Starting a new blog series!  Inspired by Abby Glassenberg’s podcast “While She Naps” (learn more about it HERE), where she concludes each episode with recommendations, I am going to share with you things that I am currently loving and think you should know about.  They don’t have to be crochet related, or even craft related at all!  Today I will share 3 things I am liking right now.

1. Creative Live

If you are a creator or small business owner and you haven’t gone to check out the website CreativeLive.com, you really should.  Basically, Creative Live produces instructional videos by top experts in their field and if you are available the day they are recording, you can watch it live FOR FREE online. If you miss the class you can always watch it after the recording, but for a price.

Just this month I have watched two courses: ‘Ditch Your Day Job’ and ‘Craft Show Secrets’.  Last month I watched one on lighting for photography and another on making computer illustrations.  The variety of classes is so great, there really is something for everyone.

So far I have enjoyed watching each one and have learned quite a bit.  You need to take notes along the way when watching live because you don’t have access to all the downloadable content when viewing for free, but that is a small price to pay for the quality of content you are getting.

2. Evernote

Evernote is a free application that can keep you organized. It allows you to save notes, lists, and files (including PDFs) all in one place and organized into different notebooks. I use it for both my personal things and my business files – each in their own notebook!

One of the best things about Evernote is that you can access it on any computer, phone or tablet that can connect to the internet. You simply sign in and go. You can also download a browser ad-on that will allow you to clip parts of websites that you want to save and view later.

These days, with so much information available, it is great to have a place to put it all! If there is something I don’t have time to look into or act on at the moment but don’t want to forget about it, I place it in my Evernote. I also use it for making lists, such as future blog posts and amigurumi design ideas. It is an application that can be used to organize everything.

3. My Kobo eReader

I used to love buying every book I wanted to read and watch my book collection grow on my bookshelf – but then I moved to Europe and started travelling a lot more.  I couldn’t bring all my books with me and didn’t want to collect more while I was there, just to have to move them all later, so I started reading ebooks. It is also nice to not have so much stuff – then there is more room for yarn ;P

I started off reading ebooks on my phone, but I knew that wasn’t so great for the eyes (and my phone’s battery life), so not long after I asked for a Kobo Aura for Christmas and Santa delivered. Some people don’t like using an eReader because they love the look and feel of a real live book in their hands that they can smell and turn the pages of, but it didn’t take me long to adjust. Now it feels weird to me to read an actual book!

I love how my eReader has a built in light so I can read it anywhere and not have to have an external light on.  This is especially useful before bed so I don’t have to get up to turn the light off before nodding off. Now when I am reading an actual paper book and I don’t have that handy light, I am a little sad and annoyed 😛

Another great thing about eReaders? You can carry your entire book collection around with you wherever you go.  While I do think this is great, I actually don’t utilize this feature because I stopped buying books all together! Instead, I use my local library to download ebooks.  That’s right! I can get library books on my eReader for free.  Sure, you have to ‘return’ the book after three weeks, but it is done automatically (so no late fees), and you can just check it out again! Sometimes it takes me so long to read a book (I often only read a few pages a day before bed) I need to re-download the book several times before I finish! But it is free and I don’t have to leave home to get them.

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Until next time,