I'm coming a little late to the "best of.." posts, but 2008 was a year of some fabulous craft books.  I've gone through my own acquisitions, choosing several that I'm truly glad I own, then filled out the list with books I haven't yet purchased, but that have gotten lots of buzz or are on my wishlist.  (ht to SisterDiane for helping with that list).

Vision Boards. This year the New Year's discussions throughout the blogosphere and twitter has focused on the advantages of vision boards over traditional New Year's Resolution. While vision boards have been around for years, the concept has reached a tipping point in the general consciousness. Assuming that I'm not the last person on the vision-board-bus, let's see what these things are, why they might be a more successful tool than New Year's resolutions, and how bloggers reacted to designing one.

Have art, illustrations and photos that you want to share, or even sell? A site you might take a look at is Red Bubble. The site claims to have shipped 114,000 items of art to 71 different countries in the last few months.

This time of yeardoing home renovations is the last thing on my mind. I don't want all my decorations getting dusty. And this is the only time of year that I feel my house looks "finished" or company worthy. Thinking about home renovations is another story. Let's look back on the list I posted last year and see how much of it has been done.

I was about 10 years old. I had just finished a science fiction story that had flying cars, food everywhere and dome housing. I wanted to know if I had a chance to see it in person.  I added my current age decade by decade until I hit 2008. I couldn’t get that old, could I?

 My mother reminded me of a Christmas gift I had gotten her many years ago, and that she still uses. It's an Herbal Eye Pillow, and she swears it gets rid of her headaches. They are also great for relaxation, stress relief and even as a sleep aid.

Oh it is that time of year, where the winter snow and ice storms threaten to knock out power and close roads. As a storm is bearing down upon us right now, I have this on my mind. What do you do to prepare in advance? Here is my list. Note that this is by no means an exhaustive list. Think of it as a jumping off place for your own preparations. I mean, you may like beer in place of wine, I don't know.

This week I got an email addressed to me at Cool Mom Picks, the shopping blog that I co-founded, and it nearly broke my heart.

At BlogHer 08 in San Francisco last summer, a Roomba automatic cleaner ran constantly in the bookstore/coffee kiosk area. That hard working little orb kept its bit of carpet spotless every moment of the day! It attracted the attention of everyone who went into the room.

Between cold stormy weekends and school ending soon for the holiday, this is a great time to have some crafty holiday projects that can engage the whole family in a few time-killing, charming decoration-making activities.  What says "keeping the family busy" more than a some glue, scraps of paper, or other craft-store finds?

I really love gift wrapping.  There is something seriously satisfying about making a neat crease at the end of a square package, and perfectly tying up the loose ends.  It's pretty and it's tidy, especially at a busy time of year when tidiness seems to elude me!

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