Happy 2012!

Merry Christmas

This is a picture I took this season of a dear friend's little girl.  I love her wonderment at a symbol of Christmas.  Her awe, made me think of the story of Simeon seeing Jesus.  


And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him.

And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ.

And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law,

Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said,

   "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word:

    For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,

    Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;

    A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel."

And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him.

I love how it says Joseph and Mary "marvelled" at what was said about their little baby.  Can you imagine what they must have thought and felt?  It boggles my mind when I try to put myself in their shoes.  

It's easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the season.  And in that hustle and bustle are wonderful, lovely and good things that God has given us like family, friends, togetherness and the joy of giving.  Though God has given us these gifts and manifests his love to us through these things, He is not these things.  It's like the difference of looking at a picture of the Grand Canyon and seeing the Grand Canyon with your own eyes in all its beauty - a picture, no matter how lovely, can't ever match the real thing.  So if we only focus on the stuff of the season, even if it's the good stuff, we miss out on the substance of the season and lose the true meaning, wonderment, and deepest joy:  Christ.  The baby in the manger, who was and is the consolation of Israel, the salvation of his people.  My prayer for my home and for all of you is that we would marvel, like Simeon, at the true wonder of Christmas!  


Happy Christmas!!

Yarn-Wrapped Star Ornaments

A few days ago I saw these yarn-wrapped star ornaments from West Elm:

I loved the look but I didn't love that they were $16 a piece.  And they were gianormous (yes, I've been watching my holiday dosage of "Elf"), much too big for my Charlie Brown-ish Christmas tree that I fell in love with this year.

So I figured this would be a no-brainer hack.  And it was.  So easy, it seems silly to post pictures.  But I like pictures so here you go.

I started with this:


I got the stars for .29 each at Jo-Ann's.  The yarn was on sale for about $3.50 and I had all the other supplies so this was a really inexpensive craft.  Start by staining the stars and letting them dry.  I used gloves to do this so I didn't get icky all over my hands.

Start by hot gluing the yarn to the back of the star.


Then just wrap.  I made sure to go around each point of the star and then a few times around the base.  Make sure to wrap while looking at the front, your front and back of the star will not look the same.


When you are finished wrapping the star, snip the yarn and hot glue it to the back.  You can use yarn to make the loop to hang it but at the last minute I decided to use jute.  Just tuck it and hot glue it.


Then hang it on your tree!


The most time consuming part of this project was waiting for the stain to dry!  Once the stain was dry I did eight of these in no time flat!  So watcha waitin' for?  Get wrappin'  ;-).  I'm thinking these would make great package decorations too.  And oh, the color possibilities...so much yarn...so little time!

Inviting Thomas Keller to Christmas Dinner

Last year for Christmas I decided to be incredibly ambitious with dinner. I suppose I should tell you, I'm kind of a serious foodie. I mean if I saw Eric Ripert anywhere, I think I'd cry like those girls in any Beatles footage. So it would go without saying that I'm rather obsessed with Thomas Keller. I have all of his cookbooks. Friends have been graciously giving them to me for birthdays and Christmas for a few years. Thomas Keller is an incredibly precise chef. The French Laundry is hands down the prettiest book I own. But even I'm no fool, I wasn't going to do anything from the French Laundry. So the recipe I made was from his cookbook "Bouchon".

A bouchon is like a bistro.  Matter of fact a bouchon is pretty much a bistro...just located in Lyon.  There are nuanced differences but they are pretty much the same thing.  Thomas Keller is so precise, he didn't want to name his restaurant the common name, bistro, because it wasn't specific enough.  Even though they are the same difference.  SAME THING, Mr. Keller.  SAME.  Now, I'd love to have this post be all about "don't be afraid, it's easy." But um...yeah...that pep talk is NOT for this post. This post is all about, if you're a serious foodie and want to notch your belt with a serious recipe and you want your feet to hurt for 3 days, then this is the post for you. :-). But since YOU are probably a SANE person and won't want to spend December 23rd and 24th making FOUR separate recipes to create ONE dish, how about you settle for some eye candy. I'm not even going to post the recipe, because you'd get too tired scrolling through it. It's.that.long.

The recipe I made was Leg of Lamb with Flageolets in a Thyme Jus. I mean what was I thinking? It's a mouthful to say let alone cook. First I went to 3 different stores to find the stinking flageolets. And let's just say when I tasted them, know what I found out?? THEY'RE JUST BEANS PEOPLE. Yes, they were delicate and creamy but I could have substituted white beans and the world wouldn't have ended. Of course Thomas Keller is having a aneurysm right now since I just said that (cuz, you know, I'm pretty sure he reads my blog ;-)). And when I started this recipe I swore to myself that I was going to make this recipe exactly. To the letter. Because I usually don't. I don't follow instructions very well. Especially when it's a recipe. But out of respect to Mr. Keller, aka the only American chef with two different restaurants simultaneously holding 3 Michelin stars each, I was going to try his recipe TO THE TEE. I went to many stores, bought local, grass fed leg of lamb, made the Whole Foods butcher manager dig through his deep freeze for 5 pounds of lamb necks, made perfect, colorless garlic confit, roasted the lamb necks then boiled them and made sure I didn't "cloud the jus" (did you know jus could cloud? ...or that anyone considered cloudy jus, swill?).  By the end of the recipe I was blurry-eyed and addressing my cookbook as "Chef" or if I was feeling impish, "Thomas."  It was like he was there.  Watching me.   Judging me like some contestant on Top Chef.  Knowing if I deviated from his carefully crafted masterpiece.  And after I did all of that and my husband praised this amazing, perfectly cooked leg of lamb, he spent the next week praising the TWICE boiled lamb necks that he ate. EEEEWWWWWW. I'm pretty sure my husband was supposed to be Scottish. And born in the middle ages. Needless to say it was disconcerting to have spent all that time when the hubby praised the gorgeous, delicious Christmas dinner as much as the ingredients that ought to have been discarded.

Live and learn. Not sure what I'm making this year. Maybe boiled lamb necks. I'd probably get a Coach purse out of it.  LOL.  Wait what am I LOL'ing about.  Coach purses aren't a laughing matter.  All jokes aside if you are a collector of cookbooks as objet d'art, I can't recommend Keller's works enough.  If you are crazy enough to make a recipe, you'll be rewarded.  You'll also be sore and tired and significantly poorer.  But if you're wondering if I'll make another of his recipes?  Maybe not this year, I think I'm still recovering from last year, but oh yeah, I'll make one again.  I'm just a wild and crazy girl like that.  So what are you making this year?

BTW, completely off topic.  Would you have any idea that I took this picture in a completely dark room?  So much so my autofocus was struggling to get a bead on it.  This is what an external flash, bounced against a wall can do for your photography.  

bouquet garni

lamb necks waiting to be roasted

glistening garlic confit

leg of lamb, thyme and garlic gettin' all friendly up in that pan

Christmas Tree

Here's my view tonight.  I love my little Charlie Brown (ish) Christmas tree!!  I kept the tree minimalistic this year.  I was inspired by some sparse Christmas images on Pinterest.   And I have to say this tree took all of 60 minutes to decorate...and I made half of the ornaments on the tree.  It usually is an all day project to get the tree up!  So I'm digging the time savings!







Next week I'll have a tutorial on the yarn stars that are on the tree!

Another Placemat Using Cake Circles

Want another placemat to make from those cake circles?  How about this?



Want to talk easy peasy?  This couldn't be easier.  I made these last year before I was blogging so I don't have tutorial pictures but this project is so easy it really doesn't need it.  Take a branch and snip the leaves off.  Use a 12" cake round.  Start from the outside and hot glue the leaves with a little overhang over the edge.  Then glue, glue, glue more leaves all the way around in concentric circles, making sure to overlap enough to cover the board.  You should only glue the base of the leaf (no need to glue from base to tip).  If you want you can tuck in some berries or little flowers, just hot glue 'em in.   Super simple.  You can use any leaves you want.  Any leaves that speak to you.  The ones that spoke to me were $1.99 branches that were on sale at 50% off at Hobby Lobby.  So not only were mine easy, they were also cheap.  That totally speaks my language!  Each one took 15-20 minutes to do.   My total cost per charger was $2.73.

Here they are layered with my wicker chargers.  I use my wicker chargers for every season!  In my opinion they are some of the most versatile tableware.  I'm not sure if they still have them but mine came from Wally World (that's Walmart for all you plain speakin' folk ;-)).  They had the best price I have ever seen for wicker chargers.

By the way, don't you just LOVE my decoupage placemats?  I heart them.  They are from last year's Pottery Barn collection.  I was so excited to unwrap them this year!





UPDATE:  CHECK OUT THE PEPPERMINT STRIPE PLACEMATS YOU CAN ALSO MAKE USING CAKE CIRCLES.  CLICK HERE!

Linking to:
Toys in the Dryer

Peppermint Stripe Placemat Tutorial

Just in case you haven't gotten enough peppermint going on already with the topiaries, here's the tutorial on how to make those placemats you saw on the Peppermint & Chocolate Tablescape.




Placemat Supplies:
Pack of 12" Cake Rounds
White Pearl Paint - I used Martha Stewart's
Sponge Brush
Chenille Wireless Pipe Cleaners 3 packs from Michael's
Ribbon 10 yards.  I found this ribbon among this season's Christmas ribbons at Michael's for 50% off
Tacky Glue
Hot Glue

While it might seem strange to paint a white cake board white, the cake boards are corrugated cardboard and the corrugation will show if not painted the shimmery white.  But this is a two for one as the shimmer of the pearl paint looks like spun sugar, which is perfect for these peppermint placemats.  I used a sponge brush to minimize brush strokes and made sure I only went in one direction.


Cut your strips of ribbon.  I cut all of mine 14" as I wanted at least a 1" overhang on each side.


In the center of the ribbon, paint a little dot of tacky glue on all 4 ribbon pieces.


Place them on your dry, painted board.  I used Tacky glue on this step rather than hot glue because the tacky glue will allow me to shift the ribbon a bit if needed to keep the spaces even and the ribbon straight.  But be careful, if you have to remove the ribbon and put it in an all together different spot, the paint will come up and you'll have to do a touch up.


Once in place I flipped back the ribbon and used hot glue (as it hardens immediately) to secure the rest of the ribbon.


Secure the ribbon to the back.


To hide that ugly cardboard on the side, use hot glue to adhere the wireless pipe cleaner.


Easy peasy!  Six cute placemats for about $2.50 each!


You could also take the same principles, cut some swirls out of felt and have yourself peppermint swirl placemats!

UPDATE:  CHECK OUT THE OTHER PLACEMATS YOU CAN MAKE WITH CAKE CIRCLES.  CLICK HERE!


Linking to:

Toys in the Dryer
Serenity Now
Centsational Girl
DIY by Design
Beneath My Heart

Peppermint Topiary with Edible Snow Tutorial

As promised, here is the first of the tutorials for the Peppermint & Chocolate Tablescape!

These peppermint topiaries with edible snow are really easy and inexpensive to make.  I promise!



for 2 topiaries:
4" round styrofoam from the dollar store - 2
base styrofoam from the dollar store - 2
dowels  (appx 12") - 2
peppermints - 3  bags
small gift box from the dollar store - 2
brown paint
ribbon
cotton candy from the dollar store - 2
hot glue

Paint the dowel brown.  Then hot glue the base styrofoam into the bottom of the box.


When the dowel is dry,  insert it into the base styrofoam and insert the ball on top of the dowel.  Hot glue the dowel in once you are satisfied it's straight.



Unwrap all the peppermints.  It goes faster to unwrap them all at once then do all your hot gluing.  Once you are ready, hot glue the peppermints on.  You'll have some spaces, some small and some large gaps between the peppermints.


The gaps are ok because once you cover the whole round, you'll add a second layer of peppermints to cover the significant gaps and make it visually even.  And since we're going for whimsy here folks, it doesn't need to be perfect! Tie a bow with the ribbon and hot glue to the base of the ball & dowel.


Just before your guests arrive put a paper towel in the box to cover the base styrofoam and put handfulls of cotton candy on top as your "snow."  This is the edible part...and the part the kids will like best!  It's important to not do this step before you have to.  Otherwise the moisture in the air will harden and shrink the cotton candy.  That makes for sad little cotton candy snow.  And that's not jolly at all.



All in all each topiary took about 45-60 minutes to make.  I had the ribbon, brown paint and dowels on hand so the total for both topiaries was about $14.  Not too shabby!


An easy craft that makes this table simple and fun!


Linking to:

Simply Sweet Home
Toys in the Dryer

Peppermint & Chocolate Tablescape

Yesterday we invited my nephews over to do some advent crafts and help us light our second advent candle.  Christmas is a time when we have to borrow kids since we don't have our own!  We decorated sugar cookies, made some ornaments, watched The Grinch, and had lots of fun!  I wanted to create a fun, simple tablescape for them.  Here are some pictures for you.  Tutorials will come soon to show you how to make the placemats and the peppermint topiaries.  Oh, and here's a teaser: part of the topiary is edible!

The little 1 foot white Christmas tree I found at Target for $5.  I cut a little tree skirt out of a square of red felt and draped $1 candy cane garland from the dollar store.   The table runner and tablecloth are both from HomeGoods from years past.  I think the napkin rings were from Macy's last year after Christmas, I found them at .75 a piece.  SCORE!


Almost everything you need for the topiaries can be found at the dollar store!

These placemats I made are fast, easy and cheap!

Truth be told, I had other plans for more detail on this table.  Candy cane placecards, candleholders wrapped in chocolate and red papers.  But as I was measuring my time and what was important, the memories we were creating were more important.  So I went with basic and simple rather than detailed and elaborate.  And my cutie pie nephews were thrilled all the same!




UPDATE:
The tutorials are now available!
Peppermint Stripe Placemats
Peppermint Topiaries with Edible Snow

linking to:

The Lettered Cottage
Dittle Dattle
A Stroll Thru Life
My 1929 Charmer
Oasis Accents