Pink Flamingo Cookies

Somehow I brought home a flamingo cookie cutter from my last trip to FL.  Oh yeah, and a pre-made cookie mix.  The results:  very scary birds.

 Pink Flamingo Cookie-Making with E, 2/13/11.

Running out of Steam

12/16/10.

One card made, time to buy a box

12/4/10.

12/4/10.

The tree

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It was so good to spend the holiday with my parents and to share our annual tree procurement! While we always have a real tree for Christmas, we hadn't chopped one down since 2007. Henry's Tree Farm in Scituate was good to us again. And as always, the tree is 90% covered in paper/plastic/foam ornaments, made by friends and family. Each year the ornaments are different (see the history, here) and each year the unpacking of ornaments reminds me of the good friends we have (who affectionately allow me to force crafts on them). My parents added fancy paper ornaments this year (blinged up by mom). More pics soon.

Heirloom Pumpkins

10/17/10.

This year we picked up both a white pumpkin (below) up in Cumberland and a blue-gray pumpkin down in Westerly--both in Rhode Island. I love these more unusual squash and hopefully I'll be able to dry out a few seeds and grow them next year (especially if we have a giant backyard).
The gray pumpkin feels like marble -- the white one was more like a regular pumpkin. And since I wanted it to last, I couldn't carve it up. Thus the Martha Stewart blast of glitter:

10/11/10.

Inspired by the Pumpkin

10/11/10. Never gets old...E and Taylor joined us for pumpkin decorating. Taylor rooted us on (he's recovering from a cold). Of course, Chris painted the goofy one.

An inspirational mojo dance?

E's pumpkin, inspired by her new kitten, Roshi (here).

Maybe our last beautiful sunny day, and a perfect day to play with paints and pumpkins and good friends.

Link-share: Newspaper Gift Bag

Link-share for you:

How to make a gift bag out of newspaper (by How About Orange).

Knitting: Work in Progress

Taken 2/7/2010.

Part I Finished. Taken, 3/12/2010.

Recipe Rursday: Homemade Peanut Butter

Homemade Peanut Butter, 2/15/10.

My dear friend Danielle, who visited recently, brought her friend Tiffany, who brought along this homemade peanut butter. I was surprised at how delicious it is and how much better it is than store-bought. She had visited and worked at Nazareth Farm in West Virginia, and borrowed the recipe from them. Tiffany included her notes (below). I have to give this a try as soon as we're finished with the jar she brought. Love it!

Peanut Butter from Nazareth Farm

4 cups of roasted peanuts (I do some salted, some unsalted, it's your call)

3/4 cup of peanut oil

3 Tbsp. of honey

Blend in stages (some of the peanuts, some oil, and some honey...then repeat) in the food processor, so it will mix nicely. You could add some almonds, walnuts or whatever to mix up the taste. ...[maybe even] Agave nectar.

** For more recipes, check out the RedPepperFlakes Recipe Archives.

Valentine's Day Card

Throughout my crafty space I have kitchy little labels and cards that have landed in my possession, from various sources. IndieFixx sent me a bunch of creatively designed business cards and tiny sample prints from some of the many artists they support. Others have come in promotional bags from Craftland in Providence. I've held on to most of those little bits & have started using them to make cards.

2/6/10.

This card I made out of white vellum and simply attached a promo print/card made by Kiss the Frog (now called 7 Keys Design). Her whimsical prints/designs can be found here. I added a little texture by sewing into the paper. Envelope (below): Handmade envelopes are easy peasy to make, once you get the hang of it (and a get a really good glue stick - like this one). I almost always use brown paper grocery bags. Some day soon I'll layout a tutorial, but there's no one-way or right-way to make them.And I just got word that Danielle and her friend are coming to town this weekend! I haven't seen her since last Feb...and I'm so glad she's coming!

Not just the Knit Stitch

Cate's brick-pattern blanket, 2/3/10.

Two friends came over after work last week for a wine & knitting night. Cate (master knitter), helped Chan start up his new fine-yarn hoodie and helped me start up knitting project #2. I'm still doing a straight-forward knit, though this time I'm pearling the end of each row. And I'm so glad it's moving along quicker than Chris' scarf (which took 6 months). Lesson learned from the first project - don't use tiny tiny needles if you want to finish a project. Size 10 1/2 work great!

Cate's work is so pretty and interesting...I had to share what she's working on right now. Lovely lovely.

Cate's brick-pattern blanket, 2/3/10.

Last Batch

Last Batch of homemade holiday cards...sent out in early Jan.1/4/10.

And Two

cards made 12/21/09.

Two more handmade cards -- the first came from holiday envelope kit that I made at RAH last year, and the second is partially-recycled from a card received last year ('08). I've been holding on to holiday cards that might have the potential to be chopped up and recycled...

Homemade Yarn Tree Card

Yarn Tree Card 12/13/09.

I think I saw this in a holiday magazine last year. Wavy yarn gives the tree a bit of texture, but you could use just about anything. I sewed through the green cardstock, but you could glue each piece of yarn down, horizontally as well. Only made one of these, since they take a while.

Messy back, but this gets glued down onto the card.

DIY Crinkly Scarf

Linkshare: DIY Scarf Instructions (and photo) by Jennifer Juniper.

Now if I could just find a single free evening...and keep my eyes open long enough to remind myself how to work that sewing machine...and then grab some fabric and... and... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Holiday Cards for 2009

Handmade Holiday Cards, 12/13/09.

Finally! A relaxing weekend with plenty of down time, little to no stress, and a chance for Chris and I to waste away the day watching movies. Since I can't sit still watching t.v. for very long, I dragged my box of scrapbooking paper downstairs and made cards all day. I doubt I'll be able to get many more done...there are still the envelopes to make (if I can find enough paper grocery bags), but I enjoyed every bit of this.How To: This was very easy to pull together. With a Google image search, I found a clip art image (here) of a deer/fawn, printed/cut it out, and used it as a pattern to trace onto various patterned papers. Mount the cut-out deer onto another rectangle and mount on paper that has been folded into a card. Done and done.

I heart wood-grain.

14 and counting...

3 Down...50 to go? Homemade Holiday Cards

A short holiday playlist. And a few handmade cards.

The stocking came from a gift tag on a present last year.
Gotta love hambly.
My favorite so far. 50 to go.

Overly dramatic snowman photos

Home sick from work today. Ribs, knees, even my armpits ache...unless I sit perfectly still. This past weekend my mom flew out and we spent 3 days at a scrapbooking weekend getaway (run by Right at Home). We kicked ass being crafty and made snow people out of glass jars. cute! I worked on a mini-book of my garden & mom worked on Halloween photos. More photos to come.

We made 3, this is my favorite. Taken 11/24/09.

Snow people made by others in the class. Taken 11/21/09.

Craft day with Mom

Mom & I had a few craft days while she and my dad were visiting, including an evening event at Right at Home and a trip to Bella Art. I didn't accomplish much--only a photo cube (above) and a scrapbook page. Crafts with mom rocks. It's always a great way for us to catch up.

Holly, who we met at RAH.

Scrapbook page on the top played songs on my ipod (their artists). I'm such a pop music junkie.

Link-share: Embroidery

Link-share: Embroidery, from Embloggery.