Hello! Well, finally I have a "little" shop update. In the shop now is Izzy the kitty, and a couple tote bags. Hop on over and check them out!
I was supposed to have three kitties to go into the shop, but a friend bought these two sweeties before they even left the studio! Lucy and Lily now have a new home!
This is that time of year where I long for the fresh veggies from my summer garden, and all I'm seeing around here are these potatoes (sweet and white) cabbage, kale, carrots... all good stuff, but wouldn't it be great to make a batch of fresh-from-the-garden Bruschetta? Well, unfortunately that will have to wait. Darn.
I have been experimenting though, using what I have around here, and came up with this recipe, and I have to say, it's pretty good!
Cauliflower Spinach Dijon
1 head of Cauliflower
1 bunch of fresh spinach, washed
3 TBS Olive Oil + 1 TBS for pan
2 TBS Country Style Dijon Mustard
1 clove of garlic, crushed
salt and pepper to taste
Cut cauliflower into small florets, cook until done. Place in a large pan, add 1 TBS olive oil and crushed garlic. Saute for about one minute, stirring and chopping the cauliflower into smaller pieces.
In separate bowl whisk together the 3 TBS olive oil and 2 TBS country style dijon. *Don't use the regular dijon, only the country style!
Pour over the cauliflower in the pan and stir in. Add the spinach on top and cover. Let simmer until the spinach is wilted, about 3-4 minutes.
Serve with a salad and rolls for a main dish, or as a side dish. Yum! Bring on the winter veggies!
Sasha is another friend that is heading to Gloucester, MA on the north shore Monday! She's an ocean cat for sure. Sasha's an artistic daydreamer, and will be sitting on the window seat of the upstairs studio, gazing out to the ocean. Sweet Sasha, you'll have a great life!
This sweetie is made of gray cotton chamois, and stuffed with real wool just like the friends in my previous post. The kitty and all the clothes are my own design, which by the way was VERY challenging to do. Not so much the kitty, but the clothes. But, finally I got it and I think they turned out pretty good. I really would like to find a book on making clothes for softies... any ideas?
I made a few more friends for Christmas gifts this year. This is "Blue" and "Spot". Now, one lives in Michigan and the other in Idaho.
They're email pals now. Remember when we had "pen pals"? Oh, great. There I go dating myself again!
These cuddly fellows are made of gray and blue cotton chamois, and stuffed with real wool. Dressed in linen and flannel trousers.
Now, back to the studio! Hope you're having a good weekend!
Why does it take so long to get back to "normal" after the holidays? It seems like the holidays linger in small ways. The tree was taken down days ago, but there are a few ornaments still hanging on doorknobs, Christmas cards in the basket, peppermints nougats still fill a candy dish, cookies "hidden" *ahem* in the cellar, and the collection of Christmas books still on the side table. It usually stays like this until the end of January. I like this, it keeps the winter season cheerful.
I did a lot of making this holiday season, and today I'll show you one craft we started last fall, and finished just before the gifts were to be given to Colin's teachers. We used the instructions from Amanda Soule's book, "Handmade Home" to make the paper mache bowls.
Sorry this is so blurry, I was in a hurry to download the photos to the computer, and didn't check them very well...grrr...
Anyway, the whole process was a lot of fun for Colin and myself. After we made the bowls, we collected leaves from the woods to imprint with paint on the sides of the bowls.
Each leaf was painted first, then very carefully, we placed them on the side of the bowls, and pressed them down with our hands.
I love the leaves when they are colored with paint - so bright!
Once they were all painted, we used a solid bright color to paint the inside of the bowl. We used yellow, orange and red. Then to seal the painted bowl, I used Mod-Podge. Whoa, I just dated myself in a big way. Did anybody grow up in the 70s and use Mod-Podge for decoupage? Yeah, that was me. *sigh* Moving on...
Since these were gifts for teachers, we made little ornaments out air drying terra cotta clay and cookies to fill the bowls. These were equally fun to do. I have a nice collection of cookie presses and springerle molds. We picked a nice mold that would work well for an ornament, and pressed the clay onto the mold. Then I pressed in a paper clip, and let them dry. Added a black ribbon - done.
Handmade gift tags.
And simple wrapping complete the gifts.
Sweet.
Just popping in from all the craziness around here in the past month.... I'll be back in a few days with lots of handmade stuff to share. Until then, hope your holidays were filled with joy, laughter and lots of love!
Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with family, laughter and blessings. Yes, lots of blessings.
Where does the time go? Please, if anyone knows I'd appreciate you telling me! I was so determined to post every few days, but it has been over a week!
I have bags of apples everywhere here, and I am putting them up as fast as I can! To help me do this I use my, oh so faithful, Kitchen-Aid mixer and attachments! I'm sure many of you have the mixer, they are ubiquitous now, but when I received this as a high school graduation gift in....(drumroll please) 1983! I felt like one of the few who was so lucky to have such a wonderful device. I have really used it so much over the years, I don't know what I'd do without it, especially the attachments.
This is the "Fruit and Vegetable Strainer" attachment. It makes the smoothest applesauce. I've also used it when putting away squash for the winter. I cook the squash, then cut it up in smaller pieces, and put it though the vegetable strainer. It comes out very smooth and no "stringy fings" (things) says that four year old boy of mine!
After I use the "apple corer, peeler and slicer" sometimes some of the core pieces, skin or seeds get into the sauce, and is a real pain to get out unless you use a hand crank food mill or sieve. Using this saves time, and a sore arm from turning a crank for hours!
Anyways, after I run the apples through the corer, peeler and slicer, I cook the apples for about 10 minutes until they are a little soft. Then I put them through the food strainer. After this I put the pot back on the stove and add cinnamon, and gently cook it for about 30 minutes, until it is thicker. Pour into jars, lids on top, then in to the freezer. If I have time I will can it, but this year it was about speed. You know what I mean?
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Unrelated News:
1) my first shop update in a very long time will be tomorrow, noon. Stay tuned for a few Christmas gift goodies.
2) I think I really need this "Joy" necklace
3) This little boy here is my real attachment... *sigh*
Hey, happy November! Well, at least a week into it! I've spent the past few days getting the studio organized and cleaned for my holiday making. It feels so good to have a semi-clean, semi-organized studio! I actually need about another week to say I have a really clean and really organized studio, but I'll take this for now.
It's that gifting time of year, and this little tip I am sharing today has really helped me out a lot for the past few years. I like to use 3x5 cards for notes, reminders, shopping lists etc... I thought these would work for Christmas lists too. I took a stack of 3x5 cards, and used a rubber stamp to stamp the year on each card. Then I put each persons name and gift ideas on the card. The gift ideas I used a pencil, that way if I thought of a different idea, I could erase it and write in the new.
I also made a little pouch for the cards so I can easily carry them in my purse or tote bag. This really works well, and I have actually been carry this around with me for about 6 months now, writing notes as I think of them. That way, when it comes time to make or buy gifts, it will be easier.
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We've been reading about "Hiawatha" lately, and Colin has been studying and studying the Native American clothing, especially the young Hiawatha. He finally said, "Mama, I need a Hi-yup-wafa (Hiawatha) dress up, can you make me one, please?" So of course I couldn't say no to my sweet baby child, and made this little get up. Quick. He wanted it, NOW. (You know those patient 4 year olds) It literally took about 45 minutes, with one fitting. He was so happy! Love it.
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Sew, Mama, Sew! Is having their third annual "Handmade Holidays"! Yeah! This is so inspiring! Great tutorials, recipes and give aways! Check it out!
Have a great start to the holiday season!
