Sharing the love

Thanks to everyone who recommended Angelina's for hot chocolate. It really was a-mazing. I wanted to buy some hot chocolate but got flustered as they were closing. I ended up with a *large* bag. And also some of their stickers.
So, I bought a few containers at the grocery, and made a paper funnel and...
voila! Hot chocolate for two *
*hopefully you'll still appreciate them even after I've destroyed the mystery with this post.

Toot-toot

The guest book I made for Rebecca's wedding made it onto the Martha Stewart Wedding blog! Check out all the pictures- it was such a fun and happy day! I feel lucky I got to be a part of it. Picture by Rachel Thurston from here

Good Old Fashion Friendraising

Lane gave me the idea of having a friend-raiser after the move to Seattle. Valentine's making turned out to be the perfect occasion. We made pretty things and ate pretty things. But only if they were red, white, or pink.

Yellow + Gray

1+1=1!

I took this diy chalkboard paint project from Martha and this chalkboard globe project from Design Sponge and voila... chalkboard globe of my dreams (almost).
A few tips-- I think it really would be easier to do two colors. I suggest using a white paint marker with a flat tip over the chalkboard paint to trace in the continents. I left a few of the ornate details uncovered and they look decoupaged. I talked my roomy into a quicker version with spray chalkboard paint in black and fluorescent pink spray paint for the stand. Also awesome. The only downside of this project is that it is not helping me curb my globe buying habit.

Ooey, Gooey!

Oh.. that ooey gooey deliciousness? Mozzarella cheese that I made, thanks to an awesome Christmas surprise, courtesy of M. Add it to the things I'll do for you when you visit me in Seattle. Home. made. cheese. I'll even do organic if you want.

Holiday Hacks

Instead of this pretty (but pricey) bauble

Buy these bubbles (for 1/10th the price)


And make this
*thanks to Liz for modeling the results of our craft nights

Craft Lately

Been busy realizing an entire world made out of only my favorite color. I spray painted this $2 broken plate. Much better now, right?
I realized my dream terrarium. Ingredients = darling boyfriend who bought me this giant vase, air plants from this AWESOME etsy seller, paint from Lowe's mixed to my favorite color, river rocks, 10 lbs of aquarium sand, fluorescent pink thread, and a small touch of OCD (required for fishing dropped stuff out of terrarium with chopsticks).

Stopped by the farmer's market to get ingredients for a soup from the Ad Hoc cookbook.

Note: I did not dye the soup blue.

Obsessive

Over the last few years I obsessively collected this line of vintage Samsonite suitcases (blue tweed with several sparkle) from thrift stores, ebay, and flea markets. I'm using them to store art supplies. This is an ingenious use-- I may have to convert a few.

DIY?

I'm *kinda* obsessed with hot chocolate. I love this concept from Jamie Oliver-- you just stir this spoon into hot milk, and voila. I'd love to figure out how to make my own version of this. Wouldn't it be cool using vintage silver spoons for fancy gifts or a hot chocolate party. Any ideas on how to make this a go?

*p.s. Please act surprised and delighted if I do figure out how to do this and you get one as a gift.

Making Whoopie!

Pies!* I've been slightly obsessed with Whoopie Pies for the last year. I finally made a batch. I used a Williams Sonoma recipe for the pie and this recipe for the filling. Overall they were good, but I want a better filling recipe. Any tips? I think that the powder sugar taste is too strong. Also, as you can see in the picture the filling was a little oozy.


*apologies for lamest title maybe ever.

Miss Roboto

I LOVE this old robot costume! from here via here

Grand Marquee

My cool kid idols over at Something's Hiding In Here have this cool new billboard project at an Urban Outfitters. It reminds me of this great mini marquee from ReadyMade-- perfect for leaving messages for the people you live with.
You could also get all DIY with marquee lettering from places like this.

Purdy Party

I love how shimandsons makes really pretty and simple things. These pictures are from a recent birthday party for her son-- I love the red and blue. It's all pretty simple but she uses a unified pallet to tie everything together. I wouldn't mind if my next party looked like this.

New from eVlove labs:

Its electric, boogy woogy. I am fending off certain aspects of the '80s revival.. ahem MOM jeans! However, I like the super duper neon colors. Which these all are, though they are looking a little less bright on my monitor. Rest assured they are practically day glow.

Tattoo you

d.i.y. temporary tattoos you make on your printer. genius. I've got a billion ideas for these.

Banana Rama

Best idea for Sunday dinner in recent memory: Bananas Foster French Toast. 1 course meal with dessert included. So tasty.

Joy to you and me.

Not to brag (again), but my friends are rad. My friend Jeanne hand makes and sells these amazing leather toys. They're beautiful. You can even buy animal pairs sans ark and the rest of creation. Pair of alligators anyone? Way better than that plastic baby gift you were thinking of.You can make them yours (or some lucky kid's) by emailing her at regina.moominbaby@ gmail.com.

By Its Cover

Although it sure looks purdy, I've sort of been internally snotty about arranging books by the color of their covers. Mainly because it's what's on the inside that matters, right? Right. Well, I decided that I could justify it for a few of my novels. And I love how it looks. This is a picture of the top two shelves of my newly installed bookshelves.

Jello!

Jello-Fest '08 was a lot of fun. People came up with the most amazing things. Some were really tasty, some were beautiful, all were great. You can see all the pictures here. A few examples.
Claire made her own cookie cutters for the Western United States:Derek cast his own face:
Karisa and McKay made hands out of almond Jello (so creepy, but genius):
Kai dug out his grandma's recipe:and I managed a beehive:
Start plotting for next year-- I think this one is going annual. I've been looking for something to replace Curry fest, and Jello fest looks like it'll do the trick