for Kids

RIF and Macy's are teaming up in a program called Be One For The Books to help kids who can't afford books to be able to receive books.
Donate $3 for RIF, Get a SavingsPass for $10 off a $50 Purchase at Macy's*, and Help Children Discover the Joy of Reading.

Taking Time at the Beach

I've been away at the beach. It's a dream here....warm water, soft sand and time resting with my husband and kids. There've been some adventures. Suffice it to say, investing in some water/beach shoes is a must at the beach. My son cut his foot on something the first day in, causing us to need to visit a local medical center for X-rays, and time cleaning it. It wasn't deep, which was a blessing, but the cut needed to be kept from the water for 2 days so that it could heal.

The second day my other son was stung by a jellyfish in several places on his leg and hands. He's got good antibodies though. In between these adventures we've had a blast though. Perfect sunny weather and wonderful waves for boarding on. We're all sunbaked and blessed.