My NEW Bookshelves! (and how to make them!)

Last night I uploaded this video showing you my new shelves!

Today I wanted to go into a bit more detail on how I did them!

    

Here's what the boxes looked like before they were painted and stained! I went to Joann's to buy them (they were on sale for $9 a piece) but I know you can find that at Walmart too!

This was the stain I used, but you can use whatever you like! I bought mine from Walmart (I probably should have bought the smaller can since I didn't even use half of this can!) I wanted the wood to look really dark to match my other shelf! 

Using a rag, (and wearing latex gloves) I wiped the stain all over the outside of the crates, but I was careful to not let any on the inside where I wanted the yellow to go! (I did make a few mistakes where the stain got inside, and that part required a few extra coats of yellow paint!)

      

Then I started painting! Sorry I dont have a picture of the paint I used! I grabbed the card with the shade of yellow I wanted, then told the nice lady at Walmart to please make me just a cheap little can of that color. Nothing fancy. It was pretty inexpensive! 

I also bought a cheap brush and one of those foam brushes. I'll tell you right now, use the foam brush!! It took me around 30-40 minutes to paint the first box with a normal brush, but half of that time with a foam brush! As you can see there are gaps in between the boards, and the bristles kept moving into the gap and putting paint where I didn't want there to be paint! But the foam brushes don't have bristles so you don't have that problem!

  

After everything was painted (it took me quite a while to paint all eight!) I used wood glue to attach the crates together! (Notice how I didn't stain the parts of the crates that I knew would be hidden? Lazzzyyyy. Or am I just smart?) 

Anyways, I would recommend NOT overdoing it and putting on too much glue or you will have it coming out the sides and that doesn't look very good! After I glued it Jake was worried that it might not be enough, so he put in some SUPER tiny nails. Like barely longer than a tack size! (I obviously didn't want them going through the other side and stabbing my books!)

On the directions it said to clamp the wood that you're glueing together for an hour to get the best results. Well I didn't have any clamps, but I DID have heavy books! So after I was sure that the glue wouldn't be dripping out onto my books, I stacked up some of my heaviest books and set the timer for an hour! (Note: PLEASE make sure that you don't have glue coming out of the sides before you put your books on your shelves. Nobody wants their books covered in glue!)

   

Since I had to wait an hour, I decided it was time to move my books! Oh boy, was this a workout! 

I knew that only some of my books would fit on these new shelves (and the other wood one) so I made one pile of my favorite books and the ones I wanted on display. Then in the other pile, I put the books that would be shunned to the office to be placed on the black shelf!

An hour and a half later (yes I waited a little longer just to be safe), I put my new shelves in place!

This was the point where I started filming my video! 

And this was the final result! Overall, I'm very happy with how they turned out!! I love the dark brown and yellow (which also just happens to be my favorite color) I love that it's more symmetrical than it was before too! (Jake even loves it! Yay!)

Let me know if you have any questions or if I left out any information you need to know to make your new shelves!

BookTube-A-Thon Wrap Up

I had so much fun in the second annual BookTube-A-Thon! I still can't believe we got #BookTubeAThon trending on Twitter!

I'm really looking forward to next year's!

If you're interested in learning more about the read-a-thon (and maybe want to join next year) click here to visit the official YouTube channel, and here for the official Twitter page!

Update Videos:

Days 1 & 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5

Lux Beginnings: Obsidian & Onyx by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Lux Beginnings: Obsidian & Onyx

By: Jennifer L. Armentrout
Published: June 3rd, 2014
Series: Lux #1 & #2
Source: Purchased from B&N

Obsidian:
Starting over sucks.
When we moved to West Virginia right before my senior year, I'd pretty much resigned myself to thick accents, dodgy internet access, and a whole lot of boring... until I spotted my hot neighbor, with his looming height and eerie green eyes. Things were looking up.
And then he opened his mouth.
Daemon is infuriating. Arrogant. Stab-worthy. We do not get along. At all. But when a stranger attacks me and Daemon literally freezes time with a wave of his hand, well, something... unexpected happens.
The hot alien living next door marks me.
You heard me. Alien. Turns out Daemon and his sister have a galaxy of enemies wanting to steal their abilities, and Daemon's touch has me lit up like the Vegas Strip. The only way I'm getting out of this alive is by sticking close to Daemon until my alien mojo fades.
If I don't kill him first, that is.

Onyx:
Being connected to Daemon Black sucks…
Thanks to his alien mojo, Daemon’s determined to prove what he feels for me is more than a product of our bizarro connection. So I’ve sworn him off, even though he’s running more hot than cold these days. But we’ve got bigger problems.
Something worse than the Arum has come to town…
The Department of Defense are here. If they ever find out what Daemon can do and that we're linked, I’m a goner. So is he. And there's this new boy in school who’s got a secret of his own. He knows what’s happened to me and he can help, but to do so, I have to lie to Daemon and stay away from him. Like that's possible. Against all common sense, I'm falling for Daemon. Hard.
But then everything changes…
I’ve seen someone who shouldn’t be alive. And I have to tell Daemon, even though I know he’s never going to stop searching until he gets the truth. What happened to his brother? Who betrayed him? And what does the DOD want from them—from me?
No one is who they seem. And not everyone will survive the lies…

I know it shouldn't matter, but I'm SO happy this series got a cover change. While they won't be getting the prettiest cover award from me any time soon, I definitely think it's loads better!

Now, you may have already noticed that I've already read Obsidian (and reviewed it) back in December of 2013. I've also already read (and reviewed) Onyx that month too. I had planned on continuing the series... but alas, here we are almost 8 months later and I still haven't. So when I went to the store last week and saw the SPARKLY new covers, I knew I had to buy the new bind ups and continue on! I looked it up and was surprised to find that the fifth book, Opposition, comes out on August 5th! It was basically fate for me to buy them and continue, just in time to read the newest one!

What I didn't have planned was to go ahead and open up Lux: Beginnings and to start rereading Obsidian and Onyx instead of you continuing on to Opal.. Some of you that have followed me for over a year have probably heard me talk about my love for rereading books. It's not for everyone, and some think it's boring to reread books, but I love picking up books that I loved reading and experiencing it again and again.

In this case, my rating of these two books went  from 4 stars to 5 stars. I was extremely critical the first time reading these two books and it's almost like I didn't WANT to give it 5 stars because I felt like it was too similar to Twilight. It's like I was defending Twilight's honor or something. (And they aren't really even that similar!)

Now, however, I read the book without anything else on my mind and I just read it for what it was. These books are super fun to read. I read all 800 pages within just three days! Time flys by and I just loved them! I definitely recommend them to any paranormal fans out there!

I'm looking forward to opening up Lux: Consequences and diving into Opal and Origin for the first time!

International Isla Swag Giveaway!

Enter to win your very own tote bag and pins! The only thing you must do to enter is be subscribed to my YouTube channel, the rest is optional! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you're planning on preordering your copy of Isla and the Happily Every After, I would reccomend ordering from one of these 55 independent bookstores (you'll receive a signed first edition + swag! Lucky!)

— Read the Anna and the French Kiss digital chapter sampler
— Read the deleted scene from Anna and the French Kiss!
— Read the Lola and the Boy Next Door digital chapter sampler
— Read the first 5 chapters of Isla and the Happily Ever After!

Good luck! 

Remember when I read Anna and the French Kiss in one sitting?

I know. I think that's the only time I've ever done that. Like I think I only stopped once to go pee and get a snack and then I was right back to it and didn't stop until it was over!

I'm privileged to be a part of the #ReadISLA campaign and GUYS. IT'S SO GOOD. You are going to want to preorder your book. It was amazing! (Also, if you order from one of these 55 independent bookstores you'll receive a signed first edition + swag! Lucky!)

I have some samplers to share with you all too!

— Read the Anna and the French Kiss digital chapter sampler

— Read the deleted scene from Anna and the French Kiss!
— Read the Lola and the Boy Next Door digital chapter sampler

Read the first 5 chapters of Isla and the Happily Ever After!

Check back later this week and I'm going to have a fun giveaway too! Yay!

Until then, here's my overexcited video review where I gush about Anna and the French Kiss for 10 straight minutes! Fun fun! ;)

If We Were Having Coffee.... 7/15/14

I saw another blogger, Ashley, do a post like this and thought it would be fun to do! Sometimes we forget that booktubers and bloggers have lives outside of blogging and reading, and so I thought it would be fun to chit chat over some "coffee" with you guys!

Grab your beverage (I actually have water) and lets getting chattin!

If we were having coffee... I'd tell you that I'm hoping today is a much better day than yesterday! You know how you have those days where you have a ton of stuff that you want to get done.. then at the end of the day you feel like you hardly got any of it actually accomplished? Ya. That was me yesterday. I wasted so much time yesterday in shops and things and couldn't find what I needed! Then I ended up watching a couple of episodes of TV with Jake (which is normally not a big deal, but I want to avoid watching TV during the booktube-a-thon!)

If we were having coffee... I'd tell you how I just love my new little niece so much! Luckily my sister is like me and loves to take pictures! She's been sending me new pictures throughout the week! I'm looking forward to driving to see her this weekend!

If we were having coffee... I'd tell you how I'm really proud of the food I bought at the grocery store yesterday! (Random? A little..) But while I wanted to fill up the cart with soda, Little Debbie snack cakes, and loads of chips and other things I don't need, I didn't! I bought no soda or crappy snacks, but instead bought tons of fruits, whole wheat bread, etc! I'm also doing a lot better about bringing my water bottle with me to work! It's so easy to just sit and drain a few sodas, and while I'm not completely cutting soda out of my diet, I'm definitely drinking less!

If we were having coffee... I'd tell you how excited I am to leave work today (who isn't excited to leave work?) but besides the obvious reasons, I'm really looking forward to going to the park with Jake and Piper! It's supposed to be 72 degrees out today which is around 27 degrees less than it has been! I'm looking forward to walking a short trail and then maybe laying out a blanket and reading! (Unless there are tons of bugs... then let's be honest, I'll just go home and read!)

If we were having coffee, what would you tell me?

It can be anything!

Let me know in the comments below!