Cats in Sun & Valentine's Fun

I'm loving all the birds that are starting to come out, even though it's definitely not spring weather yet.

Carolina wrens are constantly singing outside my office window.

Our belted kingfisher is back!  He won't let me get very close...

...but he hangs out on a branch over the water.  I love to watch him skim the surface for insects, but I have to watch from indoors.  Even stepping out onto the back deck, a considerable distance from his perch, elicits a scold. 

We have lots of red-tailed and red-shouldered hawks around here, and the local crows have been mobbing them on a daily basis.  As soon as I hear the crows start up, I know that a lone hawk is nearby.  Sometimes I watch them chase him from tree to tree until he's safely out of their territory.

A brief respite...

...now he's on the move again!

Mostly I just see the little songbirds in the gardenia bushes outside.  Here's a dark-eyed junco tidying his feathers.

The local squirrels are tired of being in their drays and are scampering about, or doing some bathing.

The cats go out on the deck when the sun is out...

...but mostly they hang out in the back living room, under the couch.  We have a sectional couch in there which is directly over 2 heating vents.  It makes a nice warm place for an all-day nap.  Sometimes I'll just see a tail or a leg...

...but I always know they're there!

I finished knitting the socks I was working on, but I'm not very pleased with them.  They're a little loose on the leg, and I like a nice tight fit.  Oh, well, I'm not going to fix the problem, so I'll have to just live with them the way they are.

Valentine's Day is coming up, and this year I decided to do an advent-style calendar for Todd.  I really don't like mushy/overly sentimental messages, so I searched online for sentiments that felt more 'real' to our relationship.  I'm definitely more Spock than Cupid.  ;)  I used this tutorial to fold Valentine-themed craft paper into tiny envelopes.  Each envelope has a number to denote the date for opening.

Sealed with a sticker...

...and taped to a big piece of craft paper.

He opens one every morning.  I love the buildup to "the big day," even though we'll probably just play board games and watch The Walking Dead.  Maybe even a TWD marathon...now that's romantic!  :) 

Have a great week! 

Of Mice (Houses) and Men

Valentine's Day was a little over a week ago, and as usual I threw myself into preparations with gusto.  I just didn't have time to mail handmade cards - sob! - but I did bake batches and batches of cookies. 

For friends and family, chocolate sugar cookies with royal icing.  The heart shapes were achieved simply by placing a drop of pink icing amid the white and drawing a toothpick through it.

For Todd's suitemates at the university, red velvet Oreos...

...and for their party, a three-layer red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting.  I'd seen an idea online:  crumbling the cake left over from leveling the layers and pressing it into the frosting.  I decided to take it a step further by pressing leftover crumbs into a cookie cutter.

Remove the cutter, and the shape stays.  Voila!

Plenty of crumbs left over to hide my messy frosting job, too.

It was delicious! 

I usually try to do a handmade gift for Valentine's Day.  Although I'm atrocious at embroidery, I had the idea to embroider a circle of monogamous animals in honor of our commitment.  Wolves, swans, beavers, and many birds fit that criteria, but I was quickly overwhelmed at the thought of sketching out many animals that would require so much detail work.  I decided to go with insects, because I'm very fond of them, and there are surprising examples of monogamy within their world...although, to be fair, it's mostly because they live such short lives. 

First, I sketched my choices:  the termite, mosquito, and cockroach.

I darkened the outlines, cut them out, and arranged them on my fabric.

I used my light box to illuminate them for tracing with a fabric pen.

Here goes nothing!

I was really pleased with how it turned out!  It framed easily and now hangs in Todd's office.

My gifts from Todd were a mousepad with an image of an insect I'd photographed last year, plus a scroll saw and boxes and boxes of tools.  Yes, I was thrilled to get power tools, because this meant that we could start our work on the MOUSE HOUSE!  In review, the mouse house is a three foot tall "tree stump" with a cut-away front that shows the multiple rooms within.  We would create the furniture and furnishings ourselves, all in 1:12 scale.  I was absolutely thrilled to get started.  Todd has a mind better suited to architectural drafting, so he sketched out the floor plan...

The updated plans include a little library...hooray!

Next, he calculated room size, cut the boards, and started drilling.

It took several hours to finish the frame.  It *must* be correct, because it's going to be holding a lot of weight.  The frame itself (minus the front opening, of course) will be wrapped in chicken wire, then a type of molding cement for bark, plus the room contents add weight.

It was Todd's idea to leave an opening in the bottom of the house, to mimic the natural openings in some smaller tree trunks.  We'll create more natural curving sides with molding cement. 

Windows, doors, and stairs are coming next.  Stay tuned!

Have a great week! 

Timely Valentine

I always feel a little guilty about posting Valentine ideas here the week after Valentine's Day.  After all, I don't want to spoil anything for Todd, or for my Valentine recipients.  This year, though, I managed to get my Valentines out early, and I think they've mostly been received.  Therefore, I can safely post an idea here, just in time for Valentine's Day.  An idea that you can whip up last minute, because it only takes 4 ingredients and some scraps of paper.  Yes, I'm talking about fortune cookies.  I've made and blogged about them before, but it's worth repeating:  these are quick and easy cookies that can be customized to any holiday or event.  I absolutely love making them!

Please refer to this website for directions and recipe, but I can show you my steps!

First, I made some punny tags.

I cribbed funny fortunes from several internet sites.

I already had tiny festive takeout boxes, purchased at Michael's after-Easter sale last year.  They were small, though, so I had to make extra-tiny cookies.

Just a half teaspoon or so of batter, baked exactly 5 minutes.

I folded them quickly and put a tablespoon on top of each to hold the shape.  They harden in about 30 seconds!

I made stacks and stacks of them...almost 200 total!  Sigh...aren't they beautiful?

I put a sheet of Saran Wrap in each takeout box:

  

I filled them all assembly line-style.

I folded the wrap over the top and sealed them with a stamped Valentine's Day sticker.

Love love love!

I hope you give it a try!

I've also made some cards recently and thought I'd tag them onto the end of this post.  This card idea was cribbed from Pinterest and shows a cookie sheet - surprisingly easy to make with leftover sparkly Christmas cardstock. I hand-cut the cookies and manually rounded the corners of a papercut rectangle to make the cookie sheet. 

Inside:

Someone I know had surgery recently, so I got to use this "Feel better!" card I've been wanting to make for a while.  I'm just getting into pop-up cards, and so this was great fun to make.  Specific dimensions are available at this web site!

Fold a small piece of paper...

Tape the ends together and seal, and cut a small hole in the top.  Fill with a bit of Kleenex.

Use glue to affix in the fold of your card...

...and add your details!

I really like it, and it was pretty easy to make.  

I hope you have some craft time soon.  Have a great week! 

a beautiful day

Earlier this week, we had a great rain.  Afterward, it was so nice and fresh outside that I decided to take a walk around the yard.  February has traditionally been my least favorite month.  The fall/winter holiday excitement is over, the cold has lost its novelty and you're ready for spring, but it's at least a month away.  It's a bit different here in South Carolina, though.  It's cold, but there's still so much to look at.

I walked by my mystery vine and noticed that it had finally started to bloom...  

...and proved to be a trumpet vine.  Pretty yellow flowers that are much loved by hummingbirds and bees.

I still marvel at all the Helleborus around.  I never got it to grow successfully in Indianapolis, and I always thought it was so beautiful.  Here, it's everywhere.

Big clumps, all up and down the length of the front of the house...

Up by the mailbox, and all over the back yard.

We must have 20+ clumps of them, and I was gratified to read that they spread easily.

The camillas were blooming...

...and this bush, too.

The clumps of snowflake flowers were putting up long stalks...

...and they make lovely, long-lasting bouquets.

We've had a lot of rain, so we had all sorts of interesting lichen on the ground...

...and on fallen branches around the yard.

I uncovered a squirrel stash with my foot.

Some bushes are heavily laden with berries.  As much as I'd like to pick the bunches and bring them in the house, I want to make sure that the birds get their fair share, so I usually leave them alone.

This grass, which I believe is called monkey grass, has been close-cropped by hungry deer.

They come at night and remain unseen, but I see a lot of wildlife in general here.  On the day of my walk, I saw a female cardinal...

...a hungry squirrel nibbling on seed...

...and a mockingbird, posing.

Geese were swimming in the pond...

...and it was totally peaceful.  I couldn't believe it when later that week, we had some snow!  It wasn't quite freezing, so the snowflakes melted quickly.

Still, it was coming down quickly for about 45 minutes.  The sky cleared, though, and we had a beautiful sunset.

This past week, I baked a massive (for us) cake for Valentine's Day.  I will refer you to Sweetapolita's LINK for the original recipe and step-by-step instructions, but I'll give you a quick rundown.

The cake was a 3 layer red velvet cake with raspberries, chocolate buttercream, marshmallow cream cheese, and another fluffy frosting that I didn't add.  I meant to, but once I spilled an entire panful of hot cream and gelatin down the front of the stove and all over the hardwood floor and spent almost 30 minutes cleaning it up, I'd lost the desire for 4 fillings.  The three I had were enough, especially the marshmallow cream cheese - YUM!  Probably my favorite frosting ever, and I'm not even a marshmallow fan.  You have to have a special occasion for this cake, or a dedicated gym routine, because it involves several cups of sugar and SEVEN sticks of butter.

First I baked and cooled the 3 cakes...

...and spread on the marshmallow cream cheese.

Then the chocolate buttercream...

...then the raspberries.

Then stack...

Repeat...and stack.

Ice the whole cake, and ignore the probable lopsided-ness.

 

It was dark before we cut into it, so the lighting was pretty bad.  Still, hopefully you can see the layers.  You'll notice they aren't red...I can never bring myself to add all of that red dye to red velvet cake, even for effect.

 It was so good.

 Todd and I each had small slices, and then I wrapped it up for him to take into the office.  It was demolished in one afternoon!

Hope you'll give it a try if you've got a special occasion coming up.  Enjoy!