Esther Crawford from ShePosts.com and Jennifer James from Mom Bloggers Club got together and created this fabulous ebook called From Blog to Business.  Don’t let the price fool you – this is one valuable tool if you have a blog or are interested in starting one!  These experienced ladies give you all the information you need to figure out how to monetize your blog, where and how to find sponsors, and how much to charge.  You’ll also find sample forms and marketing materials to help you create a professional media kit that can help you attract sponsors and advertisers.  Head over to FromBlogToBusiness.com to get your copy today!

Junky Styling: Wardrobe Surgery

The authors, Annika Sanders and Kerry Seager, launched a successful fashion label called Junky Styling in 1997 where they bought clothes from secondhand shops, like old men’s suits, and refashioned them into creations that were worn in London’s clubbing scene in the 90′s.  Their work has since been featured at London and Paris Fashion Weeks, and their clients include celebrities like Gwen Stefani, Kate Moss, Russell Brand, and Sienna Miller.

Published by A & C Black Publishers Ltd (July 30, 2009), the book is listed for $32.87 at Amazon.  Check out the tutorial excerpt to make this funky blouse from an old pair of men’s slacks and then read the book for more inspiration on revamping your wardrobe!

Homemade Halloween: Quick and Easy Costumes, Decorations, and Not-So-Frightening Family Fun 

In Dandy Disguises, the construction of basic costume elements, like capes, hats and masks, is explained in 3 steps or less and best of all – requires no sewing! Everything can be accomplished with the ease of a glue gun, and will turn your children into Dracula or their favorite super hero. Face painting and making accessories, like a sword, are included to complete their trick-or-treat ensemble.

Other chapters provide ideas for transforming your home into the spookiest place on the block – like projects for making garden tombstones, giant door decorations, haunted noisemakers and more. For your Halloween get-together, you’ll find party favor ideas, recipes for creative party food that the kids will love, magic tricks, games and hilarious Halloween trivia and traditions.

The projects are easy enough for the smallest of children to assist with, and in many cases require ordinary household materials, like aluminum foil, markers, and cardboard. Best of all, they’re easy on the wallet! Using color photos, and easy-to-follow illustrations, Homemade Halloween offers safe, affordable family fun this Halloween and for years to come.

The paperback book is published by Fox Chapel Publishing is a leading publisher of how-to, do-it-yourself woodworking and craft books.  It retails for $14.95 but can be purchased for as little as $11.66 at Amazon.com.

At age 12, Nancy Rosen — now Nancy Minsky — drew on paper and then created out of cotton fabric a prize-winning suit. ”(Her instructors) were astonished she did so well,” said her mom, Micki Rosen, 80, of Portland, where Minsky grew up. “If she’d made it out of wool, they said they’d have sent her to New York.”

No need. Minsky got there on her own soon after graduating from high school. In 1979 she received a bachelor’s of fine arts degree from the Parsons School of Design in Manhattan, where she also briefly taught fashion illustration. Even before Minsky received her degree, Calvin Klein picked her to be an assistant. Later, she took the helm of the Paul Alexander high-end women’s sportswear collection.

A generation has passed since then. Minsky left the business to become a wife and mother, but now has returned with the publication of her first book — carefully considered, illustrated and photographed for every sewing aficionado, from complete newbie to experienced seamstress.

“Denim Revolution: Dozens of Ways To Turn Denim Cast-Offs Into Fashion Must-Haves” (Random House, $19.95) took two years from concept to published work.

Minsky’s aim is to help customers create even more out of their very own — or someone else’s — jeans. She’s been doing it for years on her own. “I just love (denim),” she said. “There’s something about it. It’s one of the main basics of my wardrobe. It’s always reinvented in ways that are so appealing.”

She demonstrates this passion throughout her 127-page, softbound book, from “Toreador Style Patches,” a beginner’s project, to a “Downtown Babe Jacket” for the experienced sewer. Each style appears in photos — shot either at Brussels cafes or inside Minsky’s home — featuring slim, young models wearing Minsky’s handiwork. Minsky’s descriptions and instructions on glossy paper encourage any reader to dive into a project and expect fantastic results.

“Whether you are a no-experience, all-thumbs type or a craftnik who made her own wedding dress, if you love fashion and love denim, you can succeed with ‘Denim Revolution’ projects,” Minsky writes in her introduction. She believes it’s important to freshen a wardrobe, but there’s no need to spend a mint — or anything at all — on the project, especially in a stale economy.

” ‘Denim Revolution’ is eco-right, low-budget and offers pride in making it yourself,” she said. “The trims I used were found objects in my own home, (or from) flea markets or sales. It’s amazing what one can find in their own closet that can be embellished on jeans.”

Read a hometown interview with Minsky in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer or visit Amazon to pick up a copy of her book at a great price!