Valentine's Day 2011

This year I decided to play with crochet thread for the Valentine's Day cards. I just drew little lines with plain Elmer's glue and then stuck the thread right on. It looks like the glue will be really obvious but it flattens out a bit as it dries and it's fine. The balloons are just red felt hearts.

{valentine's day card 2011}

I was searching through my archives to see if I've adequately explained my Valentine's Day thing (obsessed, platonically) and I think I've covered it. In 2009 I gave it a whole week, complete with garlands, cookies, and cards. Oh, and I participated in Amanda's swap and Lauren and I became instant internet friends.

Last year Circe got a new bandanna and I sent goodies to Lily and became obsessed with her work (and eventually purchased two paintings that I treasure) and we became friends and I got goodies from cevd, who was already a friend. I can't find any record of my cards, but I definitely made brownies. Shaped like hearts.

In summary, Valentine's Day is good for friends.

Also, I haven't decided what to bake yet. But I still have several days for that.

Rosemary butter cookies

The second part of the edible Christmas gifts ...

{rosemary butter cookies}

These are simple but the texture is excellent and the rosemary makes it interesting. Bonus - no cookie cutters needed. Log cookies are my fave. You could easily make these ahead of time and freeze the logs (wrap well in saran wrap and then with aluminum foil). I find they cut more easily if they aren't completely frozen, so I would let them defrost in the fridge before cutting.

{rosemary butter cookies}

For the packaging, I just used stuff I already had lying around. I tucked 6 cookies into small wax paper bags and then tucked those inside my larger kraft paper bags. Kraft paper on its own isn't ideal for cookies because you'll end up with grease stains. I had stamped the kraft paper bags with a holiday stamp I designed for us this year. On the folded down flap, I used my favorite green pen to hand write and draw a simple illustration (can you tell that it's supposed to be rosemary? drawing is not my strong suit) and secured it with a bit of washi tape.

{rosemary, kitchen}

Rosemary butter cookies (supposed to make about 5 dozen, but I found it to be closer to 3 dozen, somehow - recipe from here, I didn't make changes, but I'm reposting because the MS website tends to delete recipes and move links, which is really frustrating if you find this post a year from now)

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg plus 1 egg white, beaten (the egg white is for right before baking, so don't bother with it if you plan to freeze them for later)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
3/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 cup fine sanding sugar (ditto egg white note)
 

:: Beat butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, at least two minutes. Mix in whole egg and vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Add flour, rosemary, and salt, and mix until combined. 

:: Halve dough; shape each half into a log. Place each log on a 12-by-16-inch sheet of parchment. Roll in parchment to 1 1/2 inches in diameter, pressing a ruler along edge of parchment at each turn to narrow log. Transfer to paper-towel tubes to hold shape, and freeze until firm, about 1 hour. 

:: Preheat oven to 375. Brush each log with egg white; roll in sanding sugar. Cut into 1/4-inch-thick rounds. Space 1 inch apart on baking sheets lined with parchment. Bake until edges are golden, 18 to 20 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks. Store in airtight containers at room temperature up to 3 days.

The recipe doubles easily, so I made four logs at once and got about 7 dozen cookies out of the deal. D and I ate the leftovers the following week and we both agreed they were even better than the day they were baked.

Simple gifts - salted caramel sauce

The one project I allowed myself for Christmas was this salted caramel sauce. It is so good and it only requires three ingredients and minimal patience. If you have a large stockpot, you can triple the recipe and it will be just as delicious. I saved little jars all year just for this purpose.

{fleur de sel caramel sauce}

It isn't actually canned, so it should be refrigerated after you give it to your lucky recipients but don't stress too much about spoilage. I left our personal jar on the counter for a week and it was still fine (granted, our apartment is cold, but it isn't glacial). The recipe says you should eat it within two weeks. I've extended that to a month based on personal experience and one of the people who got a jar last year actually made it last for ten months and it was perfectly fine. I'm not surprised - high sugar, low water content items are normally very stable. I am shocked that he managed to control himself and pace his eating out over the course of ten months. I can eat an entire jar with a spoon in one sitting. I wish that were hyperbole.

{gifts boxed - partially distributed}

It solidifies when cold, so pop the glass jar (sans metal lid, naturally) in the microwave for 20 seconds to make the consistency just right for pouring over ice cream. 

The last two weeks, briefly

Sorry for the radio silence around here. We had a major family crisis the week before Christmas and all my plans got thrown up in the air. I ended up (after a few tears) letting go of most of the projects I had planned, in favor of actually getting some sleep and a shower. Always the best choice, even if it's hard to make.

And, as treacley as it sounds, the forced simplicity helped remind me of what is most important - our friends and family (and food, of course). It was a very love filled holiday, and we are very blessed. We had an abundance of parties to attend and lots of people to whom we needed to send cards, and I'm grateful for that, even if it feels like a lot of work in the moment.

We did get our beautiful cards sent out, although we cut it really close.  I kept my Ikea fabric on the table for a full two weeks.

{pre-christmas prep}

One of our oldest friends threw a holiday party that mixed strong drinks with gingerbread house decorating. 

{house party}

We had three family Christmas parties to attend and they were all wonderful. We have seriously massive families (marriages + divorces + remarriages + hippie parents that like to stay friends afterwards).

{family christmas party 2010}

And I had my annual girls' Christmas party. It's our 12th year celebrating together and we've added one baby to the pack and have one more on the way (it was Kristin's beautiful baby shower that I went to just a few weeks ago). 

{girls' christmas party 2010}

I didn't actually wrap anything (delegated the few presents we had purchased to D's excellent hands), but my mom had a pretty amazing wrapping station set up, using just the Ikea paper.

{wrapping station}

Circe condescended to snuggle with my on Christmas eve, and she was granted the privilege of being the only dog allowed in the living room for the Christmas celebrations. Of course, she insisted on wearing her dorky bandanna instead of the trendy cowl I made her last year.

{christmas circe}

I made our usual Christmas main dish, savory bread pudding. I honestly don't think there is a better dish for the holiday - it's easy, you set it up the night before, and it can be served warm out of the oven or at room temperature. I make the standard version with applewood smoked bacon for the meat eaters, and a separate dish sans bacon for the veggies. (Baked and served in my beloved Dansk dishes)

{savory bread pudding}

We had the standard trappings - a blazing fire and plenty of pies (made by my mom - I didn't touch a pie crust this whole season, sadly). 

{firewood}

{pies}

My parents have given up traditional Christmas trees for good, and this year they created a sparse tree from the manzanita branches collected from the garden. It's mostly hung with crystals from the chandelier we had years ago and the china snowflakes that my mom has bought for my stepdad each year of their marriage.

{manzanita christmas tree}

D and I had a very low key New Year's Eve, with fancy champagne and take out Chinese food, a detailed new year budget proposal (my traditional new year's activity) and a Bored to Death marathon. Exactly what I needed.

{new year's eve 2010}

Whew. So I'm back, and easing back into the normal routine, which will hopefully also include regular blogging. Hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

The Twelve Days of Christmas Ilonka Karasz

Check out my latest thrifting find! Vintage Book : "The Twelve Days of Christmas" illustrated by Ilonka Karasz. We were looking for ugly sweaters a few weeks ago and this beauty was sticking out on the bookshelf calling my name. It has been on my list for a few years, and bam... there it was! Have you seen this book before or did you know AIGA liked it back in the day? Don't you love the colors?



Doesn't it seem like when you are looking for something else you find unrelated gems? Have you found anything on a thrifting trip lately? What are your favorite Christmas or holiday books, I would absolutely love to hear your favorites as we are slowly building our collection so we can do this.

ps. The least expensive used copies of this book I've seen are sold by sellers here.

(photos by blackeiffel)

Felt clouds

Just for fun, because I have lots of things that I actually should be doing and I like to procrastinate ...

{felt cloud}

I made some cloud ornaments out of white felt and some leftover silver vinyl from the wreath project. I just sketched out some clouds, cut two of each out of felt and one slightly smaller out of the silver. Handstitched everything and stuffed it with a bit of cotton batting.

{mini cloud}

Clouds don't really have anything to do with Christmas, of course - I just like the shapes.

{tree with clouds}

Everyday tea basics + holiday tea

Tea is a pretty serious business for me. I don't even know how much I drink - I think I average a 12 ounce mug every hour for the first half of the day and then every two hours after that.

{saturday afternoon tea}

For everyday, I drink plain black tea, bagged or loose leaf, depending on how convenient I need it to be. Start with fresh, boiling water. Steep for 4 - 5 minutes, until the tea is fairly dark. Absolutely no sugar, but I do take milk. Never, ever add the milk until the tea is completely finished brewing. If I'm going to drink my tea sans milk, I'll usually cut a little bit of time off the brewing, so it isn't quite so dark. Skimp too much and you'll think you're drinking ditch water - lightly colored and tasting vaguely of twigs.

I'm partial to the Lipton Yellow Label tea, which is very basic but strong. I get it from the local Indian grocery store, but you can also order it online. It isn't the same as the Lipton you see in most grocery stores, even though they both come in a yellow box. Confusing, I know. As a more expensive (but more readily available) back up, I like the Tazo Awake. Of course, I think that if you start with hot enough water and brew it properly, you can get a drinkable cup of tea out of an offbrand tea bag that expired years ago (desperate situations and all that).

For the holidays, I step it up a little ...

{harney and sons white christmas and holiday tea}

Holiday tea is a sort of sacred ritual for me. It's black tea with some spices and citrus and just the smell is enough to make me feel a little calmer. I make it even more indulgent by using real cream rather than my usual milk.

I like to pick up the custom holiday tea blend from the tea shop in my old college town (Bamboo Tea House in Claremont, for locals) but I didn't make it this year. Harney and Sons Holiday Tea is an excellent alternative - good black tea with spices. I fully admit that I also purchased the White Christmas tea solely because I loved the tin. I promise I'll actually try it out and report back.

I had a little bit of a meltdown on Saturday when I realized that one of my nemeses*, the FedEx ground delivery guy, hadn't bothered to buzz me to come down and sign for the package of tea, but had instead just decided to leave a note and redeliver on Tuesday. I was really, really looking forward to that tea. And now I'm finally enjoying it.

{writing thank you notes, holiday tea, previously}

* The plural makes it sound worse than it is - I really only have two nemeses. The FedEx ground delivery guy who consistently fails to deliver or misdelivers packages, and the senior checker at the Santa Monica Michael's, who sneakily manages to be unbelievably rude but never when anyone I know is around to witness it, thus doubling the offense by making me look crazy. I've only actually complained officially about the FedEx guy, because I figure I would probably also be rude if I worked somewhere as hellish as Michael's.

Christmas wreath 2010

It's December 1st, officially open season on holiday crafting. We'll ignore the fact that I made this wreath in November, well before such a thing was appropriate.

This year's wreath started, as all good things start, with a large cup of tea. Also, wool felt.

{christmas wreath 2010}

I traced over some olive leaf pictures and created a black and white file in Illustrator, then printed them and cut each one out. I traced around the cut outs on green wool felt (of course, polyester craft felt works but it simply doesn't feel the same - if you aim for at least 60% wool, you'll be much happier) and also on some metallic faux leather (wanted real leather, but it could not be had) that I purchased from the local upholstery store for $5 for a quarter yard. Black sharpie worked best on both, although I was a little woozy from the fumes. Make sure you trace on the back of the metallic material so you don't have to worry about the lines showing!

Then I cut and cut and cut. This part made me very thankful for old episodes of This American Life.

Pieces all ready, I protected my coffee table with wax paper, set down my wreath frame ($2 at the craft store) and started hot gluing. I attached the ribbon first, because I wanted the leaves to go over it.

{christmas wreath 2010 - assembly}

At first I tried to come up with some kind of logical process, like applying the metallic leaves first and then adding the felt. In the end, I just ended up gluing like crazy, adding leaves wherever I thought they looked right. This was the fun part.

{christmas wreath 2010 - gluing}

Adding leaves to the back as well gave the wreath a fuller feel. I initially imagined it as being more sparse, but sparse is actually a lot harder to do and I would have needed to be much more precise with my placement.

{christmas wreath 2010}

And here it is, hanging on the wall in the grey winter light. I'm probably safe to move it to our front door now, without risking anyone defacing it out of sheer annoyance.

{christmas wreath 2010}

{christmas wreath 2010}

If you'd like the leaf file, it's right here. You only need to print and cut out the leaf pages once, but you'll want to trace at least two sets onto your materials. I traced each leaf onto the wool felt twice and then made a half batch using the metallic vinyl.

Here's a little shopping list, if you'd like to make your own ...

Felt (wool or wool blend preferred), ~1/2  to 3/4 of a yard
Metallic leather or vinyl (optional), ~ 1/8 a yard, probably much less
Marker for tracing on fabric (Sharpie is fine, or fabric marker)
Leaf templates (you can use my file or a picture or you can trace actual leaves)
Sharp scissors
Wreath frame (mine was about 14" across)
Ribbon, for hanging
Hot glue gun

Thankful

Little paper leaves that I printed on neutral cardstock. I traced over the gray outlines with metallic paint pen, for subtle shimmer. Punched a little hole in each one and then cut a slit so they can be slipped on and off a string.

{thankful leaves}

The idea is to hang them on the mantle and people can choose to write down little things they are thankful for on the back. Over the top cheesefest? Maybe. We have a tradition that we go around the table and share something we're grateful for before we start eating, so it isn't completely unexpected for us. They'll be decorative even if they are left blank.

{thankful leaves}

Here is the file I used, if you'd like it. I didn't draw the leaves myself, so don't get impressed with my art skills. They are traced and slightly modified from a coloring book page (found here).

{thankful leaves}

More quick paper projects:
Punched out paper napkin rings (Thanksgiving 2009)
Super simple printed paper napkin rings (Thanksgiving 2010)

Preparing ...

So. Thanksgiving. Otherwise known as my absolute favorite holiday. Christmas without the consumerism, and with more gluttony!

{thanksgiving table 2009}

So far I have:
Procured the necessary groceries (except for Pippin apples, which are crucial to my favorite pie, and which I haven't been able to find - anyone in LA seen them somewhere?)
Chosen the wines (D picked the festive beers)
Purchased a gigantic office door that will serve as a table*

On Wednesday I will: 
Make pies
Roast sweet potatoes, assemble dish for reheating
Blanch green beans, refrigerate
Cube and dry bread for stuffing (20ish minutes in a 300 degree oven)
Make cranberry relish and sauce
Make dough for dinner rolls
Roast pecans, nibble
Post about my leaf project, if I actually finish it

On Thursday I will: 
Wake up early, drink tea
Make the drive home
Pick sage from the garden, chop and saute it with mushrooms, garlic, onions
Mix the stuffing together
Toss the turkey in the oven
Reheat sweet potatoes
Saute the green beans with shallots and garlic
Bake the rolls
Set the table
Drink champagne, revel

Last year I lead up to Thanksgiving with a little holiday sanity series, which I made sure to re-read this year. It's easy to swept up in the rush without stopping to slow down and actually allow yourself to feel grateful, to savor the little bits, to love your family even when close proximity to them makes you a little crazy.

Holidays, managed (part 1)
Holidays, managed (part 2)
Holidays, managed (part 3)

and for the pictures ... Thanksgiving last year

* You can squeeze in with 18" of space per person around the table if you all like each other - if not, you'll want 24-30" instead. We have 12 adults and one skinny kid - our current table was not going to cut it. A solid core office door came up on Craigslist and it measures 36" x 105". We'll rest it on sawhorses and cover it with the heirloom tablecloth and no one will be the wiser. We couldn't face carrying the door up to our apartment (it's going to my parent's house, so it would have to come back down in a few days) so we just padlocked it to the gate in our parking space. Classy. Fingers crossed that our landlord doesn't complain.

Mini banners for Halloween

I have a guest post up over at the Irreference blog which is run by Quirk books, the wonderful company that published Witch Craft.

I made some simple mini banners for Halloween - they're a quick last minute project and you can download the file to print out at home.

{trick or treat banner}

Hop on over and check it out.

P.S. Thank you to everyone who entered in the super short giveaway for Witch Craft last week. The two lucky winners have been notified and the books are currently winging their way to them. Enjoy!

Easter, last year

Quick bonus post!

I just realized I don't have any Easter content planned this week (um, it snuck up on me and I'm not ready and we're going to be forced to go low key) but if you're gearing up for it you might want to take a look at last year's posts.

There's an idea for an alternative to the usual Easter basket (read the comments for amazing reader suggestions on non-crappy things to put in baskets), a look at my Easter tree (which is up again this year) and some pretty pictures of dyed eggs.

Heart day goodies

Circe got her Valentine's Day gift from me. I've given into the bandanna fixation and I made her a reversible one* for maximum styling potential. It has a delightfully cheesy print on one side (I woof you!) and a more refined white heart on red background print on the other.

It received a much more enthusiastic reception than the cowl.

{circe, wagging}

She knows what she likes, clearly.

{circe, ears back}

And I got the sweetest little swap package! From cevd, so naturally the card was awesome. I shared the bacon chocolate bar with D, just to be nice.

{swap goodies}

And my swap package went out to the lovely Lily. The theme was salt, which sounds a bit strange, but you know how much I love salt and she is a fellow salt enthusiast. I didn't manage to snap any pictures because I was in a god-awful rush trying to get to the post office before it closed, but Lily has some up on her blog.

Many thanks to the genius Amanda, for being the arranger of Valentine's swap delights!

*Making the bandanna was even easier than the cowl. I just layered the fabrics, right sides together, cut out a triangle (make sure the long side is long enough to tie around the canine neck) and then stitched around the edges, leaving a small opening to make it possible to turn it right side out afterwards. I find it easiest to leave the opening in the middle of the longest edge. It's tempting to leave the opening on a corner, but that tends to look wonky at the end. Push the fabric through your little opening so that the right sides are out. Use a pencil (or a crochet hook) to stick into the very edge of each corner, so that they turn out all the way. Then press your bandanna with a nice hot iron (making sure the opening you left is tucked in nicely) and stitch around all the edges again, without leaving an opening. I used pink thread on the printed side and white thread on the more subtle side, just by using different colors in my bobbin and spool.

Friday flowers (finally)

Look! I bought flowers!

{decanted iris}

Let's just pretend that I didn't have to unceremoniously dump a huge pile of stuff on the floor in order to clear a large enough space to take a picture of them.

{iris}

The iris are in an enormous crystal decanter that I found for $10 (originally $200) at Macy's when I was supposed to be Christmas shopping for other people. The nice salesman gave me an additional discount so it was only $9.20 with tax. And since I don't decant things I justified it by telling myself I could use it as a vase. Done.

I brought heart shaped treats to work today. I sent a flurry of cards in the mail. I am perfectly content to wallow in paste and red paper and leave the romance out of it, thank you.

Valentine's Day is tricky - I love it, platonically. I love baked goods swathed in pink icing. I love seeing cheesy cut out hearts everywhere. I love paper lace doilies. I do not love bouquets of tight budded red roses and diamond earrings and fancy restaurant reservations and high expectations.

D and I just realized that this will be the first Valentine's Day we've spent together in three years. No, we aren't doing anything in particular. We aren't exchanging gifts, because I always feel like it's a bit awkward and forced unless you happen to have a brilliant idea. One year, in high school, Dustin bought me a hamster. Best gift ever.* Actually, I got a coupon (with a hand illustrated hamster) and then I got to pick out my own hamster. Because really the logistics of something like that are tricky - you cannot in good conscience stick a rodent in someone's locker as a surprise.

Hope your weekend is lovely, Valentine's Day or not, with or without fuzzy rodents.

*Absolutely not a hint that I want another hamster. As much as I loved Creeper, I'm done.