Kitten's Lost Her Mittens

Knit Bow Ear Warmer With Pattern/Tutorial

2012-01-18T23:30:00.000-06:00

Last week I discovered a new-to-me blog, and completely fell in love with it. It's Rebekka's blog, Dear Friend (found via Stephmodo). Go check it out! You will not be disappointed. Rebekka writes in such a sweet way, and she has beautiful photos. In addition to that, she has started to knit, and knits up the most wonderful things. On Friday, as I was looking back through her archives, I saw this bow ear warmer that she had made:

Photo from Dear Friend, used with permission from Rebekka.

I just knew I had to have one for myself, but there was no pattern to go with it, so I made one up. I thought I would let you know how I did it, in case you would like to make one, too! (And I heard from Rebekka that so many people wanted to make it, that she's writing up a pattern for it and is hoping to post it soon. I wonder how similar our patterns will be?)

This is one of those projects that is so satisfying. As soon as I saw the photo, I looked through the yarn in my stash, and grabbed this one. Then I knit here and there over the weekend (by the fire...), and then had my guy take photos of the finished ear warmer for me on Monday. So quick and easy!

I didn't think to take photos of the process until I was almost done, but I'll do my best to explain what I did. The yarn I used is Vintage Chunky by Berroco, and the color is 6165 (if you're local, I'm pretty sure I got this at The Yarnery. I just had one skein - if I remember correctly, it was an impulse buy. I just couldn't pass up the color!).

If you want yours to turn out with a similar look, you do need a chunky yarn. Mine called for size 10 needles, but I used size 11 (when I went to grab my 10s I only found one. Not one pair, just one. And I couldn't wait to start the project, so I used 11s).

The main difference that I see between mine and Rebekka's is that I knit a decorative edge on, which you can do or not. Basically, I purled the first stitch in each row, and knit the rest. So here's what I did:

Cast on 16 stitches.
Row 1: knit 15 stitches, slip remaining loop onto needle holding previous 15 stitches.
Row 2: purl first stitch, then move yarn behind needle so it is ready to knit. Knit 14 stitches, slip final stitch onto needle.
Repeat row 2 until your desired length. You want it to have to stretch a little to go around your head. I just kept holding mine up to see if it was long enough. Once you reach desired length, cast off.
[If you don't want the edging I did, skip slipping the last stitch and purling the first, and just knit all stitches.]

I then used a tapestry needle to sew the ends together.

This is what it looked like when they were sewn together - then flip it so the seam is on the inside.

To make the bow, I just took a long length of yarn, and wrapped it around the band over and over, then sewed the ends in. Originally, I thought to wrap it around where the seam was so that it wouldn't be visible, but the seam was a little stiff and didn't gather well - but you could definitely try it on the seam and see if you have better luck!

I've never written a knitting tutorial before, so if you have any questions or if anything is unclear, let me know in the comments.

Also, if you are interested in a photo tutorial for the edging, let me know. I'm visual and learn better if I can see what I'm supposed to be doing, and I would be happy to put that together if anyone would find it useful!

Do let me know if you end up making one of your own.

Happy knitting!
xo

Menu Monday: Weeks of January 2-8 and 9-15

2012-01-16T22:00:00.012-06:00

I've been wanting to post our weekly meals on here for awhile, mostly as a way for me to keep track of what we're making, what recipes I've tried, and any changes I make to the recipe. But maybe some of you might find this useful, too, for ideas on what to make. And if you have any favorite recipes or easy weeknight dinners, feel free to post links in the comments! I'm always looking for new things to try.

Last fall I started planning out our meals by the week. Plan, make a grocery list, and shop all in one day. I don't manage to do that every week, but it sure makes dinner time easier when I do. Then I write our meals up on the chalkboard in the kitchen. Of course, sometimes things change during the week, but for the most part we are able to follow our dinner plans.

Here's what we ate the first week of 2012.

Monday:

Homemade hamburgers, salad, chips, salsa (I canned it early fall, but never wrote a post on it!), and homemade dill pickles (a Christmas gift from friends).

Tuesday:

Oh, this was really good! It's farfalle with carbonara and peas. We both went back for more even though we were stuffed; we just wanted more of that taste! Usually we plan our meals so that we have enough left to take in for lunch at work the next day. This was not as good reheated the next day (though still delicious!). It's from this book by Jamie Oliver (the book was one of my birthday gifts from my guy).

Wednesday:

Crockpot risotto and a salad. The recipe is from here. I have made so many of the recipes from Stephanie's website - it is such a great resource for crockpot cooking. I'm a little disappointed that this is the first recipe I'm posting from her site, because it wasn't my favorite. I thought it was a little bland. My guy, however, did not agree with that - he loved it! I'm thinking when I make it again it would be better as a side than as the main feature.

Thursday:

Mustard pork chops from Nigella, with boiled potatoes and a salad. My mom was out of town, so we had my dad over for dinner. I doubled the recipe, and it worked well.

When we make a salad, it is almost always the same thing. Mixed greens with olives, pepperoncini, feta, and my homemade vinaigrette (my mom's recipe). I grew up on this salad dressing and love it, and luckily my guy does, too. I don't think we could ever get sick of this salad, and we eat it a lot. But every once in awhile I shake things up and put different things in the salad.

Friday:

Baked ziti with sausage and peppers (with olive bread). From SlowCooker Revolution (another birthday gift). I think this is only the second crockpot recipe I've ever made that wasn't from Stephanie's website! This was so good. I loved it in the crockpot, but I also thought as I was cooking up all the ingredients, that it would make an incredible pasta sauce just straight out of the pot without going in the crockpot. This recipe has a bit of prep, since you cook almost everything first, but it's easy and cooks quickly in the crockpot. The night I made this, I got it going and then we went to see this lovely lady talk at the Red Balloon. We walked back into the house to the most amazing smell (have I mentioned how much I love my crockpot?!).

Saturday:

Cabbage soup and a baguette. Another recipe from Stephanie! She says this soup is bland, but I just love it! I have made it a ton of times. It doesn't have any salt in the ingredients list, and it definitely needs some. I just add it right before eating. But it is so good, and has a spicy kick to it! She says the red pepper flakes are optional, but I think they make the whole thing. This recipe makes a lot! There's always plenty for lunch, plus I usually end up freezing some, too. This week we had the soup for dinner Sunday, as well, and I was still able to freeze some individual portions.

Monday night we both worked late, and just had leftovers (baked ziti).

Tuesday:

Beef and mushroom stew with a baguette. I have made this recipe a lot. It was the first slow cooker recipe I ever made that wasn't from Stephanie's blog. The only change I make is that I use fresh onions instead of frozen ones. I know those little guys are a pain to peel, but I prefer that to frozen veggies. This is really good. This week I made it on a work day, but usually I prefer to get it going on the weekend and have it cook all day while we do stuff around the house. I originally planned on making this Sunday, but we did leftovers instead.

Wednesday:

Creamy pecorino pasta and a salad. I found this recipe in a Real Simple magazine. They had an article filled with recipes with only three ingredients each. Super easy, and so delicious! When I make this in the summer I put parsley or chives from the garden on the pasta, but I can't pick anything from the garden at this time of year.

Thursday:

Lemon chicken, rice pilaf, and green beans. My mom taught me to make the chicken this way. Take one egg, mix it up, coat the chicken in it, then coat the chicken in a mix of flour and pepper. Cook on the stovetop. When done, add the juice and zest of one lemon. I boiled the green beans and added butter, salt, and pepper.

Friday:

On Friday we got takeout from Pho 79 (vegetarian egg rolls, vegetarian fried rice, and vegetarian soup. We both eat meat - obviously - but we're pretty picky about where it comes from. In general when we eat out we go with the vegetarian options, unless we know where the meat is from).
Both my parents were out of town, so we grabbed some takeout and went over to their house to watch a movie and keep their kitty company (she gets lonely!). My grandpa was an actor, and we watched one of the old serials he was in - The Black Widow. This is one of my favorites, and it was the first time my guy watched it. It was a fun evening!

Photo courtesy IMDB.

Saturday:

Fennel, olive, and feta tart from Real Simple, and a salad. This was really good! We found it quite difficult to take off the baking sheet at first; it all wanted to fall apart. But when we went to put the leftovers away, it came off really easily. So something to remember for next time - I know it's hard to wait, but let it sit a little!

Sunday:

Twice baked potatoes from Food Coma and a salad. We used milk instead of cream, and in addition to the broccoli and cheddar cheese, we put cauliflower and green onions in, as well. This was really good and filling! We frequently have what we call a 'baked potato bar' where we bake potatoes and then set out all the toppings and add whatever we want. This is basically the same thing, but we do all the "work" of adding the toppings ahead of time, and then bake it a little longer.

Stay tuned for more menus in the coming weeks!

(And happy Martin Luther King day!)

A Happy New Year...

2012-01-05T07:00:00.001-06:00

...to all of you!

I have run out of space on my computer for my photos, and haven't been able to put any new ones on! So, I'm working all that out and will soon (I hope!) be able to share more of what I've been up to. In the meantime, I took a photo of these sweet polar bears with my iPhone so I could share them with you (my guy's is on the left, mine is on the right).

Remember the Penguin Party I had last year? Well, I had Becca of Duckie Uglings over again, this time to make polar bears. My birthday is on New Year's Eve, so that afternoon several friends, my guy, and I gathered to learn to sew these adorable polar bears! It was so much fun. I took a group photo of the finished softies, but I'll have to wait to share it...

(My birthday post from last year is right here).

Stocking Stuffers: Monogram Mugs

2011-12-27T11:00:00.001-06:00

For my brother and his lady, I made personalized mugs. I picked these up at Goodwill:

Then I followed the tutorial at Design Mom (found via SouleMama).

When I went to get the Pebeo pens, they were out of the fine tip in black, so my lines are a lot thicker than the original tutorial. But I really like how they turned out.

And most importantly, the recipients love them!

These mugs were so easy and fun to make, that now I have grand plans for many, many more next year at Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T07:15:00.001-06:00

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas! I've been busy making, making, making this month, and now that Christmas has arrived I'll be able to show you all that I've been working on. Enjoy your Sunday!

{this moment} - thanksgiving day

2011-11-25T22:00:00.001-06:00

Joining in with SouleMama.

{this moment} - my boys

2011-11-11T08:00:00.002-06:00

Joining SouleMama for {this moment}.

{this moment} - fireside knitting

2011-11-04T16:45:00.001-05:00

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

- SouleMama

A Belated Happy Halloween!

2011-11-02T20:00:00.004-05:00

I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween! We have been busy, busy, busy around here, hence the long blog silence. But we've been having a lot of fun!

We got the house all decorated for Halloween.

And we picked out some pumpkins at the Farmers' Market.

The three little black and white bats I commissioned about two years ago from Squirrel Momma on Etsy (aren't they cute?!).

And the equally cute grey, black, and purple bats are Duckie Uglings. (Becca Jo's the one who taught us at my penguin party).

My guy and I looove holidays, and any excuse to give each other gifts. Here's my pile for him:

I made the wrapping paper with a bat stamp. (I love making wrapping paper).

My gifts for him included this sweet little magnet from Marisa of Creative Thursday:

As well as some Halloween books and candy, and some homemade gifts as well. The homemade gifts included the ghost wreath, the watercolor leaf (finally framed!), and this little painting:

While we opened our Halloween presents we had this wine. I bought it a few years ago when I was in Michigan with my brother. I've been saving it, but the label seemed so perfect for Halloween that we opened it up on Monday night.

But before we had our gift exchange, we went to dinner at my parents' house with some family friends. We all took turns handing out candy to the trick-or-treaters.
I made the place card settings for dinner (inspired by Martha Stewart). First I started with six little pumpkins:

I made a bat wing template and then traced around it twelve times on black cardstock. I cut out the bat wings and taped them (fancy, I know!) to the pumpkins.

I used one of my paper punches to cut out more black cardstock for our names. I decided they looked a little like tombstones, so I added 'RIP' above our names, then tied them to the pumpkins with orange ribbon.

Here's the table at my parents', set for Halloween dinner:

Lentil soup.

Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and cabbage.

The little velvet pumpkin that I gave to my mom.

We also carved pumpkins and roasted pumpkin seeds, but this post is already really long! So I may have to share a few more Halloweenish things later this week. For now, you can check out last year's pumpkins right here.

Fall Leaves Watercolor

2011-10-19T19:00:00.009-05:00

Watercolor oak leaf on a book page. Inspired by this craft (via). The owl is super cute, but I was especially drawn to the leaves in the background.

I can't draw too well, at least not in a realistic way, but I just recently got this coloring book (from here):

Lovely, detailed black and white leaves of all kinds in varying sizes. I chose an oak leaf, and used my lightbox to trace the leaf onto a book page with pencil.

(I have a number of old, falling apart books that I keep in my craft room for this very purpose. This page happens to be from an old linguistics book. As a not-terribly-interesting side note, I actually majored in linguistics in college - though this particular book is something I acquired later, for crafting).

Once the leaf was traced in pencil, I went over it with a fine tip pen (a Uniball pen - I love these pens - that is great for use with watercolors. It doesn't run).

Then I used various shades of orange/yellow/brown to paint in the leaf.

The colors aren't as dynamic on the screen as they are in real life. But let me tell you, I am so pleased with how it turned out. I need to figure out what I want to do about framing, and then it's going to be a gift for my guy. Oak trees are his favorite.

How to Make a Halloween Ghost Wreath

2011-10-17T16:00:00.002-05:00

So I hadn't actually intended to make a wreath; I set out to simply needle felt a ghost. After I had made the needle-felted acorns, I thought that it might be fun to make something specifically for Halloween.

I had some black and white alpaca roving (the same kind as the brown that I used here).

I started with the white, and felted it into a ghost shape. This is part way through the process:

Then I took three small bits of black roving to felt the eyes and mouth right onto the white part.

Once I was finished, I took a small piece of silver ribbon and sewed it through the back of the ghost near the top, so I could hang it.

It was at that point that inspiration struck (as I was trying to think where exactly I was going to hang this small ghost ornament). I remembered that I had a wreath form that I had gotten ages ago, which was languishing in the back of a drawer in my craft room. And as I was wondering what yarn to use, I remembered this skein of black mohair leftover from a(n unfinished) knitting project. It seemed perfectly Halloween-ish as its texture is rather cobwebby. I also grabbed some sparkly silver pipe cleaners.

I wound the yarn around and around the wreath. I was quite generous with the yarn, and went over the whole thing twice, and I still had probably half the skein left (the wreath form is an 8" one).

When I was done wrapping the yarn around, I partially wove the end in, tied the ghost on, and finished weaving in the end.

Then I started at the top, and wrapped the silver pipe cleaner around, attaching each new one to the previous one at the back. I used 6 pipe cleaners for this. There was just enough of the last pipe cleaner left when I had made my way back up to the top to make a little hoop for hanging:

And there it is! A cute little ghost wreath for Halloween.

I think this would be a fun project to do with kids, too. If you were worried about them needle-felting (depending on their age), the ghost could be cut from regular felt, or you could make those kleenex-ghosts to hang from the middle.

Are you making anything for Halloween?

Needle-Felted Acorns (and Other Fall-Themed Goodies)

2011-10-14T08:00:00.000-05:00

Not too long ago, I hosted a craft day at my house. To celebrate fall, I made needle-felted acorns that day. I've made some more since then, too. They're really fun and fast to make!

Just before the craft day when I was out on a walk with my guy, we collected a bunch of acorn caps.

I used some brown roving that I got at the Minnesota State Fair, from the alpaca booth.

And for those of you who haven't needle-felted before, I just took some of the roving and jabbed it over and over with a very sharp felting needle as I formed it into an acorn shape [highly satisfying to stab something repeatedly with a sharp needle - good for stress relief. ;)]

I had initially planned on putting a little glue inside the acorn cap to help hold the wool roving in, but actually it stays in really well without it.

My inspiration for the needle-felted acorns came from these lovely handmade velvet acorns that I got at a local gift store.

Here's one of them displayed in my vintage squirrel nutcracker:

It was my guy's idea to put an acorn there, and I think it looks pretty darn cute. (Oh, and the nutcracker was purchased a few years ago from The Sunday Times Market on Etsy).

In addition to the sweet acorns, I got some pumpkins made by the same woman. One for my mom:

And a few for our own fall decorations:

Monya, who makes the pumpkins, is from Minnesota. But if you don't live here, don't worry! Check her website to see where else you can get her pumpkins.

Pretty Paper Garland

2011-10-12T15:45:00.004-05:00

The other day I took out my 1-inch square punch, and punched out some squares from pretty colored paper.

Then I ran them through my sewing machine, leaving a little space between each one, to create this happy little garland.

I strung it up over the doorway to the second floor, and it makes me smile every time I look at it.

This was the first time I had sewn paper with my sewing machine, but you can bet I'll be doing it again! This little project was so fast and easy. I can't wait to make more for different seasons and holidays.

I've been doing a lot of 'making' recently, so do check back. I'll be sharing it here!

{this moment}

2011-10-07T08:00:00.000-05:00

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

- SouleMama

The Newest Member of the Family...

2011-09-07T07:00:00.000-05:00

Canon Digital Rebel T3i

with Zoom Lens EF-S 18-135mm

...is this guy!

Sorry for the long absence here. Did I seriously not post at all in August?! It was a busy month with a lot of great things, including a much-needed vacation.

September was off to a busy start, with a jam-packed labor day weekend. Plus, I'm doing as much canning as I'm able to, trying to put the last of summer's bounty up for the winter. So expect more canning posts in this space!

(And you may just notice a difference in the photography, too...)

{this moment}

2011-07-29T07:00:00.000-05:00

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

~ SouleMama

July Birthdays

2011-07-22T09:00:00.001-05:00

July is a big month for birthdays - all the important men in my life celebrate their birthdays this month. First, there was my dad's birthday. Then my brother's. And today is my guy's birthday. Above is the card I drew and watercolored for him. Happy birthday, sweet guy! My life's a whole lot more fun with you in it.

Fourth of July

2011-07-07T15:15:00.004-05:00

I hope you all had a happy Fourth if you celebrate, and a great weekend if you don't!

Strawberries from my friend's garden.

Things have been busy around here, and I had a jam-packed weekend (no pun intended, though the weekend did include some homemade strawberry jam). ;)

My long weekend was full of family, friends, and food. We celebrated my dad's birthday (happy birthday, Dad!), I had a very good friend in town visiting, and there were several gatherings, most of which included delicious food consumed outside.

I also spent a lot of time berry-picking, all in my own backyard.

And of course, I love the chance to dress with a theme! Here's my outfit for the Fourth of July:

Outfit details:

* Dress and shoes - thrifted from Everyday People.

* Belt - from Rewind Vintage.

*Clutch - inherited from my grandma.

This little heart-shaped leaf makes me smile.

Cool Sips for Hot Days (or, How to Drink More Water)

2011-06-25T10:00:00.002-05:00

I have a hard time drinking the recommended 8 glasses of water a day. Or at least I did until I started making this drink:

All you do is take fresh mint (which I have growing in abundance in my garden):

Put the mint in a container filled with water, and add in some lemon juice.

Give it a little shake, and there you go. The great thing about this "recipe" is that you can totally make it to your taste. Put as much or as little lemon juice in as you want; decide how many mint leaves you'd like in it.

The longer it sits, the more the flavor comes out (especially the mint). So if you really want to taste the flavors, I recommend keeping two of these going at one time. One to drink from, and one that's steeping. ;)

Drink up, and enjoy being healthy!

(And to make your water-drinking experience extra fun, print out these cute water-drinking checklists from How About Orange. I keep mine on the fridge).

{this moment} - ferrets love chai tea, too

2011-06-24T07:00:00.001-05:00

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

- SouleMama

Two Pony Gardens

2011-06-20T18:00:00.010-05:00

On Friday evening we drove out of the Cities and down a narrow dirt road to a wonderful farm -

- called Two Pony Gardens.

Some dear friends of ours are moving to Oregon at the end of this month, and we've been trying to see them as much as possible before they go. They knew about this organic farm that has monthly pizza nights, and invited us to go.

At the farm they have beautiful gardens:

And they have cats,

and dogs,

and chickens,

a bunny,

and bees!

The inside of the farmhouse is amazing. I fell in love with the kitchen:

as well as the back porch (it has beds that are swings! Can it get better than that?!)

And the pizzas? Absolutely the best I've ever eaten.

The pizza oven.

Fresh mozzarella, tomato, basil, and parmesan pizza.

Arugula, fig, chevre, caramelized onion, and sausage pizza.

It was a wonderful night out; I can't wait for the next one!

PS The necklace I wore that night is from here.

{this moment} - a table for two

2011-06-17T07:30:00.001-05:00

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

- SouleMama

In My Kitchen

2011-06-16T14:30:00.002-05:00

:: Enjoying the peonies from my garden...

:: And the rhubarb, as well.

:: Making (and drinking) iced tea. (And enjoying the set of glasses and the pitcher that my guy picked up for me at my favorite vintage store. Love.)

:: Laughing at the kitty who managed to find the one bare spot in the pantry to hang out.

:: Baking (and eating) lots of loaves of chocolate chip banana bread.

:: Making (and drinking) a chai tea mix (in one of my new pyrex mugs!).

Last weekend was the June swap - some of the chai tea concentrate and banana bread went there with me. I'll be back to show you what I swapped for!

(See here and here for the May swap).

{this moment} - kitty kisses

2011-06-10T07:30:00.002-05:00

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

- SouleMama

{this moment} - stovetop s'mores

2011-06-03T07:00:00.000-05:00

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

- SouleMama

MPLS Swappers: The Food

2011-05-30T10:00:00.002-05:00

After my post about my first time participating in the MPLS Swappers event, I said I would be back to show you the food I came home with. Here it is!

First up, I traded for a dozen fresh eggs from backyard chickens. These make me so happy!

Next, homemade rhubarb sauce from rhubarb picked in the garden the day before the event.

Yum!

Homemade sauerkraut with caraway seeds. I love sauerkraut so much, so I was really excited to get this.

And ginger syrup, packaged beautifully in a cool glass bottle. (This is the only one that I haven't used yet).

I traded the four jars of jam that I had brought for the four things above. But at the last minute, right as we were all packing up, another swapper asked if I would be willing to trade the sample jar of raspberry jam that I had brought with me for these pretzel sticks she had made.

I was more than happy to make the trade! These dipped pretzels were so good - milk chocolate on half of them, and the other half had white chocolate with dried cranberries and mango - a really delicious combo! These did not last around the house too long, I can tell you that.

Also as I was leaving, one of the hostesses asked if I would like to take a bag of seasoned popcorn along with me. She had made them for us to snack on during the swap, and there was some leftover. It was really good!

The following day, breakfast consisted of scrambled eggs on toast:

And rhubarb sauce on bread:

This sauce is so good, that some of it I just ate straight up with a spoon.

Another recent breakfast - french toast with rhubarb sauce:

And dinner the night after the swap? Grilled brats with homemade sauerkraut, plus some of the last of the dilly beans and salsa that I canned last summer. Oh, and Schell's Dark - a Minnesota beer (and hands-down my all time favorite beer from anywhere).

These meals have made me so happy. I have loved getting to eat all these delicious homemade treats, and have loved tasting the bounty from others' gardens and talents. Thank you to all of you who swapped with me. I am so looking forward to the June swap!

{this moment} - excitement!

2011-05-27T07:30:00.002-05:00

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

- Soulemama

{this moment} - a kindergarten recess gift

2011-05-20T07:00:00.000-05:00

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

- SouleMama

MPLS Swappers

2011-05-16T21:00:00.002-05:00

Not too long ago, I came across a fantastic blog - The Hip Girl's Guide to Homemaking. I love the way that Kate writes, and what she writes about. And I was pleased to discover that she just had her book (of the same name) published!

As I was reading about her book tour, I saw that she was coming to the Twin Cities on May 14th and 15th. One of the events was a book signing at Barnes and Noble, but the other was something I didn't recognize - MPLS Swappers. I followed the link, and was excited by what I saw. This is so my thing!

I'll try to explain it briefly, but really you should just follow the link. :) Basically, a bunch of people who love making good food get together and swap what they've made. You need to make, bake, grow, or can it yourself, but other than that it's anything goes in terms of what food you bring.

You set your items out, everyone has a chance to look everything over, and you write your name down on 'bidding sheets' next to anything you would be interested in trading for.

Turns out that Kate, who wrote The Hip Girl's Guide to Homemaking, started this whole swapping movement when she lived in New York, and it quickly spread across the country (cause it's such a brilliant idea!). This past Saturday was only the second time the MPLS Swappers have held a swap. It was such a fantastic experience!

The location is really cool, I met a lot of nice people who share my interest in good, homemade food, and I came home with some dee-licious goodies.

I took some of my raspberry jam to swap (made with raspberries from my garden, and canned last fall):

Here it is set up on one of the tables (with some bread and an open jar to taste):

There was a really wide variety of things that people brought.

And a lot of cute packaging!

There were also snacks to munch on and tea to drink (in milk glass! Be still my heart).

I brought my copy of Kate's book with me:

And she signed it for me:

Even though my book was already signed, I went to Kate's book signing on Sunday because she was also having a discussion about the book. I'm so glad that I went, because Kate gave a really nice talk about her book and some of the different things she covers in it. It was also fun to see her again - she's so sweet and welcoming, and just really fun to talk to (hi, Kate!!).

I would definitely recommend checking out her book!

So I want to show you what I got in my swap, but this post is long enough for now. Back soon with photos of my goodies!

{this moment}

2011-05-13T07:00:00.000-05:00

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Following along with SouleMama this week.

Hoppy Easter!

2011-04-24T07:55:00.005-05:00

Here's my sweet guy, wishing a very happy Easter to those of you who celebrate it, and a happy Sunday to those of you who don't!

Ok, it's possible I may have gotten a little snap-happy with my camera, but when my model is this cute can you blame me? ;)

Friday Favorites: Giant Dwarf

2011-04-01T22:00:00.001-05:00

Not too long ago I received a lovely little package in the mail from Giant Dwarf.

I had seen some of her gorgeous creations on A Beautiful Mess and The Black Apple, and I couldn't resist any longer.

I ordered the Starlette Sparkler:

And the Mini Heartlette Crown in Ruby:

They are absolutely stunning, and I have been wearing them everywhere. There's nothing like adding a little sparkle to your day!

Taking photos in the mist along the Mississippi.

(The photo above was taken at the Anderson Center, which really deserves a post of its own.)

This photo was taken just last week - in the freshly fallen snow. I'm ready for spring, I tell ya!

Sue's lovely handmade sparkly treasures definitely do make me feel fancy! Next on my wish list? The Starlette Crown!

Penguin Party!

2011-03-28T08:00:00.001-05:00

My sewing post from the other day reminded me of some hand-sewing that I had meant to share with you. At the end of January I hosted a Penguin Party taught by Becca Jo of Duckie Uglings. She makes the most wonderful creations out of repurposed sweaters, including these adorable party penguins:

She came over to teach a group of six of us how to make our own! Originally, we were going to have this be part of my birthday party, but we ended up postponing it. But Becca Jo was so sweet, and brought me this adorable owl as a birthday present anyway:

(The little guy even matched my skirt perfectly!)

I went a little penguin-crazy for the party, including making a centerpiece for the table with some of Becca Jo's penguins that I already had.

I even put out my penguin humidifier!

I made some edible penguins, as well:

These are so much fun! And very easy to make. You need two sizes of black olives, cream cheese, a carrot, and toothpicks. Slice one side of the larger olives and fill it with cream cheese. Put a tiny hole in the smaller olive, and put a mini slice of carrot in. Hold the two olives together with a toothpick, and just set two more small slices of carrot under the cream cheese for the feet.

But be warned! Each little penguin has its own personality, and it can be hard to eat them. :)

My guests got in to the spirit of the penguin party, too! My friend C brought some delicious bread on a cute penguin plate.

There was also penguin poetry for each guest:

The table was all set up with a workspace for each of us:

Becca Jo brought all the supplies we needed.

She showed us each step in creating our own party penguins.

We all made new friends at the party:

And it was so much fun to see everyone's penguin at the end:

They all had similarities, but I love how each turned out completely unique. The beauty of handmade!

Here's a close-up of my penguin:

Definitely a successful penguin party!

Becca Jo and I have talked about a spring-themed party coming up. In the meantime, check out the Duckie Ugling website and blog!

darn. knit. {anyway}

2011-03-22T22:00:00.000-05:00

About, oh, a year-and-a-half ago, my mom's friend gave me her old sewing machine when she got a new one. She knew that I had been wanting one, and I was so excited to receive it! I had quite a number of projects and ideas building up, and just needed a sewing machine to complete them.

Oh, and I also needed to learn how to use it.

So all those projects and ideas waited... and waited... until yesterday. I had recently discovered this fantastic store in Stillwater, Minnesota called darn.knit.{anyway}. (Check it out - so cute!)

Yesterday, they were offering a sewing class where you could bring your own machine in and learn how to use it. Perfect!

I had a fantastic teacher who showed me what I needed to know to work my machine, and then we got going on one of my projects: hemming some curtains!

I found these wonderful curtains at an antique store I love going to. They are most definitely homemade (love!) and it wasn't until I was buying them that I realized that they were two different lengths. Drastically so. But no more!

I cut and pinned and ironed and finally sewed! On my machine!

I didn't think to take a 'before' photo of the two different lengths, but I will show an 'after' when I get them hung. For sure.

And no visit to Stillwater is complete without stopping in at Tremblay's Sweet Shop for some of their salt water taffy...

...and visiting a few of the numerous antique shops. Here's just a sneak peek at some treasures that came home with me:

It was a wonderful outing, and now you can be sure you'll see more machine sewing around these parts before long!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T22:00:00.000-06:00

[This is my 100th post!!]

Comfort Food

2011-01-17T17:00:00.002-06:00

I've been feeling poorly this weekend. Nothing too bad, just an awful cold. Luckily, today I didn't have to teach since in the US we are celebrating Martin Luther King Day, so I had a little extra time to try to feel better.

When I get sick, I crave the comfort that a warm bowl of chicken noodle soup provides. And it's ever so much more comforting when it's homemade, rather than opening a can.

Luckily, this past summer I made my own homemade chicken broth. I used what was left of a roast chicken, put it in a big pot, added pepper (and a little salt), covered everything with water, and let it cook for a number of hours. It was the first time that I had made my own broth, so I just googled how to do it, and the whole process was so easy (and made the house smell really good!). When the broth was ready, I divided it into separate containers, 2 cups to a container, and froze it all.

Yesterday I decided that I needed homemade chicken soup to feel better, so I pulled out some of the broth to defrost. I looked up chicken soup in several of the cookbooks that I had, but they all were a little more complicated than I felt up to. So I made up my own recipe! Here it is:

* Four cups of chicken broth (homemade, if you have it, but it doesn't have to be).

* One cup of rice.

* Two carrots.

(The amounts can be changed if you want more or less, but this is how I made it).

Cook the rice according to package instructions.

Heat up the broth.

Slice the carrots thinly, then add to the broth. Allow the carrots to cook in the broth as the rice finishes.

Season with salt and pepper.

There are more variations you could try - different spices, different veggies. I bet this would be good with celery, too. I was just working with what I had.

If you are going to eat it all at once, you can add the rice to the broth. But it will soak the broth up over time, so if you want to save some for leftovers, just add enough rice and broth to your bowl for one serving. Keep the rest separate until you are ready to eat it.

This makes a meal for two, or dinner and lunch for one.

Last night's fare also included edamame and a hot toddy (a little whiskey, boiling water, and lemon juice). Yum!

And speaking of 'yum,' I have no idea where I got the energy, but today I made more of these brownies (in my new [old] Pyrex baking dish!).

Now I'm off to make chicken rice soup for dinner again (I'm hooked!). Then brownies for dessert, and then it's an early bedtime for me! Hope you are all healthy in your part of the world - but if not, try this soup!

Sweater # 4

2011-01-15T10:00:00.000-06:00

With all the Christmas-gift-making that has been going on around here, I haven't had much time to make things for myself. But I set aside a little time at a craft day my mom and I put on a few weeks before Christmas, and rather than only working on gifts, I also made my fourth sweater.

As with the others, it was a pullover sweater that had been in my pile of clothes to get rid of.

before

For this particular sweater, I also took an old shirt from the same pile. The shirt had decorative lace and sequins along part of the neckline, which I carefully cut off. I was able to still donate the shirt, minus the lace.

Then I cut the sweater up the middle (no need for hemming!), added the lace to the collar, and sewed on a gauzy ribbon to tie it together.

after

details

I'm loving this sweater as much as all the others!

[And on a cool side-note, a friend of my family's was at the craft day, and asked about how I was making the sweater. A few weeks later when she came to my annual holiday party, she was wearing a sweater that she had updated. She had been planning on getting rid of it, but once she saw how easy it is to create something new with old clothes, she fixed hers up and it looked beautiful! So much fun to see that thrifty craftiness being passed on. Wish I had a photo of it to share here!].

What have you been making?

Holiday Recap

2011-01-09T21:00:00.001-06:00

I didn't get to share my photos with you during December, but I wanted to make sure I got at least some of the ones from this season up here. So here is a (rather large) small selection of my holiday photos.

This holiday season, we got a lot of snow:

Hope you don't need the street signs to find where you're going...

A lot of snow means... a lot of shoveling:

We had frosted window panes:

And, uh... snowy window panes:

There were a number of parties that happened in the past couple of weeks, which means there were a lot of:

- party preparations

- party celebrations

- and party aftermath...

There were presents under the tree:

Someone found which present belongs to her!

Jam and salsa jars were decorated:

And gifted:

Holiday decorations were up and looking festive at home:

My tree, reflected in the doorknob.

I finally got the wreath I'd been wanting for over a year now (from KnockKnocking).

The big guy helps with tree-decorating...

And holiday decorations were up and looking festive out and about:

W.A. Frost

Scusi

Dunn Bros./Finnish Bistro

W.A. Frost (again)

And the glow of candles lit the dark evenings:

From Mariposa Avenue

It was hard to narrow the selection down to these few photos - but very fun to go through them all!

I hope you all had a cozy, festive, candle-lit (and possibly snowy) holiday, as well!

A New Year

2011-01-07T07:00:00.002-06:00

Happy New Year to all of you! I hadn't realized quite how much time had passed since my last post. My absence was unplanned - but necessary! The holidays were quite busy with lots of family and friends in town (not to mention trying to finish up all the gift-making!).

The start of the new year is always a new year for me in more ways than one, since December 31st is my birthday.

So in addition to my annual holiday party and Christmas, I had a birthday party to plan, as well. Some years I have done a big party, but this year I wanted to go simple. Family and friends came over for dinner, drinks, and cupcakes! It was a lovely celebration.

I made these cupcakes from the book Holiday Cupcakes (one of my Christmas gifts this year - I love it!).

They really turned out quite well! Very similar to the photo in the book, which doesn't always happen when you're going all fancy and decorative.

(I may have gotten a bit snap-happy with my camera...)

In addition to the cupcakes, I made cherry ice cubes (which I first wrote about here). Yum!

I put the ice cubes in lemon spritzer, and it turned a lovely shade of pink...

I also made an ice globe lantern for the first time. These are so cool!

I put it on my front steps to welcome guests as they showed up for the party.

The whole process of making them is quite fun:

If you'd like to make your own, you can visit Wintercraft online.

There has been a lot of crafting, gifts, and excitement happening around these parts. Lots more to share with you! I'll be back before long. In the meantime, here's hoping you're having a wonderful start to your new year!

Giveaway Winners! And Cranberry Sauce

2010-12-12T21:30:00.000-06:00

Oh, wow, has it been a busy week! Sorry that I'm back here with the results a little later than planned. But, without further delay, here are the winners:

The Random Integer Generator gave me 4, 3, and 1, which means that Rachel wins the ornaments, Andrea wins the wrapping paper, and Kristina wins the cards. Ladies, email me your addresses and I will get those off in the mail to you!

Thanks to everyone who entered. I'm sorry that I don't have something to send to all of you, but I'd love to share a little something with you as a treat if you didn't win (or even if you did!).

I love cranberries, and this is the time of year where I cook with them a lot. Cranberry sauce and cranberry pies are my favorite!

I always make this cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving, and sometime for Christmas, too. It's very simple and fast. This is my mom's cranberry sauce recipe:

Cranberry Sauce

* 3 cups of cranberries

* 1 cup of sugar

* coarsely grated rind of one orange

* 3/4 cup orange juice

Put all the ingredients in a medium pot and cook on high heat, stirring regularly, until all the berries pop (about 10 minutes). This will thicken as it cools. That's it! (I told you it was fast).

The recipe can easily be doubled or tripled. I usually triple it. :) I also like to use fresh squeezed orange juice with it, though it tastes good either way.

Enjoy!

Happy December (and a Giveaway!)

2010-12-01T21:00:00.003-06:00

Today is the first of December, and that means:

I put up the advent calendar (handmade and bought years ago by my parents - this is the one I grew up with)...

Put out the Christmas books...

And chose a tree!

(I knit that hat myself! More about that soon).

Twinkly lights at the tree place.

The lights are on the tree now, and so is the angel, but the rest of the ornaments will have to wait till the weekend.

But now, on to the giveaway! I have three, that's right, three different prizes you can win. And three ways for you to enter - read on.

One prize is a set of three ornaments made by me (inspired by ornaments in the December 2008 Martha Stewart Living).

The set includes:

a wreath,

a candy cane,

and a snowflake.

Remember the handmade wrapping paper I posted about here? Well, I am also giving away two yards of hand stamped wrapping paper, in two different patterns:

one yard of candy canes,

and one yard of trees.

And finally, I am giving away a set of ten hand stamped cards (similar to the ones in this giveaway):

with ten matching envelopes.

The set of cards will come tied up with a pretty ribbon. The cards feature red, poinsettia-esque flowers with a little glitter in the center. The winner will have a choice of what else is stamped on the cards. If you win, you may choose to use them as thank you cards:

Or Christmas cards, with a stamp on the outside that says 'Merry! Merry!':

Or a stamp on the inside that says 'Merry Christmas':

The words are shown stamped in red, but can be stamped in green if you prefer. The cards can also be left blank.

So here are the three different ways you can enter:

1. Leave a comment on this post telling me something you've made for Christmas, or something handmade that you hope to get for Christmas (links to your blog or elsewhere on the internet are more than welcome!).

2. Follow me, and then let me know that you did by leaving a second comment. (If you already follow me, let me know that with a second comment!).

3. And finally, link to my giveaway on your blog, and then leave me a comment letting me know you've done so.

Three prizes. Three ways to enter. Your chances of winning are great!

Happy December to you all.

Edited to add: I will leave comments open for a week, and draw the winners on Wednesday, December 8th.

Crafty Tattoo

2010-11-27T12:00:00.000-06:00

So exactly three weeks ago today, I got...

...my first tattoo!

It took me awhile (umm...about a decade) to decide on both which part of my body and which image I wanted. And I finally came up with the one that is just perfect for me.

Before

I got my tattoo at Beloved Studios, and if you are near the Twin Cities at all, I highly recommend it. I couldn't have had a better experience, and my tattoo artist was incredible. She was patient, accommodating, and she put me at ease right away.

I came in with my design drawn up and in the size I wanted, and she helped me tweak it a little to make it turn out well as a tattoo.

During

I knew I wanted an image that would always mean something to me, so I chose Minnesota...'embroidered' on me! It was a way to combine a love for my state with a love for all things crafty.

After (red and bandaged!)

Reflection

I love this tattoo! It makes me so, so happy every time I look at it.

Hooray!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-25T11:30:00.000-06:00

I am thankful that I get to spend today with good friends and family. And for a four-day weekend!

Read about how I made my turkey pin right here.

Happy Thanksgiving to you, if you're celebrating!

Dresser Makeover

2010-11-21T11:00:00.004-06:00

This is not a recent project; I've been meaning to share it with you for a long time. I began this project over two years ago, in fact. It all started when I saw this dresser put out for free on the side of the road:

My eyes were initially drawn to it by the bright blue color. On closer inspection, it was spray painted on cheap wood, and chipping badly. But I had recently seen a tutorial I wanted to try, I was in need of a dresser, and it seemed like the perfect opportunity.

[A note on the tutorial - I'm sure I bookmarked it, but I can't find it anywhere. When I googled it to see if I could find the one I used, so many tutorials came up. If I manage to find the one that inspired this project, I'll edit this post. Otherwise, just google 'furniture mod podge tutorial' (or something along those lines) and you'll see lots of different ways this has been used. And I mean lots.]

The first thing that I did was prime everything with Kilz, inside and out. Then the dresser got coats of white paint. I got that far, and then summer ended and teaching began, and everything sat in my garage for a year.

The next summer, I pulled everything out again and finished the coats of paint on the drawers. [Don't ask me why I waited that long - I could have easily finished this one weekend. But you know how it goes...I guess we all have WIPs going, this was just an especially large one to store!]

To decorate the drawers, I set each one on the fabric I had chosen, and traced it.

Then I cut the fabric out. I put mod podge on the drawers, set the fabric on, and then mod podged (yes, it's a verb) over the top of the fabric.

Here's a close-up shot of the fabric I used:

Once the mod podge had dried, I used a drill to add drawer pulls (from Target):

And Ta-Dah!!!

A brand new, beautiful dresser for my closet. I've been using it for over a year now, and I still love, love, love it!!

Cozy

2010-11-14T21:00:00.000-06:00

Yesterday morning I woke up to this sight outside my window:

The first snow of the season!

It was absolutely beautiful. I had a very good friend in town visiting for the weekend, and the snow made our Saturday plans rather exciting!

Love the one lone fall leaf left on the tree...

Last weekend, I made Italian Sausage Soup, courtesy of Alicia over at Posie Gets Cozy.

As soon as I read the recipe, I knew I had to make it!

The snow this weekend makes me want to cook up another batch already. It was so good! I see this being made many more times this winter.

Even more cozy goodness from Alicia:

My Walk in the Woods ornament kit arrived in the mail! I've noticed a lot of you have also gotten your own ornament kit, and I've even seen some finished ornaments out there already. I have to say, I'm impressed! With all the presents for other people that I need to work on, I'm thinking my ornaments will have to wait until after Christmas...

This kit is just one of many things that have been arriving in the mail recently. I can't wait to show you more! Most are things that I've ordered, but a few are things that I've won (!!).

More Canning!

2010-11-07T09:00:00.001-06:00

In early October, my friend M and I got together to do some more canning (she and I made the salsa together, too).

This time, we made dilly beans! Again, we got our canning recipe from this book. We ended up with 10 pints. I haven't opened one up yet, so I don't know how they turned out, but if they're anything like the other recipes from this book they're going to be delicious!

Then last weekend, my friend A and I got together to make raspberry jam. We made it together last year, as well. We both have raspberry bushes in our yards, so we pick over the summer and freeze a bunch of the raspberries.

Then we can make our jam in one big batch, instead of a bunch of small ones during the summer.

We ended up with 46 half-pints! Yum!

Last year, I decorated most of my jars of jam to give as gifts:

A and I will be getting together again soon to package our jam up for this year!

Handmade Wrapping Paper

2010-11-03T22:00:00.008-05:00

It's about that time of year when I'm hearing some of you whisper the 'C' word on your blogs. And really, there's nothing wrong with that! It's a little disconcerting to see how early holiday things get put up in stores, but when you're making it yourself you gotta start early! So, I'm writing the first of my - I'm just gonna go for it - CHRISTMAS posts for the season. Although there's some non-Christmasy stuff in there at the end, too, so bear with me.

Finished presents under the tree.

A few years ago I stopped buying wrapping paper. The main reason was that it seemed wasteful, since you can't even recycle it. So I bought a huge roll of butcher block paper (I got mine here). And when I say huge, I mean I will probably never have to buy another one in my lifetime. So if the cost upfront seems a lot, just think about what it ends up being per package... (umm, the answer would be 'next to nothing').

Wrapping in progress.

Since I was only going to get one roll, I went for white, which seemed as though it would be the most versatile. And it really is! Some of the packages I leave white, and on some I stamp the paper. But for all of them, I add pretty ribbons and other 'extras':

A cardstock tree silhouette, using a cookie cutter to trace the outline (see image above mid-process).

A (fake, obviously) poinsettia.

Stamped snowflake paper with a silver, snowy ornament.

I have a tag-shaped paper punch, so to each of my gifts I add a tag with a tiny stamp that goes well with the wrapping, and then write the 'To/From' on the back.

An added bonus to wrapping gifts this way (which I should have realized would be the case, but I hadn't actually thought about it) was that all of a sudden, the whole gift became the gift. If that makes sense. I have always put a lot of thought into the gifts I give, and as much as possible I like to make them myself (or buy someone else's handmade work!). And now, with my new way of wrapping, the outside of the box fits so well with what is in it. I started getting extra creative with the way I would wrap gifts - for example, at Christmas time I would add little ornaments that could be taken off the package and hung on the tree. Sometimes I attach things to the gift that hint at what is under that wrapping paper.

A gift with an ornament.

A note about the fake flowers - I actually hate fake flowers. If I'm going to have flowers in my house, I'd like the real thing, thankyouverymuch. (Though if you like fake flowers, please don't take offense - I get the appeal, as you don't have to keep replacing them and it doesn't matter if you have a green thumb, etc). However, once I started wrapping presents this way, I saw a use for fake flowers. I started buying them after each holiday or season. That way, I could get them really cheaply, and use them the next time that season rolled around. In my craft room closet I have several vases filled with fake flowers - a vase for each season, in fact!

Another thing I like to do is buy ornaments in the after-Christmas sales, and use them the following year. That way, it really doesn't add much to the overall cost of the wrapping, but it sure packs a great visual punch!

More Christmas ornaments.

Stamped tree paper, with a gold star on the top of each tree (and a ribbon and an ornament to match!).

More presents under the tree...

Candy cane stamps with a matching tag and peppermint candy ornaments (it'd be fun to add real peppermint candies or a candy cane to this, as well - a new idea for this year!!).

Snowflake stamps with a white ribbon.

All the ribbons I use are reusable (and in many cases, are being reused) to add to the overall 'thriftiness' of the whole thing.

Tiny packages with candy cane and holly stamps.

More snowflakes and candy canes...

Are you getting sick of seeing presents under the tree?! Well, luckily I've got something else for you now (yes, you may breathe a sigh of relief at this point. That was an awful lot of Christmas this early in November).

Do you remember my Valentine's wrapping paper, from this post? Just white paper and pipe cleaner hearts, but I love how they turned out!

My mom has a spring birthday, so here are her presents from one year:

White paper on two of them, green tissue paper for one, and spring flowers for all!

And speaking of birthdays, last year for J's birthday I gave him 24 presents, one for each hour of the day. Each one was wrapped in white paper with a white ribbon (and some were 'coupons' I'd created on white cardstock). For each one, I drew a clock face on the paper (or cardstock) with the hands pointing the hour of the day the present was for:

Very simple, but I think they look good together!

There's another wrapping paper option you can do with this wonderful paper if you have kids (or if you can borrow some, as I did):

Have the kiddos draw pictures on the paper, and then wrap gifts for your family in it (or their family, if they're not yours!). They'll want to keep the paper, as well as the gift!

Handprints are fun to make, too!

(So much fun, you'll probably want to make some yourself...)

I used this wrapping paper to wrap some gifts for a new momma and her baby.

So yeah, that was an awful lot of talkin' and photos. But I hope that this might give you some ideas for the upcoming holiday season (and beyond!).

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T17:30:00.001-05:00

We had so many seeds from all our pumpkin carving that we made a huge batch of roasted pumpkin seeds.

They're delicious!

And looking at the jack o'lanterns all lined up makes me feel soooo happy:

Hoping you all have a Happy Halloween!

A Day at the Apple Orchard

2010-10-24T21:00:00.000-05:00

This weekend was MEA, so teachers had Thursday and Friday off. Hooray; a four day weekend! Lots of fall-ish activities happened this weekend, but we started it off with a trip to the apple orchard on Thursday.

Knitting in the car on the way to the orchard.

We went to Aamodt's Apple Farm, in Stillwater, MN.

Unfortunately, we were past the 'pick your own' season. But there was plenty to see and do there, anyway.

There were goats to pet...

And fabulously delicious apple treats to eat (and drink)...

Apples to bring home...

As well as apple donuts...

And apple cider...

We also brought home apple cookies and goat cheese. Yum!

It was a great way to start off the long weekend.

Farmers' Market Bounty

2010-10-17T23:00:00.002-05:00

First up: strawberry cheesecake gelato.

I was invited to dinner at the house one of my kindergarten students this past week. Her mom cooked an amazing dinner, and for dessert she served this gelato. It was so good that when I was at the Farmers' Market today I had to pick up a pint. I can't believe I never got it before! Delicious. It's from Simply Gelato.

I love brussels sprouts! I have a fantastic recipe for them that I need to share with you. Maybe later this week?

Finally: squash and pumpkins. The squash is for dinner sometime this week. As for the pumpkins - next weekend will be spent carving them and roasting the seeds. Yum!

Fall - Outside and In

2010-10-13T21:30:00.003-05:00

Outside:

Photos from our walk the other weekend.

Gorgeous lighting...

Gorgeous colors...

Along the Mississippi.

And inside:

The other day one of my kindergarten students came in holding something behind his back. He pulled this leaf art out:

...and said "This is for you for being the best teacher." Aw! I hung it in the window of our classroom.

And a fall project:

All four kindergarten classes created a collage mural based on The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats, only we called it The Windy Day to match the season.

Each class made leaves in a different way. I had my students make handprint leaves, which we cut out and added to the mural:

Looks a little busy in the photo, but it's super cute. The kids love seeing all their work up in the hall!

And just yesterday, I got another fall gift from one of my kiddos:

An apple for her teacher! So sweet.

October is Shaping Up to be a Good Month

2010-10-10T20:00:00.005-05:00

Wow, another fantastic weekend here, with absolutely gorgeous weather. A little more summery than I might like for October (fall's my favorite time of year!!), but beautiful, nonetheless.

I started out the day on Saturday going on a home tour in my neighborhood with my mom. There were ten homes on the tour, and they were all ones that had had some remodeling or major renovations done to them. It was really interesting to see, and some of the homes were so beautiful!

Unfortunately (but understandably) we were not allowed to take photos of the homes, so you'll have to make do with some of the fall photos I snapped as we were walking between houses.

The maple in my yard.

Saturday afternoon and evening was spent at the St. Paul Art Crawl. I went with one of my very best friends, and we had such a good time. We had dinner at the Black Dog Cafe, and then went on to see the art.

One of the things that I had read about ahead of time was the art vending machine, which I really wanted to make sure I got to, so it's where we headed first:

A number of different artists made small, cigarette-pack-sized, original pieces of art. The art was then put in this vintage cigarette vending machine. For $5 you could purchase a 'token':

You popped your quarter into the machine, pulled the knob for the artist you wanted:

And out came your mini original work of art!

They had examples by each artist on display, but the one that you got was a surprise in terms of the details.

This was the first one that I got out of the vending machine. It was so much fun, I couldn't resist getting one more!

I chose another one by the same artist. I thought the bunnies were so stinkin' cute. (Sorry, no link for the artist. I simply cannot find her online anywhere! When/if I do, I will add it in).

My friend chose this one, called Penelope:

Pretty darn cute, too.

At the next gallery we went into, I was immediately taken with this display:

I love, love, love the style of this artist, DC Ice.

She was so nice and friendly. We got to talking for a bit, and I learned she had illustrated several children's books, including this one which I just couldn't leave without:

She even signed it for me:

I also bought one of her works of art that was on display (it was so, so hard to choose just one):

Most of her pieces had really interesting/funny/unique titles. This one, entitled 'Chlorine Dog,' was not as long or funny as most of the others. But she told us the background story to this painting and the title, and then it became very interesting, and extra-special.

A studio/workspace in one of the galleries.

Another place we stopped by was Play by Play Theater Bookstore. We really just happened to stumble upon it when we were going from art studio to art studio. But I was so pleased to find it! It used to be at a different location, and I loved going there. When it closed down, I assumed it had gone out of business. But I talked to the owner last night, and she said that she had needed to move buildings because the owner of her previous location had sold the building. All her things for the store had been in storage for months, but she had finally recently re-opened it in this new location. It was quite serendipitous that we happened to find it!

Play by Play

And finally, the last piece of art from the evening:

This is by an artist named Chris Shockley. I fell in love with this the instant I saw it! So very Coraline. :) Love those wooden button eyes! This one is destined for my craft room.

Wow, that was a lot. I actually had more from this weekend that I wanted to share with you, but I think it will have to wait. I've gone on long enough for now!

One last thing I want to try to do this weekend, but I don't know if I can stay up for it on a school night - the finale to Mark Mallman's 78 hour show. Yes, that's right, he's playing for 78 hours straight, and it's all ending tonight. He has a lot of wonderful local musicians joining him. I'd love to see part of it; we'll see if I make it. (If he can play 78 hours nonstop, you'd think I could stay up a little late on a Sunday...)

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend wherever you are!

A Wonderful Weekend

2010-10-03T22:00:00.002-05:00

Happy October to all of you! It is definitely feeling like fall around here, and I'm loving it!

I could not have asked for a better weekend to start off this month. I work a few jobs in addition to teaching, so I frequently work at least one day of the weekend. But this weekend I didn't have to work at all, and it felt rather indulgent to have two whole days to do whatever I wanted! Saturday was packed full of things I love:

The leaves have started to change, and we had glorious weather. Perfect for crunching through leaves that have already fallen!

My first stop was The Red Balloon, a fabulous children's bookstore.

I went to see an author I absolutely adore - Patrick Ness. If you enjoy YA lit, or have a teen in your life, please, please check out his books. He is amazing. It was incredible to meet him, and he was so nice! He signed all my books and we got to chat a bit.

Then I figured since I was in the neighborhood anyway, I better stop by a few of my favorite shops. Just down the street from The Red Balloon is Cooks of Crocus Hill. Can you see their colorful window display?

I better show it closer! I love Le Creuset, and seeing it lined up together in all its rainbow-y goodness makes me so happy!

Next stop, just half a block up, is The Yarnery. More beautiful rainbow colors!

I couldn't resist a little yarn treat for myself. I even got to wind it all on my own, for the first time ever! I was thrilled to bits, probably more so than I should admit...

Then a stop at Bread & Chocolate for refreshments - I needed a break from so much excitement! ;)

I had their Fabulous Fudge bar (it does indeed look fabulous, doesn't it?) and a chai tea latte while I read my current book.

After my little break, off for a bit more shopping along one of my favorite streets.

I just had to stop in at Everyday People:

But my main reason for heading over to these cute little storefronts was that my friend J was having the grand opening for her new clothing store! It was so wonderful, and she has done such a nice job that I think it may deserve a post of its own.

Finally, we finished off the day with a walk by the river, admiring the gorgeous fall colors.

Today was great, too. Not as exciting, perhaps, and certainly not as indulgent. But it was wonderful to spend the day at home, working on the house and yard, and fitting in a lot of reading, as well.

I'll be back soon with more photos of the goodies from this weekend, and the beautiful fall colors. See you then!

Dill Pickles and Chocolate Cake

2010-09-20T21:45:00.000-05:00

How's that for an appetizing post title?? Just thought I'd finally share with you what I hinted at in my Labor Day post.

The canning was dill pickles - I opened one of the jars before I even got around to taking photos. They were delicious! I'm so happy with how they turned out.

This was the first canning that I did completely on my own. My mom got me a canning set similar to this one, though for less money and from out local hardware store. I'm so thrilled; it's the perfect 'just because' gift! I've used my set again since the dill pickles, so I'll share more with you soon.

The baking was chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. It's from this book, and was incredible. I have a very good friend who was going through some hard times, so I looked in the 'comfort food' section of Nigella's book, and knew that this would be the perfect thing to make and share with her. I love how at the end of the recipe Nigella says that this cake "serves 10. Or 1 with a broken heart."

We only managed one piece each, so I took the rest in to school to share with my co-teachers. It disappeared pretty quickly. :)

I have so much more to share with you! Lots of crafty things have been happening 'round these parts. I'll be back soon...

Birthday Yoga and a Card

2010-09-13T21:50:00.003-05:00

My friend C's birthday was on Sunday, so I made this card for her:

I was inspired by this post, though I did my own take on it. (But I do love how her bunting can be removed and actually used! Mine is just paper).

To celebrate C's birthday, she had us get together for yoga on Saturday morning. We all took yoga together once a week last school year, but our (fabulous!) instructor had taken the summer off, so this was our first session together this fall. It was so wonderful to be back together and practicing yoga again!

But we didn't get together in our regular location. We had an extra-special spot for C's birthday yoga - the Sculpture Garden in Minneapolis. We did our yoga right on a work of art!

The beginning of the school year is such a busy time as a teacher. Last week I felt I hardly had time to even sleep. And at first just the thought of getting up and having to actually be somewhere on a Saturday morning exhausted me. I contemplated (briefly) not going, but I am so glad that I did. Though it was C's birthday, she was really the one who gave all of us a present.

To just ::stop:: for a while and be fully present in the moment. To take the time to clear my mind and focus on nothing more than my breath. To feel the sun on my face and the wind against my skin, to not worry about the looooooong to-do lists. To exercise my body. To laugh with friends.

It was a good reminder to slow down, to enjoy this moment instead of concentrating on everything that has to happen next. And it's something I'm trying very hard to keep in mind as another incredibly busy week at school starts up!

Salsa!

2010-09-10T18:57:00.004-05:00

Remember this post? I promised I'd share the finished product, and here it is!

The last weekend in August my friend and I spent hours upon hours in the kitchen, peeling, dicing, de-seeding, chopping, slicing, crying (those onions!). And finally we had enough tomatoes, hot peppers, onions, garlic, and cilantro prepared so we could mix up a giant batch of salsa!

I've got a whole bunch of pints and half-pints here. The plan was to keep some and to share some. I love giving homemade gifts, you know?

But then I tasted it. And Oh. Wow. Yum. Yum, yum, yum! Excuse me here for blowing my own horn, but this is the best salsa I have ever tasted. Honestly. The Best. I was just going to have a taste. And then I ate an entire half-pint. In one sitting. (Good thing I didn't open a pint!).

Umm...but I'm going to share. I promise. My family and friends will get some. At least a little. Cause I'm generous like that.

Yummy!!!

The recipe is from this book. And if you have any interest in canning, go and make some as soon as possible!

[And in case you do want to make it, I'll share our little secret: we upped the amount of hot peppers, and even included some of the seeds. Hot salsa is dee-licious!]

Labor Day

2010-09-06T22:15:00.006-05:00

Happy Labor Day, to those of you celebrating it! Here in MN it was a rather dreary, blustery sort of day.

The view out my kitchen window, where I spent most of the day.

It threatened to rain all day, and eventually did. I feel bad for anyone who had picnics planned for today. Especially since yesterday looked like this:

Now that would have been good Labor Day weather. Luckily, plans for today in the Kittens household included a lot of canning (yes! again!):

And a lot of baking:

And it was just right weather for those two things!

I will share the results of today's labor soon...

Farmers' Market Flowers

2010-09-04T22:15:00.007-05:00

In general, when I go to the Farmers' Market I'm there for the food. But it is often so hard to resist the beautiful flowers! Last weekend when I went, I got this gorgeous (and unusual) bouquet. I saw someone walking with one, and it took my breath away. I knew I just had to take some home with me!

{I absolutely adore chinese lanterns.}

I found that my floral arrangement dried beautifully, so this morning at the market I picked up a similar bouquet to add to the first one. As you can see, even more unique plants were in this one! [And there's my sweet girl in the background...]

I took the pink ones out, and put them in a vase on their own (you can just see them there, to the left of my big guy's ear).

Now I have an enormous bunch of flowers! They make me heart-skippy happy (to borrow Lucy's phrase) every time I look at them (and the eucalyptus leaves smell wonderful).

And since they dried so nicely, my fall flowers really should last me through the whole fall.

Welcome, September!

Can You Guess What I Did This Weekend?

2010-08-30T14:44:00.004-05:00

It involved a visit to the Farmers' Market...

Lots and lots of tomatoes...

(and quite a bit of mess...)

A number of different veggies, including hot peppers and onions...

And multiple trips out to the compost bin.

That's right; I was canning!

More photos, details, and finished product soon.

Sweater #2

2010-08-23T09:00:00.001-05:00

You saw Sweater # 1 and Sweater # 3 in previous posts. Here, finally, is the second sweater I made. Again, it was a pull-over sweater that I had in a pile of clothes to get rid of, because I didn't ever wear it anymore.

before

I started by cutting it down the middle in front again, to make it a cardigan. Then I hand-sewed on a yellow ribbon to tie it with, and I sewed a circle pin from various fabrics and felt. In the middle of the pin is a button (that I actually received on a package from another blogger, and which you've seen before in this post!).

after

The pin is removable if I don't want to wear it, or if I want to switch it out with something else. But I have yet to do that - I absolutely love this sweater!

[As you can see, these are old photos. I know Minnesota has snow most of the year, but even we don't have it in August! It's just taken me awhile to share these with you...]

This is definitely my favorite sweater of the ones I've made, and I wear it a ton! But I have more sweaters planned, so it may have competition soon... ;)

Happy Easter!

2010-04-04T21:13:00.003-05:00

An Easter tree...

...and Easter flowers.

Hoping you all had a wonderful day!

St. Patrick's Day Craft

2010-03-17T07:00:00.002-05:00

A little pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

For links to project directions, please click here.

Coffe Cup Cozy

2010-03-02T07:00:00.003-06:00

One of my presents for Jeremy on Valentine's Day was a coffee cup cozy that I knit for him. I had leftover yarn from a scarf I had made for him, and I thought it'd be a good way to use it up. (And now he matches - oops!).

I was so pleased with myself, because I made the button hole all by myself, no tutorial or anything. I dropped a few stitches in the middle of a row, and then picked them back up. Then a fellow knitter told me that's not how you do it, and showed me the real way. I can't remember it now, of course. And my bubble was slightly burst. Ah, well. I still think it looks good.

And here it is in action!

Lots and lots of knitting has been happening over here (and much of it has been getting finished!) but I'm feeling the need for a quick, instant gratification type of craft project. I'll let you know how it goes!

Sweater # 3

2010-02-24T09:47:00.003-06:00

You may remember sweater # 1 from this post. You haven't seen sweater # 2, because I haven't posted about it...yet. Still need to do the photo shoot (and it's my favorite, too! Soon, soon...)

But on to my third sweater. Here it is, pulled from my to-get-rid-of-because-I-never-wear-it stack of clothes:

Again, I made all the alterations with supplies I already had. I simply cut it down the middle, marked where to sew the ribbon on, and then did the sewing by hand. Since the sweater and ribbon are very fall-ish colors, I decided this would be a good Thanksgiving sweater. So I whipped up a little turkey pin!

I totally forgot to take pictures of the process, but it was very easy. I traced two body shapes by using the bottom of a glass. I hand-drew one feather, and then traced it onto the felt so all the feathers would be about the same. The legs are actually one piece of felt that is connected inside the turkey; I thought it would be more sturdy that way. Everything on the turkey is felt, except for the tiny bead eyes.

To assemble the turkey, I simply sandwiched the feathers and leg piece in between the two body pieces, and glued them together. The head and face are also glued on. The whole thing has a pin back so that I can take it off and wear the sweater for more than one day of the year. (I'm thinking of making another pin to go with the sweater - I've worn it a bunch with just the ribbon as decoration, but I like it with that extra bit of craftiness!).

Here's the Thanksgiving outfit (that ribbon is really a bright orange/white check, it's just not showing up in the photos). And a little closer, to show off my turkey:

Poinsettias

2010-01-07T07:00:00.002-06:00

My new Christmas glasses, found at a local vintage store.

And vintage Vera, found at the same store.

(Umm, you can ignore the wrinkles... this is pre-ironing...)

Winter - Outside and In

2010-01-06T07:00:00.001-06:00

Outside:

Inside:

Ornament from While She Naps on Etsy.

Shop Local

2010-01-05T07:00:00.001-06:00

December was a month for Christmas shopping (the local, hand-made way),

while drinking hot beverages with my guy.

Hot chocolate - me. Coffee - him.

A Warm Welcome...

2010-01-04T21:23:00.007-06:00

...to 2010, and to anyone who is still visiting this blog! I can't believe how long ago my last post was. I had all these posts planned for December, and then I had space-on-computer issues, and camera-batteries-dying issues, and loading-photos-to-computer issues. Most of those issues are now resolved, so I should be able to be back here more. And speaking of resolutions, mine is to blog more (and more consistently) this year. I'm not going to set a specific goal, just ... more. That should be doable!

Antique ornament on my tree - the photo on this year's Christmas card. Maybe I'll even get around to showing you the whole card...

I've also decided to unofficially join Project 365 this year. Unofficial, because (as you may have noticed) I sometimes have trouble posting things. Taking photos - no problem. Sharing them online in a timely manner - sometimes doesn't work out. I read about Project 365 last year, but too late to join. This year, I read about it again on Ali's blog, and in time to start it, no less!

You may have to wait awhile for my 365 updates, but in the spirit of Project 365 I have decided to share some of my recent holiday photos with you each day this week. Photos, and maybe a few words. But nothing as wordy as this post!

Taking time out from tree decorating to put up my feet...

...and drink some hot cider.

See you tomorrow, friends.