Happy Friday! We had a superb Christmas filled with friends and family. K raked in some squeal-inducing gifts (the expression when she saw the gigantic Yamaha keyboard box with her name spelled out with red camo duct tape was pure gold: "Mommy! There's a present for me that's bigger than our couch!!"). One of the things I really enjoyed on Christmas Eve was making miniature gingerbread houses that perch on the edge of mugs. I used Not Martha's template and recipe recommendations, and ... Read more
Joyeux Noel
One of the holiday projects we worked on included these clay ornament tags. I've been using them as decorative touches to gifts as well as gifts themselves. K, my mom and I spent an evening cutting them out using cookie cutters and then painted them a couple of days later when the clay pieces had thoroughly dried. We used this brand of air dry clay, and initially it looks dull, like dirty snow. But as it dries, the clay turns bright white, just the way I like them. One of the things I ... Read more
Monday Outfit: Shimmery Aqua Party Dress
Good morning! It was, of course, essential that I make a Christmas dress for K, and for the occasion, I pulled out a fabric that I've been saving for a long time. It's a metallic aqua linen, and I knew it would be perfect as a festive frock. The metallic coating stiffens the fabric,which gives it a taffeta-like texture, and I found that I could finger-press pintucks quite effectively. This was helpful because ironing required a press cloth, and sometimes I would forget and my iron would ... Read more
Happy Friday + Randomness (+ Peppermint Cocoa Blocks)
Happy, happy Friday! How are you all faring in all the holiday madness? Perhaps you'd like to sit back and relax with some peppermint cocoa? We made a boatload of these to give out to classmates, teachers and friends. They are easy to whip up, but require some waiting time (12 hours for the cocoa blocks to set) so you do need to do some planning, but there's still time before Christmas! I used this ubiquitous recipe from King Arthur Flours, and these cocoa blocks are amazing. AMAZING. ... Read more
Abstention Updates
Okay. I've shipped out all out-of-town gifts, dropped off most of the local gifts and have just a few more odds and ends to finish up before I can consider Christmas 2013 a done deal. At the last minute, I adopted a "semi-homemade" approach this year in the vein of Sandra Lee, with mostly store-bought items embellished with handmade tags, ornaments, accessories, etc. It's reduced my stress-level by a thousand-fold. I have a dirty secret to share: I don't like making the same things over and ... Read more