Win a Signed + Dedicated Sweet Paul Eat & Make Book
Want to win a copy of Eat & Make by Sweet Paul? We're giving away 5 signed and dedicated copies... But first, I'm a friend and fan of Paul Lowe, we met once in New York City when I was teaching there and I wrote for his magazine last year. Bottom line - I really admire him; Paul is hands down the real deal and he has built his business from the ground up which I find so inspiring since I remember when he was just starting out online. He has always been consistently authentic, kind and supportive of the online community, and so unselfish with his time giving me advice and direction on things most people wouldn't share so freely. I really have a soft spot in my heart for Paul as a person, but there is so much more to him than his relaxed and generous nature - he's a terrific talent with loads of creative vision as we've all seen demonstrated in his issues of Sweet Paul magazine over the years -- but now there's even more... A BOOK. (swoon!)
His debut book, Eat & Make, drops today (April 1) and to celebrate, I've teamed up with Paul and his publisher, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, to offer you a chance to WIN a signed and dedicated copy from Paul himself of Eat & Make. Here is a little video that he made just for decor8 readers...
Eat & Make merges cooking (loads of delish recipes, I'm definitely trying his fish taco recipe this summer) with kitchen crafting (salad bowl pendant lights, anyone?) for a creative spin on your typical cookery book. I love the combination of crafting with cooking and especially enjoy how personal this book is with photos from his own life and friends dancing around each chapter, I find it all to be quite endearing. I've written 3 books and haven't had the courage to do that yet, to get so personal with photos of me throughout, so perhaps I'll really bare all and be more like Paul in my next book. He can really pull this off so well because he is quite charming!
Another point about the book that grabbed my attention instantly was the book cover - showing his photo, recipes and crafts, it really told a story to me so I instantly new what the book was all about before even reading the title.
I also LOVE the watercolor-y illustrations by Susan Evenson throughout, I'm a big fan of watercolor so this was a big plus for me. The over book design by Joline Rivera and Nellie Williams is hands down stunning. I am so particular about book layout, and this one feels like something out of South Africa or Australia to me - very fresh like I found most cookery books from those parts of the world. The photography by Alexandra Grablewski makes the book because let's face it, you can style and cook something wonderful but your photographer can ruin it with a bad angle or poor lighting - Alexandra doesn't disappoint - the photos shine through and through. I also must mention that in addition to Paul Lowe (Sweet Paul himself) his collegue Paul Vitale worked on lots of the writing in the book, so it's a real collaborative effort with a talented team of people.
If you want to win a signed and dedicated copy of Eat & Make, comment below with the reason why you LOVE SWEET PAUL! That's it! (Originally I asked people to tweet but lots of you wrote in stating you don't use/want to use Twitter so I want to take everyone into consideration and open this contest up to ALL.) you'll need to tweet and complete the following sentence and tell us why you love Sweet Paul's style. Cut and paste the following, filling in your thoughts in the blank and make sure to end the tweet with @sweetpaul and @decor8 so we see them!
#ilovesweetpaul because _______ @sweetpaul @decor8"
Then comment below letting us know who you are and what you tweeted. The winners will be announced on April 8th!
Good luck everyone! And if you simply cannot wait to own a copy of Paul's gorgeous book, click here to order a hard copy of kindle version on Amazon.
Update: The WINNERS are: #3 Lou, #11 Cintia, #15 Ann, Boheme Circus #26 and Sarah Lou #63. If you are listed here, please contact jessy@decor8blog.com as soon as possible and let her know what you would like for Paul to write inside of your book, in addition to his signature of course, along with your mailing address. Thank you!
(images: holly becker)