Picnic

Awaiting a visit from the Tooth Fairy

A little someone in our household is obsessed with the idea of loosing a tooth and the opportunity to have a visit from the tooth fairy.  The obsession started when she found a little tooth pillow in her big sister's room with a couple of her old baby teeth still tucked inside.  Apparently, the "tooth fairy" forgot to wake up in the middle of the night a few times. Oops.

 

To Make:

1. Cut a 4" x 8" rectangle from a piece of felt.
2. On both short sides hand stitch a half inch seam.
3. Fold the felt in half and hand stitch up both sides leaving the top seam open for the string.
4. Guide a piece of string (I like to attach a safety pin to the string to make it easy) through one side and then the other.  Trim the string to an appropriate length and knot off the ends.
5. Guide a second string starting from the opposite side and then back along the second side.  Trim and knot.
6. Iron fusible interfacing onto a piece of white felt.
7. Draw a tooth onto the paper backing. Cut out the tooth and then peel away the paper.
8. Place the tooth onto the bag, interfacing side down and iron.

 

The Artist's Corner

I'm always one to encourage art around our household.  Partly because it is much more fun for me to sit down and work on a drawing or painting then it is to play Candy Land or pretend I'm a baby who is going to the doctor's office or having a time out or something.  Yes, many of our make-believe games have some sick twist which involves me crying.  A shot, a time-out, etc.

I decided to put a little art set-up in Bijou's bedroom including a clip board so she can sit on her bed and draw since her room is too small for a proper drawing table.

 

I cleaned out a couple of cans I found in our recycling bin and decorated them with Happy Tape!

 

This is such a simple craft project and could be used for many things.  I think this would also make a cute vase.  I promise you that you will find many uses for the Happy Tape if you buy a few rolls.  You'd think they were paying me to say that, they're not.

New Skirts!

My little one refused to wear dresses for the first three years of her life.  She is now in a full fledged skirt/dress phase and I am in full support.  To show my appreciation for her more girlie style, I made her a couple of new skirts to add to her wardrobe.

I'm really into Zakka-style fabrics right now from Japan and since my local fabric shop only carries a small selection, I hit up Etsy.  Etsy never lets me down.  All four fabrics used to make these skirts were bought at Cottonblue's shop.

 

Knowing that she would not be too happy about my brown-tone fabric choice on top, I told her that these houses were where the bunnies lived.  She seemed to approve of the skirt after hearing the story behind it.  I swear, she is my toughest critic.

This one she told me she didn't like so I told her that I would give her a treat if she wore it, knowing that after she wore it once, she'd wear it again without bribery.  For some reason, that's the way it always is.

 

Snack Sack

The sandwiches wraps I made a while ago have been a big hit in our household.  Doug has been using one for his turkey sandwich everyday, reducing the number of plastic sandwich bags in the landfill by 365 per year. (Yes, the man eats a turkey sandwich for lunch every single day.) When I pulled out our picnic lunch at the park last weekend, my sister asked that I give her a couple as part of her Christmas gift.

 

I've decided to take it up a notch and make a few of these reusable snack sacks for everyone to use.  They have a velcro closure, making it easy to open for the little ones and are easily washable.

 

 

 

Instructions for how to make these little pouches can be found here.

Someone's in the kitchen

I spent a lovely Sunday afternoon at the Alameda flea market buying gifts, vintage holiday decor and a few wooden boxes I plan to put on wheels to turn into toy bins.  The idea was inspired by this photo...

 

After the flea market, I continued my lovely day in the kitchen cooking up these yummy fall recipes.

Cranberry Apple Crumble

 

Mustard-Rosemary Chicken with Carrots and Potatoes

 

I also made the "curried butternut squash soup with coconut and lime" from this book, and it was delicious!  Unfortunately, my Google search for the recipe left me empty handed.

I hope you all had a fun and safe Halloween.  We are still in shock by how well Bijou is following the "candy rules" (1 piece a day).  What a difference a year makes!  Last year, her candy had been thrown out by now because it had turned into a big source of tension.  Ahh, I'm so happy things have changed for the better.  Four is a good age!

Winter Beauty

I don't know about you, but with all this wind whipping around the bay this week my skin feels all dry and wrinkly. 

I think a spa day is in order and since there is no way I can convince my husband to send me off to spa, I'll just splurge on a few necessary products and lock myself in the bathroom for an hour.  In fact, I may even invite the little one to join me since she certainly loves a morning of pampering.

Spa Goddess Pure Fresh Detoxifying Body Scrub, $4.25 for 2 oz.

Jewel Alchemy Organic Vegan Lip Balm, $8

Soothing Oatmeal and Cocoa Butter Soap, $4.25

Miapella Nourishing Butter, $12

p.s.  This blog is off on vacation tomorrow.  We are off to Santa Cruz for the Halloween festivities.

Gift Decor

I've been trying to come up with craft projects from my existing materials that are cluttering my craft room.  I had a pile of scrap booking paper that had already been half-hacked up and a daughter who is in love with using my circle punch so I put her to work one afternoon after school.  

She punched, I sewed, and here are our results...

 

Circle garlands to adorn our gifts this holiday season!

Fall Recipes

Here are a few fall recipes I've put out of my kitchen in the last week that have been stamped with approval from my family and dinner guests. Enjoy!

Creamy Carrot Soup with Scallions and Poppy Seeds

 

Maple Ginger Roasted Vegetables with Pecans

 

Crostini with Smoked Trout, Creme Fraiche, and Dill

makes 4

1 oz. smoked trout

1 tsp. olive oil

1 tsp. lemon juice

4- 1/2-inch thick slices from a large rustic round loaf

1 garlic clove

1/4 c. creme fraiche

3 tbsp. chopped dill, plus 12 small dill sprigs

1 small shallot, minced

kosher salt

Crumble the trout into a small bowl, drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice, toss and set it aside to marinate while you prepare the rest of your ingredients.

Toast the bread in a toaster.  Brush with olive oil and rub with the garlic clove.

Stir the creme fraiche, dill, shallot and salt together in a small bowl.

Spoon a heaping teaspoon of creme fraiche mixture onto the toast.  Divide the trout evenly among the crostini and drizzle with the marinade left over in the bowl.  Top each crostino with 3 dill sprigs.

* Photos courtesy of Food & Wine magazine.

* The crostini recipe is from Nancy Silverton's cookbook, A Twist Of The Wrist.

Botanical Note Cards

Cards can be expensive to buy but are so easy to make so I try to keep a handful of homemade cards on hand for various occasions.  I had these flat black note cards left over from that pirate party kit I made a while back.  When I ran across my silver gel pen the other day, I knew I could put it to good use on the black note cards.  I'm horrible at drawing but not so bad at looking at another person's drawing and coping their design.  These little botanical prints came from this book.

Origami Boxes

In Martha Stewart Living this month, she had these adorable little origami boxes filled with almonds as tabletop decor for her Thanksgiving meal.  Since we are hosting Thanksgiving at our house this year, I'm in search of some fun decorating ideas.

Origami is one of those things... you need a lot of patience while making your first piece but after that it's a piece of cake and you can whip up a huge batch in just a matter of minutes.  The instructions can be found here.