With These Hands

I was excited about these.
It started because I was having the darndest time figuring out what to make for teacher gifts this year. The end of school year was coming up fast and all my promises to myself to get this done early had simply gone out the window. Shocker!
Being that Matty has been in preschool for 3 years and was at the same school, in the same classroom for all of those years with mostly the same teachers, well, I was in a pickle.
I had already made: keyrings, change purses, totes and wristlets.
Any type of clothing was out and I didn’t want to simply make another bag.
Hmmm.
I knew they all wore aprons throughout the day.
It was perfect!
I just needed to guessimate sizing, as all three ladies were really different.
Furthermore, they were different from me. I of the big and tall proportions!

Since I had never made an apron before and I wasn’t using any specific tutorial or pattern (just gathering ideas from hither and yon), I decided it best to make one for myself first. I didn’t want to ruin any of the fabric I ordered especially for the girls!

I used printed cotton canvas and a cotton lawn for mine. You can’t tell in the pics, but the red is actually a teeny polka dot! For mine (and for each following) I used my favored applique method of fusible webbing then stitching around the edges. It works brilliantly and adds a nice touch of character and whimsy when mixing prints.

Me in mine:

And now for the ladies. I should have gotten up close pics of the fabrics, because they were all so lovely. I purchased each material from j.caroline creative. I just love that site!

For Rosie:

(She really is little compared to me. See how it looks like a bib on me? Haha!)

For Maria:

And For Nina:

Each apron was reversible and had a kangaroo pocket on one-side. The only thing I did different from my original one was adding an adjustable neck strap via two D-rings. I was thankful that I thought to do it as I noticed that all Matty’s teachers adjusted them as soon as they got them on. Yay for thinking ahead!

Here are all three lovely ladies with wearing their new aprons:

♥

July 2nd, 2009 ★ No Comments »

Every superhero needs a cape, yes?
YES!
Matty loves the PBS program ‘Super Why’, so I thought I would make him a cape of his own.
I used a wool blend felt (SO much better than craft felt) and a printed cotton for the reverse side.
It was terrificly easy to make and he looks adorable with it on.

He’s flying!

July 2nd, 2009 ★ No Comments »

I love making birthday presents for my two nieces. This year I wanted to make a slim, almost sleeve like bag for Ellie to hold some more adult type art supplies. Initially I was looking for an kit, but really couldn’t find anything that had a good variety and was of better quality. That’s when I thought to make a bag and stuff it with individual items for her to use and enjoy.

The outside is all canvas, while the interior is soft cotton flannel. I used fusible webbing to adhere the ELLIE letters and hand stitched “creates” with DMC.

There was plenty of room for everything: pastels, sculpty clay, brushes/watercolor, and two pads of paper:

Included in her gift box was a little softie I created from a drawing she had made for us. It’s the sweetest owl and he’s been residing on our fridge since he was drawn:

I scanned him onto my computer and printed him out onto a sheet of printable fabric. I then quilted the owl imaged fabric onto some solid cotton flannel. I finished it off by using some sweet Japanese owl fabric I had in my stash and stuffing him with polyfill and some dried lavender buds. He smelled good!

♥

July 2nd, 2009 ★ No Comments »

Well, I mean, if you leave a crayon in your pocket and then it runs through the clothes dryer and melts, well, that still is a bad thing.
So let’s say that melting-crayons-on-purpose-in-a-controlled-environment IS a good thing. Yes/Yes?

First we needed to do this:

Those naked crayons were chop-chop-chopped then put into my silicon candy molds. (Purchased specifically for this project.)

Some time in the oven, a little swirly-swirl with a thin stick and presto, here is the result:

A few notes about this craft:

I used a bunch of different brands of crayons. From crayon standards, to the washables, to the cheapies that you get at IHOP. The amount of pigment to wax definitely varies and when the molds came out of the oven, the ones with the higher ratio of wax, well you could really tell. There was a thick layer of the wax and I needed to mix it up manually to make the crayon more uniformed with color. As the crayons colored the wax still settled on the top however.

If you want CLEAR definition in your swirls/marbling, you’ll need to use colors that contrast well but don’t get swallowed up by each other. If you’re using dark green and you want pink speckles, use a lot of pink pieces, otherwise they’ll simply melt into the green and you’ll have almost a solid green crayon. Also: be gentle with your swirling.

July 2nd, 2009 ★ No Comments »

I hand-sewed this little lady last year while I was tending my booth at the Arlington Fair. She was originally supposed to be a smidgen of a doll that would hang out in my workspace. But somehow, I cut the arms and legs really thin and weird and I couldn’t turn them right side out. So I chopped off the limbs, stuffed her with lavender buds and made her into a sweet sachet. I like her face. And she smells good.

July 2nd, 2009 ★ No Comments »

I wanted to brighten up our hallway a bit, so I painted some cheery red flowers on my craft closet door. I did it in about an hour or so after the boys went to bed. They both stared at it when they woke up the next day.

July 2nd, 2009 ★ No Comments »

plus

EQUALS

That there is lemon raspberry swirl ice cream. And it is FANTASTIC.

We just purchased the ice cream maker attachment for our Kitchenaid a few weeks ago. So far we’ve made three different batches of three different flavors.

First we had vanilla cherry chocolate chip. Then came rocky road. And yesterday we made the above.

Recipe is from the book before the cut.

2 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (about 5-6 lemons)
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon lemon extract
2 cups light cream

Combine eggs, sugar,lemon juice, and butter in the top of double boiler.
Place over simmering water and beat constantly until mixture thickens, about 15 minutes.
Allow the lemon curd to cool slightly. (We let it cool for 10 minutes.)
Stir in lemon extract, then cream.
Cover and refrigerate about 8 hours or overnight.

Stir the cold custard well, then freeze in your machine according to your ice cream maker’s instructions.
Our Kitchenaid mixer required about 20 minutes to get ice cream to soft serve consistency.

Raspberry swirl is simply a seedless raspberry jam (1/4 cup) mixed with 2 1/2 tablespoons water. (Water loosens up the jam nicely.) Do this before you put your custard mixture in your maker and keep jam in fridge right up until you’re ready to mix in it.

You’ll mix the jam in once the ice cream is done freezing in your machine or mixer.

Transfer your ice cream to airtight containers and freeze until hard. (About 2 hours.)
Or you can eat it right away, I tried it before we put it in the freezer for the night and it was AMAZING as soft serve.

July 2nd, 2009 ★ No Comments »

Is it “broo-SKEH-tah” for you?
Or do you order it as “broo-SHEH-tah”?

Honestly? I alternate depending on my mood! If I’m in a Giada De Laurentiis kinda mood, then I break out the “broo-SKEH-tah”. But if I’m feeling my old americanized self, well then it’s the other one. It’s funny when I’m bopping back and forth between pronunciations in one single conversation. Or annoying. :p

Okay, so however you say it, it is a divine thing indeed and well, I made two versions recently.

This one here is a topped with a white bean puree and balsamic dressed arugula with red onions.

First the recipe* for the white bean:

1 can (19 ounces) cannellini beans, strained and rinsed
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon juice from 1 lemon
1 small garlic clove, minced
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/4 medium red onion, thinly sliced (about 1/4 cup)
1 small bunch arugula (about 2 ounces) washed, dried, and cut into 1/2 strips

You should definitely make your toppings before you tend to the bread portion.
With that, here is the process for the white bean topping:

In food processor, process 2/3 of beans, 2 T olive oil, 2 T water, lemon juice, garlic, 1/2 t salt, 1/8 t pepper, until smooth, about 10 seconds.
Add remaining beans and pulse until incorporated, but not too smooth, about five 1 second pulses. (You still want some texture to the beans.)

Whisk remaining 1 T olive oil, balsamic vinegar, 1/4 t salt, 1/8 t pepper in separate medium bowl, add onion and toss.

(I used ciabatta bread for the bruschetta.)
Cut the loaf into slices between 1/2 inch to an inch thick.
Place them on a cookie sheet.
Pop them into the broiler for about 2 minutes.
Watch your broiler! (Mine will turn bread into a charred mess in the blink of an eye.)
Take a fresh garlic clove and rub across tops of bread.
You can add a drizzle of olive oil to the slices at this point, but I don’t find it necessary as there is olive oil in both topping versions and I personally hate when my bruschetta loses its tasty crunch and becomes a sopping mess. YMMV

Once your bread is ready and your bean spread is complete, then you will toss in your arugula strips into the balsamic/onion mixture.

To assemble, simply take your garlic rubbed toasted bread, spread some white bean mix on it, then top with some of the arugula/onion mixture. Eat and enjoy! It is SO GOOD.

Or…

Arugula and white bean not your thing?
How about traditional?

This one is even easier. You use the same process for toasting the bread and make a simple tomato and basil topping. I pretty much eyeball everything. I used: roma tomatoes, vine cherry tomatoes, fresh basil, kosher salt, black pepper, bit of olive oil, and balsamic vinegar. Toss everything gently, give it a quick taste and adjust if needed. Then pop in fridge while you tend to the bread. The flavors of the tomato topping intensify nicely, so it would be okay to make this a few hours ahead even.

Oh and don’t forget the shaved romano!

*This particular recipe comes from the July/August 2003 issue of Cook’s Illustrated

July 2nd, 2009 ★ No Comments »

I’ve been away. Life, it gets in the way. My crafty space has been ignored for too long!
I realize my overall general well-being suffers when I’m not creating in ernest. So while I have been doing things here and there, it is simply not enough. My mission is to make it a daily occurrence.

I’m going to be posting items that I’ve made during the time between now and since my last posting. There’s not a ton, but I’ll be inspired to keep going. It’s time to breathe some life back into this place!

♥

July 2nd, 2009 ★ No Comments »