Month: December 2014

Weather so cold and frightful, here’s a story that’s delightful!

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My petites and I found, Little Red Hot by Eric A. Kimmel at the library this fall and we loved it the very first time we read it.  It became a bedtime favorite.  If you haven’t seen this book yet, you really must check out this feisty little gal.

Little Red Hot

Little Red Hot is a variation of Little Red Riding Hood, it is so incredibly fantastic.  We were all cheering and hollering for Little Red Hot throughout the story.  The illustrations by Laura Huliska-Beith are wonderful.  She does such an amazing job of showing this feisty little gal and how she outsmarts Senor Lobo.

Eric Kimmel has a series of books that are Southwest themed retellings of classics: Jack and the Giant Barbecue (Jack and the Beanstalk), The Three Little Tamales (Three Little Pigs)  and The Runaway Tortilla (Gingerbread Man).  I will say that Little Red Hot is by far our favorite.

My daughter loves this story she loves that Little Red hot loves her grandma so much that she makes her a pie.  One of her favorite parts is where Little Red Hot is going through the types of peppers she puts into her pie.

My petite loves how smart Little Red Hot is and how she outsmarts Senor Lobo.  Throughout her first reading of the story she was so engaged she kept yelling watch out Little Red, it’s not your grandma, its Senor Lobo!

During this part of the story she traced her finger over the path that Senor Lobo takes and talked about how sneaky he was to take a short cut.  It was amazing to watch her get so excited about this story and to be so engaged with the text without me prompting her with questions or predictions about what was to come.

This would be a fun read for many different audiences, little petites because of the bright colors. Petites in the early grades will love this engaging story about feisty Little Red Hot.  I could even see this as something to read to middle and high schoolers who are working on creating writing assignments where they need to re-write a classic tale.  This book would also be fantastic to discuss cause and effect as well as predicting.

This is a great story with fantastic illustrations to go along with it.  I am sure your petites will enjoy this delightful story.  I would love to hear how they respond to it in the comments below.

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Petites Pick: Louise Loves Art

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cover

Louise Loves Art by Kelly Light is an incredibly cute book we stumbled across at the library (published in September) and was so cute we are currently maxing out our renewals on this superb book.  First of all let’s start with the best first line I’ve read in a while.

I love Art!  It’s my imagination on the outside.

Are you sold yet?  Let me tell you a bit more, Louise is adorable, she loves to draw and one of her favorite subjects to draw is her cat, Louise perfectly captures the cat-ness.  She is a very confident young lady and is creating masterpieces for her art show.  Her little brother Art, like most littles, wants to be a part of what she is doing, he wants to create a masterpiece too. Although, his masterpiece causes a little bit of tension.  Louise is a fabulous big sister and realizes what Art was trying to do and makes him feel special, because clearly he loves his big sister.

I love this book because sometimes it is hard to remember that little brothers or sisters just want to be with you.  This book is a nice reminder of what it looks like to be a great older sibling.  It is also a great story because Louise is confident, she creates masterpieces and inspires her little brother.  In the end they work together to create their art.

This book would be really fun to read to a class who is creating their own masterpieces.  Another reason why I love this book is the vocabulary that Ms. Light uses: masterpiece, pose, capture, fierce, feline, piece de resistance and gallery.  These vocabulary building words and great!  I love that my petite learned some new words reading this book.  Even more I love that after reading it she wanted to get into her art bin and start creating her masterpiece.

Gallery Ideas:

  • creating your own gallery of art – these are some gorgeous examples of gallery walls
Wire Hanging

Source: The Style Files

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Source: The Imagination Tree

Clipboards-for-kids-art-21-Ways-to-Display-Kids-Artwork

Source: Clean & Scentsible

Get Creative: need a little art inspiration?  Here are some projects that you and the petites can create.

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Source: No Time for Flashcards

Writing…a Better Resolution

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Writing

The new year always brings about resolutions and goal setting.  However, I feel like I only make it to about mid-January especially when it comes to new exercise plans.  However, this year I want to make a goal to take some time to unplug from technology and write, whether it is just random thoughts, lists or goals for the week.  I want to make sure I do this.  But you can’t write your lovely thoughts down on just any old notepad now can you?  I’ve rounded up some of my absolute favorite notebooks and journals.

Notebooks and Journals

Notebooks – I love these Apica notebooks there is something about the paper, it is so smooth and easy to write on.  I buy them locally at an Asian market, but you can also find them here.  What is really neat about them is that although they have cardstock covers, the binding is really strong and they do not fall apart.   I’ve used them as travel journals in the past and love them.

Traditional Writers – will love the timeless simplicity of the moleskin notebooks, no frills here, but a true gem, used by many great minds, Van Gogh, Picasso and Hemingway…to learn more about the history of these notebooks read here, it is quite an interesting read.

Travel Note Book – These lovely journal will keep you on track for all of your traveling goals for 2015.  There is something about fine stationary that is vibrant that just begs you to write in it.  Another lovely selection are these lovely floral journals all from the Rifle Paper Co.

Kate Spade notebooks are sure to impress, these can be found at Paper Source, I love the black and white stripes.

Studio Oh has some very delightful and colorful journals and notebooks, I love the brightly colored covers.  They are a great price too.  Live the Life You’ve Imagined | The Trio

One Line a Day Journals are perfect for the bussiest of people, one line only – you’ve got that.  This hardcover bound beauty would be perfect for you to jot down your thought.  Not to mention it is published by Chronicle so you know its going to be great.

Gratitude journal I stumbled across this book at this incredibly calming shop called The Writers’ Workshoppe on our travels in Port Townsend, Wa – this is a place where you can go into a calm and serene environment and look at all the tools you might need to procure to write your next novel.  This journal is small and helps you keep focus on the positive, which I really like.

There are tons of options out there for lovely journals and note books.  I’ve even seen some fantastic tutorials on making your own, my favorite one is from Amber at Damask Love, it’s a great tutorial using composition books and pretty paper from Paper Source.  Love her site.

So many options to choose from, I think the hardest part of this resolution will be choosing which journal you like the best.

Erin

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Holidays!

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The petites and I wanted to wish you a very merry Christmas (a day late) and a wonderful New Year!

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Also, don’t forget to enter for a chance to win a fabulous copy of Flora and the Flamingo, right now the odds are really in your favor.  Here is the post you need to enter your name, remember leave a comment and click the Rafflecopter link to enter your name.  The winner will be chosen at random on New Years Eve.

 

Illustrator Love: Emily Winfield Martin

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There are so many incredibly talented illustrators and I feel like I’ve been so fortunate in the past few weeks to happen upon so many of them.

These books are absolute favorites of my 19 month old.  She squeals when she sees the books and carries them to you to read them to her.  It is beyond adorable.  So adorable, in fact, that I refused to return them to the library in exchange for prolonged cute book encounters.

Emily Winfield Martin has such amazing artistic talent, I had seen her work before at a local shop in Seattle and didn’t put it together that she was this amazing children’s book illustrator as well.  Check out her etsy shop The Black Apple.

After my petite fell so deeply in love, as we all did with Emily’s stunning illustrations I wanted to know more…this is from her website:

She works in a tiny nook of a studio filled with old children’s books, wind-up toys, and stacks of fabric. Her work is inspired by fairy tales, music, myths, carnivals, children’s books from the late 19th through mid 20th century, her favorite films, and autobiography.

This space sounds amazing!  If for some reason you’re still not gushing then you need to watch this short video.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYZRslUPViE&feature=player_embedded

Okay, so let me get onto her books.  She has written two children’s picture books Dream Animals in 2013 and the companion to is Day Dreamers published just this year.

These illustrations are incredible.  After we checked Dream Animals out from the library I hoped there would be more and sure enough Day Dreamers had just been published.

from www...emilywinfieldmartin.com

from www…emilywinfieldmartin.com

I try not to judge books by their covers, but when this is the cover you can bank on a remarkable book within.

I love that these books spark your imagination, when we were reading it one night, my five year old said, oh I know what is happening it’s that little boys imagination…that’s so cool.  I love books that are not only gorgeous, but that inspire young minds to dream and to explore their imaginations.

These books do just that, they are lovely adventures that delight and inspire.  My petites and I adore these books and I am sure that you will too.

Erin

If you liked this post you may like:

Illustrator Love: Kit Chase

Illustrator Love: Kit Chase

Source: Amazon

Illustrator Love: Molly Idle

Gift Giving: Cooking Edition

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Cook

When I think of my foodie friends I think of all of the things that they would love to have in their kitchens, and all of these items fir the bill.  I chose items that I either have and love, or items that I would be thrilled to receive.  Hope you enjoy!

Cookbook – Joy the Baker Homemade Decadence: Irresistibly Sweet, Salty, Gooey, Sticky, Fluffy, Creamy, Crunchy Treats is a great cookbook for anyone who loves her blog as well as her delicious recipes.

Gorgeous Apron, I love this one from Anthropologie

Tea Towel, Studiopatro makes these amazing tea towels, cook and devour are my favorites.  Almost too pretty to use.

Pie Dish, I love these Emile Henry bakeware dishes, they are fabulous, so easy to clean.

Decorative Measuring Cups, how cute are these little cheerful cups?

Mixing Bowls, these melamine bowls are amazing and oh so colorful.

Recipe Box, I am in love with Rifle Paper Co.  They have such stunning pieces like this gorgeous box, I saw this one at the Book Larder in Seattle, but if you can’t get to this shop you can buy online here.

Recipe Cards – you can really never have enough cards and these gorgeous ones will be sure to delight any cook you know.  Rifle Paper makes some of the most gorgeous products.

Happy shopping, if I forget anything please let me know in the comments, I always love hearing what other gifts people love to give.

Erin

The Best-Ever Bookworm Book!

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Violet and Victor Write the Best-Ever Bookworm Book

You know the feeling when you receive a new book and it has never been opened before and you hear that delicate crackle of the spine releasing its pages?  Well, I have just that book in my hands right now….and it’s a library book, I think I may be the first person to have opened this one!!

Violet and Victor Write the Best-Ever Bookworm Book by Alice Kuipers with illustrations by Bethanie Deeny Murguia was published just this month.

Let me start by saying that the teacher in me rejoices as I read this book, about twins, Victor and Violet.  They both have very different interests, Violet wants to be the best-ever writer in the world and Victor wants to tend to his pet worms.  This is such a sweet story, the twins work through their differences (Violet is a little bossy) and end up working together to create a book that is a melding of both of their interests – books and worms.  The illustrations are magnificent, the mixed media and incorporation of library cards, envelopes and book page is completely delightful.

This book is all about teamwork and creativity.  The twins work together to make this the best-ever story.  I love that the siblings help each other with ideas.  They listen to each other and each others suggestions.    The book is so special because the illustrations really depict how a young writers mind and imagination might look.  I love this story and feel as though the writer and illustrator are a perfect match.

This book would be perfect for any petite who loves a good story, who happens to love worms, or wants to be a writer.  Basically this book is perfect for everyone!  A perfect book for your bookworm.

Bethanie Deeney Murguia is a fantastic illustrator, but did you know she also is the author of some terribly cute books as well.  Just when I was thinking that these illustrations remind me of a book I read often….well she is the author and illustrator of some of our favorite books!

Zoe Gets Ready Zoe's Jungle Zoe's Room (No Sisters Allowed)

Gift Giving: Wanderlust Edition

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Wanderlust.pptx

Here are some of my favorite gifts for the travelers in your life.  Whether they are traveling in their car or bus to work or globe trotting on adventures that we can only follow on instagram.  Here are some perfect gifts you can pick up today for your favorite traveler.

Moleskin Notebook You can never really have enough notebooks especially for keeping track of all of the amazing places you plan to see on your travels.

Unique Map Gifts This is something to adorn your walls –  garlands to keep you inspired and thinking of your next travels.  I love this garland, maybe because I make them with love, but because they inspire me to think about the where to go next travel plans.

Water Bottles Always a good idea for long flights or road trips.

Pashmina I think I have a rainbow of colors of pashminas and am pretty sure I need to add this lovely one to the mix, always nice to wear on a flight.

Specialty Lotion This is a favorite of mine, because it is nice and thick and smells great, but not in an overpowering way.

Lip Gloss One of my all time favorite lip glosses, you cannot go wrong with this as a stocking stuffer.

Let me know what I’ve missed, what are your favorite gifts for the travelers in your life?

Erin

 

 

 

Gift Giving: Picture Book Edition

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Petite Picture Books

 

I’ve spent a great deal of time creating a list of our favorite books and illustrators over the last few months.  For your holiday gift giving guide, here are our top 12 books, 12 because I couldn’t bring myself to cut the list down to 10.

No Pirates Allowed! Said Library Lou – the petites love this book because library Lou helps the pirate to realize that books are the treasure and adventure, we couldn’t agree more.

Oliver’s Tree – a sweet book about three friends who problem solve so that everyone can be included.  Not to mention, the cutest illustrations ever!

Me…Jane – stunning book about a remarkable lady who continues to inspire an entire generation of animal lovers and future conservationists.

Bats at the Library – a fun story about bats who sneak into the local library when the window is left ajar, they explore books and all the joys the library has to offer.

Flora and the Penguin – this delightful book is gorgeous and will bring a smile to any petites face and those lucky enough to share this book with them.

Tea Rex – a sweet book about a tea rex who loves a tea party.  It is super silly and the petites will love it, especially if they love to have tea parties too.

Rosie Revere Engineer – one of our all time favorite books, this book should be in the hands of all young petites.  A young girl wants to be an engineer and learns an important lesson, every flop moves you closer to getting to your goal.

Little Red Hot – another family favorite, a play on Little Red Riding Hood, Little Red Hot will have your petites rooting for Little Red Hot and cheering in the end.

Dream Animals: A Bedtime Journey & Day Dreamers: A Journey of Imagination – these two books have some of the most gorgeous illustrations I’ve seen.  They are absolutely magical.

Alice Waters and the Trip to Delicious – perfect for the petite who is interested in food and cooking.  The petites loved this book with it’s bright illustrations and

Julia, Child – another lovely book that is all about the love of food and cooking.

All of these books have been Petite Stag favorites over the past year.  They are fabulous options for gifts for the petites in your life.

Enjoy and Happy Holidays.

Erin

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Gift Giving: Bookish Edition

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Book.pptx

I know when I think of giving presents I always want to give people books, always!  But sometimes it’s hard to know if they already have a specific book and giving a gift card can feel impersonal.  So I’ve put together a list of some gifts that I would love to give to my book loving friends. Here are just a few of my favorite things.

Cute Mug – I personally love this Ampersand Mug from the Small Glow Etsy shop.

Gorgeous Scarf, what better way to celebrate someone’s love of books with this fantastic scarf, this etsy shop has a few different ones to choose from, Annabel Lee, The Raven, Pride and Prejudice, Hamlet and more.

Tote – you honestly can never have enough cute tote bags, especially for those trips to the library.  I love this one from this cute etsy shop

Cozy blanket for snuggling up with a great book, I think this one, from West Elm looks divine.

Personalized Bookmark – this is something I am currently working on for my family stay tuned for a tutorial.  However, you should check this one out, I know a few Dr. Who fans who would love this.

Special Edition of a favorite book – I know that I have multiple copies of my favorite books, some of them are from when I taught them with my scribbles in the margins others are just irresistible and I have more than one.  I love the Puffin in Bloom series, as well as the Puffin Hardcover Classics Boxed Set.

Pillow for snuggling up against or for propping up really big books.  I love this one and need it immediately.

Happy Shopping,
Erin