crafty chloe giveaway

As part of our Christmas gifts each year we always give a new book to each child, so I'm always on the lookout for books that are worthy of living on our shelves (and not just borrowed from the library once or twice). I was excited for Crafty Chloe to come out months before it actually did.

Part of the reason is that I was having lunch with Heather Ross (who illustrated the book) while visiting in New York when she was right in the middle of picking a publisher and finalizing details. I was so excited for a book that encourages crafting and making things and teaches young girls that the best gifts are handmade. Nothing against Fancy Nancy, but it's nice to have a heroine who knows her way around a glue gun.

This is the story of Chloe, a girl not so good at other things (like dancing or sports or video games), but VERY good at making things. When she gets invited to a friend's birthday party, she decides to make her present. There is, of course, a snotty girl named London who can't believe Chloe would make a present instead of buying one. 

But after London's gift is ruined, Chloe saves the day with her handmade creation. As a clever tie in, there is also a Crafty Chloe blog with ideas for crafting projects from the book. And they have already announced a second book titled Dress Up Mess Up, coming out next year.

Heather graciously gave me one extra copy of Crafty Chloe to give away! Please leave a comment explaining why you like crafting with your kids and a winner will be picked later this week. (Deadline to enter: Friday November 30th at 10 PM. US residents only please!) 

The randomly chosen winner is Christy, who left the comment, "Crafting with my daughter is something I dreamed of before having kiddos. It is everything I dreamed it would be and more! Your daughter might like the book Fanny by Hollie Hobby- similar message and so sweet.

a book shower

To celebrate the upcoming arrival of my baby, my sweet friends asked if they could throw me a shower. I admit that I hesitated, since this was my fourth child... and really, I had everything I needed. But a shower gives you a rare opportunity to gather with friends and really take a moment to celebrate a new baby, and I always feel a little sad when my friends opt not to have a shower at all.

So we decided to have a book shower. Books are always welcome in our house, and I knew each and every gift would be put to good use by the whole family. My dear friend Emily who hosted the shower, found a beautiful illustration from an old copy of Huckleberry Finn and used that as the inspiration for the theme. It was perfect for celebrating the arrival of a new little boy. (Special thanks to my friends at Blonde Designs, who designed the invite.) 

Blankets were laid out on the grass, lanterns were lit, and friends settled in to enjoy a selection of pies. It was almost too pretty to eat. The pies were brought by different friends and included Harvest Berry, Lemon, Fresh Strawberry, Cherry, Rustic Apple, and Coconut Cream. They were all amazing and I think I ate leftover pie for breakfast for the rest of the week!

Little mason jars with tiny votives were hung above the buffet, cleverly tied through the wooden slats of the deck above. Some beautiful books were tucked under the pies and around the shower (picked up at the local library's used book store for 25 cents each). 

I was given so many wonderful books! My friends were worried that I would receive duplicates or books we already owned, so I made a wishlist on Amazon full of books I've wanted for years or new copies of books we've loved so well they are now tattered and torn. The kids were thrilled when I came home and showed them our new stash. I don't think I've ever been more excited about gifts!

As a favor, little bookplates were given to each guest. I took a pile for myself and added them to all the books I received at the shower. I love that these books will be with us for years to come, and each time we open them I will be reminded of my dear friends and this lovely summer evening. Thank you friends!

this week's library book

We've been finding some great library books lately, following our library routine. When I saw Mama, Is It Summer Yet? on the shelf a few weeks ago, I recognized Nikki McClure's papercut illustrations. She cuts each picture out of black paper with an exacto knife (can you imagine!). I first discovered her work because a good friend gave me her beautiful baby book The First 1000 Days which I've been trying to fill in for Baby M.

This sweet, repetitive book shows a mother and child getting ready for summer. The child asks "Mama, is it summer yet?".

"Not yet," she answers as they plant their seeds and wait for them to sprout and grow.

They move through the seasons, tending their garden through the springand reading books out on the lawn once it gets a little warmer.

"Is it summer now?"

"Yes! Oh yes, my little one! The honeybees are in the flowers. The sun is warm on your round belly. The berries are juicy and sweet." And now that spring has finally arrived, a nice warm summer is right around the corner.

more last-minute knitted gifts giveaway

If you're a fan of Purl Soho, or of it's owner, Joelle Hoverson, then you probably already know about Joelle's latest book: More Last-Minute Knitted Gifts. I first met Joelle when she was working at Martha Stewart as a stylist. A few years later I heard she was opening a yarn shop, called Purl, down on Sullivan Street in SoHo and I popped in to say hello. The store was tiny, but filled to the brim with the most beautiful yarn I had ever seen... it was like a little jewelbox of a store, all styled perfectly. One evening I remember walking past the storefront after closing. Joelle had started teaching classes in the evening and the store was literally packed with knitting students. There was this buzz, this feeling of excitement in the air. A man on the street next to me asked "What's going on? What is THIS?". And I knew that Joelle had started something special.

A few years later I wandered down Sullivan Street again. Joelle was sitting out front on that cute blue bench outside Purl and as I walked up she said "I was just thinking about you!". She was writing a new book about quilting and patchwork, and opening a second store up the street (a fabric store this time) and she needed some design help. I quickly volunteered. Joelle lived just a few blocks from my home in Brooklyn, and we would meet at night in my little office and work out the details of the book (which was later titled Last-Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts) and design things for the new store (which was called Purl Patchwork). Joelle would hold my daughter Bee, who was just a baby then, while we picked out colors and played around with fonts.

I've been designing for Purl Soho ever since. And it's been my pleasure. When I moved to California three years ago, I was worried that Joelle (and her partners Page and Jen) might want a designer close by in New York.. but lucky for me, they've let me continue to work for them remotely. They are such lovely clients, full of amazing ideas and I'm proud of the things they've let me design like knitting patterns, and twill tape, and calendars, and new logos.

When Joelle told me she was starting a third book, I crossed my fingers she would let me design it.  More Last-Minute Knitted Gifts hit the stores in the fall, and here are a few behind-the-scenes shots from the shoot (which was way back in May of 2009!). The photographer for the shoot was the lovely Anna Williams, who also shot Joelle's other two books. Anna is an old friend, who photographs regularly for Martha Stewart Living, where Page, Joelle and I all used to work, so working on these shoots is a bit of a reunion.The projects in this book are beautiful, and most can be knit in a weekend.

Joelle has a lovely home a few hours outside the city and we shot the majority of the book there. She also rented the house next door so we would all have a bed to sleep in and some pretty locations to shoot. One morning I woke up early, the fog had rolled in and the house looked so beautiful.

When I flip through this book, I see my friends. I see Joelle's gorgeous color combinations and Jen's lightning fast knitting and Page's pretty styling and Anna's beautiful light. It reminds me how lucky I am to be a small part of the beautiful things these girls create.

The nice folks at STC: Craft | Melanie Falick Books (an imprint of Stewart, Tabori & Chang) sent me a few extra copies of More Last-Minute Knitted Gifts and I am happy to give one away. Leave a comment below and my little helpers and I will pick a winner Saturday morning, March 19th. Comments will close at 9 AM PST. (Sorry to my international readers, but U.S. residents only...)

And a note about giveaways: I try very hard to keep inchmark non-commercial (which is becoming a rarity these days in the blog world). Please note that inchmark does not offer giveaways for products, books, etc. except in specific cases where I was involved in the creation of the product (i.e. a book I have designed).

Update on 03.20.2011 by Brooke

And the winner is #36, Margaret! Shoot me an email with your address and I will pop your book in the mail! Happy knitting!

sick day

We've had our share of sick days this last week. Luckily it seems to be a pretty fast bug, over and done with in less than 24 hours. But in the meantime we've been cuddled up on the couch reading some of our favorite books, like this one we gave Bee for her birthday, A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip and Erin Stead.

I adore this book. Maybe because I love cute little old men, or because the illustrations are so unique, or because the writer and illustrator are married. It's a beautiful book, with a really sweet and simple story, and I'm not the only one who loves it. This book just won the 2011 Caldecott Medal.. and it's the first book Erin Stead has illustrated! The Caldecott! On her FIRST book! Amazing.

A Sick Day for Amos McGee tells the story of a friendly zookeeper who spends his day taking care of various animals..

He plays chess with the elephant, and runs races with the tortoise.. but one morning he wakes with the sniffles and the chills and can't go into work.

So his friends come to check on him. They wait for the bus and ride over to Amos' home.

And take care of him for a change.

One thing we've just started doing when we give books is to trace our hands on the endpapers. (Our friends the Biggs taught us this little trick.. they traced the hands of their whole family into a book they gave us when they moved from NYC). Here is my hand and Bee's on her fifth birthday... she's gaining on me every day.

You can read about how the Steads heard the news of the Caldecott win over here.. I love this quote from Erin: “We work together all day long, every day. We’re each other’s first pass. It would be really different if we didn’t win this as a team.”

my favorite cookbooks

I buy cookbooks.. a lot. Sometimes I wonder why I buy so many, especially now that you can download more recipes off the internet than you could ever actually make in a lifetime. Perhaps it's because I design books for a living, so I get suckered in by a pretty title page or a really great cover. Despite the plethora of cookbooks that gather dust on my shelf, here are the five cookbooks I reach for the most:

Everyday Food: Great Food Fast  From the kitchens of Martha Stewart Living
Everyday Food, the magazine, launched while I was working at Martha Stewart Living and so all the employees got free issues each month. You can see from my early issues, above, how well-loved they are. Post-its flag the recipes I use most often so I can easily go back and find them. Great Food Fast is a nice collection of some of the best Everyday Food recipes, organized by season. These aren't mind blowing recipes, but they work great for casual dinners at home. (And I should mention that I think the recipes from the early years of EDF are better than the later years..)

Time for Dinner   By Cookie editors Pilar Guzman, Jenny Rosenstarch, and Alanna Stang
If you aren't reading the blog Dinner: A Love Story, written by Jenny Rosenstarch, you really need to be. She's got a great handle on family dinners, especially when it comes to the little people in your life. And she's funny. (I'm still laughing about the memo she wrote to her husband about packing school lunches.) Time for Dinner is a great collection of recipes, but my favorite part is the "I want to use what I already have" chapter which shows recipes that use common ingredients you probably have sitting in your fridge (or need to use before they go bad). And I love the Strategic Sunday Dinner section, a great way to make one big meal on the weekend and use the leftovers for a meal or two throughout the week.

Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day  By Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois
This book has gotten considerable attention in the blogosphere (and for good reason). My copy automatically flips open to The Master Recipe on page 26, which I make every few weeks. The dough is ridiculously easy to whip up, you throw it in a big tupperare container, then let it rise, then store it in your fridge and grab some dough whenever you want fresh bread for dinner that night. (You just need to remember to take the dough out of the fridge about an hour and a half before dinner... shape your loaf, let it rise and then bake.) The Master Recipe makes 4 small round loaves, and my family of four can easily eat a whole loaf in one sitting. The dough stays good in the fridge for just shy of two weeks, so I usually make 2 loaves at a time, people don't seem to complain when you hand them a loaf of homemade bread fresh from the oven.

How to Cook Everything  By Mark Bittman
I've been a fan of Bittman's Minimalist column in The New York Times for years. Simple recipes, delicious results. He proves that cooking doesn't need to be overly complicated to be good. How To Cook Everything is kind of like my cooking bible. I pull it out for any question I might have, like "What do I do with this kale?" or "I need a different way to cook shrimp" or "What's the best way to roast these tomatoes?". I like to think of him as that really smart friend you often call upon for advice. In fact the motto for my kitchen is often WWBT: What Would Bittman Do?

The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook  By Ina Garten
I did a few photoshoots with Ina back when we ran her entertaining column in Martha Stewart Living. It was always nice to get out of the city and spend the day in East Hampton. I quickly became a fan of her cookbooks, and own most of them, but this is the one I pick up most often. Ina's recipes just seem to work for me. They turn out just like I expect them to.. and really, what more do you want from a recipe? My favorites are: Grilled Lemon Chicken with Satay Dip (pg. 48), Sun-Dried Tomato Dip (pg. 54), Turkey Tea Sandwiches (pg. 58), Cheddar Corn Chowder (pg. 74), French Potato Salad (pg. 96), and the Fresh Corn Salad (pg. 101). Oh, and don't forget the Coconut Cupcakes (pg. 175).

The Best Recipe  By the editors of Cook's Illustrated magazine
I was given this book for a wedding present by one of the food editors at work, which is about as good an endorsement a cookbook can receive in my world. It looks like this edition is no longer in print, they've upgraded to The NEW Best Recipe which includes even more recipes, so you'll still be in good shape. Here's what the folks at America's Test Kitchen do best, taking a recipe for something like Strawberry Shortcake and then dissecting every part of it. They try it with baking powder vs. baking soda, they add a little buttermilk or heavy cream, they test the recipe with four different kinds of flour.. and in the end they end up with a recipe they consider "the best". The recipes can be a little time-consuming, and sometimes the ingredients seem a little fussy, but the end result never lets me down. (I've also heard good things about The Best 30-Minute Recipe but have yet to try it.. perhaps my next cookbook purchase?)

A little tip for those of you just starting to cook: I write all over my cookbooks, marking in the margins the date I try the recipe along with notes like "Delicious! Try with more thyme." or "Next time add a little more sugar." It helps me remember the little changes I want to try next time I make that recipe. You can tell the recipes I really love because they are covered in notes: ingredients have been slightly altered, measurements changed, and there are little notes next to each step.

I'd love to hear about the cookbooks you use most often, the ones that are spattered with tomato sauce and have wrinkly pages... you know the ones I mean.

wee wonderfuls: the book

Wee Wonderfuls was one of the first crafty blogs I discovered, so I have long been a fan of Hillary Lang and her handsewn toys. The folks over at STC Craft, also the publisher of many of the books I design, asked me to be part of the blog tour for Hillary's new book, Wee Wonderfuls: 24 Dolls to Sew and Love (you can see the entire schedule here).

Lucky for me I had an eager four year old who happily flipped through the book with me, and declared about eight projects her "very favorite". It's tough to pick just one. Tiny little mermaids, topsy-turvy dolls, sweet little bears and giraffes, there is a ridiculous amount of cute. Bee finally settled on one project, the Tag-a-Long doll, which fits in a little apron you can wear. We'll be starting it immediately.

One of my favorite parts of Hillary's blog has always been her stash of vintage children's books, so I asked her to share a bit about her thrifting habits and share a few of her favorite books.

Where do you find so many beautiful books?

We spend a lot of time at used book sales. We try to hit more remote, less "hip" communities and then go on the last day when the books are dirt cheap, like a dollar a bag, and there are always lots of great vintage books to scoop up.

How did you start collecting?

One of the things my husband and I discovered we had in common when we first met was our love of the second hand. We spent a lot of time at flea markets, book sales, thrift stores before the kids arrived on the scene. And we're both book lovers and suckers for great illustration so we had quite a book collection ready to read to our kids. Funny though, they're not all great reads. I definitely pick a book by its cover, and endpapers and font and illustration, etc. When we started actually reading the stories out loud we discovered we have some real stinkers. Especially some of the crazy bad holiday books. They're hilarious!

Here are some favorites from Hillary's latest haul:

Love the sleeping animals on the endpapers of this copy of Sleeping Beauty (illustrated by Vivienne Blake). How cute would it be to make a series of sleeping stuffed animals, bedtime pals.

I love books that are done in just a few colors. (Ten Big Garms, written and illustrated by Dahlov Ipcar)

And books with every color are good too. Love the technicolor of this one! (Foolish and Wise, editors Nila Banton Smith, Hazel C. Hart, and Clara Belle Baker)

Eloise Wilkin melts my heart every time. Those little faces are burned in my memory from my childhood books. (The Make-Believe Parade, story by Jan Margo pictures by Eloise Wilkin)

I just love these colors. And that poor sad little Betsy, how cute is she. (Betsy's Adventure, story and pictures by Gwyneth Mamlok)

To see more of Hillary's finds, check out her Vintage Books flickr group.

And to enter to win a copy of Wee Wonderfuls, visit STC Craft's website and tell them about your favorite childhood toy.

this week's library book

Summertime means lots of things at our house: lazy mornings, corn on the cob, afternoons at the pool, ice cream cones, Saturdays spent at the beach with the cousins, the county fair, going to bed a bit later than usual.. and, of course, trips to the library.

I was first introduced to Don and Audrey Wood when C received The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear as a birthday present several years ago. So when I saw The Napping House at the library, I added it to our pile without even opening it up. I do this a lot at the library, find an author I like and then search through the stacks to see how many other books they've written. I figure if I love one book, the other books can't be half bad.

The Napping House tells the story of "a napping house, where everyone is sleeping". First the snoring granny, then a dreaming child, and on and on with a dozing dog, a snoozing cat, a slumbering mouse... and finally a wakeful flea, all in a pile on grandmother's bed.

When the flea decides to bite the mouse, which scratches the cat, which claws the dog.. and so on and so on, needless to say the nap is soon over.

I read in an interview with Audrey Wood that this book was based on the napping habits of their son Bruce, who refused to nap at home, but would nap at his granny's house where everything was quiet. "We learned by trial and error that the only way we could get him to sleep was to walk him the two blocks to his granny’s house. Everything there was restful and calm, and granny (my mother) always loved to take an afternoon nap. She owned a fluffy dog, and when granny, the dog, and Bruce settled into her cozy bed, everyone was dreaming in minutes. This became a daily ritual, and we began to refer to my mother’s home as "the napping house." That’s how the book was born."

this week's library book

I'll confess that I have a little issue with princesses... which can be tough, when you have a four year old daughter. For the first few years of her life, I admit that I limited Bee's access to princesses and all things purple and sparkly (I had a specific aversion to Disney princesses). It's not the princess stories I have a problem with, I just don't like how Disney has taken ownership over these beautiful stories that have been around for so long.

And then I found some photos of myself as a little girl, about Bee's size, dressed in a bright pink princess costume for Halloween (which my mom reminded me I wore more than one year in a row). So I decided not to fight it any longer... if Bee wanted to love princesses and dress up in pink sequins, so be it.

But I did want to show her that there are different versions of these classic princess stories. We've started checking out more of these old stories from the library... Rapunzel, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White. There are some beautifully illustrated versions at our library, and Bee loves to look through them. So this week's library book is Beauty and the Beast, illustrated by Jan Brett.

Beauty's father picks a rose from the Beast's rosebush for his daughter, and is taken as his prisoner. Upon hearing the news, Beauty bravely takes her father's place as prisoner.

Over time Beauty starts to see the good in the Beast, she begins to look forward to their dinnertime conversations and she sees his kind and thoughtful deeds. He asks Beauty to marry him each night, and Beauty always replies "Pray don't ask me".

Beauty asks to take a trip to visit her home and see her sisters and her father again. While she is away, she has a dream that the Beast is dying and realizes that she loves him. Beauty rushes back to the castle just in time to save him... which breaks the spell and magically transfoms him back into a handsome prince.

Can I share one more little secret? I've figured out how to avoid the morning tears while combing the tangles out of Bee's hair. I used to dread combing Bee's hair in the morning, she would cry and whimper about every little tangle or snarl. Now I've turned that time into story time, and it has saved us so many tears. Bee will happily hand me her comb and remind me where we left off. I try to stretch each story out, so it takes a week or so to tell it and I don't limit myself to just princess stories. I've told my version of Red Riding Hood and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.. The Three Little Pigs and Charlotte's Web and anything else I can vaguely remember. I love that my son C is always peeking his head in so he can hear the story too.

I have great memories of my dad telling us stories when I was a kid. He would make them up when we went on long car rides, and they kept all six of us children entertained for hours at a time. Unfortunately I am not as good a storyteller as my father... but lucky for me, my daughter doesn't know any better.

this week's library book

If you aren't familiar with Frances the Badger, you really should get to know her. I can't say Bedtime for Frances is my favorite in the series (I would vote for A Bargain for Frances) but I was excited when I saw it at the library last week, I remember these books so well from my childhood. The series is written by Russell Hoban, and I love Garth Williams' illustrations.

"The big hand of the clock is at 12. The little hand is at 7. It is seven o'clock. It is bedtime for Frances."

Frances is not at all tired. She tries to sing a song about the alphabet, she looks around her big, dark room and starts to wonder about tigers and giants and bugs and spiders. Each time she goes to visit her parents and they send her back to bed.

Frances notices the curtains on her window moving in the wind. When she asks her father about it, he says "That is the wind's job. Every night the wind has to go around and blow all the curtains... Everybody has a job... You have to go to sleep so that you can be wide awake for school tomorrow. That is your job." (I should mention that Frances' dad does tell Frances that she will get a spanking at the end of the book if she gets out of bed one more time. I tend to skip over that part.)

Frances hears a moth bump the window, she thinks to herself, "There were so many giants and tigers and scary and exciting things before, that I am pretty tired now. That is just a moth, and he is only doing his job, the same as the wind. His job is bumping and thumping, and my job is to sleep." Goodnight little Frances.