One of the biggest pleasures for me during holidays is the food – the cooking, the smells and tastes, and the family pushing and shoving — uhm gathering around to appreciate all that you do for them. Food = love = family = togetherness.
This long weekend I am camping with my family. We go to our favourite spot on the coast with a few friends and their kids and their bikes and the fishing gear, and we swim, we light the fire, we cook slow foods (and hopefully some freshly caught fish too), we bring home baked goods to share, there is usually an Easter egg hunt for the kiddos who want to participate (uhm all of them) and we have a really lovely time with really special friends.
A few weeks ago my family and I put together the Action Pack Magazine for kids – the Easter Edition – only $4, so you too can share some lovely family time. It is filled with some easy and some more challenging recipes, crafts and (edible) science that kids can do — meanwhile you can put your feet up and enjoy the fact that your kids are independent and creative and congratulate yourself on your marvellous parenting skills by trusting them in the kitchen and giving them the freedom to grow!
If like me you are planning on a little camping adventure then you might want to grab our Great Outdoors Action Pack Magazine which is a big book full of fun outdoor science, adventure, games, cooking and art.
I have put together a few special recipes from around the web so you too can get into the holiday spirit. Decorate some eggs, bake some delicious foods, and have a lovely special holiday weekend.
- Watercolour painted eggs
- Herb Stencilled Easter eggs (pictured above)
- Henna Easter eggs (pictured above)
- Sticker dyed eggs
Foodie Easter Craft Recipes
- Tsoureki – Greek Easter bread
- Bunny Brioche Bread
- Easter egg cupcakes
- Macaroon eggs
- Chocolate Easter egg cookies
- Thumbprint Easter cookies
- Hot cross cookies (pictured above)
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by Darlene Zimmerman (Krause Publications November 2011). You might know of 
she has written through the years. Her latest book is full of vintagy styled quilts and smaller projects made from traditional blocks and using repro feed sack fabrics. Very pretty! Instructions are clear and there is a good section in the back with techniques. I do have a big problem with this book though — most of the quilts require specialty rulers and tools and only some include a template instead. So if you don’t have these rulers and don’t plan on purchasing them then you will be disappointed in this book. However if you like a ruler/template/tool and want to collect a few and know what you can do with them and you want to make a few repro vintage styled quilts then this is the book for you!
by Chrissie Grace (Krause Publications November 2011). There are a few things to love about this book: 1. The projects are contributed by 17 designers (many are bloggers) which gives the book variety and interest in style, fabrics and designs. 2. The book is all about the online quilting community and all the lovely things that go along with that such as swaps and virtual quilting bees. It includes tips to get swapping and showcases various online virtual quilting communities. 3. The illustrations are amazing! 4. The projects are fun and range from pillows to mini-quilts and full sized quilts — all able to be swapped and shared and worked on as a group.
is another amazing collection of work in the Lark Crafts 500 series, featuring challenging and energising work from a whole lot of amazing artists and designers who work with felt.
by Lynette Anderson (David & Charles February 2012) has everything you love about country crafts — the embroidered details, the felted textures, the soft colours, the beautiful applique. Nothing twee or gloomy about these designs, just lovely traditional country crafting at its best.
by Caroline Scott (Foulsham August 2011). Is a cosy little practical book chock full of useful advice. I particularly think that the sections on each type of veg and fruit that goes through the different varieties and what they best for, how to cook them and when to grow them — it’s a very handy little book.
. This book is compiled by Susanne woods and published by Stash books (2011). This is a super book with 99 quilt blocks each contributed by favourite quilt designers. Each block as a double page spread, with a lovely big photo of the block and page on how to make it. Many of the blocks you may have seen before and a bug bear I have with many quilt block books is that the blocks are not shown in a repeat – I think there was room to that in this book. However it was refreshing to see many traditional blocks given a new twist.
Amy Palanjian has put together this book and it comes out soon with Chronicle Books May 2012. Full of lovely contributor projects this book of crochet ranges from delicate crochet jewellery to chunky rag rugs and things like granny squares, covered coat hangers and arm warmers in between. I was disappointed at the lack of crochet instruction for beginners — just some links to online tutorials. On the plus side, if you can already crochet and know how to follow a simple crochet pattern then you’ll like this book, it is beautifully laid full of stylish and trendy projects.
By 
by Meg Mateo Ilasco and Cat Seto and coming soon (Chronicle Books April 2012). This is a nifty little handbook especially for folks just like me – mother running a running a home and running a business from home. How to juggle it all and stay sane and get organised in the process. It can get crazy trying to do it all!
, 
and 
. These handy take-along sized books are perfect for all ages interested in wanting to improve their drawing skills. These books are a series of prompts and exercises to help you to slow down and observe your surroundings, each exercise includes the time and materials you will need (most are under an hour and you’ll need not much more than a pencil, eraser, paper and sometimes ink) and with a few examples of what to do. Very clever and very useful. We’ll be including these in our evening family time.
