Musings of a Crafter

Craft Talk

2012-01-18T22:40:00.001-08:00

I have been busily working in my craft studio the last couple of months on a few art projects. I haven't been crafting per se, but I have been creating. I wish I would remember to take pictures of my works in progress, but by the time I remember, it's too late and dark to take photos. Mostly I've been doing some watercolor and mixed-media pieces inspired by books and words. In particular, I am working on some mixed-media pieces based on some poems a friend of mine wrote. He asked me more than a year ago to make something creative inspired by his poetry. I have had the ideas spinning in my head and am trying to translate them into finished pieces. I am also working with an old book and re-creating the book with my own art inside. And I'm hoping to do a photo project inspired by a book I really enjoyed reading. But, none of this is easy to describe or explain. Mostly, I'm just glad to be spending time in my creative space.

I also had a few other tidbits I wanted to talk about. A friend asked me what kind of paper I used for my watercolor veggie cards I made. I wish I could say, but it's just a natural colored cardstock I got from the local letterpress company that was selling some leftover paper. Also, if you're interested in "my" fudge recipe, it is from Martha Stewart, so feel free to enjoy it, courtesy of the craft diva and her staff.

Of course, I have to include some photos of the last three baby hats I made in 2o11! More to come in 2012 I'm sure, though none in progress right now. Well, that's all for now.

Handmade Holidays

2012-01-03T22:06:00.000-08:00

This year I had decided that I would not make any gifts for the holidays, mostly because I remembered how ambitious my plans were last year, and how unambitious my actual follow-through was. I didn't really feel in the holiday spirit, and wasn't in the mood to make gifts. But, the last few days before Christmas arrived, I ended up getting the crafting bug and managed to squeeze in a few projects. I made many batches of my easy chocolate-peppermint fudge (great for teachers and co-workers). I also made a batch of rum truffles that were delicious, and rich, and some easy spritzer cookies. I made some block print greeting cards. I also helped Frankie sew some felt catnip-filled mice for our kitties. And at the very last minute, I sewed a hat for my mom out of an old sweater. The hat is not very well-sewn and was given as a "temporary" hat for her until I knit her a new hat.

Watercolor Cards

2011-12-06T06:27:00.000-08:00

This summer while I was in Yellowstone with my Journal Keepers art group, I started working on some watercolor vegetable cards. I'd been wanting to make them to sell at the Cafe, but hadn't had time. Being away on a creative retreat gave me the time to sit down and work on my ideas. But, once I got home, I let them sit in my craft room unfinished for months. Well, the Cafe just celebrated its one year anniversary and I decided that I needed to finish those cards, package them up, and put them out on the counter for sale. So, here are some photos of my cards. I've been getting nice comments from customers at the cafe, and have sold a few already.

School crafts

2011-11-22T08:12:00.000-08:00

Olivia's class has been making lots of craft items to sell at the annual holiday fair as a fundraiser for their class trip. It's always a great excuse for me to do some crafting as well. We've worked on water color painting for making little paper boxes & books, as well as sewing mittens, fingerless gloves, ornaments, and other felt items. It's been fun spending time with other moms and kids from Olivia's class.

Crafting Up a Storm

2011-10-28T06:49:00.000-07:00

Lemon bundt cake.

I have not been very good at updating my craft blog, but I have been making time for my crafting lately. It's been nice to work on a variety of projects, and good practice at letting go of the chores once in a while, especially since they will still be there the next day (whereas my creativity waxes & wanes). So, taking advantage of the creative energy I've had lately, here are some projects I've worked on. This weekend I have more in mind, in preparation of Halloween and Dia de los Muertos. Hopefully I'll post those projects before it's Christmas!

Birthday cards for staff:

More knit baby hats & felt bears:

Scrapbooking:

Craft room messes:

Altered book art (from a workshop I took, led by a co-worker):

Moroccan Cookbook Challenge

2011-09-23T12:33:00.000-07:00

One of the benefits of working at at book store is getting to see and review books before they are published. This month I was able to participate in a cooking challenge for an upcoming cookbook called Mourad: New Moroccan by Mourad Lahlou. Basically, I was sent an advance copy of his cookbook and was to try various recipes and report back to the publishing company. I won't go into much detail about it because you can read my blog entry at Village Books, which talks about the dinner & recipes. I thought I'd post some additional photos here for everyone to see. The book comes out in late October and I encourage you to check it out!

Fruit & Flowers

2011-08-04T07:45:00.000-07:00

I love the summer bounty in the NW. It's a time when we eat so incredibly well. So many varieties of fresh fruits and vegetables. And I enjoy going to two different farmer's markets each week. On Wednesdays I hit the smaller market behind the bookstore and get some mid-week fruits & veggies, and enjoy either a brown-sugar shortbread cookie from The Mount Bakery, or a novelty popsicle from the popsicle stand. On Saturdays I like to roam the big market buying more fruits and veggies, and maybe having a bite to eat or a snack before I go to work in the afternoon. It's a nice ritual.

Last week I took my mom & the girls to pick raspberries. We picked 18 pounds. We ate lots of them fresh, but I also made some treats to preserve the majority. I made about 10 jars of raspberry jam, froze a couple of pints of berries, made raspberry salsa, and made a raspberry pie. I look forward to enjoying the jam in the winter when the summer sunshine is only but a memory.

And then there are all the flowers. Flowers from my herb garden. Flowers from my dahlia plants. Flowers from the farmer's market on my desk at work, and on our dining room table at home, and on my nightstand. It really makes for cheery days.

Summertime...give me some inspiration

2011-06-28T08:03:00.001-07:00

YUM. Strawberry-rhubarb meringue pie. The Farmer's Market started at the beginning of this month and those were some of the goodies I bought to try this recipe out. It was a delicious pie and we ate it all in two days.

I know I haven't posted in quite a few months. Unfortunately, I'm always so incredibly busy with work and the kids' school activities that I rarely am in the mood to go into my craft room, or get on the computer to update my blog. I think the hardest part for me is not being as creative as I have been in the past. I am just too exhausted mentally at the end of the day to put my energy into creativity. Which is really not acceptable for me, and so I am hoping that with some summer sunshine & warmth, no more school activities, and a little less random work schedule, that I can carve out some time to craft.

I have managed to knit a few baby hats though, just my same old standard pattern, and below are some of the scrapbook pages I worked on this spring. Plus, every now and then I make birthday, congrats & greeting cards on the fly. Send me some inspiration for creativity. I need it!

Valentine's treats

2011-02-16T17:12:00.000-08:00

Of course, I made sweets for the sweet in my life this Valentine's Day. I made some delicious almond linzer heart cookies with homemade raspberry jam (from the summer's picking). These cookies were tasty and no one complained in my house. I also made some cards (sorry the photos are blurry), and the kids made soap "chocolates." They look like little bonbons, but they sure won't taste like chocolate. They'll be fun in the shower though! I hope your Valentine's Day was sweet too.

A Bit of Romance

2011-02-01T17:36:00.000-08:00

Sometimes you just can't pass up a good romance novel, right? I mean, with a name like Sin & Surrender, it's too intriguing not to read. Actually, I haven't read a trashy romance since I was in eighth grade, reading V.C. Andrews books, but I found a few Advance Reader Covers at work, which are just a promotional cover about an upcoming book, and I knew there would be a good use for these. So, I show you the "Sin & Surrender" notepad. I made it for my friend Alice's 40th birthday. I thought she'd get a little humor while jotting down her creative thoughts (check out Alice's blog, The Rabbit Hole Report). Anyway, it was a fun little present for me to make for a good friend.

Celebrating National Pie Day

2011-01-23T17:40:00.000-08:00

I've been feeling under the weather, and we all know the kind of relationship I have with pies, so I didn't make these. But luckily I live with a professional chef, and so we still had homemade pie to celebrate National Pie Day. We enjoyed a berry cream pie for afternoon snack, and we have a banana cream pie waiting for after our pizza pie supper. What kind of pie did you eat today?

Holiday Re-Cap

2011-01-14T17:30:00.001-08:00

I'll admit, I didn't do much crafting this holiday season. I just didn't have the time and energy to create after spending frustrating days at work figuring out my new job. At the end of November I had a long list of all the crafts, baking, and homemade gifts that were going to be created in the month of December. Well, I barely got any homemade gifts done, and didn't make any of the crafts/decorations, but I did manage to do some baking. I also worked on a pair of knit wool socks for Charles as a gift, but I had to give him one unfinished sock with an IOU. I haven't touched them since Christmas Eve. I hope I finish them before next Christmas! Anyway, I'm trying to learn to cut myself slack when I don't do all the projects I dream of. Thankfully, by posting all these pictures, I can see that I still manage to make a lot (that sweet tooth really drives my projects). Here's a sampling of what happened here in December.

This year we opted for graham cracker "gingerbread" houses with frosting from a container. Ssh, don't tell my holier-than-thou crafting self that I didn't make it all from scratch. The kids had fun, and so did grandpa.

Guava pie with a gluten-free crust that turned out nice and flaky. A little too sweet though.

I made these paper nutcracker ballet tags for the girls' Nutcracker books.

Charles & I made this food basket for my parents' gift (actually we made two food baskets). It was all homemade (except the Theo chocolate and the Raven's Brew coffee) and included: garlic-infused olive oil, rosemary vinegar, fresh sprigs of rosemary, savory roasted almonds, cheese crackers, raspberry-chardonnay dijon mustard, apple-cider syrup, home-cured lamb prosciutto, and clove oranges.

Gluten-free applesauce tartlets, that were not too sweet.

A Meyer-lemon meringue cake for my dad's New Year's Eve birthday.

Gluten, dairy, egg-free spritzer cookies that were really good, and that were for a staff party, so that everyone could enjoy (from "The Allergen-Free Baker's Handbook").

I did manage to sew these little felt animals for the girls for Three Kings Day. They found them nestled inside their shoes under their bed with a few other goodies. So, I guess I did OK. What do you think?

Benjamin & Bumper to the Rescue

2010-12-14T07:51:00.000-08:00

This weekend at the bookstore I work at, we hosted a kids' story time & craft activity for the book "Benjamin & Bumper to the Rescue" by Molly Coxe. Molly was supposed to do the event, but she sadly was not feeling well, as she's going through cancer treatment right now. But, her husband and college-aged kids came as "Team Bravemouse" and showed lots of little kids how to make mice out of baby socks and craft materials. It was a really fun event, and I was sorry Molly missed it, and impressed by the love of her family to promote her work for her. Consider buying Molly Coxe's book for the holidays. It will make a sweet holiday present for kid or grownup alike.

Advent Candles

2010-11-28T21:42:00.001-08:00

I know I am completely skipping over any kind of Thanksgiving-related cooking and crafting. It was a mellow and very nice Thanksgiving at my sister-in-law's. I unfortunately did not charge my camera battery before we left, so I wasn't able to get any good photos of the pumpkin cream pie or the double fudge brownie cake I made for dessert. They were both delicious I assure you!

And now, here we are at the beginning of Advent. I enjoy lighting the four advent candles each night of the season. It's a nice ritual to bring light and warmth to the table. Advent candles typically involve three purple candles, one pink candle, and a white candle for Christmas Day. Each Sunday of Advent you light a purple candle (so the first week you only light one, the second week two, etc) and on Christmas Day you light the white candle. I looked up the meaning of the candles & colors and it seemed pretty variable, but I liked one interpretation where the first candle is lit for hope, the second for love, the third for joy and the fourth for peace. We will say our dinner blessings with those thoughts in mind.

So, the kids rolled some beeswax candles for the table and I made a small wreath of boxwood to go around the candles. We hope to enjoy the countdown to Christmas in a meaningful way.

Olivia's B-day Invites

2010-11-22T21:11:00.000-08:00

Olivia will be 12 in just a couple of weeks. Whoa! Hard to believe. I am surely not old enough to have a 12-year-old, am I?

After perusing through my binder of birthday party themes and ideas (mostly all pulled out of magazines or copied from library books), Olivia decided she wanted to have a jewelry-making party (which was not one of the ideas in the binder). She has been making some cool bead and wire jewelry lately, and I have tons of beading supplies, so I thought this would be very fun too. She invited all the girls in her class (which is only eight girls) to come make jewelry & celebrate.

I had this idea for making invitations that involved re-using all those little Webkinz plastic mini envelopes (see, I knew there was a reason I was keeping those). We printed invites on white cardstock on our computer. We then filled the little clear envelopes with seed beads and a strand of jewelry elastic, sealed the envelopes with a sticker, and hot-glued them onto the top of the invitations. They look rather cool, and her friends can make a necklace or bracelet with the beads included. Should be a fun party. I'll post pictures after the event, and of course of the cake!

Knitting projects

2010-11-19T20:26:00.000-08:00

I finished this little baby hat a couple of weeks ago for a friend's baby. It's my standard roll-brim hat pattern that I love to use from my "Knitting for Peace" book. With the holiday season coming up I've decided it would be nice to knit a project for a charity. In the "Knitting for Peace" book, all of the patterns are designed for using to donate to various organizations and non-profits. I thought it would be nice to knit a hat for the Afghans for Afghans organization. I am making a two-toned spiral-shaped winter cap with wool yarn. Olivia might make a pair of socks as well for the organization. If I have time (yeah, right) I might try to make a pair of kids socks too, but I've got a million holiday projects and crafts on my mind right now, so it might just be the hat.

If you are a knitter and looking to make something as a donation, you should check out the Afghans for Afghans website, or check out a copy of the book "Knitting for Peace."

Scrapbook pages

2010-11-02T07:25:00.001-07:00

Here's a selection of scrapbook pages I've worked on in the past couple of months.

Birthday Cards

2010-10-19T06:10:00.001-07:00

Yes, yes, I know, I have hardly posted any crafts. But I've been making things, I promise. I just haven't wanted to get on the computer much these days. It's a miracle if I check my email once a week. I have been getting in my craft studio to scrapbook, make block prints, sketch, make cards, and work on other miscellaneous projects.

Here are some birthday cards I made for staff at work. I always try to keep each person in mind when making a card, but sometimes I just go for the simple "happy birthday" message. I've been having fun with it all. So, check it out.

Tea time

2010-09-26T22:06:00.001-07:00

Today the girls & I had a tea party at home. I made some little petit four cakes, cucumber-cream cheese sandwiches and boiled eggs. We had a nice herbal tea blend I made with chamomile flowers from the garden. We sipped our tea properly and practiced for the day when we will have to have "tea with the queen." No slurping allowed! After tea time Frankie put on her new roller blades, I put on my new roller skates and we rollered all around the house to some loud music. It was a nice way to spend a day off, just the girls.

Guava bars & quiche: An unlikely combo

2010-09-24T23:21:00.000-07:00

I made some oatmeal guava bars last Sunday for a party we were hosting. The recipe is from my "Dulce" cookbook. They were easy to make and tasted delicious. My mom brought me some guava paste from Miami which I whipped until it was a spreadable consistency. I will definitely make these again.

Charles made a quiche using the eggs from our chickens, chantrelles he harvested from the woods, and goat cheese & chard from the farmer's market. Yum, yum, yum. Not even one piece was left over.

Summer Harvest

2010-09-13T06:36:00.000-07:00

Well, officially there is about a week and a half of summer left, but the damp and cool weather makes it feel like fall is already nudging in. Our garden is still producing lots of food though, so the harvest is far from over. We have broccoli, cabbages, cherry tomatoes, potatoes, greens, cilantro, pickling cucumbers and carrots. My dahlias are all coming into bloom, which makes for vases of pretty flowers in the house. And the chickens...well, they are giving us up to 12 eggs a day! So, fall may be approaching, but we are still eating well. I thought I'd share some photos of the season. Doesn't that salad above look lovely? That's how I've been eating these days (from the garden and the farmer's market).

Farmer's market salad mix with alpine strawberries from my herb garden.

Peach, tomato salsa from the market.

More market snacks.

Blueberry frozen yogurt from some of the u-pick berries we got.

Homemade mini peach pops from Jones Creek Farm peaches.

Some of our first eggs.

A mini rose from one of my mini bushes.

And all those gorgeous dahlias.

Rosemary and sage vinegars from my herb garden.

Transparent apples from a tree in our backyard. These are early summer apples. By the end of August they are all gone. They aren't good to eat, either too sour, or too mushy if overripe, so I made them into applesauce. Plus, I had pounds of frozen apples from last year in the freezer, so I made apple butter and sauce with those to clear out the freezer and make space for our frozen blueberries, raspberries and lamb that Charles butchered.

Apple mush.

And now we have a pantry full of canned goodies: dilly beans, peaches in Riesling syrup, apple sauce, apple butter, apple-oregano syrup, raspberry jelly, vinegars and pickles. It'll be a nice treat this winter. For now, we'll keep enjoying the fresh produce.

Making cakes

2010-09-07T06:17:00.000-07:00

I've made a few cakes the past couple of weeks--for Frankie's birthday, for us to enjoy, and for catering events. Some turned out pretty and delicious. Others turned out ugly, but delicious. But you know, I make things about "feefty-feefty" (stealing that phrase from the book "Geography of Bliss," which I highly recommend). Half the times I am satisfied with my baking, and the other half I am proclaiming to quit baking for always and forever. Take a look and see for yourself.

Mini almond-bundt cakes for Charles & the kids after returning from a camping trip.

Gluten-free (but not dairy-free) cupcakes for a wedding, with lovely edible flowers.

A wedding cake for our friend's wedding we catered. It was a pretty casual wedding and they weren't going to have a cake, so I made one (same wedding as the cupcakes). I'm glad they weren't expecting a professional wedding cake, because this was far from it!

And my absolute worst project of the month. I call this the "devil" cake. It was supposed to be a kitty cat for Frankie's birthday. Unfortunately, I decided to make the cake the same day of the party and it came out of the oven about an hour before the party. Even with refrigeration, the center of this thick dome-shaped cake did not cool, so as soon as I started frosting it, the icing melted off the top, and an ear broke off. This is the final version. That's as best as I could fix it, and quite frankly, it turned out scary. I'm so sorry Frankie. I promise to make something nicer next year. But on a positive note, the cake was delicious. It was a vanilla cake (gluten free) with a buttercream frosting.

Sewing Projects

2010-09-04T00:09:00.001-07:00

There's nothing like deadlines to get me to start and finish a project. Also, having an entire day at home by myself, no kids or husband to distract me, is helpful. So this week I found myself getting a few sewing projects done. First I sewed a little drawstring pouch for Frankie. She needed one for keeping an extra change of clothing in her first grade class. It had to be taken to the classroom this week, so I had a deadline. I used some remnants of fabric and whipped it together in about 20 minutes. I hand-embroidered her name on the pouch as well.

My next project was the "Weekend-Away Travel Pouch," which I made for Olivia to keep her girly stuff in her backpack. The pattern is from the book "Weekend Sewing" by Heather Ross. I used fabric from a skirt I loved (it had Keropi fabric and was lined with silk). The skirt got some stains on it that looked bad, so I decided to repurpose the skirt. This project was perfect because I used the silk to line the travel bag. The Keropi fabric looks cute on the outside. And I got the zipper on without any problems. Olivia loves the bag.

My final project was a quick one. Sadly, this was supposed to be part of Olivia's Christmas present last Christmas, but I never made it and the materials got buried in my sewing pile. It's too bad because it took me all of 10 minutes to make. It's a little velvet pincushion (to complete the sewing box/kit I gave Olivia for Christmas). The stuffed velvet cushion is hot-glued onto a brioche tart tin. I used silver embroidery floss and stitched a little snowflake. Now, maybe next year I'll get my Christmas projects done on time.

Travel art journal

2010-08-20T06:38:00.000-07:00

This summer I've done a bit of traveling. Some trips were really just long weekends, like my bike trip on Orcas Island, and the train ride/weekend in Seattle. Others were slightly longer, like my trip to Albuquerque for the Journal Keepers exhibit. My most recent trip was to Maui for 10 days of sunshine, warmth, swimming, snorkeling, and all that good stuff. Since I haven't really been crafting much these days, I made a point to work on my mini art journal while on vacation. It's always fun to have an additional way to remember a trip. Since my books are a cross between art and journal, they include more detail than my photo albums, as well as my own unique pictorial perspective (which usually looks far different, and less realistic, than the actual thing). So, I thought I'd share some of my pages from this summer's art journal.

Albuequerque

Orcas Island

Seattle

Maui

Random Summer Projects

2010-07-26T01:06:00.000-07:00

I picked 18 pounds of raspberries at a local u-pick, so I canned some raspberry jam. It didn't thicken as much as I would have liked, even though I brought it up to 220 degrees, which is setting temperature, but it'll still be yummy I'm sure. Other raspberry treats: raspberry corn muffins; raspberry smoothies, raspberries by the handful & mouthful, and maybe I'll make a sorbet this week. You can never eat too many raspberries.

I try to get out and weed the herb garden as often as I can. It's nice to cut a few sprigs of lavender, parsley or violas to freshen up the kitchen.

I hand-stitched these little felt envelopes, which are business-card size, for Olivia & Frankie. I sent them off in a care package together with some mint chocolate chip and peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. The envelopes are for keeping little treasures.

Another felt bear for a new little niece. I hope she will snuggle with it sweetly.

Catching Up

2010-07-06T23:29:00.000-07:00

I'm not posting much these days, mostly because I've developed an aversion to the internet. My life is quite busy without it, and honestly, I don't miss it too much. But, every now & then I'll try to post a few pictures so you can see what I'm up to.

Last month I knit this baby bonnet for a friend's baby. I used a soft wool yarn in a taupe/linen color, and trimmed it with a light green. Turned out a bit big, but cute. I'm guessing the baby won't wear it until he's at least one though!

I also knit a couple of squares for a quilt for Olivia's teacher. One of the parents sewed all the squares together and gave it as a class gift. This is one of my squares before I cleaned up the loose edges.

And now that fruit is at its premium, especially fresh strawberries from the farmer's market, I've been making some yummy baked goods, like this strawberry shortcake, and strawberry rhubarb pie. (I didn't even throw a tantrum while making the crust.)

And here were the Father's Day cards I had made. Nothing fancy, but still homemade.

So, until next time. Hope you are enjoying your summertime.

Drawing On Nature

2010-06-29T06:05:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I went to Albuquerque, NM as part of a "Journal Keepers" gathering. The Journal Keepers are a group of women/friends from all over the US who gather every year for a week or so to work on nature art journals, and share their craft with each other. This year, the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science is featuring an exhibit of some of our journals. I feel very honored to have my work included in the exhibit, and it was great to attend the opening reception. Here are some photos from the exhibit. If you'll be visiting Albuquerque between now and September, check out the Drawing On Nature exhibit.

Dulces

2010-06-02T21:39:00.000-07:00

For Mother's Day I got a new cookbook called "Dulce" by Joselius Flores that features "desserts in the Latin-American tradition." This book is awesome. It's full of desserts that remind me so much of my Abuela, and also of Miami in general. There's nothing like going to a Cuban bakery and having an Elena Ruz, a tres leches cake, or a pastelito de guayaba. Now, I am having fun trying out all of the recipes in this new book.

The first recipes I made were borrachitos con nieve de toronja y azafran (little drunken cakes with grapefruit-saffron sorbet). Borrachitos are usually made in baba molds, but I don't have any, so I made them in a mini muffin tin. They are a yeast bread that grow tall, and after they are baked you soak them overnight in a syrup. I soaked them in a tequila simple syrup. The sorbet was awesome. The saffron and grapefruit complimented each other in a surprising way.

The next three recipes I tried were for my niece's graduation party. I made Cocadas (Latin coconut bars), Suspiros de Chocolate (chocolate meringues), and Alfajores de Maizena (dulce-de-leche-filled butter cookie sandwiches). The coconut bars were good, but extremely gooey. I won't even tell you how many cups of sugar and coconut went into the recipe. They had a dark chocolate crust that was yummy. The chocolate meringues were light, slightly chewy in the middle, and tongue-melting. I garnished them with half a cashew slice. The dulce-de-leche butter cookie sandwiches were my favorite. The butter cookies were crisp and not too sweet, so they balanced the ultra-sweet dulce de leche. I edged them with finely grated unsweetened coconut. The one tricky thing about the dulce de leche recipe is that it takes a LONG time to cook. It cooked for almost five hours. And you have to babysit the sugar/milk mixture so that it is always simmering and doesn't boil too hot or burn. I think mine went slightly too far and started to get granulated, but it wasn't very noticeable, especially once spread on the cookies.

The most recent recipe I made was the Tres Leches recipe (three milks cake garnished with fresh mango). This recipe calls for 10 eggs that are whipped for about 12 minutes so that the volume triples. You then gently fold in the flour mixture into the eggs. I was so worried about losing the airiness of my eggs that I was overly gentle with my folding. It turned out that my flour didn't mix well and settled to the bottom, so that I had somewhat of a pie crust on the bottom of my cake. The top 2/3 of the cake was perfectly spongy though. After baking and cooling the cake, you punch holes with a toothpick all over and pour a mixture of sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk and whipping cream and let the cake soak it all up over night. This is a great dessert for adding pounds to your behind...thus the Cuban butt!

So far, I've enjoyed the recipes. Only two aspects of this book make it slightly less than perfect. One is that the measurements for ingredients, which are written both in weight and volume, aren't the most accurate. This means it's not the best book for a beginner. Since I know what cakes, cookies and yeast breads are supposed to look like, I was able to adjust my measurements. The other down side is that the recipes all require large quantities of dairy, eggs and sugar...making these a little pricier to make than other desserts (and a little more robust on the calories).

My next dulce: Barritas de Avena con Guayaba (oatmeal guava bars). I'm sure I'll give you the update soon.

Relics of a Domestic Bride & Housewife

2010-05-26T01:56:00.000-07:00

Here is my altered art for the staff exhibit at work. We were to (re) use items to create the piece. I'd been hanging on to my old dustbuster, feeling guilty about throwing it out. I knew it would come in handy. One part of the dustbuster is a bouquet, the other a vase. The media: acrylics, wool roving, old wool sweater, cupcake wrappers, paper decoupage, & other random small pieces.

More greeting cards

2010-05-13T23:46:00.000-07:00

These are from last week. What have I done this week in my craft room? Nothing. But I did go listen to Nikki McClure speak, and she is one of my favorite artists. She was so cute, sweet, and down-to-earth. I aspire for such groundedness as she has.

Send me subliminal messages to get me into the craft room, otherwise, I keep finding things to wash and clean all over this already clean house.

Making Cards

2010-05-06T12:43:00.001-07:00

I made myself hang out in the craft room all day yesterday. I made about a dozen greeting cards, from Mother's Day, to graduation, to wedding and baby cards. And then, at night, I actually worked on my scrapbook for a few hours. I got it updated to May 2009...still got a year's worth of photos to go! But hey, I ignored the various other to-do lists and spent some time making things, and it was fun. Maybe you'll be one of the lucky recipients of my homemade cards this summer. Here are a few graduation ones I made. (Can you believe, I forgot to take pictures of my Mother's Day cards before mailing them off...it's too bad because they were cute).

Using Up the Apples

2010-05-04T06:21:00.000-07:00

We have a ton of frozen apples from last fall that I haven't used as much as I should. They are mostly King and Jonamac. So, last week I made apple-streusel muffins and an apple cake that was a cross between bread (it had yeast) and cake. The muffins turned out moist and sweet. The cake was kind of dry. It was better when I dunked it in coffee. Maybe this week for Cinco de Mayo I'll make a "Tres Leches" cake (not related to apples, just another baking project).

Where have I been hiding?

2010-04-25T13:20:00.000-07:00

When I took a full-time job in February, I knew that my free time would become much less. And indeed, it has. So, naturally, I am not crafting as much as I would like to. But, the job isn't really what is taking my time away. It's what I choose to do with my free time that keeps me out of the craft room. Every time I vacuum, do loads of laundry, clean the kitchen, organize the pantry, sort through the kids' stuff, vacuum the heater vents, or (insert various necessary and unnecessary home keeping projects), I make a choice NOT to craft. As a friend reminds me, when I make the choice to neat-freak-ify, I also make the choice not to work on my creative projects.

It's not like I don't know what to work on. Here's a list of the projects that I have been thinking of making/creating the last few months, which I haven't been making time for:

-sewing a girly-girl toiletry zipper pouch for Olivia
-finishing the kids' quilts
-making my dust-buster art for a recycled art exhibit at my job
-choreographing a dance duo with Charles playing live music (inspired by a performance we saw in Seattle for my b-day)
-writing new Violet Modestly songs
-"catching up" on my scrapbooks (I left off at April of '09)
-making greeting cards to have on hand
-filling up an art journal with my block prints
-sewing a few presents (can't say what or for whom)
-knitting another baby hat

I could go on and on. So, I hope to make better choices with my time. And I hope to find more patience when I do start a project that seems doomed from the start (like when one of my cats jumped into my paint pan of bright pink and green paint today...he is SO on my bad side right now). And, since I don't have any pictures of instructions to post today, then I am including the old stand-bys: photos of some baking I've done in the last month (peanut butter chocolate bars and rosewater shortbread with espresso).

Handmade cards

2010-04-07T00:25:00.000-07:00

This is a quickie post to show some greeting cards I've made in the last couple of weeks for graduations, a birthday, a wedding, and a baby. Did my usual: stickers, ribbon, pretty colored cards. Quick, fun and easy crafting.

Backstage Crafting

2010-03-31T23:42:00.000-07:00

So, I was telling you earlier in the week that I have been up to some crafting these days. Some of it occurred while I was waiting backstage for my turn to dance. So I had a couple of hours each night to work on my projects. First I worked on a couple more felt bears for baby gifts. I know you've seen these a million times on my blog, so I will spare you too much info. Main thing is that I decided to make one a kitty this time, which was fun.

The other projected I completed (drum roll please), were my red and white stripedy fingerless gloves. I started these at least a year and a half ago. I would often work on a finger, get frustrated, and stuff it all back in a bag for another time. Another time was usually 5-6 months later. I decided it was time to finally finish them and move onto something else. They turned out pretty nice. The yarn is hemp and the pattern is from the book "Weekend Knitting" by Melanie Falick.

Everybody dance now

2010-03-28T23:25:00.000-07:00

For the past four months I have been taking modern dance classes and rehearsing for a spring concert. Finally, over the last two weekends, the shows took place. The piece I was in was kind of a cross between dance, improv/acting, comedy, and chaos. The dance, entitled "How to Meet the Needs of Your Target Audience" involved nine of us acting as if we were in a game show, an audience at a show, and performers in a show. At the end, the audience was allowed to call on their cell phones to our "dance-a-thon" line and request various things for us to dance/perform (which is where the chaotic part comes in...I was asked to roll on the floor, be a hillbilly, dance hip-hop, tango, synchronize swim, and other such requests). It was bizarre for sure, but I had a good time and enjoyed working with other ladies.

Pictures couldn't be taken during the show, so these are some of my shots from our rehearsal and from backstage. I've got lots of craft projects to post, as I was busy knitting and hand sewing in the dressing room while I waited to perform. So, stay tuned for more of my crafting!

Springtime brunch

2010-03-18T01:10:00.000-07:00

On Sunday I had a bunch of ladies over for brunch and a clothing swap. Guests brought lots of yummy food and cool clothing/housewares to exchange. My favorite dish was a homemade garlic goat/cow milk cheese (OK, not really a dish, but delicious). The best score from the swap were some knit fingerless gloves and a petite glass cake stand with a lid. Charles made bleu-cheese, bacon, chard quiche. I made chocolate chip scones (remember my choco chip mantra?) and gluten-free, vegan currant scones. It was a fun way to spend the day.

I drew my paper doll invites and colored a few in with colored pencils. Most I handed out uncolored though as I was giving out a bunch. I wrote "color-me-in" on them instead. It was a fun little drawing project for me to enjoy.

Kitchen Science

2010-03-09T05:51:00.000-08:00

I've been experimenting with various gluten free flours in the past month, trying to figure out what has comparable texture to wheat flour, and also, what tastes good while providing varied fibers. Sometimes my experiments turned out quite successful, and tasted as good, or better than a traditional baked good. But other recipes were not quite so convincing. And one left me feeling like a barn animal enjoying a fried treat. Here are some of my gluten-free kitchen adventures.

Teff pancakes

Teff is an ancient grain, and also the smallest grain in the world. I often cook teff as a hot breakfast cereal, which is really more of a porridge. It has a nutty flavor and tastes good with plain yogurt and blueberries. I wanted to try a recipe for making pancakes using teff flour. Unfortunately, I did not have teff flour handy, just the grain (which resembles little brown seeds). I decided to pulse these in the food processor, but it barely made the grain flour-like. So, I added it to my batter anyway (which was made with oil, eggs, apple juice and agave syrup). When I fried these up on the skillet they browned nicely, but looked like little seed cakes. They tasted like seed cakes too, and I could have used these for bird feeders. I still ate them (and funny enough, the kids really liked them and ate them too). I've decided it was interesting, but I won't make them again.

Rice-flour lemon muffins

I've been using a gluten-free flour blend from the Culinary Institute of America's gluten free baking cookbook, written by Chef Coppedge. He has various flour blends recommended for various types of baking projects. I made his lemon-poppy seed muffins without the poppy seeds. I used a brown/white rice flour blend and added lots of lemon zest for some kick. I made these miniature as well because there is something fun about popping a whole muffin into your mouth. The muffins turned out lovely. They browned along the edges just right, were airy and moist, and tasted lemony. I enjoyed them for lunch for many days. I will keep this one in my repertoire.

Rice-flour shortbread

Again, I tried the shortbread recipe from the same cookbook and also used the brown/white rice flour blend. This recipe called for quite a bit of butter (compared to the ratio of other ingredients). When I took it out of the oven, the shortbread was swimming in butter, so I thought it was ruined. When I went to drain out the butter though, nothing poured out because it had quickly reabsorbed into the shortbread. I don't know if this is normal, and I felt a little concerned it would taste greasy. Upon trying a wedge though, I discovered that it was buttery in a good way. It was also nothing like the shortbread I'm used to. These were still good as tea biscuits and I enjoyed the wedges with my Earl Grey. Final decision: A good treat for tea, but shouldn't be considered a substitution for shortbread (the same way that I think you should either eat hot dogs, or not eat them, but pretending soy dogs are the same is just a lie).

White rice flour/Coconut flour pancakes
I followed a recipe on the back of my Bob's Red Mill Coconut Flour bag for pancakes. The recipe called for both coconut flour and white rice flour. All other ingredients were pretty straight-forward: eggs, buttermilk, salt, sugar, baking soda, etc. I added mini chocolate chips to these because chocolate chips make everything taste better. I oiled up the griddle and spooned out the batter, and was pleasantly surprised at how fluffy and pancake-like these were. Actually, they were delicious, and as close to a real pancake as I've ever made (many of my "healthy" pancakes are thin, flat and dense). I have decided that I will use this recipe often, even instead of (gasp) making wheat pancakes. The coconut flour gave a nice hint of flavor that was yummy too.

Chocolate chip-banana spelt muffins

Spelt is not a gluten-free flour, but it is a flour that is a good alternative to those seeking to get away from using wheat all of the time. Some people who have a wheat intolerance can eat spelt products, and supposedly the fiber content is higher. I like spelt because it cooks similar to wheat flour, and I've been using it for years. I made some banana chocolate chip muffins (again, chocolate chips make everything better). They turned out moist and sweet. Perfect for breakfast, afternoon snack, or dessert. Plus, a good way to use up those overripe bananas.

And the last food project was juicing all of the rest of the fall apples that were starting to look a little less than appealing. It's amazing how many apples it takes to make a little bit of juice. But it tasted yummy and the kids drank it all.

And this concludes Christina's kitchen science update.

The Malty Mr. Stout

2010-03-02T05:33:00.000-08:00

On Sunday I took part in a beer recipe contest at a local outdoor gear/beer shop. Both my husband and I cooked food for the contest, mostly just to have fun, but also to get our catering name out there. Charles made Schwarzbier pulled pork sandwiches for the entree category, and I made "Malty Mr. Stout" cupcakes for the dessert category, which were oatmeal stout cupcakes with malted milk frosting. We used local beers from two different breweries, and local & organic ingredients for our recipes.

The event had three judges from local food/beer establishments, and then there was voting by all the tasters & entrants. I am proud to say that my cupcakes won first place from the judges (which meant I got a $50 gift card to the store), and second place by popular vote (that was out of all the food, and there were at least 40 dishes). It was fun to taste all the unique takes on beer-cooked yummies, we got some free pint glasses, and we hung out with new friends.

About the cupcakes: The cake was a molasses/gingerbread cake which had oatmeal stout in the batter. It was very moist, and while the molasses flavor was strong, you could still taste the stout underneath. This made for a mellow cupcake on the sweetness factor. I went all-out on the frosting too, making Italian buttercream (which means you cook the cream, in this case malted milk, temper egg yolks with the cooked cream, and then mix it all together to make a custard. You also cook the egg whites and sugar and make a meringue). Of all types of icing, this is the best because it is not overly sweet, and not overly buttery, so it doesn't coat your mouth like store-bought icings do. Actually, it's like magic on the tongue. I sprinkled the cupcakes with chocolate malt barley I got from the local brewery. All in all, it was sweet success.

The pie crust that made me violent

2010-02-22T01:23:00.000-08:00

Yes, that's right, violent. Usually baking is an enjoyable hobby for me. I enjoy the rhythm and motion of my hands mixing, or kneading, or working dough. Tasting my creations is also a bonus that brings me great satisfaction. But once in a while, either out of impatience, lack of motivation, or simple frustration, a baking project can bring the worst out in me.

So it was a couple of weeks ago that I found myself cursing the crust of an apple pie tart that then became an open pie with crumbling crust.

I should have thought twice about making a pie in the first place. Pies are not my forte. If it wasn't warning enough 12 years ago when my first pie-making experiment was taste-tested by my new father-in-law, who happens to be married to a woman who can make a dozen pie crusts in her sleep. All I will mention about this first pie of mine was that it had an inch-thick crust, was made with a guava paste filling, and ellicited the comment from my father-in-law, "that is interesting," after one bite (and no other bites taken after that).

So, here I was, 12 years later, making a French apple tart for Charles from my "Baking with Julia" cookbook. Let me just mention here that this book is amazing, and not one recipe is poorly written. Charles & I make professional-quality baked goods from these recipes, and so the fault is not in the book. No, unfortunately, the fault lies with me. And the first thing that made this a disasterous recipe was that I substituted the flour. If there is anything I should be learning, it's that hippy flour, and hippy sugar and all other "natural" baked products don't always work the same way when used in a conventional recipe. Knowing this, I still decided to use my organic wheat pastry flour. As I worked the dough in the food processor (another fact I likely shouldn't admit to my mother-in-law, who makes all by hand), everything was coming together quite nicely. I was quick with my cold shortening and my ice water. I pulsed until all was combined. I formed a ball and then flattened into a disk in cellophane. And I stuck it in the fridge for two hours.

Upon pulling my dough out of the fridge and rolling it out though, I discovered that this seemingly beautiful dough was anything but. In fact, it was just a sad crumbly mess. I tried flouring my rolling pin with excess. I rolled slowly. I rolled quickly. I stuck it in the fridge for a few more minutes to tighten it up, but to no avail, the crust stayed crumbly. I got so mad I started cursing and steaming up inside and decided I better go outside to cool down. So, I slammed the back door and walked around the house in darkness, raging at the dough, and raging even more to myself that I could get so angry over a dessert.

I marched back in with composure and formed a ball, then a disk, then again started rolling. It was not cooperating with me though. I just repeated the mantra, "it's just pie crust, it's just pie crust" over and over until all I could do was resent the fact that this pie crust was delaying my efforts to cook a three-course dinner for my husband. I knew we'd be eating at 1 a.m., which is typical when I cook more than one dish.

I stuck the dough back in the fridge and began working on another part of dinner, giving myself some time to relax. Unfortunately, I didn't relax because I knew somewhere within me that this crust was not going to work. But, I tried again, in true style of enjoying self-torture. And this time, I blew my top. Just as my six-year-old and husband walk in to be a silent audience (no pressure there, really), I no longer can handle the crust crumble. I take that big thick wooden rolling pin and just start pounding the kitchen counter in rage while crusty crumbs fly here and there. After drumming myself frantic, I finally toss the pin across the counter top and into the dining room, look down at my frightened daughter, look up at my disgusted husband and rush out of the house in tears. I have just become a violent, baking psychopath. Is this all worth it?

I sat in the backyard under a fir tree and contemplated how a dessert could bring this out in me. The closest I could explain was that my perfectionism could not handle anything so precisely opposite of perfect. I felt defeated. Me, who makes pretty little sweet things, could not make a classic American (or French) dessert.

I did manage to come back to that pie crust though. I basically smooshed it into a pie pan instead of a tart pan. I added my tart filling, and made a tart design with my thinly sliced apples. I baked it as it was, with all it's hideousness. The crust crumbled as I cut into it, so that we had heaping piles of messy apple goo and flaky organic wheat crust on our plates. But you know, with some homemade cinnamon ice cream, even that big angry project turned out tasting good enough to finish. Lessons learned? Oh, maybe a few. I hope.

It was a Happy Valentine's Day...

2010-02-16T03:02:00.000-08:00

...and Chinese New Year. Yes, this year the two holidays fell on the same day. So, we combined our celebrations. My Valentine gift to my family were these wool felt "fortune cookies" with hand-written fortunes, and filled with Valentine sweets. It was perfect for our Chinese New Year dinner table. Charles made a version of Peking duck, veggie dumplings, and rice with stir-fried veggies. The girls got red envelopes filled with money. We read books about new year traditions. And we exchanged cards and goodies. Love is sweet.

Head and Heart

2010-02-03T13:27:00.000-08:00

I've been slowly working on a lino block print. It's entitled "Head and Heart." It took me a while to figure out the hand drawing, and then I did the carving in stages. At one point I was worried I had made a "mistake" that couldn't be undone, but I slept on it, and the next morning I played around and felt satisfied. I've been experimenting with different Speedball block paint colors, like blue and turquoise. I also have painted the heart red with watercolor paint on some of them. The paper I use is masa paper and I like to print on the glossy side, but the textured side works well too, you just have to put more pressure on the block to get an even stamp.

Chocolate-glazed Donuts

2010-01-21T16:33:00.001-08:00

This week Frankie and I are covering the letter "O" for homeschool. Donuts happen to have the perfect shape. So, we made chocolate-glazed donuts. I need to start running again, or all of these sweets are going to expand me in multiple places!

Catching up on my scrapbook

2010-01-19T09:08:00.000-08:00

Scrapbooking was once my most beloved craft hobby. I often would pull out all of my goodies and get working on my books as soon as I ordered pictures. But, this year I have really had a hard time keeping up, and making time, for my scrapbooking. And the odd thing is that I have this craft space where most of my stuff is out and handy, yet I am not taking the time. I think there are a couple of reasons though. One being that my craft space, while working well, is not refined (which is why I have yet to post pictures of the space). I have some plans for organization that I think will make it even easier to work. Another reason I don't get around to my scrapbook is because I am often working on other projects, and when I have limited time, I tend to choose to play my guitar instead, which is not a bad thing. A third reason I don't work on my scrapbook is because I am so behind that all of the photos are becoming overwhelming (and I love to take photos of everything). OK, and the last reason is that I want to create these beautifully elaborate page designs, and then one page takes 30 minutes and then I'm pooped.

Anyway, here are some of my pages I've been working on for the past 2 1/2 months (I am just now getting to my pictures from Vegas in April). I wish I had a scanner to show these pages better, so I apologize for the fuzzy pics. Let me know what you think. If you want to know about something I used on a page I'd be happy to share with you.

Chocolate Beetroot Cake

2010-01-15T06:58:00.000-08:00

We've had a number of holiday catering events and for dessert I made a number of takes on the Chocolate Beetroot Cake. Beets in a cake you ask? Ah well, it makes the cake moist, richly dark, and chocolaty (I think it draws out the chocolate flavor), and you only taste a light hint of beets, even less when using golden beets.

Since many of our events cater to gluten-free or vegan diets, I experimented with various forms of this cake. In one recipe I made a straight up cake with organic pastry flour and pureed beets. This cake was by far the richest, airiest, and sweetest of the cakes. But, I was pleasantly surprised by both by gluten-free vegan cake (more dense and chewy, but nicely sweet), and my gluten-free, non-vegan version (most like a standard cake in texture). So, here's my take on a gluten-free, vegan chocolate beetroot cake.

Note: My gluten-free flour blend is courtesy of Chef Coppedge from the Culinary Institute of America. I made his "Flour Blend # 2" which is 10 oz white rice flour, 7 oz brown rice flour, 3 oz potato starch and 4 oz tapioca starch. You can also use a pre-mixed flour blend, like Bob's Gluten Free Flour.

Christina's Vegan, Gluten-Free Chocolate Beetroot Cake
1 1/2 cups gluten-free flour blend
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I use grapeseed oil)
1 cup cold water (or you can use coffee if you want that flavor)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 to 1 1/2 cups shredded raw beets (or you can cook and puree the beets for more moisture in the cake)

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Oil a round cake pan, or a muffin tin for mini cakes.
2. Sift flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Add sugar and stir.
3. In another bowl, mix oil, water and vanilla.
4. Add liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir to combine.
5. Add shredded or pureed beets and combine.
6. Add vinegar and stir briefly. Pour batter into prepared pan or muffin tin (filling muffin tin or pan no more than 3/4 full).
7. Bake for 30 minutes, and be sure to place a pan underneath in case batter overflows. The baking soda and vinegar make this a somewhat reactive cake.
8. Check with cake tester for readiness. Remove from oven. Let cakes cool about 10 minutes in the pan before flipping onto a wire rack.
9. Drizzle with ganache (recipe follows).

Chocolate Ganache
4 oz vegan chocolate chips
4 Tablespoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar

1. Melt chocolate in a double boiler and let cool.
2. Add water slowly, one tablespoon at a time and whisk. Add as much water as you would like liquid consistency for your ganache.
3. Whisk in vanilla extract.
4. Add confectioner's sugar and stir until smooth.
5. Drizzle over your cake(s).
6. Garnish cake(s) with raw shredded golden and red beets.

M is for Monkeybread

2010-01-12T06:38:00.000-08:00

Every week Frankie and I work on a letter of the alphabet as part of homeschool. Usually, we make letter shapes with the bread, but last Friday we weren't in the mood to make letters, so instead we made this yummy monkeybread.

Really, I got the idea from Amy Karol's "Angry Chicken" blog. So this is a completely unoriginal blog post that is really more to spread the word about her blog (and her books, "Bend the Rules Sewing" and "Bend the Rules with Fabric"). So, check out her blog, and make some cinnamon-y monkeybread. It's delicious warm out of the oven.

Hip Little Wristbands

2010-01-08T14:06:00.000-08:00

In the beginning of December I got this crazy notion that I would make a bunch of stuff to sell at Olivia's school holiday faire. We were very tight on cash and so I was trying to think of any way to help us out. Of course, I wasn't considering the amount of time it takes to create a stock of items even for a little booth at a craft fair. I had decided I was going to make lavender eye pillows, seed-bead jewelry, hand-beaded postcards, felt ornaments, and quilt/scrap-sewn wristbands. Now, I signed up to have a booth one week before the event. I told myself that each night I would make one of these items until I had enough to sell, even if I got very little sleep. The unrealistic part about this: This week I had to work late shifts at Macy's, I was planning Olivia's birthday party, there were school events to attend to, like holiday concerts, and I also did some a.m. freelance editing. So, on night one, I started sewing wristbands. I threw all my fabric scraps onto the floor, got out various fun-colored thread, sifted through unique buttons, and learned how to use my snap tool (a rather frustrating experience as I bought it at a thrift store without instructions). To no surprise, after spending hours making only FIVE wristbands, cursing the freakin' snap tool (and cracking some of the pretty mother-of-pearl snaps), and feeling like an insomniac (knowing I had to wake up to do editing work at 5 a.m.), I decided that this was a VERY BAD IDEA.

Well, the next morning I called the organizer of the craft sale and canceled my booth. She tried to talk me into keeping it, saying how lovely my items would be (she's never seen what I make), but I knew I would make a fool of myself and end up making 50 cents per hour, which really makes zero contribution to our piling up bills in the thousands of dollars realm. So, now I have five wristbands that are cute, but I don't know what to do with them. Maybe I'll save them and make more throughout the next year so that by the time holiday faire comes around next December, I'll actually have an inventory of items to sell.

Felt Bear for Baby Eva

2010-01-06T15:37:00.000-08:00

Here's another felt bear I made last month for a friend of mine's new baby, Eva. Usually I make these before a baby is born, and so I don't embroider their name, but I made this afterward, and so was able to personalize it. Now, if only I could meet all of these babies I make presents for. I have only met one of the dozen this year!

Key Lime Pie to Celebrate the New Year

2010-01-03T21:15:00.000-08:00

New Year's Eve is my Pop's birthday, and so every year we have two reasons to celebrate. Since my folks were visiting from South Florida, I decided to make my dad a key lime birthday pie. I ventured off from the traditional recipe's graham cracker crumb crust and made a pate brisee instead. Maybe it's too cold to be like Florida, and maybe key limes are a far cry from my usual "eat local" kick, but it tasted damned good. It makes me warm just thinking of it.

Homecooked, Handmade Holidays

2009-12-31T02:36:00.000-08:00

This year I didn't get as much holiday crafting done as in past years. And I was up until the wee hours of Christmas finishing a knit hat for my mom. But, what is crafting without some late nights and a deadline forcing you to finish the project? There was a lot more time spent in the kitchen this year, making various sweets (which we are still gorging on), but also some savory, as I cooked the traditional nochebuena feast all by myself this year (this coming from a woman married to a chef...but alas, it's good for the Cuban girl to try her hand at it every now and then....I must say my frijoles negros con sofrito, or black beans with sofrito, turned out amazing).

OK, enough pats on the shoulder. Here are some highlights of the holiday crafting and cooking.

A knit hat for my mom. It's made with a charcoal merino wool and a pink silk accent yarn. The pattern is the roll-brim hat pattern I use for all of my baby hats, except in an adult size.

Rolled beeswax candles are the gift of choice this year. We rolled them in glitter to make them extra festive (and messy).

This year's gingerbread house was having a little weight-bearing difficulty with the overloaded roof, but with the help of some toothpicks, all was well in gingerbread land.

And there were plenty of gingerbread scraps from our gingerbread house. We're still eating this stuff!

Savory almonds for my dad and Charles' stockings. They were supposed to be spicy, but I didn't have any cayenne pepper. The recipe is from my "Christmas with Martha Stewart" book.

My flan turned out OK. The custard was good, but the caramel turned out a bit brown and lumpy. Not my best. I think I can't use hippie sugar for flan.

The table is set for our nochebuena (Christmas Eve) dinner. The menu: puerco asado (garlic-marinated & roasted pork butt), arroz y frijoles negros (rice and black beans), yuca con mojo (cassava root with olive oil/garlic/onion sauce) and flan for dessert.

My gumdrop/toothpick place tags. I punched circles out of white cardstock and used my shimmery watercolors to paint red and green circles around everyone's name.

I made homemade panetone, an Italian sweet bread with raisins, for breakfast for Christmas morning. It was a tradition at my house growing up to eat these after opening presents, with butter and jelly. We had ours with some peach jelly a friend gave us. The recipe for panetone was from Martha Stewart.

National Cupcake Day

2009-12-15T21:50:00.001-08:00

Today was National Cupcake Day. The local cupcakery was giving away free cupcakes. The girls & I hopped on the bus into town and got ourselves some yummy treats. I had peanut butter, Olivia had creamsicle, and Frankie had vanilla with chocolate frosting. Another sweet ending to the day.

Hanukkah Jelly Donuts

2009-12-12T11:44:00.000-08:00

Our family does not celebrate Hanukkah as part of our spiritual belief or upbringing, but we do like to celebrate and learn about the cultures and festivals from around the world. Like we celebrate Day of the Dead, the Chinese New Year, and the solstices, we also are celebrating a little bit of Hanukkah. I like for the kids to learn about how friends, neighbors, or relatives celebrate their religious holidays and cultural festivals.

Last night was the first evening of Hanukkah. Although we will not light a menorah (or hanukkiah, as we learned today), we have been reading lots of books from the library about the holiday. We're learning about the tradition behind the eight candles, the food, the games, and the music used to celebrate. This morning I made jelly-filled donuts for breakfast. My donuts turned out a little dense (I don't think our kitchen was warm enough for them to rise properly), but I still managed to pipe in some raspberry jelly and coat them with powdered sugar. No one complained about the treat! While we ate our donuts we read some books about latkes, dreidel games, and Hispanic Januca. Hopefully tonight Charles will make some potato latkes as part of our supper. If only I could find a dreidel somewhere so we can play with our chocolate gelt.

I believe it's important to understand the rituals and heritage of different people in our communities. I hope that I have captured the right message and passed it along to the kids. So, to those of you who do celebrate the holiday, I hope you find peace in the spirit of the Hanukkah moon, and the light of your candles.

Chocolate cupcake

2009-12-10T18:29:00.001-08:00

Just looking at this makes me want to eat it. I made these chocolate cupcakes for Olivia's school holiday faire. I never got to taste one, but when I licked the batter from the bowl, it tasted pretty good to me!

Birthday Tea Party

2009-12-07T16:09:00.000-08:00

All last week I spent planning and preparing for Olivia's 11th birthday party. She had an Asian-style tea party with all of the girls in her class. Some stayed over for a slumber party too. It was tons of fun, but I am pooped. I absolutely love planning parties, and while the kids definitely enjoyed the evening, I think I'm the one that got the most out of the details.

Here are the invites. I used apples to make flower prints. I carved flower shapes in the apples and used tempera paint to stamp the flowers onto brown craft paper. I glued the stamped paper onto blank cards, and I hand-wrote "You're invited..." as well as all of the party details inside.

I made origami lotus flower bowls using paper napkins to hold rice snack mix at each place setting. I also hung up paper lanterns and put out my Asian-style teapots (like my Yixing teapot I got in China).

The cake is a gluten-free chocolate cake with Swiss-meringue buttercream icing. I also made some mandarin orange gelato (Olivia's request).

And Charles whipped up some Asian yummies for dinner: veggie spring & summer rolls, dumplings, stir-fry baby bok-choy & carrots, rice and other fruit, veggie and cracker snacks. The party was a great hit.

With Thanks-giving

2009-11-30T09:45:00.000-08:00

We had a lovely Thanksgiving with my brother, his fiance, and her family, which is now my new family. It was a special time, and a time to be thankful of course for all of our blessings. Even though each day I am worried of the shortages in time, money, and patience, I try to remember all of the blessings. There are many, and so I am filled with gratitude. I hope you are filled with many blessings, even in the darkest times. I offer you my gratitude in "thanks-giving." Thanks for following my craft whimsies and giving me support, and good ideas too! (P.S. Frankie & I needle-felted these little hedgehogs a couple of weeks ago as a homeschool project. Aren't they cute?)

Vote for my Michael's contest entry

2009-11-24T21:15:00.001-08:00

Hello dear followers of Musings of a Crafter. I have submit a project of mine to a Michael's craft contest. It's my rubber band scrap paper notebook. I blogged about it in October. If you wouldn't mind going to this link and voting for my project I'd really appreciate it. Thanks for your support of me and my craftiness!

Michaels Photo Entry - Recycled Rubberband Notebook

Posted using ShareThis

Personalized Address Stamp

2009-11-23T17:15:00.000-08:00

Last month I ordered a personalized address stamp from The Paper Princess. I just want to give a little plug for this stationary/stamp maker. Her work is really cute and she always sends so many free goodies in the package (like postcards and notecards). The package itself is really rather sweet. I've bought personalized stationary for the kids in the past. Now I've got this awesome stamp of a tandem bike. With the holidays around, support handmade!

Music, dessert, and busy-ness

2009-11-20T17:41:00.000-08:00

I want to post on my blog so much more frequently, but the days go by, chock-full of who-knows-what, and then I'm too pooped to get on the computer. Charles & I are gainfully unemployed and the lack of money is really starting to catch up to us, so we are trying to find any random work. I started a job at Macy's yesterday. At least I'll get to listen to holiday music, dress up fancier than usual, and, here's the bonus, do some knitting on the bus ride to and from work (as well as during lunch break). I can't reveal what I'm working on, as it is a gift, but it's refreshing to start a grown up knitting project. One of these days I will finish the fingerless gloves I started a year ago. I could use them for my bike rides to the bus station.

Now, on to music and dessert. Last Saturday Violet Modestly performed at Soundfalls, a variety show hosted by some good friends of ours in Carnation, WA. Violet (aka, me), was very nervous and had to go pee every ten minutes, but she finally managed to relax and peformed two original pieces (on guitar and singing), then a cover with Alexander Beetroot, and then bass with the whole group of performers ("May the Circle Be Unbroken" and "One Voice"). It was lots of fun.

And, no event of any sort is complete without dessert provided. My contribution were these sprinkle star ginger cakes, and spice cookie sandwiches with apple-butter (homemade), cream cheese filling. Yum-e!

Dessert Parties

2009-11-09T17:24:00.000-08:00

Charles & I are in the midst of launching a new catering business where we live. One of the events we will be offering are dessert parties. To start getting our name out there, and people interested in my treats, we have donated a dessert party for 12 people to Olivia's school auction. In order to cost out the menu and make sure I could handle making what was on the menu, I did a practice run a few weeks ago. Friends and neighbors got to "taste test" the goodies, and I got some good feedback from everyone.

Menu:

Pixie chocolate & vanilla cupcakes

Pumpkin cheesecake

Honey creme brulee

Asian pear chocolate tartlets

Parisian macarons

The most popular desserts were the macarons and cupcakes, I think because the Italian buttercream was perfect (not too sweet, very airy and light). But really, my favorite was the pumpkin cheesecake. It was creamy and rich, and didn't have an overwhelming pumpkin flavor. I used a sweet pie pumpkin from the farmer's market.

Now, hopefully Olivia's school will get lots of money for the gift certificate we offered, and that we'll get some business out of it after everyone tastes my desserts and gossips about how good they were to their friends!

Hallow'd Celebrations

2009-11-03T23:15:00.000-08:00

Halloween was hectic, but fun at our house. It was my mom's 60th birthday and she was visiting from Miami, so we threw her a costume party and had family and friends over. I was pretty sleep deprived as I stayed up until 3:30 a.m. the night before making the cake and Olivia's costume, but it was worth it.

I made a chocolate brownie cake with chocolate-coffee ganache for my mom and decorated it with a white-chocolate spiderweb design. Delicious.

I also sewed Olivia's costume (the true culprit of the 3:30 a.m. stint). She wanted to be a candy corn, so I bought some orange, yellow, and white fleece and sewed a little dress using an old dress pattern I had. I made a little pointy hat with cardstock and hot-glued white fleece to it, and added elastic from a party hat so she could wear the little hat. About 5 minutes before she was getting into her costume on Halloween she says, "Mommy, can I be a cat instead?" And mommy said, "NO, YOU MAY NOT BE A CAT!" And it was settled. She was complimented for her costume at many of the trick-or-treat houses. (Frankie was a butterfly for those of you wondering. She wore some felt butterfly wings I sewed when Olivia was 4 years old).

Of course, to follow the festivities of Halloween, we also celebrated Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead on the 2nd. We made an alter to honor all of our grandparents. We included their favorite foods, as well as the traditional Mexican decorations of calaveras (skulls), zempasuchiles de papel (paper marigolds) and tejocotes of gold (oranges). Olivia and Frankie also decorated sugar skulls. We enjoyed a tasty feast of pumpkin in mole sauce, rice and black beans, and meat empanadas (plus lots of Halloween candy). It has been a fun week!

Pumpkin-Apple Butter

2009-10-27T08:38:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago the girls & I went to a friend's house to pick apples. We picked lots of apples. Actually, we estimated that I came home with about 200 lbs of Kings and Jonagolds. What did we do with all of those apples? Well, we peeled, cut and froze a really large amount of them. We made mulligatawny soup, brats braised with apples and cabbage, apple tarts, apples dipped in everything from peanut butter to yogurt, and of course, apple butter.

Charles actually made the apple butter. Frankie and I helped with the prep (peeling & cutting). He made a batch of plain apple butter, and a batch of pumpkin-apple butter with some pureed sweet pumpkin (not canned, but from farmer's market pumpkins). The recipe for the butter is from a Ball brand canning book. These were done in the hot-water boil method, not pressure canned.

The butters turned out quite sweet, even with a reduced amount of sugar (almost by half), but still tasty on toast. We still have loads of apples to deal with sitting in our pantries. I may juice a bunch, and make applesauce as well. Any other suggestions on what else we should make?

Autumn watercolor

2009-10-25T21:02:00.001-07:00

I made this little watercolor a couple of weeks ago. It's inspired by a children's song that we have sung for many years as part of homeschool, first with Olivia, and now with Frankie.

After school snack

2009-10-23T22:15:00.000-07:00

My older daughter Olivia just got back today from spending three days at Mt. School with her class, a camp for 5th graders at the environmental learning center where we used to live. It was funny for her to go back to our "home" as a student and participate in the program that we were around for four years. When we lived at the ELC, she had to wear a staff name tag because teachers and chaperones from other schools would ask her where she was supposed to be.

Anyway, that's an aside to the real blog post, which is the snack Frankie & I made her to welcome her back from her three days away from home. The house was really quiet without her, and we all missed her sillyness and cheerful presence. What's the best welcome home snack? Well, chocolate chip cookies of course. And these have mini chocolate chips in them. There is something I really love about things in miniature. Frankie painted the sign to welcome her home.

Handmade notebook

2009-10-19T14:59:00.000-07:00

Recently I made a little notebook for my daily letters to Charles. This is a very simple book to make, so here's what I did.

1. I took scrap 8 1/2 x 11 paper and cut it in half (cut as many pages as you want your book to be thick).

2. I used some "Screenprints Decorative Handprint paper" for the cover of my book. Conveniently the paper already came in the same size as my cut paper, and the different strips of paper were already glued together (it was part of the sample display of the package of paper). I lined up my cover and all my paper evenly to be ready for the next step.

3. Bounding the book: I punched two holes on the top short end of the papers and using a rubber band and a skewer, I bound the book. I put one end of the rubber band through one hole, then stuck one end of the bamboo skewer into the rubber band. I stretched the rubber band along the back side of the book and put the other end through the second hole, and then slipped the other end of the skewer through the rubber band. Then, voila, I had a simple little book that looks so pretty. Give it a try and make your own.

Catching up with Illustration Friday

2009-10-12T22:24:00.000-07:00

Now that my new art/craft space is set up I've been doing a lot painting and drawing. I haven't really done much crafting in there yet. So, here I am sharing 8 weeks worth of Illustration Friday sketches and paintings I made. They are all little, and some are not so good, but I thought I'd share all of my imperfections with the world. Which one is your favorite?

Mini doughnuts

2009-10-12T13:01:00.000-07:00

I made these mini doughnuts with the kids on Friday. They were the baked kind rather than fried, so a little healthier, and more bread-like, rather than cake-like. But still delicious nonetheless. The recipe was an old Martha Stewart recipe, but I can't find it on the website. If you'd like the recipe, email me and I'll send it to you.

Rolled Beeswax Candles

2009-10-02T13:19:00.001-07:00

Here are some rolled beeswax candles Frankie and I made together. For her birthday some friends gave us the colored sheets of beeswax and some candlewick string. So, we just sat outside in the sunshine and rolled different colored candles and experimented with cutting the squares into triangles and making two-toned candles.

Mega baby package

2009-09-22T09:11:00.000-07:00

One of my closest friends had a baby in August, and all summer I worked on a variety of gifts to send her baby. I also wanted to send treats for my dear friend, her husband, and her two daughters. It was lots of fun to put the package together, and even though it was hard to get the last stitches done on the baby booties, I finally finished and got the package sent on moving day (I knew if I moved it with us it would get lost in the pile-up of boxes). I hope they had as much fun opening the surprises as I had making them.

I made this card long ago and so I can't remember what supplies I used. The ribbon is baby blue velvet. The clasp is from Making Memories. The circle is baby blue cardstock with white polka dots. And the left-hand corner has sticker pearls on it.

Basic rolled-brim hat pattern from "Knitting for Peace," by Betty Christiansen. Yarn used: Bernat Soy Natural Blends in "seasalt" (light blue) and SPA Bamboo blend in "green sheen."

Beginner booties pattern from "Knitting for Babies." Yarn: Bernat Soy Natural Blends in "seasalt" and Bernat Cot'n Corn Natural Blends in "water."

The baby kimono pattern is from an old Martha Stewart Kids magazine. I used old crib fabric from Frankie's bedding I had made when she was a baby. I wanted to reuse a fabric that would be special to my friend, as she was one of Frankie's favorite snugglers as a baby. The yellow star fabric is cotton quilting fabric. The blue fabric is soft flannel. The ties and trim are made from bias tape.

The felt bear pattern is also from an old Martha Stewart Kids magazine. I just used white felt, blue emroidery floss, and polyester stuffing. This has always been one of my favorite little doll patterns to make...a stand-by gift.

For the big sisters I bought little photo books that had pretty white screen-print designs. I added the "big sister" words on the covers using Making Memories white "Rummage" alphabet rub-ons. I included a disposable camera for each of them so they could document their family together with their new brother.

The other goodies: For mom I included some tea made by a Bellingham herbalist, as well as lotion bar and some good dark chocolate. For dad I treated him to a Romeo & Julieta cigar. And baby also got some bath goodies, also from the Bellingam herbalist (Flying Bird Botanicals).

And on a side-note. I really want to win this awesome Madsen commuter bicycle. By linking to the company's site I have a chance at winning. Cross your fingers for me (or enter yourself). Thanks!

Out of the darkness comes light

2009-09-16T09:33:00.000-07:00

Where have I been hiding out the past few weeks? Well, I've been moving into our new home and finding and creating new sacred spaces. We've been in our home for almost two weeks now and it has been a fun mess to uncover and design. The sunshine brightens all the newly painted yellow and cream walls. And the space, three times what we had before, is welcoming. Plus, it's a bit like Christmas around here, as we open boxes that have been in storage for five years (if only it wasn't so dusty).

This has been a long and challenging year for me spiritually, and emotionally. It has been because of my crafting and art that I've found space to rest my mind. The past month, because of working intensely on fixing and cleaning up the new place before moving in, I took very little time to make much of anything. And it was really hard to ignore my craft boxes, knitting needles, baking supplies and such. But, now I am ready to get back into some creative space. I will soon be unpacking and designing my craft/music studio and I hope to post some photos of how the room turns out. I've saved it for last because I want to take time to carefully and thoughtfully lay out the work space so that my creations can be nurtured organically. I'll have to document the state it's in now though, because it's currently the "I don't know what to do with this box" room.

So, as I'm nesting, and as I start homeschool kindergarten with Frankie, and my family forms daily routines, I am opening up to new projects that I will soon post. Many will be projects I am doing together with Frankie, like this yummy loaf of homemade whole-wheat, spelt bread. Some of it will be artwork inspired by Illustration Friday (I'm way behind on those). Some of it will be gifts for friends (though I'm pooped with making baby and wedding gifts). And I may even get organized enough to record some music and post it. We'll see.

So, big plans for Musings of a Crafter. Thanks for supporting me. Send me ideas. Share your projects with me. Join me for Artist Dates. Send me homemade goodies and I'll send some back in return. And find your own spiritual space of creativity, because it is nurturing and sweet.

16 is So Sweet

2009-09-01T08:07:00.000-07:00

Here's the card I made my niece for her sweet 16. I remember that year. It seemed complicated, but simple. Would you go back to being 16? Nah, but I do hope it's fun for my niece. Sorry I'm not including the info on what supplies I used. I've been too lazy these days.

Frankie's Birthday

2009-08-25T10:42:00.001-07:00

Yes, I know, it was almost a week and a half ago. Late is better than never, right? So, here are some of the homemade touches from Frankie's 6th birthday party.

Paper mache pinata making with Daddy.

Vegan, gluten-free chocolate cake with vegan icing made by Mommy, and decorated by big sis. The recipes for cake and icing are from the book "Babycakes," by Erin McKenna. The chocolate cake was fudgy and yummy, but I have to admit, if you like buttercream icing, this soy/coconut oil icing is extremely disappointing. But, I was told by a good friend who doesn't eat dairy and gluten that she thought the icing was very tasty.

Birthday card by mommy, not my fanciest. Actually, it's just two stickers on a blank, pink card. Hey, I'm living out of boxes right now, don't blame me.

It was a happy birthday for Frankie. I love you sweetie.

Paint Chip Notebook

2009-08-20T19:43:00.001-07:00

A friend of ours hand-carved a spoon from red cedar for us recently, which was a beautiful addition to the wooden utensil collection we have (every Christmas since Charles & I first met, I always give him a wooden kitchen utensil as a gift). I wanted to thank our friend for the gift, but couldn't think what to make. Since we have been in the process of moving, I didn't have all my usual craft supplies available either, so I thought up a little notebook using recycled paper and paint chips from the hardware store. Here's how to make one of your own.

1. Find used paper (or unused if you wish) and cut to desired size. I cut my 8 1/2 x 11 computer paper into fourths. Stack the paper so that one side is evenly flush. This side will be the spine of the notebook. Clip the other three sides with big black office clips to keep the papers tight and in place.

2. Using Mod Podge (found at Michael's) and a foam craft brush, brush a layer of glue on the spine side and let dry for about 10 minutes. Repeat this four more times so that you have created a strong bind. Let it dry completely overnight.

3. Find some kind of cardstock, cardboard, or other stiff paper for your front and back covers. I used paint chips we weren't using from Lowe's. Cut the paper to the size you want, either exactly the size of your paper, or a little larger. With a glue stick, glue the stiff paper onto the front and the back pieces of paper. Allow to dry. Repeat Mod Podge steps, adding 2-3 more coats to the spine so that the covers are included. Let dry overnight.

4. Add a spine cover strip if you'd like, with a piece of colored paper that overlaps onto the front and back covers. Glue with a gluestick (I left my glued spine visible).

5. Decorate the covers of your notebook. I used stamps and embossing ink to get the cover title, "notes."

Have fun experimenting with recycled notebooks. It's pretty fun and simple.

Plum Tart

2009-08-18T09:23:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know you are probably anticipating photos from Frankie's birthday, but I haven't had time to upload those yet. So in the meantime let me quell your appetite with a photo of a plum tart I made last week. The recipe is from the August Martha Stewart magazine, on the back page. I modified the recipe a little (didn't have all the ingredients). I also made it half the size as this was only going to be eaten by Charles & I (once in a blue moon I sneak in a little late-night baking for us grown-ups to enjoy). The plums are from Jones Creek Farm, some yellow, purple and reddish varieties. Warm out of the oven, this dessert hit a sweet spot...nothing like dessert in bed!

Sharing sweet stuff

2009-08-14T09:29:00.000-07:00

I'm way too busy to post any of my projects. But I have some that I've completed in the past two weeks, so stay tuned.

In the meantime, I feel like sweetness is surrounding me, especially with all of the fresh fruit I've been eating: peaches, plums (got a bag full as a gift from a local farmer), apricots, cherries, blueberries (picked 13 lbs at the u-pick) and blackberries (an invasive species I'm happy to eradicate in my tummy).

Anyway, just to keep you from getting too bored I thought I'd share a couple of sweet links that may make your mouth water for dessert.

My fave (which is where I find most of these other links) is Cakespy. She is featuring today a great dessert/food stylist Pâtisserie Natalie. And also, check out this food stylist/professional pastry chef Aran Goyoaga. Amy Atlas has a blog called Sweet Designs that features her artistry.

Want to buy some baking supplies? Visit Layer Cake Shop. Fun cupcake liners and packaging goodies.

Unrelated to food, but just as a hint to what my days have been busy with, this paint chip art is very delicate and pretty.

Today is Frankie's 6th birthday. Can you believe it? I can't. She's sprouting up and getting long legs, and quite a fun personality to hang out with. So, maybe later tonight I'll post some pictures of her b-day (well, the homemade crafty parts of it).

Moving Postcards

2009-08-05T08:18:00.001-07:00

Yes, practically everything I do has to have some personal craft/art touch. I can't help it. I'm an addicted creator. I had thought of ordering moving cards to send out to my friends and family who don't have email, but since it was only about two dozen people I'd be sending cards to, I decided to make them myself. Besides, what I really wanted to do was letterpress cards, but they are really expensive, and we're trying to save all our dollars for our new mortgage, bills, and house fixing up!

I bought cream-colored textured paper at Michael's (8 1/2 x 11) and designed the text in Word and printed them out on my computer printer. I set the design on "landscape" so that I'd have four cards per paper. I used a paper cutter to evenly cut the cards. I personalized each card with pen drawings, using Faber-Castell (Fine tip) and Micron (.02 tip) black ink pens. I added a little bit of shimmery watercolors to each card for a splash of color. They turned out pretty cute. I had to keep one for my scrapbook of course.

Another Apron and Some Embroidered Napkins

2009-08-03T07:16:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we spent the day at an amazing wedding at Farm Kitchen in Poulsbo, WA. Our great friends Kate and Christopher tied the knot, and the ceremony was touching, the Latin band/dancing awesome, the local food delicious, and the after party (a parade from the ferry dock in Seattle to an Irish Pub nearby) was fantastically silly and fun.

So, to honor our close friends, I made them some gifts that reflect our friendship and also have some "inside joke" meanings.

Bachelorette gift for Kate: A linen apron for all of her yummy farmer's market food creations. The pattern is from "Weekend Sewing," by Heather Ross.

Wedding gift: Embroidered linen napkins for wiping off the crumbs off their lips after feasting on some home-cooked yummies. I embroidered chickens and lobsters on the napkins because Kate & Christopher have a fondness for these creatures (the kids call her, "Kate the Chicken"). The kids also gave them a little book written and illustrated by Nikki McClure called "The Great Chicken Escape."

Card: I made this card for them many months ago. I made it fun and retro because I think of our two friends as some of the most fun people in our lives.

Packaging: I love wrapping presents and thought these turned out pretty cool, especially the chicken card/ribbon combo.

Thanks Kate & Christopher for letting us share your love and commitment. We were honored to be there and will remember it always...and we can't wait to have some dinner at your house soon!

Creating Summer Memories

2009-07-30T08:17:00.000-07:00

I love seeing my kids spontaneously be creative (well, they are always spontaneous, something I should take note of more seriously). After a creative art retreat a couple of weekends ago here at the learning center, my kids were inspired, so I found them outside under the deck painting. I love these kids. At least in one small way they are taking after me (I hope that in most others they don't)!

Blueberry Coffee Cake and Homemade Chai

2009-07-27T07:04:00.000-07:00

I am trying to use up last summer's frozen blueberries. I've been craving coffee cake and so decided on a blueberry coffee cake. I used this recipe for "Almond-Berry Coffee Cake," but I left out the almonds, substituted blueberries for the raspberries, added an extra half cup of blueberries, and only put in a small spoonful of raspberry jam to the berries (I don't really like too much jelly in my baked goods). The result: An overflowing, and overwhelmingly sweet cake, but delicious nonetheless.

I made some homemade spiced chai to go with my coffee cake. The recipe is from the book "West Coast Cooking," by Greg Atkinson. Also heavy on the sweetness. But yummy. If you try it, I'd recommend using way less sugar/honey in the concentrate.

Illustration Friday

2009-07-25T15:02:00.001-07:00

Here are my little paintings for the last two weeks of Illustration Friday.

"Tango"

"Idle"

Repurposing Pieces

2009-07-23T07:42:00.000-07:00

Here are two simple projects I made, redesigning some items I had at home. One project was replacing a broken strap to my Superman watch. The clear plastic strap broke and I couldn't find a replacement, so I went to the fabric store and bought this blue, red and white ribbon and some clasps and sewed the clasps on to remake the watch.

Project two was making a belt. I had this old sewing trim from my grandmother's sewing scraps (dating back to the 70s). I had a larger set of clasps left over from the box of clasps I bought for the watch, and so I made a belt. It's kind of like the type of belt I wore when I was 10 (well, honestly, I used one of Olivia's belts to see how the ribbon gets sewn around the metal clasps), but, it works.

Both of these projects took maybe 15 minutes to make. Easy weezy, and now I have two "new" fashion accessories.

We go together...

2009-07-21T06:16:00.000-07:00

...like salt and pepper. Saturday was my 11th anniversary. Charles & I always give each other traditional gifts each year. This year was the "stainless steel" anniversary. I got him a little steel salt cellar and some exotic salts and peppers. I found this perfect tag to wrap my present with.

And of course, I can't have a celebration with at least a little something handmade, like this card.

"He still eyed her with romantic curiosity, even after 11 years."

More Knit Baby Booties

2009-07-17T18:33:00.000-07:00

I've been working on lots of knit baby booties for all these pregnant ladies in my life. Here are the latest four I've completed. I'm working on one last set and then I'm on to other knitting projects. I'm thinking of trying a pair of socks for myself.

The pattern for these booties is from the book "Knitting for Baby." I used different wool yarns for the orange, purple and peach booties. The peach booties have satin ribbon for the ties. The green booties are made from an organic cotton yarn. They're very soft and satiny.

Shaky and Hollow

2009-07-15T10:57:00.000-07:00

Here are my pen drawings for the last two weeks of Illustration Friday.

Shaky

Hollow

Sewing for the Domestic Goddess

2009-07-12T16:50:00.000-07:00

A girlfriend of mine just got married during the Fourth of July weekend. To welcome her into the long-term world of partnership and marriage, I made her a pretty little linen apron. Now, while I am welcoming her into the world of "domestic goddess," don't get me wrong here. This ain't no apron to be put on with an attitude of servitude and kitchen slavery. No, no, this is a sexy little thing to make those moments when she does choose to be in the kitchen something womanly, domestic, and sassy. And hell, I think her man should totally tie this one on when he's in the kitchen too. I won't offer any advice on how they can untie it while whipping up some cream, or making rich ganache. I'll leave that to your imagination.

The apron pattern and instructions are from the book "Weekend Sewing" by Heather Ross. I used linen for the skirt and cotton printed and solid fabrics for the waistband and ties. The waistband has a flower print on the front, and solid purple fabric on the inside.

After sewing this apron together I decided to redesign a smock I found many months ago at Value Village. I bought it because I thought it had the cutest fabric, reminiscent of the 60's or 70s. I knew I wouldn't want to use it as a smock though, so I refashioned it into an apron. Pretty simple; I just cut the top half off and hemmed the apron where I cut it. I even left the ties, so really, not much of a sewing project.

I used the top to make a shrug, which is like a little mini-sweater/cape. All I did was hem the bottom where it had been cut off from the apron and made some darts on the back (which used to be the front when it was a smock) so that it would be more fitted. I don't know if I'll ever actually wear it. It's sort of cute in a weird way, so it may just end up in the dress up clothes, but I'm glad not to waste that part of the smock. It was day of domestic sewing bliss!

Sun Prints

2009-07-07T22:05:00.000-07:00

It's hard to imagine that just three days ago it was sunny, bright and in the upper 80s, now that it is 58 degrees and we got a good rain yesterday. But, here's proof of the sunshine that was (and I'm sure will soon be again). The girls and I experimented with a sunprint kit we've had for a few years and never cracked open. We used some clip art and confetti to experiment.

Cupcookies

2009-07-06T15:36:00.000-07:00

My kids decided they wanted to try making cookies inside of cupcake cups. So, I suggested they use a chocolate chip cookie recipe without the choco chips. I was not in the mood for baking (shocking, I know), so I let them do this project completely solo...and I made them clean up the mess too! Results: yummy :)

Painting Up a Storm

2009-07-04T12:14:00.000-07:00

I've been painting watercolors lately. Nothing big. Nothing fancy. I signed up with this website called "Illustration Friday," where they send you a word every week to your email inbox and you are supposed to create art inspired by the word and post it on their site every week. The artists are extremely talented and professional, so I'm not posting my art on their site, but I am using those weekly words as a motive to paint something every week. So, here are some of my latest watercolor projects:

Field journal entries for a recent trip to Lookout Mountain fire lookout.

Beetroot guitar.

Violet.

Illustration Friday "Crave"

Illustration Friday "Unfold"

Illustration Friday "Drifting"

Man-sewing

2009-06-29T20:04:00.000-07:00

The other night, my friend Adam came over with a sewing project. Adam often has some "good" ideas, and this was one of them. He wanted to make his gaiters longer. His plan was to deconstruct his gaiters and add new Gore-tex and Velcro. I looked at these old, muddy things and said, "why don't you just buy new ones." He proceeded to tell me how much new gaiters cost, and then also showed me that he had gotten a yard of Gore-tex fabric, Velcro and straps for free from OR (outdoor gear company). So, we began deconstructing his gaiters. We removed the straps that wrap around the calf, removed all the Velcro, sewed on 7 additional inches of Gore-tex to the tops, sewed on the new Velcro, finished with the new straps, and amazingly, made a new (still dirty) pair of gaiters. The cool thing was that we managed it with very few four letter words, and lots of good heart-to-heart time to talk. This weekend he's trying out his "new" gaiters on Forbidden Peak. Climb on Adam.

Knit Baby Booties

2009-06-27T15:21:00.001-07:00

I made some knit baby booties for a friend's baby using some soft white cotton yarn. The pattern is from the book "Knitting for Baby." The pattern is simple and knit on straight needles as one flat piece, which is then folded over and sewn together. The ties are i-cord. The pattern is called "beginner booties," which is pretty honest, as these are super simple to make.

Father's Day Cards

2009-06-23T07:10:00.000-07:00

I wasn't too crafty for Father's Day, but I always get something in, either in food, or papercraft. My gift to my husband was cooking all his meals. Breakfast menu: homemade scones, veggie & cheese-filled omellettes, Grace Harbor vanilla yogurt with raspberries, bacon, and bloody marys. Lunch: heirloom tomato-basil-pesto sandwiches, sweet potato/beet chips, cupcakes from "Katie's Cupcakes" in Bellingham. Dinner: Point Reyes blue cheese, nicoise Olives, cantimpalo (like chorizo), crackers, grilled rosemary-chicken sausages on Bread Farm rolls with pesto and grilled zuchini, grilled veggies & peaches, heirloom tomato-basil salad, and cherry pie with whipped cream. Yum, yum, yum (I still have a piece of pie that I hope to eat when no one is looking)! Here are the cards I made for my hubbie, dad, and father-in-law.

Husband's card.

Dad's and father-in-law's cards.

Rock & Roll Block Print

2009-06-20T12:13:00.000-07:00

While I may be slacking as a blogger, I am not slacking as a crafter. I've been super busy making stuff, mostly gifts, but some things just for myself (particularly in the watercolor department). We just bought our first house on Wednesday (yipee and whoa at the same time), which is why I've been quiet on the blog-front. So, here's something new for you to see. I made a lino-cut block print a couple of weeks ago and printed the design onto a little t-shirt for my cousin's son (it was his 5th b-day and he's totally into rock & roll!)

I use linoleum blocks and my speedball carving tool when I do block prints. The design is of my bass guitar. I used black screenprinting paint, which I rolled on to the block with a speedball roller. The t-shirt is an American Apparel organic tee. I stretched it over cardboard to get the best print (basically, I stamped it on with the block). All of the supplies for this project are found at Michaels. Lino-cut block prints are really fun to make and forgiving on the design. Here are some pics of my step-by-step process.

Chocolate Chips Make Everything Good

2009-06-10T23:46:00.000-07:00

When I used to live in Indianapolis, my best friend would make banana muffins with chocolate chips that were delicious. I started to make choco-chip banana muffins on a regular basis, and they are still a staple in my baking repertoire. The thing I've realized over time though, is that it doesn't matter what recipe I use for the banana bread/muffins, it's the chocolate chips that make it so tasty. I can barely eat plain banana bread anymore, because it tastes so, naked.

Here's the recipe I used to make my banana bread. It's a modified version of a Martha Stewart recipe.

Banana Bread:
- 1/2 cup olive oil
-1 cup sugar
-2 large eggs
-1 1/2 cups flour
-1 tsp baking soda
-1 tsp salt
-2 mashed bananas
-1 tsp vanilla extract
-1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
-1/4 cup chopped candied walnuts

Preheat oven at 350 degrees. Butter and flour-dust a loaf pan, set aside. Cream the oil and sugar. Add the eggs and beat until combined. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking soda and salt. Add it to the oil/sugar/egg mixture and mix well. Add bananas and vanilla. Combine. Stir in mini chocolate chips. Pour into prepared pan. Sprinkle chopped candied walnuts on the top. Bake for 1 hour and 5-10 minutes, using a toothpick to test for readiness. Eat and enjoy!

Vintage Dessert Stand

2009-06-08T23:02:00.000-07:00

Long ago I got the idea from Bust magazine to make a cute dessert stand with vintage plates and martini glasses. Every time I hit a thrift store I check out the china and stemware, but I never find something that fancies my eye. But recently, I had a very successful Value Village shopping experience that included finding two cool china plates and a really sweet small martini glass with etched stars. The martini glass matches one of the china plates that has silver stars on it. I originally was hoping to make a three-tiered dessert stand, but couldn't find a third big plate to finish the set. So, I may keep searching for another cool plate and martini glass and add another layer in the future.

Here's how I made my stand:

1. Supplies: 2-3 vintage/secondhand china plates of varying sizes. 1-2 martini glasses. Epoxy glue (that dries clear).

2. Wash and completely dry plates and glasses.

3. Follow the instructions for the epoxy glue, which will include mixing the glue before applying. The brand I used was Super Glue brand, and I did not use an abrasive on my items before applying the glue because I didn't want to damage the finish. I think the bond is still strong enough.

4. Use largest plate for bottom level. Add epoxy to the rim of a martini glass. Stick glass, rim-side down, on largest plate in the center. Push down carefully and hold for 15-30 seconds. Add epoxy to the top (which would really be the bottom) of the martini glass. Add epoxy to bottom of medium or small sized plate (depending on how many layers you have). Place smaller plate on the martini glass and push down carefully to hold for 15-30 seconds. Do the same with the third plate if you make a 3-tiered stand. Let dry for 24 hours, or according to the glue instructions.

This is an easy project that has maximum cuteness factor. So, have fun searching for some vintage china, and send me a picture if you decide to make one too.

Another baby hat

2009-06-05T17:42:00.000-07:00

Does it make you sick yet how much of my crafting life is for baby gifts? Well, I'm having fun with it because it's the easiest way to finish a project in less than a week's time. So, here's another knit baby hat I made for my sister-in-law's adorable little boy, Owen. And I'm just gonna give a plug for this little boy...he's the prettiest, cutest baby I've seen since Frankie and Olivia were born! But, of course, I have yet to see him in person, and I have a feeling he'll be even cuter.

His daddy is a New England Patriot's fan, hence the color choice for my hat. And you can see the thread of other baby hat links here.

Coming soon...a whole bunch of knit baby booties that I've been making in just a couple hours time (mostly while traveling as passenger back and forth upriver or down-valley).

Knit Jester Hat

2009-06-03T13:53:00.000-07:00

Today I'm plugging my 10-year-old daughter Olivia's project because I'm so proud of her craftiness...I'm glad my love of making things is rubbing off on my kids. She made this jester hat for her little sister Frankie as part of a homeschool project. The pattern is from the book "Kids Knitting," by Melanie Falick. It's pretty straight-forward; she knit two different colored squares and sewed them together with yet another color, then made the tassels and attached them to the corners. Frankie loves her new hat...too bad it's getting too hot for wool hats.

Squeezing in some card-making

2009-06-01T10:15:00.000-07:00

Before I packed up my scrapbook supplies, I had to squeeze in a few other paper crafts. I made lots more baby cards (for all those pregnant friends), as well as Father's Day cards (to be shown at a later date, so as not to reveal anything) and thank you cards. Here are a few of my creations, mostly made with scraps leftover from my scrapbook pages, or with rubber stamps.

I haven't been posting very regularly either, but hope this summer I can share more of my craftiness. I've been busy the past couple of weeks practicing my guitar and bass because Charles & I had our first live audience performance as The Raven and the Hawk on Saturday. I hope to get some photos of our show posted soon. I sang in front of an audience...imagine that!

More scrapbooking

2009-05-26T08:36:00.000-07:00

I've gotta get through my Christmas pictures by Thursday because I have guests coming this weekend and my living room has been overtaken by scrapbook supplies for more than a month now. I've still got Olivia's birthday to scrap before delving into the millions of Christmas photos. Here are a few pages I've worked on recently...sorry for the poor picture quality. I wish I had a scanner.

Felted Animals

2009-05-21T04:56:00.000-07:00

I got a new book as a birthday gift called "Wool Pets" by Laurie Sharp (well actually, I got three new books using a gift card, including "Weekend Sewing" by Heather Ross and a Nikki McClure "Things To Make and Do" journal...thanks Mom!) Anyway, I bought this great needle felting book that has all these little animal projects that are sweet as can be. Yesterday the girls & I dove into the book and tried our hand at a few. It was hard to pick which animal to make, so I went with one that I had a lot of wool roving in the appropriate colors. I decided to make a ruby-throated hummingbird.

At first it was looking like an airplane as I was shaping and felting the pieces of the body and wings with my needles, but I think it turned out OK in the end. I did a lot of shaping with the fine-gauged needles in the end to make the wings a little more contoured. Finished product: a little bird hanging on my bulletin board by my computer.

Olivia made the giraffe, which turned out excellent I think. I am always amazed by Olivia's craftiness (and proud). She helped her little sister make a fairy and a chick. I can't wait to try more animals, like the owl, the frog, the turtle, the bunny, and the sheep.

Felt Bears

2009-05-18T13:28:00.000-07:00

Although I have enjoyed making knit hats for all the new babies in my life (most of which I have yet to meet), I needed a change in craft activity. So, I made a little hand-sewn felt bear for a gift for one of the ladies at the baby shower I helped throw. I've made many of these little felt bears over the years. The pattern is from a Martha Stewart article I had copied years ago. I use white synthetic felt (wool felt would probably be nicer, though it's more expensive). I used a light green embroidery floss to sew the body and decorate the face. The "baby" embroidery is my own hand design. I stuff them with pillow/craft stuffing.

I think these are the sweetest little bears and I enjoy making these keepsakes. My kids have their own bears too.

And just a disclaimer to all of those who may misinterpret all these baby-making crafts. Although the baby-making virus seems to be going around among friends and family all around me, (keeping me busy with my craft projects) I am not going to be one of those preggo gals. I'm happy to say that I'm done with that phase of life, and enjoying the excitement vicariously through friends and fam!