#CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--SHELL ORNAMENTS AND AN ANNOUNCEMENT FROM YA AUTHOR LIZ LOROW

Over the years Ashlyn Chase has been on occasional guest here, both as a romance author and as an author of YA magical realism as Liz Lorow. Today she’s here to talk about her newest Liz Lorow book and announce a major career change. Learn more about Liz at her website.   

Live and Let Witch is here! I hadn’t planned on writing this book, but the main character really wanted me to tell her story. Live and Let Witch is book 2 of The Witches You Were Warned About duo. The ebook version of first book, Don’t Mess With This Witch, is currently on sale.

 

I hope you’ll read one or both books and enjoy the mayhem! 

Now, the surprising announcement. This will be my last novel. I am retiring from writing. I’ll need to do something else though, because as much as I love watching HGTV, that won’t keep me occupied for long. I’m someone who needs to do something meaningful, enjoyable, and fulfilling. I love to decorate shells, and since I live right on the Gulf of Mexico, I have an entire treasure trove of shells outside to keep me busy. 

 

Another idea I had was to make book covers for my Indie author friends. My agent even said they’d commission some for their new venture called Ally, an assisted self-publishing option. Their contact info as well as mine can be found on my website. http://eblorow.com  I made both covers for The Witches You Were Warned About books, as well as some for my Ashlyn Chase pen name. I keep my sexy adult romances separate from my young adult fantasies by using two separate names. It’s a lot to keep track of, but I think it’s important to be clear about what you’re buying. 

Have a fabulous October!

 

Live and Let Witch

The Witches You Were Warned About, Book 2

 

Shy Jenika Jones is a witch and an empath. At only 15 years old, she’s already experienced so much trauma she can’t stand any more.  Her PTSD caused her to accidentally electrocute a fellow student, so now she’s serving time in a magical detention center. No wonder she wishes to become an emancipated minor and lead a simple quiet life.

   

She contacts a spirit willing to help her forge the necessary emancipation documents, if she’ll temporarily switch places with him. Unfortunately, she discovers too late that she’s freed a poltergeist. She manages to escape, but then she has to face the consequences.

 

Fellow Inmate Patrick Hightower fancies himself a modern day Robin Hood. He steals from the rich and gives to his mom. But when Jenika crashes into his life ‘on the outside,’ he has to help her run from magical bounty hunters. After all, she helped him get through magical juvie. Turns out, Patrick’s good looks, bad jokes, and irreverent attitude, are the breath of fresh air Jenika didn’t know she needed.

 

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#CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--AUTHOR HANNAH MEREDITH'S SALT DOUGH CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS

Hannah Meredith loves to tell stories that examine the vagaries of the human heart. She writes primarily historical romance, although an occasional fantasy romance has been known to sneak in. She’s a social media dud, but would love to hear from you via her website. Today she stops by to talk about making salt dough Christmas ornaments and a new multi-author Christmas anthology of Regency romance novellas.  

Cookie Christmas Ornaments Serve Up Family Memories

The year our son Rob turned six, my husband took a job in a small town in southern Virginia, and we bought an old house with large rooms and high ceilings. The corner of the den was the perfect place for a big Christmas tree. My imagination saw it there even though it was the middle of the summer when we moved in. 

Over the Thanksgiving weekend that first year, my husband and son went to a friend’s farm and cut the perfect tree. Great excitement abounded when we wrestled it from the bed of the pickup and with a lot of extra help, got it set into a bucket of water on the carport. It was then I realized this wasn’t just a big tree, it was massive. 

I lamented that we wouldn’t have enough ornaments to make such a tree even look like it was decorated. My neighbor disappeared into her house and returned with a bag of Christmas cookie cutters and a recipe card. “Salt dough cookie ornaments,” she said—and a tradition was born.

That year, Rob helped me make dozens of cookies, and every couple of years thereafter, we added new ones, our choices becoming more elaborate as Rob got older. Eventually, we made our own tracing paper patterns from pictures in coloring books or on Christmas cards. I’ve followed the same routine with all the grandkids, and our ornaments now adorn a variety of trees. For my own tree, still massive but now artificial and located in an old house with high ceilings in North Carolina, every time I hang one of the cookies, I have wonderful memories of creating it with someone I love.

A selection from the author’s cookie cutter collection

Salt Dough Cookie Ornaments

Ingredients:

4 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup table salt

1 cup tap water (approximate)

acrylic paints

paintbrushes

1 spray can polyurethane

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

Mix flour and salt together with a fork or whisk until well blended. Add water a little at a time until the dough forms a ball.

Move the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes until the consistence is similar to pizza dough.

Roll out the dough to about 1/4" thickness. (See Note)

Cut out cookies with selected cutters. Make a hole at the top with anything from a toothpick to a straw so you have a place to insert some yarn or ribbon for a hanger.

Carefully transfer to a cookie sheet with a spatula, and bake for 30-45 minutes. You want the cookies very hard, but they need not be browned.

Let cool completely.

Paint the cookies with acrylic paint. The original recipe said poster paint, but I’ve found artist acrylics are less messy to use and have more vibrant colors.

After the paint dries completely, spray both sides with fast drying spray polyurethane, one side at a time, allowing sealer to dry before turning over.

If stored in tissue paper in a cardboard box, these ornaments will last for years. Many of mine are over 40 years old. Putting the box in either a damp basement or a hot attic is not particularly good, however. I have, alas, done both, and many of the older ornaments are now wavy rather than flat.

Note: The “best” thickness depends on what you’re cutting out. If you’re using a paper pattern from a picture and cutting the dough with a knife (such as the old-fashioned train engine in the picture), you’ll need to roll the dough to a thickness of about 1/8”. To get the dough this thin, roll it out on parchment paper sized to fit your cookie sheet. After cutting out the shapes, remove the excess dough, leaving the cookies where they are on the paper. Then transfer the paper to the cookie sheet and bake. Otherwise thin cookies are prone to become misshapen in the transfer process.

The thicker the cookie, the more likely it is to puff up. This sometimes looks cool for shapes like Santa faces or bells. The only problem is that you can’t control where they will “puff” so be prepared to throw away those that look peculiar.

Christmas Revels VI

Come Revel with four award-winning authors and discover Regency Christmas tales filled with laughter, tears, and love…

“Her Ladyship Orders a Christmas Tree” by Anna D. Allen – A pagan custom leads to an unexpected attraction. 

“The Play’s the Thing…” by Hannah Meredith – Going off script prompts a surprise ending. 

“Yuletide Treachery” by Kate Parker – Two lonely people find a traitor—and love. 

“A Perfectly Unexpected Christmas” by Louisa Cornell – An accident brings redemption and a homecoming. 

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#CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--MYSTERY AUTHOR JULIA BUCKLEY SHARES SOME OF HER FAVORITE CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS

Julia Buckley was born five days after Christmas and was sent home from the hospital in a Christmas stocking; perhaps that's why she has always loved the Christmas season and all its attendant joys. She writes the Undercover Dish Mysteries and the Writer's Apprentice mysteries, and has just completed Book One in a The Hungarian Tea House series. Learn more about Julia and her books at her website.  

I love the Christmas season, and I find great joy and comfort in the decorations I put up each year. It was a tradition that both of my sons would get one new ornament each year, so our tree has many wonderful memories hanging on its branches.

You can see our traditional tree behind Panther up there in the corner, and then two ornaments that my boys made when they were in pre-school—treasured more than anything else on the tree. The “hope” ornament came from a Secret Santa and has provided much encouragement over the last few years, as has the straw star that is reminiscent of the beautiful German ornaments my late mother would hang on our family tree.

I think my favorite ornament, though, is the one in the last box—a depiction of Bob Cratchitt with his son Timothy Cratchit, famously known as Tiny Tim. This father/son duo from Dickens’ A Christmas Carol has come to symbolize the beauty of familial devotion and, with the involvement of Scrooge, the possibilities for love, redemption and joy that Christmas can bring.

When the curmudgeonly and grasping Scrooge first meets Tiny Tim, he is supported on his father’s shoulder. The child walks with a cane, and his “limbs supported by an iron frame.” Scrooge is told by the Ghost of Christmas future that Tiny Tim will die of his ailments unless something is done to change his fate.

In the meantime, the reader sees Bob Cratchit’s absolute devotion to his youngest son, even though the son is a burden on the family. Bob cannot imagine life without his boy, something Scrooge does not understand until his eyes are opened, and his heart is magnified by a new awareness.

In this passage, we learn of little Timothy’s gift for philosophy:

“And how did little Tim behave?” asked Mrs. Cratchit, when she had rallied Bob on his credulity and Bob had hugged his daughter to his heart’s content.

 “As good as gold,” said Bob, “and better. Somehow he gets thoughtful, sitting by himself so much, and thinks the strangest things you ever heard. He told me, coming home, that he hoped the people saw him in the church, because he was a cripple, and it might be pleasant to them to remember upon Christmas Day, who made lame beggars walk, and blind men see.”

Though Tiny Tim is a minor character, it is he more than anyone else who appeals to Scrooge’s miserly heart, and it is his father more than anyone else who makes Scrooge see what it is to love a child, and why it is important to love and care for all children. It is eventually understood that the author uses childhood to represent our purest vision for the world. Dickens sums this up nicely in Stave III, when Scrooge is allowed, through a ghost, to witness a holiday party at his nephew’s house.

“For it is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child Himself.” 

I love books, I have always been inspired by great literature, and I’m a sucker for any literary allusions, so it’s not surprising that a Dickens Christmas ornament is on my list of favorites. This one little cloth ornament depicting a father’s love holds many holiday-appropriate symbols, the best of which is the idea that we can all be redeemed through good works, just as Scrooge, so cold and callous at the beginning of the novella, was transformed into a good man by its end. “To Tiny Tim,” we are told, “Scrooge became a second father.”

Every year my Bob and Tim ornament reminds me of the hope of the season (and in fact it hangs just under my hope ornament). It encourages me to offer support to others when I can, and it verifies the power of a good book.

Don’t get me started on good books! That’s a topic for another blog post.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Holidays to all!

Cheddar Off Dead

The Christmas holidays are one of Lilah’s favorite times of the year, filled with friends, family, and, of course, tons of food orders for her covered dish clients. But Lilah’s Yuletide cheer ends when she sees a most Grinch-like crime: the murder of a Santa in a school parking lot.

It turns out the deceased Kris Kringle was a complicated tangle of naughty and nice, with a long list of people who might have wanted him dead. And whoever did the deed wants to make sure that Lilah keeps quiet. Now, Lilah will have to team up with her former fling, Detective Jay Parker, to unwrap the mysteries of a deadly Christmas killer and stay alive long enough to ring in the New Year... 

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#CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--METALLIC BRAID ORNAMENT

Need a last minute gift for a holiday open house or Secret Santa? Nothing could be quicker than this Metallic Braid Ornament. Make several in a variety of colors and wrap them up in a festive holiday basket.

And don’t forget to check out Drop Dead Ornaments, the latest Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery. You’ll find lots more quick and easy ornaments to make.

Metallic Braid Ornament

Materials

Clear glass ball ornament*

5-yds. 5mm braided metallic cording (choose silver, gold, or 2-toned combination colors such as red/gold or black/silver)

9”-12” of 1/4”-1/2” wide satin or grosgrain ribbon in a complementary color

Note: If you can’t find 5mm braid, you can substitute a different diameter. You’ll need less braid for a thicker diameter and more for a thinner diameter braid. You can also substitute yarn, twine, thin braid, or a thin strip of fabric for the ribbon used for the hanging loop.

Carefully remove the metal cap from the glass ball. Feed the metallic braid through the opening into the ornament. Reattach the metal cap. Tie the ribbon through the loop for hanging.

* This is a great project to make with kids, but depending on their age, you might want to substitute clear plastic ball ornaments for the glass ball ornaments.

Drop Dead Ornaments

An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery, Book 7

Anastasia Pollack’s son Alex is dating Sophie Lambert, the new kid in town. For their community service project, the high school seniors have chosen to raise money for the county food bank. Anastasia taps her craft industry contacts to donate materials for the students to make Christmas ornaments they’ll sell at the town’s annual Holiday Crafts Fair.

At the fair Anastasia meets Sophie’s father, Shane Lambert, who strikes her as a man with secrets. She also notices a woman eavesdropping on their conversation. Later that evening when the woman turns up dead, Sophie’s father is arrested for her murder.

Alex and Sophie beg Anastasia to find the real killer, but Anastasia has had her fill of dead bodies. She’s also not convinced of Shane’s innocence. Besides, she’s promised younger son Nick she’ll stop risking her life. But how can she say no to Alex?

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MYSTERY AUTHOR HEATHER HAVEN DECORATES A CHRISTMAS MEMORY TREE

Heather Haven is a multi-award winning mystery author. Her work includes the Silicon Valley based Alvarez Family Murder Mysteries, NYC trail-blazing WWII lady shamus of The Persephone Cole Vintage Mysteries, Death of a Clown, a Ringling Brothers’ Circus stand-alone mystery noir, and anthology, Corliss and Other Award-Winning Stories. Today she stops by to share a Christmas memory with us. Learn more about her and her books at her website. 

A Christmas Memory Tree

Twenty years ago during the Christmas season, I was visiting a dear friend and noticed a small, jewel-like tree glittering on her hallway table. When I asked her where she got it, she told me she had made it for her mother using ornaments, broken jewelry, and so forth from her family’s life. Now that her mother passed, she had the tree and would someday leave it to her own daughter.

All you need is a small fake tree, a charming container to hold it, plaster of Paris, lights, ornaments, costume jewelry, and a glue gun. I ran, not walked, to my local craft store and bought a small one-and-a-half foot tall tree, a bag of plaster of Paris, and an attractive round plant holder.

Day One: fill that charming little container about 3/4 of the way up with plaster of Paris (follow the directions on the box). Pull the little tree out of the base it came on, stick the tree into the wet plaster of Paris, hold the tree straight for a minute or two until the plaster begins to set, then go about your business for the rest of the day so it can dry thoroughly.

Day Two: Starting at the top, take the center of each wire branch and bend the branch back into itself. This keep it from looking scraggly. Next, wrap the string of lights around the tree, pushing the lights into the tree. Be sure the cord plug is at the bottom of the tree with enough length for plugging into an extension cord or the wall. Even on a small tree, you can use a 500-light or a 1000-light string. The more lights, the more glitter.

 Any balls and decoration that are slightly broken but too important or sentimental to have thrown away go on the tree first and in a place of prominence. With the hot glue gun, dab some glue on one side of the ornament near the metal loop that hooks it on to the tree. You don’t want all of that metal distracting from your jewels. Keep gluing, then sticking ornaments and jewelry wherever you want them to go, hold in place for a few seconds and voila! It’s like magic. Leonardo da Vinci couldn’t do better.

After I added a beautiful angel Mom had kept through the years to the treetop, I lovingly packed the gift in bubble wrap and shipped it off to my mother who lived three-thousand miles away. Until the end of her life, every year my mother took the tree out from the back of the closet and put it on a table, reveling in all the holidays and memories the tree represented. I was happy knowing that even though we were separated by miles, that little tree brought us closer with our shared memories.

Happy Holidays!

Iced Diamonds

In late December 1942, Persephone (Percy) Cole, one of Manhattan's first female PIs, has been hired to find out who killed a Santa Land elf and left the body in the storefront window of a swank 5th Avenue jewelry store. Was it the spoiled heiress whose big buck handbag was found on the scene? Or was it the rat who broke out of the big house to settle a score? Shortly after, the corpse of the Christmas Angel is discovered stuffed in Mrs. Santa's workshop. Will Santa Claus be next? With a penchant for Marlene Dietrich suits, pistachio nuts and fedora hats, this working mother finds diamonds to the left of her, diamonds to the right, and skullduggery aplenty. Armed with her noodle and a WWI German Mauser, Percy is determined to solve these crimes or it just might be the 'kiss off' for Christmas.

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#CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--POMPOM ORNAMENT

Drop Dead Ornaments, the 7^th Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery, is now available. In celebration, here’s another no-talent-required glass ornament, simple enough for even little kids to make (but substitute clear plastic ball ornaments for the glass ones.)

That clock is also counting down to Christmas. There are only 43 days (if I've done my math right) until Santa slides down the chimney. Time to start making that list and checking it twice. Anastasia’s ornament crafts from Drop Dead Ornaments are so incredibly easy to make that even if you’ve never picked up a glue gun or a paintbrush in your life, you can create beautiful gifts in next to no time at all. And none of these ornaments require a glue gun or a paintbrush—or any other specialized tools!

Pompom Ornament

Materials:

clear glass ball ornament (use plastic ball ornaments for young children)

red, white, and green pompoms in various small sizes*

9”-12” of 1/4”-1/2” wide red, green, white, or gold satin or grosgrain ribbon*

Carefully remove the metal cap from the glass ball.

Fill the ornament with the pompoms.

Reattach the metal cap. Tie ribbon through the loop for hanging.

* You can also choose your own color combinations and substitute yarn, twine, thin braid, or a thin strip of fabric for the ribbon used for the hanging loop.

Drop Dead Ornaments

An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery, Book 7

Anastasia Pollack’s son Alex is dating Sophie Lambert, the new kid in town. For their community service project, the high school seniors have chosen to raise money for the county food bank. Anastasia taps her craft industry contacts to donate materials for the students to make Christmas ornaments they’ll sell at the town’s annual Holiday Crafts Fair.

At the fair Anastasia meets Sophie’s father, Shane Lambert, who strikes her as a man with secrets. She also notices a woman eavesdropping on their conversation. Later that evening when the woman turns up dead, Sophie’s father is arrested for her murder.

Alex and Sophie beg Anastasia to find the real killer, but Anastasia has had her fill of dead bodies. She’s also not convinced of Shane’s innocence. Besides, she’s promised younger son Nick she’ll stop risking her life. But how can she say no to Alex?

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#CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--SEQUIN & GLITTER ORNAMENT

Here’s another ornament featured in the Drop Dead Ornaments, the newest Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery. This one is just as easy as the others, but it might take several days for the glue to dry. So plan accordingly.

Sequin & Glitter Ornament

Materials:

clear glass ball ornament

decoupage medium (you can also use either liquid floor wax or thinned tacky glue)

disposable plastic cup

assorted sequins

glitter

Carefully remove the metal cap from the glass ball.

Pour decoupage medium or thinned tacky glue into the glass ornament. Rotate the ornament to swirl the glue around the interior to coat the entire ornament.

Turn the ornament upside-down and set over the disposable plastic cup to drain excess glue.

Add sequins, rotating to distribute around inside of ornament.

Pour glitter into ornament. (You can make a funnel from a piece of rolled paper for easier pouring.) Place your finger over the opening and shake the ornament to distribute the glitter. Pour out excess.

Allow glue to dry with cap off until glue turns clear. This may take up to several days, depending on temperature, humidity, and the type of glue used.

Reattach the metal cap. Tie ribbon through the loop for hanging.

Drop Dead Ornaments

An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery, Book 7

Anastasia Pollack’s son Alex is dating Sophie Lambert, the new kid in town. For their community service project, the high school seniors have chosen to raise money for the county food bank. Anastasia taps her craft industry contacts to donate materials for the students to make Christmas ornaments they’ll sell at the town’s annual Holiday Crafts Fair.

At the fair Anastasia meets Sophie’s father, Shane Lambert, who strikes her as a man with secrets. She also notices a woman eavesdropping on their conversation. Later that evening when the woman turns up dead, Sophie’s father is arrested for her murder.

Alex and Sophie beg Anastasia to find the real killer, but Anastasia has had her fill of dead bodies. She’s also not convinced of Shane’s innocence. Besides, she’s promised younger son Nick she’ll stop risking her life. But how can she say no to Alex?

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#CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--MELTED CRAYON ORNAMENT

The stores are filled with pumpkin-flavored everything lately, as well as candy corn and costumes, but Christmas is not that far away. Have you begun your Christmas crafting yet? Today we’re featuring another ornament from Drop DeadOrnaments, the newest Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery, now available for pre-order. This is a perfect craft for using up your kids’ broken crayons instead of tossing them in the trash. And as with all the other ornaments featured in the book, absolutely no special crafting talent is required.

Melted Crayon Ornament

Materials:

clear glass ball ornament

2-3 crayons in the same color family or opposites (examples: pinks and red, yellows and orange, blues and yellow, blues and pink, etc.)

crayon sharpener or craft knife

hair dryer

9”-12” of 1/4”-1/2” wide satin or grosgrain ribbon in complementary color*

Use the crayon sharpener or craft knife to shave pieces from the crayons.

Carefully remove the metal cap from the glass ball.

Working with one color at a time, place a small amount of the shavings into the glass ball. Hold the hair dryer close to the area of the ornament where the shavings are and heat the ornament to melt the crayons. Be careful you don’t touch the ornament with the hair dryer.

If the ornament becomes too hot as you’re working, take a break to allow it to cool. You may also want to use an oven mitt or glove to protect your hand from the heat. As the crayon shavings begin to melt, rotate the ornament to spread the color.

Alternate colors, continuing until the desired look is achieved.

Reattach the metal cap. Tie ribbon through the loop for hanging.

* You can also substitute yarn, twine, thin braid, or a thin strip of fabric for the ribbon used for the hanging loop.

Drop Dead Ornaments

An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery, Book 7

Anastasia Pollack’s son Alex is dating Sophie Lambert, the new kid in town. For their community service project, the high school seniors have chosen to raise money for the county food bank. Anastasia taps her craft industry contacts to donate materials for the students to make Christmas ornaments they’ll sell at the town’s annual Holiday Crafts Fair.

At the fair Anastasia meets Sophie’s father, Shane Lambert, who strikes her as a man with secrets. She also notices a woman eavesdropping on their conversation. Later that evening when the woman turns up dead, Sophie’s father is arrested for her murder.

Alex and Sophie beg Anastasia to find the real killer, but Anastasia has had her fill of dead bodies. She’s also not convinced of Shane’s innocence. Besides, she’s promised younger son Nick she’ll stop risking her life. But how can she say no to Alex?

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#CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--PRE-ORDER DROP DEAD ORNAMENTS

Peace…we all crave it, inner peace, world peace, peace among squabbling siblings or feuding neighbors or rival political parties…who among us wouldn’t benefit from more peace in our lives, right? Dona nobis pacem. Give us peace. Or as John Lennon said, “Give peace a chance.”

In celebration of Drop Dead Ornaments, the next Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery, now available for pre-order, we’re giving away this handmade Christmas Peace ornament to one lucky subscribers of author Lois Winston’s newsletter (U.S. residents only). Not a subscriber? You can remedy that by clicking here or on the link in the sidebar. Information for entering will appear in the next newsletter, scheduled to go out on September 4^th.

Now, if you’ve been following the blog recently, especially on Mondays when we feature crafts, you’ve probably seen some posts about Drop Dead Ornaments and will remember that the story involves a Christmas bazaar where the local high school students are selling handmade glass ball ornaments to raise money for the county food pantry. We featured one of the ornaments two weeks ago. However, as much as we’d love to give away one of these ornaments, we realized that no matter how well we packed it, the chances weren’t great that it would arrive unbroken. Hence, we’ve chosen this fabric ornament, bound to survive even the roughest of package handling.

The lucky winner will be chosen in a random drawing on November 1^st and notified by email.

Drop Dead Ornaments will release on October 22, 2018, at which point the paperback version will also be available.

Drop Dead Ornaments

An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery, Book 7

Anastasia Pollack’s son Alex is dating Sophie Lambert, the new kid in town. For their community service project, the high school seniors have chosen to raise money for the county food bank. Anastasia taps her craft industry contacts to donate materials for the students to make Christmas ornaments they’ll sell at the town’s annual Holiday Crafts Fair.

At the fair Anastasia meets Sophie’s father, Shane Lambert, who strikes her as a man with secrets. She also notices a woman eavesdropping on their conversation. Later that evening when the woman turns up dead, Sophie’s father is arrested for her murder.

Alex and Sophie beg Anastasia to find the real killer, but Anastasia has had her fill of dead bodies. She’s also not convinced of Shane’s innocence. Besides, she’s promised younger son Nick she’ll stop risking her life. But how can she say no to Alex?

Pre-Order Links (release date 10/22/18)

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#CRAFTS WITH ANASTASIA--HELP SUPPORT NATIONAL CRAYON COLLECTION MONTH

Mondays here at Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers are generally devoted to all things craft-related. Sometimes I post a craft project, either one I’ve designed or from a guest. Other times I write about craft-related topics. Such is the case today.

In Drop Dead Ornaments, the soon-to-be-released next installment of the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries, author Lois Winston has me designing easy-to-make glass ball ornaments. One of the projects I come up with uses melted crayons to create a marbleized ornament. It’s a great way to use broken crayons.

I recently discovered that August is National Crayon Collection Month. Its mission is to ensure that every child has crayons as part of their school supplies.

Many family restaurants hand out crayons along with placemats to color to young diners to keep them occupied while waiting for their meals. Most of the time these crayons are left on the table when the family departs the restaurant. The restaurants wind up tossing the crayons in the trash, but crayons don’t decompose. So all those discarded crayons, more than 150 million of them every year, wind up in landfills. And most of them have barely been used.

That’s a lot of crayons! 150 million crayons placed end to end would span the United States three times! They could climb the Empire State Building 30,175 times!

Sixteen million kids live in poverty and can’t afford this basic school supply. Teachers annually spend nearly a thousand dollars of their own money on supplies for their students due to art funding cuts to school districts. So Sheila Michail Morovati, the founder of Crayon Collection, came up with the idea of putting those discarded crayons to a much better use. Why not collect all those gently used crayons and donate them?

You can help by asking your local kid-friendly restaurants to save their used crayons. At the end of the month, collect them from the restaurant, and donate them to your local schools. If you live in an affluent community, donate the crayons to nearby Title 1 schools and Head Start programs.

Help spread the word by using the hashtag #GotCrayons on social media.