Pink Olive Book Review: "Every Day's A Holiday"

{EVERY DAY'S A HOLIDAY by Heidi Kenney}

Created by arts and crafts-er extraordinaire Heidi Kenney, founder of My Paper Crane, Every Day’s A Holiday  is a fun and creative guide for celebrating each special holiday—from Valentine’s Day and Christmas to Eat Your Veggies Day and Ice Cream Day!

Every Day’s A Holiday is filled with vibrant images(and as in the case of Doughnut Day’s “Marzipan Doughnuts”—mouth watering!), which are enough to make you stop whatever you’re doing and get down to crafting. Although they range in difficulty, the activities--with their comprehensive ‘supplies’ list, and Kenney’s thorough instructions—can easily be enjoyed by the whole family….or a single Pink Olive gal in her 20s! (While this book is theoretically intended for kids and their parents, I am veeeery tempted to go home and bake a batch of Mardi Gras Meringues, or sew up some (albeit a little late) Valentine’s Day Felted Love Bugs!

From the super cute Styrofoam and Spackle Faux Cupcakes of April Fool’s Day, to the extremely beautiful fabric Poppies of Memorial Day, Every Day’s A Holiday provides tons of opportunities to make delightful creations all by yourself— or, even better—with the people you love!

xoxo
Olive

Creative, INC.

From the author that brought you Craft Inc. , Meg & Joy recently published Creative. Inc. ~ seriously, a MUST READ for creatives looking to start freelancing. These gals are so inspiring!

Do you read their blogs? They're a treat too.

http://ohjoy.blogs.com/
http://designerslibrary.typepad.com/



Do you have what it takes? What are the qualities of a successful freelancer?
The gals tell all in this quirky stop motion video :)







Hope you have a CREATIVE week!
xoxo

Oodles of Doodles Creativity Contest

One of our favorite book series has just launched a very fun contest to celebrate the arrival of their latest activity book: Doodle 123!



Open to scribblers and doodlers of ALL ages, stop by the shops to pick of a postcard entry and create your own work of art. The five grand prize winners will not only get to meet Taro Gomi himself, but will receive all sorts of goodies!

Come have some fun and check out the latest book!
Maybe we'll post online our own doodle entries this week ;)

See you soon.

xoxo,
Olive

Summer Cooking

Believe it or not, Summer is just a couple days away! We are so excited to start cooking up new recipes and baking some summer treats with all the new books we got at the shop. Here are some we'd like to share with you:



"Fresh From the Farmer's Market" is a new book we just got in the shop that's great for sustainable shoppers. It has 75 delicious recipes for locally grown farm fresh fruits and vegetables. This book is great as it teaches you about the different produce seasons and even how to can them to enjoy year-long.




"Farmer's Market Desserts" is the treats version of the book mentioned above. It separates the book by produce season and also tells you a little bit about each produce: from what area it is usually grown in, to best varieties available.

Recipes we are anxious to try include:
carrot orange layer cake, strawberries and cream cake roll, & lemon goat cheese souffle cakes...YUM.


Last but not least, the "I {heart} Macarons" book is high on our "Summer To-Do List"...because making macarons at home and enjoying a glass of wine with friends is much cheaper than booking a flight to Paris :)

happy weekend foodies! :)

xo,
olive

the perfect gift... the perfect gift

in search for the perfect gift this week, i thougt it would make perfect sense to share with you "the perfect gift" by jamaican artist rohan henry. his book represents a simple and touching story of love and friendship. leo and lisa are longtime best friends, and Leo wants to give her that one special gift to show her how he feels. the first leaf of autumn, the most delicate snowflake ever, an exquisite spring butterfly—but none of them endures. so Leo sets off in search of the perfect gift.

with charming black-and-white illustrations accented with a second color, the book conveys its message with simplicity and grace. rohan has created a timeless parable of friendship that will enchant children and adults alike—and delight anyone who receives this perfect gift. we hope you will enjoy it and can certaintly pick up your copy of "the perfect gift" at Pink Olive.

happy shopping!
xoxo

to place or not to place.... the delicious food i mean~

the placemat collection my family had growing up remains a vivid memory for me. after all, meal time = family time and we religiously had dinner as a family with our placemats to catch all the stray spaghetti that missed our mouths. inevitably, all the placemats got worn and torn, with tong marks from angry forks and doodles here and there.

deborah zemke's doodles at dinner is sure to make your meal time a FUN occasion. each of the 36 tear-out placemats teaches your little one (or even you) how to draw a new animal and gives an interesting little factoid with room for imagination.

whether they end up on your fridge for all to see or with tomato sauce to salvage, these placemats are sure to make each meal a memorable experience for the whole family!

xoxo
Olive

book review = better world

Some Helpful Tips For a Better World and a Happier Life is a treat to give as a gift or for yourself. With fun colorful illustrations, every page offers up simple tips for making each day on the planet a better one. With advice like "lend mother nature a hand" or "make funny faces in the mirror" and simply. "be you" the tips serve as a great foundation for your little one and helpful reminders for yourself! It’s the simple things in life that matter most!

Here's to a better world!
xoxo
Olive

p.s. Be our FAN on facebook and get a chance to win some fabulous gifts each month!

plush pals...

good morning!
hope you all had a wonderful easter weekend.
i always wondered how i can make my own little soft creatures and now i can! for those who always wanted to create your own plush pals, now's the time to do it! this book is full of super duper easy direction and illustrations... you'll want to cut it up and frame them yourself! here's to giving new life to new plush pals...



you can pick up a copy here!

little oink...

happy monday!

i'm so excited about this new book "little oink" from the creators "little pea" and "little hoot." it's about this tidy tale of a decidedly different pig! "little oink" is the perfect little story about a little pig who just wants to clean, clean, clean (that's all he wants to do.) but mama and papa won't have it! they say in order to be a proper pig, he has to learn to make a proper mess. "don't come out until your room is a pigsty," says Papa Pig. "i won't have any child of mine going out looking so neat and clean. it's just not acceptable," says mama pig. readers who hate to clean up will love this humorous twist on a universal dilemma.

be sure to get your own copy here!
xoxo
grace

i heart books!

happy monday!

if you had 5 hours to kill, what would you do? for me, you could probably find me at a bookstore immersed in loads and loads of books. i love everything about books ~ the idea of getting inspired by someone's words (ie their story), being tickled with whimsy by some artwork or illustration. my imagination goes wild at the thought of gaining more knowledge in an area from cooking to decorating to learning how to be a better business woman.

i came across this illustration from jessica's lovely etsy shop vol25. she has a way of bringing warm fuzzies to anyone who looks at her art. i heart this piece. hope you do too.

xoxo
g