Big Olive Us News!

Carwash. A fun little video by OliveUs.TV

Carwash. A fun little video by OliveUs.TV

By Gabrielle.

I have some great big news about Olive Us — and I’ve been sitting on this news since January! It’s taken all sorts of self control to not share this happy bit of info. : )

Scripps (you may have heard of them because they own HGTV, The Travel Channel, Food Network,etc.) is launching a new online channel called ulive. It’s all about useful (and entertaining!) lifestyle videos covering topics like food, home, travel, parenting, and wellness. They’ll be featuring content you already love from their well-established TV channels, and they’ll be introducing lots of brand new content as well.

And that’s where Olive Us comes in.

ulive commissioned 20 Olive Us episodes for 2013!! Twenty episodes you haven’t seen before. And we’ve already shot 17 of them — in fact, every spare minute of our last 3 months in France was filled with shooting. Hah! Which means when the ulive site officially launches next week, you’ll have access to a steady stream of brand new Olive Us episodes through the end of the year. So great!

ipad miniExtra fun: To celebrate, Olive Us is hosting a contest — share your favorite episode and you could win an iPad Mini! It’s easy to enter. Find all the details here.

For those of you who are curious, here’s a little Olive Us history, and why this is a big deal for us.

We launched Olive Us in May of 2012 with the idea of creating videos that families could enjoy together. Instead of an on-going narrative arc, each episode is a stand-alone short film — usually around 3 minutes. Because they’re stand-alone, we’ve been able to try all sorts of different things. From cultural introductions, like visiting a French Bakery, to an old school Family Carwash, to a funny little episode called Stacking Wood — inspired by the narrator character in Moonrise Kingdom. One of my personal favorites is a heart-melting video about a Day in the Life of a 2-Year-Old.

And each one is created to inspire families to get up and move, work together, make something, learn something, or try something new.

The launch was a success! And we spent the next year making a total of 24 episodes and lots of behind-the-scenes videos too. You can find them all here or here.

Creating videos is very different than creating other sorts of blog content — and it was a big learning curve for us, as well as a significant investment of time and money. But we loved doing it! It’s endlessly exciting to come up with new ideas, it’s an ideal project that our family can work on together, and it’s brought us in contact with so many talented illustrators, musicians and videographers.

We really, really wanted to figure out to keep going, but as we finished up that first year, we weren’t sure if we would be able to continue creating episodes beyond those first 24. So you can imagine how beyond thrilled we were to find a partner in ulive!

We can’t wait to share the new episodes with you. I’ll be posting one each week here on Design Mom. And you’ll be able to find them all on the ulive website too (of course!).

If you don’t want to miss out, be sure to subscribe to the Olive Us newsletter — subscribers are always the first to know about Olive Us happenings.

54 thoughts on “Big Olive Us News!”

  1. While “How to Be 2” is just too sweet to be believed (I have a two year old and he loves watching June in that video), the very first Olive Us video is still my favorite. It was the one that kept me coming back for more, and I think gardening is such a special activity to do with kids. They learn so much. I love Olive Us, and I’m thrilled you have a great new outlet!

    1. Did you know my father was absolutely smitten with yellow? In fact, for about a decade he wore only yellow every single day. Yellow socks, yellow shoes, yellow pants, yellow shirt, yellow watch — and he drove a yellow car.

  2. My favorite Olive Us was the one that you filmed in Grafton. I grew up in southern Utah so it was kind of nostalgic for me. Can’t wait to see the rest of the episodes!!

  3. Hi, I am also a “design mom” (architect) and we’ve been expat-ing in Amsterdam for 2 years. My 2 boys and I LOVE Olive Us – our fav is Little Red Riding Hood – oh no, my 5 year old is correcting me: His favorite is Chopping Wood. It appears that the ulive videos are not available to those of us who live abroad. How could that be, after your fantastic experience in France, and doing your filming there? Please tell me this isn’t true. . .

    1. Oh dear, if that’s really true it will break my heart!

      I’ve bee told I’ll be able to embed them on my site, but I don’t know if that makes them viewable worldwide. I’ll see what I can find out.

      Thanks for letting me know!

  4. Oh my goodness congrats!! HGTV is very lucky to have you guys. I can’t wait to see their new online channel and all of your new episodes. Again, congrats! Blessings, Julie.

  5. So hard to choose an Episode! I am going to go with #9 – Pique-Nique as an homage to the many picnics and outdoor adventures our family has and does enjoy!

  6. my favorite has been Betty in Paris too but this one, How to be 2, tops it all. June is simple adorable! and congrats, this collection of videos have been inspiring!

  7. we love the how to be 2 one too! but really, they are all so great and I love showing my kids how fun it can be to play and hang out with their siblings.

  8. Congratulations! I have loved these since the very first one you posted! I can hardly wait to see more! Thank you for sharing a glimpse of your sweet family with us, Gabriella! xo

  9. Oh my what exciting news. What fun it will be to see some new Olive Us episodes – they are all great.

    By the way, the first thing that popped into my mind when I read your post was that there is another reason you are completely and utterly exhausted right now. On top of everything else you were doing you also helped film 17 new episodes. You are a brave and strong woman. Go Gabby!

  10. What great news! I love all of the episodes, but have been going back to Family Carwash. My in-laws live near the area and I feel such nostalgia for the red rock even though I’ve never lived there!

  11. How exciting! I must say that “Betty in Paris” is my favorite!

    My daughter just flew to Paris yesterday to begin her year long studies there.
    The film makes me see “Katie”. That’s how I see her. She worked very hard and has wanted this since she was Betty’s age!

    Enjoy your journey!

    Merci

  12. What great news! Can’t believe it’s taken so long for a channel to find your sweet, lovely and fun episodes and snatch them up. I’m so looking forward to watching the new editions and visiting our old favorites too.

  13. My favorite episode from my favorite city – Betty in Paris! Love them all though really! Can’t wait to see the launch on ulive too!

  14. Betty in Paris – the perfect day at any age! Les Quais de Seine, Le Louvre, Montmartre, ahhhh Paris me manque – Lovely Bravo Blairs – they’re all little gems.

  15. Congratulations!! Great news, we are big fans of your videos, my kids LOVE them!!
    Difficult to choose my favorite, I love Betty in Paris, How to be two, the carwash…. we can’t wait for the next 20 :-)

  16. My absolute favorite is the Red Riding Hood episode. It was so charming, especially Betty’s sweet narration. I also love the episode with Ralph and Maude doing your taxes.Their expressions cracked me up!

  17. I absolutely adore OliveUs. What great news for you ! My 4 yr old son has a pretty significant speech delay and your videos have sparked something in him . When he hears the opening music he comes running and starts asking questions . His therapist encourages us to watch your videos . They are so well made . You are so talented !!
    Thank you , Thank you , Thank you .

  18. Wonderful news! Congratulations! Looooove that “Life as a Two Year Old” video!! You’re little gal reminds me so much of my little gal, who’ll be two in December. Ack! They are sooooo darned cute at that age! Love!

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