What inspires you? There are so many things that inspire each and every one of us. Some might work for many of us, like this post I saw on a fellow UBC blogger’s post. While others might be unique – just for you. Among the things that do inspire me – books and memories (pictures, and those put together in picture-boxes)…

Picture-Boxes:

In Day 28’s post, I reviewed Hawthorne’s ‘Fancy’s Show-Box’ where Mr.Smith is plagued by uncommitted sins of his past. Fancy displays them as images on her picture-box. Today, however, I have pictures that inspire happiness, that were once moments and are now cherished memories.

So, here is to our own picture-boxes that make us smile!

I love creating collages of photos I take. Here are a couple of ideas and tips for you (and I hope to have a more detailed tutorial soon):

• Tools: There are many tools online and I have used a few of them, including Adobe Spark, PhotoCollage, Fotor, and BeFunky among others. There are definitely many more options for use. Note that each one has limited uses in its free version, and each one offers a premium/paid version. Some require me to sign in or register to use the free versions. So far, I have only used the free versions for my collages. The picture-boxes in today’s post were created using BeFunky.
• Themes: Choose a theme, and select your photos around that theme for any collage. This helps narrow down the photos to choose from, and if you are like me, you have too many. Themes could be silly (like photos where there is a banana pictured somewhere), around a celebration, a destination, or by color, or just about anything you wish.
• Layout: Pick the layout that will work best for you. What are you using it for? How many photos do you have? Many tools have layouts based on the social media options to help you along. Pick your layout and play a bit till you find the best one for you. Remember that the layout itself is editable many a time.
• Text/Graphics/Patterns/and more: Different tools offer different extras to add to your collage so you can enhance it. Use them and make your picture-box pop. In today’s post, I have just used text.
• So there they are, a quick look into collages. Hope it helps!

Top Ten Recent(?) Additions to my TBR:

I keep adding books to my TBRs; yes, not just one. On Pinterest, on GoodReads, on my google docs spreadsheets, elsewhere. Here are ten of books from across these TBRs.

• My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry by Fredrik Backman – I saw this on a book blogger’s post and it was highly recommended. Her review of the book meant I had to read it so here it is. And the Goodreads ratings are pretty convincing too.
• The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee – I knew about this book and had meant to read it for a long while now, but now I feel all the more compelled to read it.
• Nightbooks by J.A.White – A bit of Arabian Nights, and a little bit of Coraline – I am looking forward to this middle-grade read.
• Meet Miss Fancy by Irene Latham – Courtesy of one of the blogs on the IMWAYR linkup, this book for early readers caught my interest with the cover and the title at first glance, and the description deepened it.
• Shillong Times: A Story of Friendship And Fear by Nilanjan P. Choudhury – Found on another blog, this book has gotten me truly ready to read it. Based on the description, seems like it could be a read for high-schoolers and older.
• The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett – I added this to my list of reads when I read another book by Pratchett recently. Based on what I read, though this is numbered as Discworld #30, this can be read as a stand-alone. But do let me know if I am wrong and need to read others in the series before this one..
• Sweep – The Story of a Girl and her Monster by Jonathan Auxier – The cover itself was enough. Then the description sealed this books fate – it is now definitely going to be read soon.
• With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo – I literally swooned over Acevedo’s writing when I read her ‘The Poet X‘; so this one is a sure thing on my will-read list. Not yet available; pub date – May 2019.
• The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise by Dan Gemeinhart – I missed this one on NetGalley but I have put it on hold at the library (almost first in line). Hopefully, I will be done with my current reads by the time this is available for me.
• Educated by Tara Westover – An inspiring read that reaffirms the power of education. This is all over everywhere; I first heard of it on GatesNotes and sometime earlier, an NPR interview with Tara interested me further into the book. Judging by the number of holds on this book at all the libraries I am a member of locally (three), I am in for a long wait unless I go ahead and just order it online 🙂

Dear Reader: Have you read any of these? Do let me know what you thought of them if you did? Or maybe they are also on your TBR.. 🙂

You can check out my previous posts for the month and for Ultimate Blog Challenge below. Caught up again, almost – this is my day 29 post for UBC. Linking this to the Top Ten over at That Artsy Reader Girl

Day 28 Day 27Day 26Day 25Day 24 Day 23Day 22Day 21Day 20Day 19Day 18Day 17Day 16Day 15Day 14Day 8Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5Day 6Day 7Day 9
Day 10Day 11Day 12 Day 13