Wishing On Clovers

Chicken Apron Love

We are far from being snowed in, less than 2 inches on the ground, but it was fun to stay inside bundled up with a fine book (‘The Namesake’), warm tea (Mango black), and a bread baking book (La Brea).  The morning was spent flipping page after page of the closing chapter of a book I have been meaning to read for some time, and before I knew it I was finished at it was noon.  My dough starter had sit out overnight, the smell of yeast overflowing in the kitchen.  Recipe in hand I got to work on a rustic boule, working in intervals of kneading and rising. It was also a nice chance to wear my new apron, which I call ‘the chicken apron’.  I love the pattern on the fabric, the folk art chickens in black and white on the whimsical yellow background.  I instantly knew it was going to be an apron, and standing in the fabric store I also knew it had to have a scallop hem.  It was the first fabric in a long time that I actually knew what is was going to be before I had it cut! In hindsight it could also use a pocket of some sort, next time!

Patisserie Birdhouse

I have a nasty habit of buying random things when I go to craft stores. This is a recurrent problem, and I always say to myself “Oh, I could use this, I have to get it!”, and in the cart it goes. To some people, this could be seen as a good thing (and in ways it is), as a way to acquire interesting craft supplies for a rainy day. The only thing is, some of the things I pick up are so off the chart I know deep down they will go unused for ages, only to be discovered one month during a cleaning raid of the craft room.  I wonder if other crafters have this same habit, or am I in a boat of my own? Eventually the items will get used; I’ll try a new project, get an inspiration (in which I am happy for my spur of the moment purchase), or just have an urge to do something different.  That is where my “Patisserie Birdhouse” came from.  While browsing my neighborhood craft store, I noticed a sale on plain, unfinished birdhouses.  I picked up a few and sat them on my kitchen table so I could always notice them, forcing me to paint them.  This is for my Mom, I’m going to give it to her as a present, and I hope she likes it!  This was a really fun and speedy project, It was my first time using decoupage!  I created the little signs and window on an image editing program, printed them out and just decoupaged them on! I filled a tiny basket full of clay made breads, and made a topiary from some Christmas berries from a floral arrangement! There are about 10 coats of paint on it though, I kept mixing colors to try and get one that I liked!

Cut square after square after square

Above is a crop shot of my latest sewing project.  As you can most likely tell, it is a quilt!  I am very excited about this, and I have a great mentor to help me along the way!  A friend of mine is a great quilt maker, and after seeing her quilts at her house, I was inspired to try one for myself.  I know that this was going to be my first quilt project, but my scattered mind used some of the fabric for another project, and lost the pattern at the time I was ready to make it. So, a little improvising and it became a nine patch quilt! All of the squares are sewn, now I am just planning the pattern and siding (sashing?). Quilt making is a little more tedious than I imagined, but it has been a lot of fun going through all the up and downs with my (super amazing) quilt friend! 

Not made for Gingerbread

Most people always give me that odd look when I go on and on about Moomins.  I love Moomins, a lot.  In New York I almost dropped over when I read that the Scandinavia House was having a Moomin special. I ravage every bookstore I can find trying to get all the Moomin books, and I’m constantly on the look out for Moomins.  This year for Christmas I wanted to make my own gingerbread house.  Actually I wanted to make three, all from scratch.  Now I know that I was obviously insane.  I don’t know how people do it; I think they must have some super gingerbread gene that I did not inherit.  I knew I wanted to make a Moomin House, it was a must! No knowing where to start I searched on the subject and found a great detailed pattern for just what I wanted!! I made three batches of dough, the first one was disastrous. The last two not so bad, and on went the house making.  The baking wasn’t so bad, but remember that they bake bigger than what you cut, so don’t put them too close together and trim them right when they come out of the oven. Two things that I didn’t do.  The biggest challenge was keeping the thing up and together.  That post could go for ages, with speech details that wouldn’t be fit for this site, hah.  3 full days of gingerness and I’m done.  When it was all put together though, I was ecstatic! 

St. Lucia Day

Yesterday I spent the evening making Lussekattor/Lussekatt (saffron buns) for Saint Lucia Day. It is a very interesting thing to bake something that you really know nothing about. I learned about St. Lucia’s Day via trading postcards, from a pal in Sweden. I eagerly waited for the 13^th so I could start my own St. Lucia Day tradition in my home. I found several different recipes for the buns, and found one that best suited my skills. I will admit I’m not the world’s best baker.  I never measure correctly, over mix, and bake for too long. But, there’s only one way to learn!  In between letting the dough rise, kneading, and rising some more, I made a small felt Lucia to watch over my buns! ^_^ The end result was, interesting to say the least. 

About 5 minutes into baking, I went to check on them and noticed billows of smoke coming from my oven. Upon opening, the fire alarms went off and for some reason the bottom pan of the buns were burning! I quickly removed them, and the remaining ones were fine.  I’m not sure what happened, maybe something on the pan was burning? I have never eaten the ‘real thing’ before; I actually haven’t even seen one outside of the internet. Luckily I had nothing to compare it to (neither did my Love, and hopefully my co-workers!), so no one can say “Oh, THAT’S what these are supposed to be!?”  I am quite content with my overly saffron spiced buns!

Cold Air and Hot Water

Frosty days like today call for warm, aromatic tea. Nothing beats the chill like a hot cup of Assam or Genmai cha. I was still struggling with creating a handmade item for a swap, and the tea must have hit the spot, because I decided that a teapot cozy would be just the thing! I am in love with this fabric; it reminds me of the paintings by Alphonse Mucha. To give it a little sweetness, I whipped up some felt cupcake charms the dangle from the top.

We made it back from New York late, late Saturday night. I stayed a little later in the day then I had intended, but I just found so many remarkable little shops. If you are ever in NYC, try to stop by ‘Butik’, a beautiful store co-owned by Helena Christensen. And I also finally made it to the amazing ‘Purl’, where my wallet took a beating. The crowds of Chinatown were tough, but I made it out with lots of little offerings for the little people in my life. Unfortunately, Friday night my travel camera died, so I wasn’t able to take any pictures in the city on Saturday. But at least it makes great timing for a Christmas present!

Sweet Holidays!

Free Holiday Cupcake Gift Tags (pdf)

Over the past couple of days I have been designing me some cupcakes to use for different projects.  The first thing I wanted to do was create some gift tags for the holidays to sweeten up the packaging! I also want to share them with you!  Available for free download are my Holiday Cupcake Gift Tags for your Holiday presents!  All you need to do is print them on some heavy paper (i.e. cardstock), cut them out, and presto! The file is an Adobe PDF file, if you have any problems just let me know! (Right click the Link to "Save As" or click on the picture to open)

Around the World Christmas Greeting Advent Calendar

I finally found some time today to take a few pictures of my Advent Calendar that I have been working on.  I call it “Around the World Christmas Greeting Advent Calendar”.  This project has changed several times; I don’t believe the final outcome is anything like what I had in mind.  There are 25 votives, each filled with sand and pebbles. 

Inside each votive is a piece of paper with a Christmas greeting on it, one greeting from 25 different countries.  Each day, one votive will be turned facing you so you can see the greeting! This project turned out to be an educational one as well! While I was researching the many ways to say “Merry Christmas”, I found out so much about how other areas celebrate Christmas! So far we have Iceland, Norway, and South Africa!

When I was making the greeting cards in Photoshop, I thought they were going to be much smaller than they are.  Even when I was cutting them out and gathering them all up, I didn't notice they were a little on the large side.  It wasn't until I got ready to roll them up (Originally I was going to have them as scrolls that you would unroll) that I noticed.  Also the plan was to pin each one up on a map, to coordinate with the country, but I think I need a larger map!

My Back Tack III "Mama Matryoshka" Wee Bunny

Now that my partner has recieved the plush that I sent to her, I can show you! Here is the Back-tack III project that I created! I used Wee Wonderfuls Wee Bunny pattern, and designed her after Russian Nesting Dolls! This has a home at Puanani now!

I Recieved my Back-Tack III!!!

 

Yay!!!! Desiree did an amazing job on the Back-tack III project that she sent to me! I love it so much, thank you!!!

I've gone bag crazy!

I seem to have bags and purses on my mind these days! I recieved my BackTack the other day and it is amazing, I love it, I will post pictures soon!

This bag has a little fleece kitty on it, and is lined with the same material as the handles (cats!)

The black as white bag I like alot, I hope the person I sent it to likes it as well!   Also shown is a wall pocket with matryoshka style people on it, and at the bottom is a calico cat that when you press his tummy, he sings "Its a small world". ^_^ So that's what I've been doing these past few days! ^_^

Back Tack Sneak Peek

Finally.  Finally the Back Tack III project is finished. I changed my design three times, then nothing seemed to work or just didn't go right, and now, it is done.

Project Spectrum - April

Finished my Project Spectrum (Flickr) project for April a few days ago, but for some reason I never uploaded it here! The theme was Orange and Yellow, which posed as a challenge for me since I never, ever use those colors. I wanted to try and steer away from my safety (...felt) and try something new, but I couldn't think of anything for the life of me! I had one week to go, and I got the idea to make a flaming sacred heart, then tattoo birds, and next thing you know I'm cutting out felt again! So after I had it all nice and cut, I didn't know what to do with it, I was going to frame it.. paint the frame... and somehow from that the keepsake box was born! I painted a wooden box and glued the felt onto it!

Happy "Lets Color Eggs" Day!

A Happy "Lets Color Eggs" Day to everyone!

Totes and more Cupcakes

Hi, I am a cupcake addict. 

I made 4 plushie/softie cupcakes! And then, I made three tote bags over the weekend! One is for my mom, and the other two are for swaps! I'm really happy with how they turned out, they were simple for me (though I had alot of help, hehe) and pretty quick to make!

Cupcake Crafts

My Mother and I have started a new tradition of having mini monthly mom-daughter swaps.  Our first one was this month, and the theme was "Cupcakes".  So far, I made her this tote bag:

I got the pattern from a Japanese craft book, and modified it to fit my needs.  I made a felt cupcake and put it on the bag.  I thin it's cute!

I also made a recipe booklet of cupcakes for her!  Each card has a cupcake on the front, and on the back a baking recipe! I made 5 different cupcakes, and then made the cards into a little mini book!

Project Spectrum

My Project Spectrum (Flickr) project for March is finished just in time! The color theme is red and pink, and I chose to make a mobile of red and pink cherry blossoms (Sakura)!!!

I also took a gazillion pictures of the cherry blossom tree's today, I'll post them later!