Hoppy Easter!

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

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!

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}

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!

[This is my 100th post!!]

Comfort Food

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!