CAKE TANK! Many thanks to readers across the country (from CA to FL!) who voted and sent us birthday wishes! The race was tight, but ultimately, Dr. Dana’s cake tank took home the 6 cupcake prize. A big round of applause to Katie’s “Tower of Flour” and Marissa’s “Glow Baby Glow” cakes too!

We’re also delighted to announce our birthday drawing winner, Ellen Buehrer from the Birchard Public Library in Ohio! She’ll be receiving a $144 online shopping spree at Discount School Supply. CONGRATULATIONS ELLEN!

Bust out the confetti cannon, because Pop Goes the Page turns 4 this month! To celebrate, we’re having a double birthday contest. Want to win a $144 online shopping spree at Discount School Supply? Read on!

The first part of the birthday contest is the “Cake Crafting Challenge.” Katie, Marissa, and I competed to create a blog birthday cake. We had just 2 hours to make a cake using only 10 types of craft supplies. Also, all the supplies had to be in the building at the time of the contest (no dashing out to Target or Michaels Crafts for something special). The winner gets a 6 pack…of cupcakes…from House of Cupcakes.

The second part of the birthday contest is for you! Vote for the cake you like. Every vote we receive will be put in a drawing. One lucky voter will win a $144 online shopping spree at Discount School Supply, one of our fav crafting destinations!

Contest details are at the bottom of this post. The winning cake, the cake artist, and the winning voter will be revealed on our Friday, August 25th blog post.

#1 THE TOWER OF FLOUR

And with the lights off:

Craft supplies: plastic top hat, oatmeal container, toilet paper tubes, construction paper, pom-poms, color masking tape, fabric flowers, mesh tubing, pipe cleaners, and paper butterflies.

#2 CAKE TANK

Craft supplies: construction paper, poster board, ric rac ribbon, plastic fork, mouthpiece of a party horn, tape cores, toilet paper tube, paper sample cup, boxes, and pom-poms.

#3 GLOW BABY GLOW

And with the lights off:

Craft supplies: cake circles, box, paper cups, poster board, construction paper, tissue paper, markers, and submersible LED lights.

POP GOES THE PAGE 4th BIRTHDAY CONTEST

1. E-mail your votes to: cotsenevents@princeton.edu
2. If sending multiple names within the same e-mail, please make sure to match each name with its corresponding vote.
3. 1 vote per person please.
4. Open to blog readers of all ages.
5. Votes must be received by Tuesday, August 22nd.
6. The shopping spree only applies to in-stock items at Discount School Supply. Items marked with a truck symbol are not eligible for the spree. The $144 prize cannot be applied towards a larger purchase.
7. Contest only applies to residents of the 48 contiguous United States.
8. The winner will be announced on the blog on Friday, August 25th.

The contest has ended, but if you’d like to see the results, click here!

Some news! Our library is undergoing renovation for the next 6 months, and our gallery programming (which includes our weekly story times) will be temporarily suspended until early 2018.

But wait! What does this mean for the blog?

Absolutely nothing! I have enough Tuesday story time projects saved up to keep merrily posting throughout the renovation. I also plan to launch a new Tuesday category called “Snap Story Times.” These posts will feature very simple projects  – ready in a snap! – connected with a book (or books!). They’ll be joining the other projects on our Simple Projects Pinterest board. Like this fantastic shoulder snake:

The Friday posts will continue as well. You might, however, notice that there will be more blog breaks than usual. You might also find yourself saying “Hey, wasn’t Dr. Dana’s hair shorter last week? How did it grow so fast?” or “It’s December…why are all the kids in the photos wearing shorts and running around a flower garden?”

And so…we’ll be winding down programming, packing, and relocating to a different part of the building over the next two weeks, and the blog will be taking a break while we do that.

But we’ll be back – and raring to go – on Tuesday, June 13th!