Holiday prep

Have you started to get into the thick of your holiday crafting and gifting?  I have.  Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to successfully shoot the results.  Above is a detail of the globe I made for a friend.  One of her dogs is a Boston terrier so I made this little snow scene in a globe for her.  Too bad none of the shots showing the entire globe were in focus. 

This year I decided to try out some new variations using those clear glass ornaments.  This is the mini tree and snow version.

I also tried out these painted glass ornaments.  There was a lot of trial and error due to the viscosity of various paints.  Also, one should take heed to the cautionary information provided by  the person who wrote the tutorial.  When they mention that it takes FOREVER for the paint to dry, they are not kidding.  It has been about three day and these are still wet on the inside.

     So much more to do before next week.  Why don't they keep enough employees at the post office so that they can have all of the windows open during the middle of the day at the busiest time of year?

Well, it's something

I made this yarn wreath last night while watching TV. It is a small gift for my godmother. I am still waiting for Ryan Gosling to come over and give me that shoulder rub.

Championship Ring Bling

When you reach a certain age nobody remembers your birthday except for your mother. So, at this point you find joy in making your own fun and buying your own gifts. Since I am a little broke, I have to be creative about these things. This year is extra nice because the NCAA championship game fell on my birthday. You have no idea how happy this made me. No idea.

I also have a tendency to purchase large cocktail rings. No reason. I found this one and sort of liked it. It is very chunky so I am thinking it is for a man. For now I am calling it my championship ring.

I have wanted this Marimekko comforter for quite some time. Birthday luck. I found it. I also decided to do a little home decor window shopping. I headed over to check out the Flor showroom.

I really started to like this particular design. I am thinking of using it on the kitchen floor until I am able to get the hardwood floors repaired and refinished.

Now it was lunchtime. I decided that I would break all of my restrictions I had chosen for Lent. Just for one day. It was that or have nothing but bland food to eat. So, it was down to Chinatown for Peking duck.

It was too dark in the restaurant to take any decent photos so the poster will have to do. Trust me, it was delish. I really wanted to indulge in one of those Veruca Salt cupcake, but I held back and picked up this almond Swiss roll as my birthday treat. Topped off with an evening of college basketball and I am happy as a clam. See? It is really easy (and cheap) to treat and entertain yourself on your birthday.

Pity Party

The other day I threw myself a pity party. Boo hoo. I am such a baby. I was having a root canal so I decided to milk it and wallow in pity. There was not a lot of pain. There was a lot of time waiting for the feeling to come back to my face which meant no eating...and it was hot and humid outside as well. So, I decided to work on these two guys. They helped raise my spirits.

My sister had asked if I made baby stuff. I guess so. She needed me to make some gifts for a baby shower she will be attending. That was it. No guidance. No suggestions. So, I made the two softies above and what you see below.

Some tie dye onesies.

A musubi shirt.

In case you are wondering, this baby will be arriving in Hawaii.

Happy Valentine's Day

Remember these from earlier in the week? They turned out to be a cute tasty Valentine's treat that is easy to make. Although, I still need to figure out how to make them a little more heart-shaped. I found the tweaked recipe online and then tweaked it a little bit more. The blog author did not not know how many hearts the recipe yielded so I added that as well.
The picture below illustrates the various steps in making the hearts.

This is what the assembled naked hearts look like.

Voila. The finished product.

Peanut Butter Pretzel Hearts

Adapted from Go Dairy Free: The Guide and Cookbook

Yield : 60 hearts if you use small size pretzels

3/4 c Creamy Peanut Butter

1/4 c Margarine

1 t Vanilla extract

2 c powdered sugar

1/8 t salt

1 T plain milk alternative, any type

12 0z bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips for coating (I did not use these. Instead, I purchased the Wilton Chocolate Candy Melts. It was much easier and faster.)

1 bag small twisted pretzels

In large bowl, combine PB, margarine, and vanilla. Stir in powdered sugar and salt. Mix until well blended. Dough should be firm enough to handle. If not, add a little bit of the milk alternative until it reaches consistency that you like. If dough is too soft or sticky, chill for 30 minutes.

Roll a small bit of dough in between your palms (about 1 t depending on the size of your pretzels) and form into a ball. Line baking sheets with parchment, wax paper, or silpat mat and place a layer of pretzels on each . Put one ball of PB dough in center of each pretzel. Place another pretzel on top of this. Try an match up the pretzels. Press down so dough fills out shape and moves to the edges of the pretzels. Shape dough around the edge of the heart with your finger or a knife. Melt your chocolate chips or melting disc in a double boiler. Dip hearts one at a time in chocolate and turn to coat on all sides. Remove with a fork and tap on the edge of the bowl to remove excess. Place them back on the lined baking sheet. Place in fridge to chill and harden.

Stand back and let the applause begin.

Heart-on

I did some holiday treat making this weekend. They should be in the mail shortly to make sure they have a Valentine's Day arrival. It was my virgin tour with the treats I tried above. They taste really good, but I do not think that you can tell that they are supposed to be hearts. They are misshapen. Can you tell it is a heart?
I also decided to throw in some coffee toffee while I was at it. See? I am prepared and on schedule for the super double holiday this weekend.

Wreaths under 5 bucks in an hour

Yet another finished project to report. I wanted to make a couple of wreaths for my godmother. I made her a wreath when I was in grade school or junior high and she still hangs that thing on her front door every year. It is in perfect condition, but I don't want her to feel that she is obligated to hang that wreath year after year. I decided to give her some more options. First I made the felt rosette wreath above. I found the directions here, but my experience was completely opposite of the author of that tutorial. Here are the differences - She used a 12 inch Styrofoam form while I used a 10 inch. She spent 5-6$ on the felt alone at Jo-Ann while I spent less that $5 for all of the supplies at Jo-Ann with my coupons and the current items on sale. She made 286 circles while I probably made less than 50. It took her between 12-15 hours to complete her wreath while mine took less than an hour from start to finish. I did not have a problem with the pinning and there was no need for a thimble. Now, you may say that mine is not as lush and full as the one that she made, but I just wanted to demonstrate that it can be modified and as a result only take you an hour to make.
That wreath went so quickly that I decided to move onto wreath number 2. I found directions for making a fabric scrap wreath. There are various methods including using a Styrofoam form and sticking square scraps in with a stick, or the one I decided to try which uses a metal wreath form. You just tie the scraps around each tier of the form. I needed to figure out how to make it not so "country" looking because that is not my godmother. I decided to use some fabric remnants that I had purchased from Ikea. I used this fabric.

The problem was that I ran out before I was finished with the last loop. So, I just moves onto another black and white fabric remnant which was also from Ikea that I had in my stash.

The form was less than a dollar (again, Jo-Ann coupon) and the fabric which was already in my stash was only a couple of bucks. Again, this took about an hour or so if you use a rotary cutter to cut your strips.

I feel better now that I can offer several other options for that front door next holiday season.

Quick gifts

While working on the list of gifts and projects I need to finish before Christmas, I have also been able to fit in some quick little gifts like these. They are for when you don't feel like baking, but you need to give a little something as a gift. I made hot cocoa mix from a recipe I found online. I will post it if it turns out to be worth your while. I then received a lot of baby food jars through Freecycle. I sterilized them, painted the lids red, added some ribbon and a tag and I had 30 mini gifts for people I only know very casually.
Two years ago on Martha Stewart she had a viewer demonstrate how to make these Mint Ritz crackers. I have not tasted them. For some reason there are people that really like these crackers. My Mom said that they were OK. They are incredibly easy to make.

All you need are the dark chocolate mint melting disks made by Wilton. You can get them at Michael's or Jo-Ann. You melt them in a bowl over a pot of hot water. You dip each Ritz in the chocolate and then place on a parchment lined pan. That is it. I will place them in a decorative holiday treat bag and pair them with the hot cocoa mix. That makes about 15 little gifts off my list.

Crack me off a piece

We have hit a cold snap here. Sub-zero wind chills make me want to stay inside by any means necessary. I had seen this recipe for coffee toffee over on Smitten Kitchen. Since I knew the forecast, I prepared ahead to try it out during the cold snap. Let me tell you, it smelled incredible as I was making it. I did not even need to taste it.

Oh, the aroma that filled the air as it sat on the counter cooling. OK, I wanted to eat the entire pan, but I only cracked off a piece to taste.

It was fairly easy to make and the results were delicious. This would make a great holiday gift for someone special. Wrap it up in its own little box and I am sure you will impress.

Happy Halloween!

Last weekend I decided to take a walk around my 'hood and check out the Halloween decorations. I forgot how much fun it was to see how each house was decorated for the holiday. Now that I am old and cannot go trick or treating I do not get a chance to see what each house has done. This was the perfect cover. It was sunny out and I took the 4 legs with me. I simply appeared to be an innocent person walking their dog (with a camera in their pocket) on a Sunday afternoon instead of some stalker gawker taking pictures of your house for no reason. I also wanted to post a few pictures for those who might live in other countries and do not get to see what Halloween decorations look like in the U.S.

It can be as simple as placing a pumpkin on your front porch. The cat is just an added bonus. Our cover was almost blown here, but the cat did not move an inch. I know that the boy likes cats, I was not so sure about the cat liking the boy.

Or a ghost hanging from the rafters. A closer shot would have been nicer, but an adult (me) walking up onto your porch uninvited and taking pictures is just plain creepy.

I think the age of the children living in the house also dictates the type of decorations that are used.
These are pretty young children that live here.

BIG spiders seemed to be very popular.

So are skeletons. They are on the doors (first pic). In the yard.

In the fence...

And on the porch.

This large spider was out on the porch.

It had a little (HUGE) friend out on the front tree.

Happy Halloween to everyone!

I hope some of you received the treats I sent earlier in the week.

That's a wrap

This will be my final steal post for the week. I promise. Next week I will share the hidden treasure found buried in my storage space. My final steal of the week was this beauty. Isn't she lovely?

100% silk. Diane Von Furstenburg wrap dress. It does not appear to have been worn.

Only a buck fifty. Too bad it is not in my size. It will be going to my girlfriend who received the Marc Jacobs dress last spring.

'Cause that's how I felt

I have been curious about needle felting for quite some time now. I never did any real research about it. There were no classes around and I could not even find any place that sold the supplies I would need. I looked at some books, but it still wasn't clicking in my brain. So, one day I was chatting with the lovely Mariko and asked her if she had ever done any felting. Negative. OK, carry on.

Then, one day not long after that, a package containing this appeared on my doorstep. Get out!! A needle felting starter kit!

Now I had no excuse. I had to figure out how to do this. Back to some books. There really are no patterns. Just general instructions. I finally figured out that needle felting in 3D means creating your own individual figure. No cut out pattern. So, I finally dove in and attempted my first animals. They still need some tweaking and different eyes. No laughing! Here they are:

The Penguin who I thought was too skinny at first so I added a bigger belly.

The Baby Harp Seal

That's all I got for now. Hopefully, I will be able to make some more animals in the future. My thanks to the kind and thoughtful Mariko for getting me started.