WHSmith and Post-Crossing Purchases!

Recently, we went to The Dubai Mall to redeem our WHSmith voucher. Along with that, we spotted a sale at Gallery One and had to stop and look at (and of course, buy!) the things. Here are the books and post-crossing things that we bought:

Books from WHSmith:

I Am The Messenger ~ Marcus Zusak

We actually picked this up because we read The Book Thief and we loved it to bits.

This story is about Ed Kennedy, a young man who lives a pretty bleak life. But one day, he accidentally stops a bank robbery. After this things in his life start to change, and the story sees who is the person behind Ed's mission.

Goodnight Mister Tom ~ Michelle Magorian

Set in the Second World War, the story revolves around a young boy who is evacuated off to the countryside to be taken care of (away from the danger of the war). He is taken good care of by a kind gentleman named Tom Oakley. However, after a while, his cruel mother brings him back to London, and we don't know if he will ever see Mr Tom again.

The Boy Who Fell To Earth ~ Kathy Lette

We are expecting lots of tears after we read this book!

This is the story of Lucy and her autistic son, Merlin. We will be taken on a roller coaster ride of Lucy and Merlin's life, as Merlin becomes 10 years old and Lucy starts getting back into the dating game.

The Girl With All The Gifts ~ M. R. Carey

When we read the blurb, both of us got chills, so we are just going to let you read the original synopsis:

"Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class. When they come for her, Sergeant Parks keeps his gun pointing at her while tow of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they don't like her. She jokes that she won't bite. But they don't laugh".

So, we are very excited to read all of those books, and we're probably going to be doing a review on all these books some time in the future!

Post-Crossing Things from Gallery One:

Notecards Featuring Places in Jumeirah

These are pretty cards (like any normal birthday or greeting card), which have different landmarks of Jumeirah on them, where you can inscribe your message on the inside and post it!

3D Build-up Mosque Cards

These are very simple and cute Do-It-Yourself build-up mosques. You can write a message on the back and post it, and the recipient can build up the model and enjoy your cool card and message!

Jigsaw Puzzle Cards

This we are very excited about: they are a postcard but double as a jigsaw puzzle! All you have to do is write a message on the back, break it up, post it and the receiver will assemble the puzzle and will be pleasantly surprised to see a message!

Long/Panoramic Cards

These beauties are longer than normal postcards by around 9 centimetres. We got these because they were gorgeous and usually they cost around Dhs 10-20, but during this sale, only Dhs 3!

Seahorse Notebook

We got this adorable notebook for our cousin. The pattern is so simple yet so please to the eye. We love it!

If you guys have an suggestions, ideas or questions, please let us know in the comments!

If you would like to buy the books, you can click here:

I Am The Messenger:

http://www.amazon.com/I-Am-Messenger-Markus-Zusak/dp/0375836675/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1435409401&sr=1-1&keywords=i+am+the+messenger

Goodnight Mister Tom:

http://www.amazon.com/Goodnight-Mister-Tom-Michelle-Magorian/dp/0141353848/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1435409432&sr=1-3&keywords=goodnight+mister+tom

The Boy Who Fell To Earth:

http://www.amazon.com/Fell-Earth-Lette-Kathy-Paperback/dp/B00IIARMCI/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1435409599&sr=1-2&keywords=the+boy+who+fell+to+earth

The Girl With All The Gifts:

http://www.amazon.com/Girl-All-Gifts-M-Carey/dp/0316334758/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1435409381&sr=1-1&keywords=the+girl+with+all+the+gifts

If you would like to check out Gallery One's website, you can click here:

https://www.g-1.com/

You can also watch our video on YouTube here:
https://youtu.be/hpcqw_aYSBg

We hope this post was helpful for you :)
See you later!
Salam | Peace

Book Recommendation: Does My Head Look Big In This? ~Randa Abdel-Fattah

This book is set in Australia and revolves around a teenager named Amal. She decides to wear the hijab (the headscarf) before the start of Year 11. We are taken on a journey of how she copes with criticisms and hardships regarding her hijab and her general high school year.

We saw this book at a Book Fair (held in Sharjah), and the thing that actually caught our attention was the cover- with its depiction of a hijabi girl- because we hadn't seen such a book anywhere, and we've been wanting to read a novel like this. Not only that, the blurb was very humorous and, so, we bought it. 

What we especially enjoyed about the book was that it was very relatable as a teenager (and not just as a Muslim) and the writing style was light and easy to read.

We would recommend this book to any teenager, regardless of whether you wear the hijab or not, or even if you are simply looking for a good book to read.

On our Rate-O-Meter, we rate this as:

Highly Recommended!

If you have any books that you would like to recommend to us, or would like us to review, please let us know in the comments below.

If you would like to buy this book, you can click here:

http://www.amazon.com/Does-Head-Look-Big-This/dp/043992233X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1434293367&sr=1-1&keywords=does+my+head+look+big+in+this

You can also check out our review on YouTube, here:

https://youtu.be/cKDtXkeEwsQ

We hope this post was helpful to you, and we wish you a lovely day!

Salam|Peace!

Book Recommendation: Keigo Higashino's books! | PeopleOnTheMoon

Hey guys! So this post is a short review and recommendation of three of Mr. Keigo Higashino's books!

Currently, only four (or as we know) books of his have been translated into English, and we were able to get the books! We started off with Devotion of Suspect X, and later, ordered the other three books - Malice, Salvation of a Saint and Naoko. We still haven't received our Naoko, but when it comes, we will be overjoyed, haha!

To start off, we want to give you a short synopsis of the book without giving too much away (meaning, we don't want to describe everything, so even the obvious details will be a mystery to you - unless you've read the synopsis/summary on other websites).

Devotion of Suspect X - This book is about a mother and her daughter, who become involved in a murder, and their neighbour, who helps them discard of the evidence and avoid police suspicion on them. 

The amazing thing about this book is that it's already obvious who has done what, but there's a twist and you'll get confused because you'll be wondering if you missed something or if you're reading the right book or not! (If that makes any sense, haha!)

Malice - This is about a famous novelist who is murdered in his house, and is found by his best friend and wife, who have strong alibis. So who is the killer?

This book was again so amazing because you'll start imagining so many things just by what you're given - but in the end, you'll find out that everything is not what it seems to be!

Salvation of a Saint - This book is about a man who is poisoned to death in his home, and the police become suspicious of his wife. The only problem is, how could his wife have poisoned him when she was in a totally different city?

Although the murderer is not clearly stated in the book, you have an idea about who has committed the crime. But the best part is figuring out why or how.

Overall, the books are really simple to read (as they are translated), and each has a different concept. If you're looking for a good thriller book, go for these! They're really worth it.

We ordered our books from Amazon.in, but the links to the Amazon.com pages are given! 

 The Devotion of Suspect X: http://www.amazon.com/Keigo-Higashino-Devotion-Suspect-29/dp/B00HTK2S4U/ref=sr_1_9?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1422181091&sr=1-9&keywords=devotion+of+suspect+x

- Malice: http://www.amazon.com/Malice/dp/1408705850/ref=pd_sim_b_6?ie=UTF8&refRID=0154HM942W0CJ9D97GZW

- Salvation of A Saint: http://www.amazon.com/Salvation-Saint-Higashino-Keigo-Paperback/dp/B00IJ0490A/ref=sr_1_11?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1422181029&sr=1-11&keywords=salvation+of+a+saint

If you have any questions or have any comments (on how we can improve our book reviewing skills, hahaha!), we would greatly appreciate it!

You can even check out our Youtube video on this!

http://youtu.be/T98KjerMppk

See you later, Salam|Peace!

DIY: 9 Simple Ways To Design Your Envelopes.|PeopleOnTheMoon

Have you got piles of magazines laying around your house and don’t know what to do with them? Got time on your hands and want to do some easy-to-do art? Do you like postcrossing but fancy envelopes are too expensive? We want show you 9 very simple ways you can snazz up your envelope, with items you can find right at home!

Design 1- Magazine Collage:

 

 Things Needed:

•     Envelope
•     Scissors
•     Glue
•      Magazine Pages

Design 2- Magazine Mosaic:

 

 Things Needed:

•  Envelope
•  Scissors
•  Glue
• Magazine Pages (with more solid colours)
•  Black Marker (optional)

Design 3- Oriental Circles

 Things Needed:

•     Envelope

•     Black Marker (or any other colour)

                       

Design 4- Simple Lines:

Things Needed:

•     Envelope
•        Black Marker
•     Pencil
•        Scale

Design 5-  Brush Painting:

Things Needed:

• Envelope
• Brush(es)
• Paint (any type)

Design 6- Magazine Envelopes:

There are two different ways to do this:

Version 1 (using a template): Things Needed:

• An opened out envelope (so you can use it as a template) 
• Scissors
• Glue
• Marker/Pen
• Magazine Pages (with more solid colours)

Version 2 (using a card): Things Needed:

• Card (any type of thick, sturdy material in a rectangular shape)
• Glue
• Magazine Pages (with more solid colours)

Design 7- Nail Polish Art

Things Needed:

• Envelope
• Nail Polish

Design 8- Hairspray Art

Things Needed:

• Envelope
• Coloured Hairsprays (you can even use Spray Paint)

Design 9- Sticker Collage

Things Needed:

• Envelope
• Stickers

We hope this post was helpful! If you would like to see the complete tutorial, please check out our videos:

1- http://youtu.be/KbeP8Z6igQQ (9 Simple Envelope Designs.)

2- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSD5Znwujzs (Magazine Envelope with template.)

3- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0McCj2CLa_U (Magazine Envelope with card.)

See you soon!

Salam | Peace