a trifling matter

It's been a little colder here this week, and I love how the little birds puff up to stay warm, like this titmouse...

...and this carolina wren...

...and these mourning doves.

Despite an infrequent drizzle, Todd and I cleared out the side garden.  Without the somewhat picturesque covering of leaves, it looks awfully...bare.

I'm waiting to see what will grow, but I envision filling this space with my cottage garden plants.  I can't wait to see what it will look like next year!

Inside the house, we're still pulling things into shape.  Todd had me lay out my rubber stamps to get an idea of how many I had.  Uh oh...it's a lot.

Two years ago he built me a wooden stand for my stamps...

 

...but now I've got double what I had then, so we'll have to figure something else out.  Once we get that set up, and the curtains up, and the slipcover on the chair, the craft room will be done.  It looks a little better than this:

...but there's a ways to go!

I've been trying to do something with all of these bare walls.  I'm not a huge fan of pictures, but I got a great deal at Goodwill recently.  I found this picture...

...for $10.  Normally I don't like gold frames, but it's very subtle.  I found the same picture + frame online for over $500, so I'm pretty excited about my score!

Here's another bare wall.

I was inspired by this magazine picture:

...and decided to try the same thing.  I already had some hats, so it only cost me $9 to flesh out the rest of it.  

Of course, you can't see it too well in this photo...and since then, we've added a rug and changed the fireplace mantle...but you get the idea.

I've also been feverishly knitting.  I wanted to knit a certain something for a friend, and I wanted to knit it in blue yarn.  For me, it's hard to tell by looking at the ball, if it's not a solid color, and see what it might look like.  Here's a ball from Knitpicks:

I was worried that, knitted up, I'd see too many pastels.  I made a little swatch:

...and liked it very much.  I also had a Cherry Tree Hill ball...

Would it be too much like denim?

No...I ended up liking it a lot more than I thought I would.  Anyway, all that knitting, and I ended up going with a solid green.  Here's a peek of the finished project!

Valentine's Day is coming up, and I'm a sucker for holidays.  I made valentines for friends and family...

...complete with valentine's themed envelopes.

Last year I made cookies and took them around, but this year I had to settle for making something for Todd's office.  My original plan was coconut cream-stuffed chocolate cupcakes covered in coconut buttercream and dusted with pink-tinted coconut, but I disregarded the recipe line, "Bake these in cupcake liners, to be removed later."  The cupcakes were VERY 'sticky' and didn't easily come free from the tins.  I had to settle for - you guessed it - trifle.  ARGH!

Later this week, I'm making a three layer chocolate cake with raspberry marshmallow cream filling for Todd and hopefully, if it's not botched, I will post it next week!

To cheer myself up after the trifle fiasco (and the kitchen scrub-down that took almost an hour), I picked more camillas and made bouquets for the entire house.  Yay!  It's the little things.

Have a great week!

Brownies for the Devil-May-Care Crowd

It's December, and I'm ready for snow. We've been so close. Last week, a sleet shower deposited a cover of tiny little balls of ice.

Rain followed, however, although it was still cold. Our neighborhood animals seem oblivious of these changing temperatures. The birds still visit the feeders and lounge casually on our lilac bushes. The little cat we've been feeding still comes around for a handout.

The squirrels are still busy in the yard, although they pause a bit when the rain is coming down.

The intermittent cold temperatures mean that we've had some beautiful frosts.

I love when frost gathers in the fern-like leaves of the yarrow plants...

...and on its still-blooming flowers.

The frost covers the long, blade-like leaves of my irises and lilies.

It makes beautiful, intricate shapes on the seed pods that I've left up for "winter interest."

I love it!

Although Christmas is just a few weeks away, I've fallen far behind in Christmas decorating. This is the busiest time of year for our business, and that occupies a good deal of my time. I stubbornly insist on hand-stamping our Christmas cards, and we have a LOT of cards to send out. Even though I'm doing them assembly-style, it's still taking a bit longer than I planned. Then there are the loads of Christmas gifts that must be packed and sent to our out-of-town friends. Thankfully, Todd surprised me with some poinsettias last week. At least we've got some semblance of Christmas around here!

My mother surprised me last week, too, with a quilt. My great grandmother hand-quilted it in the 1930s, and I love it!

I've been too busy, myself, for any sewing, or quilting, or knitting. But I did carve out some time for a quick craft project. Anyone who dabbles in rubber stamping knows that those little stamps can be awfully expensive. You can pay up to $20 for just one stamp, although most fall in the $8 - $12 range. I've found a cheaper way to expand my collection.

I paid $20 for this series of vintage women's faces.

There are 22 faces total and they come in one 8 1/2 x 11 inch rubber sheet.

I cut them out, one at a time, and sprayed the backs with adhesive.

Then I glued them on a $1 piece of foam, along with some others I'd found on etsy for around $1 each.

I let them dry overnight, and then use scissors to cut around the shapes. The foam cuts easily and it takes no time at all to cut them out.

Then, when I want to use them, I just put a little piece of double-sided tape on the back and stick them on a clear acrylic block to stamp the image.

It's the same quality as a wood-mounted rubber stamp, but for a little time - and almost no money - I've got a whole new stack of stamps!

Although I haven't been doing much crafting lately, I have been making a lot of cupcakes. Carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frosting...

Vanilla cupcakes with vanilla frosting and sprinkles...

And the same cupcakes, with chocolate frosting and sprinkles. The sprinkles make them awfully festive and it's just not the same without them.

For as many cupcakes as I make, I'm not much of a cake person. When I really want a treat and calories are not an issue (which sadly has been the case around here lately!), I look to my favorite brownie recipe. These aren't tall, light, cake-like brownies. They're compact, dense, and incredibly fudgy. Topped with a generous slathering of vanilla frosting - and sprinkles - and served with a bowl of ice cream...I can't imagine a more rich, decadent dessert. I call them my fudgy, pudgy brownies and I make them when I'm feeling really devil-may-care.


Easy Fudgy, Pudgy Brownies
from allrecipes.com
Makes 12 brownies

Brownie Ingredients
1/2 cup butter
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup white flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Crackling Glaze Frosting (optional)
3 tablespoons butter, softened
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar

To make the brownies, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8 inch square pan. Melt your butter in a saucepan. Once melted, remove from heat and stir in sugar, eggs, and vanilla. In a separate bowl, mix together the cocoa powder, flour, salt, and baking powder, and then fold the dry mixture into the butter mixture. Do not overmix! When combined, pour into your pan and bake for about 25 minutes.

To make the optional frosting, combine all ingredients and mix well. It may initially resist your efforts, and if you like, you can sprinkle in some milk - just a bit - to help it mix. When combined, frost brownies while they're still warm.

Try some this week. They're easy and delicious!

Sadly, Todd and I will not be indulging in these sweet treats for much longer. We want to commit to healthier lifestyles, and to train ourselves to reach for apples instead of cupcakes! However, I'll still be in the kitchen, trying to mix up the best flavor for the least caloric price. Stay tuned!

Craft Room Bloom

Despite our unusually warm weather recently, winter is definitely on its way. I've packaged up the final seeds for next year's garden, including this clematis seed head, which reminds me of ostrich feathers.

Our hydrangea bushes, which have been so beautiful all fall...

...are wilted and brown. The vibrant ginkgo across the street, overnight, shed all of its leaves.

I still love winter. Before the snow comes, I can still bring in pretty leaves and branches to put around the house.

The orchards around the city have been closing, though. Todd and I looked around for a nice one to visit, but it seems like we've missed the season. We found one place by a busy road, with no actual orchard in sight. Just a few forlorn boxes of ornamental gourds...

...pumpkins...

...and more gourds.

Now that Todd is finally done with school, though, we'll be able to indulge in more things that we love...including making it to several orchards when the season starts next year!

With winter coming, I'm paying more attention to my inside hobbies. In a small bedroom upstairs, I set up a little craft room for myself. I've got my long table that Todd built last year, with my yarn swift and winder attached. In the corner, a small wooden cabinet holds my sewing and embroidering supplies.

Against the wall is the bookshelf where I keep my rubber and acrylic stamps, inks, and paper punches. I don't have room for all of my rubber stamps, so Todd is building me a leaning shelf with narrow wooden ledges. The walls in this "afterthought" room are not able to hold wall shelves up, so we've got to be creative!

I have hundreds of acrylic (clear) stamps. To keep them organized, I stamp their design on plain white envelopes and store them in shoe boxes.

I can fit quite a few in one envelope!

For me, this is the best method. I'm not interested in an expensive binder system, and I don't want them flapping around in their original packaging. It's no problem to leaf through the envelopes to find the shapes or alphabets I need.

I also keep my embossing tools in this bookshelf. I've just recently discovered embossing. I'll do a tutorial later, but basically you stamp an image, pour a type of powdered resin on top, and use the heat tool on the left to melt the resin.

It makes a really detailed, raised image that I love. Here's a vintage beater I embossed with a gunmetal grey color, for a recipe card. So fun!

The craft room is L-shaped, so there's a narrow hallway that runs to the side of the main part. I keep my fabrics here.

In the back cabinet, I keep my office supplies, modeling clay, watercolor supplies, piles and piles of construction and specialty paper, ribbons, envelopes, card making supplies, and knitting books.

The basket at the top holds my stencils and light box, and related supplies. I love these! I've found lots of beautiful stencils, like this...

...and this.

Using a light box (a white plastic box with a light bulb inside), I'm able to 'dry emboss' my writing paper and envelopes.

Bosewichte loves the craft room.

So does Tabitha. I keep a few pillows by the door, and the cats take turns sleeping on them. When I'm in my craft room, working, I've always got at least one cat that slips in and stretches out on a pillow.

It's a real work in progress, but I'm absolutely thrilled to have all of my craft supplies in one place. I love my craft room, even with the mint-toothpaste paint and the weak walls!

I'd been feeling a little unsettled with my knitting lately, so I decided to put all projects away and focus on some instant gratification. I'm making these little hexagon-shaped pieces that will one day be sewn together to form a patchwork quilt-type blanket. It only takes a little bit of yarn to make one, and if I run short on one, I just knit in a new color. I was surprised at how my little pile grew and grew. I've got 45!

It gives me great pleasure to finish one little hexagon. I may work exclusively on these until the holiday season is over!

Have a great week!