The Daring Librarian

Do you ever get stuck clicking around Amazon buying random stuff you may not really need but suddenly desire? Do you have a mountain of Amazon boxes in your kitchen waiting for each recycle day? Yeah, me neither! [cough] Like today, among other things, I got a Misto Brushed Aluminum Olive Oil Sprayer for my roasted cauliflower & Brussels sprouts addiction and a set of 4 Le Creuset Silicone French Coasters for the Coastal Cottage . You never know what you might find! But sometimes I stumble across something that sparks my creativity and I'm like - SO COOL!....Now what can I do with it?  This was the case with a set of 100 antique looking keys I found that came with raffia cords & brown card stock tags....all for only $20.99. Officially, it's called: SL crafts Mixed 100pcs Skeleton Keys & 100 pcs Kraft Tags Antiqued Brass Bronze Charms Pendants Wedding favor 34mm-68mm I mean, 100 fancy keys, 100 custom cut out tags, and 100 raffia cords? Bargain!   The...

I have 2 Amazon accounts. One for school that's tax exempt and tied to my P-card, and one that's personal that I established in 1998. The professional one is where I buy stuff for our Library Media Center and I recently found out it was really easy to make a list of  items on an Amazon. List Power When I first wrote the $350 Makerspace Starter Kit blog post I created a graphic that showed all the stuff I got to create it, hoping to help out those who didn't know where or how to get it started! But even though that graphic was BIG & colorful , it wasn't clickable! I can do better! A better list is an Amazon shopping list, and I even started it in August (see above) but I didn't finish it until I was prompted by an email request from a blog reader to create a Coloring Book Shopping list and BAM! It was easy peasy!  So, I thought I'd share with you how you can make one, too! These lists are powerful because you can share them with an adminis...

Hello Alexa!  Back in November Amazon announced that it was taking pre-orders for the new Echo - by invitation only. Intrigued, ever geeky, & with a big discount offered as a Prime member - I jumped on it with my own money! (Just in case it was a flop!) It took months of waiting but finally, just a few weeks ago it came and we now have a new information tool in the library!  It's the Amazon Echo! Have you heard of it? The original commercial can't be found anywhere...the goofy family with the mom who had the best facial expressions. There are NSFW language parodies, but not the original one. Womp Womp. UPDATE! No Invitation Needed Now ! In stock July 14th Since I'm not going to have an assistant full time next year, (don't get me started!) I thought this could be a cool way to answer basic questions. Kids are delighted to discover Alexa, living in the Amazon Echo. Not only is it a fun way for kiddos to learn how to ask the right questions, to speak ...

I love buying gifts for family and friends! So, I thought I would share a few of my favourite finds both luxury and geeky to help give some good gifting ideas for the season. Most of the links take you to Amazon because I'm a Prime member and their delivery and prices are the BEST. I want to assure you though,  I haven't gotten any kickbacks from writing this post.  I have included some promo and referral codes to you for some products I love - I see that as a win/win. If I ever DO get any freebies I promise to give them away as a prize! How fun would that be!? Enjoy! Free stuff is after the 14 fab finds. 1. Twelve South BookBook Travel Journal - Travel savvy with a case that looks like a leather bound book but hides all kinds of tech and accessories. It features soft tweed, leather accented interior - with all kinds of pockets, straps, and compartments. Genuine leather "book" cover Contains over a dozen pockets and straps to organize your gear Stores iPad, ...