Things Worth Making

Making salted caramel cupcakes

2011-09-02T11:50:00.000-07:00

It was Jen's birthday in August, and I almost made her the same chocolate cupcakes with malted icing that I made last year, but then I stumbled upon a recipe for salted caramel cupcakes, and there was no turning back.

I usually don't take on complicated recipes (though Smitten Kitchen's chocolate whiskey and beer cupcakes and root beer float cupcakes are constant temptations), but this one was reasonable, especially because I opted not to add the extra decoration at the end. It's not as simple as making a cake and icing it, but if you give yourself plenty of time, and if you have a few WireTap podcasts queued up, you'll find that putting caramel into each individual cupcake isn't such a big deal. And it's totally worth it.

Making baklava

2011-04-21T06:28:00.000-07:00

If I had known how easy it was to make baklava, I would have made it a long time ago. I often dream of the baklava that we ate in Turkey over 10 years ago. Men would sell boxes out of the trunks of their cars, and it was one of the most delicious things I've ever eaten. It just tasted so fresh! And we bought it out of the trunk of a car!

It occurred to me to look for a baklava recipe when I was planning a wedding anniversary dinner for me and Michael and Marc and Jen (no, the four of us aren't married; our anniversaries are a day apart). What else could follow a dinner of hummus, tabouleh, olives, roasted cauliflower, feta and pita? When I found a recipe on All Recipes with five stars and over a thousand reviews, I knew I was onto something.

The recipe I've posted here captures the way we made it, thanks to a lot of different tips gleaned from the recipe reviews. I wanted to record our method so we can recreate it in the future, and of course I want you to make it too.

Baklava
Adapted from All Recipes

1 package of phyllo pastry (thawed)
1 pound pecans (you can also use walnuts and/or pistachios)
1 C butter, melted
1 t cinnamon
1.5 C water
1.5 C white sugar
1.5 t vanilla
3/4 C honey

Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees and buttering the bottoms and sides of a 9 x 13 inch pan.

To make the syrup, boil sugar and water until sugar is dissolved. Add vanilla and honey and simmer for about 20 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.

To prepare the pecans, toast in the oven for about 5 minutes, chop and toss with cinnamon.

To prepare the phyllo pastry, cut the whole stack in half (one sheet should be the same size as the pan), and cover with a dampened cloth to keep it from drying out as you assemble the layers.

Place 2 sheets of phyllo in the prepared pan and use a pastry brush to butter the top sheet thoroughly (no need to drench the pastry though). Repeat four times until you have 8 sheets layered.

Sprinkle approximately 5 T of pecans over the pastry. Top the pecans with two sheets of phyllo and butter as you did the previous sheets. Repeat until you run out of pecans, but make sure you reserve 6-8 sheets of phyllo for the top layers, which you prepare in the same way as the bottom layers.

Using a sharp knife, slice the baklava into individual pieces, but try to avoid cutting through to the very bottom of the pan (this will prevent soggy pastry).

Bake for about 50 minutes until the top is golden and crisp.

Remove baklava from the oven and spoon sauce over it. You can let it cool, but I doubt you will.

You made baklava!

Making a cactus garden

2011-04-20T07:26:00.000-07:00

Our household is busy growing things inside and out, and I couldn't resist these cuties when we were picking up dirt and seeds at the garden shop a few weeks back. I put them in a planter that has been tricky in the past, so I'm hoping this cactus garden iteration works.

Making a spring scarf

2011-04-06T19:10:00.000-07:00

Even though I packed up most of my winter clothes last weekend, I still found myself knitting a scarf on Sunday. And so I called it a spring scarf.

Think I can get away with wearing it for another month or so?

Making quilts for new friends

2011-03-09T09:59:00.000-08:00

Remember this? Pictured above is the young and undoubtedly charming Charlotte Wallace, sleeping on the quilt I made for her.

Needless to say, these pictures continue to make my whole day.

Making a log cabin pillow (part 2)

2011-03-07T21:10:00.000-08:00

The pillow is complete. I sewed the back in the simplest way possible: two pieces of material that overlap. I might add a button to hold everything in place, but I doubt it.

Even though this project turned out to be pretty easy, I feel like it is my biggest crafting achievement to date (probably because I talked about it for so long). So, yeah. High five!

Making a log cabin pillow (part 1)

2011-02-21T07:13:00.000-08:00

This is a pretty big deal. I've finally started my log cabin pillow project. I've mentioned my modest quilting aspirations on this blog before, but they really go back to my very first blog post over at Tentative Plans in 2006. Five years ago!

It's not finished, but I've got the top done, and I really like how it turned out.

I used the incredibly simple Design Sponge instructions for a free-form patchwork pillow (part of the Sewing 101 series). I'm not sure if I want to finish the pillow with zipper, but I'll be sure to let you know what I decide.

Making lemony lemonade

2011-02-14T06:29:00.000-08:00

Simple Lovely featured the blog Make Grow Gather last week, and I've developed a little crush. I read her post about Meyer lemon simple syrup, and when I saw organic Meyer lemons at the market, I knew what I needed to do. I needed to make a cocktail.

Lemony Lemonade* (makes one drink)

1.5 oz Meyer lemon simple syrup
1.5 oz gin
4 oz tonic water
2 ice cubes

Put all of the ingredients in a glass and give them a stir. If it's warm enough to open the door for some fresh air, do that.

*This drink is named after the first craft blog I ever read. The one that inspired me to get off my butt and start a blog, but which no longer exists. I'll make you one without gin next time you're in Victoria, Zoe!

Making brownies

2011-02-04T17:45:00.000-08:00

I've got three great brownie recipes in my repetoire. Cheesecake-marbled brownies from Smitten Kitchen, sea salt brownies from For Me, For You, and the (gluten-free!) recipe featured here in this post. It surprises me that none of these brownies feature icing, but they really don't need it. If you have a favorite brownie recipe, I'd like to hear it, friends. Maybe one with icing?

Almond flour brownies
Adapted from Bob's Red Mill

1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup cocoa, unsweetened
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 t vanilla
2 T corn starch
1/2 cup almond flour
1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t sea salt

Preheat oven to 350. Prepare a 9-inch pan. Combine the melted butter and cocoa. Add sugar, eggs and vanilla and beat until smooth. Add the flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt. Mix it up. Spread into the baking pan and bake 30 minutes.

Making marmalade

2011-01-25T09:00:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure what possessed me to make marmalade this week. It was a strange confluence of things: an article here, a new pile of oranges in the store there, and all of a sudden I was making plans!

I used this recipe, which was well reviewed, but is also apparently a bit easier than a lot of marmalade recipes. Some seem to have steps where you scrape the pith from the peel and are in other ways much more meticulous than this one. So that's good news for both of us!

Seville oranges are pretty uncharted territory for me. I've never bought them before, but they are the traditional marmalade fruit of choice. They are only available for a very short window each year, though I read in a few places that you can freeze them and then thaw and use them later. Apparently some people even prefer this method. I have two left over that I might put in the freezer, with the optimistic idea that I'll test this theory out myself some day! I will keep you posted.

Tell them how they taste, Jen! Well, they taste pretty bitter and gross. Surprisingly so. When I measured the sugar for this recipe I was having a hard time imagining that so much sugar was necessary, but it was! This marmalade is by no means too sweet. The peel still has a bit of a bitter kick, so: mission accomplished?!

This marmalade experiment is a prelude to a run at my true love of jams and preserves: lime marmalade. This process was not hard, and the results are definitely in the realm of what I would hope. Less modestly, it's really good!

Making cookie dough, er, cookies

2011-01-23T17:00:00.000-08:00

This afternoon Michael declared that he wanted a cookie (and quickly conceded that what he really wanted was cookie dough). We found a recipe for crispy chewy chocolate chip cookies, a few bags of chocolate chip dregs, and we were in business. It was so/too easy. My coworkers will be eating some of these tomorrow.

P.S. I'm looking forward to the days when I don't have to wait until the weekend to take a photo with natural light. Remember those days? They aren't that far away. Right?

Making another scarf

2011-01-17T08:44:00.000-08:00

This is the second scarf that I made over the holidays. It's a lace pattern that I'm particularly fond of, and it makes for very quick knitting.

The wool: Magnum Cascade Yarns, colour 9452 (I used the same in the first scarf - check it out to see a better rendition of the colour).

The pattern: Make sure the number of stitches you start with is divisible by three (I think I used nine stitches with this one) and then knit one, yarn over, knit two together on every row.

You can see another version of this scarf (with very different wool) here and here.

This scarf went to my mom. She's given me many amazing homemade gifts over the years, so it's only fair.

Making a scarf

2011-01-10T20:41:00.000-08:00

There were no homemade Christmas gifts this year. That said, I did give away the two scarves that I knit over the holidays. Let's call them New Year gifts. The knitting was a therapeutic exercise for me, and while I had planned to keep one of the scarves for myself, they were drawn to other people. This one went to Raissa, who ooo'd and ahh'd about the pretty wool so effusively that I couldn't deny her.

I used one skein of Magnum Cascade Yarns, colour 9452 for each scarf. Raissa's scarf is 14 stitches on 12 mm needles with the following pattern: Row 1: K2, P2; Row 2: Purl.

(Thinking about) making bread

2010-12-12T08:50:00.000-08:00

I've never had the inclination to make bread. Before now. You can blame Tartine. I've gone to the bakery every time I've visited my sister in San Francisco (that photo of chocolate banana bread pudding is from a visit last spring), and in November I went to Bar Tartine for the first time. That's where I ate the best bread in the world. It was the best part of an amazing meal (actually, celebrating my dad's 60th birthday was the best part, but you know what I mean).

At dinner, after pointing out that Chad Robertson was eating at the bar, Shannon told me about this video, which (successfully) promotes Tartine Bread, a new cookbook which I must own. I like Marie Abe's portion of the video best, so watch the whole thing!

My stomach is growling.

Making chocolate cupcakes and malted icing

2010-11-08T07:49:00.000-08:00

A few months back, I made Orangette's Chocolate Malted Cupcakes for Jen's birthday. I will make them again.

Making canned tomatoes

2010-11-06T09:18:00.000-07:00

So in addition to making jam, I also canned tomatoes this year. I can't wait to dig into these in the coming blustery months. You can bet that I'll be making poached eggs in tomato sauce at some point. My parents recommended freezing tomatoes over canning, but I'm glad we went this route. The process is relaxing and the product adds to our emergency stores.

Making A Big Step

2010-10-02T13:50:00.000-07:00

The above is one of the fruits of a very busy summer and fall (so far) of making things. Now that it's in the hands of its new owners, Allen and Laura, I can tell you about it! To date I've undertaken pretty manageable quilting projects. Nothing too crazy. Forgiving patterns of squares or log cabins (basically: squares). While these are great, and there is a lot to learn about doing them well, I always wanted to try some of the more ambitious-looking shapes, such as the above! There are lots of names for this, including the Lone Star quilt, or just the plain, descriptive eight-pointed star.

Planning this quilt was fun, but I wasn't sure it was going to work until I had done a lot of work. The colours in the centre and the middle of the diamond are most dominant once they are laid out, and I haven't had much/any practice visualising such a specific effect.

I was taken down hard pretty quickly once I got past the planning stage. This quilt pattern/form pretty much demands precision at every turn, and I was unprepared for the things that I needed to learn to pull it off. I can't say that I've mastered them all, but I am really happy with how it turned out.

This quilt is built using 4 different strips, cut at a 45 degree angle, and then sewn together in a particular order to form a diamond with a pattern that you want. You do this eight times, and all of a sudden, you have an eight-pointed star on your hands! As things come together, you can really tell how well every cut and seam were done. Luckily, I like this sort of demanding business!

The pieced parts are all hand-quilted, with a few ties for the white pieces to keep everything together. Hand quilting is the best. I love it!

This quilt was a really fun challenge, and I am feeling bolder for my next big project! Phew/Hurray!

Making jam

2010-09-10T13:35:00.000-07:00

It was a long time ago, so I'm sure you don't remember, but my housemate Jen has been on my case about making jam for a while now. Well, I'm happy to report that I did it. I made jam with Jen. If you want to know the particulars of the process, check out her post from 2008: Making apricot jam. It is one of the easiest things I've ever made, and it is delicious.

Making piña coladas from scratch

2010-08-29T20:17:00.000-07:00

Summer cocktails! We have quite a repertoire in our house, and we now we have a new addition: the piña colada. This is a very simple drink, which makes me wonder why a person needs help from the myriad piña colada mixes out there.

Michael enjoys his with cinnamon -- that's how they were served when we went to the Baja a few years ago -- so that's what I've suggested here. I think you'll like the whole shebang.

Piña colada (makes four drinks)

8 oz white rum
19 oz can of pineapple, including juice
6 oz coconut cream*
2 cups of ice
cinnamon

Blend the first four ingredients in a blender. Pour into four glasses. Sprinkle cinnamon on top of each.

*We found this beside the coconut milk in our grocery store.

Making granola

2010-08-13T21:34:00.000-07:00

Everyone Likes Sandwiches likes granola. She's posted a bunch of recipes on her blog, so I figure she knows her stuff. That's why I tried her Everyday Granola recipe that she posted on Poppytalk. I'm not a granola connoisseur (I've never made it before), but I really like this recipe. The only thing I did differently is alter the baking time. I think I cooked it for twice as long as recommended, and it was deliciously toasted.

Making s'mores

2010-07-27T21:13:00.000-07:00

Look at that s'more! It's perfect. The graham cracker is browned. The chocolate is melted. The marshmallow is both gooey and toasted. I can assure you that it tasted as good as it looks.

If you want to make a perfect s'more, you'll need a proper grilling basket. Michael won ours at a staff golf tournament earlier this summer, but I'm sure they're easy enough to find. I was concerned the exposed graham cracker would burn, but Bex and Jen knew what they were doing. Look how excited they are!

If you need another reason to be enthusiastic about s'mores (if the possibility of achieving the perfect s'more yourself isn't enough), you should know that the name is a contraction of "some more." Cute! You should also know that the first recorded version of the recipe can be found in the 1927 publication Tramping and Trailing with the Girl Scouts. Wikipedia!

Making waffles (the basic kind)

2010-07-06T19:53:00.000-07:00

So, I guess I'm documenting my birthday purchases today. I wrote about my new badminton set on Tentative Plans, and now I'm writing about my new waffle iron.

I've been planning to buy a waffle iron since March, but I got a little overwhelmed by my options. Sometimes the Internet is a little much with its product reviews. So last weekend I decided to trust my local kitchenware store, Muffet and Louisa, and buy the one they have in stock: the Chef's Choice Belgium Waffle Maker. We've used it once, and I like it.

The Internet seems to be really excited about waffle recipes (in addition to waffle iron reviews) -- I've recently read about different varieties on Orangette and Everyone Likes Sandwiches -- but I wanted to start with a basic recipe; that way I have a baseline by which to judge the other recipes. That's why I made the Joy of Cooking's basic waffle recipe on Sunday. I wasn't expecting much, even though Orangette's readers seemed to like it, but man. It was good. It was crisp and fluffy in all the right ways.

Michael ate his with maple syrup, pictured above (he couldn't wait to take a bite), and I had mine with Jen's strawberry jam, maple syrup and peanut butter. I did it up, friends.

Now I can branch out with my recipe experimentation. I think I'll start with my mom's pecan waffle recipe, which Michael is particularly fond of.

Making things grow

2010-06-20T13:29:00.000-07:00

We started with this:

And now we have this:

When I say we, I mean Jen. She's done the bulk of the tending, but I guess I did help with the planting. I also helped with the harvesting and eating. We had our first home grown salad last night, and it was delicious. I've never had my own garden before (even though gardening is in my blood), so I'm still a little high on the whole concept. We grow our own food!

Check out some additional photos of our deck/garden on Flickr.

Making sense of spices

2010-05-06T11:16:00.000-07:00

I've always been on top of managing my spices, but I wasn't satisfied with my assortment of containers. They were hard to clean. They were plastic. I couldn't find replacements. It was awful (or slightly annoying, depending on how excited you get about these types of things).

When we moved, I saw a perfect opportunity to transfer our spices to small jam jars. Jade, a high school friend, implemented this method a couple of years ago, and I've been planning to replicate it ever since.

I bought my jars at Canadian Tire. I have a lot of spices, so I bought 3 boxes of 12. I also bought some cute lids to mix it up. The total cost was about $30.

There are many benefits to this system, beyond the low cost: the jars are glass; I can clean them easily; I can label the lids with a permanent marker and it won't come off in the dishwasher; I can find replacements easily; and, since the jars can be stacked, I can spot the spices I need (most of the time).

I have nothing but good things to say about these jars!

Making an indoor garden

2010-03-31T09:34:00.000-07:00

Our new house has a window box in the kitchen, so we were obliged to start a herb garden, obviously. That beautiful basil plant in the back was from Ananda, but the rest -- pots and soil included -- were financed by my parents. I bought and planted the herbs a few weeks back, and they look (and taste) happy their new home.

I started with sage, oregano, thyme, basil and parsley. Since we already have rosemary in the yard, I think I'll add mint, cilantro and more basil in the future.

We've always had house plants, but I don't have any experience gardening, per se. Aside from a few herbs and a honeysuckle on our deck in Vancouver, Michael and I haven't grown anything outdoors.

While these herbs are in our kitchen, they are the precursor to our outside projects: namely, greens in the garden and tomatoes and strawberries on the deck. I suppose we'll have to get started on those in the near future, what with it being spring and all.

Making breakfast for our new roomies

2010-03-15T21:48:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, we made a Dutch Baby for our new roomies. The recipe continues to be awesome, as does our new housing situation. This weekend I also found time to take on a few small projects, which I'm pretty sure I'll tell you about soon.

Making biscuits

2010-01-29T11:20:00.000-08:00

Friends, I just want you all to know that when I say I want to make biscuits, I make biscuits. I found a simple herb and cheddar recipe in my Fresh cookbook (which I've mooned over before), and got to work without a biscuit cutter in sight. When they were fresh from the oven, I thought I'd found the perfect recipe, but after a few days, they seemed a bit heavy on the baking soda flavour. Maybe this is just a biscuit/scone issue, since I noted it here too.

Making 2010 calendars (it's not too late)

2010-01-20T17:19:00.000-08:00

Well, we didn't make this calendar, but we did print the PDF that we bought from Mibo for a whopping $4. We have one hanging in our house, and we gave a bunch away at Christmas. Other than the pom poms, this was the only DIY project I took on for the holidays.

I also printed one copy of this free calendar from something's hiding in here, which I found through WREN handmade. I have it hanging at my office. It looks like a bingo card, no?

Benign Objects has designed a free 2010 calendar too. I didn't print that one, but I do use the free computer desktop calendars from that blog, on occasion. Since we're on the topic, Design*Sponge offers free desktop calendars too, like this lovely January calendar by Julia Rothman:

The desktop calendars are a welcome sight when I turn on my work computer, especially because I haven't made too many efforts to personalize my office space.

I love this trend of offering free or low-cost files to download for personal use, especially because it's not limited to calendars. Twig & Thistle recently offered a PDF for these Valentines Day treat bags, and I've noticed a few PDFs for bookplates and prints on Etsy. Fun!

Making pom poms

2009-12-10T18:36:00.000-08:00

The motivation to craft has been lacking lately, but last Friday I became obsessed with making pom poms. I started out by making a DIY donut-shaped tool out of two pieces of cardboard, but I quickly abandoned all that for an easier method. I wrapped the yarn around my fingers, tied the bunch together and cut the loops. This video will show you what I'm getting at. This tutorial will show you how to make pom poms with a proper tool, but it all seems much more difficult than it needs to be.

I'm using my pom poms as Christmas decorations for now, but I think I'll make a garland after the holidays have passed.

Making frozen fast forward

2009-11-08T18:03:00.000-08:00

Michael loves a graham cracker crust. I love a recipe with a good name. I also love getting advice from my mom. She told me to make Frozen Fast Forward from Company's Coming's Home for the Holidays when I asked her what to make for a dinner party. She left me the suggestion on my answering machine, telling me that the recipe was quick and that desserts in spring-form pans are always impressive. She was right.

This wasn't the kind of dessert that I would normally make (vanilla pudding and SKOR candy bars don't make many appearances in our house), but I thought it would be popular with the guests (who I don't know very well) -- especially the six-year-old in attendance; she inhaled her slice in seconds.

Thanks Mom!

Making coffee

2009-11-05T18:26:00.001-08:00

Michael and I are all about making coffee these days. We use a Bodum and beans from Habit or Discovery Coffee. I've been scared of making my own coffee for years, and I'm so happy that I've conquered this simple ritual.

Making birthday cake

2009-10-28T19:01:00.000-07:00

Michael celebrated his birthday on Saturday! I didn't make him a cake last year because he was supposed to be out of town, and then he came home at the last minute. I wanted to make up for it with a proper layer cake this year, so I decided to make Smitten Kitchen's best birthday cake.

This cake is so easy to make, so I highly recommend it for that reason alone. Also, it tastes just like those suspiciously good boxed cakes, as promised.

The most important part, however, is the icing. It's so simple! It doesn't involve a candy thermometer! Or beaters! Because there are so few ingredients (!), I used high quality chocolate, sour cream and vanilla, and I skipped the coffee. I also skipped the sprinkles because my striped candles were pretty festive, as was the gelato that we served with the cake.

Making savory biscuits

2009-10-16T11:43:00.000-07:00

Everybody's making savory biscuits and scones. In the last two days, Posie Gets Cosy made a Chicken Stew with Biscuits; Emma Bowen made Gruyere and Herb Scones on Design*Sponge; and Smitten Kitchen made Jalapeño-Cheddar Scones. I want to make some too.

What's the difference between a biscuit and a scone? Also, do I really need biscuit cutters to make these recipes?

Making bush pies

2009-10-13T08:16:00.000-07:00

It's not too late for a bush pie, friends. Michael and I saw some folks having a barbecue in a provincial park just yesterday, so if you don't mind a cold nose with your camp fire, you should try one. Otherwise, make a tentative plan for next summer.

When I attempted to buy a bush pie maker before a camping trip in July, I couldn't find one that I liked. I grew up with the one pictured here, and I'm so happy my parents passed it on to me when I was visiting in August. I prefer it to others I've seen because it's round (like a pie) and because it has a latch to keep it closed while in the fire.

We made this pie when we were in Tofino last month. Since it was my first try (in many years), we kept it simple: salami, cheese and tomatoes. This savory version is basically a grilled cheese sandwich, especially since you butter the outside of the bread before placing it in the mold.

After clamping the mold together and pulling off the excess bread, your pie is ready for the fire. I think ours were in for a total of five minutes, but I opened them every minute to make sure they weren't burning, so that's just a rough estimate.

There are limitless savory fillings for these things -- when I was a kid, I preferred a Hawaiian pizza bush pie -- but there are sweet options too. I haven't explored the potential here, but I'm looking forward to trying apple pie filling and cheddar cheese.

Making pumpkin swirl brownies

2009-10-11T17:50:00.000-07:00

We made pumpkin swirl brownies for dinner last night.

Jen swirled the pumpkin and chocolate batter. My favorite thing was the chocolate part of the brownie (we used Cocoa Camino bittersweet chocolate). My least favorite thing was the cayenne pepper. I didn't mind the spice when the brownies were hot out of the oven, but today it through me off. We served the brownies with vanilla ice cream, so maybe that helped balance the spice. It did feel nice to have a warm feeling in my chest after lovely dinner, and cayenne is good for you (I hear it fights high blood pressure and improves circulation).

Making vegan breakfast muffins

2009-09-24T20:13:00.000-07:00

Look! I made my first Veganomicon recipe. I made this Almond Quinoa Muffin recipe because, as you know, I'm on a quest to find winning breakfast muffins.

Check out the ingredient list, and you'll see why I made these. The recipe calls for cooked quinoa. Woah. Also, I love apricots.

The final product was a little bland, but I think I can work with it. Since my success with the peach muffins, I'm convinced that cooking with fresh fruit is the way to go.

I should note that I used almond milk instead of soy milk. Also, almond meal is expensive!

Making peach breakfast muffins

2009-09-11T17:55:00.000-07:00

I've been looking for a good breakfast muffin recipe, and I love the first one I tried. Sadly, it works best with fresh peaches, and they won't be around for much longer. Maybe you should make a bunch of them and freeze them for a wintery day!

Those moist peaches look a little gross in this photo, but they really are great. I followed the original recipe in my first attempt (pictured here), but the cinnamon sugar topping didn't stick. I think my modifications will please you.

One other thing: you really need to like molasses to like these muffins. If you don't like it, you're crazy.

Peach Breakfast Muffins
Adapted from Mr. Breakfast

Ingredients:

1 cup old fashioned oats
1 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup applesauce
1/4 cup molasses
2 eggs
1 and 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 and 1/2 cups fresh peaches, diced
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup chopped pecans

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

In a large bowl, combine oats, buttermilk, brown sugar, applesauce, molasses and eggs.

In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking soda and baking powder.

Stir flour mixture into wet ingredients until just moistened. Fold in peaches.

Spoon batter into prepared muffin tin.

Combine sugar, cinnamon and pecans for the topping. Sprinkle over muffins.

Bake for 18-20 minutes.

Making carrot cake cupcakes

2009-08-30T19:12:00.000-07:00

Robyn celebrated her birthday while she was in town, so we made cupcakes, naturally. This is the recipe we used: Carrot Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting.

They were good, but I'm not sure I'd make them again. Instead, I'm more interested in making these babies: Peach Cupcakes with Brown Sugar Frosting. Yes, please.

I especially like that Smitten Kitchen says this recipe can be adapted for a breakfast muffin. If that doesn't inspire me to fulfill my tentative plans to find a quick breakfast alternative, I don't know what will.

Making the Victory Lap

2009-08-29T12:57:00.000-07:00

I'm almost finished the quilt I started for my Mom and her husband that I first told you about almost a year ago. (!!!) I am currently doing the victory lap, or handstitching the binding. I have to say, this is an apt expression, so congratulations to whomever (?) coined it. There is nothing like binding a quilt. It has a two pronged attack: the first prong it that all of a sudden your layers of business become a quilt, and the second is that you are FINISHING THIS QUILT! Hallelujah!

I have taken a break from working on my crafting projects generally this summer. I think it was just too hot. Since it's cooled off a bit, I have rediscovered the soothing ecstasy that is quilting for me. I love it, you guys. It pretty much has it all.

I hand-quilted this one, and all of those hours were so worth it. It's hard to do it justice in photos, but hand-quilting really communicates, you know? In all examples of it that I've seen, there's some extra mojo* in there. I don't think I've ever been more excited about something that I've made. And it's for my mom, which makes it even better. Yay!

* Read: abiding love, for a more gooshy/accurate version of how I feel about this whole business!

Making ANZAC biscuits

2009-08-06T19:21:00.000-07:00

Because I have a new blog crush on Lottie + Doof, I made these ANZAC biscuits to prove my devotion. Just kidding. They looked easy to make, is all. And they were!

I've never been a fan of dried coconut, but it made sense in this recipe. My only complaint is that the cookies are a little too sweet, so I might fiddle with the sugars next time around.

I really want to make this caramel cake next, but I have plans to make some healthy muffins first. Bah.

Making blueberry boy bait

2009-07-22T19:32:00.000-07:00

This recipe from Smitten Kitchen works! It baits boys! Make it while the berries are still in season, or use frozen berries, like me; I needed to use up last season's produce.

Making waves

2009-07-16T12:06:00.000-07:00

We need tea towels too, so I decided to embroider one to brighten up our kitchen.

When I doodle, I draw waves, and it occured to me that my waves would make a simple embroidery project.

Next time I'll make the waves smaller, so you can see more waves when the towel is folded. I'm also interested in adding white caps and maybe a boat or a squid.

Making time for a stroll

2009-07-11T09:20:00.001-07:00

I'm not a person who thinks about work when I'm not at work. This, I feel, is a real stroke of luck. However, during the work day, watch out! When work tends towards stressful, like it has lately, getting a break during the day has been something that I really have to try to remember (like eating!). Until lately, I've had a hard time figuring out what to do that will actually give me a chance to think about something else, and not just stand up from my desk and then sit back down.

I have found that taking pictures on my strolls really really helps (although I'm not sure the Oak Bay neighbours always agree!). It forces me to engage with the outside world and notice it, and not just keep spinning about my work tasks, which will really take all the space you give it. The above scene is half a block from my work. Where better to go than a rose garden? It's almost funny being in there. There are a lot of rose varieties, they all smell different and it's always empty. Basically, it's a little taste of Alice in Wonderland. And what could be a better balance to picky work detail than that?

Making a list of meal ideas

2009-07-07T08:42:00.000-07:00

This is a simple project that I've been meaning to start for a long time:

Step 1: Write down your favorite supper ideas and where to find the recipes (plus any other details that you think your future self should know).
Step 2: Add to the list as you try new recipes and discover that you like them as well.
Step 3: Refer to the list when you need to buy groceries but can't think of a single thing that you have ever enjoyed eating.

Sarah told me about this system a year or two ago when we were discussing our grocery shopping habits; Michael and I get by, but I could do with a little less time spent flipping through cookbooks. And pulling my hair.

P.S. I'm going to ditch that card that suggests that I make the baked garlic butter beans again. I jumped the gun with that one, adding it while the beans were still in the oven last night. The amount of work that went into preparing the beans (soaking and peeling) and the tomatoes (blanching) did NOT pay off.

P.P.S. I'm going to add a card with pancakes writ large as soon as I get home.

Making Strawberry Jam

2009-06-23T19:30:00.000-07:00

And so another ambitious jam season begins. This weekend Marc, Erin and I headed out to Saanich to collect a piece of the spring/summer bounty. Strawberries were at the top of the list, although SunWing: I could not love you more.

So, jam! This winter/early spring, I really had to ration the jam I managed to make. This year, I hope to avoid this notion, or delay it, by making quite a lot more than last year.

I use a Nigella Lawson strawberry jam recipe with one major difference. I like her recipe very much (balsamic vinegar! no pectin!), but she doesn't process her jam in a water bath. A lot of the British recipes I've looked at don't bother with this. I can't totally abandon it though, so I process it for 10 minutes. It hasn't led to any problems with consistency or anything like that, and it makes me feel better, so I figure it's worth it.

I hope to seduce Erin with the ease and payoff of all of this.

I'm thinking I've got the payoff part in the bag, don't you?

Making Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

2009-06-22T18:01:00.000-07:00

Another trip to the farm called for another strawberry rhubarb dessert recipe. This time I made a Bowen family favorite. You'll see from the amount of sugar involved that it's easy to love!

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp
Adapted from a recipe by Lorraine Bowen (my mother-in-law)

Put 2 cups of rhubarb, 2 cups of strawberries, 1 cup of white sugar and 2 tbsp of flour in a baking dish and toss. Combine 1/2 cup of brown sugar, 1/2 cup of flour, 1/2 cup of rolled oats and 1/2 cup of room temperature butter and cover rhubarb mixture. Bake for 45 minutes at 300.

Making Strawberry Rhubarb Fool

2009-06-17T08:21:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty sure there's nothing better than picking strawberries and eating the ones that are too soft to keep until later, the ones that are warm from the sun.

I picked a bowl of strawberries at Dan's Farm on Saturday, and after we froze some and ate some more, I decided to make the Strawberry Rhubarb Fool recipe from my Fresh cookbook.

The crazy simple recipe goes something like this: simmer a cup of chopped rhubarb with a half cup of water and a half cup of sugar for 20 minutes. Add a cup of strawberries for five more minutes. Blend. After cooling, fold into two cups of whipping cream that you whipped during the simmering. Cool some more.

The fool was super tasty, but I felt strange eating what is essentially a bowl of whipped cream; it felt both too indulgent and not indulgent enough. Next time I think I will serve it with a piece of angel food cake. I also wonder how it would work in an Icebox Cake, but I'm not sure if I'm willing to find out.

Making wedding invitations

2009-06-02T18:50:00.000-07:00

While our wedding invitations were a true collaborative effort, Michael did all of the Photoshop tinkering. I hovered behind him though, which totally helped.

I came up with the concept for the front of the invitation. I didn't realize it at the time, but I was inspired by all of the letterpress artwork that I was checking out on Design*Sponge. I might have been thinking about the circus too. And maybe the golden ticket.

I wish we could have had long cards that read "INVITATION" instead of "INVITE," but we were limited by the size of envelopes we could find in town. We ended up buying gold cards and envelopes at Island Blue.

I'm all about taking the easy way out, so I was ready to print the cards at Island Blue too, but Michael decided to do it at home. This turned out to be a bit of a nightmare because our printer had a hard time figuring out how big the cards were, but it all worked out in the end (with minimal cursing). Most of the invitations were red on the front, but some were blue.

Because he's a glutton for punishment, Michael printed the envelopes too. They were cute, but I forgot to take a photo before we sent them away.

We decided to keep the invitation text simple, following the standard birthday party invitation format:

For: Michael & Erin's Wedding
Date: Saturday April 11, 2009
Time: Ceremony at 7:30, Cocktail party to follow
Place: Habit

To RSVP, guests were asked to send postcards from their city of residence. You can see a photo of how that turned out here.

We were able to keep our invitations simple because our wedding was so small; there was no need for a map or hotel information because we were in contact with everyone who was coming. Also, we didn't register anywhere, so we didn't need to worry about those details.

We didn't make our thank you cards, if you're wondering (we got some of them here), but that hasn't hastened the thank you card writing process. We have a lot of gratitude, but we also have a lot of distractions.

Making punch

2009-05-22T12:31:00.000-07:00

You heard about our time-line project, and now you get to hear about the punch that we served at our reception. It was so popular I thought I should share the recipe here. Besides, it's fun to record some of these little wedding projects for future reflection.

We always knew that we would serve wine (made by my dad) and beer (made by Phillips Beer), but we also wanted a signature cocktail. The process of finding an easy-to-make, crowd-pleasing drink became a little frustrating, and we almost bailed, but then Jen emphasized the importance of having a hard liquor option for those that don't drink wine and beer. I'm glad she said something, because it forced me to admit that, like Jen, Michael and I are those people; we always opt for a good cocktail. I'm also glad because the punch was one of the most popular treats at the wedding, and it made for some entertaining dance moves.

Then there's the fact that Jen's penchant for hard liquor identified her as the perfect candidate for cocktail-making duties, which she took on with enthusiasm (check out the apron!). It was Jen's idea to simplify the task by making a bowl of punch. Thanks for your help, friend!

After our enthusiasm for a cocktail was renewed, I contacted Chris Johns, a friend with some serious food and drink knowledge, for some ideas. One of his suggestions, red Dubonnet served with a high quality sparkling lemonaid over ice, was especially appealing. Dubonnet is sweet aromatic French red or white wine used chiefly as an aperitif. We did some research, and we found out that the late Queen Mom preferred her Dubonnet like this: 30% gin and 70% Dubonnet served with a slice of lemon under the ice.

I was always leaning towards a gin drink anyway, so this is what I wanted to hear. We experimented with a few different combos, and this is what we came up with:

Michael and Erin's Punch Drunk Love (makes one drink)

Gin 1 oz (30 ml)
Dubonnet 1/2 oz (15 ml)
Tonic 5 oz (150 ml)
Lime juice 1/3 oz (10 ml)
Ice
Lime to garnish

Let me know if you have other Dubonnet suggestions; we still have some in the liquor cabinet.

Making Rebar Hummus

2009-05-12T19:17:00.000-07:00

Jen & Marc made hummus last week, which inspired me to do the same I wanted a snack, and I needed an excuse to try our new hand blender (a wedding gift). I decided to try the recipe from my trusty Rebar cookbook, and oh my. The mint! It's unbelievable. Here's the recipe.

Making a time-line with clothes pins and photos

2009-04-30T17:28:00.000-07:00

[via Lydia Fizz]

I wrote about the time-line Michael and I were working on last month, and now that the wedding has taken place, I can show you the final product. Each photo was clipped with a little white slip of paper with the corresponding date and location. Michael and I put this together at home, numbered the photos once we got the order straight and asked our friends Sarah and Galen to put it up before the wedding. They done good!

[via Lydia Fizz]

They also hung our RSVP postcards in the same fashion. I'm not sure who came up with idea to ask for postcards in response to our invitations, but I really love how this project panned out. Sure, not everyone sent one, but the cards we did get were representative of all of our friends and family. Also, receiving cute messages during the lead up to the Big Event was good for the anticipation.

Making pineapple salsa

2009-04-26T15:03:00.000-07:00

You should be able to figure out how to make this from the list of ingredients. I know I'm going to try, now that I'm back from Hawaii, where they make some good food out of their tropical resources. Another thing I could buy there that I don't think I can buy here are the black bean Kettle tortilla chips. I'm pretty sure those are beyond my kitchen skills.

Making room for a coral reef at our house

2009-04-24T11:08:00.000-07:00

This is very satisfying. Time to relearn crochet.

Making record time

2009-04-05T16:38:00.001-07:00

Well, I've officially made a quilt top in two weeks of very casual working pace. I suspect much of the newly experienced construction accuracy and speed can be attributed to my own personal discovery of the assembly line. Hey, Henry Ford! I can see where you were going with that.
It is quilt top #6 for me, and I plan on tying it and binding it at some point in the near future. As it gets warmer it gets clearer that quilting isn't really a summer craft...so I'm going to try to wrap it up sooner rather than later. It's for my sister, who hopefully doesn't read this website...if she does and I'm a knob for this horse/cart behaviour...hi Sus! Check out your birthday present!

Making an effort to honour the past

2009-03-31T17:55:00.001-07:00

Michael and I decided that we wanted to put up some photos of our 12 years together at our wedding reception (because that's a long time, and we owe it to our various hair cuts), and I think we found a solution. Without ruining anything for folks attending, I think you can get an idea of how we plan to hang them in the photo, above.

Like everything else that we've planned for the big day, we chose this method because it was easiest. Other than picking the photos and getting some digital photos developed, it's basically done. Oh yeah, we have to make sure that they're arranged in the right order, because it's a time-line of sorts. I'm surprised at how hard this has been to do. Did I mention now long we've been together? That's a lot of photos.

Now that I see the photos hanging, I'm tempted to do something similar with wedding photos in our apartment, once the dust has settled from the big event. Michael thinks that something like this photo wall would be nice.

Making A Good Start

2009-03-23T18:56:00.000-07:00

This weekend I joined Marc's mom and went to my third Sewing and Quilt Show. It seemed a little mellower than in years past (in years past it has felt a little frantic). I felt that this year I actually had a perspective about it all, which was fun. Since last year, I have either finished or made good progress on 4 quilts. I have some idea of what I'm able to handle, ambition-wise, and my purchases reflected that I think. I resisted a few things, for example, whose novelty might have swayed me before. I am wise to your seduction, triangles and cute pins!
I have about 12 hours left of hand quilting on my mom's quilt, but I can't resist starting on this one. About 90% of the fabric I bought this weekend was pink with flowers. I thought that was funny.

Making an embroidered gift with due process

2009-03-16T18:42:00.000-07:00

This is my artistic process for embroidery (I don't recommend it):

I remember that I like emboridering things. I decide to make someone a gift with a simple design on it. I start embroidering a tea towel or something else that I have on hand. I get carried away with all sorts of intricate possibilities. I get overwhelmed. I delay. I realize I only gave myself a half hour to finish the project before giving it away. I finish the project while Michael waits for me at the door. I spray the project with water so the lines from the embroidery hoop might go away before I hand it over. I hope the fabric dries in time. I don't wrap the gift so it might dry in time. I get bummed out that I didn't make something more intricate. I think about that one wonky detail (damn you, blue heart). I give the embroidery project away. I realize that even though it's simple and wonky, it's still cute. Usually I forget to take a photo at this point, but this time around the recipient had some fun props that I couldn't resist (Happy Birthday Zoe!).

Making (quilts for) babies

2009-03-07T19:13:00.001-08:00

Got to shake up the blog post titles a little right? I'm sure that babies are things worth making too, but let's just stick to quilts for now, OK Mom?

My friend's sister (also my friend!) is having a baby this summer. It's very exciting. Recently I got to feel her belly, which, in combination with the ramping up of NCAA college basketball for March Madness this year, has really kicked me into high gear, quilt-wise! Just like last year! I'm like Pavlov's Quilting Dog, if you will.

I'm especially happy with the binding on this one. I wasn't totally sure that it was going to come together until I started sewing the binding on this afternoon. As Marc said when he saw it, it really ties the room together.

Making sweet and salty treats

2009-02-21T10:37:00.000-08:00

I've finally jumped on the sweet and salty bandwagon and made Smitten Kitchen's crispy salted oatmeal white chocolate cookies. Success! I've always been a fan of the sweet and salty combo, but I've only really experienced it on popcorn and chocolate covered caramels. Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure I had one or two of these cookies too.

Anyway, I'm almost sure that I've never baked any sweet and savory treats in my day, and I learned that I could have been more liberal with the salt. Since these cookies spread out so much, you can afford to add some extra flakes.

Truth be told, I didn't chose these cookies because of their sweet and salty nature. I just needed to whip up a quick recipe after work, and these were the simplest thing I could find. So really, they were successful on two fronts: taste and time. I'm going to make them again.

Making cheap art

2009-02-13T09:05:00.000-08:00

When we put up the new art earlier this month, we had to take down our trusty bulletin board. Ananda thought it was the end of an era. And while Michael is a little tired of the bulletin board and might have been happy to prove her right, I decided it would find a new home in the office.

We've used bulletin boards as a cheap way to decorate our walls since we moved into our first apartment in Vancouver. That'd be about, oh, eight years ago. Back then, we had three of these giant bulletin boards lined up in our living room, and they were full of cards, flyers, photos and posters. So much design goes into little bits of paper. It's fun to have a place to collect it all.

When we moved to Victoria, Michael convinced me to leave two of our boards behind. They weren't bulletin boards per se (cork board is expensive on such a grand scale). Rather, we bought these sheets of cork-like board at Home Depot from the flooring section for under 10 bucks each. They shed a little dust, but have otherwise served their purpose.

Now that I've taken these photos, I wish I had captured the original boards as they evolved. They can feature such funny moments. That photo of Michael wrestling the deer, for instance. It was taken on a shooting range when we lived in Whitehorse (the deer isn't real, friends).

I also love that picture of my Uncle Stephen(s) in the bottom photo. He used Photoshop to capture his three citizenship identities at once. I'm just plain old Canadian, but I have tentative plans to have more fun with Photoshop.

Heck, I love everything on the board (especially since I updated it during the move to the office).

So there you have it. The bulletin board collage is such an easy way to decorate, I couldn't let it go.

Making a Dutch baby

2009-02-05T15:00:00.000-08:00

This isn't the best photo, but I hope you can see how this Dutch baby pancake is a show stopper. You should have heard the exclamations when I pulled this out of the oven for Sunday brunch. It's basically a giant yorkshire pudding! But sweeter!

I have happy memories of baked pancakes because we used to eat them on Christmas morning when my dad could still eat wheat. The main attraction (other than the name) is the efficiency of the meal. First, there are only four ingredients. Second, you don't have to hover over the stove flipping pancakes to enjoy the pancake experience. I understand that some people (e.g. Jen) enjoy flipping pancakes (she loves Smitten Kitchen's recipe for blueberry pancakes), but not me. I bake my pancakes. Save the frying pan for the bacon. (I think I might have to put those last two sentences on some T-shirts.)

I found my recipe for the dutch baby pancake in the Joy of Cooking, but I found an online version for you here. I made the double dutch version, which entails doubling the recipe and using a 9x13 baking dish intead of a cast iron frying pan. I suggest you top the pancake with icing sugar to liven it up a bit, and maybe even try adding some apples to the batter for some variety. We served the pancake with whipped cream and maple syrup, and there were no complaints.

It's really good, friends. I hope you give it a try.

P.S. This recipe resembles one that I put in the cookbook we made for Christmas, one that I have never tried but wanted to keep on my radar. I haven't made it because it requires a cast iron frying pan, which I don't own. It looks like I've got a reason to get my act in gear.

Making a scarf for myself

2009-02-03T11:02:00.000-08:00

Remember that scarf I started a while back (i.e. in October)? I finished it! I'm taking a hint from Robyn and keeping it for myself.

It was nice having an easy, no-pressure project on the go for a few months. I just picked it up whenever I had time and took a break whenever I got annoyed with the fact that a scarf can take so long to knit.

I've never blocked a knitting project before, but it was necessary this time. Usually one doesn't need to block a simple scarf, but in this case the lacy pattern looked a little wonky, and I wanted to even it out. I laid the scarf on my futon, got it damp with a spray bottle, pinned it into shape and let it dry overnight. It worked! If you don't want to pin a project into your upholstry, I hear other people pin their projects onto a towel.

It's warming up around here, so I might put the knitting needles away for another year. At least I made it through one project, as planned. Next winter I might focus on neck warmers and big needles, to save myself some angst.

Making an effort to hang them right the first time

2009-01-29T08:00:00.000-08:00

I've had tentative plans to upgrade the items on my walls for a long time (see here and here). Thank goodness Michael spurred me into action by buying me a couple of Christmas presents from Berkley Illustration. In order to give the Bunny print and the Billy Goat print their due, we moved our famous bulletin board collage to the office (I'll post a photo soon) and took down our dusty origami mobiles. By adding photos of the family, which need filling out, the candy dishes and my beautiful new radio, we've created a lovely tableau. Don't you agree?

Making good on Christmas promises

2009-01-27T20:01:00.000-08:00

The above quilt was my favourite part of driving to Calgary and back this Christmas. More on that later.

Hi! This Christmas I found myself making major plans, major promises in crafty output, wrapping half-finished things as teasers...phew! That led to a lot of stress, let me tell you. Lessons to be learned there. Don't set yourself up to play catch up for the month(s) following Christmas! It sort of compromises the momentum of that New Year new project mindset.

I have been busy making things, but none of them feel fresh and new! Remember that sweater I started? I'm on the second sleeve! Remember the quilt? I'm making great progress on that too! I even got my first quilting injury this weekend...some type of skin friction thing...I don't have tough thumb skin yet! It would seem I'm on the road though!

As for that quilt. It is actually one of two, and they belong to my aunt-in-law(?). When we got to their house where we stayed overnight en route to Calgary, I saw a set of bunkbeds with these amazing identical (essentially) quilts on each bunk. I love them. The fabrics are individually kind of strange/loud/unlikely, but together they create one of the home-iest quilts I've seen up close. What struck me most is how the quilts are quilted. It looked like cotton perle, in three colours, big stitches, all the way along the length of each quilt. Really something else!

When we stopped at their house on the drive home, I ran downstairs to check in on the quilts again. We had a little love affair in that basement!

PS: Check this out. HOT STUFF!

Making things sweeter

2009-01-24T10:15:00.000-08:00

I've been taking on simple projects so far this year. This one is hardly a craft, but it makes my house a little cuter, so it totally belongs on this blog.

Here's what you should do:
1. Buy a candy dish
2. Buy candy
3. Put candy in dish
4. Place dish on display

I bought this latest dish at a church yard sale for 3 dollars (a little steep, in my opinion), and I like it because of the lid. The candies are jelly babies, but I don't recommend buying this candy for your dish; it's better to buy a hard candy that you aren't likely to eat in one sitting, and better yet if it's colourful.

I'll show you where I placed my dish in a few days (seriously, I'm back in the blogging game); it was part of a larger project that involved introducing some new decor to our home.

Making plans

2009-01-13T13:29:00.000-08:00

I'm pretty sure I need to start a new embroidery project. My uncle, who does most of my thrift store shopping for me, passed on a great book of multi-impression transfers, including this little bun. He's fishing! I think.

Making a couple of Christmas projects

2008-12-20T15:26:00.000-08:00

I'd planned to write about these projects before Christmas, but I didn't want to ruin any Christmas surprises. What's a blogger to do? Also, by the time I had a moment to write about the gift bags and the cookbooks, I realized that a) few people were reading my blog during holiday festivities and b) even if someone did read it and was inspired by one of the projects, that someone wouldn't have time to whip up either project since it was already Christmas Eve. Oops.

So, I'm telling you about these projects on December 30, but I'm changing the official date of the post to December 20, just in case I'm looking for holiday ideas next year.

First up: cloth gift bags. I made five this year, and I plan to make more next year because they are so easy and practical. I sewed the bags from simple squares of fabric, and I finished them with yarn draw strings and cute buttons. My mom made a bunch of these bags out of festive fabrics many years ago, and they are still in rotation. Wrapping gifts with cloth bags is so simple, and the recipient still gets the pleasure of unwrapping something, without all the garbage.

I like using fabic that isn't holiday-specific because then the bags can be used year-round. The fabric I used was intended for a log cabin pillow, but it was the only thing I had on hand. I'll be making a trip to the quilting store in the near future to replenish my supply. For real, this time.

The second holiday project that you should know about is this cute little cookbook initiated by my buddy Sarah. I was one of four contributors, and I'm so happy I stayed the course and typed up some of my favourite wintery recipes. I'll post a couple of those recipes in the new year, but I also have some extra books, so let me know if you'd like a copy.

Keep weathering the winter weather, friends!

Making black bottom cupcakes

2008-12-18T08:00:00.000-08:00

Oops. I forgot to tell you that I made cupcakes for one of my many work-related holiday parties. Icing cupcakes didn't appeal to me (iced cupcakes being hard to transport in bulk quantities), so I opted for black bottom cupcakes. The cream cheese topping serves as a built-in icing, so nobody suffered.

This type of cupcake was one of my sister's favourite comfort foods when we lived at home, and for good reason. They're sweet, but not too sweet, and they're good cold or warmed up (the chocolate chips in the cream cheese topping melt when you warm them up).

I got my recipe out of the Joy of Cooking, which is where I believe my mom found the recipe way back when. If you want to follow our lead, Culinate posted the recipe just for you.

Making hot toddies

2008-12-15T15:44:00.000-08:00

If you're as cold as I am, you should do yourself a favour and make yourself a hot toddy. These instructions also apply if you're sick or if you don't want to get sick. Basically, everyone should drink a hot toddy right now.

I've tried a few hot toddy recipes that vary widely (sort of like sangria recipes), but in the end my mom knows how to make them best, and now you know too!

Combine the following ingredients in your favorite mug and drink up:
- juice from half a lemon
- a heaping teaspoon of honey
- a shot of brandy
- hot water

If your interested, Wikipedia tells me that hot toddies may have originated in the 18th century to make the taste of scotch more palatable to women. And how!

Making pumpkin cookies again

2008-11-26T20:54:00.000-08:00

I'm always open to suggestions, so I tried my hand at the cookies that Lydia recommended after my last foray into the pumpkin cookie world; that is, I made the Pumpkin Butterscotch-Chip Cookies from Chow, but I used chocolate chips as per Lydia's instruction.

They were pretty good, but I think I might be sick of pumpkin cookies. Both recipes were a little too cake-like (I know, how is that a bad thing?). Of the two, I think I prefer the first attempt, but that's because I'm a sucker for icing. If I tried this recipe again, I would use both chocolate and butterscotch chips to shake things up.

Even though I've had my fill, I should tell you that these cookies went over really well at the meeting for which they were made. I'm pretty sure more than a few of those in attendance came for the food and not to discuss car co-op business, and they left satisfied thanks to this recipe.

Making thousands of little stitches

2008-11-16T13:57:00.001-08:00

Here's what's on my plate this afternoon! I am keeping pretty good pace on finishing my first hand-stitched quilt in time for my mom for Christmas! Like many crafty things, hand-stitching is not hard, but it does require enormous patience. In order to achieve artful heights, I'm sure many years and millions of stitches are required. So here are a few stitches towards that goal!

Once you've got the quilt in the hoop, all smoothed out and ready to go, there are only a few things to think about: keeping the thimble on, and making sure that the stitches are as even and small as you can make them. The finished stitches are so satisfying and charming, if I do say so myself. Hand-stitching 'has a quality'. I feel just as conflicted as Alvy Singer saying that. I wish I could find the youtube clip to link here so that you know what I'm talking about. Sometimes youtube is NOT a friendly search environment. Homework for today: watch Annie Hall. Or read this (Scroll down to the tables)! Or close this window, dust yourself off, and do whatever you like! All will likely result in a super afternoon.

Making food with varying degrees of success

2008-11-13T17:49:00.000-08:00

When I was uploading pictures of tonight's project, Margarita Cookies by my favourite internet lady, I saw how many other little episodes of recent kitchen activity I have documented to show you. Maybe there's a bit of a blogger in me after all.

Above you will see a loaf of bread that I made. It is not no-knead bread. I have eaten no knead bread that other people have made that I like, but my few attempts at it have been pretty hideous. So knead I did! It was fun, and this bread LOOKS good! It was, however, pretty flavourless. Toasted, yes. Not toasted, no. It's progress though, and I was happy with it over all. Rome wasn't built in a day, friends.

Next, pumpkin puree. I know. Cut up pumpkin. Boil with water until soft. Blend/process. TA DA! It was delicious though, and beautiful. But I didn't capture it's glory very well, so you get a cutting board picture. I used my puree partially for cookies, which Erin coincidentally ALSO made! See post before this one for details! We made the same cookies, completely coincidentally. I liked this. It was like running into each other by accident in outer space. What are the odds?

Which brings us to tonight! It turns out that my camera might be dying...what do you think? It's old, and I'm not too sad, since technology has really advanced in the last 5 years. etc etc etc. So anyway, the cookies! They are in the fridge right now firming up. There are a few steps involving refrigeration in this recipe, so I'm glad I read ahead instead of starting them after dinner, and getting the diss. I'll keep you posted on how they turn out!

Making pumpkin cookies

2008-11-06T16:43:00.000-08:00

After eating some pumpkin cookies with maple icing at Victoria's Pure Vanilla bakery last week, I tried to replicate them this week. The actual cookies were similar, but the icing was harder to copy. I have a hard time with icing, but I really like what I ended up with.

The recipe: Iced Pumpkin Cookie Recipe from All Recipies. I used the brown butter icing recipe in this post from Bakerella (except I used real maple syrup instead of maple flavouring). I think those Pumpkin Pecan Chocolate Chunk Cookies look pretty good too. Tentative plans!

Making it across the finish line, as it were

2008-11-03T16:21:00.000-08:00

I'm making a lot of things right now. I'm hand quilting for the first time! It's fun! I'm baking and finishing a second sock and that sweater is coming together. Not literally, but you know what I mean. I've been thinking about colour theory and sewing clothes. I've been thinking about that a lot.

I'll get to it. But not until after tomorrow night.

Knitting a scarf

2008-10-22T16:18:00.000-07:00

I've been knitting. I didn't finish a single knitting project last year, so I bought beautiful wool to help myself succeed this time around.

This is what my scarf looks like so far:

It'll be a lacy scarf, like one I made for my mom two years ago (knit one, yarn over, knit two together). I'm not going to try anything new until I get through a simple scarf. In fact, I may stick to scarves for the rest of my life. I figure I can wrap scarves around my body if I ever have to clothe myself with my knitting skills. Right?

Are you wondering about that pink piece of yarn, threaded through my project? It's a place holder, just in case I screw up the simple pattern and don't want to start from square one. It has already come in handy, friends. Do you remember teaching me that trick, Sarah? Thanks!

Making myself a sweater

2008-10-09T18:12:00.000-07:00

So, here's that sweater I was taking about! After a little break from knitting, I picked this back up last night, and we seem to be back on track! I'm making this sweater, which I think I discovered in Ravelry. It's such a blur when I go there, but I'm pretty sure that's right!

This is the second sweater-for-myself attempt I have made. The first round, armed with enthusiasm and a gift certificate, began with neglect (I didn't check my gauge) and ended with disappointment (a hilariously small sweater). Not so this time! I learned my lesson, did a pretty huge gauge swatch, and this is shaping up to actually fit!

So far I've knit the back, and one of the fronts. The picture is the second front. I'd say that puts me about halfway!

Updates to follow!

Making the apartment functional

2008-10-07T20:31:00.000-07:00

Quite a few of my friends are on cleaning and/or purging kicks right now. Some of those same friends have noted that Michael and I don't have a lot of clutter in our apartment. I guess that's sort of true (we purged a lot of junk when we moved to Victoria), but I don't feel like our things are organized with function in mind.

A couple of weeks ago I took a small step to remedy that flaw, AND I finally used the drill that my parents gave me for Christmas: I put up some hooks to prevent us from hanging all of our things on door knobs. The one pictured here is my favorite addition. I found it for 5 bucks at Fan Tan Gallery.

In addition to providing a practical feature, I think these types of details help make an apartment feel more like a home. Sure, we can't change the old linoleum in the kitchen, but we can drill holes into the backs of our doors. That is, we can do it until our building manager finds out and gives us heck.

Making new recipes - Stewed Peppers a l'internet

2008-10-03T19:41:00.001-07:00

Tonight I tried a new recipe from the New York Times. We ate it with polenta.

DELICIOUS.

Not only was it a warm, salty plateful of deliciousness, but making it steamed up the windows, which I love. Seasons! Warmth! New tastes!

I highly recommend this one.

Making it ok to eat two cookies at once

2008-10-02T14:30:00.000-07:00

You may have noticed that I have a blog crush on Inside a Black Apple. Strangely, the focus of my attention is on her edible projects, not her art projects (for which she is more than a little famous). I like that she takes time to make decadent treats for herself, and I like her taste, so it's easy to see what I keep going back for more.

On Sunday, I searched her Food and Drink archives for a cookie recipe, and I found photos of peanut butter cookie sandwiches from this Cottage Living recipe. They were as good as they look in the photo, above. I thought that the peanut butter icing might be a bit much, but it's not the case. But then again, I only ate two of the sandwiches in the end, because my new plan of action is to make decadent treats so I can have one (or two) and give the rest away.

Making assumptions, or a colour theory smackdown - A Preview

2008-09-29T20:04:00.000-07:00

This is a preview for a series of posts about colour theory. I haven't studied colour theory, aside from doing my roommate's art school homework for her in years gone by. However, I have recently been humbled at the foot of the colour theory throne, and this humbling has resulted in new insight.

It is not a theory, friends. It is the truth. My approach of 'if I like everything that goes in, what comes out will work out' is not robust in the face of quilting's rules and realities.

The above is a (very satisfying) salvage effort! Two quilts were born from the grand schemes I had for a large quilt modelled after this one.

I would write more, but I can't stop watching this:

26 minutes well spent, friends.

Making excuses

2008-09-27T16:35:00.000-07:00

Friends, I have not spent the past month or so lying around. I have been scheming and making lists, and cutting things out, and experimenting with interfacing, and knitting myself a sweater. What I have NOT been doing is posting about it!

Marc took this picture on our trip down the west coast of the US in May. This is a seal on Cannon Beach: not dead, as we had suspected. Just sleeping. I thought it might be appropriate for this post.

I would like to keep posting here, and Erin has encouraged me to do so. Now I just have to get a few thoughts down in a form that you will enjoy reading, instead of keeping them all in a big cloud hovering over my head with all of my other crafty thoughts. My holiday gift-giving ambitions are considerable this year...I just have to take some steps to bring these ambitions 'into the real' as it were.

So stay tuned for next time, when we talk all about it!

Making tentative plans

2008-09-26T02:25:00.000-07:00

While I haven't been producing much lately, I HAVE been making tentative plans to make things. Marshmallows, to be exact.

First, Emily at Inside a Black Apple featured these in a cup of hot chocolate. They look unbelievable.

Then, I found the smores pictured above at my local grocery store. The smores were tasty (and pretty), but they inspired me to make my own marshmallow treats, more than anything else.

Side note: I've had plans to check out Butter Baked Goods since Lydia at I ate the Lotus told me about it, but I never make my way over to Dunbar when I'm in Vancouver. I lived on Dunbar in 1999, and I didn't think it was so far away from everything. It's far away from everything.

Anyway, I've checked out plenty of marshmallow recipes, including the Martha Stewart recipe that Emily used, but I have yet to find a gelatin-free recipe. Is gelatin really that magical?

Making a necklace for myself

2008-09-16T19:42:00.000-07:00

Europe. I shopped around for necklaces while I was visiting you, but I couldn't find anything I liked. Maybe I'm behind the times, but I'm not really interested in the big, chunky necklaces that all the European ladies are sporting. I'm still stuck on cute charms, you know? I decided to make something for myself when I got over the jet lag.

The best thing about making your own necklace is you can pick the length. I wanted something that hung a couple of inches below my collar bone (the most polite reference point I can think of), so that's what I made.

After I put a clasp on my chain, I added the owl charm and five jump rings with a purple bead on each one. I placed the jump rings on the left side of the necklace only, and they are about an inch apart. In addition to charms, I'm also a fan of asymmetry.

Oh, and Jen is pretty amazing too. Socks! I hear that she plans to continue writing about her creations every now and again. We're pretty good partners, but don't feel excluded. You can tell us about the things you're making too. Just say the word.

Making socks II

2008-09-06T12:46:00.001-07:00

This socks business is not going anywhere. This is the beginning of a new pair, with wool my sister Susie got me for my birthday. It's softer than the wool I used for pair #1, and I'll keep you posted as to whether this yields a significantly different experience when I wear/slide around the house in them.

Also, welcome back Erin and Michael!

Making socks - an update!

2008-09-03T21:02:00.000-07:00

Tonight I finished my first pair of socks! These will not be the last. These are really fun to make, and VERY satisfying. Also, they make a great distraction from the Republican National Convention. Handy!

Making cross-stitched gifts, and throwing yourself a bone too

2008-08-30T10:36:00.001-07:00

My friend is getting married in two weeks. She's an old-timey kind of gal, and her husband's an old-timey kind of guy. In the best possible ways, they seem to keep things pretty simple, and don't worry too much about things that won't matter in a month, if you know what I mean. In other words, they're solid people for whom I have a great deal of time and affection! Love, people!

For their wedding present, I am cross-stitching them something. In trying to figure out what I was going to make, a lot of things came to mind, but the cross-stitch idea seemed the most appropriate because it suits them, it will fit in at their house, and they will appreciate the effort. Over the years I have given hand made things to people who don't recognize the EFFORT. Sorry, people who didn't realize it, but those days are over! Not only is a lot of time involved, but you're putting your body on the line a bit more when you have to hold a hoop or needles or whatever for dozens of hours.

Enter my newest friend. The stitching frame! This great birthday present (thank you Mom!) has only just been assembled, but I can already feel the relief, and I'm sure next time I go for a massage, I won't get as many sighs and grumbles as my massage-guy goes in under my arm where all of that tension from HOLDING SOMETHING UP AND STILL for hours goes. I mean, check that out people. That wooden arm IS INSTEAD OF MY OWN ARM!

Yes!

Making socks

2008-08-23T11:59:00.001-07:00

Last night I embarked on what I suspect will be a very satisfying quest: knitting my own socks! And maybe your own socks! Keep your eyes on the Christmas tree friends, because so far, with Robin's excellent guidance, this has been a really fun tube knitting time. It's light, small, and the sock yarn! So many colours! They make their own stripes! Hard to resist, so I resist no longer.

I will keep you posted as I approach the hard part...turning the heel!

Making sure it works for a long time

2008-08-22T17:06:00.000-07:00

Wasn't that funny how I snuck Radiohead onto this, Erin's craft blog? !!?!?!??!??! I couldn't resist. And I have to reiterate: watching proficiency in rock makes me want to become more proficient in non-rock. No offense to rock, of course.

One of the things that I think is important to let yourself relax and focus on your ideas is to have tools that work. Growing up, every Halloween I watched my mom suffer at the foot of her sewing machine, with it's weird tension and bobbin problems, breaking needles and eating fabric. She always managed to make us really hot (and warm) costumes, but always in spite of the devilish machine.

The above is a photo of my sewing machine following a service. I have owned my sewing machine for 8 years or so, and have never had it serviced. I've never used it as much as I have in the past year and a half, but still! It was starting to act out a little, and I started to wonder whether a special love-up wasn't in order. I carted it off about a month ago in it's green case, and the whole thing was sort of reminiscent of taking our cat to the kennel before a vacation. Where was our beloved creature going for 10 days?! Would Those People be nice?

When I got it back, it had that test swatch still engaged, presser foot down, with every stitch that it can do in yellow thread one next to the other. Presumably it's a final tension check and not really that big of a deal, but I LOVED IT! It felt like a gold star or a seal or a stamp of approval - a sign that my machine was ready to face the world. Or rather, ready to face me and my random, well-intentioned demands!

Future plan: learning to do some basic servicing myself!

Making the effort

2008-08-20T15:08:00.001-07:00

Photo from Gorilla vs Bear

Last night I saw Radiohead. They are my favourite band. I've seen them three times previously over the years, one in particular with a rather fantasy-like back story.

Every show ends up being a special one, and last night's was no exception. It was my birthday you see, and I was struck during Karma Police by how important Radiohead has been to me for over a decade - my entire twenties. Without going on and on, I had a chance to step out of things for a minute and take a bit of stock about the passage of time, and the inspiring products of doing your best not just for a week or two, but OVER TIME.

Watching people who are great at what they do is one of my favourite things. I get full of sorts of feelings, like how impressive the mountain of effort is that yielded that ability or song or object or idea or whatever. 'How many hours did that take to learn, Jonny Greenwood?', I think to myself. ('Awesome!', I also think.) Also, I'm so proud of them/happy for them for their accomplishments! A very 'Check out the fruits of your labours!/Thank you for the fruits of your labours' kind of thing. The fruits of passion! Passionfruits!

No one is exempt from this - everyone from the amazing kids on PBS on Saturday morning to Radiohead to Elephant Island to all of us, as you know, we all have our passionfruits.

Let us take heart then, and inspiration from our favourites, whoever they are. One of the best parts of making things for me is making the effort, and not necessarily the result. Which would explain why I have so many unfinished baby sweaters littering the house.

Making those cookies from the New York Times

2008-08-08T09:00:00.000-07:00

So, a recipe whose primary feature is waiting for 36 hours posed a few problems for me at first. Here is a list of some of them:

1. You have to wait!
2. You can't make them in the middle of the week (well, you can't bake them in the middle of the week).
3. You have to wait!
4. Also, chocolate discs? No.

It says you can store the dough up to 72 hours, which would fix problem 2, but only makes problems 1 and 3 a bit worse!

Still, I had recently made some cookies with the 'old reliable' recipe on the bag of chips, and they were NOT good. For some reason, the recipe had been changed, REMOVING THE SALT. And they were pretty terrible. As this new recipe insists, salt is key. I concur.

So, basically I was in the chocolate chip cookie desert when this recipe oasis appeared, and I had to check it out! What if it solved all of my problems? What if I gained a new solid move that yields one of my favourite things?

Making a half recipe, which I did, involved a few 1/8 teaspoons and things like that, but I think my math is solid because THESE COOKIES ARE SOOOOOOOOOOOOO DELICIOUS.

I did deviate from the recipe a bit. It calls for a hilarious amount of chocolate discs. I used nice chips (Ghiardelli milk chocolate), but no discs in sight. I think I might have used half of the called-for amount. I also made these a bit smaller than I think the recipe calls for. Five inch cookies seemed a bit too big to me.

This being said, I didn't deviate with the two types of flour as many have in their experiments, since cake flour does have a magical ability to make things delicate. Also, the salt really is great. It's fun to sprinkle on top before you bake, and if you miss a bit it just goes on the parchment paper and gets baked into the bottom of the cookie, which to me is a great feature.

They are delicious warm, and I made small batches right away, at 24 hours, and at 36 hours. I haven't eaten one cold, or even cool, but I'm sure they are good too.

I have to say, the second and third batches were better, in that they did seem to have that toffee-ish thing they claim the rest time provides. The only real difference between these two later batches was that I baked the second batch a little less, ie, they weren't (the tiniest bit) burnt. A good feature for sure.

Make these. They are worth it. And if you can't wait, Michael says that the dough is a cut above as well.

Making apricot jam

2008-08-03T08:22:00.000-07:00

I'm one of the friends that Erin mentioned who makes jam, and I have to admit that I am eager to seduce her with the whole process. It's not hard if you follow a few rules, and the results are disproportionate to the effort in my mind. The beauty of the jam, the satisfying 'pops!' when the jars seal, and the jam! It is, of course, delicious. A whole other beast from store-bought.

In no case is this more true than for apricot jam. I'm not crazy about apricots in their off-the-tree state. They seem kind of dry, and boring in the non-pastry context, and when faced with the seasonal alternatives like peaches and berries, I'm left with a feeling of 'who gives?' when faced with the notion of eating an apricot.

I had never bought an apricot until last summer, when I decided, for some reason, to make apricot jam. I had been making other jams, like strawberry and raspberry, and I guess I was more game to give it a try. When I bought the amount I needed and it cost TWO DOLLARS, I excitedly trundled home, full of suspicion that I might really be onto something.

Then, the preparation. MINIMAL! You wash them, slice them in half, take the pits out, and....you're done! It takes no time. The features of this endeavour were becoming irrefutable.

I used this recipe. Again, not sure why, but I'm glad I did. Basically, once you prepare the apricots, you put them in a pot with sugar and lemon juice (and zest if you have real lemons. I've only ever used organic lemon juice) and gently boil them down. The skins dissolve. And flesh of the fruit breaks down. and a beautiful orange goo emerges.

A delicious beautiful orange goo.

I'm not going to go into the intricacies of the canning process here, but I would like to reassure everyone that you can do it! And it's fun, and when winter rolls around, and you spoon some of this onto toast, you will never look at that twoonie in your bag the same way again.

PS: Erin! Have a great vacation! I'm sure we are all excited to hear your tales!

Making window transfers

2008-07-30T20:17:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to make this craft for ages, but I stalled because I thought I would have to make my own paint. I should have known that you can buy anything these days. Thanks to a tip from a friend, I found out that my local craft store has tubes of window transfer paint called Arti'sticks by the company Pebeo. Google tells me you can buy these paints at any number of online stores.

Once you have your supplies, pick a simple design. This bird appears on a bag that I bought at the Richmond Night Market. I sketched it onto some paper and placed it under a transparent plastic sheet (I bought a set made by Pebeo, but I bet you could use something like wax paper). I used black paint to outline the design and let it dry overnight.

I filled the bird with my favourite colour yesterday. I laid the paint on a little thick so the shape will be more likely to hold up when transferred to a window. It took more than 24 hours to dry completely, and there were some tiny air bubbles that I couldn't see when the paint was wet. I'm not sure how to avoid those next time around. Any ideas?

Making photography improvements

2008-07-23T19:44:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure who I expected to attend Blogher '08, but I was surprised and disappointed by the scant crafter presence. Other people, like Aurora from Foxy Art Studio, were confused too.

Even so, I learned a few blogging tricks at the conference, and I was inspired by one session in particular: Photography with Me Ra Koh. The 10 tips that she outlined were directed at SLR cameras, but I still learned a lot. I'm not going to run out and buy an SLR tomorrow, like somebody I know, but I'm thinking of investing in an external flash. Our Canon Powershot G3 also has some manual capabilities, so I can experiment with some of the other suggestions before I invest too much money.

This post might have fit in a bit better over at Tentative Plans, but my photos are front and centre on this site, so what the hey. I took the above photo while walking to Tartine with my sister. And yes, I do like you.

(Not) making jam

2008-07-16T20:52:00.000-07:00

I've been busy getting ready for my trip to San Francisco for Blogher '08 (which included making business cards), so I haven't been doing too much crafting or baking. But that doesn't mean I can't enjoy the fruits of other people's labour. Right? Right.

Things are growing here on Vancouver Island, and ambitious people - including some of my buddies - are making jam out of those things. I'm impressed. Based on a very complex DIY algorithm, I'm at least a few years away from making jam.

Since I'm not making my own jam, I need to buy my goods; the gems pictured above came from the Saturday market a few blocks from my house. I haven't tried the strawberry & basil yet, but Michael and I can both promise you that the rhubarb & vanilla bean is devine. Make note, ambitious buddies!

Making orange-glazed scones

2008-07-09T12:58:00.000-07:00

When Inside a Black Apple wrote about these scones, I couldn't resist. Nor should you, unless you are allergic to and/or avoiding wheat products. I should have planned a tea party after I made them on Saturday, but I wasn't feeling well, so Michael and I had to eat them all by ourselves; good thing the recipe only makes eight scones.

I'm sure this is true of all baked goods, but these babies tasted much better the day they were made (another reason to have tea parties, I guess). They were perfectly light and flaky. As you can see, I opted for the orange glaze, and it was GOOD.

Also: That place mat does match the chair in the background. Good eye. I only pull the set out for special occaisions, like the days when I make scones.

Making embroidered wedding gifts

2008-06-11T15:13:00.000-07:00

These towels involved free-style embroidery, which made me really nervous. And then there was the task of finding an appropriate font for the newly-wed couple. I'm not sure about the one I chose in the end, but I do like the humorous twist that I took at the last minute:

My "J" and my "M" aren't entirely obvious representations, so you can see why I felt some assistance was in order.

Making embroidered gifts (again)

2008-05-14T17:54:00.000-07:00

I'm not the only one who likes the idea of using embroidery to write stuff on fabric, like names or global truths. Robyn made this towel for my Christmas present. Thanks buddy!

Following Robyn's lead, I captured a simple observation when planning the text for my last embroidery project, which I already featured on Tentative Plans. I want to embroider I'm a human baby on my next baby gift.

Making another charm bracelet

2008-05-07T19:35:00.000-07:00

Since I was getting some momentum with the charm bracelets, I decided to make some gifts. I'm extra motivated since I owe belated presents to a couple of friends.

I only put one actual "charm" on this bracelet. I think those sunglasses hold their own.

Making googly eye earrings

2008-04-30T12:13:00.000-07:00

Remember how I planned to make googly eye earrings? I started scheming when I discovered how easy it is to make earrings. As you can see, I went ahead and did it, and I found out that making earrings is even easier the second time around.

I made this set of five earrings for my sister, who has the option to wear all of them at once, which I highly encourage. I'll try to convince her to take a picture when she receives them.

I tried one out, for interim modeling purposes, and I almost crazy glued the thing to my ear. That's right, I took your advice and used crazy glue instead of my glue gun, even though the stuff scares me silly. I know someone who crazy glued his eye lids shut! The things I do for my sister. And for this website.

Making your own bookplates

2008-04-23T16:14:00.000-07:00

Bookplates are labels pasted into a book, often on the inside front cover, to indicate its owner. Sometimes the bookplate says Ex libris, which means From the books of [your name here]. That's what Wikipedia tells me anyway.

I love bookplates, but I've never bought them for myself because they're too pricey. If I wanted to put a store-bought label in each of my books, it would be an expensive proposition indeed. That's why I was happy when Raissa gave me homemade bookplates for Christmas.

Even though I was thrilled with the gift, it took me a few months to put one of the bookplates to use. This morning I stuck one in West With the Night, one of my favorite books, in order to counter my late grandma's claim to the book. Who writes her name in a book that someone loaned her? Trying to get this book returned to me was a trial, and it didn't help that my grandma thought it was hers. These bookplates aim to prevent such confusion.

I don't know where Raissa found her assorted images, but maybe I can convince her to enlighten us. In the mean time, I found these two adorable designs (scroll down a bit) at Craft Sanity, which were provided by The Black Apple. You can print them on label paper, for easy application, or regular paper, which will require some help from a glue stick.

During my Internet sleuthing, I also found some great pictures of archived bookplates that I want to share with you. You can browse through the UBC digital collection yourself, or you can check out my favorites, which I've listed by the names of the book owners (pretty interesting themselves): Henry Forbes Angus, Erna Grau, George Herbert Wailes, Wallace and Ethel Wilson and Kevin Michael Grace (this one scares me a little).

If that doesn't satisfy your new interest in bookplates, you can check out Confessions of a Bookplate Junkie. That's right, a whole blog dedicated to bookplates. Who knew?