Handmade Gifts

I recently made a few more One Hour Bags as seen at Ric-Rac to give as gifts. These are very simple to make. I usually spend most of my time trying to decide what fabric to use. You can find the tutorial here.





Another Black Apple doll for a friend who loves to bake:

You can find the tutorial for the doll here.

Blueberry-Cornmeal Pancakes with Orange Maple Butter

We made these pancakes for dinner the other night and they were fabulous. The Orange Maple Butter is a must.

Blueberry Cornmeal Pancakes
Martha Stewart Living

1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups low-fat buttermilk
1/4 cup whole milk
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted & cooled
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 cups fresh blueberries

1. Whisk together flour, cornmeal, 2 tablespoons sugar, the baking powder, salt and baking soda. In another bowl, whisk together buttermilk, milk, butter and egg. Whisk wet ingredients into dry ingredients until just combined (mixture will be lumpy). (I doubled the recipe and had to add more flour because mine was quite runny.)

2. Preheat oven to 200 degrees (for keeping pancakes warm). Heat a griddle or large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Toss blueberries with remaining 2 tablespoons sugar. Brush griddle with melted butter. Spoon batter onto griddle 1/3 cup at a time. Sprinkle with sugared blueberries, about 2 tablespoons per pancake. Cook until edges are set, 3 to 4 minutes. Flip, and cook until golden brown, about 2 minutes. Repeat with remaining batter and blueberries, adding more butter to griddle and keeping prepared pancakes warm on a baking sheet in the oven. Serve with orange maple butter and pure maple syrup.

Orange Maple Butter
Martha Stewart Living

4 ounces unsalted butter, softened
1 tablespoon fresh orange juice
1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt

Using a rubber spatula, combine ingredients in a small bowl. Orange maple butter can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to one week. (Mixing with a rubber spatula did not work for me...I had to mix it with the electric mixer to get the liquids to mix in. Also, I left out the grated orange zest and salt and it was still delicious.)

The Shirt Dress

When my mom was in town I had to pick a sewing project to work on. I saw this cute dress idea over at Made and had to experiment with it.

My mom did most of the work on this one and I observed.

Before:


After:




The next day I tried making one myself, under the supervision of my mom.

Before:


After:






We followed most of the directions on the tutorial, but altered the neck and sleeves. We used elastic thread instead of making an elastic casing. It seemed much easier and I like the look. Ben was not ready to part with any of his dress shirts, so I had fun combing through the racks at the thrift store picking out some patterns I liked. I have another shirt that is waiting to be cut up. I have some ideas about changing up the buttons or possibly adding a contrasting fabric along the bottom...

Fancy!

I think I would enjoy being a party planner. Except for that whole part about meeting the demands of other people. So I'll just stick with planning my own parties for now.

I went a little crazy preparing for Amelia's 4th birthday. She decided on a Fancy Nancy party quite awhile ago and I immediately started scheming. We settled on a "butterfly garden party" theme, based on the book "Bonjour, Butterfly." Even though we were rained out and my backyard decorations had to be abandoned, the party was a huge success. I had fun planning it with Amelia and all the girls had fun being Fancy.

The Invitation


I found some Fancy Nancy images online and then used Photoshop to manipulate the word Nancy and change it to Amelia so the invitation would resemble the book cover.

The Decorations


This party definitely called for the Martha Stewart pom-poms. Instructions can be found here. These are very easy and cheap to make. It calls for 20x30 tissue paper, which I had a hard time finding. I found some really cute colors and patterns at Target that were pretty close to those dimensions and they worked well. I stacked them 10 thick.


I scored some paper lanterns at the dollar store that happened to be butterfly-themed. We strung those up across the backyard.


We ordered some 3D cardboard butterflies from Oriental Trading and Amelia and I had fun one night decorating them.

The Activities


All the girls decorated butterfly wings to wear. I found some great poster board at Michaels that was purple on one side and blue on the other. I cut out a butterfly shape on each piece and then punched out two holes in the top center and 2 in the bottom center and strung elastic string through them so they could be worn like a backpack.


They also decorated little bags to use for a butterfly hunt and then they each made a wooden butterfly necklace (from a kit found at Michaels).

The Food




PB&J sandwiches and ham & cheese sandwiches and our favorite fancy French lemonade from Trader Joes.


Lemon scones, shaped as butterflies of course.


Fruit kabobs.

The Cake


In addition to cake and cupcakes, I couldn't resist making more cupcake pops.


I "drew" butterfly wings on wax paper using melted chocolate and then after they had hardened, I put them on the cupcakes. And nothing says fancy like paper doilies! Go here for instructions on making the chocolate butterflies. I used candy melts instead of semi-sweet chocolate.


My first attempt at a four-layer cake. I took the easy way out and decorated it with fake flowers and butterflies from Michaels.

The Favors


Each of the girls got to take home a potted flower. I spray painted small terracotta pots with silver glitter paint and then found some butterfly ribbon to put around the top.

First attempt at Cupcake Pops!

I have wanted to attempt these cupcake pops since I saw them here about a year ago. I needed to bring a treat to Amelia's last day of school since they were celebrating summer birthdays and I decided it was time to try these little cuties.



They turned out better than I expected for a first try and were so delicious. I just assumed it was all about the cuteness factor and not so much the taste. But these things are scrumptious. Amelia had fun dipping them in the chocolate coating and then putting the sprinkles on. It was a LONG process, but I'm excited to try them again.


Mmmmm.

Cantilevers. And why I love my small house.

On Friday I surprised Ben with an afternoon date to tour Frank Lloyd Wright's Pope-Leighey House which is not too far from us. We have wanted to visit it for a long time and it just never happened. I was particularly excited to see this house because it is the same size as our house. This was an example of Wright's innovative designs to create a modestly-sized and affordable single-family home in 1939. Every space in the house was designed beautifully with a specific purpose in mind and although it is small, it felt big inside. Part of that was due to Wright's use of only four materials (wood, brick, glass, and concrete).

Houses have become so large. I think about the houses that my parents grew up in. They were not big. And even with 4 or 5 children, they managed to survive in them. Today, you need an extra bedroom just for your Costco membership. Lately, I have really been embracing my small house. I love that it takes me little time to straighten. I love that I don't have to travel far to return all the clean laundry to its proper place. I love that it prevents me from accumulating too much stuff. I love trying to organize a small space and I have actually gotten my home to the point where I have extra storage space. It is just right for our little family. Wright was against basements and attics and garages and felt that everything you use on a daily basis could be easily stored somewhere in your house. I really like the idea of living more simply.

The other great thing about the Pope-Leighey house, as with all of Wright's houses, is the way it is made to blend in with its surroundings and bring the outside right into the home. You hardly notice when you've transitioned from the outside to the inside. One of my favorite Wright features are his corner windows and doors. They are seriously stunning. There was some beautiful (and versatile) furniture inside as well. We left the tour and Ben immediately had all sorts of ideas for tearing out walls in our house to open up the space.


Notice the raised herb garden right outside the kitchen window. Perfect.


This photo shows one of the corner doors opening up onto the patio. Why don't they build more houses with corner windows and doors? They are amazing.




(This was the only photo I managed to sneak inside, because photography was not permitted in the house.)




This was a corner window in one of the bedrooms.

The Magic of Screen Printing

My interest in graphic design started when I was in high school. My school actually offered graphic arts classes where we primarily did screen printing. It was the most fascinating process. This was more like a shop class with lots of huge equipment. There was only one computer with some very basic clip art and one scanner, which was like a new toy for everyone. I came out of that class with some fabulous band t-shirts, Charlie Brown pillowcases, and countless numbers of notepads. Ben recently bought me a screen printing kit and it has been fun to get back to my "roots" and experiment a little at home.

I designed a logo for a band I'm loving lately (Great Lake Swimmers) and we used the photo emulsion method to transfer the design to the screen. We were pretty happy with the results. I'm still completely amazed by the process.



I recently discovered another home method for screen printing which is not as easy, but cheaper. I LOVE using things for purposes other than what they were originally intended. I made my own screen using an embroidery hoop and sheer curtain material. This process involves painting the negative space of your image with glue. I was completely surprised that this actually worked. I printed a bunch of cards and then a little apron for Amelia.





These are the two different screens.

I still like to do the freezer paper stencils, although they are only good for one print and you are limited by your ability to cut with an x-acto knife.

My latest stenciled onesie...it was originally going to be just an umbrella, but it seemed rather lonely.